scott_sanford

A longer chapter this week!

Jenny loitered on a stoop, trying to revel in the cliche of the whole thing. It might have been better in a proper alley but this world’s city just had ordinary streets. They weren’t even dramatically narrow compared to the older European ones. But the solid old brick townhouses channeled traffic well; unlike the suburbs nobody could easily duck into a poorly secured side yard and be on the next block before their absence was noticed.

It worked as a dramatic presentation. And she didn’t have to do anything much, most of her were just here as window dressing, to put the fear of her into someone...

And here came the deserving subject. She could feel the awareness of him in her other selves and now that focus of attention was getting closer. He wasn’t far, just out of sight around the corner.

He came into sight and Jenny wasn’t sure what to feel; at a glance he looked like an ordinary human but she didn’t like him. Just one more bland looking white guy – sandy hair, glasses, maybe thirty. He’d have disappeared in a crowd. But she remembered her other selves’ emotions even without remembering him specifically.

A motorcycle pulled to a stop halfway into the crosswalk, its rider clad in tight bike leathers and an open helmet, with her scarf worn to wave dramatically behind her as she rode. Jenny had to admit she looked good in that. The motorcyclist glared at their quarry and gave her bike more throttle, filling the street with a screaming turbine noise.

He nervously turned the corner; any attempt to make it look natural and relaxed was a total failure.

He walked quickly and nervously down the sidewalk, so concerned about what was behind him that he didn’t notice Jenny until he was almost at the steps where she perched. He blanched but there was nowhere else to go. He kept walking, refusing to meet her gaze, and picked up speed as he passed.

Jenny watched him go. She’d never seen him before and she wanted to punch him.

He didn’t even make it safely to the end of the block.

As he passed one of the many iron fences a tiny dog leapt out, yapping loudly and startling him enough to send him stumbling into a car. He recovered, the dog dancing around his heels, and broke into a run for the next corner. Jenny snickered from a safe distance.

The dog watched him go, then turned and pranced down the sidewalk looking pleased with itself. Jenny smiled at the shih tzu, which looked very cute in its bright pink scarf and tiny goggles.

With a soft whirr the motorcycle rolled down the street and stopped in front of Jenny.

“He won’t be running much longer. Want a ride to the big show?”, the biker asked.

“Sure,” Jenny said, standing up.

The shih tzu was faster, bounding off the curb and up into the biker’s lap, yipping happily. The biker laughed and scritched the dog’s back.

“Its okay, there’s room for three if one of us is small enough,” she told Jenny. She scooted forward a bit.

“I’m up for it if you are,” Jenny said, and climbed aboard.

“Hang on and don’t let little Jenny fall off.”

Jenny wrapped her arms around the biker, settled in, and took hold of the shih tzu’s scarf.

“Let me know when you’re ready.”

“I’m good.”

“Yip!”

The bike sprung forward suddenly, as if they’d been rammed from behind, but the biker was in perfect control. The turbine hummed smoothly as they accelerated down the block and banked sharply around the corner.

“Hey, look, ‘Speed Hump’,” the biker said, spotting a warning sign. “You think if we–” Any speculation was cut off by the bump in the road that sent the motorcycle airbourne. They sailed through the air laughing and barking, hit the ground with a jolt, and accelerated.

Jenny clung to the biker as they zipped through the streets of Bohoken, at unsafe speeds through traffic and really cutting loose as they passed the baseball field at 11th and Washington. Exciting, as long as the traffic cops weren’t watching…

They soon braked to a stop at a small urban park full of scraggly trees. The shih tzu yipped and leapt out of the biker’s lap. She bounded away into the park, scarf bouncing, and disappeared into the bushes.

“Where do you think she gets the tiny goggles?”, Jenny wondered.

The biker shrugged. “I didn’t think about it. We find lots of stuff. Might be hard to put them on without hands, though.”

“That’s a good point.”

Jenny got off the bike and looked around the park. She spotted a few others already here and arriving, drifting in apparently randomly.

“It looks like it won’t be much longer.”

There weren’t that many more people on the street around than elsewhere in the city, but an awful lot of the people here were her.

“There he is,” remarked the biker. Sure enough, farther down the street the man she’d seen before had just entered the park.

He was nervous, as he had reason to be, but it didn’t look as if he had spotted her yet. Jenny didn’t know how that could be, considering how many of her there were standing around, but he had obviously had a very stressful day already.

And it wasn’t going to get better.

A woman stalked toward him from the other direction, the Jenny who lived here, looking pissed off.

He saw her and froze in place.

“Jenny,” he gasped weakly.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?”, demanded the local Jenny. “Did you think I didn’t know you were coming here before you did? Look around! I got to Elysium Park before you did! Lots of me got here before you did!”

He looked around and realized he was surrounded. The look of panic might have been comical in someone less deserving.

Jenny wasn’t sure why he deserved this but could feel it deep inside.

“N-no, wait! I can explain!”, he pleaded.

“I DON'T CARE!” she raged. “I have had ENOUGH of your crap and you are going to SHAPE UP!”

She stepped forward and he shied back, trying to keep his distance.

“I am Jenny Everywhere! It’s not just a name. It’s who I am. It is what I am. EVERYWHERE!”

“I believe you! I believe you already! Please, stop doing this!” he pleaded. “I believe everything! Please, no more!”

Jenny leaned over to the biker and softly said, “If he learns his lesson we’ll never have to do this again.”

The biker nodded agreement.

They watched as the local Jenny ripped into the fellow a bit longer. He certainly looked cowed.

She left him crying on a park bench and stalked away.

Other Jennies out on the periphery took that as their cue and started drifting away, some moving slowly or randomly to make the group less obvious.

“I guess we made our point,” Jenny said.

“We sure did.” the biker agreed. Jenny felt a hand squeeze her butt.

“There’s going to be an after party, you know,” she said, smiling up at Jenny. “Want a ride?”

<- Back to part 5 or forward to part 7 ->

The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.