by Bill Bernico
Alvin nodded but still said nothing.
“The talkative type, huh?” Elliott said, tossing his head toward Alvin. He looked at Alvin. “Let’s go.” He led Alvin to the passenger side door and opened it. Alvin slid in silently and closed his own door. Elliott turned back to Eric once more. “See you Monday.” He drove out of the garage with Alvin sitting next to him and Matt in the back seat.
Elliott caught the freeway heading east before turning north near Arcadia. The cabin he’d rented was nestled deep in the woods and at a high elevation. He still had thirty miles to go and Alvin had still not spoken a single word. Elliott kept his eyes on the road but spoke to Elliott out of the corner of his mouth. “Well, Matt, you ready to do some serious fishing this weekend?”
“You bet, Dad,” Matt said. “But we didn’t pack our poles or tackle.”
“There’s still some spare equipment in the cabin,” Elliott said to Matt before turning to Alvin. “What about you, Alvin, do you fish?”
Alvin finally found something worth commenting on. “Fishing’s for chumps,” he said, still staring out the passenger side window.
“Well, these two chumps are going fishing,” Elliott said. “And you’re coming with us, like it or not.”
“Not,” Alvin said.
“What’s not to like about fishing?” Matt said, grabbing the back of the front seat and leaning forward.
Alvin sighed. “I don’t like to get my hands all slimy on fish,” he explained. “And I ain’t about to touch any worms, either.”
“It’s not that kind of fishing,” Matt said. “We use metal lures and wooden minnows. And hell, if your hands start to feel a little slimy, you just wiggle them around in the water and they’re good as new again.”
“You two chumps can go fishing,” Alvin said. “I’m staying in the cabin.”
“I’m afraid not,” Elliott said. “We can’t let you out of our sight this whole weekend. You have to make it to court Monday morning in one piece. So, you can sit in the boat and just act like a shithead, or you can join us and maybe have a little fun. Either way, you’re coming with us, so you might as well make the best of it.”
Alvin didn’t respond, preferring to keep staring out the window at the passing trees. Another half hour passed before Elliott piloted the car up a dirt road further into the woods. A few minutes after that he pulled to a stop in front of a log cabin that sported a full-length porch on the front of the structure.
“Well, we made it,” Elliott announced. “Last stop, everybody out.”
Matt hurried out of the back seat and up onto the porch, plopping down in the rustic rocker that had been made from various sized branches. He rocked back and forth several times before his cell phone rang. As he fished it out of his pocket and began to flip it open, Elliott hurried up onto the porch and took it from Matt’s hands. He pried the back off the cell phone and removed the SIM card, handing the phone back to Matt.
Matt looked puzzled. “What’d you do that for?”
Elliott did the same to his own cell phone, dropping his SIM card in his opposite pants pocket, along with Matt’s. “Can’t take any chances that someone could find us up here by tracking our phones,” he told Matt. Elliott turned to Alvin, his hand outstretched. “And I’ll take yours as well.”
Alvin shrugged. “I don’t have a cell phone. Never liked the whole idea of people pestering me when I’m out and about. I don’t like getting calls at home, so I sure as hell ain’t gonna put up with nuisance calls when I’m not home.”
“You’ll excuse me if I seem skeptical,” Elliott said, patting Alvin’s pockets and finding nothing. “Sorry.”
Alvin glared at Elliott and moved away from him toward the cabin. He stepped up onto the porch and grabbed the door knob, twisting as he pushed the door open. He closed the door behind him, leaving Elliott and Matt to handle unloading the luggage from the trunk.
Matt looked at Elliott and shrugged. “I guess he’s not the sociable type.”
“You think?” Elliott said and pulled the bags from the trunk. He and Matt carried the bags into the cabin and took a quick look around. He had arranged with the cabin’s owner to stock the cupboards with enough food for the weekend for three people. The small refrigerator had been stocked with a gallon of chocolate milk, a gallon of white milk, a twelve-pack of Alvin’s favorite beer and a two liter bottle of soda. There was also a package of ground beef, a small bottle of ketchup, a yellow plastic container of mustard and two sticks of butter.
