“We might have to gather some power with the solar equipment, but it should. Zach would know better than I would.” Nathan pulled the bottle and went to tip it to his son when Shelly stopped him with a short yelp. Following what he’d seen his mama and Big Mama do, he shook a few drops onto his wrist, then set the bottle on the floor.
Shelly retrieved it, gave it a few shakes, and handed it to him. “Can I connect it to the internet, then?”
“Yes, ma’am, you surely can. If we pull the satellite dish out. You need to look for something?”
She stood poised to open the door. “If I can get to my email, I do need to let my dad know we’re okay.”
“Well, then we’ll make it happen.”
The chill of the morning forced breakfast to be served in the new building. The sounds of chatter echoed through the room too much. But, it would be rude to take his meal to his cabin. It wouldn’t do well for Shelly to abandon the others, either. Folks might get to thinking they were being snooty. No sir, sit still and deal with it.
“When breakfast is done, I’d like to take Shelly to the construction site. Would that be okay with ya’all, Davy?”
“Are you kidding? You’re asking me if it’s all right to show off my masterpiece?”
“You shouldn’t demure so, Davy.” Steve’s comment brought laughter from the clan members.
They piled into the carts they’d used when building the new cabins, and headed out. The bumpy ride through the underbrush, over tree roots, down into and up out of numerous gullies took a good hour.
Davy parked at the bottom of a particularly deep ravine. Standing at the edge of a bulldozed, dirt lot, he pointed at gaping concrete lined caverns in the side of the hill. “There it is. Every room, even parking for staff will be built right into the side of the ravine. The only visible sign of a structure will be vents, and those will be camouflaged by the trees above.”
“Oh, my gosh.” Shelly moved forward.
Walking alongside her, Nathan swept a hand along the manmade caves. “Thirty dorm rooms will sleep four each. They’ll have beds, study tables and chairs. A full bathroom will be between two rooms. Down there to the right, will be a cafeteria for meals. Full kitchen facilities behind. Meeting rooms for group counseling and school rooms, offices, and such will be over there, off to the left.”
“This is amazing. I mean, Nathan, this…what you’ve done here for these people…”
Nathan shrugged.
Davy piped up. “Don’t let him fool you, Shelly. It’s more than amazing. You see the hallway there just left of center on the lower level? That leads to a movie theater and a game room.” Davy pointed at Nathan. “His idea. All the extras, his brainstorm.”
Heat ran up through Nathan’s neck, and into his cheeks. “Well, life can’t be all chores. Folks have got to have some playtime.”
“Speaking of playtime,” Marvin said, coming out of the darkness of the building. “Can we build a playground of sorts out here?”
“I expect so. It’s not like the place is any secret.”
“We’ll be careful to keep it covered from aerial snooping. They’ll see the access road,” Marvin gestured to the graded ribbon of dirt rising up the side of the hill. “But that’s about it. Up at the top, there will be electronic, monitored gates.”
“What good will that do? We can’t hardly wall in the entire property.” Nathan swept his arms in a wide arc.
“No, but we don’t want this place exactly accessible, either. We want the people who come here to know they’re safe. Twenty-foot high steel fencing will be put in around these six acres, painted to blend with the surroundings,” Davy explained. “The perimeter will be monitored twenty-four, seven. And a guard will be stationed at the entrance. Don’t you worry, it’s all under control.”
“Nathan, if my dad could see this, he wouldn’t wonder why we hadn’t heard from you. He’d be clapping you on the back, saying ‘good job.’ ”
“Well, I hope so. But, still, I sure do owe that man an apology of some sort. I’ll find some way to make up for the slight.”
When they returned from the building site, Shelly sat down and typed her message, then handed a print of it to Nathan.
Daddy,
I told you. Your grandson put a picture in my head and here we are. Daddy, the place is amazing. Nathan is doing great things here. He’s housed almost twenty-six victims of domestic violence—mostly children. There’s a brand new complex of buildings going up on his land, several miles from the compound I told you about before we left. There will be dorm rooms, classrooms, a fully-equipped medical clinic, offices for counselors, and rooms for group therapy. When it’s done, they’ll house almost 100. It’s nothing short of amazing.
But, what’s really phenomenal? He’s set up a trust fund for them. Whenever someone is ready to move on, go back to the world, they’ll be given $5k to get them started with a new life.
