War:  Who does she think she is?  
By: Partly - Perkulators Wed.  7/31 - 7pm

Partly, Robin and Lynne slowly walked toward the Four Seasons Hotel, the
rest of the Perks followed listlessly behind.  They had gone out for
dinner using one of the gift certificates they had won, and had had a
truly wonderful time.  But none of them were feeling particularly perky. 
In fact perky hadn't been in the picture since their meeting with Quill,
funeral director and cross dresser.  One thought kept circling around and
around in their heads:  Tracy *could* be alive. 

"There's a big parade and party going on this weekend."  Lynne said.  "And
there's a Shakespearean play on Saturday, too."

"It should be fun," Robin didn't sound like she meant it.  "Hope the
weather is nice." 

Partly nodded noncommittally, and lead them into the hotel lobby.  She
stopped at the concierge desk, and inquired about messages and mail.  The
tall, thin man behind the desk gave her a disapproving look before turning
to fulfill her request.  Partly sighed.  The hotel was beautiful, but both
of the concierge were idiots.  No, not idiots, she corrected herself. 
Snobs.  People who thought that just because the Perks had won the stay in
a raffle, they didn't deserve respect.  This one, she thought his name was
Jeffery, was the worst.  Oh, well, she was too tired to do anything about
that now. 

"Mail.  Messages.  Visitors."  He placed three piles of papers in front of
her, then turned his back on her. 

Partly gathered the papers and headed to the elevator when she saw what
was written on the top one:  "INCOMING PHONE CALL: Tues.  7/30 11 am. 
FROM:  Tracy Vetter RE: Urgent Help Needed." 

She stopped so fast that Robin ran into her.  "Signal next time, will
you?" 

Partly ignored her, quickly scanning the rest of phone messages.  There
were five more, all saying the same thing and dated about 4 hours apart. 
The last one came in at noon that day.  Partly almost ran back to the
desk. 

"Excuse me."  When the concierge didn't turn around, Partly reached over
the desk and grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her.  "Excuse me, but
why didn't we receive any of these messages?"  She flashed the stack under
his nose.  "We were here when most of these came in."  She spoke loudly
enough not to be ignored. 

Jeffery glanced at the notes.  "Your phone was out of order and was not
accepting outside calls.  We took messages." 

"Why didn't you let us know?"  Partly couldn't believe this.  All this
time Tracy had been contacting them and this idiot didn't give them the
messages.  And they were from *Tuesday*, she felt like she'd spent a week
on the one miserable day.  "Why didn't you call them up?" 

"There didn't seem to be a need."  He started to leave. 

"No need?" Partly gabbed him by the arm again and pointed at the note. 
"They're *all* marked urgent." 

The concierge pulled out of her grasp with a disgusted look.  "It is not
my job to babysit immature Americans and their drunken harlot friends." 

Partly was sure she had stepped into the middle of the wrong conversation. 
"What are you talking about?" 

"You're friend.  The one who left the phone calls and is fond of very
revealing black leather, she stopped by here twice."  He looked down his
long nose at Partly.  "I gave you the notes." 

Partly handed the phone messages to a confused Robin, and quickly scanned
the "Visitor's" list.  Tracy Vetter had been there at 3 and 7 pm.  She
glanced at her watch.  That was just 15 minutes ago.  "Didn't she want to
wait for us?" 

"I will not have that element in this lobby, no matter how sick they claim
to be.  Now if you don't mind, I have work to do."  He turned his back on
Partly. 

"Stop.  Stop right there."  Partly voice held a thin edge of ice she
reserved for the occasions she was seriously considering killing things. 
Jeffery stopped.  "You're telling me she was sick and you kicked her out?" 

The confrontation started to draw some attention.  A deskclerk appeared
beside them and Jeffery, finally sensing a problem, came out from behind
his desk.  "Please calm down.  There is nothing to get excited about." 

"Nothing to get excited about?"  Partly raised her voice further,
attracting attention from all the people in the room.  "You keep messages
marked 'Urgent Help Needed' for more than 24 hours, and then you kick out
people because they're sick, and you don't think I should be excited?" 

Robin and Lynne backed off several feet, not sure where this was going,
but knowing they didn't want to be in the middle of it. 

Jeffery glanced about worriedly.  "I'm sure we can take care of this in a
more private place."  He gestured to a door behind him. 

Partly ignored the offer.  "I don't want privacy.  I don't want to talk to
you.  I want a manager and I want one NOW."  A crowd had formed at the
entrance to the bar.  "I want to know who put an idiot like you in a
position of power." 

A look close to fear passed over Jeffery's face, but just as suddenly, he
smiled, staring behind Partly.  "There," he pointed to the entrance of the
hotel, "she back.  No harm done." 

Partly turned to see a woman dressed in a black coat and hat and carrying
a large bag, stagger toward them.  She had just reached the carpeting when
she stumbled and fell.  Partly was the first to reach the fallen woman. 
She knelt beside her. 

"Tracy?"  Partly gently turned her over and stared into Jamie's face. 

Jamie's eyes fluttered open and she pulled herself close to Partly, their
faces inches apart.  "Partly, my faithful follower.  Tell Vachon I love
him."  She collapsed dramatically again. 

"Jamie?  Jamie!?"  Partly shook her gently.  There was no response. 

"She said her name was Tracy Vetter," Jeffery said.  "And you had better
get her out of the lobby." 

Partly reached up and grabbed the concierge by his tie.  "You miserable
little worm.  You are going to help me move her upstairs and then you are
going to get me a doctor.  Because if anything happens to her..." she
didn't finish the sentence.  Whatever she would do to him wouldn't be
nearly as bad as what the NatPack would do if anything happened to the
ListMommy

******

Twenty minutes later a doctor walked out of Partly's room in the hotel. 
The Perks, all assembled for the first time, rose to meet him.  He lifted
a hand to stop their questions.  "She'll be fine.  She's dehydrated and
hasn't had anything to eat for a while, but she's resting now.  She should
make a full recovery."  He picked up his suit coat, and headed for the
door.  "I can't do anything else.  Just make sure that she drinks a lot of
liquids and start her off eating something easily digested.  OK?" 

Partly nodded.  "What about," she wasn't sure how to phrase this.  "Is she
delirious?" 

The doctor smiled.  "Oh, no.  She very rational.  She knew the answers to
all the questions:  name, address, phone number."  He opened the door to
leave, but Partly held onto the door. 

"And what did she say?  What did she say her name was?"  Almost all the
Perks spoke at once. 

The Doctor looked like he thought he should be examining *them*.  "Tracy
Vetter."  He paused.  "That is right, isn't it?" 

Partly didn't even consider trying to explain.  "Yes.  Thank you."  She
closed the door behind him and turned back to the Perks.  "Well, I think
we should let the NatPack know we have Jamie.  And we should find out what
happened to her.  And..." she headed to the bar, "I need a drink." 
Suddenly ear-splintering load music came from the bedroom occupied by
Jamie.  It took a couple of seconds to identify "I wanna rock 'n roll all
night" over the distortion.  As the rest of the Perks scrambled to the
bedroom, Partly continued to the bar.  "In fact, I may need several."