Redemption, Retribution, Restitution

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Redemption, Retribution, Restitution Page 90

by Susanne Beck


  "I get the point."

  "Good. Because I don’t think I could summon up the energy to explain it again." I rubbed at my temples, trying to force the headache back down.

  It wasn’t working.

  "She’s bleeding pretty badly, Angel."

  "Yes, Corinne, I’m aware of that. I’m very aware of that. The problem is, however, that the both of you seem to be much more interested in arguing about it than actually doing something about it. So, just go back in the car and beat each other senseless over it. I’ll be back later to take whomever’s left to the hospital, alright?"

  "Angel..."

  "No, Corinne." I sighed, forcefully cooling down my temper. "Look. I know Rio’s bleeding badly, and I’d love to be able to do something about it. I really would. But, as you can see, I’m in a town I’ve never been in before and whose signs I can’t even read. So I hope you’ll excuse me if I’m not quite at my best in this situation."

  "You’re right. And I do apologize for my part in all this, if it helps any. Rio is as pig-headed as they come, but she comes by her hatred of hospitals honestly. Her mother was murdered in one."

  "What happened?" I asked, eyes wide.

  "Her mother was an ER nurse at the time. A man came in demanding drugs and shot her for the narcotic key in her hand. Rio hasn’t gone near a hospital since."

  "God... that’s horrible!"

  "Yes, it is."

  Turning my head for a moment, I chanced to see a squat, low-slung and windowless building which looked more like a bomb-shelter than a business establishment. Attached to the roof was a huge billboard, pockmarked by bullet holes and weathered almost to splinters courtesy of the constantly beating sun, which simply read: La Clinica.

  "Will that do? As a compromise, I mean?"

  As Corinne followed my pointing finger, a smile broke out over her face. "It will do nicely, I think. And if not, I believe I have the fireplace poker stashed in the trunk somewhere."

  "You’ll have to wait in line behind me," I said, grinning. "I think there’s a tire iron back there with her name on it."

  Laughing, she slapped me gently on the shoulder, then made her way back to the car. I stayed where I was, enjoying the last bit of quiet and sunshine for as long as I possibly could.

  The resolution was surprisingly anti-climactic.

  After a brief, nearly silent conversation, Rio exited the car and brushed by me on her way to the clinic, still holding a crimson handkerchief against her bleeding nose. After a brief, sharp knock, the clinic door opened and the building seemed to swallow her whole, as if she never was, and never would be again.

  Her smirk truly insufferable, Corinne waggled her fingers at me as she passed by, leaving me to play the caboose on this dysfunctional little train upon which I found myself. Shaking my head and biting back a smile, lest it somehow be misinterpreted as admiration (which it was, but she didn’t need to know that), I followed her into the clinic.

  While austere in the extreme from the outside, when viewed from the interior, the clinic was a marvel of modern design. Shining and spotless, it was filled to the rafters with enough medical equipment to ensure quick and accurate treatment for any who came through its doors seeking aid.

  I stepped inside just in time to see Rio’s broad form being ushered through a set of interior doors by a pair orderlies clad in blue scrubs. The receptionist smiled as I entered, gesturing with a wave of her hand toward the bank of immaculate, if not very comfortable, chairs lined up in rows along two of the walls. Corinne was already seated and flipping idly through one of the many magazines sitting on several tables near the center of the room.

  "Do we need to fill out some forms or something?" I asked, sitting down next to her. Except for us, the waiting area was empty of human habitation.

  "I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough," Corinne replied, turning another page with a wetted finger and examining intently the ad displayed there. "Advertising’s become quite the fictional enterprise of late. To look at this ad, simply drinking the beverage in question seems to promise that not only will one feel truly refreshed, but that a makeover, tummy tuck and breast enhancement comes free as part of the package. Almost makes me want to try a sip. My body could use a bit of a tune-up."

  I laughed gently, appreciating her attempt to get my mind off my current surroundings. I hated hospitals, clinics, medical offices of all kinds. Having a lover unfortunately prone to spontaneous bullet holes made my hatred an honest one, I believe.

