Earth Legend (9 page)

"Not if you keep it in the pot. It'll stay
the right size for the pot."

I stared out my window long after she left,
shaking like a rag. I liked Alicia but there were times I wished
we'd never met. It was because of her that I had an apartment and
was an accepted resident of New Rochelle, not to mention that I had
a kitten. But if she blurted out what she knew to the wrong people,
I could end up in jail.

I shook my head. What was I thinking? She was
a child. Who pays attention to children? Who believes them? I
should stop worrying and get outside and be sociable. I should go
for a walk. Everyone walked everywhere in New Rochelle, it was
great exercise and a good way to find out what was happening in
town because gossips also took walks.

I headed towards the town square because
that's where I was most likely to find people, but no one I knew
was there. On the other side of the square, however, several people
were clustered around the harvesting center building. I knew them
from delivering apples and cherries so I sauntered over. Gerald,
the guy who checked deliveries, wasn't busy. No one was, which was
unusual. Most days the harvest center was a bustling place. "Elle."
He waved a couple of fingers in my direction. "What's doing? No
apples today?"

There could be. Trees in the orchard were
heavy with fruit but I didn't dare bring too much too often. "Not
yet. Soon." I looked around. "Slow day?"

There was no humor in his laugh. "Slow week.
Several slow weeks."

"How so?" The hairs on the back of my neck
rose. Was it beginning?

"Not as good a harvest lately as we'd like."
Gerald put on a positive face. It was hard but he managed. "But
it'll pick up."

One of the guys agreed. "Yeah, it'll get
better. Elle's apples and cherries are growing great. So maybe some
of the other crops are slow, they'll catch up and it'll get back to
what it should be. You'll see."

Another spoke slowly and without the positive
lilt of the first speakers. "If that doesn't happen, I'm going to
ask Elle to visit my blueberries and wave her magic wand or do
whatever she does to make her crops the best on the Destiny."

They all laughed and someone said something
about witches, and then ducked, laughing harder, as I stuck out my
tongue at him.

It was a good visit until Gerald ruined the
mood. "Cullen Vail was here a bit ago, asking about you."

"Me?" A headache started pounding the back of
my neck. "What did he want?"

Gerald leered. "I think he likes you."

"Not a chance." I relaxed slightly.

Gerald looked me up and down. "Who'd have
thought our illustrious, slightly pompous head of Security would
fall for a lowly farmer?"

Someone else broke in. "He didn't fall for a
farmer. Remember what he said? Our Elle isn't just any farmer.
She's got degrees. She's special. She knows more about growing food
than all of us lowly dirt farmers put together."

The man with the blueberries spoke again.
"Now I know I'm going to ask Elle to check out my berries. No
wonder she brings in the best crops. She's an expert."

I puffed out my cheeks to hide my discomfort.
"He had no right to tell you that."

Gerald waved a charitable hand. "Don't worry,
Elle. We promise not to hold all those degrees against you as long
as you continue to bring in great crops and teach us your secrets."
He leaned against the wall and crossed one leg over the other. "You
see, Elle, there's a little competition going on that you might not
know about. But you're a part of it, like it or not. New Rochelle
isn't the best producer on the Destiny yet but, with you around, it
might be very soon. The other villages aren't bringing in crops
like they did and we are getting better thanks to your cherries and
apples. As soon as you teach us what you know, New Rochelle will be
on the map and everyone else can eat our dust."

There were a few 'hear, hears' and then
everyone decided it was time to return to what little work there
was for them so I wandered away, comforted by the knowledge that at
least one small group of people on the Destiny wanted me. As I
rounded the corner of the building, I wondered what they'd say if
they knew the truth about me. The real truth.

My attention was caught by an individual in a
uniform talking to someone. Cullen Vail was in town and he was
asking questions about me. It hadn't been two weeks since his last
visit. He wasn't on schedule, so why was he here? The headache
turned into a pounding, scary pain through my whole body.

