The Drazen World: The California Limited (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Catherine C. Heywood Page B

asked, clutching her hat and getting jostled.
    “It seems so,” Jack replied, pulling them into the station.  When he turned to collect their luggage from the porter, her hand slipped from his grasp.  He threw a dollar at the porter with barely a word of thanks and craned his neck to look for her.  “Minnie?”
    “Jack!”
    He turned at the sound of her voice to see her strolling towards him from a newsstand.  “Look.”  She held up a newspaper, beaming.  “ The Hollywood Reporter .”
    “I suppose we’ve really arrived, then,” he said, directing her into a Harvey House.
    They ate a light breakfast while waiting for the crush of people to die down, then Jack stood to arrange their taxi.
    “Just let me freshen up first,” Minnie said, squeezing his hand and nodding at the ladies’ restroom.
    “I’ll do the same,” he replied.  “Meet you right back here?”
    She nodded.
    Another cup of coffee and twenty minutes later, Jack checked his watch for the second time.  Ladies tended to be longer with these details, but this was getting a little ridiculous.  He flicked another glance to the ladies’ restroom door and stood.  But perhaps she wasn’t feeling well and would be embarrassed that he had come looking for her.  So he sat back down.
    Ten minutes later he went to the restroom door.  After a minute, a middle aged woman came out and he put a hand before her.  “Do you mind?  I’m waiting for…”  He paused, thinking how best to refer to her.  “…my wife.  She went in there about a half hour ago.  She’s very beautiful and tall, nearly my height in her heels.  She has dark brown hair and blue eyes.  She’s wearing a purple dress and yellow gloves, with a black hat and shoes.  She’s really very stunning.  Did you, per chance, see her?”
    The woman looked him up and down, a sour expression on her face, then said, “They all look like that, Mack.  I didn’t notice her.”
    He watched the woman walk away, stunned by her rudeness, then stopped another one with the same description.  “Her name is Minnie.  Would you mind terribly calling for her?  I’m very worried about her.  She’s been in there awhile now.”
    The woman gave him a kindly smile and nodded, retreating back into the restroom for a moment, then returned, shaking her head sadly.  “Nobody in there fits that description or answers to that name.  I’m sorry, sir.”
    He stood outside the restroom for another moment, wondering what to do.  Then he entered, heedless to the shrieks and cries.
    Just what do you think you are doing, young man?
    How dare you!
    This is the ladies’ room!
    What do you mean by this?  Get out!
    You pervert!
    He pushed open every stall he could, peered at the feet of those he couldn’t, then stood.  “Minnie.” 
    He gaped at every horrified woman, lipstick half applied, hands dripping, who was pressing herself against sinks, walls, and stalls.  In sheer disbelief he looked at every wall, sink, mirror, and fixture. 
    Then he ran back out to the Harvey House and looked to the counter where they were supposed to meet.  “Minnie!”  His eyes skated over every bland surface, every disinterested face. 
    Then he went back into the terminal and out to the concourse, by the rail and taxis, turning and looking and calling for her, his mind turning, his heart racing, pulsing into his throat, drying his mouth, his calls breathy and desperate as his throat became hoarse.
    “ MINNIE! ”
    “Now, now, son,” said an approaching policeman, wiry and dark, “What is all this?  You’re disturbing the peace of this station.”
    “Oh,” Jack grabbed his arms like a lifeline.  “My friend is missing.”
    “Missing, you say,” said the policeman dubiously as he pulled out of Jack’s grip.  “Was your friend a baby?  Goes by the name Lindbergh?”
    Jack glared at the man.  “This is not some publicity prank, I swear to you.  We arrived here on the California Limited .