THE MOMENT
“Oh, you misunderstood me. I prey on Gods,” Barry replied with a smile. Victoria weighed her instant misgivings about the meeting against the rest of her day. The truth was, she wasn’t in any hurry and had nowhere to be. She’d made time to meet him, and now she was stuck with it. She’d sit through it, unless he got extra obnoxious. She couldn’t have misunderstood his exact words; but, he was trying to change them after the fact. Either he was nervous and trying to impress her for some reason, or he was waving an enormous red flag.
“You know this isn’t a date, right?” Victoria asked to be sure.
“We met on a dating app, and you asked to meet for coffee… how isn’t it a date?” he asked.
“Like this,” Victoria smiled. “It’s NOT a date,” she said it clearly as she stared into his eyes. “There’s no romantic chemistry here, and I’m not looking for that. I just want to know more about the world.”
“You could’ve picked anyone for that…,” Barry smiled. Victoria returned the smile with her own nod.
“I did,” she said. “But, enough about that. Tell me more about these gods you prey on. How do you do that, exactly? How many gods have you eaten? Is that how this world works, can others prey on Gods?”
“What?” Barry shook his head. “No, there are no others. It’s just me, and I don’t eat them. I hunt and kill them.”
“So, why’d you say you pray to them? Was it just to make that joke about preying on them?” Victoria asked.
“I think you’re missing the point,” Barry chuckled. “I can kill gods.”
“That’s a really bold claim, I’m gonna say it. I don’t believe you at all,” she said.
“Find me a god, and I’ll prove it,” Barry grinned.
“You’re on!” Victoria giggled. Then, Barry blinked, and something was different. It took him a few seconds to realize the coffee shop was much quieter now. People around them seemed to be frozen in time, but he could still move, and Victoria could still move as well. And, so could the third party that was now sitting on their table looking up at Barry. It was a black cat with a red skull-shaped pattern of fur on its head, and it had orange eyes.
“Barry, this is Janet,” Victoria introduced him to the cat. “For all intents and purposes, she is considered a god of time. Go ahead and kill her,” she said.
“I’m not going to kill a cat!” Barry had the easiest out ever.
“That’s right, you’re not,” Janet the cat replied with a gentle, feminine voice. But, her eyes were glowing with soft orange light, and after a few moments, the glow dissipated and the cat turned back to Victoria.
“He really has killed Gods before, though,” Janet turned to Victoria after the glow left her eyes.
“Oh yeah?” Victoria perked up, and Janet nodded.
“Not many, but he’s working his way up to double digits.”
“I told you,” Barry grinned.
“Yeah, but you did it all convoluted,” Victoria replied. “I did not misunderstand you, you changed your wording on me, just so you could casually drop the fact that you kill Gods. And, honestly, that really soured me on wanting to work with you. Thanks, Janet,” she added. The cat nodded, then Barry blinked. He opened his eyes again to a normal, functioning coffee shop and no cat on the table.
“Wait, wait,” Barry shook his head. “This wasn’t a date, you insisted on that, and that’s fine. Was it a job interview??” he asked.
“No, but I can see how you arrived at that conclusion,” she nodded. “Let me explain it better. Well…,” she giggled. “First of all, I don’t feel it should be overlooked that I summoned a God here. I represent a corporation named Sharp Development, and my job is to scout out parallel Earths looking for anything the company might find interesting. I usually do that by meeting a local or a few in a coffee shop,” she gestured at him, and their surroundings.
“On the occasion I do find something worthwhile for the company, I start the process of involving Sharp Development. I will point out that a seemingly normal human with the ability to kill a God is quite interesting. But, and this is where my judgment comes into play, you’ve drained my interest. Your little stunt of trying to make me doubt my memory was thoroughly insulting, as if you didn’t clearly say, ‘I pray to gods,’ in an offhand manner. Not ‘a’ god. Not singular, capital ‘G’, God. It was such a random statement popping out of your mouth as you sat down, I was curious enough to ask. But, I guess that was the point, wasn’t it? Only to immediately tell me I heard wrong, not even 30 seconds later. I don’t think I’ll be recommending your Earth to be integrated into the AlterNet.”
“Oh no,” Barry chuckled. “I guess I’ll just have to make my living killing Gods.”
“Does it pay well?” Victoria was standing up to leave already, but she was business minded and generally curious about pricing practices.
“No, I’m a manager at the Burger Blast up the street,” he answered.