And, guess what? I’ve got a job. I’m going to run the school for him! He’s a good man, Daddy. You’re going to love him when you get to know him.
Maybe we can come visit at Christmas. Lots of love, Shelly, Daniel, and Nathan
P.S. Nathan sends apologies and his best regards.
“Christmas, huh?” Nathan lowered the page.
“I know it’s a lot to ask….”
The pleading of her voice and the hopeful expression left Nathan helpless. “Now, I can’t make any promises, but let’s see what we can do.”
Chapter 44
A year later, as the staff made final preparations for the shelter complex to be inhabited, Nathan, Shelly, Zach, and Sarah stood watching a game of tag take place in the meadow. The children’s laughter rang through the air as they hid in Queen Anne’s Lace taller than some. Daniel, now a good-natured toddler sitting right in the midst of the action, giggled at the goings-on.
Movement at the far end of the glen made Nathan’s breath catch in his chest. He followed Jason’s gaze, then ran to scoop Daniel into his arms. “You leave him alone!”
“You’ve taken too many liberties. You, and those like you, your time has come to an end.”
Marvin appeared as if out of nowhere. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jason stood in the middle of the glen and glared at Marvin. “If these people would be trying to do good, it might be a little different. But they take over other’s lives for selfish reasons. If they would seek out a Gadaffi, a Hitler, a Saddam, to stop atrocities, it could be forgiven. But the greed here is beyond anything. The world is filled with enough gluttony and avarice. No. This I cannot condone, this I will not allow.
“The arguments you and your friends put forth remind me of another such discussion so many, many years past when I lived on that first continent when the vast land still stood silent and innocent, unscathed and untouched; the virtuous wife on her wedding night.”
Jason recounted how he stood on a fertile plain, keeping watch on the stands of verdant trees where bands of marauders hid on the way to a neighboring village, golden reed-thin stalks of tall grass swayed in a gentle breeze, the cobalt blue of the sky lightly painted with thin white clouds, and held his ground against the position of his counterpart, Teresa. “Humans, as we call ourselves, are the worst scourge ever to be dropped on this earth. We are the most vile, vicious, disgusting things. We are a plague that cannot be contained. No matter the foulness I consume and keep enfolded within me, it has already found its way into others. The hatred, the jealousy, the bigotry has already been passed down.”
Teresa had smiled in response. “You don’t see the good, Jason? What about the mother who nurtures her child, the man who nurses the wounded animal, the innocent child who finds a floundering chick and, with such loving hands, gently places it back in the nest? No, my friend, there is much that is good. And it too shall spread. Wait. Watch. You shall see in time.”
“And what of them? How will goodness and kindness perpetuate?”
“Like you, I enfold,
but unlike the evil you keep, the kindness and loving I’ve enveloped is released again, given rebirth.”
Jason returned his gaze to the group gathered around him on Nathan’s compound. “Now, after all the millennia that have passed, I find little to nothing changed. This clan takes over lives, stealing what belonged to others: life itself. Nathaniel Crockett, how many lives have you stolen over the years?”
“But my son, Jason, if I do as you ask, how will he know his father’s touch? I can’t leave him. Look at him,” Nathan pointed to the child he’d released to the ground, who now smiled up at the vision of the gathered deadheads. “He knows me. Even when I step out of this body. In a short time that would fade from his memory. I would fade. I’m sorry, I can’t.”
Deep furrows creased along Jason’s forehead. “You will be under constant watch. The first time you—”
“Jason, please. I beg you,” Nathan dropped to his knees, rivers welled from his eyes. “I promise you, when this self dies…”
“So you can cheat him out of everything you ask to experience?”
Marvin broke into the fray. “But he hasn’t. I’ve seen the man. I’ve actually talked to the man he embodies. Have you?” Marvin stood defiant, arms crossed. “Erick agreed to this. If you don’t believe me, go find Jenna, or call her to you. That’s how that works, right? You command and she obeys? But, she’ll tell you the same thing. In fact, it was her idea to keep this arrangement.”
“To what end?” Jason demanded.
“For the children you see over there,” Marvin pointed to the spirited romp. “For the adult men and women she and her sect have saved from living horror. An entire complex has been built at Nathan’s willing expense to house them, to hide them from further harm, to protect them, to help them heal.”
Jason pointed at Nathan. “This is your last life, Nathaniel Ray Crockett. Use it wisely. For when it is done, you are as well.”
