Thirteen
By mid day, the transmission trucks of the seven television crews were parked in the main SGP parking lot, alerted by Ms. Marquez, who had sent a podcast of her and the girls naked to the main tv stations in the Los Angeles area. They had set up a press conference room in the ground floor near the entrance, in a meeting room normally used by the accounts payable department. Clarity looked anxiously at her watch. They had to hold on less than twenty four hours, the state vote on naturism was set for the next day, and in all likelihood, a majority of voters would say yes.
Ms. Marquez started the press conference around one o´clock, surrounded by Clarity and the girls, who were sitting naked beside her, filmed by several cameras. Their clothes were safely kept in the roof top terrace near the pool.
“…And we would like to tell the District Attorney that allowing people to exercise their option to work naked or clothed will become one of the basic freedom for the American people very quickly now. We are confident that the referendum set up for tomorrow will pass, and that this unacceptable bullying from police to stop the legitimate commercial activity at Stevenson Garden Products will stop right then. Until then, we ask our honourable D.A. to be flexible and show tolerance for what is nothing else but an expression of the basic nature of the people of California…”
Clarity saw Charlie move closer to Ms. Marquez.
“There´s a television crew who wants to interview the girls,” said Charlie.
“Entertain them,” said Ms. Marquez, turning her head towards Clarity, “we need to make some time until tomorrow.”
Clarity nodded and stood up naked with the girls. She was wearing a pair of trekking sandals from Ms. Marquez, which were slightly too big for her, and she tended to trip every other step forward she made. She walked to the entrance of the building, sealed off by Packwood, and notice a crew of a man holding a camera and a woman holding a microphone, running towards her. Instinctively, she ran away from them, jumping over the security entrance barrier.
Somehow, the television team became interested in Clarity and lost the rest of the girls. She grabbed a blanket and pushed the door leading to a large conference room, locking it behind her. She ran across the room and exited through another door, locking her eyes on the door leading to the stairs. She threw a glance above her all the way to the tenth floor and started to go up the stairs. If she was going to be interviewed, she preferred to be near a nice pool in a terrace. Used to running up and down the beach, she made the top floor in less than five minutes, hearing the two people crew running haphazardly behind her. She finally pushed the top door open and placed a chair against the door knob to prevent anybody from entering.
She heard a helicopter noise above her and looked up, seeing a familiar stripe reading Slothtrack Express. The driver of the Slothtrack delivery truck apparently knew how to drive helicopters and was preparing to land on the terrace to deliver its package, or throw it away, judging by the heavy wind blowing across the roof top. She saw the helicopter passenger door slide open and noticed a package, about to be dropped right on the pool. Right before the critical delivery moment, a second helicopter emerged from below, a voice screaming through a loud speaker. It was Packwood in a helicopter driven by his assistant.
“Stop right there sir, no deliveries are allowed on this building which is sealed, please unload at your local base,” said Packwood. Clarity saw him turn his face towards her.
“As to you, I have something to show you Lady, we know where you are now.”
After a few seconds of standstill with both helicopters facing each other and blowing water from the pool on Clarity as if it were coming from a cascade, the Slothtrack helicopter decided to leave, dropping its package in the SGP garden below, into a shrub near an alley of azaleas. Finally, the cascade stopped and the noise of the police helicopter faded away. Clarity looked out the top fence into the garden below and noticed a woman picking up the package, walking towards the street. She squinted and finally remembered where she´d seen her.