“You don’t feel different?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You might want to do a bit of a self assessment, but I would recommend not letting anyone see you. If I’m right, you might need to do a better job of concealing your identity than Walter did.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. What plans do you have?”
“I think I’m going home. I’ve missed it all these years, but there are more immediate plans. You remember Mike?”
“How could I forget him? He shot me.”
“Not that Mike, the other one. The man who lives near me.”
“Oh, the dude with the fake legs? What about him?”
“He had invited me to dinner at his house when everything went down. That’s how he showed up there when he did. He was looking for me. They’re having the dinner today, and you’re invited.”
“When is that?”
“In a couple hours. We’d best hurry, unless you can figure a faster way to get there.”
“I might have to. I have to run up to Lebanon.”
“What’s up there?”
“My dad. He’s getting out of prison.”
“That’s good news, and you just found out?”
“Yeah, but you know how things have been going lately. Apparently he had the hearing scheduled, but he didn’t bother to mention that when I was last there...didn’t want to get my hopes up in case it didn’t go through. Well, it went through but we’ve been so caught up with everything the last few days that I never checked my phone or my email. He can go home, provided he has a home to go to.”
“And is there a home for him to go to? Do you have a place?”
“I was staying with Walter, but now...well, it’s paid to the end of the month.”
“There’s a perfectly good house in Seaman, with a pretty nice finished basement. I think it might be available, along with another place that’s recently come vacant.”
“Which one is that?”
“The one that’s about 240000 miles away, but since the house comes with a few vehicles, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I’m not staying on this planet, at least not permanently. You take the house, and everything that’s in the hangar. I’ll take a transport and go home. I’ve been gone a long time, but since the threat to this planet is taken care of for now, I don’t have much need to hang around. You and Kendra can keep an eye on things. I’ve put orbital sensors that you can access from there to see if anything unwanted is coming, and from my planet I can keep tabs on any other overly aggressive people that might have designs on this place.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say you’ll take the house.”
“It is kind of far from town.”
“I have a feeling that won’t be much of a problem for you, and speaking of that, Walter’s dog is still hanging out upstairs, and I don’t know how long it’s been since he’s been fed.”
“I guess we can check on him before dinner. Mike lives close to there, right?”
“Not far away at all, but I mean what I said about your abilities. I’m pretty sure the cylinder he used did more than just heal you.”
Kendra stuck her head out of the car window a few feet away.
“Franklin, we need to get going if we want to pick up your dad.”
“Okay, I’m coming,” and to Christy, “We’ll see you at Mike’s in a couple hours then.”
“See you then, but you might need this,” she said, handing him a piece of paper.
“What’s that?”
“His address. See you there.”
Franklin got in the car and Kendra pulled out on the highway, heading north.
“So, thirty minutes to Lebanon, and then from there it’s what, an hour and a half to Mike’s house?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah, seems about right, if you’re driving.”
“How else would we get there?”
“You been feeling normal lately?”
“Yeah...maybe better than normal, now that you mention it.”
“Christy thinks that thing Walter used on me might have done more than just heal me.”
“Wait a minute...was that the one that the alien Mike gave him at his apartment when we were there?”
“I think so, why?”
“He told Walter that it would transfer powers.”
“Hmm...and the Mixon lady used it on you before she left, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, I forgot about that. I felt something tingly and didn’t think much of it at the time.”
“Only one way to find out. Take the next exit and try to find someplace out of the way.”
Kendra took the next exit and pulled into a gas station parking lot.
“Is this out of the way enough?”
“Not really, but maybe if I go behind the building...”
Franklin walked behind the gas station, leaped up, and shot into the sky, coming back down a minute later and walking back to the car. One look at the grin on his face told Kendra all she needed to know.
“What did you do? How far did you go?”
“I went about twenty miles just like that until I figured out how to slow down and aim myself. It’s way cool. Just jump up and...well...I can’t explain it. You just go.”
Kendra didn’t bother to go behind the building, but just leaped into the sky and disappeared from sight. Five minutes later she came back, her hair looking windblown and with the same wide grin on her face.
“Well, I guess it won’t take us so long to get to Lebanon now,” she said.
“We still need the car. Where’s Dad gonna ride?”
“You have a point. You can carry the car. Just set it down about a mile away so we can drive in. Don’t want to raise too much of a fuss.”
38
Christy rang the doorbell and an instant later was enveloped in a heartfelt bear hug by Cassandra McCormick.
“It’s so good to see you. We feared the worst,” Cassandra said.
“I had things to do.”
“That’s what Mike said, and that you’re...uh...not from around here.”
“You could say that. I’m a Versk.”
“What is a Versk?”
“We’re from a planet a little ways from here. I’ve been gone a long time and I’m excited to go back home.”
“What’s going to happen to your house, and all the things you have there?” Mike asked.
“Franklin’s going to have the house, and Kendra too, if they’re headed where I think they’re headed.”
“They’re young. They have plenty of time to sort that out.”
“Speaking of them, are they coming or not?” Cassandra asked. “I’ve set them a place at the table.”
