Authors: Everett Peacock
~~~
Alex
gasped when the door flew open. Larry squinted to make sure he was
seeing what he thought he was really seeing.
“
What
the hell do you guys want kicking on my door like that?” Janet
demanded.
“
Sorry
to bother you, of course. Private James Turner?”
Larry
was already tapping Alex on the back. They both noticed Janet
hesitate.
“
What
is it?” she demanded again, not directly acknowledging the
question.
“
Look,
I'm not here to judge or make trouble. But, I have a message for
Private James Turner from Sergeant Johannson.”
Janet
just stared at both of them.
“
It's
pretty god-damned important!” Alex yelled now, somewhat out of
frustration and somewhat, he would reveal later, out of fear.
That
got her attention.
“
OK,
what is it?” Janet said softly. “I'm Private James
Turner.”
Alex
could smell the reek of stale alcohol, dirty hair and some other
whiffs he was trying hard not to identify. Larry was still tapping
him on the back until he shrugged his shoulder to tell him enough.
“
Sergeant
Johannson says you missed roll call this morning in Ft. Bragg. She
says if you get on the phone with her right now she will hold off
calling the MPs. That's the military po...”
“
I
know who the hell the MPs are!” Janet barked. Her eyes slowly
drifted, as in the pull of gravity itself, down to look at her feet.
No
one spoke for at least a full minute, but Larry thought it was ten.
Alex was shaking. He had never seen a human being in such bad shape
and still breathing. This guy, or whoever it was, looked like death
warmed over but left to cool a bit again. Dark purple circles were
under the eyes. The hair, short cropped as it was, still looked
dirty and there were various scabs on the arms and neck.
Finally
Janet looked back up from her feet to guys, snarled and slammed the
door hard in their faces.
“
I'll
be there in ten minutes to use your phone!” she yelled from
behind the door.
Alex
and Larry looked at each other and turned around. They stepped down
onto the sidewalk and both let out audible sighs.
“
That
went well I think,” Larry said.
“
OMFG!”
Alex pronounced.
Larry
took a moment to spell that out. “Oh-My-Frickin'-God?”
“
Something
like that,” Alex acknowledged. “That was the biggest
freak show I have
ever
seen.”
Larry
nodded. “Yep, and they say crack heads are spooky. I'd say
alcohol is probably worse, just slower.”
As
they entered Alex's office he turned to ask, “So that was the
same person you gave the telegram to?”
“
Sure
was, a bit worse for the wear.” Larry noted.
“
And,
our friendly bartender confirms then that this same person was a long
haired female red head only a couple of days ago?” Alex
continued.
“
Sure
enough.”
“
And
you heard her just say she was indeed Private James Turner, didn't
you?” Alex asked.
“
Yes
I did indeed.”
Alex
pondered that for a moment. Larry turned to look out the large
office window at the gathering cloud moving into the jungle across
the one lane road.
“
Well,
I'll be interested to see how she explains all this to the Sergeant,”
Alex mused.
Larry
was quiet for a long time, lost in thought. His hands were tracing
little circles on the cold window, condensing the moisture into
little sad faces.
“
Larry?”
Alex interjected. He watched his friend take his time to answer.
“
So,”
Larry whispered, then spoke a bit louder. “I guess we can
presume Private James Turner is dead.”
~~~
Agatha
and Adam were in love again. Thirty some odd years of separation in
the middle had done little to quell the flame, or so it felt, anyhow.
After
apple pie they had taken a ride in Adam's remodeled '72 Camaro
convertible, when he finally admitted it was
the
'72 Camaro convertible they had actually dated in.
“
I
know, I couldn't believe it either. I had heard a couple of years
after I had to sell it, that it had been in a crash at Burning Man.
But, when I looked at the VIN number, which I had actually memorized,
it was the same...I almost cried with happiness.”
Agatha
looked at him a long moment.
“
OK,
I did cry a little,” he admitted looking away from her a
moment. “It was absolutely amazing.”
