by P F Walsh
“Hard going today.” Sean thought, “I need to get with it.” As sweat dripped down his forehead with the hat catching some of it but not all.
“I am sure as shit getting old, and won’t be able to pound these trails much longer.” He thought.
“I will really miss this exercise and the whole desert thing.”
The usual realizations of ebbing years and strengths passed through his thoughts as he moved along the trail to the crest of the last hill section before the trail snaked down to the upper flat.
”Good place to stop and drink some water.” He said out loud as he paused on top of the last hill section. Sean pulled out his first water bottle, now a bit warm but refreshing nonetheless. He looked out over the flat of the desert and loved its clarity and emptiness. This was a place where he could talk to himself out loud and no one would be the wiser. There was something about the silence of the desert that seemed to want him to do that. He knew other older seniors talked to themselves all the time, maybe it was because they had nobody who would listen? This was different.
Refreshed a bit, respirations back to normal. He hiked down the small decline onto the flat. As he got about midway down the trail, he noticed off in the distance a large indistinguishable shadow was sitting alongside the trail about a half mile out.
“I’ve never seen anything there before,” He thought, “I wonder what the hell that is?” as he moved down onto the flat and continued on the trail. Sean looked at his hiking watch...
“Well, the temp is now 96 degrees, so whatever it is, it isn’t happy, no one sits by the open trail in this kind of sunshine.”
Cautions began to arise in Sean’s mind as he drew closer to the unmoving figure.
“This could spoil my whole day.“ He thought. Instinctively, he began to sniff the air in anticipation of the ugly scent of decomp, but none was there.
As he approached, he could see someone, a woman? She was sitting on the ground, legs crossed and slumping forward, eyes closed, and in their lap the reflected sun glint off a very large revolver. The revolver cylinder was open, and as far as Sean could see, only one round was in the open cylinder. The others lay in a partially excavated small dirt hole next to her side.
Sean stopped in front of the woman and waited for her to react to him being there. She was dressed in a beige shirt, vest, and jeans with very unattractive shoes, but not really hiking boots No hat, but wearing sunglasses. She didn’t move and seemed to be dozing in the heat. After a couple of minutes, Sean decided to softly speak just loud enough for her to hear...
“I don’t mean to interrupt your meditation, but are we having a bad day?” He asked softly. She snapped open her eyes, and with a reactive move, flipped the gun so the cylinder seated home as she moved the barrel of the revolver up toward his center mass.
“Who the Hell are you and what are you doing here?” she quipped as fast as anyone could talk. Wide awake now. She eyed Sean carefully, still without getting up.
Sean smiled and without moving said, “I’m a hiker, I live here and hike these trails a couple of times a month, this is really the first time I came across something I could consider dangerous. But, y’know, even you are not sure where in the cylinder the single round is sitting in your gun, so please be careful.” After a bit, Sean continued,
“Lady, that is one big-ass gun, nothing to shoot out here except rocks and an occasional jack rabbit, not much left if you shoot it with that thing.” He noticed the sweat running down the side of her head.
“You look dehydrated.” He twisted a bit so she could see his fanny pack,
“I’m going to take out one of these water bottles and hand it to you. Easy now.” He said as he slowly lifted his first bottle out of the sleeve on his fanny pack and held it out for her to take.
“You already drink out of this?” She asked taking the bottle slowly.
“Lady, you’re sitting out here with a howitzer, half dried out, looking like you’re thinking really shitty thoughts, and you’re worried about my germs? Give me a break, drink up.” He watched as she nodded once, and started to drink, sensing the still slightly cool water, she drained the bottle.
“The next thing we need to do is to get you out of the sun so you can cool off,” Sean said, then pointed at the gun, and continued,
”Put that thing away and I’ll help you up.”
She looked suspiciously at him and said acidly,
“I can get up by myself.”
