by Dave Hazel
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” he chuckled and waved it off as foolishness.
“So are you going to tell me what is going on Myk?” Pam asked and stood before him with her arms folded across her chest. “Why the secrecy and the mystery of the packages into the safety deposit boxes?” She continued to whisper.
“If you love me and the boys, then what I’m going to say will never leave this room,” Mykal whispered ever so slightly.
“I promise,” she mouthed her words as devastating concern washed over her pretty face.
“I’m the one who might be in danger,” he whispered directly into her ear. “Those items in the bank are not to be opened unless I die.”
“What are you saying?” Pam whispered harshly.
“If I die, then open them, but don’t you dare open them behind my back or you will endanger me, you, the boys, your parents and everyone that you hold dear. Stop,” he whispered gently when she started to cry. “You asked me a friggin question and I don’t wanna lie to you. I answered you, now stop. It’s gonna be alright. I’m getting everything worked out. You and the boys are my life and I would never do anything to put you in harm’s way.”
“Why are you in danger Myk?” She whispered into his ear and held him tightly but continued to cry.
“Cuz there are people in our government who want access to Towbar’s world to steal everything they have and I’m not gonna let them rape the land cuz I fear what will happen to Towbar and his people,” he answered. Though that was true he knew he lied to her in answering her question. “So tomorrow I should have an answer that everything is gonna be alright and that we’ve come to a compromise.”
“You’re a hero Myk, why can’t everyone just leave us alone?” She asked and sniffed several times.
It hurt Mykal that she cried. It hurt him that he lied to her, but he didn’t tell her the truth for her own protection. “Hopefully, by this time next year,” he whispered joyfully into her ear. “We will be away from everyone and everything. It will be just me, you and the boys and we’ll have the rest of our lives together. Me and you will sit back and enjoy watching the boys grow up,” he said with a big smile but his mind raced with thoughts of struggling to make it alive through the next month. “All I want is for me and you to grow old together. One day the boys will be grown up and off to college and have families of their own and then it will be just me and you. I want to enjoy every moment of that. You are my life,” he whispered. “But if I die in the next couple of days or sometime after we come back, then you take those packages out and I left instructions with who to get in touch with. Okay?”
“I don’t understand Myk, why would someone want to kill you or hurt you?” She whispered and fought desperately to keep from breaking down. “You’re a national hero. You’re a world hero. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I have things worked out. And just so you know,” Mykal paused and held her tight and kissed her cheek. “In our little stash hidden downstairs, I took ten thousand out. Later today or tomorrow, go get another ten thousand and replace it.”
“Why?”
“I need it for something. The less you know the better.”
“No, I didn’t mean why did you take it, but why do you want me to replace it?” She asked. “I rarely use cash and I hardly spend anything unless you know about it. That should leave sixteen or seventeen thousand down there. I’m not going to carry cash with me so I’m not going to replace it unless you absolutely want me to. If I really need anything I’ll write a check or use a credit card. I don’t care about money Myk. I care about you and the boys. I have more than enough with the house and the car. I don’t need anything. I just want you to come home for good.”
“I’ll make that happen as soon as possible,” he promised, but he knew his commitment to help Towbar wouldn’t happen overnight.
“Well,” she paused and wiped her eyes. “What would you like me to make for dinner tonight?”
“I probably won’t eat cuz I have to meet with someone tonight. His flight is supposed to get in at ten after seven tonight,” he whispered into her ear. “I told him to meet me at the Country Kitchen and we’ll probably eat there cuz it’s a smaller out of the way place as far as drawing attention.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s that guy Dave Hazel who wrote that book on my cousin.”
“That book about the gang of punks on the street?” She whispered.
“Yeah, it’s a fiction but it is based on true stuff.”
“Oh my that had some sickening stuff in it,” Pam gasped. “I read it and I liked it, but was that really your cousin?”
“Yeah, and I might have him do my book cuz he’s from back home and he actually knew my cousin.”
“Don’t you think you should allow someone with more experience to write your story?” Pam asked. “And how is he going to get it all down in one day? Didn’t you say you have to go back tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he snickered at her questioning. “We’re just going to talk about it and then deal with it after I get back. I just wanna question him and get a feel for what he would do with my story,” he said and wasn’t going to tell her he had a journal of almost everything that happened while in Towbar’s world. He wasn’t sure if he would allow Dave Hazel to write his story but depending on how his discussion unfolds he might give him a package to put in a safe deposit box for safe keeping until everything is over.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Pam asked.
“No, cuz I’m not supposed to be here. Besides I want you to take care of getting that other information for me to take back to Towbar’s world with me when I go. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes, I will be happy to do that.”
“Great. Jake, Larry and Sam will be surprised and tickled pink,” he laughed and hugged her tightly.
2.
Mykal made arrangements with Dave Hazel to meet him at the Country Kitchen Restaurant. He would be able to duck away in the back area of the diner so as not to be noticed by people. He didn’t want to go to the airport to pick Dave up for fear that some locals there might recognize him. Mykal knew with the temperature being well below zero degrees he could enter the eating establishment with a scarf wrapped around his face and no one would think twice about his disguise.