Agatha
looked around at the details of this classic ride. It was all so
familiar, so historical, but it was her history and that kept it from
being dated and old.
After
a long night of talking and even singing along with their favorite
songs, now on the Oldies Channel, they found themselves awkwardly at
Agatha's front porch.
Adam
had his arm around Agatha on the porch swing, her head comfortably
resting on his shoulder.
“
You
know, I would. I want to of course. But, we shouldn't. Not
tonight.”
Agatha
lifted her head a little and looked at him quizzically. “What
are you talking about Adam?”
“
Oh,
nothing, just rambling on about nothing.”
Agatha
secretly smiled to herself. It was as perfect as if it'd been
written. “Why don't you sleep on the fold out couch, and,”
she sat up excitedly, “in the morning, let's head up to
Tahoe!”
Adam
grinned and let his head drift back a bit to watch the ceiling move
lazily back and forth. He couldn't have asked for a better script
himself.
~~~
Janet
was in a full on panic. I could feel it in the static she was
broadcasting, in the noise from her soul.
She
shooed the maid away when she showed up, extra cleaning supplies and
garbage bags in tow.
“
They're
on to me, they have to be,” she mumbled. “Shit, I gotta
get out of here.” In five minutes she was packed and in her
rented car. Fighting the urge to speed away, she kept pulling her
foot off the accelerator after each urge to flee. Staring straight
ahead she hoped that if she didn't see anyone then they wouldn't see
her either. She did however, feel the sweat moving down her
forehead, her neck and back.
Only
a mile down the road, feeling no one following her she looked out
toward the volcano. There at the scenic outlook overlooking
Halema'uma'u crater she stopped a moment, out of some long lost
respect. Some kind of perverse curiosity led her out of the car to
the short rock wall at the edge of the two hundred foot cliff.
Looking down, she could see the path, still closed, that she had led
me down.
I
moved in close to her, at her very shoulder as she looked at the very
edge of the large lava pit, where she had decided to push me in, to
kill me. This close I could feel so much more of her mind, so much
more of the energy she had within her.
Her
vibe felt different lately, different than the first day I was dead.
Something was changing inside of her, some sense of hope twisted
deeply with the despair. I still didn't have any idea why I was
still lurking here when others like me had moved on in the stream,
like Private Thomas Jacoba. I took a moment to look up in to the sky
and saw that the light there was a little closer than before. This
of course wasn't the sun, it was something entirely different, it was
where Ms. Debbie had returned to. I found it more intense than the
sun and as different from the sun as I was now different from Jimmy
Turner.
Suddenly
Janet started to sob. Heavily. Heaving her shoulders. She had to
lean on the railing for support as grief washed over her.
An
elderly lady close by moved in to comfort her out of some
immeasurable amount of kindness. I feared Janet would rebuff her,
but I was wrong. I think she probably didn't even notice.
Several
minutes later, when the rain moved in again, and the kind lady's
husband pulled her away, Janet stood tall for a moment and walked
back to her car.
Minutes
later she was turning left on the Belt Highway and making her way to
the Hilo airport.
~~~
Alex's
phone rang a full three times before he or Larry noticed it. The
shock of meeting Janet and the inevitable demise of Private James
Turner were weighing heavy on them.
Finally
Alex snapped out of it and picked up in the middle of the fourth.
“
Kilauea
Military Recreation Area, Alex.”
“
Alex,
this is Sergeant Johannson. Is Private Turner standing next to your
phone by some miracle?”
Alex
paused as Larry turned around and gave Alex a salute with the
question on his face of 'Is that the Sergeant?'
“
No
he is not, I'm afraid to say.”
“
Damn
it! Why not?” she demanded.
“
I...”
Johannson
interrupted his excuse, “Save it! I didn't really think he
would.”
“
Look,
Sergeant,” Alex wanted to explain. “We never saw James
Turner. In fact, we haven't ever seen him. We thought we were
dealing with him but it turns out to have been a woman masquerading
as him, perhaps his wife.”