I hid behind the building while I debated
whether to continue towards the grocery store to pick up some sweet
peppers or head back to my apartment and hide. But when I peeked
around the corner again he was gone so I cautiously headed down the
single street that was the village of New Rochelle towards the
village square.

I decided he must be headed for his Harley to
run some official errand or other. He'd most likely stopped in New
Rochelle because it was on his way to somewhere else and that was
how he'd ended up talking to the farmers. No other reason. He
hadn't come because of me. About me. I was safe, the hurting began
to subside.

A middle-aged lady in the grocery store
stopped me in the cereal aisle. "Cullen Vail was here."

"Oh?" I pretended surprise.

"He asked about you."

"Me?" My voice squeaked. This wasn't good.
Maybe he wasn't just passing through. But it wasn't necessarily bad
either. I frantically told myself that there were a thousand
reasons for him being in town that had nothing to do with me. But I
couldn't dismiss the fact that he'd asked about me. "Was he looking
for me?'

"No. He was just curious." She grabbed a box
of cereal. "He tried to hide it, though." She gave me the once-over
slyly. "Didn't work. I can tell when a man is interested in
someone. The questions he asked were … well … personal."

"I don't think … "

"Dear, don't even try to deny it. It seems
that our Cullen Vail is human after all."

"I doubt … "

"I always thought of him as being too
standoffish to ever have a real relationship. But it looks like I
was wrong." She shuddered delicately and turned up a snub nose.
"And, Elle, don't take this the wrong way, but you're welcome to
him. He's way too stiff for most of us."

"What exactly did he ask?" I made myself go
still.

"Oh, whether I like you or not. Whether you
fit in with the other residents of New Rochelle, which of course
you do. Things like that, until Wilkes Zander came along and let
him know that he didn't appreciate anyone of any status whatsoever,
even an important Security person, asking questions of a personal
nature about our people. He suggested that if Cullen wanted to know
anything about you he should ask you himself."

"I hope … "

"So don't be surprised if he shows up at your
doorstep."

I hope not.
But I smiled and stepped
around her on my way to the sweet peppers. Which weren't as large
as usual. Another sign something was wrong?

When I returned home I approached my
apartment cautiously. If Cullen was there, I'd disappear and wait
until he was gone. But he wasn't so I went inside and locked the
door.

Restless, I stared out my window. What I saw
gave me pause. Cullen Vail was in the field and he was talking with
Alicia. Sweet, gossipy Alicia who knew most, if not all, of my
secrets. She had her cat in her arms, as usual. She held it out to
Cullen who took it and held it away from him as if it might bite.
But he managed not to drop it and petted it awkwardly twice before
returning it to Alicia.

She said something and they both looked
towards my apartment. My window. I ducked out of sight but still
watched through the curtains. Alicia cuddled her cat and Cullen
seemed interested in it. Was she telling him that I'd taken one of
the kittens? Was it as simple as that? Nothing illegal about
adopting a kitten so I relaxed. A little.

The two parted. Cullen strode towards the
road and his Harley but Alicia remained with her cat. I opened my
window. "Hey, Alicia." She looked up. "Want a cookie?" Fortunately
I'd been baking and she liked sweets.

She gathered her cat and came to my
apartment. I had the door open when she arrived and soon mother cat
and kitten were playing happily while Alicia made quick work of a
plate of cookies as she answered questions that I hoped didn't
arouse her suspicions. But she didn't appear suspicious.

"You talked with Cullen Vail."

"Yep. He likes cats even though he couldn't
take one of the kittens. But that's okay because you took the last
one."

"He can play with your cat."

"That's what he said. He said he might come
back to play with Queen another time."

"Did he say when?"

"Soon."

"What do you talk about when he visits?"

"Mostly he asks a lot of questions."

"Such as?"

"All kinds of things. Today he asked about
you."

"Me?" I pretended to be surprised as I fought
a growing unease. Cullen suspected something. Or not. I remembered
that woman's assessment of him being good at his job. How good? "He
didn't have to ask you. I could have told him anything he wants to
know."

"He said he didn't want to bother you."

"What did he ask?"

"If you like your kitten. If I help you grow
stuff in your apartment."