“Are you eating alone sir?” A waitress asked and greeted him with a menu in hand.
“No, I’ll be meeting someone else here shortly. Oh it is so cold out there,” Mykal said and shivered while rubbing his arms. “We would like a table in the back and we can’t be disturbed, okay?”
“Sure,” she looked surprised.
“The more we’re not disturbed the bigger the tip I’ll leave. It’s important that we’re not interrupted okay?”
“Whatever you would like sir. Can I get you anything while I seat you?”
“Just get me a Pepsi or a Coke and when he gets here I’ll have him order.”
The waitress led Mykal to a table in the back away from the counter and the entrance. Mykal sat in the booth with his back to the door so there would be less chance of someone seeing him. He kept his head down in the menu when people neared him and turned his head away and tried to appear inconspicuous.
He listened to the music playing through the speakers and felt glad it was soft rock and not country. It reminded him of tours in the missile field. He would bring a cassette player “boom box” and hundreds of cassettes. Mykal always purchased obscure music on albums and then record them onto cassette. His favorite music was bands from England and the UK and he always tried to surprise his working buddies, Boris, Kurt, Denny, Rich, Sam and Jake with new music he discovered.
The Cars song ‘Just What I Needed’ came on and it caused Mykal to smile. They used to always tease Jake because physically he looked like Ric Ocasek of the Cars. Jake stood tall and was thin with black hair. Jake’s hair was always shorter due to military standards. Whenever Jake would take leave a
nd go on vacation everyone would joke that Jake was going on tour with the band The Cars.
Mykal missed listening to music with the guys out in the field. Having music on in the background while they played cards or talked about serious situations, or listening to tunes while planning and pulling off practical jokes on people made the tours of duty more enjoyable. Sometimes certain songs or certain bands brought back fond memories because he could relate various situations and exploits with different songs. Sadly, most of his close friends were gone and would never come back.
Looking at the gold band around his finger brought to mind how much power he had, but he began to think there was a cost for the power. Mykal believed the ring had some sort of control over him. He recognized the ring pulling him to use it and make himself invisible even when there was no need. He also noticed the drawing had a pull like an alcoholic needing a drink or a drug addict needing his fix. ‘I have to make sure I stay on top of this and control it so it doesn’t control me,’ he thought and pictured himself like a starving man standing before an ‘All U Can Eat’ buffet.
‘The other side effect,’ he admitted in thought. ‘It screws me up and screws with my emotions.’ Mykal looked around to ensure no one could hear his thoughts. He suddenly felt weak. ‘Whether I’m filled with rage and go ballistic like I did with Jill’s Untouchables, or I’m super dooper depressed and sad like a little school girl who wants to cry over everything. I don’t understand it. With drugs I understand there are chemicals involved and they change the way the brain functions. But this ring and its magic power doesn’t go inside me. It makes my outward physical appearance disappear, though I’m still present and I can still physically hurt others or affect others. It doesn’t make sense, but I’m not complaining cuz it saved my life and it has given me awesome power over others. But how does it change my emotions? I just don’t understand.
‘Man, I hope this friggin thing doesn’t cause cancer or brain damage or something like that,’ he scoffed in thought.’ “Oh wow,” Mykal spoke out loud when the next song played through the speaker. He knew the song since he had purchased the album at the end of 1982. The song was ‘My Friends, My Friends’ by Eddie Money from the ‘No Control’ LP. His emotions hit hard as he listened to the soft touching ballad that hit close to home. Listening to Eddie Money’s raspy voice sing about friends and how they never got together again pulled his heart strings. ‘I’ll never be able to get together with some of my friends,’ Mykal thought and couldn’t pretend a deep wet sadness didn’t invade the wells of his eyes. Then Eddie followed the line of not getting together with his friends with a declaration of his love for his friends. Mykal realized he loved his friends though they were gone. It hurt to know they would never get together again.
Eddie sang that his memories were happy and his memories were sad and that he loved to take his pictures out. That hit Mykal even harder. He had so many happy memories of his friends and the pranks they pulled on people and all the joking around they did with each other. His memories of his friends were tremendously sad since some paid the ultimate price in Towbar’s world. Mykal too, loved to take his pictures out and reminisce. The song changed to a harmonica solo that was haunting and touching with Mykal’s thoughts in mind of his friends. Eddie repeated with more conviction and intensity that he and his friends never got together again and that he really loved his friends. Eddie ended the song with a line about how he really does miss his friends. That line about missing his friends brought Mykal to tears. He felt all alone and missed his close friends dearly. For fear of being seen shedding tears Mykal wanted to turn himself invisible to hide away the fact that he was so emotional.
Mykal couldn’t understand the powerful, uncontrollable, emotions he felt over a song. Sure the words hit close to home, but how could lyrics, melody and instruments break him emotionally. He looked down at the ring and wondered if the magic was at work to destroy his brain. ‘It’s gotta be the ring,’ he thought to make an excuse. ‘When people are drunk or when they’re on drugs their thoughts and emotions zoom all over the place. I’ve only been using this magic ring for a short time. What’s gonna happen after I’ve used the ring for a few months? Or a year? Damn it, am I even gonna be alive then? I have so many things battling against me and all I want is to be left alone.’
