by Paul A. Rice
Changing Red
They purchased a brand new motorhome, or RV, as the salesman had called it. ‘It’s the only one of its kind this far south,’ he’d said, when they were looking to buy. ‘It’s brand-new and full of all the latest gadgets too, just look at that cooker, ma’am!’ He was very persuasive and it hadn’t taken them long to arrange payment. Two days later they had found a place to park and drove their new home into the peaceful surroundings of a hidden valley.
Ken and Mike were each sipping on a cool beer whilst Jane flicked through the pages of a magazine. They’d been here for three weeks now and had met Red twice during that time. Yesterday had been the big fishing trip, the day when they had tried to go and see what he was like. See who the real Red was.
‘So, what do you think? He seems like a decent kid, I guess,’ Ken said, as he reached for his beer.
Mike agreed. ‘Yeah, I like the guy, you know… he seems lonely and a bit behind the real world perhaps, but he’s smart, definitely smart,’ he said.
Ken grunted in acknowledgment of Mike’s opinion.
Jane looked up from her magazine, saying: ‘I think we may have found the answer here, in fact, I know we’ve found the answer! He needs us, and I guess that we need him. I vote we go and spend as much time with him as is possible. I mean, look at the state of that place!’ She looked at Ken with raised eyebrows.
He knew what she wanted, and it did make sense. ‘Yeah, we could do the place up a bit, help out and make it better for him,’ he murmured. ‘The guy doesn’t even have a shower; I saw one of those tin baths out the back, can you believe that? He has virtually no possessions and yet he seems so happy! How the hell does he end up like he does in the dream?’ The others simply shrugged their shoulders – there was no logical answer to that particular question.
***
The trio’s own transfer had been almost faultless. Upon arrival in Red’s parallel, the Spears had morphed once again. Only this time, instead of turning into a red van, they had become brown pickup trucks. There were no weird weapons on board, and no pills or suchlike, either. The only thing that worked in the trucks was their strange, water-powered engines. All the other gadgets had ceased their magical functions. All they had were the Spears, Mike’s Communicator, and a single piece of paper.
Jane had found it lying in the glove compartment. It was neatly folded, and when she opened it, they had seen the words ‘Look and you will see…’ written on one side. The neat handwriting made Jane blink. It looked like her father’s writing and she stared at it again, mesmerised. ‘It is similar, but perhaps I’m still suffering from the effects of Shrink Down…’ she thought, mind awhirl.
The bags containing their belongings were present and correct, as were Jane’s painting things, and Ken’s guns. They had spent the first night in a motel and then the next morning had gone shopping for a suitable vehicle in a town that lay about fifty miles away. The trio didn’t want to be too conspicuous in the local town and splashing out on a motorhome may have brought them unwanted attention.
They gradually became familiar with some of the locals and did a bit of shopping here, or stopped in a diner there, perhaps. All small stuff, designed to help them find their feet and become part of the scenery. It’s never easy when you’re new around town, new and foreign makes it even more difficult. So they took their time and began to meld into the everyday way of life in the sleepy little town. After a while, it seemed as though people simply began to accept them; just by being there the trio began to put down some roots.
Jane had hit it off right away with Mrs Jones from the local store. They’d made small talk when Jane had first popped in to purchase a few items, now that her trips became more frequent, Mrs Jones, Maggie, had opened up a bit. The old lady was also surprised to hear that the trio knew Red, especially when Jane explained about the ‘impromptu’ lift which they had given the boy a while back.
Maggie had smiled and said, ‘Why, that’s mighty kind of you, very kind, indeed! The one thing that child needs in his life is some kindness, yes, all he needs is some love in this world.’ She then proceeded to tell Jane all about Red: right from his birth, and the tragic death of his mother, all the way through to the present day and how badly the boy’s father treated him. In fact, there wasn’t a lot that Maggie didn’t know about Red.
