1
1995 Jonathan slowed down to fifty to negotiate the turns
along Highway 101 when he came to the bridge over the mouth of the Naselle
River. It was usually one of the most
beautiful parts of the drive, with Long Island and the south end of Willapa Bay
out to his right, and the marshes of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge to
his left, but today it had been reduced to a landmark telling him that he was
only about forty minutes away from his destination.
He had just finished
crossing the long and high graceful looking cement bridge when he began to get
the feeling that someone was searching for him again. He slowed down almost without thinking about it this time, not
wanting to have another accidental near miss, or not-so-near miss. He was afraid it was going to be Eddie
again, not expecting anyone else, when Janice's voice popped into his head.
“Well,
sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!” she said, in a southeastern accent that was
supposed to remind Jonathan of when they used to watch the Gomer Pyle Show,
starring Jim Neighbors. He wasn't
amused.
“Ah, shit!”
he sent back to her.
“What's
wrong, big brother, you're not happy to hear from me?” she asked, trying to
break the ice.
“I'm
not happy to hear from anybody anymore who doesn't use a goddamned phone.”
“That's
why I never call you,” she replied.
“Fuck,
not you too!”
“Afraid
so, Jonathan.”
“Well,
hit me up. It's gotta be bad news. My birthdays not until March.”
“I
just wanted to wish you an early Happy St. Patty's Day.”
“Right! How come everyone in the family but me has
to be a smart ass?”
“You're
just the only one in our family without a sense of humor, dude.”
“Maybe
you should check in on Eddie someday, he hasn't been too funny lately.”
“Been
there, done that, and you're right.
What the fuck is going on?”
“Is
this a secure line?” Even Jonathan had
to chuckle to himself at that one, even though he was deadly serious.
“Pretty
good, Jonathan. There may be hope for
you yet. I'm not sure, so let's keep
this short. You'll know if he starts
horning in, kind of a feeling you'll probably get.”
“My
turn, been there, done that.”
“Really? That's interesting. I just got off the phone to him, so to
speak, and he says he hasn't talked about you, but said dad is sick, and you're
on your way to see him.”
“Bullshit! I've talked to him twice today. Once even using a real phone!”
“How
sick is dad?”
“That's
bullshit too! The reason I'm off to see
Dad is to try and find out just what in the hell happened back when we were in
Nebraska, tell him how sorry I am, and hopefully to enlist his help in aiding
me stop Eddie.”
“To
stop him from doing what, Jonathan?”
“I
think he's responsible for the deaths of at least two people I know of, not
counting anyone in our past. I don't
know where he will stop, and it's probably my fault. But what's done is done.
I just want to make sure there's no more blood shed. I can't believe I've been so stupid! I know this is going to sound weak, but it's
like I'm just waking up from a bad dream.”
“My
turn brother. Been there, done
that. But don't blame yourself too
much, I had to get professional help to figure it out myself.”
“How
long have you known?”
“Don't
ask, okay? Now listen up Jonathan. How far are you away from dad's place?”
“About
forty minutes, give or take a few, but I'm supposed to meet the Triple E, God,
I mean Eddie, at an airfield not too far from there. He doesn't want me to see dad at all.”
“That
little fuck, he said you were both going to meet him, and that he needed to get
you back to Olympia as soon as possible!”
“Yeah,
he told me that too, it's mostly politics Janice. That's my fault. The two
people he killed, or arranged to have killed, or did whatever it is that he
does, were two people that were running against me in the upcoming election.”
“No
wonder he didn't want me to go to the D.A.”
“What
did you say?” asked Jonathan.
“I
knew that something was up, and I could tell that it was bad. Now I know what it was. I threatened to go to the Washington State
D.A.'s office in Olympia if he didn't tell me where you and dad were. I also made him promise me that you all
would be there in one piece when I got there.”
“I
appreciate the concern, but Eddie's gotta be livid!”
“Yeah,
I know. I already pissed him off enough
to cause a couple of wars, trust me.
This needs to be between me and Eddie.
You and dad aren't even ready
for what he can do, do you hear me?”
“Janice,
you can't take him on by yourself!”
