The Geezer Quest: World After Geezer: Year Two

by Penn Gates

  Lisa lifts her arms above her head like a small child being dressed for bed. A moment’s hesitation, then Holden puts her hands through the sleeves and awkwardly guides it over her head. The nightgown obeys the law of gravity and slides down her body.

  He feels dizzy with desire. He wants to tell the faint whisper of reason holding him back to fuck off. At that moment Lisa rubs her eyes with her fists like a sleepy child. It’s like a slap in the face, bringing him back to his sense of decency. She’s not herself right now. What seems like a lack of inhibition is a child’s indifference to the need for modesty. To take advantage of that would be contemptible.

  He swallows hard and backs away. “I’ll get the candle,” he says thickly.

  The nightgown is infused with the soothing scent of lavender. Lisa sighs and snuggles into the softness of the comforter as she waits for Ed to come back. She struggles to keep her eyes open, but a wave of exhaustion carries her into sleep.

  Something is moving in the dark room. Lisa keeps her eyes squeezed shut and holds her breath. She doesn’t believe in ghosts - but she knows just as surely that Cindi Lou has returned to exact revenge. The snake has escaped the box once again. She scrabbles back against the headboard and gropes the top of the nightstand for something - anything - to use as a weapon. A dark figure rises across the room just as Lisa’s hand touches an old-fashioned, wind up alarm clock. She pitches it with every ounce of strength she can muster. “Stay away from me!” she screams.

  The shadow ducks and the alarm clock hits the wall. It begins to ring, not the soft buzz of a modern one, but a loud, clanging sound. The shadow bends to pick up the clock and turn it off.

  “You’re supposed to be dead!” Lisa cries and jumps off the bed, putting it between her and the ghost of Cindi Lou.

  The shadow tosses the clock aside and covers the distance to the bed in a couple of long strides. “I’m right here, Lisa,” it says. “Nobody will hurt you now.”

  At the sound of Ed’s voice, the apparition vanishes. Lisa crawls across the bed and holds out her arms towards him. “Don’t leave me,” she cries.

  He sits on the side of the bed and pulls her close, inhaling the scent of lavender blended with the clean, fresh scent of Lisa. “She’s dead and gone,” he murmurs against her hair. “I helped dig that bitch’s grave - and Hatfield laid a boulder on top of her chest before we filled in the hole.”

  “W-why did he do that?” Lisa hiccoughs. She tries to wipe away her tears. Why is she acting like a child? That’s no way to make a man want you.

  “It’s what you do with witches - to make sure they stay put forever.” He pushes her wild hair from her face. “You’re shaking. Get back under the covers.”

  She whispers, “Please - stay with me. I can’t stop hating the dark.”

  Ed doesn’t respond and she turns her back to him, ashamed of her need. But he doesn’t leave. She feels the weight of his body shift the mattress as he lies down beside her. After hesitating, he moves closer and puts his arm across her.

  “Sleep,” he whispers. “While I keep the bad things away.” After a minute, he adds, “Everything will be better in the morning - I promise.”

  “I don’t want to,” she breathes raggedly. Feeling his warmth against her back, she has no words for what she wants, or the courage to speak them if she did. But instinct doesn’t need either. She turns and presses herself against him.

  Every cell in Holden’s body screams surrender. This is what he’s wanted since he’d first butted heads with this difficult woman. But she’s scared to death, and all she really wants is to keep close to the guy who saved her once before.

  “Maybe now’s not a good time to start bein’ impulsive,” he says thickly and forces himself to roll away from her and sit up.

  His words seem to galvanize her. “I hate you!” she cries, pounding his back with her fists.

  “I can see that,” he says, rising to his feet and moving out of her reach. “I just don’t why.”

  “You know why!” she yells and throws a pillow at him, then other one. “You don’t like freckles,” she says accusingly.

  “You’re not making any sense, Lisa,” he tells her. He’s afraid she’s going to hurt herself if he doesn’t regain control of the situation. “You gotta calm down.”

  She lobs the bedside lamp in his direction and he ducks, but not fast enough. He touches his bleeding cheek.

  “I don’t have to do anything!” she cries. “Go away! I never want to see your face again - never, ever, never!”