Matt found a package of hamburger buns in the cupboard. “Are we cooking out this afternoon, Dad?” he said.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Elliott said and then turned to Alvin. “How about you, Alvin? Hamburgers sound all right to you?”
Alvin didn’t answer but just sat on one of the chairs, staring off into space. Elliott repeated his question but Alvin didn’t seem to hear. Elliott walked over to where Alvin sat and waved a hand in front of Alvin’s eyes. Alvin didn’t even blink. Then for no reason Elliott could see, Alvin blinked once and looked up at Elliott, who was apparently close enough to Alvin to make him uncomfortable.
“You all right?” Elliott said.
Alvin looked annoyed. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m fine. Leave me alone.”
Elliott and Matt exchanged a quick glance, each of their faces expressing bemusement at the last thirty seconds’ events. Matt shrugged and turned to look out the kitchen window. He turned back to Elliott. “I can see the lake from here,” Matt said. “You want to go down and take a closer look?”
“You go ahead,” Elliott said. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.”
Matt left the cabin and followed a well-worn path down to the shores of the small lake. Elliott sat next to Alvin and sighed. “Is it serious?” Elliott said.
Alvin shot him a quick glance and then looked away, trying to ignore the question.
“My wife has an uncle with a similar condition,” Elliott said. “You show pretty much the same symptoms and I just thought…”
“Forget it,” Alvin said. “Just forget it.”
“Look, Alvin,” Elliott said. “I’ve seen this before and I know what to expect, but Matt doesn’t have a clue and I wouldn’t want him to feel uneasy or helpless when you have your next seizure. I think I should at least tell him about it and that it will usually pass on its own. And as for me, well, I just want you to know that neither of us will do anything to make you uncomfortable about your condition. In fact, now that I know I can be there the next time it happens and hopefully keep you from hurting yourself if you should fall.”
Alvin seemed to soften somewhat and let out a deep breath before turning to Elliott. “All right,” Alvin said. “You might as well tell your son. I just didn’t want to be a burden to anyone this weekend.”
“How long have you had your epilepsy?” Elliott asked.
“Eighteen months,” Alvin said.
“You mean it just came on all of a sudden?” Elliott asked.
Alvin grabbed Elliott’s hand and gently placed it on the back of his skull. “Feel that?” Alvin said.
Elliott ran his fingers over the depression in Alvin’s skull and pulled his hand back quickly. “What happened to you?”
Alvin smoothed his hair back over the area and said, “It was a year ago last January. I was hit in the head with a length of pipe and left for dead. Only I didn’t die, obviously. I was in the hospital for six weeks and three weeks after I was released, I had my first seizure. Luckily I was alone at home and no one saw it happen. No one still knows that I have them and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Didn’t you go back to the doctor and tell him about it?” Elliott said.
Alvin nodded slowly. “Yeah, they ran a few tests and told me that it wasn’t uncommon for seizures to occur after head trauma like I had. That didn’t exactly make me feel any better about it, but at least I knew why I was acting the way I was.”
“Does it always manifest itself as a staring tra
nce, like you just had?” Elliott said.
Alvin shook his head. “Sometimes it comes on as mild convulsions and by the time I come out of it, the tip of my tongue is usually bleeding from where I bit it.”
“Sounds serious,” Elliott said. “Is there something either Matt of I should do for you if it happens again?”
“It usually just has to run its course,” Alvin explained. “It’ll pass in a minute or so and it’s best just to let me lie there when it happens. Maybe if you could just slip something between my teeth to keep me from biting my tongue, I would appreciate that.”
“You got it,” Elliott said. “What should I put between your teeth?”
Alvin reached into his pocket and withdrew and three-inch length of wooden dowel and held it up. “When I feel it coming on, I bite down on this. But if it comes on too fast, I may not have time to get it out of my pocket. So just reach into my pocket and slip it between my teeth, if you would. Careful I don’t bite you, though.”