“Maybe
there's another way to do this, but for right now, you've got to do exactly as
I say!”
“Like
I haven't heard that in the last half hour?”
“I
mean it Jonathan!” she said. “How far
from dad's is this airport that Eddie's heading for?”
“Damn
near across the street. A couple of
blocks at the most I guess. I've never
been there, but Eddie says it's real close.”
“Listen
Jonathan. I'm not going to be there for
a while. You've got to get to dad, then
both of you get the hell out of there before Eddie locates you. It's you he wants, but with all that's
happened as of late, it's me and dad that'll be next on his shit list. He'll deal with us in whatever order he gets
a hold of us Jonathan. So you have to get dad out of there now!”
“What
if he doesn't want to go?”
“Kidnap
his ass, I guess. I don't know. You're just going to have to do what ever it
takes to get him out of there.”
“Okay,
whatever you say, I guess. Damn,
Janice, I'm not afraid to tell you that I'm scared as hell.”
“Welcome
to the club, Jonathan.”
“Yeah, Club Dread. I'm not so sure I want back in.”
“Too
late dude, you're a charter member, but I think it's time to elect a new
president.”
“I
second the motion.”
“Good.”
“What
do you want me do once I grab dad?”
“Do
you know where Fort Canby State Park is?”
“Yeah.”
“Meet
me there, in the parking lot down by the end of the jetty. I'll be in a brown Nissan Sentra.”
“Janice,
I'm getting that feeling again, and it's really strong!”
“You
haven't heard from me dude.” And she
was gone.
2
Thomas stopped in mid sentence as he was
telling his story to Luke, almost dropping the glass of brandy out of his hand.
"Thomas. Are you all right? You look like you've just seen a ghost," Luke Perry said with
concern.
"Heard
from a ghost would be more like it," he replied, swallowing the remaining
half glass of brandy in a single gulp.
"Edward
again?" asked Luke.
"No. Janice.
But it's the same feeling. Like
she's trying to get a hold of me too, I can feel it."
"It must be nice to be wanted," joked Luke, but knowing it was probably the last thing that Thomas needed right now.
"I'd
rather be wanted by the FBI," he said sadly.
"You
don't really mean that now, do you Thomas?"
"You
can take it to the bank, Luke. All I
really want from what's left of this miserable old life is to be left the fuck
alone!" he nearly shouted.
"No
you don't, Thomas. Not really,"
returned Luke with a sullen face.
"Look
Luke, you're the best friend a man could ask for, but don't go tryin' to psychoanalyze
me."
"Thomas,
I'm afraid that there comes a time when a good friend has to get in the face of
another. I've been listening to you for
the last three hours. You've obviously
been through hell, and it looks like you're going to have to go through more. But at least you're alive. And you're not alone, as much as you say you
want to be.
"Let
me tell you about alone, my friend.
Alone is when I lock the doors for the night and turn off the open
sign. Alone is when you and all of my
other regulars go back to their lives and finish off the day. They might not have much, but they have
somebody or something to go back to, even if it's only something to run from,
or run to.
"I
ain't got shit. Not even a fuckin'
nightmare waiting for me at night, just me and a limp dick that missed out on a
lot of pussy. That's alone my friend. I'd fight all the demons in hell for what
you've got. I'd give both my nuts, not
that I have any use for them these days, to find out that I had a family trying
to find me. So they're the Addams
Family, who gives a rat's ass? It beats
being alone. Really fucking alone.
"Thomas,
I love you man, but don't come in here crying that alone shit to me
anymore, okay?"
"Okay,
but you're not getting my Bud Lite, Luke," said a teary eyed Thomas
Engelhart, quoting a popular television beer commercial. They both broke into laughter, and for the
umpteenth time, Luke refilled their brandy glasses.
"Sorry,
Thomas, I guess that just kinda slipped out.
I know you got a lot on your mind right now," apologized Luke as he
set the refilled glass in front of Thomas.
"Yeah,
but I needed to hear what you just said.
Do me a favor, would you?" asked Thomas.
"Sure."
"Don't
ever change. Get laid… but don't ever
change."