She grimaced when she talked of his father. ‘He never used to be that way – no. It was just the death of his wife, is all.’ The old woman had looked sadly at Jane as she elaborated. ‘It burned his soul and he lost his way somehow, he is not the man he used to be, not by a long way. Sometimes I wonder if a body isn’t better off dead when they get to being so bitter and twisted.’ Then she apologised for her bad thoughts and, almost as a penance, proceeded to make them a coffee.
She was a strange old bird, was Maggie – but Jane warmed to her. She made a habit of seeing the old woman on a regular basis, and it wasn’t long before they became quite close friends. After all, Maggie was the best form of local information they could’ve asked for in this strange world.
The one thing that they all found weird was the time and date relativity. They knew they were in a time that was supposed to be 1997, as that’s what George’s notes had said, but it didn’t seem like it, it felt like the sixties, somehow. Or maybe even an earlier time. Things were just too laid back, too primitive. ‘Too rustic’ was how Jane once described it when they discussed the situation.
The TV and radio never helped, either. It was all local stuff being broadcast and never once did they find any channels about the outside world. It was funny, simply because that after a few days the urge to watch or listen to anything seemed to fade altogether. When Jane had once mentioned the internet to Maggie, the old woman had simply given her a blank look, which gave Jane the feeling that Maggie had never even heard of it.
Mike’s machine never helped them much at all; the only thing that worked was the information file George had sent them on Red, just that and the Navigator in the truck. They had used the Navigator to plan their routes and find local towns and shops, but that it was it. No messages from George and no replies to the one Mike had sent to the old man. Other than that, the machine was of no use and they soon stopped using it. They remembered the things George had said, and also of how Mike himself had talked about parallels, how things may be just slightly off-kilter from what they had previously considered to be normal. Ken had his own opinion on all such things.
‘Normal is it, huh?’ he grunted. Yeah… right! Well, I guess that like a lot of other things around here, it comes with the territory – it’s just the way it is.’ At the time he’d looked at them with humour sparkling in his eyes, but they’d seen the underlying seriousness in his face. ‘There’s no such thing as bloody normal around here, none at all!’ he’d said, sarcastically.
However, in the present moment, Ken wasn’t being so philosophical. With a wide grin creasing his face, he rose to fetch another couple of beers. Once he’d sat back down with their fresh drinks, the trio toasted each other and then decided upon their plan, a plan to help Red.
***
A couple of days later they took a two-vehicle convoy and headed towards the old farm. Ken drove the RV with Jane relaxing alongside in the passenger seat. Looking in his mirror, Ken saw Mike messing about in the truck behind, the Australian was lazily steering from one side of the road to the other – Ken watched him in the wing mirrors, Mike appearing first in one and then the other, before accelerating past them with the horn blaring.
‘He loves this stuff, doesn’t he?’ Ken said, looking at Jane with a smile.
Jane laughed, saying: ‘Yeah, he’s a bloody big kid, isn’t he? I think he’s quite taken by Red, did you see the look in his eye when we were fishing? Red was looking at him as though he was his big brother or something…’
Ken nodded and looked into the distance as Mike disappeared over the far horizon of the straight road. It wasn’t too long before they’d arrived at the turning
for the farm; they turned off the main road, rumbled across the cattle grid, and headed down the bumpy dirt track towards the house.
It was to be the beginning of something good, something positive.
As they pulled onto the dusty driveway, Red pounded around the corner of the farmhouse, he had been up in the barn, where the owl, the one he’d previously thought to be ill, had produced three large offspring. It was too good an opportunity to miss and Red had been sketching the birds since dawn. Hearing the vehicles arriving, he’d leapt down from the hayloft, and whilst still clutching a white envelope in his hand, raced barefoot towards the slowing vehicles. The fire in his eyes blazed, but not in the old way, not like it had before in some other place. This time it was the spark of pure joy that leapt from them. He waved madly and shouted up at their open side windows.
‘Oh my Lord, you’re all here again, oh yes, look at your fancy house on wheels, oh man!’ Red ran around them like a giant, two-legged puppy.
Actually, Jane did have the feeling that perhaps he was about to pee himself, Red was ecstatic. They came to a halt and he ran across to the truck where Mike was about to open the door. The young man squeezed his wide shoulders through the open window and gave the Australian a large, clumsy hug. Ken and Jane saw Mike’s hand pat Red on the back, barely able to get his arm from underneath the mountain of flesh that was smothering him.
