G.W. sighed and groped for the seat controls. With a faint whir, he rode the seat back up to its normal position. “Roger’s not back with the water yet,” he explained, as he climbed out of the car and stretched languidly. “He should be back any minute, sweetheart, and then we’ll skedaddle on out of here.”
2.6.8: Pierce's Bridge
Jillian watched impatiently as Sunshine waddled up to the telephone pole. “Come on,” Jillian screamed. “You’re so slow!” The instant that Sunshine extended her finger and touched the pole, Jillian was ready to go again. “Race you to…” – she looked around, selected another destination – “… to the corner of the fruit stand, over there.” She pointed and looked at Sunshine to make sure that she understood, but Sunshine was shaking her head. “What do you mean?” Jillian asked, indignantly.
“Don’ wanna,” Sunshine said, continuing to shake her head.
“Why not?” Jillian demanded, hotly. But Sunshine just kept shaking her head.
“Lookit,” Jillian said, “I won’t even run, okay? I’ll skip, and you run. I bet you can beat me that way.” She smiled sweetly at Sunshine, who stopped shaking her head but still looked doubtful.
“Ready,” Jillian said, dramatically, “set… GO!” And she took off, skipping toward the shed as slowly as possible. Unable to resist, Sunshine took up the challenge and toddled off after her.
Jillian smirked as Sunshine caught up to her and began to pull ahead. Knowing that she could easily overtake the smaller girl at any time, Jillian skipped contentedly along, a few paces behind Sunshine, until they were only about ten yards away from the shed. Then she lengthened her stride and skipped merrily past the hard-working little redhead. “Beat ya!” she shouted. “It was real, real, real close, but I beat ya!”
2.6.9: Pierce's Bridge
“God, I wish we were back in Texas,” Barbara Anne moaned, slumping dejectedly against the car.
“I thought you liked it here,” G.W. said, with a broad gesture that encompassed the entire valley. “I would’ve sworn this was just the kind of place you were looking for.” He walked over to her and touched her arm, but she drew it away sharply.
“Don’t touch me,” she said, tiredly. “I’m all sweaty and dirty.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I do. I feel icky. I need a bath. I need to wash my hair. Please, G.W.,” she begged, “let’s get the hell out of here!”
“It won’t be long now, sugar,” he said consolingly. He reached out to touch her cheek, but she drew away again. “If he’s not back in another minute or two, we’ll just go on and leave. I don’t know if we’ll get real far,” he added, “but I guess it’s worth a shot.”
2.6.10: Pierce's Bridge
“Now I’ll race ya to…” – Jillian searched for a suitable target – “… to that other telephone pole, the one down the road.” She pointed. “See it?”
Sunshine shook her head stubbornly.
“You don’t see it?” Jillian asked, incredulously.
“Don’ wanna.”
“But you almost beat me last time, Sunshine,” Jillian pointed out. “And I’m real tired ‘cause I’ve been running so fast.” She panted heavily for dramatic effect. “See? I bet you could beat me real easy. I’ll skip again, and I’ll go real slow, and you run as fast as you can. Okay?”
“Don’ wanna.” Sunshine shook her head defiantly. Her stringy red mop flew from side to side.
“Oh, c’mon,” Jillian begged. “Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?”
Sunshine eyed Jillian suspiciously, but she stopped shaking her head.
“Just one last race, okay?” Jillian said eagerly. “This’ll be the last one, ‘cause then I gotta go, and you won’t have any more chances to beat me anymore, so let’s race to the telephone pole, okay?” And without waiting for a response, she chanted “Ready… set… GO!”, and she began to skip slowly through the parking lot, confident that Sunshine would take the bait and follow along.
For just a few seconds, Sunshine stood stock still, an indecisive look on her face. Then, pursing her lips and gritting her teeth as if she were making a momentous decision, she ran. But not after Jillian. Rather, she headed behind the shed. And then an instant later, she emerged from behind it.
But she wasn’t running.
She was riding a bicycle.