3
Jonathan felt a slight ease
of tension as Janice signed off, then felt the full wallop of an irate Eddie transmitting
at maximum output, neither one of them realizing that the only thing separating
them at the moment was a layer of clouds and about six thousand feet.
“Jonathan,
speak to me Goddammit!” yelled Eddie via thought transmission.
“Yeah,
Eddie? I mean Triple E. You don't have to yell, I can hear you just
fine.'
“Good,”
replied Eddie, toning it down some, glad to be able to save his strength. “Listen up, I don't want to have to repeat
myself.”
Eddie
sounded extremely strained to Jonathan.
His sister must have really got through to him.
“I'm
listening.”
“There's
been a slight change of plans; we'll be driving back in your car, so don't be
dilly-dallying around. Remember,
straight to the airfield, bro.”
“Okay.”
“How
long until you'll be there?” asked Eddie, quick and to the point. Jonathan couldn't help but notice that his
brother's irritating sense of humor was now gone. He took a chance and padded the numbers a little, ironically
enough, a trick he had learned from watching Eddie over the years.
“About
a half an hour, I guess,” Jonathan quickly lied, hoping Eddie wouldn't be able
to pick it up in his voice, or his mind, or whatever it was that his two
siblings honed in on.
“We'll
be waiting for you.”
“Okay.”
The pressure inside
Jonathan's head began returning to normal.
Soon all that remained was his pounding headache. Eddie was gone again. Whew!
It was
all getting to be too much for Jonathan.
He knew it was going to be next to impossible to sneak in and get his
Dad without the all-powerful Edward of Oz finding out. Damn!
What a mess. He was beginning to
wish he had just left his Dad out of it, and joined the Foreign Legion instead.
At
least he had bought himself a little
precious time. He caught a little white
rectangular sign from the corner of his eye, telling him to slow to 35
mph. After all of the billboards
boasting the numerous motels, cabin rentals, and restaurants, it was hardly
noticeable. The local cops probably
made a fortune off of that little speed trap, he thought to himself. He quickly braked down to the limit,
realizing a traffic ticket was the last thing he needed right now.
As he
looked straight ahead, he could see a big green sign with two red lights
alternately flashing on top of it. It
marked the intersection of the highway he was on with Highway 103. The sign had arrows pointing right and left,
and read 'North to Long Beach and Ocean Park, South to Ilwaco and
Astoria'. He braked to a stop at the
intersection, looked to his left, and when he saw that there was no traffic
turned right onto Highway 103, north. Ahead
he saw a sign that read, 'Ocean Park 13, Klipsan Beach 11'.
He
knew that if he pushed it a little after getting out of Long Beach, he was only
about fifteen minutes away from the Slippery Deck. Unfortunately, he also realized that his brother would already be
sitting in a plane on an airstrip just across the highway and down the road a
few blocks. He tried to concentrate on
his driving as he went through Seaview and came to the downtown area of Long
Beach. What little traffic he might
find would be here, and during the tourist season, you never knew when someone
would dart across the street to get to one of the many shops and eateries.
As he
passed Marsh's Museum, home of Jake the Alligator Man and a Real Shrunken Head,
he was amazed at how few people were out and about. It was a Friday, after all, though it was the off-season and the
weather sucked. Still, he expected more
people downtown. The place was
dead. Maybe they heard the Triple E was
coming, he thought morbidly to himself.
I sure wouldn't be here now if I had the option.
Option! He laughed to himself. All of his options were just about gone; a
scary place to be for a politician who usually had to keep a position directly
on the middle of the fence, ready to jump to either side depending on the
latest poll. He reprimanded
himself. He felt that he actually had
quite a firm grasp on where he wanted to go, and what side of the fence he was
on. It was Eddie that had continuously
persuaded him to change course, to take advantage of the latest trends.
He
realized now that Eddie's intuitive mind was probably what had gotten him so
far so fast, and in the end, was the reason why he had kept the little bastard
around. There was no sense of pity for
your little brother happening there, Jonathan, he told himself. You needed
him! Hell, you still need him! God,
what a disgusting thought, he realized.
In the political arena, where I have made and spent my entire adult
life, I am nothing without Eddie.