‘Okay buddy, let me outta here, will you? You’re bloody suffocating me!’ His muffled tones caused Red to wriggle himself back out of the window.
‘Jeez, I’m sorry, Mike – I’m just so happy, real happy to see you, is all, yessir!’ the boy said, excitedly. He slapped his thighs and ran across to the RV.
It took quite a few minutes to calm him down enough for them to make any sense of what he was saying. Red was blurting random sentences all over the place. He talked about the refrigerator, and of ice cubes, cold ham, hot bacon and spicy mustard, fishing, reading and sketching – racing through his life’s activities whilst barely stopping for a breath in between his words. He was so excited.
His new guests merely stood and smiled at him in amazed silence. Then, and as if the thought had only just popped into his head, he turned and ran into the RV. Turning to shout her over, Red made Jane show him all the wonderful things that lay within the vehicle’s long, white flanks. Ken and Mike stood and watched as the boy’s weight made the vehicle rock from side to side. They heard the endless questions he fired at Jane and saw his shadow moving through the vehicle as he explored every corner of their new home.
Eventually, curiosity satisfied, he stood in the door and looked down at them. With that large, round face framed by the shiny aluminium door-surround, Red looked a picture indeed.
Jane gave him a friendly push. ‘Right, come on then, Red,’ she teased. ‘Let’s go and have a hot drink – I’ll introduce you to the wonders of English tea, shall I?’
Red uttered a gleeful yelp: ‘Yes ma’am!’ With a single bound, he leapt from the vehicle like an excited puppy, landing with those oversized bare feet raising a puff of dust as they hit the dry earth with a comical slapping sound.
After having the aforementioned drink, they hung around with Red for a while and chatted about things in general. Jane had noticed the crumpled piece of paper in his pocket and asked Red what it was. He blushed deeply and tried to avert the conversation. That one wouldn’t work with Jane. ‘Oh come on now, Red,’ she cajoled. ‘Let me have a look, go on, please, pretty-please…’
The boy went an even deeper shade of red, before reluctantly passing her the drawing. Jane reached over and looked at the sketch he had done on the back of an old envelope. Seeing a perfect representation of the owl chicks upon such an unflattering canvas was almost surreal. Jane sat and looked it for a while and then held it up a bit so that she would be able to get a better view. After a moment spent studying the drawing, she looked up at him.
‘Red, this is absolutely fantastic! Did you do it, honey?’ she asked.
Red beamed with delight and said that he did. ‘I have a whole heap more, ma’am – a whole heap! They’re all hidden away tho’ as my Pappy…well, he doesn’t like it when I draw.’ He rose to his feet. ‘Come on and see – I got hundreds o’ them. I got a whole lot!’ Scraping her chair back, Jane stood, looked at the men with a disbelieving shake of her head, and followed Red into the front room.
Ken and Mike finished their drinks and went out to the vehicles to organise the parking. Mike said that he quite fancied sleeping in the farmhouse. ‘It’ll stop us getting in each other’s way in the van, plus I reckon it will be good for the big guy, to give him a bit of company,’ he suggested.
Ken agreed. They reversed the RV into the barn, where it fitted perfectly. Ken extended the slide-outs, which increased the living space, whilst Mike sat in the cab and used the controls to automatically level the beast, sending hydraulic legs sliding downwards. He said that he would sort out a power lead later, but in the meantime they should keep using the on-board generator.
It wasn’t long before they had everything to their liking. The brown truck was parked next to the RV, and although they still had the second Spear hidden in Mike’s case, the men decided that it would be best if the tiny thing was stowed it out of the way, only to be used if the need arose. In the end, they slid it into one the cupboards that lay either side the double bed in the rear of the motorhome.
Ken also sorted out his guns, once he had stowed his other weapons away, he reached over and offered his friend one of his Beretta pistols. ‘Just in case the need arises, mate – who knows where we are and what’s going to happen?’ he said.
