Mending the Past
Page 20
It rolled toward her, stiff as a log. One of its shoulders was bleeding and each time it pressed against the carpet, there was a soft squishing noise. It was breathing hard and muttering.
She held her gun in both hands as she watched the dirty thing roll closer. Should I be afraid? Should I put it out of its misery? Before she could make a decision, a black clothed shape leapt through the window. She moved to aim. Then a hand descended from behind her, wrapped itself around her arm and pulled up.
Eileen held on. The floor creature rolled up onto her feet and found it could go no further. Well, this was an awkward position indeed, with her feet pinned and her arms stretched out. As Eileen fell, she pulled the trigger. One last shot pushed through the roof and into the night sky where, by an unlucky coincidence, a bird flew. The bird fell almost without a sound to the earth and the soft thump its body made as it hit the lawn was insignificant compared with the crying, yelling, and muttering that flew from the windows of the little rental cabin.
* * * * *
Sam stood before the entrance to the temple as the smallest of foothills leading to the towering shikara. He examined the roof over the gate. He’d begin by climbing the gate to the roof and then walk the edge of the roof line.
Sam had been doing tree work back home for so many years, being off of the ground didn’t bother him. When he reached the shikara, he slowed down a bit, to check each hand and foot placement. He took a deep breath of the warm night air and admired the countryside. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. He felt the Himalayas reaching into the sky behind him.
“Are you all right?” Maggie asked.
“Yup. Just looking around.” He opened his eyes. “Maggie?”
“Yea?”
“I’d like to walk up those big mountains over there.”
“Okay, dear. Right after we finish up here.”
“Okay.”
Sam began climbing again. He found one of the openings near the peak of the shikara. He stuck his leg through the hole and bent his knee to clamp himself in place. He pulled the rope he’d been wearing like a backpack off and untied it. Sam fed the rope through the vent his leg was through and leaned forward to feed it back through an adjacent one. He pulled through enough rope to tie it in place and still have enough rope left on the short end to tie around his waist and legs. When he’d done this, he moved out of the hole and sat in his rope harness. “Rope,” he said as he tossed the long end of the rope down to Maggie.
Maggie heard the rope hit the ground and turned her headlamp toward it. She carried her sleeping bag, baby talisman, and the tail of rope leading to Sam to the base of the temple. Maggie tied a knot in the rope about seven feet up. Then she took her sleeping bag out of its stuff-sack and used the rope below her knot to tie the hood of her sleeping bag to the rope. She also tied her sleeping bag closed about halfway down. After all, she was not a very tall woman. Maggie climbed into her sleeping bag, placed the baby talisman at her feet. She held the knot and called, “Ready.”
Sam pulled up all of the extra rope and lay it in neat coils that drooped over his feet, resting against the temple’s shikara. At Maggie’s call, Sam began to hoist his wife. As he pulled her up, he lay the armfuls of rope in more neat coils.
Maggie crouched in the top half of her sleeping bag with the baby talisman. She held the rope with one hand and with her other she did her best to keep herself from getting bruised as Sam hauled her over the temple’s deeply carved walls. When her sleeping bag dangled within arm’s reach of the necklace, she hollered for Sam to stop.
* * * * *
Steward wasn’t sure how to leave Maggie and Sam. Would they be unnerved if he ran? He decided to walk until he was out of sight.
Sam yelled after him, “Make sure Little Buddy is all right.”
He must mean the baby, Steward thought, and waved to let Sam know he’d heard. When he was out of sight, he began to jog. Steward watched the small bridge come closer. When he was over it, he could see the lights of his hotel. When he’d brought himself closer, he picked up his pace. He thought about the people he was running toward and Sam’s requests. Steward ran toward the driveway. He aimed to skirt the bodhi tree and cut through the garden. He’d do his best for Sam. After all, Sam was doing his best for him. Steward heard a shot and his toe caught one of the bodhi tree’s great roots. He found himself prostrated before the tree. He lay there, surprised and stunned. In the distance, both ahead and behind, he heard a soft thud.
* * * * *
“Don’t you open your vile mouth in my direction, you wearer of dark in the land of bright,” Bud told the bad thing.
“For God’s sake, get off of me!” Mrs. Mae yelled.
Bud scrunched up his dirt and mud streaked face and focused on Mrs. Mae’s face. “You remind me of someone.”
“Bud?”
“How’d you know my name? And where’d you get that good-guy gun?”
“Why are you wearing that bandana? And when was the last time you bathed?”
“I’ll be the one asking the questions around here.”
“Get off of me, Bud”
“That be Captain to you.”
* * * * *
Ed tucked the gun into his back pocket. He watched Jet collapse on the floor next to their baby and Sujata, who placed the baby in Jet arms. Sujata stayed on the floor crying. Ed thought she seemed unsure about what to do next, too.
Jet held the baby. She bounced and patted him, but she was still full of adrenalin and anything but relaxed. The baby sensed how uncomfortable his mom was and cried harder still.
