The Great Cleanup - стр. 6
Anna looked at the bench. A girl clad in leather – pants, jacket, and boots – was half-sitting, half-laying on it, leaning on an armrest. Like Anna, she was a brunette of average height, build and breast size. They somehow resembled each other, except Anna was somewhat older and dressed in a “home casual” style.
The girl's eyes were closed.
“Er?..” Anna was lost for words after looking at her prospective bench mate.
The policeman frowned and waved his hand dismissively.
“A junkie. Probably stoned. Don't be afraid, she's not dangerous…”
Having said that, he disappeared behind one of the doors. Anna glanced cautiously at her new neighbour, then sighed and, despite her misgivings, sat down on the very edge of the bench. Thinking that she should probably tell her unsuspecting husband that she ended up at the police station, Anna probed into the pocket of the dressing-gown. Her phone was not there. It remained on the kitchen table…
Her quiet coexistence with her bench-mate lasted a few seconds. The girl suddenly started shaking. She sat up, clasped herself with her arms, then opened her eyes. Her gaze tossed about the corridor, doors, Anna. It seemed that the girl was trying but failing to control herself. The junkie quaked more and more, and then suddenly focused a threatening look at Anna:
“Give it to me, quick!”
“What?” Anna did not understand anything.
The girl's eyes flashed with fury:
“Whaddaya mean, what? The usual! Give it to me!”
“What's the usual? What do I give you?” Anna stayed confused.
The junkie appeared to burn through her with a laser gaze:
“You forgot, didn't you?”
Anna herself nearly started shaking from the girl's stare:
“I never even knew.”
The gaze slowly faded, then Anna's bench mate closed her eyes and frowned.
“Damn! Damn! Damn! That's not you!” She flung her eyelashes open again, turning her head in all directions. “And where are you then? Now, where are you? Where are you? Where?!”
A stream of very rude words followed. Then another, even stronger. After failing to find whoever she was looking for, the girl stared at Anna pleadingly:
“You sure you don't have any?”
By this time Anna knew exactly what the girl meant, so she shook her head softly:
“I'm sure I don't. I don't do drugs. Perhaps at a banquet I might have a bit of sweet liqueur or a glass of champagne.”
The girl continued with another dirty tirade, devoted to one of the natural events of human physiology. Then she froze for a second and started a feverish rummage of her own pockets. After fishing out some bits of paper, a few coins, but none of what she was looking for, she hugged herself again, trying to hold back and soften the shaking.
“Now, she's really…” Anna quietly pitied the girl, who suddenly beamed and, after a quick glance to the sides, unzipped her pants and pushed her hand behind the zipper. When she got it out again, Anna noticed a small shiny paper bag on the palm.
The girl on the bench flipped the content of the bag into her mouth, licked the paper and immediately closed her eyes in bliss. First the muscles of her neck turned off and her head fell onto her chest. Then her back relaxed; the girl started a slow slide from the bench onto the concrete floor.
Anna swooped up the junkie, trying to sit her down again, but the girl just kept sliding off. Then Anna laid her down on the bench, head on Anna's lap. Amazingly, the junkie's hair was clean and had a lovely smell. Her leather pants and jacket were new and expensive. A gold pin with a real diamond shone on the lap. Anna sighed, reminded of how she nearly lost all her jewellery and cash to a hypno swindler.