Magical Spice - Part Four
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
I’m not sure what’s going on, but my heartbeat stutters when I take in the expression on Aiden’s face. He looks absolutely thunderstruck, half-frozen with shock.
I set aside my coffee and rush over to him. He turns around the folder so I can see what he’s looking at.
Tucked away in the folder that Gabby left behind is - a second folder. Aiden’s employee file is thick and heavy, but this one is light, slender, and left unlabelled. As if it was placed within Aiden’s employee file by mistake, or coincidence.
I guess I had accidentally opened it when I opened the bigger folder, so - the first page in the hidden folder is what Aiden saw when he looked down.
Aiden wordlessly extracts the slender file from his City Hall employee file, then sets the latter on his desk. I take the second folder from him, peering anxiously down at the pages. There’s a slim stack of neatly organized, printed papers inside.
The first page is a printed incident report from Ketterbridge FD, dated from a while ago. I skim-read the incident summary, then freeze, some critical words leaping out at me.
Swimming pool… child fell into the water while attempting to retrieve a toy… Ketterbridge FD was called and responded with an attending ambulance, but the victim had already been recovered from the pool and was in stable condition when first responders arrived on the scene.
Even without reading the date, the location of the incident, or really anything else, I know exactly what I’m looking at. This is an incident report about the little boy that Aiden and I rescued when he nearly drowned in the pool at the beachside hotel.
Gabby has it printed out in this folder, and she underlined part of it neatly in red pen.
The identity of the person(s) responsible for the rescue of the boy remains unknown. None present came forward to identify themselves. Best guess is a member of the hotel staff who had already left the scene.
And then, beneath that, also underlined - The child was unharmed but showed signs of shock and confusion, e.g., telling first responders that he was rescued by a magic angel with glowing eyes. Further assessment at the hospital was recommended to the parents, who declined.
Aiden and I stare hard at the page, then look at each other. Exchanging a glance that speaks volumes.
With my heart hammering in my ears, I flip to the next page in this file.
It’s a printed transcript of a chat conversation that happened through City Hall’s internal communication service. Gabby sent the first message.
Gabby: Hiruni, I just went through everything you left on my desk. I’m forwarding you my approval on the budget, with a few suggested changes. I’d like to discuss them in person, so please set aside some time. Thank you for getting all of this to me so fast! Your efficiency is quite impressive.
Hiruni: Oh, wow, that’s an amazing compliment coming from you!! I think they can see me smiling all the way down the hall in the copy room!!☺️
Hiruni: I’ll set aside some time for the budget! Looking over the revisions now. Anything else?
Gabby: Yes, one more thing. I’m going through the last report in the stack you left, and I wanted to confirm that line 38F is correct. This number looks strange to me.
Hiruni: That’s just like you, to catch some tiny thing all the way down on line 38! I’ll check with Stats and have them confirm the number.
Gabby: Gracias!
Hiruni: Hey boss - Stats has confirmed 38F is accurate. The number is zero.
Gabby: Really? Ketterbridge had zero accidental deaths reported in the last twelve months? How can that be possible? I know our population is small, but it’s a leading cause of death, and it’s also a pretty broad category.
Hiruni: I don’t know, but the ladies over in Stats sounded pretty sure.
Gabby: Hiruni, I’d like to know if a year without a single accidental death is normal for a town with a population this size, or if this is anomalous. If it is something unusual, we should be looking into the cause of this effect so we can try to replicate it. For example, if the medical board at the hospital reported a high-performance year with very few avoidable deaths, or if new road/driving policy that was implemented had a good effect, etc. I’d like to keep the safety numbers for Ketterbridge on this positive trend. We need to know what happened in order to do that.
Hiruni: Understood. I’ll contact one of our stats consultants and see if they can tell us whether this is standard or stand-out.
Gabby: Excellent, thank you. Forward him/her/them the same report you sent me. And approve a temporary access code for the City Hall digital archives as needed. Our archivist Aiden Callahan can provide that for you. I’ll approve the consultant’s fee.
Hiruni: Copy that!
I flip to the next page in staggered silence, then read the beginning of a new chat.