You
have truly sold your soul to the devil, haven't you Jonathan? The only thing was he couldn't remember was the
part where he had to sign on the dotted line.
That probably happened only in the movies, he told himself. In truth, selling your soul to the devil is
something that happens gradually over a long period of time. Then you wake up one morning and find the
devil sitting on your head and taking a dump.
You do your best to wash and comb the shit out, but when you think
you've got it accomplished, you look in the mirror and find out you look like
Newt Gingrich. Then you spend some time
with a blow dryer, a toothbrush and a tube of ultra-conservative-bright
toothpaste. Voila! The horns don't even show anymore and you
have a permanently cheesy Lord Fauntleroy smile that hides your forked
tongue. Now you can promote cutting
Medicare, raiding the Social Security fund, overturning environmental laws,
and giving a tax break to corporate America for sending jobs overseas. Now that's politics buddy!
His
stomach felt worse than ever and he rolled down his window to spit out the bile
that was rising into his throat.
Everything he thought he believed was being shattered in front of his own
face, induced by his own mind no less. Yes, he paused and relished the thought, his own mind. What a concept. He still had one didn't he? He wasn't sure, but he was damn willing to
find out.
He
remembered his conversation with Janice.
She had told that he wasn't ready for what Eddie could do. She might be right about that, but how the
hell did she know? He hadn't heard from
her since he had left for college, and she had left the year after him,
according to Eddie. As far as he knew,
nobody had heard from her since.
I
know one thing, Jonathan told himself with a renewed sense of purpose, I'm
gonna stop Eddie. I don't know how, but
I am. He began to wonder if it might be
easier just to let things be at this end and deal with Eddie later. Then he could think things out more. Maybe get in contact with his sister and
father on the side, compare notes, and come up with some kind of plan.
And Eddie won't even get a
clue, will he? Piece of cake. We'll just get together at a Red Lion Inn
somewhere, do lunch, have a conference, and decide when and where we we're
going to nuke Eddie. Yeah, right! Then he remembered what his father had told
him along time ago.
'The
quickest way to get from here to there is in a straight line. Just do what you have to do today and be
done with it.'
He
was right, just as he had been right all these years. Just as Janice was probably right. He felt like he was the star in a Nike commercial.
“Representative
Jonathan Engelhart knows how it is…” he envisioned as the camera focused in on
him tying up his shoes, “Just Do It!”
He shook his head to get rid of the daydream and realized that somehow he had passed through Long Beach without hitting anything. He stomped on the accelerator pedal and pushed the Ford up to sixty. It was pretty much a clear stretch from here to his destination. All he had to do was point his Taurus straight ahead, and keep the pedal to the metal. Ten minutes, and he would be at the tavern. Too bad he didn't know what he wanted to say, he wouldn't have long to say it.
4
Eddie had just began to settle back into a
resting trance when he heard Joe cut back on the throttle of the Cessna and
bank it to the right. Without opening
his eyes he could feel that they were beginning to drop in altitude and he
rightly assumed that Mangione was beginning his final approach to the
airfield.
He
knew they would be getting there ahead of Jonathan, which would work perfectly
into his plans. The only thing he
worried about now was having enough strength to deal with every detail that he
had to cover in the near future. Once
Magione was out of the picture, he still had to deal with Jonathan, his father,
and finally with that bitch of a sister.
It would all have to be done today, unfortunately. Even though he hadn't heard from his sister
in thirty-three years, he had a feeling that she wouldn't hesitate to make the
phone calls as she had threatened.
Janice
obviously knew too much, though exactly how much he couldn't be sure. She had asked enough questions to make him
believe that she was fishing for some of the answers, but how many of them
were her way of testing him? He didn't
know. He realized that she was probably
in the same position he was to some extent.
Neither of them knew the full potential of the other, and both realized
that the answer to that question was most likely changing every day.
She
had done well to hide herself from him, never toying with her inquisitive
powers to give away the fact that she too had the power. Until now, damn!
He
was glad she hadn't shown up out of the blue somewhere, or even made those
threatened phone calls instead of contacting him first. That could have been ugly, although
repairable, he smugly reminded himself.
