Mr. Right Now

Chapter One

The young soldier stood stoically at his post just as he did every day for his twelve hour shifts. Monotony was commonplace, and this assignment was tantamount to solitary. There was hardly ever any deviation from the routine boredom- much less a sound. And then there it was.

He heard her long before he saw her. Squinting a bit he leaned towards the noise, as if that would help him to discern what exactly it was. There was a distinctive "click click click" coming down the hall which could only be high heels, and that sound was definitely something of a rarity in Guantanamo Bay. He straightened back up and looked straight ahead, trying to feign complete disinterest... but he was really, really interested. And he wondered just for a few moments what he was supposed to do when she presented herself to him.

Click click click...

He could hear a muffled male voice along with her, so she had some type of an escort. Who could she be? A human rights lawyer? Someone from Langley? A poor misguided senator's aide?

Click click click...

She was very close now and he wondered how she had even gotten this deep into the base. People in heels did not have the type of clearance to make it this far. And yet she kept advancing.

He pulled it together and stared straight ahead with a perfect "I don't care who you are" stance just as she finally rounded the corner. He had just enough time to think he was not at all prepared for this when a very anxious looking Major presented closely behind her. But the young lance corporal was much more interested in the Major's charge than he was the Major.

At first glance she seemed to be a very light complected lady with long dark hair. She had it pinned up in some complex kind of up-do. He couldn't immediately discern her age, but she was smartly dressed- wearing a business suit that he was sure cost more than his monthly salary. She had on large shades (even though she was inside a dimly lit hallway), an ostentatious floppy hat and was wearing a lipstick color that could only be described as Porsche red. She stopped directly in front of him and didn't smile or make eye contact. She didn't even turn her body to face his; she stood there at a 90 degree angle to him looking forward down the hall.

He couldn't help but look at her out of place clothes and accessories, and caught himself thinking he really should be paying much more attention to her. It was his job to meticulously scrutinize everyone that came before him at all costs, for some reason this time he wasn't- instead he was focusing on her window dressing. As he tried to look at her face she turned her head from him, thrusting a small and perfectly manicured hand out towards him to present papers. Not really knowing what else to do he simply took them.

He paused then slowly looked them over, reading every word. There were several succinct and very direct orders, leaving no room for misunderstanding. And yet he was thoroughly confused. He glanced towards the nervous Major hoping for some kind of confirmation, but instead the Major just gulped and kept straight ahead. Nothing. He noticed the Major was sweating.

The young lance corporal's hands were shaking as he handed the papers back to her slowly, and as directed in her papers he was sure to not look at her too closely. She didn't immediately take them back (as her head was still turned away from him) but when she finally reached for them she ended up gripping his hand instead of the documents. Slowly she turned her head towards him, squeezed his hand, and with a faint southern accent said "Son, you are doing a great job and I will be out of your hair very soon. Let's get this over with, shall we?"

He looked at the Major one more time for affirmation, for something. The Major nodded at him and then oddly and stiffly took a big step back. It seemed this was as far as the Major would go. So he was taking her in there alone.