Hiruni: Hey, boss - I have an update for you regarding the oddity in our mortality rates. I just got off the line with our consultant. They had a look at the information I sent. They said it is somewhat unusual for a town our size and all of its outlying communities to have zero accidental deaths for this long, but it’s not the most unusual thing for Ketterbridge, specifically.
Gabby: Wait, what?
Hiruni: Sorry, it’s hard to explain! Basically - the consultant went through our older statistics and found that historically, there have been other instances where Ketterbridge managed to go for notably long stretches of time without reporting any accidental deaths. This is the first time in a long time we’ve had one of those years again, but they’re not unheard of around here. I guess predictive statistics can only take you so far - reality decides what actually happens!
Hiruni: So it’s nothing too unusual, at least not for Ketterbridge. I know this number looks particularly odd by comparison, because over the last decade or so our numbers in this category went up. But the number is looking great now, it’s dropped so steeply - makes you look good, City Manager! And it doesn’t sound like there’s even any initiative we need to support to keep it going. These things just fluctuate.
Gabby: Thank you for your help, Hiruni! Lots to think about.
Hiruni: No problem! I did highlight our vandalism numbers, by the way, did you see? They have been on an unusually high climb, if we want to do something about that. Would you like me to contact Community Safety and ask for an inquest?
Gabby: Thank you for bringing it to my attention! That’s not a priority at the moment, but please forward anything related directly to me. No need to contact CS. I’ll handle it.
Hiruni: The vandalism incidents? That seems below your pay grade to be handling personally. You don’t have to do everything, you know!
Gabby: No task too small! Oh - and please forward me the report the consultant gave you. I’d like to have the numbers on hand, take a look at them myself.
Hiruni: Refresh your inbox, it should be there by now!
Gabby: You’re a gem, Hiruni! Buen trabajo. Take a long lunch break today.
The next page is a printout of an email thread. This one is actually from a while before Gabby’s conversation with Hiruni.
Gabrielle Soto to Douglas Maryn:
Good morning, Douglas!
I’ve just been filled in on the situation with the Ketterbridge citizen rescued during the storm. What a story! We’re all so glad that your first responders were able to recover Justin, even under such challenging weather conditions. What a testament to their dedication. Please extend my heartfelt gratitude and congratulations to your team.
I’m looking at the official report and I don’t see the names of the first responders who pulled off this feat! City Hall would like to offer them a commendation, so would you mind forwarding their information to my assistant Renée? She’s CC’d. Thank you!
Douglas Maryn to Gabrielle Soto:
Hello, Ms. Soto!
Wow, thank you so much for your email! Everyone here was really excited to hear directly from the big boss! Morale sure is high today, and that always feels good after tough times. We almost lost a firefighter to a bad blaze this past year, I’m sure you heard about it. It was a miracle he got out of there ok! And now this whole thing with Justin… seems like the year of miracles, doesn’t it?
I’d love to send your assistant the names of the first responders, but both of them requested not to be identified, and the civilians who assisted didn’t identify themselves, either. Much as I’d like to see my first responders being honored on TV, and much as I hate having to refuse a request directly from the CM, I can’t give those names over… I’m sorry. I don’t understand it, myself. Guess some people just don’t like being on the news!
Regardless, we appreciate the commendation offer, and it’s good to know we’ve got support at City Hall. Maybe if you have any free time you can come by the station and meet some of our squad, instead of giving us the commendation? Bet the team would love that, even if it was just for five minutes! We do understand that the CM is busy all the time, though, so no worries if not!
Thanks again,
Doug
Gabrielle Soto to Renée Pillar:
Renée,
Please add a two-hour visit with Ketterbridge FD to my schedule. Arrange the date and time with Douglas M. from the station. Make sure that some first responders from the hospital are there, too. No press please, and no photographers. Casual visit, off the books. Let’s bring some pizza.
I’d also like you to have a look at how much money was allocated for the commendation ceremony, and see if there are any similarly-priced equipment funding requests from KFD or the hospital that we haven’t approved. If there’s anything that meets the description, please leave those requests on my desk. We’ll thank them in one way or another!
One more thing - why did the report on this incident with the rescued electrician leave off the part about the civilians who helped?
Renée Pillar to Gabrielle Soto:
Just call me the pizza party planner! I’ll do some snooping and see if I can find out everyone’s favorite toppings. I’m on hold with Accounting about the funding requests now.
