This is my entry in Patti Abbott's Short Story Challenge based on a painting by Reginald Marsh. Patti will be posting her own story and links to other entries by other bloggers on PATTINASE today. She will generously be donating five dollars for every entry, to the Union Settlement, a Social Services Agency in Harlem in need of funds.
***************************************
White Dress, Red Buttons.
“These heels are killing me. I feel like I’m standing on a slant.”
“Women of this era wanted to be stylish and appealing.”
“Stylish, hell. This is murder.”
“It’s the damned girdle I find bothersome.”
“Threw mine away. I thought the books said there was some big rubber shortage.”
“Not big enough, apparently."
“Well, it was take it off or stop breathing. I definitely need to lose five pounds.”
“I can stomach a little discomfort. It’s only for a few more minutes anyway.”
“Very funny. I hate all this standing around.”
“Don’t keep checking your watch, you’ll attract attention.”
“Oh crap, here come those two coppers who were giving us the eye.”
“German. Remember to speak German.”
“Stop hissing, I remember.”
“ Good evening, ladies. But not a good night for loitering. Be on your way now. No trouble.”
“We’re not loitering. We’re waiting for our boyfriends.”
“You’ve been standing here for a half hour. Maybe your boyfriends aren’t coming.”
“ Has it been that long? They must have been held up at work.”
“Don’t think much of a man who’ll keep his girlfriend waiting. Maybe you’d like to come along with us. Kurt, do you think these young ladies would like to come along with us?”
“Yes, I do, it’s dark and the streets are always crowded with ruffians at this time of night.”
“We can take care of ourselves.”
“ Can you? Maybe we’ll just take a look at your papers. Kurt, do you think we should take a look at the ladies’ papers?”
“Yes, I do. One can’t be too careful these days.”
“What is that, a lipstick?”
********************************************
“Why did you do that?”
“I don't like being leered at, especially by an ape whose breath smells like sauerkraut."
“The stun flash is only for dire emergencies. Now what?”
“With all these people milling about no one will notice.”
“They’re police, Hal. They’re not moving. Somebody is bound to take notice.”
“Let’s walk over to the other side of the lobby. Casually. Act casually.”
“They’re falling over.”
“Pretend we don’t notice.”
“They’re drawing a crowd.”
“I hear an ambulance.”
“This is a very noisy city. I noticed that right away.”
“I can’t think how people stood it.”
“I’ve just had another thought. You think those cops are pick-ups? Sent by Morley?”
“Doubtful. They didn’t identify themselves. Plus, the odor of sauerkraut. Too much verismillitude."
“What if…?”
“Stop worrying. I triple-checked our calculations down to the second."
“Do you think this clamor will stop him showing up tonight?”
“He’s eaten dinner here every night this week and according to the books, he’ll continue to do so for another three weeks.”
“That was before you froze two cops in mid-sentence.”
“I wish those ambulance attendants would get them out of here, they might start coming around.”
“It’s not easy to lift large frozen produce.”
“They’re leaving. Blend into the crowd. It's just another few minutes."
“They’re rounding some of them up for questioning, Leo, we can’t let that happen. At this rate we’re going to have all kinds of incidental damage.”
“Tomorrow night it will be something else. We can’t freeze them all. It’s only five minutes till zero hour.
“I wish you’d get over your use of quaint colloquialisms.”
“I pick them up from Morley.”
“Morley is a brilliant British eccentric. British eccentrics are allowed leeway.”
“What do you think he’ll do to us?”
“If we make it back? Sticky duty. Ten years in the outer districts. Snail smugglers.”
“I hate snail smugglers. The smell…!”
“Actually, I’m surprised we’ve been allowed to get this far. Somehow I expected Morley to come barreling through the portal with a couple of nets.”
“Do you think he suspected?”
“Probably. He's always on the look-out for travelers trying to fix things."
“Why didn’t he stop us?”
“Morley has his ways. We may have fallen in with his own plans.”
“I haven’t seen anyone we know - yet.”
“The shift override won’t fool him or the portal for long. But he'll still be 27 minutes behind us."
“I wonder if we'll be remembered for this.”
“They might never know any of it happened. We might not happen."
“We’ll be unsung heroes.”
“I’m not interested in being a hero. I’m interested in stopping a maniac."
“The crowd is clearing, here comes the car.”
“Get ready. Right on schedule. That’s the thing with these Nazi fellows, according to the research, they were always on time.”
Adolf Hitler stepped out of the automobile, brown-shirted bodyguards in place forming a phalanx. A woman was seen to pull a red button off her dress and fling it in their direction followed by a hellish, fiery explosion.
*******************************
Note: Painting by Reginald Marsh (1898 - 1954)
