by Martin Maenza
A few days later, back at STAR Labs in San Francisco, the two women talked.
“Okay, okay,” Lisa Morel said. “You’ve convinced me, already.”
Karen Duncan smiled. “Good,” she said. “I’ll schedule some tests for you later this week. Believe me, it’s for the best. We need to make sure there were no ill effects.”
“Fine,” Lisa said. “But there’s a couple conditions. First, I want to keep this between us. I don’t know what I’ll do if the powers I once had are somehow back permanently. That’s just a whole lot to get into, you know?”
“Okay,” said Karen.
Lisa smiled. “And second, what are the chances you can hook me up for a date with the Golden Eagle?”
“Uh…” Karen said.
Lisa leaned in closer. “C’mon, Karen,” she said. “Now that I know your secret, I promised I’d keep it. It’s just that, since you know the guy, I thought you could put in a good word with him for me. What do you say?”
Karen bit her lip. “Well,” she started to say but stopped. Someone entered the lab.
“Yo, Karen,” the blonde Charley Parker said. “You, like, ready to go?” He was still carpooling with her. Charley then spied Lisa Morel. “Whoa, on second thought, let’s not rush.” The young man sauntered over to the blonde. “Hi, Lisa. Like, how you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Lisa said. “Carl, wasn’t it?”
“Charley,” the blonde male said with a frown.
“Oh, right,” Lisa said, “Sorry.” She grabbed her purse. “Karen, call me when you have those dates set up. Both of them.” She gave Karen a wink and walked out the door.
Charley turned to Karen, who still looked dumbfounded. “Say, Karen, like, what’s up with that?” he asked.
Karen let out a sigh. This had the potential of becoming a very complicated situation.
The End