As for your last question - I’m not sure! It must have been reported to Doug, but not included in the reports that the first responders filed?
I stare blankly down at the page, then slowly look up at Aiden. He just finished reading it, and he looks like his head is spinning. He takes the folder back from me and turns to the next page.
Reese: Hi there, Ms. Soto! I just wanted to let you know that I’m available in case you have any follow-up questions concerning the report I sent over this morning. I understand that aspects of it seem confusing, and I wanted to address that within the report, but I couldn’t think of a professional way to do it. So just let me know if I can clear anything up for you!
Gabby: Reese, wonderful timing. I just read your report and I’m very confused.
Reese: Oh god
Gabby: What you’re telling me is that City Hall essentially experienced a localized flash flood, and no one can explain to me what caused it, or where it came from, or why it stopped? How can this be possible?
Reese: I don’t know, Ms. Soto, and I really, really wish I could explain it to you! I’ve had everyone in Maintenance search everywhere for problems, we’ve brought in multiple outside inspectors, we’ve gone digging deeper into City Hall’s plumbing than anyone has in years, and we just can’t find a cause. The flood just - happened.
Gabby: It ‘just happened’?
Reese: I’m afraid we just can’t come up with an explanation, and I don’t think we’ll ever figure it out, especially now that so much time has passed. Maybe we don’t need to worry about it, though, right? It hasn’t happened again!
Gabby: ‘We don’t need to worry about it because it hasn’t happened again’ doesn’t sound like the greatest tack to take on the biggest flood City Hall has ever had, Reese!
Reese: No no no, normally I would completely agree, but I’m actually more convinced than ever that we have no unexpected plumbing issues to worry about. Inspectors have crawled through it from top to bottom and looked over every inch searching for the problem that caused the flood, so now we know about every unrelated problem we have. That amounted to a few small issues we’re already fixing, and one bigger other thing. Did you see the second report I sent?
Gabby: I haven’t gotten to the other one yet, I wanted to discuss the flood report first.
Reese: Okay, so you’ll see in the second report that the most recent inspector we hired highlighted an issue with the out-of-use pipes beneath the kitchen?
Gabby: Hang on, let me just read it really quickly.
Gabby: Oh my god, Reese!! We had a plumbing problem this size brewing beneath the kitchen and no one knew about it?! The kitchen floor is going to cave in!
Reese: It was going to be a huge problem, but because the inspector caught it before any major damage could happen, it’s going to be a very easy fix, not even too costly! No one even knew those old pipes were still there, and we wouldn’t have caught this if we hadn’t had the inspectors in after the freak flood. So at the end of the day, no one was hurt in the flood, not too much was damaged, and we actually saved ourselves money and a giant headache on the kitchen issue in the long run. It all turned out okay! You could even say the flood was a stroke of good luck!
Reese: God, I’m so sorry. We just honestly can’t figure out what caused it, Ms. Soto.
Gabby: Okay. I understand. Are you worried that you’re in trouble, by the way? I’m getting that impression. You’re not, for the record. I’m only asking these questions because I’m trying to get my head around all this.
Reese: Oh, that feels good to hear! Nerve-wracking to be the head of Maintenance and be unable to answer direct questions from the City Manager about the biggest maintenance issue we’ve had all year!
Gabby: It’s okay, Reese! I can see from your report that it wasn’t for lack of trying. If anything I appreciate your thoroughness. I see that you even had the overhead fire safety sprinklers examined.
Reese: Thank you, Ms. Soto!! And yes the sprinklers were a top priority since multiple people told us it seemed like the water came from overhead. One lady said that it was like if all the rain in a rainshower fell on her at once. But the woman who said that witnessed the flood from outside. Like all that water fell out of the sky on a cloudless day.
Reese: See what I mean? Just makes no sense, any of it! But I guess every town has its share of oddities, right? Ketterbridge does, too!
Gabby: Yes, we certainly do.
I slowly turn over the page, my heart racing.
Hiruni: Hey, boss - The finalized acquisition forms for the new streetlights for the forest road are on your desk! Just want to let you know one more time that Press doesn’t like it. There’s some concern it’ll read like, ‘oh, nothing gets done until something happens to a public official’ if it gets out that that’s where you had your car accident. Like you’re doing something personally motivated.
