by D. R. Mather
He was in the baby section of the store where he and Mary had got the crib. They already had one, but it seemed now that one wasn’t enough. Kevin smelled like a pine tree because he had just left the jobsite. He air hosed the sawdust off so he looked presentable enough to be seen in public and drove right to where he was now. Mary was being very fussy about the room for some reason; she wanted it to be perfect. She decided she wanted an African animal design. Not the scary types mind you; more like cute animal designs, made for a child. Kevin had already found what he thought was the perfect wallpaper. When he put it up, Mary kept looking at it and saying something was missing. Kevin didn’t understand it because it was definitely for a child; it had a Sahara background with African type trees, grassy plains and a few animals in the far background as well. One day, while they were looking at patterns online, he got his questions answered.
“THERE,” she said, and pointed at what she was looking at. They were big stick-on decals, about a foot tall. All the furry, cute little African animals you could want in one easy package. There were fifty in a pack and they ranged from cute little lion cubs to cute little rhinos. Mary ordered two. The evening after they arrived, as Kevin was walking down the hall, she ran out of the bedroom and pulled him down to the new baby room.
“SEE?”
That was all he needed to hear. He could see every single animal from the packages were now a permanent part of the wall.
“Wow, I see now.”
“Damn right you do,” she reached up, kissed his cheek and left him to her glorious work.
So here he was, walking through the baby section, and what did he see? A beautiful lamp made of ceramic in the perfect shape of an elephant. His hand was on it before the rest of his body caught up with it. He never let it go for the entire time he was there.
He came home with it and was so proud of himself. He walked in and called out….and then the dream changed…… He was now in the police interrogating room. They were asking for details as to his whereabouts for yesterday. Kevin doesn’t hear them. Not a lot anyway. He just sits slumped in the chair with a glassy look on his face. Someone sits in a chair across from him.
“Look, we just need to establish your alibi here.” they say.
Kevin slowly looked up at the man, but didn’t really see him. He stared at him briefly, and then hung his head again. A distant part of him heard another officer say, “Enough of this shit.” He walked over to Kevin and started slapping police crime scene photos in front of Kevin. The first was a picture of Mary, at least it COULD have been Mary; it was so hard to tell with half of her head blown off and her face covered with blood.
“How the hell could you do this to your own family, asshole!” The cop slapped down another picture, it showed his two children lying on a bed, and the walls covered in blood. Kevin looked at the pictures for a brief instant, then stood up and screamed, “NOOOOO.” He then punched the cop right square in the mouth. The other policeman saw three teeth fly across the room, and the cop hit the floor, out cold. Within a few seconds, three policemen were in the room and Kevin was sitting again with his head hanging down. Only now, he was cuffed to the chair. The police were attempting to take care of the fallen cop when Kevin slowly looked up and saw the images, and then began to scream. He couldn’t stop screaming as he woke up, he didn’t even hear the pounding at the door. Then the sound of a door being unlocked and Judy running in, with Will right behind her. Will stood back but Judy didn’t, she jumped on the bed and grabbed Kevin and held on for dear life. He was moaning and crying. Judy was crying with him and she didn’t even know what had happened yet. Well, she had a good idea.
“It’s ok, go back to bed. I’ve got him,” she said to Will.
Will left and ushered away everyone who had gathered in the hall. Judy stayed with Kevin for over an hour, just holding him. No words were exchanged. He finally sat back away from her and gave a tiny laugh.
“I’m sorry Judy, and I’ve gotten sweat all over you.”
She was still sitting on the bed next to him and sat up on her knees, “It’s okay, Kev; you should see me after a long run. The bitch will be washing out those tears; they stain in a way that soap can’t clean.” She smiled at him, a very warm smile.
“Let’s have a talk shall we?” he said, sliding back against the bed frame.
He told her everything; he left nothing out, not even Cindy. Kevin let his head go back and rested, exhausted.
“Questions?”
“These ‘dispatched men’, are we talking fifty? Seventy five?”
“It’s more like 500 dispatched, over one thousand marked of salvation.”
Judy stared at Kevin for a few second. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah, I know, but do you believe me?”
“Well Kev, I’ve heard a lot of lies in my days, but I’ve never heard of anyone who would lie about killing people. Besides, it just so happens that I do believe you, even with that. So, why are you here? Were you sent to ‘dispatch’ Stan?”
“No, maybe, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you were sent here to kill someone?”
“Like I said, they’ve decided to let me choose some things for myself.”
“Oh, like the diner earlier. Did you tell him to go out the back and kill himself?”
“Yes, I did, he was a dispatch anyway. You have to understand, I can see them the second I look at them. I’m told the names, the locations and times, but I was never shown who it was. I just know.”
“Then tell me this, if you weren’t ‘shown’ or told about the diner incident, how did you know not only to go there, but to be there at the right time, and even which booth would be the closest to him? And as I think about it, the last seat at the counter was actually closer than you were. Why didn’t we sit at the counter?”
“That one’s easy Judy, it was too close. He was a murderer, he also had an itchy trigger finger and he was left-handed. I would have been on his left side and he would have seen me much quicker. The whole thing would have ended a very different way.”
