1
1995 Janice finished stuffing her
extra clothes into a plastic grocery bag from Safeway. She found it amusing that their bold red 'S'
logo stuck out on the side of the bag, reminding her of a similar one on
Superman's chest. She laughed to
herself. It would take the whole
Superman family to take on Lex Luther, alias Triple E, this time. Only there wasn't any Superman. Just an old man, his Pointdexter son, and
Superlush, his daughter with secret powers and the overwhelming desire to stir
up a half gallon of strawberry margaritas.
Her dog nudged her in the leg.
"Oh
yeah," she said out loud.
"Can't forget Granite the Wonder Dog."
She wondered for a moment
what Eddie's weakness would turn out to be.
After her 'conversation' with him, she knew he had to have one,
everybody did. She didn't even know if
there was such a thing as kryptonite, but if there was, Eddie probably had a
bowl of it for breakfast every morning.
That way he could brag that not only did his shit not stink, it also
glowed in the dark. She would find out
soon enough, she told herself. Because
when she finally did get hold of Eddie, she was going to squeeze the livin'
shit right out of him.
She
grabbed the bag and headed for the backdoor, Granite following right behind
her. She opened the door, walked out on
the back porch, and kicked over the newly opened twenty-pound bag of dry dog
food that was lying up against the wall.
It spilled across the deck, some of it going over the side and into her
flowerbed. Granite just looked up at
her, his head cocked to one side.
"Now
don't go lookin' at me like you think I'm crazy too, Granite," she said as
she looked into the rainy gray overcast.
"You got some dry, and some wet.
It’s your choice, stud muffin.
Ought to hold you over to until I get back anyway," she said.
'If I
get back', she thought to herself. She
quickly stepped back inside and shut the door before the dog could follow her
in. He instantly jumped up on the door
and started barking, but Janice had already turned away and was heading back
through the kitchen. She grabbed her
car keys and purse as she went by the counter and headed out the front door,
not bothering to lock up.
She
jumped into the front seat of her Nissan Sentra, turned the key over, and was
backing out of the driveway before the engine even had a chance to start firing
consistently on all four cylinders. It
died in the middle of the road. She
cursed, pushed the stick shift into 'Park', and started the engine again. This time she waited a moment, revving the
engine a few times as she did, as she watched plumes of dark smoke rise up in
her rear view mirror. As soon as the
smoke from her flooding the engine was gone, she dropped the transmission back
into 'Drive' and took off down the street.
Two
minutes later she was at the BP station next to the highway, getting the tank
filled and buying a six-pack of Bud Lite.
By the time she paid the cashier and got back to her car, Granite was
waiting by the driver's door.
"This
your dog, lady?" asked the young attendant, looking down at the German
Shepherd with his chest heaving in and out and his tongue wet with saliva from
running so hard.
"Afraid
so," she said, "Jerry, meet Granite the Wonder Dog. Granite, this is Jerry, hardest working man
in the gas business. Cleans a mean
windshield too."
Granite
barked once.
"Smart
dog. Already to go, Janice," the
attendant replied.
"Thanks
Jer'. In you go, Rin-Tin-Tin," she
said as Granite jumped inside, basting the inside of the car with his wet tail
as he did. Janice got in after him.
"Granite,
what am I ever going to do with you?" she asked, as she shut her car door.
The
dog reached over and gave her a big wet lick of the tongue across the side of
her face, and then sat back in the passenger seat and looked forward, barking
one more time.
"Right,"
she said. "Let's get this show on
the road."
Janice
pulled out of the BP station, waving to the attendant as she did, and headed
for the on ramp to Highway 26 west.
"Don't
suppose you could hand me one of those Bud Lites?" she said to Granite as
she merged onto the highway.
He
just looked out the window, as if he knew exactly where they were going.
"Didn't
think so," she said. "Must be
a guy thing."
