“So everyone was all right on your side?”
“We were all fine. The legal hassles afterwards were a serious pain in the neck, though. Connie Webb over in California is good with legal stuff, if you ever run into a similar situation yourself.”
“Oh. Ah,” Gail said, and furrowed her eyebrows. “I’ll keep that in mind. What about the second incident?”
“The second was a few months ago. You know we had race riots here in Philadelphia after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated?”
“Yes,” Gail said. As a journalism major, she had caught the news bug, and she still followed the news religiously. She knew about the Philadelphia race riots.
“Well, there’s a lot of buried anger and fear around Transforms that gets mixed into the whole race business. So, when the riots started, they went after Transform households along with everything else. Our household was outside the worst, thank heavens, but I got caught in my car on the way home from visiting another Focus. My guards covered me as we got out, but we lost the car.”
Gail shook her head over the telephone receiver, amazed. Frightened. The danger sounded a lot more real from Tonya’s descriptions than from Beth’s cheery warnings.
“So what other things did Beth tell you?” Tonya said.
“Well .” Gail flushed, tempted to avoid the next subject, but she wanted to know if Tonya agreed with Beth. “Uh, well, she said I should let the people in my household do favors for me. Give me special privileges to make me happy, to help me control the juice.”
“She said that?”
“Yeah,” Gail said, embarrassed.
“Excellent,” Tonya said. “A lot of young Focuses have trouble with favors.”
“They do?”
“Absolutely. New Focuses often go to extremes on this issue, demanding either her people dance attendance on her every whim, or swearing off all special treatment, and either way will get you into trouble. I’m glad Beth’s giving you good advice.”
“So this is good advice?” She still needed reassurance on th is subject. Special privileges were wrong, even if she didn’t need to torture her people to get them. She didn’t like having people kissing up to her. Her Transforms shouldn’t be treating her like she was some kind of queen of the world or something, like she was Snow White in the glass coffin.
She remembered what Beth had said about Tonya, though, and decided to reserve judgment on everything Tonya said.
“This is excellent advice,” Tonya said. “When you’re a few years along as a Focus, your juice control problems won’t be as bothersome, but now…think of this as training. Your Transforms are training you to be a better Focus. Given your power over them, it’s only fair they have some over you.”
“Mmm,” Gail said. Tonya’s comment echoed one of Melanie’s, when her prim and touchy Focus attendant had attempted to get Gail more engaged with the rest of the household. “So what extreme did you go to when you were young?”
“I think I’ll take the fifth on that one,” Tonya said, and Gail heard the smile in her voice as she gently dodged the question. “So what else?”
“Well, we talked about taxes. One of the people in her household is going to help me out with them. He’s a tax accountant who’s good with Focus households.”
“ She’s got a tax accountant specializing in Focus households! ” Tonya said, astonished and intense.
“Um, well, yes,” Gail said, surprised by Tonya’s vehemence. This had been just one of the many pieces of information Beth had given her. “A Transform named Phil. A real nice guy.”
“I’d kill for someone like him. That’s a skill worth real money. I wonder if she’s willing to hire him out.”
“Uh, I don’t know. He didn’t seem too busy.”
“All right, I’ll talk to Beth. There’s probably a dozen Focuses who would be willing to pay for some of his time, including
“We were all fine. The legal hassles afterwards were a serious pain in the neck, though. Connie Webb over in California is good with legal stuff, if you ever run into a similar situation yourself.”
“Oh. Ah,” Gail said, and furrowed her eyebrows. “I’ll keep that in mind. What about the second incident?”
“The second was a few months ago. You know we had race riots here in Philadelphia after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated?”
“Yes,” Gail said. As a journalism major, she had caught the news bug, and she still followed the news religiously. She knew about the Philadelphia race riots.
“Well, there’s a lot of buried anger and fear around Transforms that gets mixed into the whole race business. So, when the riots started, they went after Transform households along with everything else. Our household was outside the worst, thank heavens, but I got caught in my car on the way home from visiting another Focus. My guards covered me as we got out, but we lost the car.”
Gail shook her head over the telephone receiver, amazed. Frightened. The danger sounded a lot more real from Tonya’s descriptions than from Beth’s cheery warnings.
“So what other things did Beth tell you?” Tonya said.
“Well .” Gail flushed, tempted to avoid the next subject, but she wanted to know if Tonya agreed with Beth. “Uh, well, she said I should let the people in my household do favors for me. Give me special privileges to make me happy, to help me control the juice.”
“She said that?”
“Yeah,” Gail said, embarrassed.
“Excellent,” Tonya said. “A lot of young Focuses have trouble with favors.”
“They do?”
“Absolutely. New Focuses often go to extremes on this issue, demanding either her people dance attendance on her every whim, or swearing off all special treatment, and either way will get you into trouble. I’m glad Beth’s giving you good advice.”
“So this is good advice?” She still needed reassurance on th is subject. Special privileges were wrong, even if she didn’t need to torture her people to get them. She didn’t like having people kissing up to her. Her Transforms shouldn’t be treating her like she was some kind of queen of the world or something, like she was Snow White in the glass coffin.
She remembered what Beth had said about Tonya, though, and decided to reserve judgment on everything Tonya said.
“This is excellent advice,” Tonya said. “When you’re a few years along as a Focus, your juice control problems won’t be as bothersome, but now…think of this as training. Your Transforms are training you to be a better Focus. Given your power over them, it’s only fair they have some over you.”
“Mmm,” Gail said. Tonya’s comment echoed one of Melanie’s, when her prim and touchy Focus attendant had attempted to get Gail more engaged with the rest of the household. “So what extreme did you go to when you were young?”
“I think I’ll take the fifth on that one,” Tonya said, and Gail heard the smile in her voice as she gently dodged the question. “So what else?”
“Well, we talked about taxes. One of the people in her household is going to help me out with them. He’s a tax accountant who’s good with Focus households.”
“ She’s got a tax accountant specializing in Focus households! ” Tonya said, astonished and intense.
“Um, well, yes,” Gail said, surprised by Tonya’s vehemence. This had been just one of the many pieces of information Beth had given her. “A Transform named Phil. A real nice guy.”
“I’d kill for someone like him. That’s a skill worth real money. I wonder if she’s willing to hire him out.”
“Uh, I don’t know. He didn’t seem too busy.”
“All right, I’ll talk to Beth. There’s probably a dozen Focuses who would be willing to pay for some of his time, including
Similar Books