“That would be a big mistake. Trust me,” Marvin said with the trace of an ironic laugh. “Someday you’re going to need Nathan, and the people he’s gathered here.”
“You best be careful, Marvin.” Jason’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve been too lenient, given more latitude to you and yours than is deserved.”
Marvin shrugged. “So, sue me. I’m just telling you from my gut. I don’t know how or when, but if you do as you’re threatening, you’ll regret it.”
Jason gazed past the gathered group, nodded, and his visage faded from sight. The group heaved a collective sigh of released tension.
“That was impressive. I’m proud of you, Marvin.” Jenna’s voice came from behind them.
Everyone turned to find her smiling.
“When did you get here?” Marvin asked.
“A little while ago. I saw Jason come out of the trees and I started to move in, but you stepped in before I could get a word out. I decided to let you handle it.”
“I thought you said I wasn’t capable.”
“Marv, I’m sorry,” Jenna said, joining the group. “Maybe I got a little full of myself.”
Marvin’s eyes grew wide. “Maybe?”
“Come on, Marv…”
“Maybe?” Marvin folded his arms across his chest. “I tried to help and you told me to shut up. All I wanted to do is spend more time with you. Was that too much to ask? And what did you do? You told me you didn’t have time for me. And now you tell me ‘maybe’?”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Now you’re sorry. After I’ve been gone for a year? What changed? Did you find out I’m not useless, after all?”
“No, Marv.” Jenna’s shoulders slumped and she dropped her gaze to the ground. “I missed you.”
“Awww, dude, isn’t that the bomb?” Tommy’s voice came from the edge of the trees. “How can you resist that?”
“And, we’ve missed you, too,” Mike added. “Besides, another one of your rants isn’t exactly going to make her feel better.”
The two phantoms rushed to Marvin in a jumble of limbs. Through laughter, Marvin said, “Get out of me you schmucks,” though he held on to them both. “How did you find this place?”
Tommy’s smile beamed from ear to ear. “We nagged Jenna, how else?”
“I mentioned a few times. He nagged,” Mike poked Tommy in the ribs.
“Nathan, dude, that is one far out building you put together. I knew you were a good guy right from the start. Didn’t I say that?” Tommy cast an inquisitive expression around the circle.
“We took a bit of a self-guided tour of the shelter,” Jenna explained. “You’ve done well. All of you. And, I owe you a debt of gratitude.”
“Well, ma’am, it took a might bit of doing, I won’t lie. But, ya’ll are welcome. What with Shelly and my little guy…why, I truly understand. I’m right happy I obliged.”
“I think these two lugs would like to stay for a visit, if you don’t mind.” Jenna jutted her chin toward Tommy and Mike. “But, we should let you get back to enjoying your day.” With that, Jenna walked toward the canopy of trees ringing the meadow. She stopped, turned to them, and smiled. “Are you coming, Marv?”
“I don’t know. There’s something about this place. It kind of grew on me.”
“Pfft. Something grew on you all right.” Jenna winked.
Marvin’s expression dropped into a poker face. “Maybe I should stay. Tell me again, what changed?”
“Really? Fine.” Jenna placed her fists on her hips. “What’s changed? Everything.” She dropped her hands to her sides and smiled. “But, I’ll tell you what hasn’t changed. You can still be an arrogant prick.”
Marvin grinned, and he walked to her. “You know, you can be a petulant bitch.”
Mike and Tommy burst out into infectious giggles. Nathan and his new family, and the clan members who weren’t working to put everything in place at the newly completed shelter watched the two link arms.
As the two faded into the trees their banter continued.
“Oh, go fall down a flight of stairs.”
“Go step in front of a bus.”
A word about the author…
Paul Atreides turned writing for his own amusement into a career. A former theatre critic and columnist for Nevada’s largest daily newspaper, he now reviews for EatMoreArtVegas.com. He’s had several short stories published in anthologies and is also a playwright. His two-act comedy-drama, Phallusies, premiered in Las Vegas, Nevada, to good reviews, received Las Vegas City Life’s “Pick of the Week,” and has played to sold-out houses. His ten-minute play, Fusion, is scheduled to tour the U.S. as part of The Grief Dialogues. He is a former Coordinator of the Las Vegas Writers Conference and sits on the University of Nevada—Las Vegas College of Fine Arts Advisory Board.
Connect with Paul at:
Website: http://www.paul-atreides.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/atreides_paul
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.atreides.391
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