16

"Vision Quest," Jody said. "Angel Heart, Basic Instinct. There are never enough of these short little titles for movies, so they keep on taking the old ones and using them over and over."

"Hmmm," Chris said. Jody had picked Chris up from her apartment and they were driving to the plumbing showroom together, in Jody's orange Camry.

So far so good, Jody thought. I can think of worse ways to have a date. From Saturday until Monday, Jody had concluded that maybe she hadn't blown it after all, or would Chris have said yes to tagging along on the job?

That doesn't mean anything, Jody told herself. It's work, she could just be doing it because it's work.

Chris said something Jody didn't hear because she was daydreaming.

"Huh?" Jody said.

"Like Legal Eagles?"

"Exactly! Legal Eagles, Summer Rental, Flash Back, Dead Calm. Day for Night. What was the name of that one time travel movie from the late seventies? It was supposed to be about H.G. Wells or something."

"I don't think I saw that one."

Jody pulled off the road into a small gravel parking lot. "I think we're here," she said. "443A Loyd Tunnel."

"It's a tunnel?"

"I guess it's a tunnel." They both got out of the car and stepped over to the ticket booth.

"What are we supposed to do again?" asked Chris.

"We're supposed to find some hot-and-cold knobs and pipes. Your guess is as good as mine, but they paid well. That's all I know."

"It sure is better than nothing," Chris said. "I never saw a plumbing showroom with a ticket booth."

Jody nodded. "It's the only one of its kind in the world, or that's what they told me on the phone. Here." She handed Chris a yellow ticket and they both inserted their tickets in a prominent slot on the surface of the vending machine. It clicked, whirred and then stopped. A huge metal grate whirred and opened, lifting off the ground.

"I guess there's a lot of expensive stuff down here?" Chris said.

Jody nodded.

"Maybe that's why there's so much security."

They both stepped on to a bathroom floor of black tile. They walked through a hall of sinks of all varieties. Then they passed toilets with a variety of designs. The entire showroom was laid out as a deepening tunnel into the earth. There were only two directions: deeper or more shallow.

They examined the various equipment and Jody re-checked a list.

"Look for a sink which is solid gold," she said.

"Who hired us, anyway?" asked Chris.

"Well, I didn't meet them in person. Some kind of tribunal?"

"What's a tribunal?"

"It's a military court."

"Oh," Chris said, trying to wrap her mind around the idea. "A military court that wants a solid gold sink? Were they American?"

"It's difficult to say. All I had to go on was their voices." She paused. "Yeah, I don't know."

Chris yawned. "I'm getting sleepy." She put her head on Jody's shoulder.

Jody felt magnetically drawn to stroke Chris. She stroked her hair and shoulders, and noticed Chris left her head where it was.

"Well, don't get too sleepy down here, sleepyhead," Jody said. "We still have to hike our way to the surface when we finish down here. I think they're hoping to get an answer by late this afternoon."

"Do we have to carry a heavy sink with us?"

"Mm, no, apparently there is a little ID tag on each one so we just have to write down whatever number we pick, and let them know, and I guess they'll send someone to take it away later."

"Odd," Chris said. She was leaning in to Jody's touch, and breathing. "A military court wants a solid gold sink."

She was almost slurring the R's.

Her eyes were closed.

Odd, Jody thought. Odd is right.