Navigating A Plot Device

At seven-thirty, Rogan McPeters strolled in. Unkempt, unshaven, in an unwashed hoodie and jeans. Though certainly no prude, Jennifer failed to see why so many women did not find Rogan McPeters as revolting as she did even before they first met the previous Friday.

Rogan McPeters seemingly took no notice of this just as he seemingly took no notice of the Regular Stranger. He simply plopped himself down on the stool nearest Jennifer at the counter.

"So...my money..."

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"No...you don't have it?"

"No, I am not paying you. Now, get out!"

Rogan McPeters smiled a sick smile and pulled out his smartphone.

"That's not very smart, Skye...I told you what would happen..."

Rogan McPeters put his smartphone on the counter and tapped its screen to life.

Jennifer did not budge.

"One last chance...before the whole world knows that Skye Foxxe is now running a coffee shop in Upstate New York...including your ex...you know, the one who used you and your little girl for MMA practice..."

"Young man,"

The Regular Stranger's voice was not loud or severe. Yet there was something in it that compelled Rogan McPeters and Jennifer to turn and look at him. The Regular Stranger did not look up from his newspaper.

"I would be careful about what I send out on the Internet. These things have a way of taking a life of their own..."

"Hey, mind your business, Brah, before I go over there and bust your head in!"

"Very well, then."

The Regular Stranger made no movement other than with his eyes, which were still on his newspaper.

Irritated, Rogan McPeters turned back to Jennifer.

"Last chance! Have the money here tonight, or I put your greatest hits outta Chatsworth on blast."

Jennifer did not move. Pure hatred streamed from her eyes.

"Okay...have it your way, then..."

Rogan McPeters tapped the screen of his smartphone.

Jennifer still did not move, and her eyes remained the same.

Rogan McPeters began to giggle in the manner of a not particularly bright B-movie heavy. He was still giggling when his gaudy ringtone sounded.

"Yo...WHAT???"

"Could you turn on the TV, please?"

The Regular Stranger's calm voice reached Jennifer.

The words BREAKING NEWS scrolled across the bottom of the screen as the anchor spoke.

"This just in. Several women in New York City, LA and London have, moments ago, posted messages and videos alleging that they were extorted by social media sensation Rogan McPeters, who was seen this weekend in a small town in Upstate New York...and it's still coming in...just in the time I have been talking to you, scores of other women have posted further allegations against Rogan McPeters..."

Rogan McPeters grabbed his phone and ran out of the coffee shop...right into Jennifer's eight o'clock crowd...who instantly recognised him, many pulling out their phones and recording the moment indelibly for posterity.

The Regular Stranger lifted his eyes, got up, and removed his hearing aid before delicately swinging open its battery compartment with his thumb.

"Nasty one. At least he will be the recipient for a change and for a while."

"How did you manage that?"

The Regular Stranger turned to Jennifer.

"Ah...this new hearing aid of mine has a blue tooth function. Normally, I have no use for it. However, friends of mine were able to configure it so that it scrambled your wi-fi, except to let out one signal from one particular cell phone. A signal, mind you, and not a message. But powerful enough a signal to be broadly transmitted, and to then trigger other signals that were waiting."

Jennifer looked at the Regular Stranger for a moment. Then, she approached him, her arms extending outwards as she walked.

"I suppose this is where I tell you you are my hero and kiss you--"

The Regular Stranger stopped Jennifer by raising his hand, palm up and facing Jennifer as if he were a crossing guard.

"Not at all. Only in some pulp fiction dime novel am I anything other than a plot device. No, the hero here is you. Lifelong hard worker, single mother doing the best she can for her child, while still having the courage to call out injustice, even when it does not impact her.

"Real heroes are neither Parsifal nor his endless constellation of reiterations and rip-offs. Real heroes are people who get up and struggle each day for meagre short-term returns in the hope that their entirely unglamourous routine will one day benefit just one, maybe two, other human beings."

"But...did you hear what he said about Skye Foxxe and Chatsworth?"

"Yes...but I fail to see the connection..."

"But...you are a 'conservative' commentator."

"I am...and that has no impact on my views on Skye Foxxe and Chatsworth?"

"Because you believe in 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?'"

"Because I acknowledge that Skye Foxxe, as well as Chatsworth as a whole, are a source of joy and comfort to ordinary police and soldiers. Harming either of the former in any way is as plainly unpatriotic as harming any of the latter in any way."