  "Here," Corinne snapped, slipping a slightly tattered magazine in my hands. "Read this and stop fidgeting. You’re making me seasick."

  "You know I can’t read Spanish, Corinne," I replied, leafing through the magazine.

  "Then learn. I’ve no doubt that Rio’s treatment will take quite awhile and there’s really very little else to do."

  "Yes, mother," I sighed, slumping back into my chair and flipping through the magazine’s glossy pages trying to make sense of what I was seeing and failing miserably.

  At least my headache was gone.

  * * *

  Several hours, and a whole rack of magazines, later, a heavily drugged Rio was wheeled out into the waiting room looking like the last survivor of a really intense Mardi Gras. Her face was a scattered sunburst of colors which complimented the metallic splint which tented itself over her newly set nose.

  A dapper young man wearing a long white labcoat over his scrubs, his name embroidered in red thread over the breast, gave us both a pleasant smile as he stopped and locked the wheelchair a couple feet away from us. "Are you here for Rio?"

  "Yes," I answered. "Is she gonna be alright?"

  "Well, she’ll have a pretty big headache after the happy pills wear off, but yeah, she should be fine in a week or two. Speaking of which..." His smile became even more broad as he slipped a prescription into my hand. "More happy pills. She can have one every four hours or so, but they’ll make her very sleepy, so make sure she isn’t driving or doing anything else that requires concentration."

  Corinne took the slip of paper from my hand and slid it into her purse as I looked from Rio to the doctor. "Is there anything special we should do for her?"

  "Well, her nose is splinted and packed pretty tight, so make sure she doesn’t have any trouble breathing, especially when she’s asleep. She’s probably swallowed a good deal of blood as well, so try and keep her head tilted to the side in case any of it decides to come back up the hard way."

  I nodded my understanding of his instructions. "Anything else?"

  "Other than keeping a close eye on her, not really. Like I said, it won’t be too long before she’s back to her old self again." Catching my grimace, he grinned. "Afraid I’d say that, weren’t you."

  "Well..."

  Laughing, he clapped me briefly on my shoulder, then stepped back. "Good luck."

  "We’ll need it." Reaching out, I grasped his proffered hand in gratitude. "Thanks."

  "De nada. Carlos will escort Rio to your car."

  "It’s the beige sedan parked across the street," Corrine remarked, handing the buff orderly the keys.

  Taking them, he smiled and nodded, then wheeled Rio out of the clinic.

  As the doctor walked back through the doors and into the treatment rooms beyond, I accompanied Corinne up to the receptionist’s desk. "The damages?" she asked, taking out her wallet.

  "None, senora. This is a free clinic set up for those who can’t afford to pay for medical services."

  "We can afford to pay," Corrine replied, undeterred. "A nice round figure, if you please."

  "But..."

  Ignoring the woman, she pulled out ten crisp one-hundred-dollar bills, laid them out one by one atop the cluttered desk, and smirked as the receptionist’s dark, almond eyes grew quite wide. "Round enough?"

  "But..."

  "Round enough," Corinne answered for her, obviously not taking "but" for an answer. "Thank you for your most gracious hospitality." And with that, she closed her purse,
turned on her heel, and left the clinic without so much as a glance behind, leaving me to helplessly shrug at the round-eyed receptionist who stared in disbelief at the small mountain of money lying in front of her.

  After a long moment, she looked up at me. I grinned. "It’s just her way."

  "Dios mio."

  I chuckled. "You might be tempted to think so." A thought popped into my head. "Can I ask you a favor?"

  "Anything, senora! Anything!"

  "I... just need some directions. See, Rio’s our guide here. I’ve never been this far south before. Is there a place nearby where we could stop over for the night? It’s probably best if we continue our journey when she’s awake enough to help."

  "Oh, si. Si. I know of a nice little place not too far from here, senora. Just outside of town and easy to get to. Let me write the directions down for you."

