Trouble In LA
Los Angeles-2002
“Simon Wiesenthal Center,” Juni said as she picked up the telephone of the Jewish organization. She was a receptionist there, though she had been working there for only a month. The job was mundane, but Juni had to make money somehow. She had bills to pay, and had to eat.
“Please hold. I’ll connect you,” she said and pressed a button on the telephone. The caller was connected to another department. Juni had been taking calls all morning and by noon she was absolutely famished. Since she didn’t bring her own lunch, she went to a cafe across the street to buy some.
At the cafe, she had sat down to an empty table and began chewing a sandwich and a diet coke. Juni had been doing this for a while, when a young man came into the cafe for lunch as well. He was 5′7″, Jewish, and had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Spotting Juni, he said “Hey.”
“Oh hey, John,” she exclaimed, “come on over!”
“In a few minutes. First let me go get something to eat.”
“Sure.” He got some soup and a cola, and sat down next to his friend.
“So how’s work at the SWC?", he asked.
“Boring, but I gotta make money somehow. By the way, what kind of work do you do?”
“Research,” he said, “it’s not exciting but I learn a lot.”
“Cool,” she said.
“Um..Juni, I have something to tell you, but you have to keep it a secret.”
“Sure, John.”
He whispered in her ear, “I’m a mutant.”
She was shocked and asked, “You too?”
“What do you mean?,” he asked quizzically.
Juni whispered, “I’m a mutant too.”
“No way! That is so cool! But we can’t tell anyone at the SWC. I mean, if anyone knew, they’d...”
“Freak?", Juni asked.
“Yeah,” John said.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell. My lips are sealed.”
“Thanks, Juni.”
“No problem!”
John looked at his watch and said, “Well, our lunch break is almost over. I guess we should get back to work.”
“I guess,” Juni said, and got up. By this time, the two had finished their lunches.
The two walked back across the street to the SWC to resume work.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town...
“Cara, look into the mind-control device. See the nice, red lights flashing. You cannot look away...you don’t want to look away.”
“No, don’t want to look away,” she said in a monotone.
“Good,” the Howie evil clown said, “now close your eyes and sleep.”
The woman closed her eyes and her head slumped down. Howie was pleased. The 6″ clown with his face painted white, red lips, red wig and oversized clown suit said, “Open your eyes, slave.”
She opened her eyes and he said, “You are now under my control. You will obey only me.”
“I will obey only you.”
“Good slave,” he said-and laughed evilly.
Back at the SWC, Juni was once again answering phones, but this time in the midst of answering a call, she had a strange vision: there was a clown with some sort of device, but what was it? Why was he holding it up in front of a woman’s eyes?
“Hello?", the male caller asked.
The vision faded and Juni said, “Oh, yes-sorry. How may I direct your call?”
“Connect me with John Thomas in Research, please.”
“Oh, one moment please,” she said and connected the caller to her friend.
“I need to talk to John myself,” Juni thought. Then she asked, “Agnes, could you handle the calls for me? I’ve got to go talk to John.”
“Of course, Juni,” she said.
“Thanks. You’re a friend.”
“Anytime,” Agnes said.
The Eurasian ran upstairs into an open office where John and another male researcher were.
“Juni!", John exclaimed, “what are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you. It’s an emergency!”
“Can this wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something,” John said.
“Excuse me,” the other researcher said, but we ARE very busy. You should be downstairs answering phones.”
In an impulsive move, she grabbed John and said, “Come with me!”
“Okay,” he said and told his colleague, “I’ll be right back.”
They went into another room and Juni locked the door.
“What’s going on?” he asked, annoyed.
“Look, I’m sorry but you need to hear this. I was downstairs answering phones and suddenly I had this strange vision.”
“A vision? No one knows, do they?”
“No, just us.”
“Go on,” he said.
“There was this clown with some sort of device, but I don’t know what it was. He was holding it up in front of a woman’s eyes.”
“Why was he holding it up in front of her eyes?”
“I don’t know, but I think we should check it out.”
“Not now, Juni. I’ve got work to do. I’m busy.”
“But this could be the ultimate research!", she exclaimed.
“Hon, I can’t right now. I’ve got to get back to work. Why don’t YOU go check it out? You can freeze time after all.”
