Handling Things (working title) by CE Dalton

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Chapter 7

Beth stepped off the strip during her last match, saluting her former opponent, then the judge, and the audience. "Good job," she said, shaking her hand.

"You too," she said, smiling behind her mask. "I hope you get moved up, Beth," she said quietly.

She smiled back. "Me too." They nodded to the judges and sat down to watch the results go up. Beth had won her match. It had been a long one but not her longest this time. She was on her second day of competition. She looked back at the cheering because her name was up on the medal board. She smiled, waving a tiny wave at Richard, Al, and Celia. Major Bill had to travel with one of his athletes who was having troubles.

The judges looked at the next group. "We have an uneven number," they said. "We'll have to do a bye situation."

"Why not ask one of the women?" one of the guys asked. "At least it'll be a match. You can put one of the lesser rated ones against them."

"I can use a saber," Beth noted. "I'm not too tired for that. My sword's here." A few others spoke up. The judges talked and nodded, pointing at her. She was the higher rated of those. She got up to grab her saber, coming over to get her opponent. Their piste was off to the side. She saluted him, the judge, then the audience properly. Her opponent did the same. They moved forward and she took the first point. Then the second. Her opponent got the next one but she managed a near-hit. He was huffy but yay. She kept up, winning the match a few minutes later. She saluted him with a smile. "Thank you."

He nodded. "Thank you." He shook her hand. "You're very good."

She smiled, taking off her mask after the mandatory salutes. "I try." He gaped. She grinned at the judge, getting a nod. "If you need me again, I'll be on the seats." She walked off to get some water.

The rest of the group was evenly matched so that was fine. She could watch. She looked over at one of the top two giving an interview off to the side. "I might not retire," she was saying with a smile at the other women. "There's some competitors that I've never fenced against. There's a lot of talent I haven't tried myself against yet." She caught Beth staring at her. "I don't know you but you're one I want to work against sometime."

"Yes you do. I was the one who took your record in the Junior nationals." She smiled back. "I was waiting on the upper ranges to loosen up so there was room."

The reporter looked at her. "You're..."

"Beth DeSandra."

"Oh. I've heard of you. You're a handler at the Reed Center."

"I am a junior handler, and a trainee there."

"Does your college have a fencing team?"

"No. I'm not taking enough hours at a time even if there was."

"So you want to take her position here?"

"Some year I'll get up there. Until then, I'll take third in the US." She smiled.

"Maybe next year, DeSandra," the other fencer quipped with a smile for her.

"Sure. I'm more than ready to step in if we need someone at the Worlds." The other fencer shuddered a tiny bit. Beth sat back. She felt someone touch her shoulder and smiled at Al, taking the water he handed her. "Thanks, Al."

"Welcome. You do good, kid."

"I try." She sipped her water. She had one last group to go. Then she was done for the weekend.

***

Richard walked up to where Beth was sipping a soda and eating an appetizer at the semi-nice restaurant. He sat down. "I didn't expect fencing to be that hard."

"It's a lot of work but also some politics." She smiled at him and then Al when he sat down. "Thanks for coming for me, guys."

"Bill couldn't," Richard said. "It's important to have friends at important events."

Al smiled, hugging her. "Third in the nation is great, Beth."

She smiled. "Thanks." They ordered dinners and talked about how you fenced and what the differences between the swords were.

That national level fencer sat down in the free seat at the table. She stared at her. "You interrupted."

"No, I was staring at you oddly for that bs response." She stared at her. "We both know that things are wrong."

"We do," she agreed. "I'll come back in a few years."

Beth nodded. "Cool. By then I'll have to retire because I'll be a full time handler." She ate a fry then swallowed. "You did good today, but your footing was odd. Is your leg cramping a lot?"

"It is," she admitted. "You're a handler?"

"Yes. Junior handler. I have to finish the degree to be a full handler." She pulled out a card. "One of the guys, myself, and Cecily all train there." She slid it over. "So do these two, who are both shooters. I handle them."

She nodded at them. "Shooting has to be easier."

"Sometimes," Richard agreed with a smile. "Not always. We have trifling hos to quote Beth."

Beth nodded. "Yes there are. One of the women had a boyfriend in another sport try to screw her up."

The other fencer shook her head. "I'm glad I have a fencing club behind me."

"There's none near me," Beth admitted. "But I like training at the center. We have the gym and everything else to go along with it."

"Really?" she asked.

Al smiled and nodded. "We have gym trainers assigned to us to keep track of our goals. We have gyms to train in, and all sorts of perks, including a caf on site to snack from for free up to a limit. They spoil us rotten but it's a diverse group. She helps a soccer team."

"I got given Amanda to help train her in handling a team," Beth said.