  A short time later, armed with wonderfully explicit directions, I made my way through the crawling after-work traffic toward the place where we would stay the night.

  * * *

  "Nice place," I remarked as Corinne and I navigated a very drunken and half asleep Rio into the large room and onto one of the king-sized beds.

  As soon as she hit the mattress, Rio turned onto her side and began to snore, long and loud, through her widely opened mouth.

  "I still say we should have gotten two rooms," Corinne remarked, making as if to put her hands over her ears. "Elderly librarians with short tempers aren’t known to be at their best without the requisite eight hours of sleep per night."

  "Angels aren’t either," I replied, wincing as a particularly loud snore nearly broke the windows.

  "We could always smother her with a pillow," Corinne observed.

  "I didn’t think suffocation was your style."

  "For this, I’m willing to change my M.O."

  "Perhaps. But where would we hide the body?"

  She laughed. "You have a point. I’d say we could just leave her outside, but someone would likely just toss her back in again."

  Chuckling, I walked through the large suite and pulled back the heavy curtains protecting the interior from the harsh desert sun. A sun which was just beginning to set behind the low mesa to the west of the hotel. A need gripped me, and I turned to my friend. "Can you watch her for a few minutes?"

  "Of course. Running out on me already, are you?"

  "No. I just..." I could feel myself blushing. "I’d like to see the sun set."

  Her eyes held nothing but honest love and deep compassion. "I understand, Angel. Take your time. Just realize that in payment, I’ll expect you to clean up whatever mess she might make in the night."

  I grinned. "Deal."

  "Then be off with you, before I decide to make you share her bed as well."

  And so I did.

  * * *

  Though the mesa wasn’t very tall, the trail was steep enough, and my legs burned pleasantly as I made it to the top. I faced away from the city, and the view of the desert from the summit was breathtaking; nothing but open land as far as the eye could see, free from any form of human habitation.

  The view of the sky as the sun set was even more spectacular. Deep, blood red swirled and mixed with royal purple to form a gorgeous vista I couldn’t quite keep my eyes away from. It was better by far than any sunset I’d ever seen.

  After making sure that the boulder at my feet wasn’t sheltering a snake or other venomous creature, I slowly sat down on it, watching as the sun made its triumphal march behind the mountains still further to the west.

  "You’d like it here, Ice," I whispered to my absent partner. "So wild and free. No walls. No bars. Nothing but... peace. And beauty." A sudden chill came over me, at odds with the still-gentle warmth of the evening, and I wrapped my arms around my body. "I miss you, you know. So much. I keep telling myself that it’s for the best, and we’ll see each other soon. My brain listens, but my heart... well, it’s got a mind of its own, you know?"

  I felt the warm trickle of tears on my cheeks as the sky became a beautiful prism for my teary eyes alone. "I think I’d give anything just to feel your arms around me." I laughed a little. "I know that can’t happen right now, but you can’t blame a girl for wishing, huh?"

  Wiping my eyes, I stood as the sun made its final descent behind the mountain. "I’ll be patient, my love. Just... don’t wait too long, ok?"

  And as the sun finally set, casting the world below in shadow, a warm desert breeze enveloped me like a hug from my absent lover, chasing the chill away and leaving me with a profound sense of stillness and peace.

  I could feel a smile form even as the tears dried gently on my cheeks.

  "I love you, Ice. Hurry home."

  * * *

  The next morning, Rio was back to her old self. She awoke snarling, refused any of the pain medication we’d picked up from a pharmacy on our way to the hotel, pulled the packing and splint from her nose, and barked out orders at us, a right proper Drill Instructor to a squad of completely inept recruits.

  Though her surly mood should have bothered me, it didn’t. That gift of peace I’d received the night before proved itself tenacious, and I hugged it to me as one would a blanket on a cold winter’s night, refusing to allow her poor temper and bad manners to take it from me.

  Besides, within five hours--hopefully much less--our journey would come to an end, and God willing, I’d never have to put up with her again in such close and inescapable quarters.

