Adam forced the kid’s arm down toward the ground. Then without releasing his arm, Adam quickly brought his knee crashing down onto the kid’s elbow. It snapped loudly, leaving the kid howling in torrential waves of pain.
Adam quickly grabbed his windbreaker clutched Misti’s hand and briskly walked away and up the hill toward the picnic and family, not saying a word. His Dad and Carlos rushed past them both to see what had happened to the kid to make him shriek in agony. The other parents were now streaming down the hill. Someone had the presence of mind to call 911. The cops arrived and shortly thereafter, the EMS.
Adam and Misti walked up the small hill and said nothing as they went. When he got to where all the ladies had been congregating, Adam left Misti with her aunt Elena, then walked over to an empty picnic table to await his fate.
He regretted nothing, save that his little cousin had to watch him break the kid’s elbow. He felt nothing, either good or bad. His heart rate hardly budged and he didn’t care how the kid was.
He felt satisfaction and knew that what he had done was the right thing to do. He was in deep trouble, but that didn’t matter. He would face his punishment without regret and certainly without remorse. Some things could never be adequately rectified by the cops and the legal system. Some things just had “Biblical justice” written all over them. This was one of those things.
Maybe the kid had learned his lesson and maybe this was a brief setback in an otherwise newly launched career in nasty behavior. Adam hoped it was the former but knew it was probably the latter.
Adam would tell his father that he was sorry for what he had done which would be an obvious lie. No matter, his father wouldn’t believe him anyway. Instead, Adam knew he was in for it. He hoped his cousins weren’t.
They would soon see what Adam’s actions meant to them all.
Chapter 34
Two hours later the cops were gone, the ambulance was gone, and the kid’s parents had been informed of the incident. The kid himself said nothing and claimed it was an accident – horseplay that got out of hand. According to all the bystanders, that’s what happened.
Carlos, however, got the truth from Misti and Rafi backed up her exact version of events. Edward was in an awkward position, thinking that the events were not completely Adam’s fault. His reaction to them was unfortunate and totally ill-advised for so many reasons. And if news got back to Constable Mark Eagan in Barrows Bay, there would be even more trouble. More trouble his son did not need.
There had been an incident in Barrows Bay, not that many months ago. Edward had been able to contain that situation but knew a second incident so close on the heels of the first would unleash a serious backlash.
Edward decided he would let Maria figure out what to do with Adam after this incident, but Edward would have to decide what to do about Constable Eagan. In the meantime, he decided to have a quiet chat with his son, who was still banished to his picnic table. Alone.
Carlos had already spoken with Adam, who occupied his time reading a magazine he had brought in his backpack. Carlos wasn’t unhappy with Adam and told him so. He mentioned, however, that what Adam had done was wrong and he should one day apologize to the kid for breaking his arm. Fat chance of that, Adam thought, but he knew that his Mom, Maria was bound to give him the same advice. And her ‘advice’ would somehow be mandatory.
“Can’t have people running around doin’ good on their own all the time.” Carlito said, grinning. “Next thing you know, some do-gooder will be wearing a mask and a cape.” Carlos laughed hard at his own joke, but Adam just smiled. He had already moved on in his mind and there was nothing left to discuss. Not that there wouldn’t be a passel of discussion ahead of him, there would be. It’s just that he didn’t really care. He had done what he had done, and he didn’t regret it.
“Thanks, tio. I appreciate you talking to me, I really do. I’m sorry if I let you down. I’m sorry if Misti got caught up in my doings. She’s a sweet kid and I couldn’t let that creep say and do all that stuff to her. Make sure that tia understands that I feel bad about the whole thing. She’s already pissed off at Dad, I don’t want her to hate me too.”
Carlos looked very carefully at Adam’s face, studying him, and looking for something he would recognize. He did not find it.
He got up from the table, and started to walk away, stopped and turned back to Adam and said, “Aunt Soledad will be fine. Misti is convinced she’s in love with her new boyfriend and has started work on the wedding plans. She’ll be fine too. You are the son of my best friend in this entire world, and, in time, he’ll also be fine. But me, I worry about you Adam. That’s all I’m going to say.” Carlito stopped, then finished. “Just know that I love you like a son, and if I had a son, I would be filled with great pride. Great pride. And who knows. Maybe one day Misti will marry her boyfriend and that boyfriend will be you. That would be a fine day also. Yes, a fine day indeed.” He walked off silently, his thoughts now somewhere else and off in the future. His drift back toward the other adults was slow and pensive.
The collection of other relatives would now want the full story and his thoughts on the episode.
He was not inclined to give them that; he would talk privately with his best friend, of course, and that talk would be frank and to the point.
As Carlos left, Misti arrived, having been given permission by her Papa to talk to Adam now that everyone else had had their chance to weigh in on his conduct with Carlos while Edward was elsewhere. Adam’s father had said little, never a good sign for Adam. And, this would not be well received in Barrows Bay because it probably would mean a chilly reception from his Mom. Adam did not like disapproval of his conduct from his Mom. He loved his Mom and her approval mattered greatly to him.
