Chapter 14 (Interlogue II) - 3:21 AM OCTOBER 1977
(Picking up from Interlogue I) In which Lou pulls Jax inside.
[Need a reminder of Interlogue I ?]
The frosty night roused Lou from the final bonds of sleep. He gazed down, once again enchanted by the sight of Jax, even as she banged both hands repeate dly against the bottom half of his back door. The usual thrill of her attention was tempered by the recurring drama that was Jax.
“Please, let me in, please please, let me in!”
“What’s going on?” Lou felt conflicting instincts of an ingrained urge to protect her versus a learned caution for his own emotional wellbeing.
“Please!”
Lou looked past Jax, toward the street, and saw the dark figure of a man, hands in his pockets, steadily approaching them. His wariness of this unclear situation was immediate. He unlatched the lower half of the Dutch door and pulled Jax up the high step and into the van. What’s happening this time? Lou wondered. Did he really want to get involved?
Jax rushed behind Lou and put her hands on his shoulders. He could feel her pressing against his back, her body trembling. Lou remained standing in the open doorway, focused on the stranger, unmindful that his senses had peaked and his energy and pulse had increased. He gave no thought to the freezing temperature, nor to his stark appearance. “Stay back,” barked Lou.
The stranger, a young, bearded man with hair in long waves, slowed down and raised both hands in conciliation. “Hello. We’re from MPACT. We’re just here to help.”
“Help with what? Why are you here?” Lou pulled shut the lower door and latched it securely.
“We were transporting this woman home after we got a call from a tavern. She wouldn’t give an exact address. We stopped up the street—” he pointed to a light blue van parked under a streetlight “—and she jumped out and ran here.”
Lou looked up the street and saw the van, two other people standing in front of it. He could just make out the Blue Dove logo with the wording across the front: Mobile People’s Aid Crisis Team.
“Stay back,” Lou repeated more calmly. There was no threat here. MPACT was not the problem. Lou turned his head to the side. Jax was so close, so close.
She rose up onto her toes and whispered into Lou’s ear, “Don’t let them in here. Please, Louie. Make them go away. Please, help me.”
Lou twisted back a little more. He had no space for delusions about Jax. His head was full of the shambles of yesterday, a precarious tomorrow, and the stranger presently watching in the dark. But his heart—. He felt Jax’s warm breath upon his cheek, followed by a spot of dampness on his bare shoulder as tears dropped from those soft blue eyes.
“Help me,” she breathed.
Interesting. Yeah, you'd need to remember or re-read Chapter 1. It shows up for me. I'm puzzled why it doesn't show for you. Well, this is one of the problems with weekly installments, not remembering things from two months ago. Jax is key to the whole story. Here is a link: https://michaelsussman.substack.com/p/chapter-1?utm_source=publication-search
Jax was a mystery to me. Didn't recall her ever being mentiooned. I couldn't find chapter 1 to look at it again. I think I read it, but it's not coming up in a search.