  Corinne wasn’t nearly so gracious, but a look from me held her tongue.

  We were quickly on the road, with Rio once again in her accustomed space behind the wheel. The miles fairly flew by as within me a keen sense of anticipation grew from a small seedling to full, blooming life.

  We headed south, and south again, taking progressively smaller and smaller roads, passing nothing but desert vegetation and the very occasional car coming north. Just when I felt sure that the Mexican border was to be our destination, we took a turn to the west on a very narrow road that the desert did its level best to reclaim, washing it over with sand which heralded the road’s infrequent usage. We drove west for several miles, threading our way through the foothills of several small mesas which stood like sawed-off chess pieces on the world’s largest board.

  Another slow, meandering curve brought us out into open land again, and I saw something I never expected in a desert.

  Trees.

  Row upon row of perfectly manicured trees. Trees whose abundant greenery stood in stark contrast to the sun-washed brown of the surrounding desert. Trees whose sweet scent came to me through the car’s open windows and brought with it the images of...

  "Oranges? Are those orange trees?"

  "None other," Corinne replied, taking a healthy breath herself, and grinning.

  "I didn’t know you could grow oranges in Arizona!"

  "Ahh, Angel. I daresay you haven’t truly lived until you’ve tasted an Arizona orange. Sweet. Succulent. Simply bursting with juices. Rather like..."

  "Don’t say it, Corinne. Just... don’t say it. Please."

  "Spoil sport."

  Choosing to ignore her teasing, I instead took in another deep breath, noticing that the scent of orange blossoms became heavier—cloying almost—the closer we came to the grove. It reminded me of the truth in the maxim: "Too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing" and I put a hand up to my nose to stifle a threatened sneeze.

  A wide path cut through the grove at a right angle, and when we came out on the other side, desert reigned supreme once again. Off to my right, I saw the low, barbed wire fence of a corral, and beyond that, dust being kicked up as a herd of horses came our way, led by a beautiful stallion—or what I took to be a stallion, my knowledge of horses minimal at best—with a coat the color of freshly spilled blood and a mane and tail black as printer’s ink.

  He reared up high, displaying powerful, slashing hooves and shining, sweat drenched muscles, and I found myself falling in love with him at first glance.
The entire herd raced us toward the breast of a small hillock, then stopped as their enclosure ended. We, of course, continued on, down into a valley which signaled the end of our journey.

  A huge house sprung up from the desert floor as if birthed from the very sand upon which it rested. It was bone white adobe with a red Spanish-tiled roof and heavily tinted hexagonal windows. Though only a single story, it was very long and sported three front doors, each framed by a long, fluid arch.

  Other, smaller houses formed a rough square behind the main house, with the stables off to the right and, beyond that, what looked to be a row of greenhouses which would require further exploration in the very near future.

  As we pulled onto the long, circular driveway, I began to notice groups of people walking calmly, or purposefully, around the grounds. Though of all shapes, sizes, and ethnic origins, these people all had one thing very evidently in common.

  "Where are the men?"

  A sharp bark of laughter was heard from the peanut gallery, who currently took up residence in the driver’s seat.

  "This is a women’s ranch, Angel," Corinne explained, shooting a glare toward the back of Rio’s head. "Men aren’t welcome."

  Instead of saying anything aloud and giving Rio further ammunition to use against me in this personal war of hers, I settled for a simple nod, watching the women as they went about their day.

  "My, my, my," came Corinne’s soft, awed voice to my left. "And me without my camera."

  Curious, I gazed at the view from her window. And what a view it was.

  A large, in-ground pool shimmered clear blue in the brilliant sunlight. In and around the pool lay almost a dozen courageous (it was warm outside, but not that warm) souls all dressed in the exact same costume.

  Their birthday suits.

  If my eyes weren’t so firmly attached to the back of my skull, they might surely have popped out of my head at the vision.

  "Remind me to give the good Mr. Cavallo a nice big kiss when Ice finally drags him back this way, Angel. I think I may have found heaven."

 

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