She
reached into the bag with one hand and pulled out a beer, cracking the pull-tab
as she switched lanes and passed the car doing only fifty in front of her.
"Strictly
medicinal you understand," she said to Granite as she swallowed a third of
the can in one shot. "Gotta have
my carbs."
She
pushed the little brown Nissan up to sixty-five. Now that it was warmed up, it purred like a kitten. With any luck, she would be at Fort Canby
State Park in about an hour and a half; a long, long, hour and a half.
2
Joe passed over the airstrip
at about fifty-feet above the ground, checking for crosswinds and looking at
the condition of the field. The grass
was a little longer than he had expected, and he hoped it wasn't too water
logged, but he had landed in worse. He
wished that he was flying something with a wheel on the tail instead of the
tri-gear set up he had on the Cessna, but those were hard to find in these civilized
days of paved runways. A good old Huey
would have been even better.
"You're
going to land there?" asked an astonished Sara, as Joe brought the plane
up a little to clear the trees at the end of the runway.
"May
have to mow a little grass as we go, but a piece of cake. Trust me," he shouted back to her.
"Today,
Mangione," shouted Eddie, even louder from the behind Sara.
"You
got it, Mr. E," returned Joe as he banked the Cessna on its ear and turned
back towards the airfield.
Sara suddenly felt sick as
she was forced up against the door of the plane looking straight down at the
ground. It reminded her of being on one
of those rides at the fair and she prayed the door would not come flying open
due to some kind of malfunction. She
heaved a sigh of relief as Joe leveled the plane again and began his final
approach, although the tops of the trees seemed awfully close. She wasn't sure if she was just imagining
it, or if she was really seeing an occasional bird nest as they dropped even
closer to the tops of the trees. She
heard a strange mechanical noise below her feet and let out a short yelp.
"It's
just the landing gear," said Joe reassuringly.
"I
knew that," she said quickly, looking out the window again.
The trees
were even closer now, and she decided that if she started seeing eggs in those
bird nests she was going to let out a blood-curdling scream to top all
screams. Just as she thought she could
take it no more, the Cessna broke out into the clear over the grassy airfield
and Joe cut back the throttle, gently dropping the plane onto the quasi runway.
He
pulled the nose up a bit, and they bounced once gently on both back
wheels. The second time they came down
they stayed there and Joe brought the nose and the front gear down to level out
the plane. Bits of grass began to fly
onto the windshield and smear their view as the wipers did their best to clean
off the mess.
Sara
fought off a scream, but sucked in what she just knew would be her last breath
on this earth. They soon rolled to a
near stop, and Joe maneuvered the Cessna towards an old gray weather-beaten
hanger and the road. The plane rocked
from side to side as he did, but she knew they were safe at last.
"Now
was that fun or what?" asked Joe, with a smile across his face. It hid his true feelings, which were more
along the lines that he was glad to safe and sound himself. The runway had been terribly soggy, and that
was why he didn't dare come to a stop until they were near the road. He reminded himself of that old motto that
any landing you can walk away from was a good one. It had definitely been one of his better attempts.
He
pulled the plane up just short of the gravel driveway that was still intact,
feeling that he was on firm ground, and shut off the engine. He had parked the plane in the same place as
he had on his first trip, in such a way that it wasn't visible from the main
road. He hoped that would keep any
curious patrol officers out of their hair for a while.
"Very
impressive, Joe. Well done," said
Eddie over the back of Sara's seat, almost sounding sincere.
"Thank
you, Mr. E, I aim to please," returned Joe, still pumped up with
adrenaline from the landing himself. He
took off his headset, unbuckled his seat belt and looked across the cockpit at
Sara, who was still holding on tightly to hers. He wasn't sure if she had started breathing again, but at least
the color was starting to return to her cheeks.
"Well
I don't know about you two, but I would like to get out and stretch for a
bit," said Eddie, "It's gets kinda cramped here in the back of the
bus."
