Another Chance (6 page)

As soon as he
learned that his son was dead and there were two children that needed him,
Grandfather had come for them.

When the old
man had arrived to claim his grandchildren, social services was glad to be able
to take them off their books.  The two children, though, were afraid of
the old man neither had ever met.  But it had taken only a couple of weeks
for his kindness and love to win them both over and they walked eagerly into
their new lives and learned to be proud of their Indian blood.  Grandfather
had spurned their white names and instead had started calling them Wolf and
Feather.

Grandfather’s
small ranch was on the edge of the reservation next to the national forest that
stretched back into the mountains forever and it was here that the old man had raised
them.  He made sure they went to school because he knew they needed to
live in the world of the white man, but he wanted them to experience the life
he had known as a boy.  Weekends and breaks from school were spent packing
into the mountains and living the natural life.  He taught them to hunt
and prepare food that grew around them, how to make their clothes from animal
skins and plant fibers, how to track, and to respect all living things. 
It was during these adventures that Wolf learned to accept the special gift he
had been born with.

From his
earliest memories, the boy had loved animals.  When he learned how to
express it, he had tried to explain to his mother that he could
feel
what
the family dog was thinking.  Not understanding, she had scolded him
harshly.  “I’m not having that Indian mumbo jumbo in my house! 
People will think you’re crazy!”

After that,
the boy was careful to hide the things he learned from animals and never shared
knowledge of the gift with anyone.  It was only in secret that he allowed
his mind to touch the minds of animals, at least, until his grandfather
discovered it.

They were
camping in their tepee deep in the mountains one summer when the old man
noticed the boy sneaking food into a pouch.  It wasn’t like Wolf to be sneaky. 
He said nothing but when he later realized the boy had slipped out of camp, he
tracked him to a small hill about half a mile away.  Using all his skills
as a hunter, Grandfather crawled to a hidden vantage point and watched.

The boy
approached a den dug into the side of the hill and sat down next to it. 
He sat still and silent for only a moment when a fox crept out of the den and
cautiously approached the youngster.  Moving slowly, the boy opened the
pouch and hand fed the scraps of food to the shy animal.  When the food
was gone, the two sat side by side in silence for almost an hour before the fox
returned to the security of her den.  As she slipped into the hole, the
old man could see that she was thin and had a bad limp in one front leg. 
Then as quietly as he had come, the old man melted away and returned to camp.

Later that
night as the three humans sat next to the fire in front of the tepee, the old
man began to tell stories of the old people.  On this certain night, he
talked about a courageous man he had known when he was only a child.  The
man was called Animal Talker, because it was said he could talk to
animals.  From the beginning of the story, the boy became totally absorbed
in it.  He listened intently as his grandfather spoke with respect and
admiration of this man, Talker.  He told how Talker always treated animals
with honor and respect.  One winter when the food supplies had run out and
people were hungry, Talker had led some hunters to a place where he knew there
would be deer.  After the successful hunt, he had sung songs and danced to
honor the sacrifice the deer had made to keep the people from starving.

As the old man
talked, the boy listened and as the summer wore on, and Wolf had continued to
carry food to the fox, he was finally able to talk with his grandfather about
the special gift he had learned to hide.  The old man nodded with
understanding when Wolf confided how his mother had reacted when he tried to
tell her.  “People are often afraid of what they don’t understand. 
Don’t hold it against your mother.  She was not raised to accept such
things.  She only wanted to help you learn to live in her world.  She
loved you, in her own way.”

“I’ve been
feedin’ a fox that was almost killed by a bear.  She’s almost well now.”
the boy confessed.  “The bear killed her mate.”

Grandfather
sat silently for some time.  “The fox told you this?”

The twelve
year old boy shook his head negatively.  “Not exactly.  It’s more
like she let me see it, in her head.”

