Page 41 of Code 6

“Shit!”

It was move-in day, and a few casualties were to be expected. Still, would the universe have been any less satisfied if she’d dropped a box of towels instead?

Sean entered from the hallway, having heard the crash. Kate had mentioned the move when he’d called to tell her thatThe Little Foxeswas sold out for the coming weekend but he’d like to take her to the symphony instead. Perhaps his offer to help had been a token gesture, just being nice, but Kate had taken him up on it.

“Let me help you with that,” he said, tiptoeing around the shards of glass.

“Thirty minutes in my apartment, and you already know where I keep the broom?”

“It was in thebroomcloset,” he said dryly.

The shrill whine of a power drill came from the other side of the wall, the bedroom.

“Are you allowed to drill holes in the wall?” asked Sean, shouting over the drill.

“No!”

“I think you should tell the movers.”

Kate hurried to the bedroom, where two men were mounting her television on the wall. She pulled the plug on the electric drill, literally.

“First of all, whose TV is that? And who told you to mount it on the wall?”

“It’s in the work order,” said the guy holding the drill.

“Whose order?”

A voice came from the other room. “Kate, are you here?”

Her father. Things were suddenly coming clear.

“Just leave the TV,” she told the movers. “Let’s get everything off the truck first.”

The movers left, and Kate went to the living room. Her father was standing in the open doorway.

“There you are,” he said, entering. He seemed confused to see Sean. Kate made the quick introduction.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” said Sean.

More than you realize, thought Kate, thinking of the Fagin-like line from her script that Irving Bass had loved so much.

Her father was suddenly too distracted to exchange pleasantries. He quickly crossed the empty living room, stopping abruptly at the glass doors to the balcony.

“What’s this? I specifically asked for an apartment with no balcony,” he said.

“I changed it,” said Kate.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because it’s my apartment, and I want a balcony.”

He seemed utterly perplexed, then glanced at Sean. “Would you give us a minute, please?” he said, pointing to the open doorway.

Sean excused himself to the corridor and closed the apartment door behind him.

“Sweetheart, I’m not trying to run your life.”

“Really?”

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