Gabby: Oh, god, I don’t care about that. I just want there to be lights on the street so no one crashes their car. Tell Press I’m approving it today, and I don’t care if they like it! We just won’t run a story on this.
Hiruni: Understood. I’m sorry, I’m sure it was scary. And we’re coming up on a year since it happened, right? I’m guessing it’s been on your mind.
Gabby: It has, but genuinely, I’m okay. I simply don’t want any more people to drive into the river.
Hiruni: Ok. You can do the battle with Press later!
Gabby: Nothing unusual in that, is there?
Hiruni: The Press dept did offer an alternative suggestion. Get out ahead of the story by running a piece about the two guys who helped you after the accident. Make it about looking out for your neighbors, turn it into a puff piece to accompany the story about the new streetlights going in. That way it’ll be about them, not you. If you send me their names, I can have Press contact them and get that process started.
Gabby: No, absolutely not. Tell Press that releasing those names or a story on those boys is strictly off-limits. Make it clear this is a hard line. Leave the focus on me. I can take the heat, if there is any.
Hiruni: Would never question that! Just want to see you look good, boss. If you run for office one day, we all want to see you do well!
Gabby: That means a lot, Hiruni! But I know what I’m doing. Don’t worry.
Beneath this page, there’s a completed City Hall form, labeled at the top: Employee Review - Aiden Y. Callahan. Gabby neatly filled in each box with handwritten responses. Everywhere I look I see only positive things, except - under the other comments section. Here, Gabby wrote:
-Sometimes rushes out of work early with no explanation
-Has repeatedly had to request time off with very little warning or no warning at all, often without explanation
-Boyfriend once slapped a cookie out of another City Hall employee’s hand
-Security logs indicate employee sometimes spends unapproved late nights in the Archives
-Have found him asleep at his desk more than once
And beneath that, under a line entitled Assessment Summary, Gabby wrote: Aiden Callahan is a model employee who routinely goes above and beyond for Ketterbridge. No complaints.
Aiden and I just look at it for a long time, then slowly look at each other.
“Oh, my god,” I breathe softly, staring at Aiden.
He’s holding the folder very tightly, reeling.
“Holy shit,” he stammers. “I can’t believe - Gabby, she-”
“I know.” I run a dazed hand through my hair. “I guess - we shouldn’t be surprised. Does anything really get past Gabby?”
“No, not normally, but I can’t believe she printed all of this out and put it in one folder, then forgot it here! That’s not like her, to make a careless mistake like that! Gabby never makes-”
Aiden cuts himself off, the realization dawning over his face.
“Oh,” he says.
~~~~
Gabby is seated behind her desk, the croissant from Mugshot half-eaten on a napkin beside her laptop.
It only dawns on me now how beautiful and welcoming she’s made her office. The furniture is bright, the chairs deep and soft, the walls painted apricot. The wooden shutters on the windows are left half-open. Sunlight filters through the apple-green leaves outside to spill across Gabby’s cluttered desk and the colorful bookshelves behind it. A beautiful bouquet of summer wildflowers is in a vase on the table beneath the windows. I recognize Kent’s loving handiwork.
There’s a gentle spell of silence in the office, broken by the rustle of the leaves outside and the soft clicking of Gabby’s speedy typing. The lighter streaks in her dark hair are glowing in the sunlight, the sleeves of her chic woolen sweater rolled back to her elbows. Her dangly green earrings are acting like suncatchers, casting little sparkles across her neck.
She looks up when Aiden eases the door open with a hesitant knock. I peek into the office from behind him as he pauses uncertainly in the doorway.
“Hey, boss,” he murmurs, his deep voice very slow, his inquiring, anxious eyes on her face.
Gabby sits back in her big chair, setting down the pen threaded between her fingers. As soon as she sees the busted expressions on our faces, she freezes where she is. Her eyes go very, very wide.
It strikes me all at once that she had her suspicions, but she wasn’t sure. She was looking for confirmation, and she just got it from one look at us.
“Dios mío,” she whispers.
And then, in an instant, she’s pulled herself back together. She sweeps her coffee back into one hand, then beckons us in with a fluttering gesture of her fingers that makes her bangles jingle softly.
“Hi, you two,” she says gently. “Come in. Close the door, please.”
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