Writing for Fun
January 2017
Ice Cold in Alex - Gerry Miller
Alex did not really know why she was the way she was, but she felt that how she was made her ideally suited for her job. The sickness in her stomach came and went, her irritability was lingering just below the surface and anger was smouldering red hot underneath. At the baby shower last night she had caught herself in the mirrors in the restaurant, she looked normal but then such frustration and hatred was well hidden. The training provided by Archangel just honed her talents; her sense of injustice fuelled everything that both she and the organisation aimed for.
Sipping her one of two seemingly allowed ice cold champagnes she had mingled and socialised with her friends and staff of where she worked. The glimpses of her self smiling and laughing in the many selfies taken appeared genuine and there was no evident contemplation that she was other than as presented. They thought she was their friend. Alex thought how gullible and indeed stupid people were. Could they help it or were they indeed choosing the easy way through life. But then being bigoted by its very name meant that you were narrow of vision to say the least.
Grown-ups were responsible for their choices and indeed for the consequences of those choices. What was it that people said ‘Revenge was a dish best served cold’? Perhaps that was why she had not succeeded in any serious relationship; other than with her employers, they had all become shallow, superficial and included sex. Soon though all the involvement here would be behind her and the smouldering anger and the ice cold need for justice would be satiated, even if only for such a short while.
As she readied herself she pondered ‘Did the good of the many outweigh the good of the few, where on earth could the counting begin? Surely the sacrifice of any good person was inherently wrong, how could there be a balancing act. And indeed if there was, who indeed was to perform this task?’ So when asked to join the ‘Club’ the character of Alex was formed and refined, the task was evaluated, agreement was given and work began. The most difficult part of this task was gaining the right employment. Until the final go ahead she continually re-evaluated, reassessed and challenged the task. Watching whilst many lambs were being led to the slaughter. This was fine as long as you were not a lamb. Everyone she knew tutted about the atrocities but showed no real concern. Little had changed since world war two, children in the death camps children in Calais, unaccompanied minors left truly in the face of harm.
Women sold into slavery, prostitution and continuously exploited, the world had lost sight of its standards and indeed their moral code was of no substance. Even the President of the USA had been accused on a number of occasions of groping and abusing his powers. Alex gave a huge sigh, checking all the wires were connected she straightened her pregnancy bump and left the flat.
Her last visit to her office was to clear her desk, as a longer term agency worker women had no entitlement to return to work. Alex was proud of her extremely thorough planning and today was also the Thursday that tours conducted in Spanish took place in the Knesset. She would easily blend in during the panic. No-one would be looking for her. All the staff made a fuss of her telling her to bring the baby back to show them. Smiling Alex distributed her few bits and pieces to colleagues and left waving goodbye. Quickly she moved through the building, stopping only at the last toilets to be visited and removing her final fake pregnancy, she placed her hair in a pleat and a nice wide belt around her midriff. Her coat was reversed so the bright red showed and with her dark eyes she was happy that she looked slightly Spanish.
As she joined the tour it was just leaving to explore the gardens and walk the perimeter to see the more modern additions to the building. Alex pressed her transmit button on her phone, a series of explosions echoed through the building and the tour party hurriedly ran out of the building. In the panic, as anticipated, no one noticed her. She fled with the others through the gates and out onto the road. From outside they watched as officialdom took over. Alex removed her coat and reversing it back to black, smiling with satisfaction, she disappeared.
Later that evening sitting at the airport screens had nothing but the Knesset damage the building had been almost completely destroyed. At the same time the Al-Aqsa mosque was also bombed. Over the next few days the right wing government fell and a joint enterprise was now to be set up finally based on a two state solution. Alex passed through the immigration checks little attention was paid to the small Spanish woman, booked to New York via Paris.
Planning had been started some time ago and a cab took her straight to her new apartment in Midtown Manhattan. Her new character had already started to develop and would thrive here. Alex paused for thought, what on earth would she be given after New York? only time would tell.