Conversation · Lena, the Cryptozoologist's wife

"Hello again, sweetie." Her grey eyes shine above the rims of her glasses.

"About your pin..."

"I hope you were able to pawn that old trinket!" She smiles up at you earnestly.

"I decided not to pawn it. You should have it back." (Give her the pin.)

"Aw, thank you, dear. I confess -- I am glad to see it again."

Even the lieutenant seems happy with this turn of events.

"Now, what else, sweetie?"

"I just wanted to thank you again."

"Of course, dear! I just wish I could have done more."

"I got 3.20 for it. You should have it." (Give her the money.)

"Oh, that's very thoughtful of you. Are you sure you don't need the money? Okay, then. Thank you."

She really would have rather had the pin back, but she doesn't want to make you feel bad.

"I bought it back. I know it means a lot to you. You should have it." (Give her the pin.)

"Aw, thank you, dear. I confess -- I am glad to see it again. Very honourable of you, officer."

"You seem to be in a chair."

"Yes, dear, I am a paraplegic."

A paraplegic is someone with limited or no ability to use the lower half of their body. Paraplegia is caused by spinal cord injuries -- like falling from a great height, or a grenade explosion!

"I'm sorry, it was rude of me to mention the wheelchair. Let's move on." (Proceed.)

"That's quite alright. I'm used to people asking questions. I know they're thinking about it anyway."

There is no bitterness in her voice. She accepted the curiosity her condition inspires a long time ago.

"What is a paraplegic?"

"It means I can't use my legs. I was in an accident some years back, injured in the line of duty as they say."

"Were you a... rugby player?"

"Oh, no, far from it. Although..." Her eyes glimmer mischievously. "I did come out to watch the boys play when I was in school. All those tan calves..."

She blushes, surprised by her own boldness.

"What did you do, then?"

"I was a training and development manager at a rapidly expanding mail-order shoe company."

"You'd think it would be a safe job. But I had to be everywhere -- and, well, once I happened to be under some faulty scaffolding."

"I was lucky. This was almost twenty years ago, and I was compensated exceptionally well. One can only dream of such pay-offs nowadays." She runs her hands over the chrome wheels of her chair.

"Were you a... tightrope walker?"

"Nothing so extravagant, dear, though what young girl doesn't dream of soaring over a crowd?"

"Were you a... mountaineer?"

"Nothing so glamorous, dear, though when I was young, I dreamt of planting the Revacholian flag on some figurative peak."

"Could I become a paraplegic?"

"I hope not, although the work you are doing for all of us is quite dangerous." Her eyes glimmer with admiration as she looks up at you.

Towering over her in your insignia, you make her feel safe.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, hanging out in a chair, playing pinball..."

"Actually, this machine is broken." She taps on the greasy glass of the pinball machine.

(Nod grimly.) "Someone has to do it."

"But not you. You're volunteering. So thank you, sweetie."

So you volunteered, sometime in the past? For the beatdown and the hail of bullets? So very you...

"I'm not sure I should be in this line of work."

"You're a man at the peak of your physical and intellectual powers. You will find another calling yet, I'm certain of it!"

"Hmm, a grenade? Did you fight in a war?"

"No, dear, I'm not quite that old, although I was injured in the line of duty."

"I feel like I was in a war..."

"Oh my! What happened?"

"I think I lost."

"That's how I feel about the accident..." She looks down and then up at you again. "I was a training and development manager at a rapidly expanding mail-order shoe company."

"I think I won."

"Thanks for clearing that up for me. Let's move on." (Proceed.)

"No problem." She nods, smiling up at you from behind her glasses.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't know where I am, or what I'm doing. Or anything."

"Yes, officer, you look rather dazed... like a stunned fox. But surely things can't be that bad?" Her eyes follow your movements with some concern.

She won't judge you, no matter what you say.

"I drank so hard I forgot literally everything."

"Oh my..." It takes a moment to process. "You know where we are, right?"

"The 'Whirling-in-Rags' cafeteria? It was on my keys."

"That's right, and where is the Whirling-in-Rags cafeteria itself located?"

"On something called the urban coast."