“You’d better set one more place. They’re bringing a guest.”
“Nobody told me anything about that.”
“It’s Franklin’s father. He’s getting out of prison today.”
“I will most certainly set another place. When should they be here?”
“Probably not much longer, if they’ve figured everything out.”
“Dude, you gotta got a load of this,” a man said, poking his head in the door, “There’s a car coming from the sky.”
“Come again, John?” Mike said.
“Well, it’s up and landed now, right in your driveway.”
“That would be Franklin,” Christy said, “Right on time.”
Franklin, Kendra, and Henry Jones all walked in the house a minute later. Introductions went all around and then Cassandra showed them all to the tables outside and everyone sat down. She came out a minute later and addressed everyone.
“Food’s on the table in the kitchen. Mike can say grace and then you can just grab a plate and dig in, okay?”
Mike took off his hat, bowed his head, and said, “Lord, we come to you now with thanks, thanks for the victory we had over the forces that came against us, and thanks for all the peop
le who have gathered here today. We thank you for bringing everyone safely here, and we thank you for the food. May you bless this meal and our time together. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
The meal was quite successful as these things go. People were eating their fill and conversation was flowing freely around the table.
“Okay Franklin, we all saw how you arrived. You care to tell us how that happened?” Mike asked.
“The thing Walter used to heal me. Apparently it transferred his power to me as well.”
“And he knew what he was doing?”
“I think he did. He left me a note. He knew he might die, and he didn’t even hesitate.”
“Walter wasn’t the only hero that day,” Moses Williams said, “Franklin here took a bullet for my daughter.”
“It wasn’t really a bullet, more like—“
“Oh, what’s the difference? He would have shot her and you took it, whatever it was.”
“It all happened so fast I didn’t give it much thought, but Walter...he had time to think about it and he still did it.”
“Everyone was a hero that day,” Kendra said, “That’s why we’re all here.”
“Yeah, but it was Walter who inspired us all to do what we could do, or more than we thought we could do,” Franklin said.
“You got that right,” Kendra said, “He was a lot more than just an old guy with powers. He had a heart. He cared for people and he gave himself for them. Remember how happy he would be if he helped someone? Way happier than when he was catching crooks.”
“Yeah, he would come home and be grinning from ear to ear if he helped someone, but he could stop an armed robbery and it was no big deal. Man, I think we all owe a lot to him.”
“You got that right,” Shawna said, raising her glass, “to Walter.”
The others all raised their glasses, an assortment of beverages ranging from soft drinks to beer and everything in between, and said in loud unison, “To Walter.”
39
“We’re back in business,” the man exclaimed as he jumped in the passenger seat and threw the bag in the back, “now get us out of here.”
“I’m stepping on it. How much you got there?”
“Not sure exactly but I think it’s a pretty good haul.”
“We can count it when we get home. Man, this feels good. Walter out of the way and that blonde lady no longer trying to get a cut. This is like the good old days again. A couple more jobs like this and we’ll be set.”
“How you think Walter bought it? I thought the dude was invincible.”
“It was those aliens. It had to be.”
“If they took him out, how the hell did they get beat?”
“Don’t know. Lot of different stories. Some super jets from the Air Force, and some said some other aliens showed up and beat them. Anyway, Walter’s dead, the lady’s gone, and we’re back in business. I say we make the most of it.”
“I’m with you...Whoa, what’s going on?”
The other man uttered a stream of unprintable language as the car lifted off the ground and started flying toward downtown. A young black woman in a skin tight unitard and a mask on her face was flying next to the car and knocking on the window. The driver instinctively lowered the window, and the woman said, “You might want to think again. Walter is gone, but he left replacements.”
“Just who are you?” the man asked.
“Just a couple picking up where he left off and keeping our city safe from the likes of you.”
“Couple? I just see one of you.”
“Oh, my boyfriend’s carrying your car. Enjoy your flight. We’ll be landing soon, so I would recommend keeping your seatbelts fastened and placing your tray tables in the upright and locked position.”
“What was that you were saying about being back in business?” the driver asked.
“Oh, shut up.”
Also by Charles DeMaris
Did you enjoy reading Learning to Fly. If so, could you be so kind as to leave an honest review on Amazon. It would be most appreciated.
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You may also enjoy my other novels, available now on Amazon.
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Wolf Trap
An injury sidelines Casey Reddick’s NFL hopes. Now he’s playing a game with much higher stakes. Can he find a missing nuke before it's too late?
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An old enemy is back, this time with a plot that threatens to plunge the world into war. Casey Reddick returns in the exciting follow up to Wolf Trap.
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A devastating disease is ravaging remote villages in Kenya. Now cases are showing up in the U.S. Could this be more than a coincidence? Casey and his team have to unravel the mystery and stop a madman bent on unleashing something unspeakable on the world.
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About the Author
Charles was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and has lived there for the majority of his life, except for a six month stint in Colorado. He currently resides in Cincinnati with his wife and a couple extremely spoiled cats.
Copyright © 2020 by Charles DeMaris
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