by Jeff Vrolyks
Kloss checked Alison’s pulse and there was another huge relief: she was alive. Unlike Holly, she showed no signs of life other than her pulse. Kloss stood and looked over to the third and only unknown victim of the accident. “How is he?” Kloss asked.
“I suspect he’ll live, but if we don’t get out of here soon…”
Ribbons of sweat ran down Kloss’s stinging shoulders and back. He swiped his shoulders and saw that it wasn’t sweat but blood from the several glass lacerations.
Pea Willy repositioned the shirt over his mouth. Kloss did the same. “Three people to carry,” Kloss said. “Any suggestions?”
“We’ll come back for the guy. Let’s get the girls to the RV first.”
Pea Willy lifted Alison effortlessly, carried her over his shoulder. Kloss scooped up Holly with difficulty and situated her over his shoulder, which burned from her weight pressing against torn flesh. They began their journey back to the RV.
“Why on earth are you and Ali wearing lingerie?” Kloss said between labored breaths. “If you’re going to accept a ride from a stranger, wear clothes. Silly girls. Only my sister would be clad in Victoria’s Secret while escaping from a fire. Her fashion sense never rests.”
Pea Willy huffed heavily. “So sad seeing… such an angel… all busted up. It’s heartbreaking. Poor girl.”
By the time they would see Sue Ellen waving the spotlight from the RV, each breath taken would feel like they were inhaling the fire itself. They’d still have to go back for the driver, but they figured on taking turns carrying him
Chapter 23
“I haven’t thought about that in some time,” Pea Willy said, adjusting his posture in the hospital waiting-room chair for maximum comfort. “We met in a bar in Amarillo. It was Sue Ellen’s favorite bar, The Crazy Horse, and walking distance from our school, Texas Tech University. I had never been there before—The Deerlick Saloon was my joint—but things happen for a reason, and the night I entered The Crazy Horse was the best night of my life.
“The place was packed. People were line dancing, Bucky The Bastard, the mechanical bull, was tossin’ people around, and I was drinkin’ a Luck Lager by the dance floor with my best bud Reggie. I looked over to the bar, and there she was, eyes smilin’ at me.
“You know that feelin’ you get when a pretty girl smiles at you? And at that moment all is right in the world? You feel like a kid lookin’ through the window of a toy store, and find your dream toy. Feels like there’s a shaken beehive in your belly. That was me, Kloss, staring at a toy made of the prettiest skin I’d ever seen.
“I remember feelin’ my heartbeat in my eyes and ears, damnedest thing. I wanted to talk to her, but as big and strong as I am, I’m tiny when it comes to talkin’ to the ladies. But you know what, Kloss? Somethin’ was different that night. Somethin’ was supposed to happen, meant to happen. The stars were aligned. Fate? Destiny? I don’t know… all of the above, I reckon.
“We introduced ourselves and I asked her to dance. I didn’t dance back then, had no business being on that dance floor, but I asked her and she accepted. She said she wasn’t a dancer, either—a flat out lie, she just wanted to take the pressure off of me. She moves like a top on glass. We danced and we danced, then danced some more. We walked back to her apartment when the bar closed and stayed up all night just talkin’. We were stuck on each other from then on. That night I knew I would marry her. Six months later we got hitched, and for ten years she’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I count my lucky stars that I went to that bar that night. The Crazy Horse,” he said dreamily.
“You’re a lucky man, Pea Willy. I envy you. So love at first sight isn’t bullshit? You loved her the moment you laid eyes on her?”
“Kloss, if I said I loved her at first sight it would be slapping a definition on it. A definition is so black and white. But this… it’s a color like no other, exists only in your heart, and when you experience it you’ll know it. Love at first sight? I guess you could say it was, but it lessens what it really was, and what it really was is magic. You’re young, it will happen to you. Hang in there, Hoss.”
“I guess. I’m an eternal pessimist. The one girl I love I can’t have. I need to find someone else so I stop thinking about her.”