"What did you say?"

"I told him that you gave me a tiny tree.
It's pretty."

"Was that all he asked?"

"There was more but I can't remember."

Normal questions. Perhaps he was interested
in me as a woman after all and wasn't planning on arresting me,
though somehow I couldn't picture him in a romantic relationship
and not in any kind of relationship at all with me. But I relaxed
somewhat. I'd been on the Destiny for months and nothing had
happened. Except that I could never relax. I should remind myself
of that every day. Every single day.

On the other hand, perhaps he just couldn't
figure out why I wanted to be a farmer instead of a scientist which
was a totally normal question. How many people spend as many years
in school as I did and throw it all away to go out and grow
cherries? Why ever he was asking about me, there was nothing I
could do about it and no way to know the truth. So I tried to
forget his visit to New Rochelle.

A few days later, I was in the apple orchard
filling the cart with my weekly harvest of apples and cherries when
I sensed someone behind me. I turned and saw Cullen framed by green
branches and white blossoms. I caught my lower lip between my teeth
as our glances met and held. He was out of uniform. I'd never seen
him in anything other than the navy blue that the crew wore when on
duty. He looked different. Human. Vulnerable.

He stepped forward. "Hello." Stopped and
waited for me to acknowledge his presence. I inclined my head. "I
was told I'd find you here. You are a creature of habit and today
is your day to harvest fruit."

"As are you. A creature of habit. You come to
New Rochelle every two weeks." I checked my comunit. "You're off
schedule. So why are you here today?"

"I'm off duty."

"Of course. No uniform." But he didn't need
one to tell the world that he was a guy in charge. His bearing was
so straight and his movements so precise that his very self shouted
that he was watching over everyone. Except I didn't want him to
watch over me. I wanted him gone but I shouldn't say so.

He stepped closer, arms stiff at his side,
and looked around. "I've been checking out what you said the other
day. Now that you called my attention to it, I can see that not all
crops are as healthy as these trees."

"So that's what you were about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Asking questions about me." He stopped
walking. Stayed a safe distance away. Made a quarter turn away.
Pretended to be relaxed but I knew better. "I heard all about your
little visits with people who know me."

"That's my business. It's what I do."

"You didn't ask questions about other people.
Not from what I heard. Just me." A good offence is the best
defense, as my cousin Todd used to say. I hoped he was right as I
plowed ahead in an effort to get Cullen out of my orchard and my
life. "In future, if you want to know something about me, ask me,
not someone else."

"I'll do that." My attack worked. He closed
into himself and left with his back as ramrod straight as when he
arrived. But as he ducked around the apples hanging heavy on the
trees he said, "This fruit is wonderful. You're good." The words
were hard to say, he sounded like he was choking on them. But
Cullen Vail, the perfect security person would be honest if it
killed him. "Those idiots in the greenhouses are making a mistake
in ignoring you."

"They made their choice." The trees closed
behind him, shooing him along and closing ranks behind him so I
found myself yelling impotently at leaves still quivering from his
passing instead of at Cullen himself. I'd have liked to see his
expression but the fact that I could only imagine what he looked
like didn't keep me from smiling as I followed his soft curses
through the trees. The orchard was a good friend and was acting
accordingly.

Could it be that his questions hadn't been
personal in nature? That his only concern was failing crops and my
potential to turn things around?

I left the orchard as soon as I figured
Cullen was good and gone. I went home and found Alicia at my door,
her cat at her feet and her miniature cherry tree in her hands. It
was drooping. "What's with this?" I took it from her after
unlocking the door and leading her and Queenie inside.

"It's sad. I think it misses the other
trees."

"It was nice of you to bring it for a visit."
I set it on a small table already laden with other growing things
and I touched it gently. In moments it perked up. "See, it's better
now and I'm pretty sure that it'll be okay. I doubt you'll have to
bring it for another visit." I touched it again, just to be sure,
as Alicia's lower lip stuck out. "But of course you can bring it
over any time you wish." The lip receded somewhat. "Do you have
time for cookies?"