"Congrats," Al said with a smile back. "When we get back, are you handling the moving for that one bobsledder that's going to the olympic training center?"

"I've already done most of it for him, including explaining all the financials he'll need to him and his mom. He'll do good." She smiled. "It'll be tight but he'll make it."

The other fencer shook her head. "I'm glad my club's not that complicated. Good luck next year, DeSandra."

"You as well. I hope the leg cramps get solved soon." She shook her hand. The other fencer left. Beth relaxed, sighing a tiny bit. She looked at the guys, who shrugged back. "Next year maybe I'll take a higher spot."

"Maybe," Al agreed. "There wasn't that much room between you two." She smiled. "Did they count you down on purpose?"

"Not the first time if they did but I don't know. I've got a copy of my tapes to go over for those." They nodded, letting her move so their dinners could be delivered. They all needed a good dinner.

***

Beth put her certificate in the handler's honor box in the lobby, then locked it back up so she could hand security the key. She smiled at the person staring at her. "Yes, Director Bell?"

He stared at her. "Did they cheat on her behalf?"

"It's all politics. We're a few microns apart in the season totals." She smiled. "They also ignored a yellow card violation for her." The director winced. She shrugged. "It happens. It's all politics."

"What if they need you on the team as the alternate for the Worlds?" he asked.

She smiled. "I'll be handing you nice leave paper forms, Director. Hopefully ones for Major Bill as well."

He nodded. "We welcome you going higher, Beth. You're good at fencing." He patted her on the arm then walked off. She handed over the key with a smile and went up to her office. The director got called down a second after she got there due to the screaming going on. He stomped in and found Beth trying to get away from two poisonous snakes. "Someone shoot them!" he ordered.

"Not that accurate, sir," one of the guards said. "They're blocking her from moving."

"We have nine shooters that practice here, go find one!" the director shouted. The guard ran off to the shooting grounds. "Beth, calm down. Try to shift this way."

"I did try that, it nearly got me bitten, which is when I screamed. They came down out of the ceiling." She pointed up.

Richard leaned in with a handgun. He shot both snakes. "Beth, you good?"

"No!" she said, sounding a bit hysterical. He helped her out of the mess and the guards got to look for other snakes. Which Richard shot for them while Major Bill helped Beth down to the infirmary to have her checked over. Beth finally calmed down. "I'm glad they didn't bite me when they fell on me."

"What triggered the release?" he asked quietly and calmly.

"I think there was a string on the door." She took a calming breath because he prompted her to. "If I find out who did that, I'm going to gut them."

He nodded. "I would too. Stay calm for now." Richard came in. "Did you find the method of trap?"

"I did. It was a simple rope release one." He looked at her. "You okay?"

"I'll be okay." She swallowed the water Bill handed her. "I'm not happy but I'm okay."

"There's no security footage," Richard said quietly. "They were telling the director that while looking at the trap." She stared at him. "I don't know, kiddo."

"I'm not that young."

He smirked. "I'm old enough to be your dad."

"Possibly. Mom didn't have him listed before she died." She finished the water, then tossed out the bottle. She stared at Bill. "Can you please get my laptop and phone? Maybe my purse as well? I'll go work in the caf until someone checks it very carefully."

"I can do that," he promised. "You go with Richard. Did you pause in your office on the way down?"

"I tossed my purse on the chair but I barely opened it to toss it in though." She ran a hand over her hair, which was pulled back. "I'm going to throw up." She hopped up to go do that. Bill went up to get her equipment while Richard walked her up to the caf to get her something to sip.

Celia stormed in, glaring at Beth. "What happened?"

"I opened my door, was walking in to sit down, and got hit by two poisonous snakes," she said, staring at her. "I'm going to kill someone."

Celia smiled. "I can help you with that." Beth smiled slightly, shrugging. Celia gave her a hug then stepped back. "You rest. Put something on your stomach. If I hear who did that I'll let you know."

"I'm just glad Richard was there to kill them for the guards."

"I was escaping the wife's morning moodiness," Richard said dryly. Bill walked in her phone. "Problems?"

"Laptop had rubbing alcohol from the training gym poured on it." Beth stared at him. "Your purse had another snake that landed in it." He stared at her. "You can take today off."

"I could work from the couch too," she admitted. She looked at Celia.

"I know where you live. I helped you put down that area rug." Beth nodded. She helped her up. "We will go work up there. It's safer."

"Granted," Bill agreed. Richard helped by guarding her up there. Bill went back to the director to tell him that decision. Al came jogging up the hall. "She's fine, not bitten. She's on her couch working from there today."

"Who. Did. It?" Al demanded, staring at him.

"No idea yet," the director said. "The tape for this hallway was erased." Al stared at him. "She's fine. We made sure. Richard shot the snakes for her." Al nodded, walking off toward the staff elevator. "It's good they're all protective of her," the director said.

