Triangles, Part Eighteen

"D.J.?"

"Yeh?" a lightly accented male voice broadcast from the speaker grill.

"Hey, it's Lee."

"Lee!" the young Kiwi responded with more enthusiasm. "How's it going, mate? Haven't seen ya around in a while."

"Yeah, I know. I've been running ragged trying to juggle the show and the prep for the movie."

"Yeh? How's that goin'?"

Lee blew out an explosive breath to which D.J. gave a hearty laugh. "Hey, listen. D'you have a class tonight?"

"Naw. Wednesdays are usually the beginners, but we're on a break between classes right now. I was gonna work on the thesis tonight. Why?"

"Oh. Well, it's been a hel of week and I thought a few rounds with you might settle me down some."

"Hey, I can write about the motions of the body anytime. When can ya get down here?"

Lee glanced at the tiny clock on his desk and grimaced. It was already six o'clock. "How about nine?"

"Sure. That sounds great. Mebbe we c'n knock back a coupla beers after."

Lee grinned. He was aleady looking forward to sparring with his sensei. "Yeah, maybe." I might need that more than the sparring. "Alright, well, I gotta wrap things up here. I'll see you at nine."

"Right, mate. Catch ya later."

"Later." Lee reached forward and tapped the disconnect on his speaker phone, then leaned back in his chair with sigh and let his mind wander for a moment.

He liked the younger New Zealander who had taken over as his martial arts instructor many years ago. D.J. was like lightening on the tatami and his wit was equally swift off the mat. They had similar martial arts backgrounds which made it easy for them to work together, and D.J.'s studies in physiology and physical therapy filled the gaps in Lee's innate knowledge of the weaknesses of the human body. There was always something for them to learn from each other.

"So," Cass spoke into the silent office.

"Gah!" Lee jumped half out of his skin in surprise.

"Sorry," Cass laughed from her place in the doorway though her grin said that she was anything but. "You're going to work out with D.J. tonight, huh?"

As she waited for him to gather his wits, Cass bustled into the office and settled onto the couch behind Lee's desk, forcing him to swivel his chair to keep her in sight. "Don't worry about it," he said when she'd stopped moving. "And, yeah."

"Good." She swatted his knee. "Maybe it'll get you out of the funk you've been in all week."

Lee frowned. "What do you mean?" He knew he'd been feeling a bit listless since Sunday, disappointed and angry at himself for being disappointed, but he thought he'd kept his emotions to himself.

"Now," Cass laughed, "don't go getting all defensive. You can mope all you want around the rest of the folks here without being noticed, but I know you." She scooted to the edge of the couch and dropped her voice. "So, what's up with you, hmm?"

Lee shrugged and crossed his arms as he leaned back away from his best friend. "Nothing."

"Uh-huh. I'm not buying it."

Lee shook his head. "Really."

"Right. So, lemme guess..." She tilted her head and regarded him, tapping a forefinger on her pursed lips. A mischievous smile finally appeared and she said, "Your little hearthrob hasn't called you yet."

Lee blew out a breath. I knew I should never have told her about that.

Cass chuckled. "That's it, isn't it? You were all excited about giving her your card and she hasn't used it yet."

Lee rolled his eyes then nodded and hung his head with a sigh. "For once," he mumbled to his lap, "I give my card to someone I'd actually like to call back and there's not a peep."

Cass leaned farther forward and rubbed his shoulder. "I'm sure there's a good reason why she hasn't called."

"Yeah," Lee sighed. "Because she ain't interested."

Cass snorted. "Right." The room was silent for a long moment. Finally, she settled back onto the couch and leaned an elbow interestedly on the arm. "So, tell me about all the excitement I missed here this afternoon."

"Excitement?" Lee made a sound of disgust. "More like aggravation."

Cass laughed heartily. "That's just the Mope talking. I mean, when's the last time Stacy Smith went into the field to get a story? You should feel privileged."

"Yeah," Lee griped. "I'm so special I get my own private short bus."

"That's not funny!" his friend chortled, swatting his arm. "Brat."

Lee shrugged. "Yup, that's me." But, even he finally cracked a smile.