“So he would have shot and killed the waitress?”
“No, he would have turned to me first, but I would have been in the wrong spot to just shoot me. His left arm would have hit my shoulder before the gun was directly pointing at my chest. The gun would have been at an angle still, out past me. It would have been, (Kevin paused for a second) you he shot and killed.”
“Oh, I see. Then why bring me there in the first place? You knew there was a chance it could have been me.”
“I don’t have all the answers Judy; I think it was for you to see.”
Judy sat on the bed in silence now, she seemed to be in deep thought.
“I’ll tell you this Kev, you certainly didn’t do it exactly ‘freelance’ like you said, or else you would not have known so much and exactly what to do.”
“Well, that’s the logical reason until I tell you this: whatever or whoever the ‘voice’ is, they gave me something or rather, did something to my brain. I can see things I shouldn’t be able to see. They told me when they first came to me that I would get it and believe me, I have it. In fact, I have to share some of it with a few of the people in this house.”
“Including me Kev?”
“You more than the rest actually, you are top on the list.”
“Why me? Who am I that I’m so special?”
“It’s who you are, your character. I can’t say more than that because I don’t know. The big question now is, will you help?”
“The big answer Kev is, yeah, I will.”
“See, maybe they knew that you would.”
“I guess we’ll see then. What about Stan?”
“He’s my problem for now; I’m still working on it.”
“Ok Kev, I’m bushed so I’ll get back to my room. Goodnight.” Judy leaned forward and kissed Kevin, not on the cheek but on the lips. He smiled and she jumped off the bed and out the door. As she went back to her room she heard a do
or quietly click closed. It was Stan’s room. Judy turned abruptly around and went back to knock on Kevin’s door.
He didn’t say ‘come in’ but instead said; “Forget something?”
She walked in; he was still in the very spot she had left him in. She told him about Stan and he told her not to worry. He explained he had put a ‘block’ around the area before he had told Judy a single thing. He had used it in the diner as well, that’s why no one saw anything except for them and the waitress.
“Whew, thank god for th…..wait, what the heck is a block?”
“I can put a barrier around myself so that people can’t see or hear me. I can spread it out a bit more and it was enough to get you inside of it.”
“Oh, like the guns at the police stations you visit. Now I get it. OK, Thanks for the info sugar, catch you tomorrow!” Off she went again, leaving Kevin alone. He watched her leave; actually he’d call it toddling off with a skip in her step.
“That’s her ‘BUSHED? I’m not sure if I could handle being around her if she’s fully rested,” he whispered.
***
Breakfast was a great learning session. Everyone was there, and the talk was flying around the table. Judy had been helping Barb set up and she was just getting ready to sit when she stopped mid-stride. She rounded the table and went to Chuck, who sat to the right of Kevin. She whispered something in Chuck’s ear and Chuck instantly stood up.
“Sure Judy, no problem.”
He took his plate, moved around the table and sat down in Judy’s usual seat next to Stan. Nobody said a word, but the silence was amazingly loud. Half a minute later, everyone was back to talking again as if nothing had happened. Everyone except Stan. He was furious; you could see it in his face and in his eyes. He stood up, turned and stormed out of the room, disappearing around the corner towards the stairs. Only Kevin and Judy caught that little show.
“So Alex, I understand that computers are your thing,” Kevin said as he looked over at him.
“Oh you can bet on that.” Alex’s face perked right up in an instant at this, “There isn’t a single type of program that I haven’t personally created or at least been involved in.”
“Well Alex, that’s actually good to know. I’ve been thinking about getting back into computing again, I haven’t had one for around three years now, and the one I did have – well, let’s just say everyone used to call it an antique, so I’m a bit behind the eight ball on the whole PC tech thing.”
Alex smiled from cheek to cheek, “I’m your man Kevin. I’ll have you set up in a few days if you want to go down to the electronics store with me.”
“Perfect,” said Kevin. “How does tomorrow sound to you? We can chew the fat on the way.”
“Hey, perfect man, just let me know fifteen minutes before you want to go. That’s all the time I need no matter what I’m doing.”
“Excellent Alex, I’m guessing somewhere around eleven?”
“It works for me, I’ll meet you out at the front entrance then!”
Judy reached under the table and ‘speed tapped’ Kevin’s leg like she was clapping. He smiled but said nothing. As breakfast moved along Kevin got to learn a bit more about April. Not because he talked, but because he knew when not to talk and let her do the talking. What had he learned about April? For one thing she was looking for another job. It seemed April couldn’t stand working for a ‘major asshole’. Her words mind you. They tended to ‘piss her off’, also her words.
“You have one of ‘those bosses’ huh April?” Kevin asked.
“Oh man, I’d love to beat his head to a pulp.” April paused for an instant; “I’m sorry Kevin, I didn’t mean to talk like that in front of you.”
“Hey, it’s perfectly fine, ‘better to be pissed off than pissed on’ as the saying goes.”
Judy was just bringing a fork full of scrambled eggs to her mouth when he said that. She stopped the fork half way up.
“That’s the best you have?” she asked as she turned to look at him.