Mike looked at the pistol, saying: ‘Nah, I don’t need it. To be honest, Kenny, I’ve seen just about enough of those things to last me a lifetime.’ Ken nodded and slipped the pistol into the driver’s door of the brown truck.
Red and Jane were soon joined by Mike, the three of them managed to engross themselves in the pictures that lay spread across the sitting room floor. Both Mike and Jane were amazed by the young man’s obvious talent; Jane said she would like to do some work with him. ‘Maybe you could teach me a few things, Red?’ she asked. He grinned and without any self-consciousness, said that it would be his pleasure.
Mike addressed his accommodation idea with Red; once again the young man was more than eager. ‘You can use the room my Gran’pappy used to have’ he said. ‘He’s been dead a long time now, so’s I don’t guess he’ll mind none.’
Mike nearly said, ‘Just as long as he ain’t still in there …’ but when he saw the sad expression upon Red’s face, he managed to halt the sarcasm. Instead, he went with a more careful: ‘Yeah, okay, let’s have a look shall we? If it’s suitable then I’ll get my stuff.’ He followed Red into the old room, and was back out in two minutes. ‘It’s fine for me, probably just needs airing for a bit, but otherwise it’s all good,’ he said. ‘C’mon and give me a hand with my gear, will you, big guy?’
Jane watched as he walked outside with Red in tow. The boy was so excited by Mike’s planned occupation of the house that he had completely forgotten the pictures. She stooped and spent a few more minutes looking at them. Eventually she had gathered them all up and placed the pile of paper neatly onto the old table which lay under the window. Looking out into the orchard, she smiled to herself again, and then turned to go and find the men.
Over the next few days the trio helped Red get his place into some sort of order. The young man was very neat and tidy, but years of neglect had allowed the house to become somewhat rundown. It also was sadly lacking in the magical effects of a woman’s touch. Ken made several trips into town, coming and going as Jane decided that she needed one thing here or, perhaps, another thing over there. Between them they also gave the interior a good lick of paint, too. Spending some time, and a little money, Jane replaced all the old bed linen and went around to every window, measuring and taking notes – it wasn’t long before she had hung them all with new curtains. Her touch transformed
the old place.
Ken also helped; he was a dab hand at carpentry and spent a lot of time fixing up all the loose shelves and cupboards that had fallen into disrepair. The house was of a solid construction and all it needed was a bit of attention. They willingly obliged, and soon the old place was looking pretty damned fine, well, at least that’s what Red kept saying.
He would stand there looking up at the ceiling, which Mike had just hung with a new light, or perhaps at the gleaming white surfaces of the kitchen cupboards that Ken had finished painting. ‘My-oh-my, I never did see such a purtty sight,’ he would comment. ‘I just never knew that folk could make such a difference! Gee…it looks pretty damned-fine in this old house now, doesn’t it, huh?’ He would smile hugely and then set off to find Jane, who would be doing something in another room. The men heard him shouting her name as he loped from room to room in search of her. ‘Hey, Jane, come and look, ma’am! Gee, you should see what the boys have done, it looks pretty damned fine!’
He had made a big effort with his speech in recent days and it was only when he became excited that some of the really twangy pronunciations returned. Red was becoming his own man as they, in turn, managed to show him that there was actually some goodness in this world.
It wasn’t long before the old farm had been transformed; the interior was now light and airy, fresh paint and new curtains making it a much brighter place to be. They had cleaned all the rooms and replaced the bedding, fixed up the kitchen, even installing a new cooker and a washing machine whilst they were there. Red was delighted when Jane showed him how they worked.
The final interior job they completed was to install a new bathroom. It took three days of solid work for them to fit an enormous shower into the corner of the biggest bedroom. Mike plumbed in all the wiring and pipes and left Ken to get on with putting it all together; between them they provided the young man with something he had never had before – hot running water and a place in which to clean himself in privacy. He spent many a long minute in that shower, humming and laughing as the steam rose all around. His reactions to the provision of such basics were to be all the motivation the trio needed. Their giving was rewarded tenfold by Red’s obvious delight.