Ed knelt in front of them and held out his hands to request the baby. Jet looked at Ed’s face and moved the crying baby from her shoulder to his hands.
Ed held the baby and felt the tiny tensed muscles and the little body expand and contract with each breath. It had been so long since he’d held the baby that his body seemed fragile and foreign. Like holding a bird, he thought. Ed could feel tears running down his cheeks. He turned the baby toward him and looked into his pudgy, reddened face. The baby’s eyes were creased tight and his mouth was turned down hard at the corners, pulling his lower lip and cheeks down so far that his head looked square.
* * * * *
In the distance there was a shot and below him a thud, but Sam heard neither. Maggie had pulled the linga from its bag and placed it on it’s altar. Both headlamps shone on the emerald, and the linga returned their light, mottled, splintered, and green, to the dark corners of the room.
“Beautiful,” Maggie and Sam each whispered.
Then Maggie went back to her sleeping bag and felt for the baby talisman, so she wouldn’t step on it as she climbed back in. It wasn’t there.
* * * * *
What a ridiculous, helpless, little creature, Ed thought. A laugh burst from him and started the baby, who took a sharp breath as his eyes popped open.
* * * * *
Steward limped through the door. Well, that seems like justice, he thought, as he watched the tiger striped Bud shaking his head and growling at Eileen. Oh, Little Buddy. Got it Sam. He does need some taking care of. What a sacrifice he’s made.
Steward limped to Jet, who was watching her husband and baby. “Bodhi. Your dad told me to suggest a name and I like Bodhi. I like it because it should remind you of this time in India, and I like it because it should remind you of Bud. Also, I like it because it will remind me to think about the path I’m taking.”
Jet raised an eyebrow at Steward and then looked to Ed. They smiled at each other. The baby smiled at his dad and gave him hearty simultaneous slaps to each cheek.
Steward offered Sujata his hand and together they made their way out the door. Steward paid her for her considerable trouble. He paid her husband too, as he’d had to help Steward limp part of the way back to his room again.
Maggie and Sam found Steward limping back, and Sam took over supporting him. Maggie carried some pieces of cloth and rocks. She showed the debris to Steward.
“This was my baby talisman. Must have fallen out of my sleeping bag as I went into the temple. It was a long way down.” She looked longingly at the bits of her fake baby.
Maggie, Sam, and Steward entered to find Bud still pinning Mrs. Mae to the floor, while Ed and Jet played with the baby on the couch behind them. Ed had pulled the drawn picture from his father out of his pocket and was counting off birds and flowers, while Jet and the baby watched.
* * * * *
“Oh no, I have plenty of money,” KRS told Luisa. “We can pay for college for your children and for my nieces and nephews.”
Luisa looked back at the omelette she’d made. She brought her dead husband to the fore of her thoughts and apologized. Life gives us more than we plan for. She brought her eyes back to KRS’s face, and smiled.
“Mrs. Mae pays me. Steward pays me well. I live here and I don’t go out much. Are you sure you don’t want another child?”
Luisa laughed. “For goodness sake, I’m certain I don’t want another child. We’ll have grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews soon enough. And it’ll be enough. You’ll see.” She reached for her cup of coffee and shook her head. “Another child. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.”
* * * * *
The next morning Sam and Maggie made a little raft for the baby talisman and a dead bird they’d found by Jet and Steward’s room. They set the bird and talisman debris to float down the creek near the hotel. When they were done, they climbed back onto the bridge, where Sam put his backpack on again and they left to visit the mountains. They had no plan, and didn’t want one. They invited their companions to their home for a visit as soon as they returned.
Steward had walked with Maggie and Sam as far as the bridge and then he continued on to the temple where he circumambulated and then sat outside to watch as the temple doors were opened. Surprise and happiness rippled out.
Word spread and people gathered. In the excitement, Steward was invited in. He moved with the crowd and did his very best to do as the others did.
The linga sat on its altar and felt the nice cool things being poured over it on the already hot morning. It felt the cool damp air that had been resting over the tank being pulled through the vents in the shikara above.
* * * * *
Mrs. Mae, Steward, Bud, Ed, Jet and Bodhi Samuel Mae all boarded the train to return to Delhi. Ed, Jet and Bodhi sat together. Father and son played as Jet wrote a list of rules to be implemented on their return.
“One, we’re throwing out the television.”
“What? Couldn’t we just keep it in the closet, or something?”
“No, we’re throwing it out. If you really must, you can visit Bud and watch television with him, but not in our house.”
“Two, you’re in charge of making breakfast Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Also, you make dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“Jet, I can’t cook. It’ll be horrible.”
“Well, the incentives are right for you to learn fast. You could also take us out, or hire someone to cook for you. I don’t care. Just make sure those meals appear, and that I don’t have to make them.”
“You’re asking for it.”
“I know. Three, you have to kiss me at least 100 times a day.”
“Okay.”
“Four.” Jet looked at Ed.
“I’m listening. What?”
“Four, you need to exercise. You’ve lost a lot of weight since I saw you last, and you look great.”
