Backdrop - Part 2

Backdrop 

2

David climbed the steps slowly. His clothes were heavy with water and the sponges in his pocket. The umbrella didn't keep him dry. The rain fell right through.

As he approached the officials, their voices grew quieter, and their faces became blurred, low-res, indistinct. One of the officials turned to David, just as he reached their step.

"David," she said. "We didn't expect to see you here. Not today."

She gestured at the sky. David noticed that she was completely untouched by the rain. Her umbrella handle was dark as black pudding.

"I wouldn't have come if I didn't have to," he said.

The other officials - three women and one man - that had been in the same group had slid away when David had approached. They stood on the same step, but far away. The same, but smaller.

The woman, whose name was Maura, gave a patronising smile. "You know I would have passed on the salient details," she said, oozing friendliness.

"Well that's just it," said David. "I think we have different ideas of what's salient and what isn't."

"I don't think they'll even be expecting you. You're not on the list."

"Then I'll come in with you."

She winced and looked over at her colleagues in the distance. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

The rain was starting to stop. An old man fell up the steps and spilled the contents of his briefcase all over the place. He struggled to retrieve the damp paper from where it had stuck to the stone.

David looked down at him, then back at Maura. "I wouldn't have come all this way in the rain," he said, "if I wasn't sure that I could get in."

Maura's concern fell away. "Well, you did. Because you can't."

David reached into his pocket - the non-sponge one - and pulled out a pistol. He pointed it at Maura.

"I am sure. I wouldn't have come if I wasn't."

David's pistol was also transparent. The barrel was transparent. The trigger was transparent. The handle was transparent.

And David knew that Maura's guns were not transparent. They were as opaque as her umbrella, their handles just as full of blood.

Maura looked down at the gun. Though it was transparent, she could see the bullets in the clip.

So she made a little nod of acceptance and they both went up the steps together.