She then reached to her side and gathered up the other bullets she was preparing to bury and slipped them into her bag. While she did this, her vest slipped aside and Sean could see the Police badge on her belt. He considered the whole effect, her piercings, tattoos, and butchy appearance. “Definitely tough,” he thought.
She rose with a little effort from cramped leg muscles, pulled herself up unsteadily. A little weaving slightly back and forth and she stood still looking at him questioningly.
“OK, look, the trail winds around through a dry wash to get to where I was going, but that’s another mile maybe.” Sean pointed to his left, “See that gully just over there, that’s a shortcut into a cool grotto of Palms where I was heading to have a sandwich and some water, we’ll be out of the sun faster and you can recharge. A little bush beating at the end, but it’s quicker.”
He waited...
“You got a name you’re using today? Sean asked, “Mine is Sean.”
She just looked at him for a minute and said,
“Doris.”
“OK Doris, you got a scarf or something in that bag?”
She reached into the bag and pulled out an arm sling.
“Yeah, that’ll do fine,” he said, as he took it, poured some water on it and told her to put it on her head.
“Should help cool your head down, out here that’s a biggie.”
“Let’s go,” he said, as he headed into the shallow gully not looking behind to see if she was following. He could tell she was not right behind him, so he turned his head to throw his voice behind him and remarked,
“Lady, you’re the one with the big gun. I don’t know what you’re worried about.” And kept walking.
All desert gullies are created by water flow however seldom. When it rains in the desert, the hard crust of most the desert surfaces shed water and powerful flash floods fill the gullies and canyons, washing away more soil, twisting and turning as it hits outcrops, creating a serpentine depression. It was along this type of gully that switched back and forth that Sean and Doris walked, dodging cat’s claw bushes as they went. Sean cautioned Doris about the cat’s claw bush,
“Guaranteed to draw blood.” He said.
As they came around another twist in the gully, and getting near where it dumped into the Fern Grotto, Sean stopped and looked just up the gully. Sitting there in a small depression in the sand was a round chrome Ball, dazzling in the harsh sunlight. About the size of a grapefruit.
“What the Hell is that?” Sean asked out loud, “That sure as Hell doesn’t belong here!” As he pointed to the Ball.
Doris moved up alongside him and looked without saying anything.
Both Sean and Doris walked up to the Ball and looked at it. It was sitting in a small depression and Sean considered that it could not have fallen far to make such a modest imprint.
“Well, this sure didn’t fall from an airplane, besides, not likely there is a ball bearing this size in an airplane. I wonder where it came from?” He spoke, mostly to himself. This was a rarely traveled gully but he looked forward of their trek and there were no foot or boot prints in the sand that he could see. He looked behind and his and Doris’ footprints were all there were in the sand.
Sean bent over and concerned it might be hot from the sun, cautiously picked it up.
“That’s weird, it’s not hot, it’s cool, and way heavier than I expected. Quite dense too. Can’t be steel, too heavy.” As he showed it to Doris while turning it over in his hands to see the whole orb surface.
> “What’s that stuff coming off in your hands?” Doris pointed. Sean looked at his hands and saw they were now covered with a silver coating. Sean took one hand and wiped it on his hiking shorts, but the coating didn’t come off, and his hand stayed coated.
“Shit!” Sean exclaimed, as he tried to wipe the other hand with the same result.
As he held it out, the surface of the orb did not reveal any oxidation or powdery coating, it glinted in the sunlight like it had just been polished to a high sheen. Sean dug into his fanny pack and pulled out the bag with the Subway sandwich. Removing the sandwich and putting it back in his kit, Sean bagged the orb, and put it in one of the compartments of his fanny pack.
“That thing is surely the most interesting item I’ve ever seen out in the desert, and I’ve been hiking here for 25 years. If nothing else, it will be an amazing conversation piece sitting on my bookcase once I figure out it’s safe to have around.” He thought.
“Let’s get to the grotto, I’m getting hungry and thirsty, maybe some water there can wash off the stuff on my hands.”
