“You didn't get any more information other than that?” asked Jebediah.
“He said he didn't have any more information. He said that only I would be able to find it. Only someone who had touched the water before could find it.”
“You've touched the fountain before?” asked Gideon.
“No,” replied Cassidy. “I don't know what he meant. He said that he and I partook of something because we had both touched the water. I assume that we will find out.”
The sound of water sloshing and an engine chugging presaged the arrival of a husky man, dressed in tattered, fine, Southern clothing, steering his way toward the dock in a small steamboat. “St Claire?” he asked from the raised command deck, his Cajun accent as thick as sauce.
“Yep,” she replied.
“The name's Homer, but everyone calls me The Colonel. I'm here to take you across the river and into the Bayou. You ready?”
“Absolutely,” Cassidy said, tossing her bags and supplies into the boat.
“And who are you two?” asked Homer.
“I'm Jebediah Ames.”
“And I'm Gideon Atwater, at your service,” he said, stepping onto the boat.
“Welcome aboard my fine vessel,” said Homer. “Where are we headed?”
“South,” said Cassidy. “Just south.”
---
The Shadowy Man stood, silhouetted in front of the large, glowing tank. Machine men floated in front of him, connected to tubes and wires. Mister Martin walked into the lab, his fine shoes tapping on the hardwood floor.
“Sir?” Mister Martin began. The Shadowy Man turned. “It's... St. Claire sir. She's still alive. She's in New Orleans.” The Shadowy Man was silent. “We're still trying to piece together how our information was so wrong, but it's definitely her. We don't know if she has the book, and if she does whether she understands the value of it, but seeing as she is still in New Orleans, we assume that the answer to one or both of those questions is no.”
The Shadowy Man chuckled. “My god,” he whispered quietly to himself. “That magnificent woman.”
“Sir, I strongly recommend that we advance our schedule.”
The Shadowy Man laughed and slapped the glass.
“Sir, please. Our African operations are nearly complete. By the time we arrive, things will be done. There is no reason to stay. All we do is risk trouble.”
The Shadowy Man breathed deeply and waved Mister Martin away while nodding.
“Thank you, sir. We will move out our weapons operations first. We will move our blue labs out last. I want to make sure they are given the time necessary to complete any experiments.” Mister Martin sighed. “I wish you would tell me what you find so entertaining about this St. Claire person.” The Shadowy Man just gazed back at Mister Martin. “Alright,” Mister Martin said. “I hope that it is not too late.” With that, Mister Martin walked out, his shoes tapping down the hallway.
5
Cassidy lounged on her back on the floor of the long riverboat, staring up at the stars. The glazine surface of the water reflected the night sky like a giant mirror, rippling and distorting as the boat floated by. Fireflies flickered in the dark by the millions as a symphony of crickets serenaded the Bayou.
“Have you ever considered getting married, Cassidy?” asked Gideon.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?”
Gideon was a bit surprised. “What? Why?”
“Haven't you ever looked into the legal elements of being married? Wait, no. I'm not surprised that you haven't. Regardless, here's a refresher course. It is awful. Do you know how many legal rights I have as a wife?” Gideon looked on in wide-eyed confusion for a moment before shaking his head. “None!” Cassidy yelled. “None! I have zero rights! If I get married, I lose everything. Everything that I have built becomes his. I would have nothing! Even if I kept my property, every dime that I earned would be legally his. My name would change to his name. I would have nothing. Think about that. What good is being served by my being enslaved? I will not submit. I will not submit.”
“Well, that's not entirely true. Legislation has been passed,” added Jebediah.
“Yes. Legislation that does nothing. Legislation with no teeth. If courts will not support it, it doesn't exist, and guess what courts have a tendency not to support. Oh yes, me.”
“I think you're being overly dramatic,” said Jebediah, gazing out over the water.