Ed glared at her. “I can’t believe you just said that. Just imagine what you’d’ve done if I’d said that to you.”
“I don’t have any weight to lose.”
“Just imagine.”
“Well, I think that just about covers it.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Don’t I get to add to that list?”
Jet raised an eyebrow.
“Five, no more saws.”
“No way. I need to be able to use a saw.”
“Fine. Five, no more mysterious disappearances. If you want to get away, go visit your parents.”
“You can’t tell me who I’m allowed to visit.”
“I’m not. That’s not the point I’m making here.”
“Well, what’s the point?”
“Just tell me where you’re going before you disappear. Okay?”
“Fine.”
“You didn’t write that down.”
“Okay, okay, I’m writing it down. Are we finished?”
“No.”
“Now what?”
“Six, I want a list of approved baby names, both boy and girl, within a month.”
“I thought we agreed on Bodhi?”
“I don’t mean I want to change Bodhi’s name. I mean, just in case.”
Jet looked at her husband. “In case of what?”
“In case we have another kid, of course. I’m not repeating this last fiasco.”
“Fiasco?”
“Oh, come on, that was annoying, embarrassing, and just too weird. Who calls their baby ’the baby’ all of the time?”
“Us.”
“Weirdos. People who can’t agree on anything. People who want to make life confusing for their child.”
Jet smiled.
“Write it down.” Ed watched her write. “Hey, and add to that– No names with numbers in them. No hyphenated names. No unconventional capitalization. And, I want to be able to pronounce the name on the first try.”
Jet shook her head as she wrote. “I don’t understand why you’re putting all of these constraints on something as important as a name.”
“Yes, you do,” Ed said.
“Done?”
“Yup.”
“I’m reserving the right to add more rules later,” Jet said.
“I’m sure. Hey, how did you and Steward find each other anyway?”
* * * * *
When Bud had fallen asleep, Mrs. Mae had wiggled out from underneath him. She might have escaped the care of her present company, but a fit of anger led her to accost Bud. He woke howling, which woke everyone else. Bud and Jet suggested they lock Mrs. Mae in the bathroom, but neither Ed nor Steward could be brought to agree. In the end, she was placed in Steward’s room, and Steward slept on the couch.
* * * * *
Once in Delhi, Ed bought tickets home for Bud and his mother. Steward warned Eileen that once home she’d be watched, and indeed, that day he called ahead to tell KRS, who gave him his own happy news. This in turn meant Luisa would be positioned to keep a good eye on Mrs. Mae.
“Goodbye, Mother. Have a safe trip, and be good,” Ed said as he kissed her cheek.
“Eileen, remember that Bud’s in charge. I’ll check in with him to see how you behaved. Your future comfort is on the line,” Steward said.
This might have been enough to keep Mrs. Mae from further misbehavior toward Bud, but Bud had already taken matters into his own hands. Although Maggie believed she’d reclaimed all of Sam’s drug bag, the paranoid Bud had been keeping a secret stash tucked in his sock. Before they’d left their Delhi hotel for the airport, Bud had forced the secret stash down Mrs. Mae’s throat.
“You won’t figure out how to get home without me,” Bud said. “Come on, now. Over here. Stay close.”
* * * * *
Efrem, on having received Ed’s letter and drawing, hung the appropriate number of hammocks and weeded his garden to distract himself from his excitement. He was ready the day his brother brought his son for a visit.
THE END
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Out the Window
Chapter 2 Working Together
Chapter 3 Unlikely Love
Chapter 4 Job Offer
Chapter 5 A Sign to Run
Chapter 6 Pregnant and High
Chapter 7 Breakdown
Chapter 8 Jet to Rome
Chapter 9 Lies, Thievery and Disconnection
Chapter 10 Friend and Father
Chapter 11 Mother Worries
&n
bsp; Chapter 12 Luisa
Chapter 13 Sees the Slip
Chapter 14 Uncertainty
Chapter 15 Dracula
Chapter 16 To Liverbrush
Chapter 17 Generations
Chapter 18 Mummified Cat
Chapter 19 Witch and Drug Dealer or Ma and Pa
Chapter 20 The Past Haunts
Chapter 21 Ocean Phone
Chapter 22 Eileen's Wedding
Chapter 23 Prophetic
Chapter 24 Struggling to be Good
Chapter 25 Baby Talisman
Chapter 26 Ms. Mae Considers Reconciliation
Chapter 27 Efrem Runs Away
Chapter 28 Luisa and KRS
Chapter 29 Two Revealed and One Proposal
Chapter 30 Loudly Disguised
Chapter 31 Alive and Becoming Butt-Eye
Chapter 32 A Gun and a Nude
Chapter 33 Dismay
Chapter 34 Jet and Baby to India
Chapter 35 Sex and Deception
Chapter 36 When Mom is the Bad Guy
Chapter 37 Wanted Dead
Chapter 38 Anger and a Hit Woman
Chapter 39 To Khajuraho