Sean started back up the Gully with Doris now, not far behind.
Chapter Three
Book One
That evening, Sean arrived at the Acqua Bistro parking lot at the River Mall as Artie showed up in his vintage 1959 big-finned Cadillac, all shiny and looking like brand new. Artie had spent about eleven-grand in restoration and it showed. He was quite sure the car was now worth about at least fifty thousand, but the likelihood of him selling it now was very remote. Especially, when he enjoyed putting the top down, cruising El Paseo and waving at the ladies coming out of Gucci’s.
“Look at that thing,” Sean thought, “It’s gorgeous, a real land yacht you won’t see in the Midwestern states looking like that, with all the road salt they have. Most will have rusted away by now.” He stood by his car waiting for Artie to put up the top to protect the inside from the late afternoon sun.
“Hey man, get any offers from the ladies today?”
“Naw, a few really big smiles, but I didn’t stop, not enough time.” Artie replied.
“How’ve you been?” asked Sean.
“I’m good, hip is bothering me a bit, but shit we’re walking around in eighty-year-old machines.” Artie countered.
They both began walking over to the restaurant that was very popular with good food at attractive prices. Always a busy place the restaurant bar area was almost full with only a couple of empty tables left. They liked to sit in the bar and order off the bar menu, have one drink and talk.
“What’s new?” asked Sean once they were seated on the stools and at a table.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing. The usual doctor’s stuff and some labs but nothing new. I’m still dating Judy.”
“You?” Asked Artie.
“It’s the same old, same old, it stays like this and I think I will have to get a job. Haven’t sold a house since last fall.” Sean said.
“What the hell kind of job could you do?” Artie chided.
“Actually, I was thinking Magician’s Apprentice.” Sean said as he smiled.
“Y’know, they always have a babe in tights, you are not going to look good in tights with that belly.” Artie replied.
Later as they talked, “Oh yeah,“ said Sean as he recalled, “I did have the screwiest day out hiking today.”
He proceeded to describe coming across Doris, and his speculation on what she was planning, although he had to mention, she never gave any verbal support to his impressions. But to Sean, it sure looked like suicide was on the day’s menu. Artie was fascinated.
“So how far out were you when you ran into her?” Artie asked.
“I would say about two miles out, far enough so a gunshot wouldn’t really be heard back in the residential areas.”
“So, what did you do?” Artie asked then, wanting to hear more of the story.
Sean described the rest of the afternoon, but left out the finding of the metal Ball. He was mystified by the whole find, and even more so, when he got home and discovered that the silver coating on his hands had disappeared. He also left out inviting Doris to crash at his house in the guest room. Now, that part, seemed really risky at the time, considering her frame of mind, but despite those anxieties, Sean invited her to stay perceiving it was probably not a good time for her to be alone, and she said she didn’t have any family. Doris, after a long interval of consideration, said “OK.” She just drove to Palm Springs and hadn’t made a hotel reservation.
Doris didn’t talk much, and to Sean, that was a welcome behavior.
After discussing all hiking adventure, Sean and Artie spent the next hour and a half talking about guy stuff, world news, crazy Congressional Representatives, and the huge lingering questions about the elections coming up.
Sean never mentioned the breakfast gab fest where their mutual friends took exception to Artie’s disorganized pursuit of ladies.
Sean thought,
“Who am I to criticize?”
He headed home about 7 P.M. and wondered what he would find. Sean parked his car in the garage and went in through the kitchen, He could hear the TV running and when he looked into the living room, he could see Doris slumped over on the coach.
”Oh, shit,” he thought, “I hope she hasn’t done it here!” He walked over to the couch area and could see she was just asleep while the TV news channel droned on.
“That’s a relief,” he thought, “she’s probably wiped out. I’ll make some noise in the kitchen and see if she wakes up.” Sean went into the kitchen and rummaged around putting the flatware and dishes away out of the dishwasher he ran this morning. The chinking did the trick and Doris walked into the kitchen a few minutes after he started.