  Where’s her medical bag? She seems to keep a supply of sedatives on hand at all times. God know what damage that bitch did to her head. She could stroke out if she doesn’t simmer down. He takes off down the hall to the tower room. He’s looking for her bag when he realizes she’s stopped screaming.

  He dashes back and stands outside the bedroom, listening to her muffled crying. After a few minutes, all is silent. He slips into the room. She’s fallen asleep atop the mattress, the bedding on the floor in a heap. He covers her gently and tucks the blanket around her. He stands looking down at her. She still looks like a little girl - a sad little girl who’s cried herself to sleep.

  Holden feels a cold dread. Lisa is far from okay, but it’s clear he’s the last person in the world that can help her right now. She needs Margaret - and Nix.

  CHAPTER 27: SOS

  It’s still dark when Holden revs the engine of the old VW as it climbs the steep drive and comes to a stop next to the St Clair farmhouse. The house is dark, except for a light in the kitchen. Who would be up so early but Margaret? And she’s just the one he needs to talk to.

  He taps on the back door, and after a moment, Margaret comes to see who it is.

  “Is everything all right?” she asks immediately, her hand to her heart.

  Holden takes a deep breath. “Not really. Lisa is - isn’t acting like herself. I’m really worried about her.”

  “Come in, come in,” Margaret says. “We will have coffee and you will tell me.”

  The kitchen table is covered with a half dozen baking sheets filled with biscuits ready to put in the oven. “I must bake these a few at a time. There is not room for all at once,” Margaret explains, handing a cup of coffee to him. “One moment - and then we will talk.”

  As she slides the trays into the oven of the old wood stove, she says, “So - Lisa. We were all very scared when we could not find her. Thank you for sending word that she is safe.”

  Holden clears his throat. “Yeah - riding all the way to Hamlin on a bike was pretty bonkers. And it didn’t get much better from there - she seemed to think we were leaving town and I was stealing The Whale. She wasn’t making much sense.”

  He stops there. No way is he telling this girl what happened next - at least not all of it. “After she got to sleep, she had a nightmare - which makes sense with what she’s been through - but even after she was awake, she didn’t seem to understand where she was or what was going on.”

  “It is not surprising that you are worried,” Margaret says reassuringly. “Perhaps Nix and I might be paying Lisa a visit this morning.”

  “That’d be great. Actually - it would be a relief. I don’t know how to help her right now.”

  “What’s goin’ on?” Hatfield asks as he walks into the kitchen, his hair still rumpled from sleep.

  “Corporal Holden has been speaking to me of Lisa,” Margaret says immediately. “I am thinking Nix and I need to make sure she’s all right.”

  “You want me to wake Nix?” Cash asks immediately.

  “I’m up,” Nix grumbles as she stumbles into the kitchen. “Coffee - I need coffee.”

  Margaret hands her a cup before Nix finishes speaking. “So what’s this about you and me taking a ride into Hamlin?”

  “Lisa was not well enough to make the journey she did, and she is feeling very confused. We need to be helping her find her way.”

  Nix glances at the biscuits. “I’ll go get dressed and wake Mary. S
he can do biscuit duty this morning. And Janet - she can take care of Davey. I won’t be a tic.”

  The farmhouse is waking up. Now that Holden has done what he can to get more help for Lisa, he sits silently watching the women swirl around the kitchen in a kind of controlled confusion.

  Cash sees his expression and laughs. “This ain’t nothin’. The boys will be poundin’ down the back stairs in a few minutes, headin’ out to the barns. And the kids will be runnin’ around like wild Indians. Just a typical day at the ranch.”

  Holden colors. “And I threw another monkey wrench into the works.”

  “If it wasn’t you, it’d be something else, bro,” Cash yawns. “Speakin’ of monkey wrenches - why don’t we get out of here while the gettin’ is good? I need to fuel up the truck for Nix, and then we can hide out in the machine shed.”

  It’s only after Margaret and Nix have left for town that Cash turns to Holden and asks, “So what’s up? You look chewed up and spit out.”

  There it is, Holden thinks. A chance to get a little advice - and I still don’t have the God-damn words.