"Al and Richard filled in for me during the competition since I had to be in Belarus," Major Bill agreed. "I thought it was sweet of them."

"It was," the director agreed.

Bill watched the trap being dismantled. The security team could search for fingerprints and run them against the staff and trainees. By that afternoon they'd hopefully know who had done it.

***

Antonio knocked on his handler's door, holding up the bag from the local sandwich place. "Need something comforting?"

"Yes, but her being crushed between two construction machines and then pulled apart at the seams isn't going to happen." She smiled, taking the bag. "Thank you, Mr. Dala."

"Antonio, Beth. And congratulations on your third place." She smiled. "You good?"

"Bit creeped out. They found a fourth snake inside my desk." He grimaced. "Frankly I'm about to hunt her down and use a baseball bat starting with an extremity and then moving up."

He smiled. "I had that feeling after my divorce." He nodded. "I'm heading to the gym." She stared at him. "There's all sorts of rumors." She nodded, putting her sandwich in the fridge and following him down there once she had locked the apartment door. Everyone stared their way but she waved them off. He grinned at her. "They're worried about you."

"Mostly." She smiled at one of the trainers. "What's up, Toby?"

"Nothing much. You okay?"

"I'm good. Thanks."

"Welcome." He patted her on the shoulder. "Trifling ones are all over."

She nodded, punching him on the arm. "Wonderful, skilled women have to deal with ones like that all the time." He left them to workout together.

Cecily, her fellow fencer she practiced against, leaned in. "Beth, are you going to the meet this weekend?"

"No. It's not really going to up my standings and it's a lot of novice fencers." She looked at her, smiling. "You have fun making them all stare in awe."

"Bilanda's going to be there."

"Why is she fencing in a US event that doesn't lead to status?"

"I don't know. It's on her page."

"Let me consider it." Cecily nodded and grinned, disappearing. "Huh." She got onto a stationary bike and looked that up on her phone while she peddled. "She said she is.... That's a problem. That's a violation of the publicity policy," she said. "Huh." She flipped through the pages. "And a uniform violation too." She got onto the main page of the fencing federation, sending an email asking about a change to the rule they didn't know about, citing that image. It was taken at an event. If they had changed the uniforms then someone hadn't told her. She put her phone up. She peddled harder while she thought. She hated buying new whites. They were expensive. Her email chirped so she pulled the phone back out to read it. "Hmm. The whites code did change and no one told us." She forwarded that to Cecily. "That's interesting."

"New padding requirements?"

"New advertising and sponsorship patch rules. They're now smaller." She shrugged, tucking her phone back into her bra strap. "At least we're not allowed to look like NASCAR drivers." She shrugged, peddling harder when one of the trainers looked over. "I got some cardio in earlier by jumping and dodging," she said dryly.

He stared at her. "Not cute," the trainer complained.

"Not my fault. I didn't put four poisonous snakes in my office."

He shuddered. "We heard three."

"They found one in my desk. Which is why I'm taking killing ideas off totally unrealistic horror movies."

"Crap," he muttered as he walked off.

She shrugged when Toby looked at her. She knew he was dating one of the bimbos who had done that. It didn't make any difference to her. Though everyone wished that athletes were more mature at times.

Antonio looked at her. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"I'm okay enough. Still mad. Still upset. I don't even know what set them off. I was always nice to them." She shrugged, looking over at him. "They had a hissy about me taking a weekend off, and they weren't on the weekend schedule anyway so it wouldn't have mattered to them. Since then everything's been pissing them off. I don't know what I did. I'm always nice to most everyone, outside one athlete who tried to trap me in a closet last year. They aren't here anymore."

"They're probably jealous. You're pretty and talented. You clearly have more than college sports in mind," Antonio said. She nodded, leaning forward to grab the handlebars again so she could peddle faster.

One of the trainers came over to lean on her bike, staring at her. "They were trying the two young ones too. They didn't think that any of you were good enough because you didn't have the degree yet. That plus you were supposedly getting perks with the apartment and the continued sports."

"Any of us could apply for an apartment at the reduced rate. That's a perk that's available to everyone. I don't get perks. I pay for my own dues, I'm taking all the classes."

He smiled and nodded. "Yes, but you're doing better than they were. The two young ones are doing more than they did. Between the six of them, they only had ten trainees." She shook her head with a sigh. "They weren't worthy of the title of handler. They were on the way out anyway. Bell had them suspended last week for being dumb and having a brawl with some of the soccer team."

"We're sure it was a brawl?" she muttered, staring at him. "From rumors it wasn't."

"Possibly true," he agreed, then smiled. "I heard the UAE family came back?"

"I haven't heard anything but that doesn't mean anything."

"We heard you had to send a memo?"

