6: The Three Margarita Lunch
Posted By Alexander Hollins on June 24, 2008
True to Deborah’s word, the main room had taken on a semblance of life, desks occupied, and people moving in and out. The desk next to Tom’s was occupied by a man that seemed large from the back. As they approached, he stood up, and moved from merely large to very large.
“Rocky!”, Deborah called out. The large man turned, and a smile split his face. Bleached white teeth shone, made all the whiter by dark brown skin. Tight black ringlets crowded each other, barely half an inch of covering on his head. Dressed in jeans and polo, a tool belt buckled around his waist, he seemed like a common worker to Tom.
“Tom, this is Rocky, Rocky Jones. He’s the lead of the Priors and Progression committee, which means he’s the biggest user of our older archives. So you and he will be working together a lot. Rocky, this is our new computer jockey, Tom Harlan.”
Deborah finished the introductions, and the pair reached out to shake hands. At the point of contact, Tom’s hand and arm shook again, but with a cool, moist feeling, rather than the fire given by Deborah. Shaking out his fingers, and trying to ignore the pulsing across his flesh, Tom struggled to think of something to say.
“Rocky? Your parents a big fan of the Italian Stallion?”
“Ooo, a fan of the classics, I see. No, its actually short for Cirroco. Its a bit of a mouthful, so it gets shortened.”
“I see… wait.” Tom looked up at the large man, questioningly. ” Cirroco Jones. You aren’t named for the captain of the DSV Ringmaster, by any chance?”
Rocky shook his head. “Nope, its a name for the winds off the desert. My parents met in Morocco when stuck in a small lodge for a few days because of a storm. I’ve never heard of him or it. ”
“Her, actually.” Tom replied. “Character in an old novel. I’ve already met the living robot, I was started to wonder if there was a glut of people named after fictional characters here.”
Rocky laughed. “Well, we have a Mack Blaze in Pipelines, but he’s a guy.”
“There’s also a Bobby Roman in security, used to be a private eye, as well.”
When Tom and Rocky both stared at her blankly, Deborah shrugged her shoulders. “Old mystery novel.”
“Anyways, I was about to take Tom here to lunch. Taberna Macayo’s. Care to tag along, or are you busy with something?”
A quick ten minute walk, again dodging in and out of small passageways, took the trio to a small avenue of restaurants just off the main capitol square. Taberna Macayo’s, the newest opening on the street, was relatively busy despite the early hour at which Tom found himself having lunch. A synth band was set up on the patio, nodding to themselves in their helmets as something resembling mariachi music blasted from speakers, and living wall panels blazed with twisting, churning patterns of light, moving in time with the music.
Rocky motioned towards the band. “Damn synths. Call me old fashioned, but if you’re going to make music, you should learn instruments to let the music out of your head, not plug in and download it.”
“Could you do better?”, Tom asked.
“Hell yes, I can. And I can prove it too! We’re playing at a club in Fountain Valley Saturday night. You should come.”
“Wait, you really are in a band? Nice. What kind?”
“Fresh rock, mostly, though we do a lot of oldies at request. I play drums. Any excuse to hit things. ”
As they walked through the door, a slim woman at the bar shouted and came hurrying towards them, dodging through tables and waiters. Making it without spilling a drop of the drink in her hand, she reached out and hugged Deborah and Rocky in turn, then stuck her hand out at Tom.
“Hey, I’m Katarina. You?”
Tom reached out and took her hand. For the third time that day, he felt his skin and muscles go insane. But instead of burning or a feeling of sweat and moist, he found himself feeling lighter, and imagining a breeze from behind hitting him. “I’m, uhh, I’m Tom. New guy at P and R.”
Katarina nodded, and dropped her hand from his. “Cool Cool. I’m with Senator Thomas’ office myself. Interning. ”
Deborah spoke up. “Hey, Kat, how’s about you entertain Tom here for a minute. Tom, Rocky and I will go grab some grub and drinks. Be right back”
I started reading this story a little while ago and really enjoyed it. Are you ever going to continue it?
Thanks Amber. I’m glad you liked it. I’ve had some real life issues, but yes, I’m going to continue it. I hope to have a new update up in a day or two, and then keep to my monday schedule.
I see.
There you go Amber, an update, and two already ready for the next two Mondays. I’m working hard at keeping to that weekly schedule!
I find it funny that a man named for desert wind with an obvious earth nickname is a water elemental, while a lady named for a nationaly known hurricane resulting in massive flooding is a wind elemental. Hmmm maybe Rocky is multi faceted
She was actually named before the hurricane happened, and, while it caused a lot of flooding, the definition of a hurricane is wind speed, so I find it rather amusing (and didn’t tag on the name matching until just now when you mentioned it!)
as for multi faceted, he’s not, but such things DO exist.