Dragon Town

  Chapter Two

  "It's a living," Alex shrugged. He was seated with his back to the door, across the table from Sapphire in the only diner in Two Forks, Arizona. He wasn't terribly surprised how quickly she'd tracked him down. He'd always known Sapphire to get what she wanted, whenever she wanted. She told him it had only taken one phone call to find him there in what anyone would say was the middle of nowhere. Two Forks was not even a bend in the road, but a ditch on the side of an empty straight line that went on for miles. Alex and Carmela, the waitress, were the only two people in the town that afternoon when Sapphire arrived by rental car. She didn't know why she hadn't gone straight to the scene of the story but had detoured at least a hundred miles to see her old friend. Maybe she thought he could fill her in on some angle that would be more interesting than the one being plastered all over the TV and news outlets by the other seven thousand reporters who'd gathered around the damn sinkhole. At this point, she hadn't even admitted to him why she was there.

  She'd come into the diner, spotted a balding, slightly chubby middle-aged man examining a sandwich and figured it had to be Alex, so she walked over and planted herself in a chair and took a closer look. Same pale eyes but that was about all she could recognize. Alex, however, knew her in an instant.

  "Well, well, Sapphire Karadjian, right here in Two Forks. Who'd a thunk it?" he smiled, and held out her hand. They shook briefly and she smiled back.

  "So you're a railroad safety inspector," she said.

  "It's a living." he shrugged, "and anyway, it suits me. I get to travel around," he added with a wave of his hand, indicating the desert around them, "and I get to meet people," he continued, nodding in the direction of Carmela, who was busily washing a spoon. She waved back but didn't speak.

  "Carmela's good people," Alex mentioned confidingly.

  "But what do you do?" Sapphire persisted.

  "Always the ace reporter," Alex winked. "Curious about everything, always. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was."

  "I'm supposing you inspect trains," she went on undeterred.

  "Crossings, mostly," he said, "making sure that they work. You wouldn't want cars getting themselves launched by a freight because the arm didn't go down or the bells didn't sound. You want to make sure things are shipshape forever."

  "And you cover a region, I suppose?"

  "The whole state," Alex said. "Know it backwards and forwards by now."

  "Knowing you, you've probably marked it all off on a map," Sapphire laughed.

  "Oh, I have," he replied, "only now I've been everywhere so many times it's hardly worth bothering about. Funny thing, though. I've hardly been out of the state. Been to Mexico a few times but that's about it. Texas, once. California."

  "What about family?" Sapphire wanted to know.

  "Well, I know all there is about you," Alex said. "See you on TV now and then. Guess it's only fair you wouldn't know a thing about me."

  "It goes on," Sapphire shrugged.

  "That's for sure," he replied. "Say, would you like a cup of coffee? Carmela? Cup of coffee, por favor?"

  "Dos," he continued as Sapphire nodded and Carmela came over swiftly with their order.

  "I have seen you on the TV too," she told Sapphire. "You're even more beautiful in person."

  "I am?" Sapphire blinked a couple of times. "Nobody ever says that!"

  "I do," said Carmela as she walked slowly back to the counter. Sapphire shook her head a couple of times, wondering if she'd really just heard it.

  "Gets pretty lonely out here," Alex quietly said, and then louder, after taking a sip, he went on.

  "Myself, I'm divorced. Father of two, though, father of two. Teenagers, both of them, Charlie and Connie. Good kids, more or less."

  "A boy and a girl, eh? Every parents dream."

  "No, they're both girls," Alex said. 'Charlie is short for Charlotte. Wanted a boy, you know. Wanted to name him after my uncle, but a girl's what we got, so we made it as close as we could. She always liked being called Charlie, you know. Connie, on the other hand, wants to be called Cookie these days. Says she's going to run off and join the navy just as soon as she can."

  "How old is she now?"

  "Fourteen," Alex said, "and Charlie's seventeen. Both of them got minds of their own, tell you that. Got it from their mother, Gretchen. She's a piece of work, I'll tell you."

  "Would I know her?" Sapphire asked. It was possible, after all. She might have gone to school with the girl.

  "Doubt it," said Alex. "I met her at college, in Tucson. She'd come there from Boulder, which is where she is now, with my girls. Don't hardly ever see 'em these days, but I'm well aware of them each and every payday, when more than half of what I get I don't get."

  "Been divorced long?" Sapphire knew she was prying.

  "Oh yeah," Alex said, "been a very long time."

  "And you never re-married?"

  "Not hardly gonna do that again!" Alex laughed. "I can hardly afford the first one, so what would I do with another?"

  "You're looking good, though," Sapphire said, feeling she had to say something more friendly.

  "I look in the mirror every morning," Alex chided her. "But you didn't come here for this. Come to think of it, I can hardly imagine what you did come here for? I thought you were out there in the Republic of Guano or whatever it is."

  "Guyana," Sapphire said. "I wish I was there."

  "No offense," she added quickly, sensing her faux pas. "It's great to see you. Really, it is."

  "You didn't come here for me," Alex repeated.

  "Not only," Sapphire put her hand to her forehead. It was certainly sticky and hot in that place.

  "It's the sinkhole," she muttered.

  "The sinkhole?" Alex seemed to be surprised. "They assigned YOU to a SINKHOLE? Who's going to do the real news if not you?"

  "Thanks," Sapphire managed a smile. "I appreciate the sentiment."

  "But I mean it," Alex added. "I was thinking there must be some global conspiracy happening right around here, since you showed up, but the sinkhole? Hell, it's a hole in the ground. So it's volcanic, I get it. The thing is unusual, but they've got the place covered with cameras. It's a tabloid affair. Not for you. Not for Sapphire Karadjian!"

  "Just following orders," she murmured sheepishly, but inwardly she felt gratified that someone at least recognized her true value.

  "It's probably because of the girl," Alex said.

  "The girl?"

  "Yep, the girl," Alex sat back in his chair. He had information, and knew it, information that someone like Sapphire would pay for. He sat there wondering how much he should charge. After all, she WAS an old friend. There might be a discount in that.

  "Not many people actually know about her," he continued. "It's sort of hush-hush. Those who do know have been told to clam up. I've been told to clam up. Not supposed to be mentioning it, especially not to someone like you," he said, and then he clammed up. Sapphire was a veteran at this. It was as if she was reading his thoughts.

  "There'll be something in it for you," she promised. "Guaranteed. The bosses pay my expenses. So tell me, what about this girl?"

  Alex considered for a few moments, looking away from Sapphire. He turned to his left, and then shifted his chair to the right. He caught sight of Carmela and grinned. She grinned back, and then he looked back at Sapphire and said,

  "Let's go for a walk."

  They got up. Alex left a twenty-dollar bill on the table - far more than a sandwich and coffees would cost - and with a slight bow to the waitress, walked out of the diner, followed by his childhood companion.

  "I might take another look at that crossing," he said, pointing down the road to where some old freight tracks came over the highway. Sapphire got the picture. Alex wanted no witnesses. Maybe there was something to this story after all.