Cassidy breathed deeply. “Perhaps... Perhaps,” she said. “I do have a good deal of money and reputation. That would provide me with some protection. But during the process to decouple myself from a man, he could do an immense amount of legally sanctioned damage to all that I've built. He could do it for no other reason than he is my husband. There is no way in hell that I would even entertain the possibility of that happening.”
“I can't much argue with that,” said Jebediah. “But do you think the institution of marriage itself is problematic?” he asked, turning to Cassidy.
“I think it more than problematic. It is corrupt. Any institution that is as imbalanced as that could only be described as corrupt.”
Jebediah nodded and looked back out over the water, looking on at how the starry sky merged with its reflection on the horizon.
“Do you want to get married,” asked Gideon.
“As in, if things were better, would I choose to?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Cassidy paused in thought.
“And by better, I mean more than just the laws,” Gideon added. “You rage about the law, but I think you've proven yourself more than rich and powerful enough to get around almost any law. I feel as though there is something else.”
Cassidy nodded. “Yes... yes I would. I mean get married. You know... I... I'm not immune to the dreams that all girls have. I want my prince just as any girl does. But all the world's princes require a girl to be stupid and quiet. I like to think myself not stupid and I'm sure as hell not quiet,” she said as she stretched her arms. Jebediah smirked. “I want the dream. I do. But It's not meant for me. I don't want it... it doesn't want me.” Cassidy sat up, supporting herself on her hands. “It's never wanted me, really... Damn it for that. And if it doesn't want me, then fuck the dream. Let it have its barbarous, backwards ways. I...” Cassidy said, gesturing strongly with her pointer finger, “I look to the future! I make the future! If the princes don't want that, then fuck them. I don't goddamn need them.”
“It's not a matter of needing them,” said Jebediah. “It's wanting them. It's achieving it and being part of something greater than yourself. That's what the institution of marriage is: something greater than yourself. Two people, greater than the sum of their parts.”
“Jebediah, I don't want to rip apart something that you hold dear, but that is a wonderfully idealized view of things. That almost never happens in the real world. In the real world, people hate each other an awful lot.”
Jebediah thought for a moment. “Perhaps it is idealistic, but I'd like to live for, in, an ideal. Keep trying until you find it.”
“That's a heartwarming prospect, and I mean that. But for many of us, we will never find it. The more exceptional you are, the more you step outside of society's ways, the less likely you are to find that. And I think that once someone gets far enough away, they don't need... It stops being an ideal. Two people do not become something greater.”
“Oh that I completely disagree with,” replied Jebediah strongly. “Two people are always greater. Don't call it marriage if you like. Two people working alone can never achieve what two people working together can achieve.”
“Join a construction company, then. Lay some brick,” Cassidy said, laying back down.
“Brick layers are a professional relationship. They are not people with whom one can be intimate — with whom one can be vulnerable.”
“You going soft on me, Jebediah?” asked Cassidy.
“No. This isn't being soft. It is understanding that relationships, just as wit
h life, are a balance of defense and vulnerability. You can never let anyone in without letting yourself be vulnerable to a degree. Only the coldest among us maintain walls of such degree.”
“We've gotten a tad away from the point that I wanted to make,” said Cassidy. “I am talking about marriage as marriage, not as two people kicking around together. As a social, legal, and practical creation, it is corrupt.”
“So why not fight for it? Why not fight to make the world better, as you claim to do?” asked Jebediah.
“Two reasons, first one being that marriage has always been corrupt. Second, I am fighting the fight. I want women to be seen as completely equal. I want to be seen as equal. Currently I'm seen as almost a freak — a woman who stands so far outside of the norm as to no longer be a woman. If I achieve equality, marriage would either change along with it or dissolve. I prefer the promise of the latter possibility.”
Jebediah shook his head. “That would be a terrible thing indeed.”
“What? You need society to recognize your love of a woman?” asked Cassidy. “You hold society in far higher regard than I do. You do not need society for anything.”
