Creative Practice Day27

Ancho walked into the office, dim evening light filtering through thick, hand woven curtains. They were practically rugs. "Job's done boss. We got what you wanted and they didn't get away." Na'ba, the notorious crime boss turned in her chair to face the Genasi spy she had employed for so long.

"Excellent work Ancho. You do such good work for me."

"Thank you boss." This was normally his cue to exit her office.

"You're still here. What's on your mind?" Shifting back and forth on his feet, ancho said,
"You know uhh, the dame that was with 'im?"

"Yes. The hit was for her too. She knew too much."

"Yeah. Yeah she did. We did everything you asked but uhh, after uhh..."

"After you murdered them, yes. This is part of your job." Na'ba was curt now. She had never seen her man this touchy or hesitant. He's done this a dozen times!

"Yeah... we found their baby in the other room. It's maybe 2 weeks old. Cryin' like hell. And uh. Well you know I',m a father Miss. I couldn't. Can't. So me and the boys took it. With your permission I'll rase the kid as my own. I've got a kid maybe 2 months older than the little girl so... won't be hard to convice my baby son she's part of the family." Na'ba fell back in her chair, covering her eyes with her hands.

"I wish we had that intel before... I might have made a different call."

"I know. Me too."

"A sobering reminder of the line of work we chose. Thank you for your honesty, and, Ancho, you have my blessing. You'll have to tell the kid they were adopted at some point, and you'll have to be clever with social services."

"I know someone there. We go way back. We'll make it work."

"Good. I'm... sorry I put you through that. Do you need some time off?"
"Thank you, miss. Yes please. It'd be good to be home with the missus to get them situated and spend some time with the kid too."

"Call it paternity leave."

"Sounds good." A dry twinkle entered his eye. "Do I still get paid then?"

"Get out of here you old windbag!" Na'ba playfully threw a rolled up newspaper at him as he left the room.

"Thanks boss. See you in two weeks."

"Any time, Ancho. Any time."