11 This girl is special

Spin balance cover picture

This girl is special

 

Someone to be near

Someone not to cross

 

Her Warbel affinity

Tempts

 

It pulls you

 

She strikes

Credits strengths

Dresses wounds

Teases and disarms

 

You have beta

She loves alpha

 

So turbulent

Seductive

 

Fleeting balance

Contradiction

 

Concede

Beg mercy

You've lost, admit it

 

Don't struggle

Her spell compels you

 

Truth

Your only salvation

 

Pardoned with grace

You are free

 

Like no other

 

This girl is special

 

Let it go

 

11001


 

Breakfast in St. Paul

 

 So what happens now?

 

 

 We secure the boxes and go home

 

 Keep the hard drives separate

 

 One goes with you

And one of the punch cards

 

 I’ll have a friend look at the drive

 

 When I know something I’ll call

And we’ll meet

 

 

 Back to scarves and recorders?

 

 

 For now it’s prudent

 

 

 I miss Minneapolis already

And we haven’t left

 

 

 Minneapolis is over

 

 Next time they’ll know we’re here

If they don’t already

 

11002


 

How do I contact you?

 

 You don’t

 

 I’ll call you, don’t answer

Let the machine pick it up

 

 Check your messages often

From wherever you are

 

 Can you do that?

 

 

 Yes

 

 

 Good

 

 Let’s get finished

So we can get back

 

 Delta 868 leaves at 7:20P.M. tonight

 

 Wouldn’t want to explain two nights

To Susan would we?

 

11003


 

We have a lot of work to do

 

 We need a hand truck

Gloves and dust masks

 

 Home Depot is close

 

 I’ll rent the unit in Saint Paul

You rent in Minneapolis

 

 Three months storage

Cash

 

 You’ll be expected to know this

So write it down

 

 PO Box 362 Attleboro, MA 02703

Area code 617 then 635-4505

It’s my cell number

 

 I purchased it in Boston

In case they want to confirm

 

 The P.O. box was a guess

The zip and phone are real

 

 

 You used your own phone?

 

 

 It's disposable Sparks

I bought it to call you

 

11004


 

Stages of our lives

 

At times you notice a door close

As a new one opens

 

Certain times

Catch you looking back

Mourning loss

With reluctance forward

 

We cling

To that which we know

That which we've known

 

We fear

That which we do not

 

Tomorrow holds our path

Irreverent to want

 

I wish it was easy

To let go

 

We’ve survived what’s passed

The future is uncertain

 

One thing is certain

Some new door

We will not survive

 

Perhaps that’s why

We cherish past

 

11005


 

Boston return

 

Returning home means

returning to Susan

explaining Lydia

and two days in Minnesota

 

Perhaps that can wait

 

Giving nothing to Joe

after a promise

 

Silence in conversations

that mean a lot

 

Waiting in a game

as the rules emerge

 

Everything pertinent

involves Lydia

 

She’s crucial

 

Focus on the words of Warbel

“They use your will against you”

 

Was that his conflict?

 

Ok

 

11006


 

Oh Danny boy

 

 MIT/Massachusetts Institute

of Technology

Tech development department

(Computer Science lab)

 

 Yes, Daniel Roth please?

 

 

 Visitor Daniel

 

 

 Thank you Mark

 

 Lydia hey!

Sorry to hear about Jonathan

 

 How are you doing?

 

 

 Well

You know I was upset

 

 But I’m pulling through

 

 

 It's really good to see you

To what do I owe this pleasure?

 

 

 I need a favor Danny

 

 And I need you

To not ask questions

Ok?

 

 

 Is this favor legal?

 

 

 See there Daniel

That’s a question

 

 But a fair one

Yes, I think it’s legal

 

 I need to know

What’s on this hard drive

 

 I don’t know what you’ll find

 

 

 Relax L, I was kidding

Anything for you legal or not

 

 How long do I have?

 

 

 Yesterday would be nice

 

 I’ll give you until tomorrow?

 

 

 Oh no, that’s too long

Would now work for you?

 

 I mean

If you have the time

 

 Thirty minutes?

 

 

 That’s why I come to you D

That would be awesome!

 

 

 We just happen to have

A server with an open bay

 

 We’ll mount this little guy

 

 About three minutes?

 

 I hope it’s something fun

 

 A huh

Now a boot sector verify

 

 Stop

That’s it!

 

 

 What’s it?

 

 

 Raid 5

 

 

 Raid what?

 

 

 Not what

 

 Five

 

 

 An array drive?

 

 

 You got it L

An array

 

 An old one too!

 

 

 How many drives D?