“Poppycock,” replied Jebediah. “I need society for many things, and demanding that society recognizes the importance of my personal life and my emotions is a righteous thing. No, in the grand scheme of things, my marriage, my love, may not seem like much, but it is of great importance to me. I am a man... I am a person, and I rightfully demand respect for my status as a person.”
Cassidy nodded and smiled. “I think it a fair request of society, but don't you see that the only reason you value the marriage is because society taught you to value it. The marriage and your feelings don't need to be linked. They are wholly distinct. You demand respect from society but only in the way that society already gave you.”
“I don't care,” replied Jebediah. “I don't care where my emotions, my desires, my dreams, come from. I don't care because it doesn't matter. I have them now, and I demand respect for them now.”
Everyone on the boat was silent for a time. The delicate splashing of the drive wheel and the soft chugging of the small steam engine were all that disrupted the symphony of the swamp.
“Jebediah, I'm sorry for what I said on the train,” said Cassidy.
“There is no need to ever discuss it again,” he replied.
“How about you?” asked Cassidy, sitting up and turning to Homer. “Have you ever been married, Colonel?”
“Once. Not anymore,” he replied.
“What happened to end your marital bliss?”
“She hated me, so she left me.”
Cassidy stared back blankly, unable to initially respond. “Oh. That's rough.”
“Not terribly. Sometime later, realized I hated her, too.”
“Awww,” said Cassidy. “It's always so nice when someone reciprocates your feelings.”
“Yep,” replied Homer.
“Do you have a sweetie back home?” asked Cassidy.
“I have a gator,” replied Homer.
“That counts,” Cassidy said. “Nice country, down here.”
“Yep,” replied Homer. “Lived here my whole life. Good place if you've got the stomach for it. Lots of new folks coming in lately. Lots of boats. Lots of visitors. Lots of city people.”
“How long you lived down here?” she asked.
“Whole life. All fifty-four years of it. Changing, though. May not stay much longer. No ill will toward you city folk, but you're changing things, and not in ways that I like.”
Cassidy nodded. “Us city people have a tendency to do things like that, I'm afraid.”
“Nothing for it,” said Homer. “World moves on.”
“It does indeed,” replied Cassidy. She sighed, looking out over the water and into the starry expanse above. “How you boys doing?” she asked.
No response.
“Boys?” she asked again. The light sound of Jebediah snoring was all that came back.
“Boats do that to people,” said Homer. “Get them out on the water, and they just fall right to sleep. Good dreams on the water. Good dreams.”
“I'm sure,” replied Cassidy, laying back down on the boat floor and gazing up into the infinite sky.
---
“Jebediah,” Cassidy said. “Hey, Jebediah,” she said again.
Jebediah opened his eyes and blinked them rapidly, waking himself up from the bench on which he was sleeping. “Hmm? What? What's wrong?”
“Nothing, but look at this.”
Jebediah sat up and looked to the side of the boat. They were about twenty feet from the wooded shore, the trees alight with fireflies. Floating in a small raft were two men, both dead. Homer had already hooked the boat and was pulling it close. He then tossed out a rope and tied it to the side. The motion awakened Gideon who sat up and yawned. “What's happening?” he asked.
“Two dead men,” replied Cassidy. Jebediah stepped out from the boat into the raft as Cassidy and Homer steadied it. Jebediah leaned down to them. “They're still warm,” he said. “Bullet wounds to the head.” He moved the bodies around, flipping them face up. “Do you know these men, Homer?”
Homer squinted in the moonlight as Jebediah cleared some dirt from the face of a young man with bad teeth. “No. Can't say that I do.”
“Do you have any idea who could have done this?” asked Jebediah.
“No. May have been out checking gator traps. Upset someone,” replied Homer.
“What's the wound look like?” asked Cassidy.
Jebediah analyzed the face of one of the men and found a hole in his forehead. “Very small,” he said.
“How small?” asked Cassidy again.
“Very.”
“Straight through?” she asked.
“Yes,” replied Jebediah.
“Small caliber,” said Cassidy. “So it was either close range...”
“Or high velocity,” said Jebediah.
