Read Online One Small Step, an anthology of discoveries by Marianne de Pierres Tehani Wessely - Free Book Online Page B

lean and chose the edge of the windowsill. When Tipsy looked at her blankly she added, “How old are you?”
    “ Eighteen,” Tipsy replied, too quickly.
    Kaneko scratched 18 onto her notepad with a question mark beside it.  
    “ And you have a power?” Kaneko prompted. “You can find dead bodies?”
    “ Not really,” Tipsy said.
    Kaneko gave her a look she hoped was politely curious.
    “ I mean, I guess? I can find things , right?” Tipsy said. “But not people. Not unless they’re dead.”  
    The girl had an upward inflection that made her hard to follow. Everything sounded like the beginning of something else.
    “ That must be useful,” Kaneko commented.
    “ Yeah? Think I could make some money from it?”
    “ You need money?”
    Tipsy scratched at one long, limp arm. “Yeah. I could do with some.”
    “ I could maybe pay you for this interview, how’s that sound?”
    “ Yeah?”
    “ It depends, though.”
    “ On what?”
    “ How interesting your story is. To my readers.”
    Tipsy’s face fell. “What do your readers want to know?”
    “ That you’re legitimate.”
    “ What’s that mean, like do I pay taxes?”
    “ No,” Kaneko smiled, trying to soothe the expression of panic on the girl’s face. “It means, can you really find lost things?”
    “ I found the body, right?”
    Kaneko made another note. “How?”
    “ I seen it, in my mind. And I told the cops where to find it.”
    “ And they found it, right where you said?” Kaneko asked.
    “ Exactly,” said Tipsy. “Just like I said.”
    “ And you didn’t put the body there? Obviously.” Kaneko tried to look casual. “I have to ask.”
    Tipsy looked at her like she was crazy. “The guy was strangled or something. You think I look like I could strangle someone?”
    Kaneko wanted to say, You look ragged, like your arms and legs are nothing but meat. But your wrists are all bone. Your head might snap your neck any minute, just the sheer weight of that giant lump of gristle teetering on top of your shoulders could send the whole structure cascading down. But you could be strong for all that, and there’s no telling what someone on speed can do.  
    But she didn’t. She threw Tipsy a tight smile. “How long have you been able to find people?”
    “ Not people, things.” Tipsy reminded her.
    “ Right.”
    “ You know that saint who helps you find lost things?”
    Kaneko reflected. “Saint Anthony?”
    “ Okay?” Tipsy shrugged. “I think about things and I see them and then I find them.”
    “ Can you find something if I ask you to?” Kaneko said.
    Tipsy looked dubious.
    “ If I can test your ability,” Kaneko said, “then I’ll know it’s worth paying for your story.”
    Tipsy smiled. Her smile was full of hunger. “How much?”
    Kaneko gestured. “I don’t know. How far would a hundred bucks go?”
    A light came on behind the girl’s eyes. “Sometimes it takes a while to find stuff, though. I can’t always do it right away.”
    “ I’d like you to try.”
    “ You could come back tomorrow, maybe?”
    “ Let’s try now,” Kaneko said.
    Tipsy looked like she wanted to argue, but Kaneko put steel into her voice and it seemed to hold the girl.
    “ I guess I can try?” Tipsy said at last.
    Kaneko took a breath. She pretended to be thinking.
    “ A hatpin,” she said. “Can you find a hatpin?”
    “ What’s a hatpin?” Tipsy asked.
    There was something feline about her face, Kaneko thought. She wrote feline on her notepad.  
    “ I’ll describe it. It’s a long pin, like this,” she indicated the length on the inside of her arm. “It’s white, Satsuma—”
    “ What?”
    “ A kind of Japanese pottery.”
    “ From your country?”
    I was born here, this is my country. “It was my aunt’s. Anyhow, it’s a long pin with a large bauble on the end. Ivory-coloured with a gold dragon. The glaze … well, that’s probably enough, right? How much do you need?”  
    Tipsy stared at her, unblinking.