Joe
grabbed an umbrella from behind his seat, and climbed out first. It was still raining outside, more of a
drizzle at the moment, but the wind seemed to be picking up a little he
noticed. He walked around the front of
the plane, glancing at the landing gear as he did. There was quite a bit of grass and mud splashed up on them, but
otherwise they looked in good shape.
Hopefully, if he left the gear down for a bit when he took off again,
most of the crap would wash off in the air.
Otherwise he was bound to get a ration of shit from the rental people
when he got back to Olympia.
He
opened the umbrella and then had Sara open her door. He helped her out of the plane, and then suggested that they walk
over to the open faced old hanger where they could get out of the
elements. They both watched as Eddie
got out of the plane, but instead of joining them, he just paced back and forth
under the shelter of one of the wings.
"What
do you think is up with him?" asked Joe quietly, turning to look at Sara.
"I
don't know, but it scares the hell out of me.
Eddie's always been a little bit, I don't know exactly how to describe
it, kind of…" she searched for the right words.
"Kind
of a pushy, arrogant asshole?" said Joe.
"That
would some it up pretty well, on most days," she agreed.
"But
today he seems a little different, even uglier than usual?" he asked.
"Exactly. You feel it too?"
"Feel
it? God. I can see it!"
"Yeah, especially in his eyes. You'd think he already had one foot in the grave. I've never seen anyone change the way they look that fast before," she said.
"I
have."
"In
the war?" asked Sara.
"Yeah. Happened when we were dropping off a platoon
in a supposedly safe LZ. No hostile
fire, just an open field of grass. A
young kid, couldn't have been a day over twenty, was the first one to jump out
of my side of the Huey. He couldn't
have run more than ten feet when he stepped on a mine. Blew his legs right out from under him. A couple of his buddies dragged what was
left of him back into the chopper.
"The
poor kid was in shock, just looking down at the blackened stumps where his
knees were supposed to be. I'll never
forget the look of hate and death in his eyes when he stared up at me and
started yelling, 'I gotta kill me some gooks, sir! I gotta kill me some gooks!'
He kept yelling it over and over and over, and I could still hear him
over the roar of the engines as our flight lifted off. A few minutes later the shouting stopped; he
was dead."
"I'm
sorry, Joe. What a horrible thing to
have to see."
"No,
I'm sorry," he said. "I
shouldn't have even brought it up. But
I'm afraid our Eddie here has got that same look about him. There's a lot more on his mind today than
politics, I'd bet my life on it. The
sooner we get out of here and back to Olympia the better."
"I'm
with you," she said with a shudder.
"Sara,
this will be my last job for Mr. E.
It's none of my business, but you might want to consider finding other
employment yourself."
"Why,
Mr. Magione, are you a mind reader too?" she asked, glad to know that
someone beside her was having serious reservations about Eddie.
"No,"
he said, "I just have very strong survival instincts. I wish I could pick that little rat's brain
right now. I'd feel a lot better if I
knew what he was up to."
"You're
braver than I am, I'm afraid. Sometimes
it's just better to let sleeping dogs lie."
"This
is where we'll just have to agree to disagree, Sara," said Joe.
"Why
do you say that?" she asked.
Joe
lowered his voice down a notch, and leaned closer to her. "When you've spent as much time on the
wrong side of the tracks as I have, you realize that sometimes it's just better
to put lying dogs to sleep."
3
Eddie
wanted to get hold of Jonathan again to check on his progress, but decided to
save his strength instead. Sara and
that chump Mangione were already standing out of the rain over by the old
hangar, and that fit his plans perfectly for the moment. He concentrated on one of the rivets that
appeared to be holding the right wing strut attached to the wing. The tapered rivet head popped out with a
snap, and bounced once at his feet.
'Piece
of cake,' he thought to himself.
He
knew it wouldn't be a good idea to remove anything that Joe might see while
walking around by the plane, but he seriously doubted that Mangione would do a
complete check considering the weather.