Again a
lengthy silence bridged the time before Grandfather spoke.  “In the old
days, you would have been a holy man.  A great holy man.  There have
never been many who have the gift that you do.  Never use it for
profit.  Never take it for granted.  It is a great gift, a wakon,
sacred, gift.  Always treat it as a blessing and treasure it.”

The boy
nodded.  “I will always treat animals with respect and honor.  I will
value my gift, Tunkashila, Grandfather.”

The
grandfather smiled.

As the hearse
slowed to stop at the funeral home, the man remained unmoving.  Truth be
known, it was still pretty painful to move around, but he had been walking for
almost a week now.  The gurney was unloaded and wheeled into the back door
of the mortuary.  There it was transferred to someone else and the driver
who had driven the hearse to this location drove it away.  In silence, the
gurney was pushed down a hallway and into a room, then the sheet was pulled
back and Wolf opened his eyes.

Captain
Ferguson smiled down at him.  “Well, how are you feeling?”

With the
captain’s help, the man sat up slowly and slid his feet off the gurney. 
“I’m not sure.  I don’t think I’m comfortable with bein’ dead, yet.”

Another man
stepped forward and held out his hand.  “It’s good to see you, Wolf.”

Wolf
smiled.  “Clay!  It’s good to see you, too.  Is Feather with
ya?”

“No. 
Captain Ferguson was afraid someone might recognize her.  She stayed at
the ranch with Sue.”

Captain
Ferguson handed Wolf a large manila envelope.  “Here are papers that will
provide you both with a past.  I had this stuff done in Texas by a ranger
I know down there.  There is a complete history here for both you and
Feather.  It’s for a man named Daniel Cetan and his sister, Rebecca
Cetan.  That’s all I’ll know about you.”

The two men
clasped hands before Clay Roberts helped Daniel Cetan out through the front
door of the mortuary and into an Expedition parked at the side of the
building.  Hank Silver Wolf was truly dead.

For a few
days, Frankie Lambert reveled in being able to walk more than a dozen steps
without walking into bars.  He, under his assumed name, and Ruby had a
quick wedding and she was sure her wonderful new husband was the man of her
dreams.

Ruby’s father
had left her reasonably wealthy when he passed away two years ago.  As a
teenager she had become the woman of the house after her mother ran off with
another man.  Ruby, an average looking woman now, was thirty-six years old
and had never had a date.  A female acquaintance, who, for a short period
of time had rented the two rooms over Ruby’s garage, had talked to Ruby about
prison pen pals.  That woman, Candy, had corresponded with and married a
man she met that way and the two of them had moved off to Washington state,
leaving Ruby alone and lonely.  That was when Ruby began to read ads in a
magazine from people requesting letters from pen pals of the opposite
sex.  One in particular caught her interest.  It was from a man
interested in hearing from a woman who was looking for a long term relationship. 
It was an ad Frankie had placed in several magazines.

He read every
letter he received and corresponded with several ladies for months as he slowly
weeded out those who had no money and those whom he felt he couldn’t
manipulate.  Ruby made it through all his gardening and she became his
main focus.  Her need to be loved and her deep fear of being old and alone
were evident in her letters and made her susceptible to his limited charms.

After two
years of constant letter writing, she felt she knew Frankie better than he knew
himself.  She knew he wasn’t capable of doing the things he was convicted
of, and he was gradually able to convince her to help him in this desperate bid
for freedom, so they could spend the rest of their lives in wedded bliss. 
Each time she showed any hesitation in following his directions, he feigned a
fear that she didn’t truly love him.  His act included a veiled threat
that he had been hurt so many times by shallow love, that he just couldn’t
endure another failed love.  If she truly loved him, she would do anything
for him.

It was
frightening when she had to go into the slums of Jackson to get some false
identification for him, but when she was able to return home successfully, she
felt brave and excited.  It was like she was helping some James Bond
character, except that this James Bond character loved her and wanted to marry
her.
 
For the first time in her life, she
felt like a beautiful, desirable heroine.