Juni was disappointed but said, “All right, but if only I knew where to—”
flash
The vision came back. She saw the evil clown using the device on his next victim: a teenage boy, around 17. Juni also recognized the place. It was the L.A. docks.
As before, the vision faded away and John asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah...I just had another vision. I know where the evil clown is.”
“Where?”
“The L.A. docks. I gotta go.”
“Juni, you can’t just leave work and go to the L.A. docks. It’s too dangerous.”
“I can just stop time.”
“Still, it’s too dangerous. I’ll go with you after work.”
“Fine,” she said bitterly, “see you at five.”
“Okay,” John said, “I gotta get back to work now.”
Five p.m. came and went, and the two met outside. They got into John’s car and drove to the docks. It was still light, due to Daylight Savings Time.
When they got there, Juni saw the scene from her vision. She jumped out of the car and froze the scene. Howie hadn’t made his move yet, fortunately. John got out of the car as well, and she said, “See, what did I tell you?”
While the scene was frozen, Juni unfroze the teenage boy and told him to run. He did, thanking her.
Howie unfroze and angrily asked, “Huh? Where’s my victim?”
“He’s gone, courtesy of me,” Juni said-grinning.
“Well, you can always take his place,” he said-coming toward her with his device.
“Don’t think so,” she said-and froze him. Then John opened his hand, letting out a strong force-and knocked the clown into the water. When Howie unfroze, he was wet and angry. The two laughed, jumped into the car and quickly drove away.
“You haven’t seen the last of me!", he yelled, “I’ll get you both soon enough!". Then he climbed out of the water and back on the dock, fuming.
As they drove through L.A., Juni said, “Boy, that was really something.”
“It sure was,” John said, “and to think that we didn’t break a sweat.”
“So you’re willing to help me try to defeat this creep?”
“You bet, with your visions guiding us.”
“So where do you live?”
“East 17th Street, here in L.A.,” Juni said.
“Well, I’m going that way anyway. Say, how would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“Are there any Jewish restaurants around here?", she asked.
“No, I mean at my parents’ house. No one cooks like my mom.”
“Great. I’ll be there. It would be great to meet the family,” Juni said.
“Cool,” John said, “well here we are at East 17th Street.”
“Thanks hon,” Juni said and stepped out of the car and onto her driveway. After she walked to her door and went inside, he drove away.
Juni was looking forward to tomorrow night.
The next night, Juni was seated with John at his family’s table, which included his five-year-old sister Talaya. Juni was trying hard to behave.
“So Juni, I understand that you work at the SWC. Is that right?", his mother Sandra asked.
“Yes ma’am, but I work downstairs answering phones.”
“Are you a mutant too?,” Talaya asked.
“Honey, don’t ask her that question. It’s rude,” Mrs. Thomas scolded.
“Actually, I am,” Juni said, “but no one at the SWC knows.”
“Well, that’s good dear,” she said, “we have to be very discreet about who we are, for our safety.”
John’s father Colt asked, “So Juni, what do you think of L.A.?”
“It’s a very nice city, though I’ve only been here a month.”
Mrs. Thomas asked, “Would you like some mashed potatoes?”
“Yes, of course. Thank you,” she said-and took the dish from her. Putting some of it on her plate, she took small bites.
Then it happened: Juni had another vision.
This time the evil clown was near the SWC, and it was late at night.
“Are you okay, dear?,” Mrs. Thomas asked.
“No, I’m not. May I use your bathroom?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll go with her, mom,” John said, “I think she looks a little sick.”
“Sure, John.”
He got up from the table, went to the bathroom, turned on the fan and asked, “What happened?”
“I had another vision. He’s near the SWC, and it’s late at night.”
“Near the SWC? Are you sure?”
“Yes, John.”
“Come back to dinner. We’ll talk about this when I take you home.”
“Okay,” Juni said, “that would be great.”
They came back to the table and he said, “Juni looks a little better now. I think I’ll take her home now.”
“Okay,” Mrs. Thomas said, “It was nice having you over. Have a good night.”
“I will, thank you,” Juni said.
They got into the car and John said, “So he was near the SWC, huh? Can you estimate the time?”
“Midnight, I think,” she said, “and it was on this night.”
He looked at his watch and said, “Well, it’s 9 p.m. now, so that should give us enough time to change and get to the SWC. Let’s go home and change, and we’’ be there by midnight.”