He decided to forget about the struts for now, and concentrated on the
tail. It sat low enough to the ground
that Joe would be unlikely to see a few rows of missing rivets, if he snapped
them off of the bottom side like he had done on the wing strut.
Seconds
later he heard the 'tink, tink, tink, tink, tink, tink' of the rivets popping
out into the grass. Splendid. This may turn out to be even easier than he
had thought. He decided to wait on
doing any more damage to the plane until later. After all, he did want a successful take-off. The sooner the better, he reminded
himself. It wouldn't do for some nosy
cop to drive up and get everybody's name before Mangione had a chance to fly
off and have his little date with fate.
He
started to head towards Sara and Joe, but just for fun, decided to pop a few
more rivets out of the right aileron as he went. 'Tink, tink, tink'.
"Take
that, you little prick!" he muttered, as he bent his head down against the
wind that was picking up even more. He
walked up to where the two were standing close together under the one umbrella
that sheltered them from the leaky roof of the hangar.
"Ready
to head on over to the tavern?" asked Joe.
"I
was just thinking about that," lied Eddie, "as I was trying to work
the cramps out of my legs. There are more important things than
politics in this world, and Jonathan could probably use a break about now. I've been pushing him pretty hard."
'You've been pushing us all
pretty hard,' thought Sara, surprised at Eddie's show of human understanding.
"Maybe
some time with the ol' man would be just what the doctor ordered. Hell, I haven't seen him myself for over
twenty years. That way we wouldn't have
to worry about getting Jonathan's car back to Olympia. We could just drive back tomorrow, and Joe
could fly out of here now and be back before the sun goes down. I would still pay you for the package deal,
as we previously agreed upon, of course," said Eddie, turning towards Joe.
"Fine
with me, I didn't want to have to stay overnight in this place anyway,"
said Mangione.
"Stay
overnight? Who said anything about
staying overnight?" asked Sara incredulously.
Eddie
shot Joe that 'way to go asshole' look again, and turned to face Sara.
"When
I called Joe, I wasn't sure what we would be looking at. I told him to be prepared to stay
overnight, that's all."
"Well
you sure as hell didn't tell me
to be prepared to stay
overnight!" exclaimed Sara.
Jonathan or no Jonathan, she wasn't ready to be spending a night
anywhere with Eddie the Zombie.
"Fine,
suit yourself," replied Eddie, "If you want to go back with Joe, go
ahead. Personally, that landing was
enough thrills for me for one year. I
can't imagine trying to take off in that sorry excuse for a wheat field."
Sara
instantly knew that Eddie was trying to play on her emotions, and she had to
admit he had a point. She looked at
Joe.
"Your
call Sara. But I can assure you, taking
off out of this place will be twice as easy as landing," Joe said, not
even bothering to look and see if Eddie was giving him the evil eye. He was sure he was.
"Look
Eddie, I'm sure you three are going to have a lot to catch up on. I'd just be in the way," she explained
half-heartedly. "Besides, I can
hold down the fort back at the office until you two get back. You can call me if there's anything I can
get started on before you do."
"What
ever," said Eddie, obviously miffed.
"Okay
then, it's settled," added Joe quickly, before Sara might have second
thoughts or feelings of loyalty towards Jonathan. He had a very strong gut feeling that hanging around with Eddie
wouldn't be good for anyone this weekend, himself included.
"I
suggest we get going before we have any unwanted company or the winds pick up
any more than they already have. You
know where the Slippery Deck is, right Mr. E?" asked Joe.
"I'm
sure I can find it," replied Eddie sarcastically.
"Then
we're off," said Joe, handing the umbrella to Eddie and leading Sara off
by the arm.
"Good
luck," said Sara over her shoulder, as she was herded off towards the
Cessna.
Eddie
reached up with his hand and blew her a kiss, and she quickly turned her head around.