He looked at her, “It’s the best you’re going to hear in mixed company and to a lady to boot.” Judy finished the forks journey to her mouth and began eating the eggs as he continued. “Besides, I seem to have developed an incredibly crude and aggressive appendage on my right side that does all my smart ass joke responses for me.”
Judy made a loud sound like she was blowing through a tuba. Her cheeks puffed out and she slapped her hand to the front of her mouth to stop a ‘flying egg show’. Will on the other hand was older and slower, he didn’t quite make the save. Besides, he was drinking from his newly refilled coffee cup. From Will, all they heard was a wet, “Spppuuuffff”. Everyone shut up instantly.
Barb looked at Will; “Oh come on William!”
Will held still for a second and only said rather quietly, “Shit.”
They all saw it; there was coffee everywhere, on his shirt, on his face, all around the place mat and a rather ‘brown’ looking breakfast plate. The sudden roar that broke out around the table should have been heard all the way to downtown Denver. Now even Barb was laughing her head off. For some reason the whole thing seemed to start off ‘joke telling time’. Alex’s joke was lame, but Kevin spiced it up a bit.
“How do you get down off a duck?” Alex began.
“Easy one,” Judy said. “You don’t, you get down off a goose!”
Not much of a chuckle went around until Kevin added, “Well actually, that’s not the answer. The answer is, you pull it up to a hitching post, pull your leg out of one stirrup, swing that leg over the saddle and drop to the ground. Then you’re free to go about your business.”
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds until the image of riding a duck with a saddle hit their brains. Then the chuckles turned up a notch to a better laugh.
“I know,” said Kevin, “still lame, but lame with flair!”
That got them laughing again. Breakfast went well.
***
During clean up, Judy and Barb were clearing the table and Kevin was grabbing dishes. Barb spoke up and told him he didn’t need to do that, this was part of the service.
“I’m aware of that Barb; I just feel a need to help, if you don’t mind?”
“By all means then, help away Kevin.”
As everything was moved into the kitchen, Kevin saw that Will had already started the dishwasher.
“Wow that must be classified as an antique Will.”
“Actually Kevin, I think it pre-dates antiques. And if you check out the stove and oven, they pre-date this dish washer.”
“Ah, so this is one of those newer models,” Kevin said as he slapped the side of the machine.
Will let out a heavy chuckle and said half to himself; “I just knew I was gonna like you son.”
Kevin headed back over to where Barb and Judy were scooping food out of the serving trays and putting them into containers.
“I heard Will chuckling over there… something funny about my breakfast?”
“No, no Barb, we were just talking about antiques.”
Judy’s head was down but her smile was up. She liked this, she liked this a lot. It was as if she’d finally found the family she’d always wanted, instead of the one she got stuck with.
“Barb, I have to give it to you, you make some fantastic meals with such an outdated kitchen. And from what I can see, not a lot of the newest kitchen tools either.”
“Well, that’s true, I do miss the modern things I used to have, but a woman does what a woman has to do, right? Besides, more times than not, Judy’s out here helping me. If she wasn’t, we’d all be eating a lot more toast in the mornings and Mac and cheese at night.”
Judy stopped and looked at Barb; “Oh go on now Barb, you know I’m just following your lead. You’re the chef here, not me.”
“Oh, is that so now? Kevin, let me give you a secret: you remember when Judy saw you at the bottom of the stairs when you first walked into the place?” Kevin nodded his head up and down. “
Well, as soon as she had showered from her run, she came right into the kitchen and announced that in celebration of our new guest we were going to have lasagna. And Judy was the one who made them. So don’t let her wiggle out of her own talent.”
“BARB! You weren’t supposed to tell him that!”
“Yes, yes, I know. So did you two have a nice ride into town yesterday?”
Kevin and Judy looked at each other for a brief second.
“Let’s just say it was ‘interesting’ and Judy’s never boring,” said Kevin. Then he heard Will, he was standing maybe a full foot behind him.
“Yeah, that’s our little ball of fire alright; interesting, VERY interesting.” Will walked away with a grin on his face and headed back over to the dishwasher. Judy looked over at Will, then back to Barb.
“Is Will up to something that we don’t know about?” she asked.
“Oh, let’s just say he doesn’t like the idea that we are the only married couple in the house, and that he’s practicing his ‘cupid’ performance. If I were to guess, I’d be thinking he may have found a couple of love birds that he’s trying to match up.” Barb looked back and forth between Judy and Kevin. Suddenly the ceiling seemed to be the main focal point for both of them.
***
Kevin was in the living room when Chuck and Ray came in, sat near him and started talking about Stan.
“Listen Kevin,” said Chuck, “you may need to watch out for Stan. Ray and I have noticed a few things about him that neither one of us is too crazy about.”
“Exactly what might those few things be?”
Ray spoke up, “He’s walking around the halls upstairs a lot, just mumbling to himself as if no one is around. I heard him say your name several times, and it was almost always followed by one swear or another.”
“Great, that’s what we need, a psycho around the place.”
“It seems to be a whole lot more than that,” Chuck whispered between them. “It’s as if the guy is possessed or something. I think my time at the Colburn Inn has come to a close,” Chuck then got up and left the room.