The bicycle was so tiny that it seemed like a toy. And yet Sunshine herself was so small that she had to stand on the pedals to reach them. Her face was taut with determination. The tip of her tongue stuck out between her teeth as she flew out from behind the shed and took off after Jillian.
Jillian hadn’t looked behind her, she was skipping merrily along, as slowly as possible, waiting for Sunshine to catch up. And in just a few seconds, Sunshine did, indeed, catch up. In fact, she whizzed past Jillian at what seemed like a terrific speed, leaving Jillian literally in the dust.
Nearly tripping over her own feet in confusion, Jillian stopped skipping and gawked as Sunshine flew past her. How could this be? Jillian wondered. I can’t even ride a bicycle, and I’m almost six years old! How can a two-year-old ride a bicycle? She’s just a baby!
It’s not fair, Jillian thought, and she stamped her foot in frustration. It’s cheating.
Sensing that Jillian had stopped, Sunshine expertly spun the bike to a stop and looked back at Jillian. She straddled the bike, one foot on the ground, one foot still on the pedals. “I win,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
“No you didn’t,” Jillian said huffily. “You’re cheating. You’re nothing but a big cheater, that’s what you are. And besides,” she pouted, “you didn’t win. We’re racing to the telephone pole, and you didn’t touch the telephone pole yet, so you didn’t win, so there, miss smarty-cheater.” And she stuck out her tongue at Sunshine and wiggled her hands next to her ears.
Sunshine turned to look at the telephone pole in question, which turned out to be a tactical blunder. The instant that Sunshine’s attention was diverted, Jillian took off running, passing Sunshine before she knew what was happening. And by the time Sunshine was able to regain her momentum, Jillian was at least ten yards ahead of her and running just as fast as she could run, pumping her thin legs furiously.
But well before Jillian reached the telephone pole, Sunshine zoomed past her again. And Jillian was still yards away when Sunshine pulled up at the base of the pole and reached out and touched it gently with one extended finger. A self-satisfied smirk on her face, she turned to face Jillian who had come to a stop several yards away and stood there panting, her face screwed up with anger.
“Cheater,” Jillian said, between gasps for breath. “Double cheater. I ain’t gonna play with you no more. So there!” And she tossed her head defiantly and began to march back to the Cadillac.
And because she was facing the wrong way, Jillian didn’t see Sunshine sticking out her tongue and wiggling her hands next to her ears, in an imitation of what she herself had done only moments before. But she did hear the sound effect that Sunshine added to the copied motions. In fact, even if she had been twice as far away, it would have been impossible to miss the derisive raspberry that Sunshine blew at Jillian’s retreating back.
Transition
Book 2: Conflict
Part 7:
The Awakening
2.7.1: Dallas
“… and then we filled up the radiator, and we loaded the troops into the big black Cadillac, and we rode off into the sunset.” G.W. grins at Sunshine and pats her on the knee affectionately. “And that’s the goddamn truth,” he says, shaking his head wistfully.
Not the whole truth, he thinks. But you don’t need to know everything. And the parts I told you were true, so that’s not really lying, is it?
“You’re lucky the pump was working that day,” Sunshine says, sleepily. “It was usually broken. Roger used to have to ride all the back to the house to get water most of the time.” She flashes a drowsy smile. “Not that he minded, of course.”
>
“I guess we all got lucky that day,” G.W. says. I know I sure did, he thinks.
“I didn’t realize that I knew how to ride a bicycle when I was two. I mean, I don’t remember back that far. But I don’t think my folks ever told me that I was riding that young.”
“It was quite a sight,” G.W. starts to point out. But just then, Jillian lets out with a surprisingly loud snore; as she exhales, her lips move as if she’s trying to speak. She scrunches up even tighter on the loveseat, her head against the armrest, one arm dangling limply down to the carpet.
“You were a sight to behold,” G.W. continues, after a quick pause for the interruption. “You looked like you were just barely big enough to walk, but you sure were a holy terror on that two-wheeler.” G.W. pats Sunshine again, but this time it’s more on her thigh than on her knee, and this time he doesn’t remove his hand right away. “Sure is a whale of a coincidence, what with you and Jill racing around like that sixteen years ago, and not seeing each other all this time, and now here you two are trying out for the Olympics together.”
