© 2012 Phylicia Joannis
Chuck stared at a flurry of faces as Penny pulled him through a crowd of hungry reporters and media outlets. They were waiting for word that the press conference had begun.
“There he is!” Penny hollered as she pointed to a tall, portly man with slicked back hair.
“He looks like a lawyer,” Chuck muttered to himself.
“Come on, Charles. We have to get him to tell the truth.”
Chuck grimaced but Penny didn’t seem to notice. She finally came face to face with the Complainer, who greeted her with a large smiled.
“Ah, Penny I see you finally came to your senses?” the Complainer cooed.
Penny shook her head. “I came to tell you to confess.”
The Complainer laughed. “Confess? That’s exactly what I came here to do. And everything I say will be the God’s honest truth, Penny. You know that!” He gave her a wink.
“I’m serious!” Penny huffed. “We know the truth, and we’re not going to let you get away with this.”
Chuck shrank as the Complainer turned shrewd eyes on him. “We?”
Penny nodded confidently. “Charles here works for the transit system. He’s a dispatcher and he knows exactly what went on today.”
“Oh, does he?” the Complainer narrowed his eyes.
“Yes,” Penny continued. “And if you don’t tell the truth, he will.”
“And what is the truth, exactly?” the Complainer glared at Chuck menacingly.
Chuck sighed in exasperation and pulled Penny to the side. “Excuse us, one moment?”
“Penny, what are you doing?” Chuck hissed.
Penny looked at him with surprise. “Just what we agreed to do, Charles. They aren’t going to listen to me, but they will listen to you. You were there.”
“Yeah, along with a dozen other people,” Chuck scratched his forehead. “You are making waves here, Penny and you don’t have a shred of proof.”
“You’re my proof!” Penny exclaimed. “And people will believe us because we’re telling the truth!”
“The truth?” Chuck gritted his teeth. “Penny, you don’t know what the truth is!”
“Yes I do, Charles!” Penny crinkled her brow. “What’s gotten into you? I thought you were with me on this.”
“Penny I could get into a lot of trouble for this. Telling a room full of reporters that the Mayor is lying will only get me fired. Besides who would believe it? When we were in the café it was cute, but here, in front of all these people, it would just look…” Chuck didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t have to. Penny glared at him.
“What were you going to say Charles? Stupid?” She wiped away a stray tear and took a step back. “You know, you’re probably right. I mean, my judgment so far has been pretty stupid. I thought I could trust you, and obviously I was wrong.”
“Penny,” Chuck extended his hand to hers, but she quickly recoiled.
“I mean, your job is way more important, so I’ll just drop the whole thing. Thanks for nothing, Charles.”
Penny turned and ran back through the lobby. Ad Chuck watched her leave, something inside him snapped. He stared at the door, a plan forming in his head.
“This is insane,” he muttered to himself as he sprinted after Penny.