'Now
why would he do that?' she thought to herself, as Joe nearly dragged her off
her feet towards the plane.
"Jesus
Joe, where's the fire?" she asked smartly.
"Let's
just get out of here," he said, as they reached the side of the red and
white Skylane, which was beginning to rock back and forth a little in the
wind. "Up you go."
"Okay,
I'm going already. You don't need to
push!"
"I'm
sorry, it's just that…"
"Never
mind," she said as she started to buckle herself in, "My turn to be
sorry. You're right. Let's get the hell out of here."
"That's
a girl," said Joe.
"Joe?"
said Sara, after they were both in the plane.
"Yeah?"
"Do
you think Jonathan's going to be all right?
With Eddie I mean."
"I've
never met the man, but he's obviously Eddie's meal ticket in this world. So I wouldn't worry too much about
him," Joe lied. "If worse
comes to worse, he can always give him cab fare back to Olympia and fire his
ass."
"He
should have done that years ago."
Joe
flipped a few switches on the dash of the Cessna, and turned towards Sara.
"Look
Sara. I know you're probably feeling a
little like a rat deserting a sinking ship.
To be honest with you, so do I.
But we can't do anything about this.
It's up to Jonathan. It's his
call, his brother, and his father. Blood's
thicker than water, as my grandma always used to say, and she was right. They're all grown men and they'll just have
to work it out amongst themselves.
There's nothing we can do but wait it out."
He
could tell that she wasn't really buying his line of reasoning. He wasn't sure if he was doing such a good
job of convincing himself either.
"Look,
if it will make you feel any better, we can land in Ilwaco first. I'll make a call to a buddy of mine who owes
me a few. Maybe I can get him to drive
down here and keep an eye on things until they leave tomorrow. I'd do it myself, but I'm afraid Eddie would
recognize me."
"Would
you Joe?" she asked, obviously glad for the offer.
"No
problem," he said, "I'd probably sleep better if I did."
"I
doubt I'll get any sleep tonight, to be honest with you."
"Me
either. I think I’ll pass."
Sara
looked over at Joe, and saw a pained look of sadness replace the mask of
confident pilot.
"You're
afraid the dreams will come again, of the boy in the helicopter, aren't
you?" she asked, never meaning to question his manhood.
Joe
reached out and started the engine turning over. It caught after just a few rotations of the propeller since the
engine was still warm. Then he turned
on the windshield wipers.
"Something
like that, same dream maybe, different face.
Let's get to that phone call, shall we?"
"Ready
when you are, captain," Sara replied with a reserved but genuine smile.
Joe
opened the throttle up, released the brakes, and brought the plane around in a
tight 180-degree turn. He quickly
headed out across the grassy field towards the north end of what used to be the
runway. The Cessna bounced back and
forth as he did, but he kept up his speed to insure they wouldn't bog down in a
soft spot. The noise of the engine and
the thumping of the windshield wipers were far too loud for either of them to
hear the popping of the rivets, as Eddie slowly started his handiwork again.
4
Thomas
walked over to the front door and unlocked the dead bolt. He opened it and motioned for his son to
come inside.
"Hello,
dad."
"Hello,
Jonathan."
They
both stood and stared at each other for a moment; then Thomas reached out his
arms and gave his son a big hug, instantly it was returned in full.
"Are
you two gonna stand there all day and play grab ass, or is one of you going to
have enough sense to shut the door?" shouted Luke from behind the bar.
"Don't
mind him," said Thomas nervously as he stepped around Jonathan and shut
the door. "I can't say he don't
bite, but he's not rabid as far as I know.
Jonathan, I'd like you to meet Luke Perry, owner and proprietor of the
Slippery Deck Tavern. He's also the
best friend I, or any other man in this world, could ask for. Luke, this is my oldest, Jonathan."
Jonathan
walked up to the bar and the two men exchanged hearty handshakes.