“Everything has a purpose, G.W.,” Sunshine explains earnestly. “There are no coincidences. Everything that happens, happens for a reason. We only think that it’s a coincidence sometimes because we can’t see the big picture. If we knew the master plan, we’d understand the intricate series of relationships that connect everything.” By way of illustration, she holds her hands up and weaves her fingers together.
“Is that a fact?” G.W. is nonplussed. “So you mean to tell me that you think that there’s some kind of reason for us running into each other after all these years?”
Sunshine nods. “I’m not advanced enough to know what the reason is, and the reason may never be revealed to us in this life. But things don’t just happen by chance. There are no mistakes. The universe is not random. We’re just too close to what’s happening to see the entire pattern. Sort of like not being able to see the forest for the trees.”
“Well, you done lost me now, honey.” G.W. laughs – but softly, so as not to awaken his daughter. “All I know is that you were a dirty-faced, ragged little cuss back then, and here it is sixteen years later, and you sure have grown into one beautiful woman.” He reaches up and strokes her cheek lightly. “Just like your ma.”
Sunshine shakes her head, but without enough force to dislodge G.W.’s hand. “I know I’m not beautiful,” she says. “I know you meant it as a compliment, but you don’t have to flatter me. Physical beauty is simply not that important.”
“But I can see your mother in you,” G.W. says, softly. “When I look into your eyes, I see her. I mean, from what I remember, you two don’t look that much alike. But I can see her beauty in you, shining through, clear as day.”
For a moment, G.W. thinks that Sunshine is actually going to smile. But it turns out to be only a yawn, which she tries unsuccessfully to stifle.
“Am I boring you?” G.W. asks, jokingly.
“Oh, no sir,” Sunshine says gravely. “I’m just really tired. I don’t usually stay up this late.” She glances at Jillian, curled up on the loveseat, dead to the world. “I guess we’d better be getting off to sleep, don’t you think? Jill and I have to get up real early in the morning.”
“Now, don’t you go running off so soon,” G.W. pleads. “I haven’t had this much fun talking to someone in years. If you’re tired, why don’t you just scoot on over here and rest your head on my shoulder a bit?”
Sunshine hesitates. “I don’t know, G.W. It really is getting late, and…”
“Oh, come on. Just a few more minutes talking to an old man ain’t gonna hurt you.”
“You’re not old,” she protests. “And it’s not that I don’t enjoy talking to you, because I do. Really. But don’t you think that Jill and I should try to get a little sleep?”
“Looks to me like you don’t need to worry none about Jill none. And I won’t keep you up but a few more minutes, cross my heart.”
“Well…”
“That’s my girl,” G.W. says, as he pats the seat next to him. “C’mon over and rest your weary head a spell.”
With an uncertain glance at Jillian, Sunshine slides over to G.W. and lowers her head onto his shoulder. He wraps one big arm around her waist and begins to stroke her hair with his free hand. But drifting through the haze of his mind, it’s sixteen years ago, and he’s back at Nature’s Bounty, and it’s the oh-so-willing body of Corinne McVeigh that trembles beside him…
“That feels so nice,” Sunshine sighs, snuggling against him and closing her eyes. “It’s been such a long day for me. I’m so worn out.”
“Well, you just go on and make yourself comfortable, little darlin’.”
“But I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep.”
“Nothing to be afraid of.”
“But I oughta go to bed,” she says, drowsily.
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” G.W. says, soothingly. “If you drift off, I’ll just carry you upstairs to the guest room and tuck you in.” He pats her head reassuringly, and he imagines carrying Sunshine up the stairs, her arms wrapped around his neck. He’ll lay her down on the bed ever so gently, and she’ll open her eyes and smile at him, and it will be her mother’s smile, hot with lust, and she’ll open her arms to him, and he’ll show her that he’s no longer the scared little kid he was sixteen years ago, and he’ll finish off with the daughter what he started with the mother…
“Mmmm,” Sunshine says, as G.W.’s hand begins to creep up her side. “I’m so sleepy.”