Adam thought he should feel the same need for approval from his father. Unfortunately, he did not.
***
Rafi and his other cousins did not get into trouble but the Moms at the picnic decided that maybe it was time for their boys to join them at Mass on Sunday. Nothing like a Nun and a switch to invoke the fear of God and set a young man on the right course. It had always been thus in Mexico; just not any longer in America.
Misti came up quietly, and stood next to Adam, looking very sheepish. “I’m sorry you got in trouble over me today. I don’t think it’s fair that you got in trouble and that kid didn’t. Are you mad at me?”
“No sweetie, I’m not mad at you. You’re my girlfriend and I love you the most. I could never be mad at you.”
“Promise? Do you double pinky swear that you’re not mad at me and you still love me?”
“I do, and I can prove it.”
“How?” Little Misti saw nothing in his eyes but love for her and she returned that same level of adoration in her eyes to him.
“I’m going to make a very special little crown of flowers, just for you. Like in the old hippie days when your Mama was young. That way you’ll know that I will always be your boyfriend and I will always be near to watch over you. And protect you.”
Misti smiled and gave Adam a peck on the cheek. “Can I pick the flowers and help?”
“You can. Then maybe we can sit here and have our own picnic. Just you and me.”
“I’d like that too.” Misti was a good kid and Adam liked his little cousin a lot. She was not whiny for her age the way all little kids can be. No, she was more like him; something was either switched on or switched off, he wasn’t sure. And she was bright.
Adam hoped she would remain this way forever, sweet and innocent. Her parents were dreadfully unhappy together; this he knew. But Misti was quite the opposite; happy, curious and full of mischief. She would be a handful when she grew up. He couldn’t wait to see how that turned out.
***
The real picnic, as eventful as it had been, began to break up just as the sun was setting. Everyone said their goodbyes and expected to do this a few more times over the summer while Edward and his boys were go
ne at a dig somewhere in the world. Life would go on and the primos now had new respect for their little cousin.
Carlos gathered up a very exhausted eight-year-old and headed for the parking lot. She dreamily asked to say goodbye to Adam and asked him when she would get to see him again.
“Soon, I hope. When I’m back from the summer. But I’ll miss you until then and I’ll think about you every single day and every single night, just before I go to bed and say my prayers.”
“Adam?”
“Yes Misti?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetie.”
***
Adam did not see Misti again for seven years, until the day of her quinceanera. Then, not again for another seven years until she graduated from college. Both visits were brief and Edward and Carlos made sure they didn’t remain in touch.
Carlos and Edward had seen something that day, something that was all too familiar and something they knew they could never fix. They knew what it was in Adam; they hoped it wasn’t the same in Misti.
Hoping would do them no good in either case; within months they understood there were going to be challenges for both.
“We need to keep them busy, Carlos. And away from each other. You know I’m right.”
“Yes, but how? They’re just kids and besides, they’re family. They’re going to see each other at outings and events?”
“I have some ideas. Why don’t we talk about it tomorrow morning over some cold beers and early morning lake fishin’?”
“Si-mon amigo, si-mon.”
Chapter 35
Paulo and Enzo had been teaching the Progressions, the series of mandatory lectures on the topics most concerning to the Gens acolytes, for many decades. The brothers were constantly amazed how the most important topics seemed to shift from year to year, decade to decade. However, there was always one topic, the security of the Gens Collective, which was always a hot topic among the Gens youth. What to do with the mounting threat of human discovery was always high on the list. And as science and technology began to weave its way into the modern Gens mindset, new more contemporary questions were being raised about what this could mean for their future and their way of life.
The Gens, at least those who had chosen to remain in human form and who rarely, if ever, transformed, had for a long period of time dominated the discussion around new challenges to daily life in the modern age. While many enjoyed the benefits, toys and pleasures that human civilization brought, not all saw technology as a positive advance for their future. Oddly, it was those Gens who chose to remain in human form and who worked in the science and technology fields that were the first to raise the alarm.
Humanity had progressed to the point where things that were previously unknown, and virtually unknowable only a few years earlier, were rapidly coming into daylight. What had long been kept secret was now discoverable and many mysteries no longer remained unsolved. What created angst, among those Gens who feared progress, wasn’t the intended consequences of modern technology, but rather the unintended consequences of this new knowledge. Worse was the inability of the Gens Collective to keep pace with the new and daily threats to discovery posed by large numbers of transformed Gens. Human progress and large Gens numbers in transformed state did not mix well in their view.
There were upwards of one hundred million or more transformed Gens. That’s a lot of paws to keep an eye on, said one Elder.
It was within this context that Gens thought leaders began to examine the role of the Gens Collective in a future world that would continue to be dominated by humans but still occupied by many other species, themselves included. If the humans somehow found out about the nature and existence of the Gens Collective, how would they respond?