  “I get it - you’re worried sick about her,” Cash says, throwing him a lifeline.

  Before Holden can decide whether to talk it out or laugh it off, Cash adds, “You’re crazy about her. Hell, I could see that first time I saw the two of you together.”

  “Maybe,” Holden admits. “But the only thing she’s crazy about are her bugs and test tubes.”

  “That’s not how I read it,” Cash says, pretending to look for a tool. “The doc likes you, too. She’s just kinda skittish.”

  Holden frowns. “What the hell does that even mean?”

  “Women don’t always say what they mean straight out.” Cash pauses for a second. “Any more than we do, I s’pose. Sometimes you gotta listen for what’s underneath the words.”

  “I had the devil’s own time gettin’ Nix to give me a chance.” Cash leans back against his workbench and fumbles in his shirt pocket for a cigarette. “See - Nix thought I was too young for her - said I made her feel like a pedophile.” Hatfield smiles at the memory. “That’s when I knew I had a chance - she was tellin’ me that she felt the same way I did without comin’ right out and sayin’ it.”

  “What’s it mean when they throw things at you?”

  “You might have to figure that one out yourself, bro. Nix never did that - but she held a gun on me once, come to think of it. Point is, you don’t really have a choice, do you? You gotta tell her.”

  Holden thinks of how he felt the first time he saw Lisa. She was beautiful - and then she opened her mouth. And yet, after two years of feeling irritated with her most of the time, he can’t imagine life without her.

  “Did you know that lots of critters mate for life?” Cash asks. “I knew a lotta women before Nix - but the first time I set eyes on her, that was it. Maybe I’m some kinda throwback, but Nix is the one. I’d do anything for her - anything to keep her.”

  “That’s some heavy shit,” Holden says. “I gotta think about that.” Which he knows, even as he says it, is bullshit. He knows exactly what Cash is talking about - because he’d die for Lisa if he had to.

  “Listen, bro - I don’t know if this is a good time for you or not, but we’re gettin’ set to go on one last supply hunt before bad weather hits. If ya’ll brought along a couple of your trucks, we could bring back quite a haul.”

  “When are you leaving?”

  “I was kinda plannin’ on tomorrow.” Cash sees Holden’s hesitation. “Janet could stay with Lisa, and when she’s feelin’ a little better, she can come out here and visit with Nix. It’d be a few days tops.”

  “All right,” Holden says slowly. “It’s probably better I make myself scarce for awhile anyway - she’s pissed at me for some reason. Tomorrow it is.”

  CHAPTER 28: Dreams In Pieces

  Lisa escapes her dream and wakes with a start. There had been snakes - dozens of them - writhing on the floor all around her bed. One crawled up the bedpost and she’d begun to scream and scream. Somehow, Holden was there, too. He’d held her close - to keep the snakes away - but then he’d tricked her and become a snake himself. She groans and holds her head, which aches abominably.

  After awhile she sits up, still feeling disoriented. She’s alone in a room she’s never seen before. Daylight is streaming through a window and, on a chair beneath it, a tangerine chenille bathrobe glows in a puddle of bright sunshine like a neon safety vest. Sunlight? What time of day must it be? What day is it?

  She throws the covers back and stands on a floor that’s cold as ice on her bare feet. But the cold seems to help clear her mind a little, and she forces herself to walk toward the robe and the pair of slippers beneath it. She stumbles - over a pillow. She glances around, puzzled. The place is strewn with out of place objects, as if blown around by a whirlwind. It’s not just the mess - she doesn’t recognize the room she’s in. She has no idea where, in time and space, this room is located.

  Wrapped in the warm robe, she steps out of the room into an upstairs hall. She knows it’s upstairs because she can see the top of an open staircase. A current of air wafts from the stairwell enticing her with its heat. She takes a hesitant step forward and then freezes as she hears voices downstairs.

  Her pulse races and she feels a flush of shame. There’s something - or someone - she doesn’t want to face. She moves to the top step unwillingly and looks down to a floor made of hexagonal tiles - which remind her of the scales of a snake. They also look familiar, and memory takes a quick peek from behind the blank wall of her mind, before darting back behind it.