Now, as they
settled into their married life, Ruby found that Frankie didn’t like to
socialize with her friends or neighbors.  He said he was worried that they
might have seen pictures of him as a wanted man, but he was letting his hair
grow longer and was growing a facial hair.  Ruby really didn’t think anyone
would recognize him.  Even right after the escape, there hadn’t been a lot
of news coverage of the event and as days turned into weeks, it had slipped
from people’s minds.  Gradually Frankie’s confidence grew, right along
with his facial hair, and he began to accompany his wife out in public. 
However, he still refused to socialize with people she felt close to.  He
criticized those she made welcome at her home, to the point that she stopped
inviting them over for fear he would become insulting to their faces.  He complained
that they were beneath her and made her look bad by maintaining such
friendships.  He accused them of only pretending to be her friends so they
could use her.  Gradually, Frankie pulled her away from everyone she had
known and trusted.

He began to
tighten his control over his new wife.  He braved going into the public to
have his name added to all her financial papers.
 
After all, they were married and committed
for the rest of their lives.  He used guilt to convince her that his
doubts of her love for him would end if she loved him enough to include him in
her wealth.  Fearing she would lose him if she didn’t, Ruby did as he
insisted.  He was now co-owner of her entire inheritance.

He purchased
clothes, shoes, and anything else he wanted, in fact Frankie spent her money
quiet freely.  They were together constantly except when Ruby said or did
something stupid and forced Frankie to slap some sense into her.  Then she
locked herself away for a few days until the bruises faded enough to be covered
with makeup.  Having never lived in a stable home, Ruby was convinced that
it was her fault when Frankie found it necessary to help her learn to be a good
wife.  She even accepted it as normal when he took over completely
controlling the finances.  She never noticed when he opened an account at
another bank in just his name and began to move money into that account.

For five years
Frankie had sat in a cell in that prison and dreamed of the day when he could
get his hands on the woman who put him there.  Ruby and this marriage was
the means to fulfilling that dream.  When the stress of forced patience
got to be too much for him, Frankie could always find a reason to lash out at
Ruby, but he would never lose sight of his goal.

Days became
weeks and Frankie and Ruby sat together and planned a long trip for a belated
honeymoon.  She was so excited she told her neighbors and those few other
people that Frankie allowed to remain in her life about it.  It would be
so romantic!  Frankie was taking her to see the Grand Canyon!  She
had always wanted to go there.  They even began to take long power walks
around the neighborhood to prepare them for the hiking they planned to do, on
their trip.  For the first time, Frankie began to allow some social interaction
with Ruby’s neighbors.  He was at his most charming and was always very
solicitous of his beloved bride, always opening doors, holding her chair,
supporting her with helpful hands, and making subtle gestures of affection when
people were around.

Together, Ruby
and Frankie had concocted a story about how they had met.  He allowed her
to tell everyone how he had stopped to help her when her car had stalled while
she was out shopping and the attraction between them had been so powerful that
they had exchanged phone numbers and had spent hours on their phones for a few
weeks before deciding that they simply couldn’t continue to live apart.

Although some
of her friends might have doubted the story, in the face of her apparent
happiness, they accepted Frankie at face value; a strange, charming man who had
brought fulfillment and happiness to Ruby.

Frankie made
it a point whenever they talked about the upcoming trip to emphasize that the
destination was chosen to satisfy Ruby’s dream.  He often stated that he
would have preferred to visit New York and take in some Broadway shows, making
sure that people thought he was very familiar with the Big Apple.  He
wanted to make sure that when Ruby and he didn’t return from this trip that
anyone suspicious of him would look for him in that region of the country.

Jordan sat in
the bank, facing the manager.  “Yes, I know that’s a lot of money for a
horse that I’ve never seen, Mel.  I’ve been over this with myself probably
a hundred times and I’ve talked to Mr. Roberts on the phone.  I’m sure I
want to do this.”