The inquiry of this Progression took many forms, but several were both topical and important.
The role of law in human society and the legal rights of non-humans in a human society were examined in many countries around the world. The attitude of religious organizations to a sentient, intelligent and potentially competitive, but fundamentally non-human life form, was also examined. The conclusions reached by the Council of Elders after years of careful study and interaction with unwitting human scholars was not encouraging.
They set forth their discussion and analysis in their seminal work on the subject matter, “Human Law, Religion and the Gens Collective”. Their conclusions were far reaching, sobering and devastating to the transformed who had long adapted to life among the humans. The white paper first circulated among the Gens leadership on the six habitable continents; it then began to circulate more widely among the transformed populace. The average Gens began to realize, for the first time, just how tenuous their existence was among so toxic a species as homo sapiens. The wake-up call had sounded; now a careful, measured and calm response was expected from leadership. The Great Council had not wanted the contents of the study released beyond leadership to avoid panic and fear. It was eventually released, as leadership concluded that the ordinary Gens had a right to know; just not before the Great Council had a lengthy opportunity to study it, its implications and conclusions.
Panic among the populace was of no benefit to anyone. At least, that’s what the Council thought.
Others on the margins could not have disagreed more. To their way of thinking, both Councils were both becoming too paternalistic. The average Gens had a right to know everything and know it as soon as leadership knew.
The year was 1946 and the new human invention of nuclear warfare was the driving force behind the first real reassessment of the Collective’s role in the modern scientific world. Ever. Nothing in the intervening years since then had changed the fundamental assessments made then: there would be new and unknown challenges to the Collective as science and technology progressed. The argument that humanity even then posed an immediate and long term existential threat to the Collective, and that the threat was only going to increase over time, soon became accepted political dogma to the Gens leadership.
It was the main reason for a new imperative; the Gens would thereafter need to know what the humans knew and would begin to prepare to fight them using their own science and technology. Education in the sciences and technology would become their new normal; much higher numbers of Gens children would have to begin the long process of preparation for post-secondary education, not something the Gens had been greatly interested in historically.
After centuries of pastoral life in rural settings far away from urban centers, the Gens began their own great migrations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. First, the transformed moved away from close proximity to the natural world and into human cities. There they integrated into daily urban life becoming educated in human ways, some attending the great universities in Europe, Asia and North America. Then the transformed Gens began other migrations away from the less industrialized countries toward the more industrialized nations. Though a difficult adjustment to a lifestyle so foreign to them, they nonetheless began to succeed in their chosen fields.
The Gens were no longer rural farmers; they became urban dwellers, shopkeepers and professionals. Just like their human counterparts.
Most humanized Gens were happy with transformed life in the modern age. Few wanted their old lives and the old ways back.
The Collective shunned many academic disciplines that did not relate to their long view of survival and Gens youth were chosen for specific roles and fields in which to become educated. Once chosen, they were expected to fulfill their roles and excel. Many more Gens were trained by these Gens scholars to carry out the duties assigned to them in ‘practical’ fields. There were some lawyers and but a greater number of doctors. Physicians had rarely been necessary as transformation to natural state normally healed all manner of disease and sickness but in the twentieth century, more and more Gens elected not to return to natural state. A significant number of Gens now remained transformed. Thus, physic
ians were becoming more necessary to heal human illness where transformation was not really an option, at least an option of choice.
Most trained Gens became researchers in various fields within science and technology, but the Gens also became politicians, police and military. If it ever came to that, the Gens would need to know how humans fight, what they fight with and how to slow the humanity down. Political access put them on the inside of human thinking.
***
The subject of this Progression was the human legal system and what kind of treatment and justice the Gens could expect from their human peers. The purpose of the Progression was to dispel any false notions of fair treatment or ‘rights’ that the Gens youth may have believed existed. After all, many of these teens had grown up in America watching fictional lawyers deliver fictional justice on TV and in the movies. What contemporary Gens youth really wanted was to be normal kids who took part in normal teenage behaviors, just like other human kids. They well understood that they were Gens and always at risk, but their defenses were often lowered when dealing with the consequences of ordinary everyday life. These young men and women, college age and bound for institutions of higher learning, often thought of themselves as fundamentally human and their lives merely complicated by the fact of their true existence.
They called themselves ‘mixed race novos’. And they believed they were what they contemplated themselves to be.
This small number, unheard of even fifty years ago, was growing. They belonged to the faction of ‘disclosure now’, but in a controlled and sane way. That meant political and religious inroads to find sympathetic and educated humans. Humans who believed in ‘humanism’ as applied to a new species of novo humans. There didn’t have to be competition among the species for absolute dominance; in the modern world competition only meant jobs, not species dominance. The younger generation looked at the numbers and decided that humans were, in fact, dominant. That fact was inexorable; there was no need to fight what was already plainly evident.
Discovery Page 52