“She has herself a man already, huh?”
“It’s complicated. I wish it were as simple as I met her at a bar.”
“The hospital doesn’t have closing hours. If you want to sling it, I’m all ears, buddy.”
“If I tell you, you got to promise me you won’t say a word of this to anyone. It stays between you and me.”
“It won’t leave this room. Who would I tell, anyway? Sue Ellen?”
“My sister’s best friend, Alison. They’ve been attached at the hip since they were seventeen, five years ago. When I first met her, I wasn’t into her. That didn’t last long.”
“The girl I carried from the truck? That’s the girl?”
Kloss nodded.
“I’m so sorry,” Pea Willy said. “Man, I couldn’t even imagine for a second.”
“My sister never had another woman in her life other than our grandmother, who wasn’t all there in her head. If I messed up what they have now, I’d never forgive myself. She has no parents, no other siblings, and no friends other than Alison. How could I decide that Alison, the one person in the world who should be off limits, is the one to pursue? How selfish would that be? Before you say it, I know what you’re thinking: What if we fall in love, and her relationship with Holly isn’t affected? I have worked out every possibility a million times over. Even if that happened, who’s to say that in five or ten years down the road that we won’t split up or have relationship issues? Who’ll be stuck in the middle? Holly would resent me.
“There are many things I have or could have that Holly cannot, and she would never complain about a single one of them. Alison is the one treasure in the world that Holly has that I can’t have; not to sound egotistical, I don’t mean it like that. So how unfair would it be for me to take Ali away from her?” Kloss took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “It’s the least I can do for Holly, especially after all she’s been through. If I had done things a little differently in the past she might still have a sister. But the past is the past and though I can’t change it, I can prevent some future disasters from happening.”
“That’s a pickle you’re in, buddy. One heck of a pickle.” He gingerly said, “I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but you lost a sister? And you feel you could have prevented it? What a burden that must be. May I ask what happened?”
Kloss made sure nobody was within ear shot. “Talking about Anne is the hardest thing you could ask me to do.”
“I’m sorry, Hoss. Forget I asked.”
“No, it’s okay, man. Honestly. I’ve never brought up Anne to anyone since she died, and that includes my sister. Holly won’t stand for it, won’t talk about her. But you know what? Talking is good medicine and I could use some right now. And I’d rather tell a stranger than someone who knows me. And this stays between us. Especially this.”
Pea Willy adjusted his black Stetson hat and nodded.
“Holly has, had, a twin sister, Anne. Such a sweet little girl, man, really. You’ll never come across another kid like her. Someone that precious, that dear, she was never meant to be here long. She belonged in Heaven. How could God not want her with him? How could…” Kloss heard the instability in his voice and paused, cleared his throat. “They were identical twins. Their personalities though, they were as different as two can be. Holly was outgoing, mischievous, loved attention and made people laugh. Little comedian, she was. But Anne… Anne was the complete opposite. She was introverted. She had no problem letting Holly be the center of attention. Anne loved to make her sister happy. Anne loved to make everyone happy, but especially her sister. She revered Holly.
“Grandma gave us all a list of chores that we rotated. On days when Holly had to do chores she disliked,
Anne sometimes did them for her, and without telling Holly. I use to think she did them in exchange for Holly doing the chores that Anne disliked. I didn’t know until after she passed away that she did things like that out of the goodness of her heart; I didn’t know until Grandma told me one day. Holly would beam when she saw her chores were done and that’s what Anne did it for—it made Anne happy when Holly was happy.
“We had a neighbor whom I use to trade baseball cards with. Elliot. He had a card that I wanted badly, but he wouldn’t trade it: an ’83 Fleer Wade Boggs rookie card. Anne told me… she told—” He choked back the emotion, “—told me that maybe Santa would bring me it for Christmas.” Kloss rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know this would happen.”
“We all gotta grieve sometimes, Kloss, we’re only human. I couldn’t imagine losing a sweetheart like that. She sounds too good to be true.”