"Glad
to meet you, Mr. Perry," said Jonathan.
"Glad
to meet you, Jonathan. Call me Luke,
please. Have a seat; can I get you
something to drink? Hell, after the
drive you're probably hungry, how about something to eat?"
"No
thanks, Luke," said Jonathan, turning towards his dad. "I'm afraid I don't have much
time."
"What do you mean,
Jonathan?" asked Thomas. "You
just got here."
Jonathan
looked back at Luke then turned his eyes to his father.
"Luke's
had a crash course on the family history, Jonathan. I hope that doesn't upset you, but that's just the way it
is. Anything you've got to say to me,
you can say in front of him," said Thomas, cutting to the heart of the
matter.
"Hey
you two, I got things I need to do in back.
So if you want to be alone I'll . . ."
"That
won't be necessary, Luke," said Jonathan, before his father had a chance
to say the same thing. "If my
father trusts you, that's good enough for me."
"Thank-you,
Jonathan," said Thomas.
"Look
dad, I owe you about a million apologies, but there's just not enough time for
that now. I need you to just listen to
me, and we can shoot the bull later."
"All
right son."
"Luke? Maybe I will take you up on your
offer," said Jonathan.
"What'll
be?"
"Draft,
whatever's coldest," he said, as he sat up on the stool next to his
father, glancing quickly at his wristwatch.
"Jonathan,"
his father started, "I know this is about Eddie, so get down to it
son. You wouldn't be looking me up
after all of these years if things haven't gotten out of control again. What's he up to now?"
"I
don't have time to get into all of the details now, dad," said Jonathan,
as Luke set down a sixteen-ounce schooner of Michelob in front of him. "Thanks Luke."
"Don't
get me wrong Jonathan, I'm glad to see you.
But if you don't have time to talk now, wouldn't it have been better to
do this over the phone?"
"Things
have changed since I talked to you three and a half hours ago, dad. Have you seen the news today?"
"No."
"Well,
as of this morning, the two people who were running against me in the upcoming
primary are dead. I'm not up to speed
on all of the facts, but I'd bet anything that Eddie was responsible."
Jonathan
stopped for a moment and took a drink of his beer, waiting for what he had just
said to sink into his father's head.
He hoped it didn't take too long.
"So
why didn't you just go to the police?" asked Thomas.
"I
don't have any real proof, dad. Just
like you never had any real
proof, and Lt. Taylor never
had any real proof. Eddie's slicker
than a greased pig; you should know that better than anyone."
"Never
mind what I should know,
son. What do you think you know?"
"Dad!"
pleaded Jonathan. "We don't have
time for this now. I know that you were
right and I was wrong, okay? That's going
to have to do for now, because Eddie's on his way here in a plane as we speak. He may have already landed."
"I
hate to butt in, but the nearest airport is in Ilwaco," said Luke.
"He's
probably in a small job and planning on landing just down the street!"
Jonathan countered.
"Ocean Park
Airfield? That place ain't even open
anymore," said Luke, adding after some thought, "although I guess
you could land there if you had too."
"How do you know that,
son?" asked Thomas.
"He told me, dad. He also knows I was coming to see you, and
he told me to meet him at the airfield a few blocks from here. He doesn't even want me to talk to you. We've only got a few minutes, tops. Janice wants us to meet her at Fort Canby,
and we can…"
Thomas
cut him off.
"Janice! How'd she get into this?"
"Damn
it, dad! You just don't get it, do
you? We've got to get the hell out of
here. Eddie's the person who had you
tracked down, at my request. He knows
where you are, and Janice thinks that he might want to do God only knows what
if he finds us together!"
"You're
losing me, Jonathan. But I can tell you
right now, that I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers."
"It
could be too late by then, dad!" yelled Jonathan.
"Then
you had better get started. You might
want to start with Janice," suggested Thomas, as he looked at his friend
across the bar. "Luke, I think
this definitely calls for one more."