Angelina's Oak

by Jesse Reiss

Chapter 39

  The smoke had thinned out and the air was clear again.

  Angelina knelt down before Sam, who had his eyes tightly shut, like he had been told. She slowly pulled the shirt down from over his nose and mouth. She noticed with admiration how much like his parents he looked.

  “You can open your eyes now Sam,” she whispered.

  They slowly opened. The lids went wide, the pupils dilated and they locked right onto hers.

  He stared at her for what seemed like forever. His mind exploded with new information, for the first time bringing all his senses together. His mouth slowly opened, but no words came out. He took in her large green eyes with the hint of an Asian slant to them. He studied her smooth golden brown skin and full lips. He stared into her pupils, taking in the radiant and glossy colors, mesmerized by their beauty.

  “Hi Sam,” she said with a smile.

  Slowly he raised a trembling hand and touched her face, feeling her cheek, lips and nose.

  Yes, it was she, and yes, she was real.

  Tears of happiness began to fall from her eyes and he caught one in his hand, slowly bringing it to his lips, tasting it.

  Yes, it was real.

  He looked at his own hand and down at his body.

  It too was real.

  “Are you an angel?” he asked with a whisper.

  She wanted to laugh and tell him no, but he spoke again.

  “Am I in Heaven? Is this really real? You are really my Angie?”

  “Yes, Sam, this is real.”

  A huge smile spread across his face and he stepped into her arms. “Yes, you are an angel!” he yelled. “Thank you! Thank you!”

  They ended their embrace and she directed his attention to the odd cast of characters standing around them, not a dry eye in the group. “I’d like to introduce you to some friends of mine,” she began.

  ◊

  Half an hour passed with no sign of the two children. The media had forgotten about the fire raging on the hillside and concentrated its resources on the search for the two, last seen somewhere in a haze of smoke. Additional emergency resources and police helicopters were assigned to scour the hillside for them.

  By this time Lucy and her entourage had arrived at the entrance to the park. No effort was made to conceal them from the cameras or hide the fact that this mad search somehow deeply affected the Currys personally. They clearly weren’t there to encourage the fire fighters in some “pump up the troops” or “get in the limelight” PR move. They were emotionally distraught, bereaved and thought about nothing else than finding their son.

  Rumors and assumptions began to fly faster than they could leave people’s lips. The media was in overdrive, salivating on every detail, imagined or real. No station dared cut to commercials or a stock photo for fear they would miss some tantalizing revelation.

  Live close-ups of the Currys standing before a group of city officials in suits and other police department executives played with cuts to the emergency crews, fanning out in groups and now working their way far from the oak tree. Several men in suits were attempting to pacify Lucy, nodding their heads profusely and giving her hollow reassurances that did nothing to temper her hysterics. The story was playing on every channel, cable stations, radio stations and streamed through the Internet.

  Neil by this time had met up with his dad, who gave him a verbal whipping like none other and was dragging him to the makeshift command post at the Western park entrance for a session of intense questioning.

  Paula parked her car halfway down Los Feliz where the traffic stalled and was running on foot to the entrance, her arm throbbing at her side.

  The fire, forgotten by everyone else but the Fire Department, continued to burn, spreading across the mountainside eating up the fuel that the long dry summer had so thoroughly prepared for it. Firefighters retreated from the tree to create a new firebreak as flames began to lick at the large oak’s canopy.

  The Currys were asked to go back to their waiting SUV and stay with a full security detail and several officials who would update them on the search as it happened. The media coverage of them being there was causing a major distraction from the larger problem at hand, which was a four hundred acre fire burning out of control. Mobs of fans and curious citizens had begun to leave their neighboring homes and converge on the site, requiring more law enforcement personnel to keep them back and even prevent reckless “heroes” from trying to run up the mountain and fight the fire with their bare hands.

  Tense seconds ticked by.

  A news chopper was the first to spot them. They had appeared in the middle of the mountainside, far from the fire and over a trail that had been covered up and down by dozens of emergency rescue crews in the previous half hour.

  A dozen cameras zoomed in on them from afar, though Angelina and Sam had no idea millions over the world were watching them.

  Lucy shrieked when she saw the boy in the baseball cap and her son’s clothes walking down the trail towards the bottom of the mountain.

  That couldn’t be her son, she thought. Was her mind playing tricks on her?

  The helicopter shots picked up no sound, but clearly he and Angelina were having an enthusiastic conversation as they strolled down the trail. She was pointing repeatedly as she talked. His head would turn this way and that as she pointed to the skyline and to the Hollywood sign and to some trees and up to the helicopters. Lucy watched with her eyes wide and jaw slack as he bent down and picked up a rock and threw it into a tree.

  She saw his face as the cameras zoomed in on them and she knew it was he. A newscaster was telling the populace that it had been confirmed that they were seeing the Sam Curry in person for the first time.

  He was beaming from ear to ear. He was happy — happier than Lucy had ever seen him. And he was sharing in his happiness with his best friend.

  She watched as several police officers ran up to them. The conversation appeared to be brief, mostly coming from Sam, who went back and forth between the two officers enthusiastically explaining something. Sam pointed at an officer and the officer smiled and shrugged, removing his orange tint Oakley sunglasses, handing them to Sam. Sam put them on and you could read the many “wows!” on his lips.

