8. Wylie goes on a trip
Wylie paced round and round his desk, like a dog chasing its own tail, all the while pulling on his right-earlobe - a sure sign that he was thinking. At last, he appeared to make up his mind. "Yes, that's what must have happened! Somebody's got them both, confound it! Billions of blinking, blathering, blinded baboons! Barbarians!! Body snatchers!!! Ballerinas!!!!"
Wylie was working himself up to a rage, as he often did, and Katy looked on in silent misery, unable to voice her fears since she had no idea how her employer would react. She watched Wylie rant and rage and pace the room, half expecting him to start frothing at the mouth. She wanted to ask him what he meant, who had got her darling Ringo (and of course, Normal too, she thought, doing some mental editing) but she didn't want the infuriated little man's anger directed at her. She knew from her limited past experience that Wylie's anger, while it had a tendency to burn white hot like a supernova, subsided almost as fast as it flared up. All she had to do was wait in silence while Wylie wound down like a clockwork toy.
"Porcupines!!! Porcine, ponderous, peregrinating pumpkins!! Pontius Pilate on a plate! Pirates! Pollywogs! Pandora's pancake pullers!" Wylie raged on and then, without warning, as was usual for him, he stopped to draw a breath and then fell silent. He began pacing again at a furious rate, pulling so hard on his right-earlobe that Kathryn was afraid that the whole ear would come off. He was a small man but didn't have the usual disproportionately large head and stunted bodies of those affected by dwarfism. In fact, he looked more like a small child who had dressed up as an adult - if a small child could manage to look rather muscular and have an elegant goatee, that is.
"There's no help for it, Katy. I guess I'll have to go after them and get it back," he said after a while as if he'd come to a decision.
"Get what back?" asked the bemused Kathryn.
"Never you mind what, Katy. I don't want to involve you in this any further. I'll find them myself. Just mind the office for a few days while I'm gone, will you?"
"But John, where are you going? What happened to Ringo and Normal? Why won't you tell me anything?" Kathryn was fast approaching the point where she would, under normal circumstances, have grabbed Wylie and tried to shake some sense out of him. But she'd just started on this job and wasn't sure that it was wise to be that familiar with her employer just yet. Besides, her pragmatic side whispered, if something's happened to Normal, you're going to need this job.
"It's for your own good, Katy. The less you know, the better it is. Certainly for me, but probably for you as well," Wylie said as if he was thinking aloud. He then looked up at her and his expression became kinder.
"Come now, child. Don't worry. Your husband and your dog will be fine. I promise that I'll get them back safe and sound. Just take care of the office and tell anybody who might inquire that I'm away on business but will be back in a couple of days," he said, giving her a rather weak smile. He might even have attempted to pat her hand if he'd been tall enough to reach it.
"Are you sure you'll be back in a couple of days?"
Irritation flared in Wylie's eyes for a moment. "Of course I'll be back in a few days! Even if I'm not, just keep on telling them that I'll be back soon! They don't have to know how soon I'll be back! I'll have my comm unit turned off. I'll contact you when I can and let you know if I have any further instructions for you."
"But ... but ... how can I reach you if there's an emergency?" This really wasn't going well. First Ringo and Normal disappeared with no warning, and now her boss was trying to skedaddle off somewhere. What was going on? Was she going to be left husbandless, dogless and now, jobless too?
If Wylie had a chance of whispering in her ear, he might have attempted it. Instead, he stretched up on tiptoe and said in a rather low voice, "I guess you'll just have to manage the best you can, Katy, because I don't want them to trace me using my comm unit."
"Them? Who's them?" asked Kathryn, pouncing upon the word. She wondered if it was possible that Wylie had gone insane. He had become a total paranoiac all of a sudden, and it wasn't as if he was a government agent or a detective or a teacher or some such profession where a little bit of paranoia was part of the territory. He was just an agent. Not a government agent, but your run of the mill agent for the graffiti glitterati, as they called themselves - the street artists. She didn't know what had come over Wylie for him to start acting in such a strange fashion. But there was nothing she could say since she was afraid that anything she said would only result in triggering one of his sudden rages. She contented herself with nodding her head as he gave her a few more instructions, took some items out of his cluttered desk drawer, stuffed them in his pockets and turned to leave.
"Oh yes, hope you remember that Jello's got a job at the Electric Drum today?" said Wylie, turning back.
"I haven't forgotten. She'll be fine. She's had gigs like this before," said Kathryn, sharply. She was a little irritated that he would doubt her efficiency. After all, she'd been working here for several months now.
"Yeah, just making sure," said Wylie, giving her a grin which seemed to say that he knew he'd managed to irritate her, as he continued out the door. He stopped short as he was about to leave the room. "Oh yeah, they'll be here soon. Bomb it!" he said, almost to himself. Then he turned back to Kathryn. "There will be a bunch of guys looking for me. Tell them that there's been a little complication and that they should call you-know-who for further instructions."
"Who?"
"They'll know who!"
"But you said to tell everybody who asked that you'll be back in a few days. So how do I know who should call whoever-that-they-know and who should be told that you'll be back soon?" Kathryn was beginning to lose all patience with her employer.
"You'll figure it out, I'm sure. Well, see you soon, Katy!" With a cheery wave, John Wylie left his office. Kathryn found herself alone, worrying about her husband and her dog. While most of her mind was occupied with worrying, there was a tiny part of her mind debated with itself trying to figure out what she should tell whom and wondering who these mysterious strangers were.