Never the less, he would have to be careful how he dealt with her. He was sure she would prove to be a lot
harder to deal with than Jonathan and the others.
Speaking
of the others, he wished that he hadn't insisted on Sara coming along. She was just going to be in the way now,
asking questions that didn't need to be asked.
She was one more thing to worry about in a scenario already too full of
unpredictable behavior. This wasn't
turning out like he had planned at all, and that made him furious.
He
was supposed to be the master planner, designer of all to be, and handler of
the unexpected. There was far too much
at stake for him to fail now, a plan to be realized far greater than any sexual
fantasy he might have envisioned. He
knew it to be true, and never felt the need to question why. With that re-established in his mind, he quickly
determined that if Sara were a liability, she would have to meet the same fate
as the others who got in his way; like that prick Mangione.
The
thought of Joe Mangione brought him right back to the present. He opened his eyes and looked out the window
of the Cessna as the pilot maneuvered the plane towards the airfield. There wasn't anything to see but clouds
again, but Eddie wasn't looking out the Plexiglas of both sides of the plane
for hopes of a view. He was more interested
in the wings, the flaps, the ailerons, and just how the wing struts were
attached. He turned his body around
enough to look out the back of the aircraft.
He watched the tail rudder and the elevators move back and forth in
their dance to keep the plane flying the way the pilot intended.
Having done that, he quickly
scanned the control panel, taking in the center boxes that were obviously the
radio and the navigation devices. Next,
he looked around the inside of the cockpit, observing the rivet lines around
the windows and the doors. He looked
down at his own seat belt buckle, and turned it around with his hands enough to
get an idea of just how it functioned mechanically.
They
broke through the overcast at that point, and Joe turned around to speak to
Eddie.
"There's
the peninsula in front of us. All we
gotta do is drop down a little and follow the main drag right up to our landing
spot. Five minutes tops, counting a
flyby before we land," Joe yelled over the background noise.
"Do
it," replied Eddie in a loud enough monotone for Joe to hear.
Sara
had turned back to look at Eddie as the two had their quick verbal exchange. She cared even less for what she saw than
the last time she had looked over her seat at him. He was obviously tense and his eyes almost seemed to be hollow
sockets. There were dark blue circles
under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. She turned around and shuddered at the
vision still in her mind. When she
looked at Joe, he returned her stare. In
an instant she knew that he had seen the same thing. She wished they could talk but knew it would be crazy to do so
with Eddie sitting right behind them.
She
turned her head to look out her side window and watched as the small trees and
houses slowly began to rise up to meet them.
She had found it so peaceful, up above the clouds, with the sun shining
and Eddie seemingly fast asleep. Now,
even with the thought of having her feet once again on terra firma, she wasn't
sure she wanted the flight to end.
Eddie was up to something, and it wasn't good.
She thought that his
animosity was directed towards Jonathan, and what ever it was that had made him
take off in such a hurry. Until this
morning, she didn't even know that their father was alive. How could one old man, he must be getting
old by now she reaffirmed, cause such a furor?
Jonathan had left before the word came out about Bob Perryman and Chris,
so it couldn't have anything to do with that.
Or could it?
This
whole day had been turned upside down from the beginning, and now she wished
she had stayed back at the office.
Better yet, she wished she had been given the rest of the day off as
Eddie had originally offered. Then
again, she wouldn't have rested until she knew if Jonathan was okay. When this day is over, she told herself, I'm
going to plop my butt into a steaming hot bathtub until I shrivel up like a
prune. Then I'm going to try and get a
grip on my life, starting with finding a new place to work. Jonathan or no Jonathan, life's too short to
have to deal with the likes of Eddie.
She
didn't know just how right she was.
5
Thomas
looked at the yellowing, plastic Budweiser clock above the bar. It read one fifty-five. Like most bar clocks across the country, it
ran about fifteen minutes fast. They
were set that way to help insure that no liquor was being served past what
ever time each state decided would be appropriate. In the State of Washington, that magical moment had been set at
two in the morning. Thomas figured that
to be fair enough. Hell, if you can't
get a decent drunk on by two a.m., you might as well go on home and get some
sleep cause it just wasn't meant to happen.