 

 

 Three

But you only need two

 

 Two drives can write the third

One drive can’t write anything

 

 

 I have another drive

 

 

 Well let’s have it

 

 

 It’s not with me

It’s complicated

 

 

 Bad divorce L?

 

 Fifty-fifty split?

 

 No worries

 

 Come back

When it’s not complicated

 

 

 Love you D

 

 

 I know

I love you too

 

11007


 

What is RAID 5?

 

RAID is an acronym that means

Redundant Array of Independent

or Inexpensive Drives

 

5 is a sequential succession number

 

Together RAID 5

is a computer hard drive system

designed for data security

 

When we have one hard drive

and all of our information is on it

if the drive is lost then all is lost

 

That's not very secure

 

RAID 5 uses three drives

and it’s ok to lose one

 

Here’s how it works

 

Decimal is the system we count with

because we have ten fingers

 

Decimal means ten steps numbered

zero through nine then back to zero

 

Binary means two steps

Zero to one then back to zero

 

RAID 5 uses a trick called parity

to write a one or zero to

the missing drive

 

Parity looks like this

 

0 + 0 = 0

0 + 1 = 1

1 + 0 = 1

1 + 1 = 0

 

If we add drives to parity

we get this

 

Drive1 (0) + Drive2 (0) = Drive3 (0)

Drive1 (0) + Drive2 (1) = Drive3 (1)

Drive1 (1) + Drive2 (0) = Drive3 (1)

Drive1 (1) + Drive2 (1) = Drive3 (0)

 

And that's a very good thing

because it means when you bring

the other drive

we can recover your information

 

11008


 

Bring the drive

 

 A new message blinks

on Randall’s answering machine

 

 Boston Public Garden

Same bench as last time

6:00P.M. do you recall?

 

 No conversation, no need yet

 

 Bring the drive

In a paper grocery bag

 

 I’ll set my bag down and take yours

You take mine

 

11009


 

If Lydia was Civil

 

She would make perfect sense

 

Could she be

Catherine de Médicis?

Who summoned

Michel de Nostredame

To Paris?

 

Do they age gracefully

Fallen angels?

 

Do they age at all?

 

At Warbel’s funeral

Lydia’s firm rejection

 

Was that real?

Or was it intended

To stimulate intrigue?

 

If so, it did

 

And the counter approach

Packages from Oxford?

 

She knew Allen Phepps

I didn’t

 

Warbel never mentioned him

 

Warbel didn’t mention her

 

The whole Minneapolis thing

Addresses and locks

 

Effortless allure

 

God it was easy

I was seduced

 

I bought in for a story

 

Clandestine meetings in the park

Secret recorders

 

Likely

With a direct link to psycho-central

 

She calls the shots

And the grand play unfolds

 

A fool’s theater and I have the lead

 

But if she is them, what then?

 

Even if Phepps existed

Or if she worked with Warbel

 

What difference would it make?

 

If she’s them, why me?

 

Unless she needs me to believe her

 

What do I have that she doesn’t?

 

A voice?

 

Yes

 

The Daily Sun is a voice

 

That’s why me

 

They need a voice

 

I can stop them

But they can’t know I know

 

What if she’s not them?

 

What if she’s caught up like me?

 

Either way, the play continues

 

Just have to wait

 

11010


 

Safe at home

 

 Susan’s phone rings

 

 Hello?

 

 

 Baby I’m back

I want to take you to dinner

 

 

 Sorry, who’s this?

 

 

 Funny girl

 

 Pick you up at seven?

 

 

 Let’s see

I’ll have to check my schedule

 

 Back from where?

 

 

 How’s your schedule looking?

 

 

 How about seven-thirty?

I have to call the Pope and cancel

 

 

 Thirty’s fine

 

 

 I was kidding

Pick me up at seven

 

 

 You know Susan

This obliging predictability?

It’s quite unattractive

 

 

 I know

But it’s a sympathy date

I have to keep it simple

 

 

 Sympathy date?

 

 

 (she laughs)

 

 See you at seven paperboy

 

11011


 

Boston Public Garden

6:00P.M.

 

Lydia approaches

this time standing next to Randall

on the same side of the bench

 

She sets her bag next to his

says ‘excuse me’

re-ties her shoe

picks up his bag and leaves

 

The bag she left isn’t empty

inside the bag a bubble pack

inside that a cellphone and note

 

 

“I got you a disposable phone

Forgot to give it to you

 

See

I can be human sometimes

 

There’s only one contact

 

Don’t call it

Unless it’s an emergency”

 

 

The note and phone

were a nice touch

and wrong

 

Human sometimes

as in not Civil?

 

Jagged sharp edges

between alliance and suspicion

adolescent trust coated in guilt

 

Now on to the greater challenge

what to tell Susan

and how

when you’re not sure of what

 

11012