Fourteen
Shazaiah! She was there, with their package! At least their thongs were safe. Now, it was just a matter of following her to pick them up and give her own thong. Within minutes, she recovered her clothes which had been miraculously spared the cascade incident and felt good to wear her jeans and cotton turtleneck.
A loud beep alerted her that the elevator was reaching the top floor. The door panels opened and the first person out was Packwood, followed by Ms. Marquez and the girls, who were naked. Clarity gave the clothes to the girls and to Ms. Marquez, while Packwood looked away at the cypress fence. She pulled Ms. Marquez away from Packwood to the other side of the pool and received the news that the District Attorney was not changing her mind on allowing the clothing optional policy at Stevenson.
“There´s something else Clarity,” said Ms. Marquez, glancing briefly at the officer.
She saw Packwood walk towards them, and finally, he blurted a few sentences which sounded ominous.
“I have a new affidavit signed by the District Attorney,” said Packwood, “after having run from police, this one is good for the next year now, three hundred and sixty five days that Ms. Clarity Nice, her companions and Ms. Marquez will probably spend in our very own Malibu jail. The new bail is ten thousand dollars per person.”
Not very good news, thought Clarity. She held the stare of Packwood and looked at the other girls, who seemed to feel like a ton of bricks had fallen on them. She stepped towards the fence to gather her thoughts and admired the sun, which was setting and offering its last rays to the city of Malibu. Away in the distance, she heard a low buzz, getting louder. She locked her eyes to her left and saw the Slothtrack helicopter emerge, with the delivery man who was piloting was showing what amounted to an invoice. Clarity had an idea and waved to the pilot to land in the far side of the pool. Surrendering to Packwood was not part of her plan.
Within seconds, the cascade blew over Packwood, Ms. Marquez and the girls, while Clarity held on to a pole near the pool used to display the American flag from the top of the building. When the helicopter flew low enough, she hopped on the passenger cabin and asked the pilot to lift off, as the others witnessed the manoeuvre open jawed. They started flying over Stevenson´s garden and Clarity saw Shazaiah walk on a nearby street.
“Follow that woman, please,” said Clarity, pointing to the woman below, “she picked up the package which was originally for us, I need to verify the content.”
“Ok,” said the delivery man, “we have gas for fifteen more minutes.” They followed Shazaiah to the largest hotel in Malibu, the Gorgeous Plum, a lavish five star hotel overlooking the beach and the sea, just West of Malibu Lagoon State Beach. They found the empty parking lot of a shopping center and the pilot landed the helicopter there.
“Thank you very much, sir, and yes, you did stand by the on time guarantee, we won´t claim it.”
“Your autograph here please,” said the delivery man, “just proof for me that you did receive the package.”
Clarity signed the page, said good bye to the delivery man, and stepped out of the elevator. She ran to the hotel entrance and asked for a woman named Shazaiah.
“I´m sorry, there´s nobody with that name here.”
“Leah Thomas then,” remembered Clarity.
“Mmm…yes, we do have a Miss Thomas, room five zero three.”
“Thank you very much, I´ll use the room service phone over here.”
Clarity called Shazaiah´s room and the woman remembered her immediately.
“I have a package for you, it just fell out of the air, and it matched your name. I just didn´t know where to find you.”
“I have something for you as well,” said Clarity, feeling the slight bulge in her jeans pocket.
Shazaiah invited Clarity for dinner after they exchanged thong packages. She thanked the teleoperator for picking up her thong and Clarity informed her of their investigation.
“I followed the news, I see you did a great job fighting for naturism.”
“The vote is tomorrow, I hope it passes, otherwise Stevenson Garden Products will have to close, and my friends and I go to jail for a year.”
“Let´s watch it on television tomorrow, you can stay over with me tonight.”
She sent a text message to Cynthia saying she was ok and a more cryptic Shazaiah found, next communication tommorrow after vote. A few minutes later, she received another text message from Cynthia. Ms. Marquez negotiated another night in the pool. Tommorrow Packwood arrest. Clarity sent a final encouragement message and turned the phone off.