  “There you are,” a woman’s voice calls. “I was beginning to think you were in a coma.”

  The voice seems familiar. Another familiar feminine voice joins it. “Please to come down here with us, Lisa. You must be cold - and very hungry.”

  This time, memory dashes from behind the blank wall. Margaret! And Nix! But what are they doing here? And where’s here? She inches her way downstairs, clinging to the hand rail.

  The Mennonite girl takes her arm and steers her across the serpentine tiles through a large double doorway. The room in front of her is elegant, furnished with expensive antiques.

  Nix is sitting on a settee with ornately carved mahogany trim, its brocade upholstery smothered in plastic slipcovers. When she turns toward the door to greet Lisa, she suddenly grabs at the wooden arm to keep from sliding off the edge.

  “Who puts their furniture in baggies?” she demands. “Lot of good it did preserving the damn couch when all the occupants died from Geezer.”

  The mention of Geezer sets off alarm bells in Lisa’s brain. There’s something she brought to this place - something precious that has to do with Geezer. “Where’s my pond water?” she blurts.

  “Did you steal my pond water as well as George’s bike?” Nix laughs.

  Lisa looks at her blankly. From behind her, Margaret shakes her head slightly at Nix. Not the time for your jokes.

  “Sorry,” Nix says. “You don’t look like you feel so good, doc. Why don’t you come sit down?” She glances around. “Maybe that couch over there by the fire. It’s covered in plastic, too, but it doesn’t look so slippery.”

  Margaret steps forward, and they each take an arm and guide Lisa across the room. “I will get some coffee,” Margaret says. “You will be feeling much better after a cup or two.”

  “Nix?” Lisa says quietly. “Where exactly am I?”

  Nix is suddenly alert. Something is very wrong with her friend. And she’s got to figure out what’s going on with her.

  Swiping a bike and disappearing without a word of explanation was out of character for the woman she’d gotten to know over the summer - even though Lisa has acted a bit odd more than once since that bitch Cindi Lou tried to kill her. Again Nix feels a fierce joy that her mother is dead and buried.

  She pulls her mind back to the present. “You’re in Hamlin, doc. In the house Holden and the other guys fixed u
p while you were staying out at our place.”

  Nix studies Lisa’s expression. There’s still a look of confusion, but also a flicker of something else she can’t quite make out. Which annoys her. She can usually read people like a book. Stranger or friend, it doesn’t matter.

  “They didn’t take The Whale,” Lisa says hesitantly.

  Nix reigns in her usual bantering style. “No. They would never do that.”

  Lisa’s eyes fill with tears. “I - I was terrible to Ed. ” She glances around, as if he might be hiding behind the furniture. “Where - is he?”

  And Nix can’t tell if Lisa wants to see Holden, or fears that she might.

  “He’s out at the farm talking with Cash. He’ll be back later.”

  Margaret returns with a tray and hands a mug of coffee to Lisa.

  Nix reaches for one of the oatmeal cookies Margaret had thought to bring. “I’m curious, doc. You mentioned pond water a few minutes ago. Did you find something? Is that the reason you took off like a bat out of hell?”

  She watches as Lisa’s eyes refocus, and she begins to look more like her usual self.

  “Yes,” Lisa says slowly, concentrating on making sense of the images flooding her mind. “At least I think I did.” She shifts her body, as if she means to rise, and then thinks better of it. “I’ll need to get out to the lab as soon as I can and take a closer look to see if I’m right.” She brightens. “I think I am, actually. Still, nothing is certain until it’s proved.”

  “Why don’t you take another day and settle into the new place? You pushed yourself too hard yesterday - you do realize that, don’t you?”

  “I don’t—”

  “Well, I do,” Nix says firmly. “You’re not doing much of anything today, and if you try - let’s just say you won’t get very far.”

  “Oh my,” Margaret says. “Perhaps Lisa is not knowing you are teasing her.”

  “I’m not kidding - sometimes people don’t know what’s good for ‘em and their friends have to help them out,” Nix says. She seems to realize how harsh she sounds because she changes direction. “Did I ever tell you that I went to that school you guys were using for headquarters?”