“You’re back,” she said.
“Yeah, at our age we don’t hang out late much, you want something to eat? I’ve got frozen lasagna, should take about eight minutes.” He asked.
“That sounds good, can I help?” as she moved into the kitchen.
“Just grab a package out of the freezer, I have three or four in there and put it in the microwave.” Sean pointed at the fridge.
“You want a beer? We’ve got that in there too.”
As he finished emptying the dishwasher, Doris found the Lasagna package, read the instructions, and got it going in the micro.
“Very small test of rationality, feed oneself.” He thought.
After they got settled at the dining room table, Doris gulping down the lasagna, and Sean nursing his second drink of the day, he asked,
“What’s going on Doris, you want to talk about it? Y’know, we’re strangers, so you’ll find no judgements in this house. ‘Course if you don’t that’s OK too. Everyone has limits that get pushed.”
For the next two hours Doris dumped her thoughts and history, no family, foster homes, stayed in school, short stint in the Army, drifted a bit, then Police Academy. Finally, all the dirt and crime followed by the shooting, just seemed to pile up that everything was wrong and without invested value.
“People are turds!” she said. “It didn’t seem worth going on.” After she said that, she countered quickly with lowered eyes...
“I just realized you were one of the very few people that did something nice for me without asking for something in return. Thank you.”
Sean followed up with...
“Forget it, most people, at least the ones I know, would have done the same thing. What you had in mind is quite permanent.”
Sean went to stand up to bring his glass over to the sink and was overcome with sudden dizziness and a hot flash.
“Damn, he said, all of a sudden I feel real crappy, feels like a low sugar episode, I need to sit down.” As he unsteadily moved back to his chair. A thin sheen of sweat formed on his brow, a symptom often associated with low sugar. Doris, who had basic first aid in both the Army and Police Academy, came over to him and put her hand on his forehead.
“Man, you have a fever too, looks like
you might have picked up the bug that’s been going around” She paused and then said, “You don’t think it has anything to do with that silver stuff you got on your hands, do you?”
Sean said “I doubt that, the Ball seemed pretty inert, I’m going to hit the bed, take some cold meds and crash. I usually snap back fast from these things. Let’s see how I feel in the morning.’ He looked at Doris and said, “There’s clean towels in the guest bath and fresh linens on the guest bed so you are good to go for tonight.’
Sean walked to his bedroom and stopped at the mirror to take a look to see how bad he looked. “Nothing unusual there,” He thought, and started to undress for bed. He set the room air for a bit cooler than usual anticipating the fever might need some cooling down and then slipped into bed. Within minutes he was in a deep sleep and lay that way, in the original position pretty much all night.
When Sean woke up in the morning, some three hours later than his usual waking time, he felt so much better, but then, recalled the lurid dreams of struggling with an unseen oppressor, and big bold flashes of light that seemed to hurt his eyes in the dream.
“Wow, what dreams those were.” he thought, as he got up from bed, and headed for the bathroom in his bedroom suite.
“That was like some kind of a drug trip.” He mused, not really knowing what one of those would be like since he never did drugs, but surely, they must be as overwhelming. Sean didn’t dream much, and slept well at night. The only dreams he had from time to time would be meaningless, random dreams probably stimulated by something he saw during the day, old memories, or what he had for dinner. Last night was very different, and vivid.
Doris was already up and started working on breakfast once she heard his shower running. Being in military service makes you an early riser, and she was able to get back to that habit easily. She had rummaged through the refrigerator and came up with bacon, sausage links, potatoes O’Brien, and some eggs, even cinnamon raison bread from Trader Joe’s. She was really pleased to have found all of this since she was starving this morning and ready to chow down. She didn’t want to eat before her host though, that wouldn’t been cool. Doris was blessed with a digestive system that could take all she gave it and burn it off, either in the gym, or pounding the street, sometimes even running away from a threat when that behavior made sense.