Elliott nodded. “We can do that, Alvin. Now, do you suppose we could get a little more upbeat attitude out of you for the next two days?”
Alvin nodded. “Fair enough. I still don’t like to fish, though.”
Elliott smiled. “But you don’t mind joining me and Matt while we fish, do you?”
“As long as I don’t have to touch anything,” Alvin said.
“Come on,” Elliott said. “What do you say we go and join Matt at the lake?” Elliott extended his hand and pulled Alvin up from the chair and walked with him out of the cabin and down the path to the lake. Matt was sitting on the twenty-foot wooden dock where a rowboat was moored. He stood up when he saw Elliott and Alvin approaching.
“How’s it look?” Elliott said, gesturing out into the lake.
“I’ll bet there some big trout in there,” Matt said. “Can we go fishing after lunch?”
Elliott looked at Alvin, who nodded. “Sure,” Elliott said. “How about if we all go for a short trip in the boat and see how seaworthy she is?”
Matt didn’t answer, but just untied the mooring line and pulled the boat closer to the dock. “Climb in and have a seat. I’ll row.”
Elliott and Alvin stepped into the boat and found their seat in the back. Matt stepped one foot into the boat and pushed away from the dock with his other foot before sitting in the middle seat and grabbing the pair of oars that were attached by a pair of cleats. He steered the boat out toward the middle of the lake and pulled at the oars. The boat glided silently away from the shore.
When they were a hundred yards from shore, Matt stopped rowing and pulled the oars into the boat. He paused and cocked his head to one side. “Listen,” he said.
“I don’t hear anything,” Elliott said after a few seconds of silence.
“Exactly,” Matt explained. “Isn’t the quiet just so peaceful?”
Alvin exchanged glances with Elliott and nodded. “Yes it is,” Elliott said. “And I hate to be the one to break the peaceful quite, but I think we should talk for a few minutes.”
“About what?” Matt said.
Elliott explained Alvin’s condition, ending with Alvin’s instructions regarding the dowel between his teeth during a seizure.
Matt listened in awe and wonder and waited until I’d stopped talking before looking at Alvin and asking, “Who hit you with the pipe?”
At that instant it dawned on me that I’d forgotten to ask Alvin that same question. Alvin said, “It was a guy named Otto Stein.”
“Stein?” I said. “Isn’t he out on bail awaiting trial?” The words no sooner left my lips than it hit me. “He’s the one whose trial you’re testifying at on Monday, isn’t he?”
Alvin nodded. “One and the same. I guess he was surprised to find that I was still alive. They may not be able to get him for murder, but attempted murder will be enough to put him behind bars for a very long time and he’d like nothing better than to eliminate the only witness who could put him there.”
“And he’s the one we’re protecting you from, isn’t he?” Matt added.
Alvin looked at me and I quickly turned to Matt. “We’re not so much protecting Alvin as we are keeping him out of harm’s way. I’m sure Alvin could take care of himself. We’re just making sure he makes it to court Monday morning.” Alvin’s face softened.
Now Matt was the one staring off into space when the severity of his job hit him. He turned to Elliott. “You don’t think this Stein fellow knows we’re up here, do you Dad?”
“I don’t see how,” Elliott said. “And that’s why I took the SIM cards out of our cell phones. Most of these newer cell phones are equipped with a GPS tracker and I wasn’t about to take any chances with them. If an emergency comes up and we need to call out, we can always put the SIM card back in, make the call and yank it out again before anyone has a chance to triangulate our location.”
“Sounds a little paranoid to me,” Matt said.
“Better to play this on the safe side,” Elliott said. “So, what do you say we head back to the cabin and fix those burgers for lunch?”
“You got it,” Matt said, grabbing the oars and turning the boat around toward the shore. A few minutes later Matt piloted the rowboat back to the dock. Elliott secured the mooring line to the dock and the three of them stepped out and walked back up the path to the cabin.