“Got it. Let’s get this creep,” Juni said.
“You said it.”
The two were dressed in casual clothes and at the SWC around midnight, approximately the time when the evil clown was there in Juni’s vision. It was too dark to see anything, which made it dangerous. No one in their right mind would be out at this hour!
They sat in the car and John said, “Okay, let’s approach this carefully. Remember, he’s got a mind-control device, and since it’s dark out we can be taken by surprise, even with our powers.”
“John, I’m scared.”
“So am I, Juni-but we gotta do this, otherwise he’ll terrorize more people.”
She took a deep breath and said, “Okay, let’s do this.”
They got out of the car and went toward the building. John held her hand and for a while, they were safe.
“Well, it seems safe and quiet around here...perhaps I can let go of your hand,” she said.
“Okay, but stay close to me.”
For a while, everything was fine until Juni felt a hand cover her mouth and pull her away.
“Hello little girl, remember me?", an evil voice said.
Juni quivered in fear but didn’t say anything. Instead, she screamed.
John heard the scream but didn’t know where it was coming from.
“John, help me!", Juni screamed out.
“Juni, Juni-where are you?", he called out in the dark.
Meanwhile, she felt the tight grip on her arms. Juni fought, but Howie said, “Scream all you want, little girl. You can’t escape from me. Now look into the device.”
He held up the device before her eyes and said, “Look into the nice, red flashing lights.”
“No!", she exclaimed and closed her eyes, while still struggling.
After a while, John found them and told Howie, “Let her go!”
“Not a chance! She’ll be my hypno-slave soon enough, and not even you can stop me!”
“Juni, don’t open your eyes but step on his foot!", John exclaimed.
“I can’t! I can’t even see!", she cried.
“Juni, just do it!”
“Okay John!", she exclaimed with her eyes still closed.
“Open your eyes, you little brat!", Howie exclaimed.
“Okay, here goes!", she said and stepped on the clown’s foot. Howie yelled in pain and released his grip from her arms. When she was free, Juni opened her eyes and ran toward John.
“Freeze him!", John said.
Juni froze the clown, and John said, “Now go get that device! We need to destroy it!”
She ran towards the clown and managed to grab the device without unfreezing him. Running back towards her friend, she said, “Okay, let’s destroy this thing!”
“But how?” he asked.
“In the car,” Juni said, “let’s go now, before he unfreezes!”
The two ran to John’s car, jumped in and locked the doors. However, it wasn’t until the enraged clown unfroze and found them. When he saw them in the car, he angrily pounded on the front windows. Juni held up the device and grinned, as John started the car and drove off. Howie screamed in anger and ran after them, but couldn’t catch them. The John had an idea: he turned the car around, sped towards the clown and knocked him to the street. He was out cold. Then he and Juni drove away.
They drove to his home and went into a garage, where John turned on a light.
“Where’s a hammer?", she asked.
“Over here,” he said-and grabbed one off the wall.
“Good, bring it here,” she said.
He gave the tool to her and she smashed the device several times until it was no longer functional. Then she smashed it some more until it broke into multiple pieces. John observed the event and said, “Good job,"—grinning.
“Thanks. Now let’s trash it.”
“Right on,” he said.
She scooped up the pieces off the worktable and put them in the trash can.
A few minutes later, John said, “It’s one a.m. already, and too late to take you home, so do you want to spend the night here?”
“Sure.”
“Great. If you want, I can warm up some hot chocolate and we can talk some more. Also, I need to call the cops about that creep.”
“Okay, let’s go inside,” Juni said.
They went inside the house and John locked the front door. He called the police and informed them about Howie, and gave them directions to the SWC where the clown was out cold. A few minutes later, he and Juni sat down in the kitchen and sipped two cups of hot chocolate, talked and laughed. They were definitely enjoying each other’s company, and John even held her hand. A few minutes later he softly said, “Juni, kiss me now,” and turned out the kitchen lights.
That night, the two slept naked in his bed, wearing only underwear-and embracing each other with her breasts pressed against his bosom. John’s arm was around her and her hand was on his arm.
The next morning-however-after Howie was arrested, Juni and John were back at work at the SWC once again and managed to hide the fact that they were mutants. Incidentally, Howie’s hypno-slaves were back to normal as well.
It was just another day in L.A.