Besides, there was always tomorrow.
He wondered if he was ever going to get a buzz going himself today. He had lost count of the brandies being
poured back to back from the hidden well, but gladly received another as Luke
sat down on his stool across the bar from Thomas.
"Shouldn't
be long now," Luke said in matter of fact tone after noticing Thomas look
up at the clock.
"Yeah. I guess I should wrap up this tale while
there's still time."
"I'm
ready when you are, buddy," replied Luke, taking a long drink of his brandy. Unlike Thomas, he was beginning to feel the affect of the alcohol, and had gone
back to mixing his with coffee again.
"Let's
see," said Thomas. "Where was
I?"
"In
the hospital," Luke said.
"Right. I decided to take Doc's advice and just play
dumb for the next few days. The kids
came in to see me from time to time, but I could tell something was definitely
different about them. Jonathan did
most of the talking. Janice spoke very
little, and Edward seemed to be acting as a some kind of a watchdog more than
anything else. About all I got out of
him was hello and good-bye.
"Both
Jonathan and Janice looked like something out of 'The Invasion of the
Body Snatchers'. But Edward, he
was as bright eyed as ever. It was the
strangest thing. Maybe no one else
noticed it, I don't know. As their
father, it was as plain to me as if they had all dyed their hair green and
rolled in fresh dog shit.
"Nobody
spoke about what had happened in the house before the tornado. Maybe
they didn't know somehow, though I'll never see how that could have been
possible. Doc and his wife tried to
explain it to me later, something about a mental block. I think it was more like mental blackmail,
myself.
"Anyway,
as soon as I got the word that I was to be released from the hospital, I
called Doc McNally up, and asked him if he would pick me up. Alone.
He said that he would be more than glad to and that it would give us a
chance to talk. He sounded excited and
told me that he and his wife had made excellent progress with Edward. I asked him right away what he meant by
that, but he said he wanted to wait so he could explain it in full to me face
to face. I wish now that I had pressed
him more for at least some kind of an answer."
"Why's
that, or do I dare ask?" Luke said, as he watched that sullen expression
wash over Thomas' face again.
When
Thomas didn't answer right away, Luke re-appraised his friend's physical
condition. Thomas had begun to start
shaking and his eyes were rapidly filling with tears. Within seconds, the tears overcame his efforts to hold them back
and began dropping like large raindrops onto the bar. He bowed his head down to try and hide them from Luke.
Luke
turned away from his friend and began an almost ridiculous search for his pack
of cigarettes, knowing damn well they were on the shelf below the taps were he
always kept them. He found his own eyes
tearing up, not quite knowing why. Of
course he felt bad for Luke, he told himself, but he was sure he would be as
dry eyed as a snake if it weren't for all the brandy. They both quickly dealt with their mutual embarrassment. Thomas managed to wipe away his tears with
one shirtsleeve while mopping up the bar with the other and Luke blinked his
away at the same time.
"Shit,"
exclaimed Luke, turning back to face Thomas.
"There they are, right where I left them. I must be getting senile."
Both
men began going through the ritual of lighting up their cigarettes.
"They
say the mind's the second thing to go," said Thomas, back in control.
"I'm
not going to ask what the first is," returned Luke, glad for the
embarrassing moment to have passed. He
waited for a few seconds, and then asked.
"Another accident?"
"Yeah, if you still believe in accidents. Officially, a leaky gas tank. His car blew up in the driveway, with him in it."
"Jesus!"
"There’s
more. Remember me telling you about a
friend of Lt. Taylor's who was staying around the house when the Doc was
gone?" asked Thomas.
"Yeah?"
"He
had been leaning on the car talking to Doc when the damn thing exploded. They found him in the next-door neighbor's
yard. Most of him anyway," added
Thomas sadly.
"God,
that's awful. How did McNally's wife
take it?"
"She
had a massive heart attack. She saw the
whole thing through the front window, I guess.
Nobody knows for sure, Eddie was the only one with her at the
time."
"That's
incredible," was all Luke could say.
