Pizza party

Louise, who used to be one of my bosses at City Of Love, is taking me on an adventure to get me to loosen up. I sure could use an adventure like this since I have been wound up as tight as a spring ever since Kat's ****. If anything else goes wrong for a while, I might just snap into a million pieces. My biggest problem with tension is that my back is almost too stiff for me to move. This is one reason I am very grateful to Louise for what she is doing for me. Blowing off some steam would sure do me some good before I go back to my detective work. While walking towards Louise's Porsche, I think about how Noor told me how I would only get myself killed if I didn't have my head in the game. She was right of course. Louise opens the passenger door for me and then gets in the driver's seat. Before we leave, there is something I feel I must get off my chest.

"Louise, could we talk about something before we go?" I ask.

"Sure," Louise responds to me with a smile while taking her right hand off the ignition key and turning towards me.

I feel a little embarrassed about what I have to say so all I can do is blush at first.

"Connie, we are friends!" Louise insists while rubbing my left arm. "I want you to be able to tell me anything."

"I think I am going crazy," I confess to my friend.

"Why?" Louise wonders.

"Sometimes when I am crying, I almost think that I can see Kat's ghost crying with me," I explain.

"That does not make you crazy!" Louise objects.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" I persist.

"That's a tough question," Louise ponders. "I do believe that you seeing Kat's ghost is just wishful thinking on your part, but I know that there is a lot of weird stuff in this world that we don't understand."

"It is comforting to me that you feel that way," I respond with a smile since I know that Louise won't arrange for me to be fitted for a straight jacket.

"Is there anything else you need help with?" Louise probes.

"I was crying at the park because I saw someone who looked like Kat," I let go. Each confession that I make to my friend is like another weight being lifted off of my shoulders.

"I can understand how that would happen, and that doesn't make you crazy either," Louise consoled me.

"It makes feel a bit better to have someone to talk to about these things," I mention to give thanks to my buddy.

"It is my pleasure," Louise replied with a wave of her hand.

"I think that I am all talked out for now," I comment.

"In that case, I think that you could use someplace fun to eat lunch," Louise suggests while starting her car. "I can show you Luc's favorite hobby while we are there. I really think that it will help you work off some of your tension."

"Sounds good," I relent.

I find myself enjoying the scenery while my gal pal drives me who knows where. Wherever she is driving me, I doubt that I could find my way back to this path by myself. After fifteen minutes, Louise pulls into a parking lot that features a festive building with clowns painted on it. I just bet that Louise has been here many times with her son Luc. As I walk to the front door and open it, I hear the sound of many arcade games assaulting my ears. I haven't played one of these games since I was a kid growing up in the States. That was a time when my life was simple. It was long before I worked for Raphael and Louise at City Of Love. It was before... before... I don't even want to think about it! It's too painful! Louise must be able to read my mind since she is already rubbing my back. Her magic touch heals me to the point where I don't have to cry. When my friend sees that the mini-crisis has been averted, she leads me to the dining area which does not blot out the sound of all of the games. We sit at a table and wait for a waiter.

"Hello, Louise!" the gray haired waiter who is wearing a red jacket and black pants calls out. "Where's Luc?"

"He's staying with a friend tonight, Pierre," Louise informed the waiter who seemed to be her friend. "Meet my friend, Connie."

"Hello, Connie," Pierre acknowledges me while shaking my hand.

"Hi," I quietly reply.

"We'll have a supreme pizza with everything and a pitcher of diet coke," Louise orders.

"It will be ready in fifteen minutes," Pierre the waiter informs us.

"That should be enough time for you to play a few games," Louise suggested.

I got up to buy a dollar's worth of quarters. I look around at all the games and decide what game I want to play most. I was a bit of a Pac-Man wizard when I was a kid. The game is a bit easier if you know certain patterns. It has been years since I have played so the patterns are gone which means I will muddle through the game. The first two mazes were easy which enabled me to do a little dance during the intermission just like I did when I was a kid. I guess I got a little bit cocky during the third maze because I quickly got chomped. I still did respectable for not playing the game since I was a kid and met my game over during the eighth maze.

I looked at my wristwatch and discover that I have five minutes to kill so I look for something else to do. I see a karaoke machine which immediately caught my eye. I put a quarter in the slot and I scroll through the list of available songs. I see Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" and I just know it is just the song for me considering the mood I am in. I begin the song I pour my entire self into the song. I pour all of my sadness and all of my anger into the song. I especially let it go during the chorus.

It must have been love but it's over now. It must have been good but I lost it somehow. It must have been love but it's over now. From the moment we touched 'til the time had run out.

I do not realize that my singing is attracting a fan following. My only concern is if I can sing loud enough so that Kat will able to hear me in Heaven. This is my way for me to let Kat know how much I loved her and how much I miss her. What I don't know is that the spectators most interested in my performance are Louise and her friend Pierre.

"Louise, did your friend lose someone important recently?" Pierre guessed.

"Her best friend," Louise grumbled.

"Her friend was murdered, wasn't she?" Pierre went on.

"How did you know?" Louise gasped.

"I have heard a lot of performances in all the years I have worked here so I have become a bit of an analyst," Pierre explained. "I can hear the anger in poor Connie's singing. I would take special care of her if I were you."

"I intend to," Louise agreed.

At the end of my song, I turn around and receive a huge round of applause from all the people in the arcade not playing games. I take my bow and meet up with my buddy Louise to see if our pizza is ready.

"I had no idea that you were such a great singer!" Louise complimented me to try and get my mind off of my troubles. She failed miserably.

"Louise, do you think Kat heard me from up in Heaven?" I ponder.

"Yes, I do!" Louise emphatically replied while hugging me. "It's time to eat."

I go back to the dining room with my good friend. I am a little winded from my blazing karaoke performance, but the four slices of pizza that I eat rejuvenates me. I offer to pay for half of the pizza, but Louise wouldn't hear of it. After the pizza is paid for, my gal pal walks me to the back of the arcade.

"Now, I can show you what we really came here for," Louise speaks while leading me through a double glass door.

I find a batting cage when we exit the arcade. At first we enter the control room where all of the supplies are kept. I put a helmet on for protection and pick up a bat. Louise puts in a couple of dollars for me and then I head out to work off some tension.

"I'll put it on slow pitch for you," Louise tells me.

I walk up to home plate and imagine I am playing in the majors. It has been a long time since I have done this so I miss the first couple of pitches and I foul off the third.

"Hold the bat steadier," Louise advises me.

My friend's advise seems to do the trick and hit three balls high on the back wall of the batting cage. At first, I am having a lot of fun, but then I experience a major problem. I start to picture myself going after Kat's killer and knocking his head clear off of his shoulders with the bat I am swinging. I foul off the next pitch, but then I can't hit anything because I am swinging too wildly.

"What are you doing? Don't swing so hard!" Louise yells at me.

I don't hear my buddy because I accidentally walk into the path of the next pitch and get hit in the arm for my trouble which causes me to sit on my rear in shock. Louise hits the abort button and rushes out to rescue me.

"Are you okay?" Louise screeches.

"Yeah, I guess," I whine.

"I guess the batting cage wasn't a good idea," Louise observes with a frown. "Now, it's time for me to show you what I like to do to relax."