Next to the cabin stood a small shed that held gardening tools, a hatchet, a small wheelbarrow and a charcoal grill. A bag of charcoal briquettes stood next to the grill, along with a can of starter fluid. Elliott and Alvin walked into the cabin while Matt pulled the grill out of the shed and set it up next to the front porch. He lit the briquettes and n a few minutes had a nice bed of coals glowing in the grill. He stepped back up onto the porch and into the cabin.
Elliott had made patties from the package of hamburger and had them ready for the grill. Alvin sat on the living room chair again, a beer in hand. Elliott handed the platter of hamburger patties and a spatula to Matt. “Go on, show us what you can do.”
Matt returned to the grill and began cooking the meat. Elliott took a seat next to Alvin and turned to him. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Elliott said.
“Go ahead,” Alvin said, sipping from his beer can.
“Is Alvin your real name?”
Alvin smiled slyly and said, “Hell no.” He said nothing else but just went back to sipping his beer.
“That’s it?” Elliott said. “You don’t want to tell me your real name?”
“Alvin will do for now.”
“All right,” Elliott said. “I’m sure you have your reasons.”
“I do.”
Matt came back in a few minutes later carrying a platter of cooked hamburgers. “Come and get it before I throw it to the hogs.”
“What hogs?” Elliott said.
Matt rolled his eyes and set the platter down, reaching for a bun and dropping a hamburger patty into it. He stepped aside and let Elliott and Alvin do the same. The three men sat around the table enjoying their burgers. When they’d finished, the three of them sat in what could be considered the living room, even though the cabin had only the one main room and a bathroom. Elliott leaned back on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table.
Elliott turned to Alvin. “Do you know what you’re going to tell the court come Monday morning?”
Alvin looked down at the floor and then back up at Elliott. “I can only tell them what I know for sure and I know that Stein was the one who hit me with the pipe. I saw him just a few seconds before that standing behind me with the pipe in his hand. There’s no way he can squirm out of this one.”
“You know,” Elliott said, “Stein has the kind of muscle to go after a person even if he’s in prison. Doesn’t that bother you that he could try to exact his revenge from behind bars?”
“It would bother me more if he got away with it altogether,” Alvin said. “No, I’ve got to do this for myself as much as for anyone else he might hurt or kill.”
; “Why did he hit you in the first place?” Matt said. “What did you ever do to him?”
“That’s the stupid part,” Alvin said. “He cut me off in traffic and his car scraped mine. We both pulled over and he starts cussing me out, like it was my fault. I ignored him and started to dial the police and let them settle it. I’m standing next to my car with my phone in my hand and I haven’t even had time to dial the whole number when I glanced down at my outside rear-view mirror and see Stein coming up behind me with the pipe. Next thing I know I wake up in the hospital with my skull caved in.”
“Were there any witnesses?” Matt asked.
“I don’t think so,” Alvin said. “It was a little after three in the morning and the streets were pretty deserted. I should never have pulled over like that. I should have kept going until I got to a better lighted part of town or maybe a gas station.”
“You can’t blame yourself,” Elliott said. “You did everything you were supposed to. Why do you suppose Stein acted that way?”
“I heard later from someone else that Stein had drugs and weapons in his car and all he didn’t need at that point was a pair of patrol cops snooping around.” Alvin hung his head and shook it.
We were all silent after that. Matt broke the silence and said, “You guys feeling lucky?” He pulled a deck of cards from a drawer and shuffled them.
“I’m in,” Elliott said and turned to Alvin. “What about you, Alvin? You in?”
“Why not,” Alvin said and rose from his seat.
The three of them sat around the table in the kitchen area while Matt shuffled some more and then dealt out three hands. Elliott set three drinks around the table and sat across from Alvin. They played several variations of poker and the afternoon slipped away before they knew it. It was beginning to get dark outside and after Alvin pulled the last pot toward him Elliott stood and said, “That’s it for me. I’m all in.” He looked at his son. “What about you, Matt. You ahead or behind?”
“Alvin wiped me out, too, Dad.” Matt said. “There’s three bucks I’ll never see again.”
