The Flames That Heal

All in a Day's Work

            “Good thing he doesn’t know yet. Can you reverse it?”

            “Nope. It’s going to kill itself in an hour or two. I’m pretty good at writing computer programs and viruses. If I’m just causing trouble I usually input an auto kill script. Roberta will be as good as new soon.”

            “Great. Hopefully Reed doesn’t find out.”

            “Find out what?”

            “Nothing. We were talking about Henry?”

            “Why? Leave the poor man alone.”

            “He’s not a poor man Dr. Richards. He seems to be a very rich one.”

            “That’s not what I meant Rosslyen.”

            “Can you call me Ross? I hate being called Rosslyen.”

            “It’s your name.”

            “But you call Susan Sue.”

            “She’s my fiancée.”

            “So I have to be your fiancée for you to call me Ross?”

            “No. I just met you and you’re my employee.”        

            “Your point?”

            “I will not call you Ross. Your name is Rosslyen.”

            “Fine then. What do you want me to do boss man?”

            “One, stop calling me that and two, look into that microscope and tell me what you see.”

            Three hours later Rosslyen was ready for her break. She had looked at four different blood samples, written out about fifteen pages of data, and Dr. Richards almost killed her twice because she dropped two vials of some rare liquid. By the time she had told him she wanted a break, it was twelve forty five. Rosslyen happily jumped up from her chair and raced to the elevator.

            “Remember only an hour,” Dr. Richards said before the door dinged closed.

Ross grimaced at his words, deciding to return a minute or two later. It wasn’t like she wanted to anger him; it was mainly because he had reminded her how long the break was. Rosslyen sighed as the elevator reached the lobby. As she exited it, I heard the dejected sighs of fan-girls and reporters alike.  She was a bit curious as to why they always crowded around the place. It wasn’t like there were any celebrities living around. Deciding that she wanted to be in the loop, she went up to a random girl.

“Hey, what’s with the crowd?”

“What do you mean?”

“All you people, crowding in this one place. What’s it for?”

“You don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I did,” Rosslyen stated sourly.

“Well,” the girl drawled, “this is where the Human Torch lives.”

“Human Torch, as in the Fantastic Four?”

“Yep. He’s gorgeous.”

“Do you even know the guy’s real name?”

“I don’t care about that. I just want to have some fun.”

“Oh, okay. That makes a ton of sense. Just go have sex with some stranger.”

“It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it. He did save New York just months back.”

“Yes, but he is also reckless. Weeks prior to that, he was parading around the city, flying about as if he owned the freaking place. And just so you know, he was only one fourth of the reason the city wasn’t completely destroyed.”

“He’s the best looking one. Nobody wants a rock man or some old guy, and I don’t like females.”

“Wow, so you’d go for an immature jackass over people with substance? Good luck in life,” Ross smiled as she exited the building. She had wasted a good ten minutes talking to the girl and now had forty to forty five minutes left for her break. Breathing in the crisp New York air, Rosslyen walked towards 59th Street. She wanted candy and there was nowhere better than Dylan’s Candy Shop. At least on the way back she could find somewhere to grab a slice of pizza.

As she walked the crowded streets, Ross kept her head down and her pace fast. She was a typical New Yorker, and like most of them, she had things to do and places to go. Finally reaching Dylan’s, she bought two Wonka chocolate bars, a bag of jellybeans, and filled three 16oz. tubes of flavored sugar. After paying for everything, she headed back to Baxter Building. Along the way, she stopped by a small pizzeria and bought a medium pie of cheese and a large pie of spinach, green peppers, and jalapeños for herself. She knew Dr. Richards and Sue might give her strange looks but she didn’t care. She loved her veggie pizzas and no matter what kind of look she was going to be given, she would savor each bite she’d take.