“G.W.’s gonna take care of you,” he says reassuringly, with a quick glance at Jillian to make sure that she’s still asleep.
But she’s not.
2.7.2: Dallas
Jillian stares back at her father with wide eyes. She blinks several times, trying to clear the cobwebs, or perhaps she doesn’t quite believe what she’s seeing.
“Time to run off to bed, little girl,” G.W. says softly, as Jillian struggles to push up into a sitting position.
“Okay, G.W.,” Sunshine says, with obvious reluctance.
“Not you, Sunshine, you’re fine,” he says, holding on to her as she tries to pull away
“Is Jill awake?” Sunshine asks sleepily, her eyes still closed.
“You bet your ass, she is,” Jillian says. “And she wants to know just what the fuck is going on.”
Sunshine opens her eyes and sits up. This time, G.W. doesn’t try to restrain her. “What do you mean, Jill?” she asks. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Sunshine, don’t act so goddamn stupid.”
“Now hold on there, little filly,” G.W. says, trying to sound jovial. “Sounds to me like you mighta been having a bad dream.”
“Looks to me like you were having a wet dream,” Jillian snaps, her eyes flashing with anger. “But it’s over now, and we’re all going to bed. And not with each other.”
G.W. stops smiling. “You better watch your mouth, young lady,” he barks. “Just who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”
“I think maybe I oughta go to bed,” Sunshine offers, tentatively.
“You just set right where you are,” G.W. orders. “No reason for you to run off just because Jill’s showing her butt. Seems to me like she’s the one who needs to go to bed.”
“The guest room’s up at the top of the stairs, Sunshine,” Jillian says evenly, her eyes firmly fixed on her father’s. “Remember the stairway off the front hall? Just go up the stairs and turn right, it’s the second door on the left.”
“Now just hold on one cotton-pickin’ minute here,” G.W. fumes, trying to work up some indignation to mask his guilt at being caught. “Where the hell do you get off ordering people around in my house? You’re getting to be…”
“I really should go to bed, G.W.,” Sunshine says, uneasily. “I’m awfully tired, and I’ve gotta get up real early.”
“Well, I’m glad to see that somebody here’s got some sense,” Jillian says. “You run off,
Sunshine. I’ll be up in a minute.”
“The hell you say,” G.W. says, angrily. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Jillian, but if you think you’re too old for me to turn you over my knee and give you a good thrashing, you got another thing coming.”
“Well, Daddy dear,” Jillian says, with syrupy sweetness, “we seem to have a disagreement here. I think Sunshine should go to bed, and you think she should stay up and keep you company. Why don’t I go wake Mother up and ask her to come down and settle this for us?”
“Oh, no, you two, please don’t fight.” Sunshine is clearly distraught. “Jill’s right, G.W. I really do need to get some sleep.” She leans over and kisses him lightly on the cheek; Jillian snorts loudly and rolls her eyes. “Thank you so much for your hospitality. And I sure did enjoy your story. You’re sweet.” She yawns and turns to Jillian. “Are you coming, Jill?”
“You run along Sunshine. I’ll be up in a minute.”
“Good night, G.W.,” Sunshine says, flashing him a quick smile. She looks uncertainly at Jillian, but Jillian is ignoring her and staring at her father through narrowed eyes. Sunshine turns with a sigh and walks slowly from the room.
“Young lady…” G.W. begins, as the sound of Sunshine’s footsteps begins to fade.
“Don’t you ‘young lady’ me, Daddy,” Jillian interrupts, her chin rising defiantly. “I’m not blind. I could see what you were doing. That was absolutely disgusting. Totally inexcusable.”
“Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that?” G.W. snaps. Abruptly, he stands and walks over to the fire and rearranges its dying embers with a poker. “I don’t know what you thought you saw, Jill,” he says, without turning to look at her. “I have no idea of what’s going on in your dim little mind. But…”
Transition Page 36