"Too much of a
coincidence, Luke, even for this non-believer. A lot of the people in town felt the same way too, let me tell
you. There wasn't much left to
investigate, so it all got written off as an unfortunate accident that took
three more lives. When we attended the funerals, most of the
people avoided us like the plague. Word
gets around in a small town like Columbus, Luke. First Louise, in my own damned house, then Taylor and Doc's
brother in law, almost in my fucking driveway. Then Doc, his wife, and Taylor's partner, as they're watching my
kids."
"Man, I don't know what to say," Luke Perry said, astounded.
"Don't
feel bad, neither did I."
"So
what happened next?" asked Luke.
"We
all went back home, and finished out the rest of our sentences together,"
said Thomas.
"What
do you mean, sentences?" asked Luke.
"We
ended up like a little leper colony.
Nobody wanted to have much to do with any of us. As far as most people were concerned, I was
a nut case, and my kids were bad luck at best.
Jonathan was the only one that they couldn't quite ignore. He damned near aced every test they threw at
him. He got his scholarship, a bunch of
them actually. He opted for the one that
was the farthest away from us. I
imagine that's how he ended up in Washington.
Can't say I blame him. Hell, I'm
here myself.
"Janice
retreated into a shell that no one could seem to penetrate, not that anyone
really tried very hard except for me.
Until Longhair came around that is.
I haven't seen her since they left for Colorado, but I got a feeling
she's not too far away."
"So
what was it like with just you and Edward, after the others were gone?"
"We
tolerated each other, but I wouldn't say that we were close. I imagine Edward needed me more than he
would have liked to admit. I kept a
roof over his ass, and kept him fed.
Gave him a place to come home to where someone would at least
acknowledge he was alive. He didn't
have any friends that I knew of.
Can't say I blame anyone but Edward for that, though."
"No
more unexplainable situations after the car blowing up?" asked Luke.
"No,
not a damned thing that I know of. I'll
have to admit, I spent most of my spare time hitting the bottle pretty
hard. Things slowed down for me quite a
bit at work. Nobody local wanted to
deal with me, but luckily my boss was a pretty good guy. I kept my job as a mechanic, and still got
to make a few extra bucks with commission sales on equipment to people who came
in from farther away.
"I
got tell you Luke, it was the hardest time of my life. I really missed not having Jonathan around,
and if I had it all to do over again, we would have spent more time
together. Janice was an enigma to
everyone after all that had gone on and we were never close again. I can't even tell you how that feels. There's nothing in this world like the love
between a father and his daughter.
“Don't
ever believe the shit you hear about how important it is to have a son, someone
to pass on the name and all that other crap.
You've got to be too hard on your boys, doing what you think at the
time is your job, to turn them into men.
It's your daughter that you get to spoil, and hug, and kiss, and share
most of the wonders of the world with.
I had that with Janice,
when she was just a pup. That girl
could ask more questions. There were
times that I almost wished that we hadn't taught her how to talk. Now, I miss those times more than anything
else."
Luke
just nodded his head, and walked over to stir the pots of chowder and chili slowing
simmering away. Thomas suddenly
realized exactly what Luke had meant when he had jumped on his back about being
alone. “Really alone,” he had said. Now he felt like shit. He had taken up most of the day talking about
his fears, wishing away the things that Luke really would have given both of
his nuts for.
'But
he didn't have Edward for a son, did he?' asked his conscious.
'Maybe
he would have handled it differently than I did,' returned Thomas to the voice
in his head.
'I
doubt it,' came the reply. 'We both
know what we've been through, so don't go tryin' to rearrange history just so
you can feel sorry for yourself.'
Great,
thought Thomas. One more voice in my
head to make sure that I'll go crazy before the day is over. But the voice was right, and Luke was
right. What scared him the most,
Jonathan was right, he would have to help him stop Edward. God only knows what he's done now, he told
himself, but you know damn well what he's done in the past.
"Thomas,"
said Luke firmly, bringing Thomas back to reality.
"Sorry,
Luke, I guess I wondered off on you."
"Never
mind that, we got company."
Thomas turned around in his seat and looked over the curtains and through the neon signs in the front window. He didn't see a car, but even after twenty-some years, there was no doubt in his mind as to who it was he was looking at peering in at him.