Kloss nodded. He groped his wallet out and produced a heavily scuffed and bent Wade Boggs rookie card and handed it to Pea Willy.
“Santa brought you the baseball card,” he surmised.
Kloss grinned. “No, he didn’t. I didn’t get a single baseball card that Christmas.”
Pea Willy returned the card. “Then what’s this about?”
“One day I was at Elliot’s with my cards, working on a trade for Roger Clemens or something, I don’t remember. Elliot decided he would trade his Boggs rookie after all. I thought he was teasing, but he wasn’t. I was elated. There’s no way I could afford to buy a card like that. The only way to get a card like that was from a trade, and now the card was on the table, literally. I let him have free reign over my albums. He flipped through them carefully. I was preparing for a stack of cards to be pulled from my rookie album, and it was worth it for Boggs. He took a stack, larger than I expected, but everything he took were common cards, cheap stuff, nickel cards. I thought it was a joke. But he let me take the Boggs, and he took that crappy stack of cheap cards; the deal was made. I was dumbfounded. I felt like I won the lottery! So the first person I showed the card to was Anne. I could always count on her to be happy for me, and boy was she.
“A few days later Grandma was yelling at Anne, chewing her out good. Anne used to play the clarinet. She wasn’t that great at it, but she enjoyed it. She told Grandma she gave it up and wanted to take dance lessons instead. You quit what! I paid three hundred dollars for that clarinet and you’re giving up already? I think she even grounded Anne, but she got what she wanted: out of band class.
“One day, after school, I walked by Elliot’s house. You know what I heard? A damned clarinet.” Kloss shook his head. “It broke my heart. I was miserable. How was I supposed to enjoy that card when Anne traded something she loved to get it? I tried to trade back, Elliot refused. He promised Anne he wouldn’t. She admitted to having traded for it, and said it was an early Christmas present.” Kloss looked over at Pea Willy. “The day she died, she had asked me if I wanted to play with her and Anne.”
“You mean her and Holly.”
“Yeah. Her and Holly. I told her no. I was going to my friends to play baseball. My decision to play baseball with my friends instead of playing with my sisters was the biggest mistake of my life. The girls played with some neighborhood dog, and it attacked Anne.”
“You can’t think of it as your—”
“A dog. A miserable fucking dog. Didn’t care that she was… how special she was. How could anything on earth want to harm her?”
Pea Willy patted Kloss’s knee. “Kloss, buddy, life is full of tragedies. It’s nobody’s fault when something random like that happens.”
“I know, it’s nobody’s fault, but that doesn’t change that it would have been avoided had I chosen to play with the girls instead.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe if you stayed behind and played with your sisters, a different accident would have happened and Holly or maybe both of them would have perished. Things happen for a reason, as horrible as that sounds.”
Kloss nodded and went back to staring at the tear-specked tile between his feet. “You know what bothered me the most about losing Anne? Besides losing her, obviously.” Pea Willy raised his brow. “When I was playing baseball that day, I couldn’t miss. I was having the time of my life.” Inwardly: “To think, I was running around the bases with a damned smile on my face at the same time that she was being mauled to death. It haunts me, torments me, makes me sick to my stomach.”
“I’m sorry for bringing it up, buddy.”
“Don’t be. I didn’t have to tell you. I chose to. Holly and I have kept this a secret. Not even her best friend Alison knows about Anne. I made a promise to Holly.”
“I’m touched you would tell me something so personal. I’m sorry you broke your promise to her on my behalf.”
“Nah, I didn’t break my promise.”
“But you just told me.”
“That’s different, not the same promise. Some secrets are meant to take the grave, and I respect that. But it’s best not to mention this to Holly.” Kloss grinned wanly. “It’s like medicine. Talking about things, getting them off your chest. It’s what I do when I write songs. Get it all out.”
“You’re damned straight, Hoss. I feel the same way when I play guitar. I didn’t know you write music. You play guitar?” Kloss nodded. “We aren’t so different after all, are we, Hoss?”