"To lock the doors," she said. He walked off laughing. She got back to her light workout. One of the soccer team walked in. "Hey, Elizabeth."

"Beth, are you okay? We've heard strange rumors."

"I'm good. What rumors?"

"That you dumped us?"

"No. Amanda's learning how to handle a full team as a handler by helping me." Elizabeth smiled and texted that. "I did most of your upcoming trip assignments while I was upstairs earlier. I let her post them."

"She's a sweet kid," Elizabeth said. "We all thought she was."

"She is. She's only seventeen." Elizabeth smiled. "She'll make a good handler some day."

"That's good. I've heard you got suspended?"

"No, I worked from my apartment today because there were poisonous snakes in my office this morning."

"Oooooh." She winced. "That's bad. We heard that you're going to retire too. Someone was bragging in the caf that once you got married you'd be giving up your job."

"I'm not marrying anyone. Who was starting that one?"

"Same people," Toby called from his weight bench where he was spotting. "Al punched him and got suspended for two days for it." He looked over. "Same family."

"Great. Just...great." She smiled at her trainee. "No, I'm not marrying. I'd buy a spouse from overseas to let them immigrate before I marry one of that family." Elizabeth walked off giggling. "Get that ankle looked at," she called after her. "Before you get it injured."

"I have. It's wrapped, Beth."

"Okay. We don't want one of you injured. Apparently we need more grown ups in adult level sports."

Elizabeth looked back and laughed. "Yeah, they do. We had one who pouted that she had to take off her jewelry for a match."

Beth shook her head. "It's the year of the bimbo. I wasn't aware it was an official zodiac symbol," Antonio quipped. "Maybe on the Chinese zodiac?"

Beth looked at him. "They're all animals. The Greek one has people, so it'd have to be on there." He smirked at her. "Maybe it's one of the twins."

"Maybe," he agreed. "Better than the water carrier."

"I doubt any of the bimbos were virgins," she quipped back with a grin. Toby choked, leaning against the wall to shake his head. "Sorry, Toby. Let me go lift weights."

Toby looked around then walked off shaking his head. He had to share that one with Celia. Maybe she'd know a fun date for Beth to hang out with for a few days of intense neediness.

Antonio smiled when he caught someone staring at him. "I'm working up to a triathalon and probably going back to diving."

His former World Game teammate nodded. "Figured. You like the spotlight too much to stay out of it."

Antonio shrugged. "I'm bored without Hilda to nag me night and day about things. Running's better than going through all the gold diggers on this coast."

"Good point. Good luck. We have the new dives on tape in the dive office when you're ready."

"Thanks."

"The sport could use more attention again. We haven't had anyone flashy recently." He went to workout in another room.

Antonio almost pouted. He wasn't *always* flashy. Sometimes he was downright subtle and quiet. Why didn't anyone believe that?

***

Celia found Beth that night back on her couch. She looked at her for a moment. "I know someone who runs a ...rescue operation for gifted individuals stuck in former Eastern Bloc countries."

"Like the girls that marry to leave?"

"Yes, only these are all men who need to leave for some reason. A lot are very smart but stymied by the system. Or they're athletes in an unappreciated sport." She stared at her. "I can pass on information if you'd like."

"I...." She considered it. "I might some day but I'm not ready. I don't have time for a lover."

Celia nodded. "That is true. Are you all right?"

"I'm good. Thanks, Celia."

"It's not a problem. You are a friend. The rumors have been stopped. Al nearly gutting one of them made sure of it." She smirked a tiny bit. "The other one spreading the rumors is related to those heathen brats."

"Antonio Dala said they're all bimbos."

"He'd know. He was seen dating two at the same time last month." She stared at her. "Also, I ran into Bill on the way up. He said not to go to that event. They're going to try to push Bilanda's status up to recruit more fencers into the life. He did hear a rumor that you got her in trouble?"

"No, I asked about a change to the uniform code. She had pictures of her at events that violated the old code. I wanted to make sure I was in compliance." She shrugged. "She violated the publicity code too."

"That is bad. It may seem a bit petty to some but hopefully not many will realize it."

"Some probably will but my email stated I wanted to confirm any changes to the uniform code because they showed pictures of events with different standards and we weren't told by the overseeing body." She shrugged but smiled. "I wasn't trying to get her into trouble. Though it's nice that during Nationals she yellow carded a foul and wasn't called on it."

"Interesting." Beth nodded. "Hmm. I thought that level of problems only happened in gymnastics and ice skating." She stood up. "You should rest. You look tired."

"I'm okay. I could've had a nap earlier but I did homework instead."

"That's always a good thing to put you to sleep." She let herself out, going to talk to Bill since he was back from bailing one of his athletes out of a DUI. That one would probably like saved from the nagging he was getting.

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