“This can't be a coincidence,” said Gideon.
“No. It could be. I don't think it's out of the question,” said Jebediah.
“What else is on the boat?” asked Cassidy. Jebediah began to poke around.
“Nothing of significance,” he replied. “Rope, lanterns, and some, uh...” he picked up a bag and sniffed inside. “Some cured meat.”
“Jerky? Great! Gimme' it!” Cassidy demanded.
“You're going to eat their food?” asked Jebediah judgmentally.
“Hell yes I'm going to eat their food. I'm hungry and they're sure as hell not going to eat it. Why waste it?” Jebediah tossed the bag to Cassidy who began to chew on the jerk chicken inside. Jebediah continued to inspect the raft.
“And that's it. These men look like they were doing little more than going for a night-time trip,” said Jebediah, standing in the raft. He glanced off the side of the small boat and saw a rope running out into the water. He grunted and leaned down, out over the side of the boat to pull in the rope.
GROWRL!
The alligator erupted from the water and snapped at Jebediah.
“WAHH!” Jebediah screamed, falling backwards, bashing into their boat, and into the water between the two boats.
“Jebediah!” Cassidy yelled, standing at attention, looking all about frantically. “Jebediah!!” She ran around the boat, checking the sides, looking into the water. “God dammit, do you see him?!”
“No! Nothing!” replied Gideon.
“Shit, shit, god dammit, shit!” Cassidy yelled as she leapt about the boat.
Jebediah gasped for air as he surfaced a few feet in front of the boat. The three ran to the edge. Cassidy reached out for his hand. “Jebediah! Take my hand! Right here!”
“Watch out! Aside you!” yelled Homer, standing behind Cassidy, as the alligator was making its way toward the thrashing Jebediah.
“Shoot the goddamned thing!” yelled Cassidy.
“I don't have my guns! I don't have my guns!!” replied Gideon. “Where's my coat?!”
he said, rushing back into the middle of the boat.
Cassidy stared at the alligator, her eyes widening and her pupils dilating. The alligator didn't stop, its large body undulating under the surface. Cassidy saw its eyes glinting in the moon light. Jebediah's grip on the boat slipped. Homer tried to get around Cassidy to get a grip on Jebediah. He splashed frantically, trying to lift himself onto the boat. The alligator got closer... and closer... and closer... until, within a few feet of Jebediah, Cassidy dropped him back into the water and leapt upon the alligator, disappearing under the water with it.
Gideon and Homer helped the soaked and shaken Jebediah back onto the boat. “That idiot!” he yelled, turning to the water, coughing and shaking. “Where are they?” he asked, looking around over the rippling water. “Cassidy!... Cassidy!!!”
Suddenly, the two erupted from the water, locked in combat, Cassidy wrapped around the large alligator, tugging and tossing, until they disappeared under the water again.
The three watched from the boat, barely breathing, their guns drawn. Finally, after a seeming eternity, the alligator returned to the surface. They stared at it. It didn't move. Homer poked it with the boat hook. It still didn't move.
Cassidy gasped out of the water over by the small raft, grabbing onto the side of the boat. “Cassidy!” Gideon yelled, tripping as he ran over. Jebediah stepped over him and jumped the gap between the two boats and helped pull Cassidy up.
“You moron! You gargantuan, incorrigible moron! What the hell were you thinking?!”
“I didn't have a choice!” Cassidy coughed. “It was about to clamp onto you.”
The two stood there in the boat, breathing heavily, looking at each other. A look of sad fear dominated Jebediah's face, as the very real prospect of losing Cassidy had just hit him. “Don't ever do something like that for me again. Do you understand?”
“A thank you would be nice,” said Cassidy.
Jebediah snorted out a slight laugh as he smiled. He grabbed and rubbed Cassidy's shoulder. “Stop saving my life,” he said. “Especially when I tell you not to.”
Cassidy St. Claire and The Fountain of Youth Parts I, II, & III Page 58