“More different than I’d like.” Kloss put a hand on Pea Willy’s muscular shoulder and said, “You and Sue Ellen are a rare breed. The world needs more people like you. And on behalf of Holly, Ali, and the other guy, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You—”
“We did what anyone would have done. We’re happy to help. I appreciate the gratitude, you’re big to say—”
“No, Pea Willy. What you two did isn’t what other people would do. I know other people. People are too caught up in themselves, including myself, unfortunately.” Pea Willy began a retort but Kloss cut him off, “Please, let me continue. You know what would have happened if you two didn’t pick me up? I wouldn’t have made it to the truck before the fire. That’s a fact. All three of them would have died. My heart… I don’t think I could cope with losing Holly, or Alison, but both at the same time? I’m sitting here whining about what a dilemma it is not pursuing Alison because it may hurt Holly. If you didn’t pick me up, if you didn’t help me rescue them, I wouldn’t have them to whine about. I will never forget this. If you ever need anything, anything, it’s yours. You two don’t seem like the type who would take me up on such an offer, but I’ll make it up to you somehow anyway.”
“That’s mighty kind of you to say. We wouldn’t accept a reward, but I appreciate the offer. Just don’t forget that it was you, not me, who saved them. I just got you there. You should be proud. I bet the local newspaper would love a story like this. You’d be a hero. Man crawls through glass to rescue three people, a hundred yards from a fire! I can see it already.”
Kloss chortled. “You don’t know my distaste for the media, Pea Willy. It would be a three-ringed-circus if… shit.”
“Not a fan of being a hero?”
Kloss sighed. “I owe you the world already, but would you do me a favor?” Pea Willy agreed. “You were the only one who rescued them, if anyone asks. I wasn’t even there. I showed up after the fact. Would you do that for me? Maybe it won’t come up, but if it does could you not mention me?”
“Sure,” he replied, perplexed. “I won’t contact the newspaper, nobody has to know.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it more than you know. It’s a complicated subject.” How long have we been waiting, Kloss wondered, a couple hours? He stood and stretched.
“I’m going to the RV to check on Sue Ellen, see if she’s still asleep. She has a tough time sleeping without me. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“You guys shouldn’t stay behind on my account. I appreciate your concern, but we’ll be fine from here.”
“It’s almost seven now and I’m getting awfully tired
. Sue Ellen probably wouldn’t mind getting a few more hours of sleep before we head on to Frisco. Maybe we’ll just sleep till noon or so in the RV, and leave after.”
“Then I’ll probably see you again before you leave. But just in case I don’t, let me give you my number so we can keep in touch. I know these three will be anxious to thank you. We could get together sometime, too, if you aren’t too busy.”
“Absolutely. We’d love that, Kloss. Let me give you my number, too.”
Kloss handed him a business card; Pea Willy slid it into his pants pocket without glancing at it, and returned one of his own. Kloss hugged Pea Willy and thanked him again. He wanted to say more but didn’t. Pea Willy left the room with a wave.
“Lindsey, it’s been almost four hours,” Kloss said at the reception desk. “Please, no more excuses. Just tell me what’s going on and when I can see them.”
“I’ll have the doctor come see you. I’m sorry it’s taking this long.”
Kloss said he’d be outside smoking and made his way to the designated area.
Chapter 24
I couldn’t agree with her more, it really is the most beautiful day I’ve ever seen. A mild mountain breeze, a handful of clouds like sheep grazing across the crisp blue sky. I smell the balmy scent of pine and wildflowers, listen to the murmur of the lazy river. This is paradise. We’re drifting so slowly that sometimes I forget that we’re moving, floating down the Merced River in a yellow inflatable raft, admiring the grandiose Yosemite Valley. Colossal granite rocks tower over me, massive waterfalls surround me.
I watch a golden eagle land on a branch with a mouthful of twigs for her nest. Love is in the air, I can feel it. The feathered queen of the sky feels it. She prepares a home for her unborn as she sings a melody for her lover, much like myself.