Cass settled down some when she saw it. "That's better. Now, tell me about Mrs. Leminski. Was the folder useful?"

Lee shook his head. "No, not really." Cass' expression fell and he hurried to explain, "I looked in it and I may yet have to use that information. But, today I thought I'd hear her out... get a feel for where they were coming from and how they're going to be a problem."

"That doesn't sound like you, but okay. So, what did you learn?"

"Well," Lee pushed his desk chair with his toe, giving it a spin as he gathered his thoughts. "First she started in on that Bandura crap from the fifties." At Cass' blank look, he paused. "Umm... that nonsense with the Bobo the clown punching bag... he was the first to try to quantitatively prove a correlation between viewing violence and acting violent."

Cass' expression cleared. "Oh. So that's the foundation of their argument."

Lee nodded. "Mostly, yeah. The whole idea boils down to humans being little more than mimics." He gave her wry grin. "Y'know, 'monkey see, monkey do.'"

Cass chuckled. "And?"

"And, when she was done with her spiel, I proceeded to undermine her basis for argument. I told her how Thorndike proved that there is no such thing as observational learning; that, yes, children may mimic actions they have recently seen on television - or in person, but the effects are temporary. Hours later, a child is no more likely to act violently than they were before they were exposed to violence."

"I see," Cass responded dazedly when Lee paused to take a breath.

Lee shook his head in amusement. "Anyway, once I'd countered her basic premise, she changed directions and began pressing issues about the company rather than the show."

Cass' brows furrowed. "Huh?"

Lee smirked. "She's unhappy that I employ deviants."

"What!" Wide eyes stared at him in disbelief.

"Yeah. That was pretty much my reaction, too. But, every time I tried to get her back on the subject of the show, she'd somehow turn the conversation around and steer headlong into an attempt to engage me in a philosophical debate on morals."

"Tried?"

"Yup. I just wasn't in the mood to bite."

"Mr. Pagan-Bible-Scholar didn't jump at the challenge of changing someone's understanding of the 'sacred text,' huh?" Cass snickered. "Grump."

Lee shrugged but couldn't hide the embarrassed grin that tugged the corners of his mouth. After a second, he cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, Stacey showed up with the news crew and saved me from yet another round of crap." He gave Cass a sidelong look, letting the grin turn into a smirk. "And, judging by the expression on that woman's face, I can bet we'll hear more from her bigoted ass."

For a moment, both of them were silent as they each imagined the snippy MAUVE representative encountering the six and a half foot tall stylishly dressed executive producer with those huge hands and deep voice. In that span of shared imagination, they both sported knowing smirks. Finally, Cass shook her head and sighed, breaking the spell.

"You'd think, in this day and age, that folks would be a little more open minded."

Lee snorted. "You'd think."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to deal with her when the time comes," Cass decided, dismissing the woman and her problems in the same breath. "So, what about Stacy Smith?"

Lee shrugged. "He's about what you'd expect, average size and all that." He paused to think back. "He's a hell of an investigator, though. And I don't just mean his Emmys and other awards."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, it's been what? Five days since the accident?"

Cass nodded. "About, yeah?"

"Right. So, this guy already has details about my previous career." At her widened eyes, Lee continued, "Exactly. You know what he could stumble on if he looks closely enough."

"Oh my god," she breathed and Lee nodded.

"Luckily, he didn't seem interested in my background. It was more like he wanted it as filler, to draw a picture of a whole person rather than a single incident."

"Wow," Cass blurted. "Still, that's pretty scary."

Lee sighed. "Yeah. But, he seems like a real professional. I guess I'll just have to trust Providence that he doesn't find and broadcast something we'd rather he didn't."

Cass nodded again, then glanced at her watch and gave a start. "Yikes!" She stood. "And, on that note, I'm going to call it a night."

Lee confirmed the time as well, and grimaced as he pushed himself up out of the desk chair. He was going to seriously have to rush to meet D.J. on time. As he followed her out, he said, "Have a good night, Cass."

She paused at the threshold and glanced back at him. "Have fun and try not to break anything playing tonight."

With that, she was gone.

~Continued in [an error occurred while processing this directive] Part Nineteen~
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