  A moment later Sam and Angelina were holding hands as they were being led down the trail by the officers. The officers knew they were on TV and had their chests pumped out and a strut in their step.

  The news that the children had been found and that it was the Currys’ long-unseen son and an unidentified girl spread by voice, by text, by radio and by wire and within seconds was read or heard by all who were paying attention or within earshot of someone who was. Millions around the globe clung to every detail.

  The newscasters surmised, with full hearts, teary eyes and shaky voices, that clearly this young girl had saved Sam Curry from the kidnapper, who they had all witnessed being arrested half an hour earlier.

  Lucy and Thane heard none of the words being said, they only saw their boy and couldn’t believe their eyes.

  Shaking and bewildered, they stepped from their SUV to cheers and hoots from the crowd that had gathered to watch the excitement. Scores of cell phones went up in a mock salute and photos were taken that in seconds were going viral. Lucy turned and gave them a weak smile and wave, bringing on even more cheers and screams. Dozens pushed forward to get a closer view, but were pushed back by the police line.

  A few minutes later a police vehicle came down the road and the crowd of emergency crews parted. It stopped and Angelina and Sam got out, handing the sunglasses back to the officer in the front seat. Angelina looked around and spotted Thane and Lucy approaching. “There Sam,” Angelina said, pointing. “There are your parents.”

  Sam took one look at them, seeing them for the first time in his life. “Mom! Dad!” he cried and ran towards them. “I can see!”

  Lucy dropped to her knees and hugged him so hard Angelina was worried he might get hurt. Thane wrapped his arms ar
ound both of them. They remained huddled like this for many seconds as cameras took it in from every angle.

  Brave police officers and emergency crews shuffled their feet uncomfortably, took deep breaths and unsuccessfully tried to look away to keep their eyes dry.

  “Look Mom!” Sam said and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold nugget. “Look, its gold! A nice man gave me this.” Lucy didn’t see the nugget. She couldn’t take her eyes from his. She only heard him say the words “look”, meaning he wanted you to see what he was seeing for the first time and stared unbelievably at him as his pupils reached hers again with full recognition. Second to his arrival into this world, she would remember this moment as the greatest joy in her life.

  Sam went serious, “Mom…” he shot a glance over at Angelina.

  “What is it sweetie?” Lucy asked, hardly able to get the words from her mouth.

  “Angie, Nanny and Yogi aren’t going to get in trouble are they?”

  Lucy smiled, “No, of course not. No one is getting in trouble.”

  “So Angie can come visit again?”

  “Anytime she wants. She’s welcome to come over anytime she wants to.”

  “And her boyfriend, Mr. Neil? He helped me too. Can he come?”

  “Yes, of course. They can all come over. We can have a party, for you and anyone you want can come.”

  As the Currys doted upon their boy and paramedics confirmed he had suffered no injuries, Angelina turned to see Paula, Lee and Neil coming up the street along with several other officers. Neil’s story of the events had the police officers in bewilderment over what they saw playing out before them. The supposed true kidnapper was being embraced by the family and treated like a hero. Neil had denied either had kidnapped the boy and could give no explanation as to why the boy was with them, why they avoided the police and why they went into the park.

  They all three met up with the Currys in a park building that had been commandeered by the police to try to sort the story out. The whole fiasco was over for the Currys. A miracle had been performed and their little Sam was safe. Thane assured Lee and Paula that he didn’t care who did what or when and that no one was going to be seeking any retribution. If there were any fines to be paid, the Currys were going to cover it, as well as any legal fees. Though no one could get the story straight, eventually it was resolved by the police that Angelina and Neil would receive citations, which would eventually boil down to some fines and meaningless paperwork.

  By the time this was established, the winds had died down to near a standstill and the airplane drops and firebreaks were beginning to have their effect. Sam had faded long before, now asleep in his mother’s arms. The media and crowd had dispersed. Everyone said their farewells and repeated their thank-yous for the hundredth time, knowing they would be seeing each other again soon and repeating them all again.

  It wasn’t until sundown that the authorities officially announced the fire was under control. Burning vestiges remained, but it would be fully out by morning and not until 568 acres had burned. Miraculously, not a single home had been lost in the blaze.

  As they left the park in the twilight, Angelina could see that the great oak tree remained standing, but was a blackened shell of its former self. No leaves or branches had survived the inferno. The trunk and the main boughs were a charred, smoking mess.

  ◊

  That evening the Stanleys and the Russells returned to the home on the Los Feliz mountainside. A quiet and cozy evening was spent on the couches in the living room with all phones turned off and each holding a relaxing drink.

  After the story was told in detail about how they had freed Virginia from the sanctuary without anyone knowing, Lee proposed building a large bird house on the back porch. Paula said she had her eye on getting a larger house with a swimming pool and space to build a full-size aviary. Finances wouldn’t be a problem. It was a matter only of which house and whether the Stanleys would approve, which they did.

  They had all witnessed a disaster turn into a miracle and wanted to savor the experience. The conversation was light and free and went on for hours until all four were exhausted and could hardly keep their eyes open.

  Neil was the first to fall asleep and Angelina nodded off in his arms, minutes later. Lee got a blanket, which Paula placed over them.

  Smiling at the sight of their sleeping children, they went downstairs, hand in hand.

  No one slept in the guest room that night.