“Your friend is back this way,” a waitress said to someone and Mykal knew his waitress pointed Dave Hazel in his direction.
Mykal quickly wiped his eyes and waited for Dave to join him. Mykal was so glad the waitress followed his instructions and didn’t bring him to the table. It would look obvious if he tried to hide his face. Mykal watched Dave approach from the reflection in the glass window. He touched his face again to make sure no tears showed then rose to his feet but didn’t turn around just in case anyone looked their way.
“How are you doing?” Dave asked and held his hand out to shake after he stood in front of Mykal.
“I’m not turning cuz I don’t want people to see me,” Mykal said quietly. “I’m not supposed to be here.”
“I understand, I understand. You mentioned that on the phone,” Dave said as he sat down. Dave Hazel had longer brown hair, clean shaven face and looked eager to talk.
“Hey, put this in your coat pocket,” Mykal said and slid a thick, sealed envelope across the table. “You never spoke to me and we never met today. It’s ten thousand in cash.”
“Sure,” Dave eagerly grabbed the thick pack and stuck it inside his coat pocket and zipped it. “So what do you want me to do for you Mykal?”
“First of all, I just wanted to tell you I like what you did with the story of my cousin. You took a true story and wrote it as a fiction and you made it so the characters were real and down to earth. I think I would like something like that done with my story.”
“I would love to work on it with you,” Dave offered. “See, I don’t consider myself to be a writer, I’m a storyteller. I tell a story and hopefully get the reader’s attention by drawing them into a compelling tale. I want the audience, the reader, to like the story not the writing, because I’m not a fancy highbrow writer. I don’t write like that, I like telling stories,” he laughed with a smirk. “I like to write in a way that the reader feels like they’re sitting in a room listening to an old friend. So when you told me that’s how you felt when you read it, it just made my day,” Dave said with a broad smile.
“It’s true, that’s what I felt as I read it. I liked that,” Mykal said and folded his hands on the table top.
“Your manager told me the last time that you were going to get a professional writer with a big name to write your story. What was his name? Captain William Roberts?”
“Yeah, he’s not my manager any more. We don’t see eye to eye. To be honest, he was killed in Towbar’s world,” Mykal said and really wanted to laugh, but he was afraid that his humor would come across as being sick, dark and demented. ‘But it’s true,’ Mykal thought. ‘How can we see eye to eye if he’s dead?’
“Oh wow,” Dave gasped.
“Don’t repeat that, cuz I’m not supposed to be back yet so no one would know that.”
“I won’t say anything,” Dave raised his hand as if swearing in.
“Let’s talk about back home for a little bit and see if we know some of the same people, cuz you actually knew my cousin right?”
“Oh yeah. We were friends, but we weren’t super close or anything like that. One quick question Myk,” Dave paused and hoped he didn’t sound foolish. “First of all, I’ve never felt such cold weather in my life before. This is brutal.”
“Yeah, this kind of weather can actually kill you,” Mykal said and started to laugh. “Our weather back home is a wet cold. But this out here is a friggin dry cold. If hell didn’t have flames, this would be it,” he joked. “This cold will turn you solid.”
“I agree. But does everyone have electric cars? All the vehicles I’ve seen have plugs sticking out the front.”
“No,” Mykal laughed ou
t loud. “I thought the very same thing when I first arrived in North Dakota. Those are for block heaters on the engine. It’s to keep the engine from freezing up. So back in Niagara Falls, I used to go to…”
3.
They talked for close to an hour and both were surprised by how many of the same people they knew. They were more surprised that their paths hadn’t crossed several times. Dave actually knew Staff Sergeant Bradford who was killed during the first trip to Towbar’s world. Bradford had an intense hatred for Mykal since Mykal’s cousin killed Bradford’s adopted brother in a drug deal gone bad. Dave explained the details for Mykal since it was one of the topics covered in the book Street Shock.
Mykal was amused when Dave talked about some of the Italian deli’s he missed. “I love it out here,” Mykal sighed. “Cuz my wife and kids are here, but the one thing I miss from back home is the food. It’s not the same here. There is nothing like that food of back home in western New York.”
“There is a difference in the food,” Dave agreed.
“I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do Dave. I’m gonna give you a chance to write my story, but,” he paused and raised his finger. “You put your writings together, then--”
“Get the manuscript done?”
“Yeah, and then when I get back I’ll read it and see if I like it and if I do I’ll let you put it out.”
“I think that would be great, but you know, with me not having a big name, I might actually be doing you a disservice. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to take a crack at it because I think I can tell a great story, but you would miss out because I don’t have--”
“I don’t care about big sales and money and fame and all that stuff,” Mykal interrupted him. “I want my story to be told and I want people to like the story. I want people to like reading the story like they’re sitting there listening to an old friend,” Mykal said showing he remembered what Dave said was his approach to writing. “I really did like what you did with my cousin’s story. I wasn’t blowing smoke or just saying that to tell you what you wanna hear.”