Page 6 of Box of Frogs
Making a brief detour, I located a small Boots in the main shopping precinct and scooped up some antiseptic cream and plasters. The other shoppers gave me a wide berth and, when I caught sight of myself in a nearby mirror, I realised why. My cheeks were bright red and there were smudges of dirt all over my face, hands and clothes, mingled with the grass stains from the night before which I hadn’t noticed previously. I also reeked. Grimacing, I grabbed some deodorant. No wonder even the cat didn’t want my help.
When I stepped out of the shop, it started to rain and big fat droplets of cold yuck landed on my head. Someone opened their umbrella right next to me, almost taking out my eye. I was turning to spit out an expletive when my attention was caught by something else entirely. Or rathersomeoneelse.
Directly opposite, and probably less than twenty metres away, stood a woman of Amazonian stature. She was completely ignoring the rain and glaring at me with a mixture of shock and fear. She sashayed her hips once, as if in delight, then started to reach inside her coat pocket. I didn’t wait to see what manner of weapon she was pulling out. I simply ran.
Fool, I mentally berated myself. Regardless of who I was – or indeed what I was – I knew full well that the bad guys were after me. Wandering around in the middle of day was just asking to be taken down. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the rain, I’d probably already be dead.
I pelted round the nearest corner and darted into a shop, making sure to close the jangling door behind me. Chest tight with nervous tension, I whirled round and waited to see if the woman was following me.
‘Welcome, dear!’
I ignored the trilling voice of the shop assistant, keeping my eyes peeled on the street outside.
‘Terrible weather we’re having, isn’t it?’
I crossed my arms and continued to stare. There was no sign of the woman and for a moment I debated whether to go back and find her. Perhaps if I confronted her, I’d learn more about who I was. Without the element of surprise on her side, I’d be more likely to gain the upper hand. After all, I’d beaten back all those goons last night.
In the end, however, the persistent shop assistant behind me made the decision for me. ‘We have some lovely new clothes in. I just hung them up. There are some warm coats.’ She paused. ‘You look like you need a coat.’
I supposed I did look like I was in need of proper clothing. Satisfied that my would-be attacker wasn’t on my heels, I slowly turned, realising that I was inside a charity shop.
‘Hi,’ I said, somewhat belatedly. ‘Yes, I do need something decent to wear.’
She beamed in delight. ‘How about a nice anorak? Or we have these jumpers?’
I started to nod then my eye fell on something else entirely. ‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I’m in the market for something completely different.’
***
When I finally got back to the safety of the hotel, after doubling back several times to ensure I wasn’t being followed, I was soaking wet and shivering. I laid out my new clothes and jumped in the shower. I hadn’t appreciated quite how dirty I was but, judging by the colour of the water swirling down the drain, I needed a damn good scrub.
As soon as I was warm and dry again, I tried on the first of my new outfits. The shop assistant had been nonplussed at some of my choices – but she didn’t know what I did.
First of all, there was a dark leotard. It fitted snugly and was surprisingly comfortable. To avoid any unpleasant suggestion of camel toe, I pulled a pair of shorts on top. Then I grabbed mypièce de résistance. This was what had really caught my eye in the shop: a bright, electric-blue cape. Goodness only knew what it had originally been used for but it didn’t matter now. Every superhero needs a cape and now I had one of my own. I’d even managed to snag a mask to cover my eyes and nose. It had some ridiculous flowers on one side, which I yanked off, but I left on the sequins. The Madhatter deserved some sequins, I decided.
As expected, the overall effect was completely ridiculous. However, my reasons for playing fancy dress were twofold. First of all, I needed a disguise to guard against those who were after me; secondly, I wanted the world to know that I wasn’t just a crazed person roaming the streets – I really did want to help out. Every other darned superhero in the world had a costume. Surely I deserved one too?
I twirled round several times, practising with the cape to avoid suffocating myself instead of expertly swirling the silky material as I wanted to do. After twenty minutes or so, I reckoned I had it. My first venture into the real world today might have been a total disaster but I was ready for my second one.
I applied cream to my poor finger, slapped on a plaster and waited for night to fall.
Chapter Four
Obviously, I didn’t want to stride out of the Travotel wearing my superhero disguise for all and sundry to see. In fact, by the time it was actually dark, I was starting to regret my plans to dress up.
There was still nothing on the news about any unfortunate events at a local golf course, and I still remembered nothing about myself. I’d spent an hour or two making use of the hotel’s business centre but, with virtually no clues to go on, my internet searches weren’t very helpful. Unsurprisingly, typing ‘who am I?’ into the search bar didn’t get me very far, regardless of which search engine I used.
If some real clues didn’t present themselves soon, I would have to involve the police. In that scenario, it was probably better that they didn’t discover I’d been running around the city streets and trying to save people in order to test out my supposed super powers. Neither I didn’t think my real self, whoever she was, would appreciate my costume. I could only presume that my amnesia was making me bold. IfIdidn’t know myself, I certainly didn’t know anyone who would be embarrassed by my get-up.
I told myself that I was being sensible. I doubted the authorities would look kindly on a hero vigilante and, with any luck, my disguise would hide my identity from CCTV cameras as well as potential evil-doers. Anyway, it was important to go with your gut instinct. All the same, it was fortunate that I’d had the foresight to purchase a long raincoat that more than covered my outfit. I dropped some cash and the strange spherical object I’d nabbed from the headless corpse into one of the deep pockets then did up the buttons.
I didn’t put on the mask until I was well away from the hotel. Once it was snug and secure on my face, I stashed the raincoat under an old car that didn’t look as if it had been driven since the seventies. Doubtless the coat would be safe there until my return in a few hours’ time; if nothing else, it was both dry and out of sight.
Once that was done and I was striding along the street once more, I felt as if I’d found myself in the middle of some bizarre Marvel-inspired farce. I whispered under my breath that confidence and aplomb would carry me further than my blue cape and straightened my shoulders.
My first stop was the side street where I’d spoken to the homeless guy. Alas, there was still no sign of him. Given how nasty his head wound had looked that wasn’t surprising, but I was still disappointed. So far he was my only viable lead – and I suspected that even he didn’t have much to offer.
Once I’d established that he wasn’t anywhere nearby, I veered off to the seedy area where I’d tried to play hero earlier. I did, however, avoid the cat’s street. I might seem to possess a high embarrassment threshold but there was only so much humiliation I was willing to put myself through.
