[Sodium_noir] St Bridgets

[Jennie Teakle]

Steps of St Bridgets
10am

Christine walks out of St Bridgets and into the fitful sunlight.  
After the comfortable gloom of the church, the light makes her blink  
and she almost walks right into a brisk stepping woman in a navy suit  
with matching pea coat. Christine gains a brief impression of a  
blonde in a hat and veil, younger than the very formal attire would  
suggest, then the giddiness and nausea jump her.

"Fuck it!"  Christine lurches against the church doorway to steady  
herself and fights like a fiend not to slither to the ground or throw  
up. The image of the woman in the blue suit warps into a different  
portrait - same woman but this time she stands against a darkened  
sky, wearing armour, holding a gold-coloured shield. She almost seems  
to glow in gold against the darkness, against the shadows that gather  
around her. On her shield, a red dragon coils, one that Christine  
recognises. She saw it in a vision yesterday, connected to Mara. Then  
the two pictures of the woman in blue in her head merge and Christine  
sees the obvious.

"She's a cop," mutters Christine.

The world stops spinning. Christine makes it down the steps without  
falling on her ass. As she hits the sidewalk that skirts Homeless  
Square, Cardboard City,  Christine sees that she is being scrutinised  
by an old woman clutching a bulging plastic grocery bag in each hand,  
dressed in a ragged coat, a fraying woolen hat pulled down over her  
ears. The bag lady nods at Christine.

"You alright, lovie?" asks the woman in a kindly fashion. "Don't like  
to see youngins like you so bad, so early." The woman shakes her head  
with regret as Christine stares back at her stupidly, lost for words.  
"Such a shame," she adds regretfully before shuffling on her  
haphazard way across the Square.

Great, thinks Christine sourly watching her go. First step out into  
my Brave New World, already mistaken for a derelict and a drunk.


TBC

	
	
		
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