by Dan Alatorre
She squeezed me tighter, shaking her head. “I don’t want us to be split up right now. Even if we have to stay here in the rain.”
I sighed. She was right. “Somebody should go, though.”
Tyree sloshed toward us. “I’ll go!” He looked around sheepishly. “I mean, if that's okay. I’d like to get out of this weather. That rain suit was worthless.”
“It’s a good idea,” I said. “Go on to the hotel in Atlanta, check in and order us all some hot food. I’ll take care of the police reports and the tow truck, and then we’ll be there. Maybe an hour or so, tops.” I glanced at his crumpled motorcycle. “I’ll have the tow truck take care of that, too.”
Tyree gave me a thumbs up and ran toward the waiting cars.
Sophie tugged on my leg. I knew what she wanted.
“Tyree!” I called after him. “Get some goldfish crackers!”
He hustled up the muddy hill. “Will do.” A car door opened as he approached. He hopped in and they were off.
“That was nice.” Mallory pulled her poncho back and looked into my eyes. “He’ll appreciate that.”
“Having to track down goldfish crackers?”
She smacked my arm playfully. “Getting to go on to a nice, dry hotel!” She put her head on my shoulder and hugged me. “With a hot shower and a warm bed and room service.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Hey, nobody said anything about room service.”
Her smiling face was illuminated by the headlights of the highway patrol car and a tow truck as they appeared on the hill.
Chapter 44
Two large room service trays lay empty on the floor of our hotel room, along with several empty packages of goldfish crackers.
Sophie and Tyree, all clean and wrapped in their plush white Peachtree Hotel robes, watched cartoons on the TV. Mallory, perched on the large bed in her robe, worked the phone to pursue a rental car for us. Everyone looked safe, warm, and happy.
It was my turn to get cleaned up before saying goodnight to Tyree and sending him to his own suite next door. I went into the bathroom and got in the shower, letting the warm water bring my body temperature back up to normal. Steam rose over the bath curtain and drifted along the low bathroom ceiling.
I leaned against the tile wall expecting to feel different, to look different somehow, from all that had transpired.
And I was different, but I was also the same.
We used to play a game when I was a kid. A game that me and my friend created. We made it up, and gave it a name.
But you would not kill Hitler.
Even if a person could get away with it and nobody would ever know it happened, people wouldn’t do it. Most folks wouldn’t even talk back to their boss. They could never commit murder.
Our game was a naïve pastime for little boys who wanted to play at being brave. And there is a cruel irony in knowing what needs to be done and not being able to do it.
Jimmy was right. I couldn’t kill Hitler. If an act were to occur that no one witnessed, that no one else would ever know about, it exists only in the minds—only in the personal realities—of the people involved. Dreams exist there, and everyone knows that dreams aren’t real.
Besides, Hitler had to be killed before he became Hitler, before he became the powerful dictator that sent millions of people to their deaths. Because if you wait, you have failed. If you have the power to act, to avert a monstrous thing, you act.
And if you do . . .
If you act in a way to save five million people, the ones who do not die will never know they had been saved. Only if the millions perish would it ever be known you failed them. No, you must act before Hitler becomes Hitler, and save them all.
And therefore, you aren’t really killing Hitler, are you?
Not the Hitler the world has come to know and despise. You have killed a clerk or a small time political hopeful, before he came to prominence.
A nobody.
You would not be a hero, you’d be a madman raving about how in the future blah, blah, blah . . . who would listen to such a person?
I wouldn’t.
If some guy were to start blathering on about “needing” to kill someone so that a future horrific event wouldn’t happen, why, they’d lock him up. And I’d be the first one to agree that he should be locked up.
A smart guy would do what needed to be done, and then if there were no witnesses, he’d shut up about it. That would be the smart thing to do.
In a faraway field, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, a guy does what needs to be done. Whatever it was that he did, if anybody saw, they’d be keeping quiet. That’s almost the same as if nobody saw. And if nobody saw . . . can we say it even happened? Why, once things get back to normal at home, it would all seem like a big crazy dream.
Who’s to say it wasn’t?
So I did not kill Hitler. And I can live with myself about that.
Chapter 45
The next day, the storm had passed.
I looked out over the Atlanta skyline as Mallory and Sophie slept. 6 A.M, my usual wake up time—but not theirs. It was nice to think that things would start getting back to normal now.
The skies were sunny and bright. Pastel colors beamed out from the puffy white clouds. It was a beautiful day. Heavenly, one might say.
I had decided about something, too. We were lucky. We were absolutely lucky.
There had been an angel on the doctor’s shoulder that day. There was one with her at the winery, and with us at the car fire. Maybe other times, too.
My daughter does have an angel on her shoulder. And I had come to feel that I knew who that angel was. Watching out for my daughter, and still watching out for me. Giving things a little nudge here and there. Or throwing an elbow. Giving me a dead battery at the right time . . . Maybe an angel had been helping me all along, I just didn’t see.
I was glad she would play a role in my daughter’s life after all. Like Father Frank said, why should the bad guys get to have all the fun?
At breakfast, I asked Tyree for a favor. An old friend, who was getting out of prison soon, would need some guidance in rebuilding a life for himself. He would need help finding a different path than the one he’d been on. Tyree was more than willing to head on up to Lima, Ohio, and start his next project.
Meanwhile, I had some driving to do myself. When the rental car showed up, we packed it with the few remaining items that hadn’t been ruined in the wreck or doused with gasoline.
That, and a few bags of goldfish crackers for the ride home.
It was another big van. I wondered if maybe Mallory was trying to tell me something.
On the long drive south, we talked and sang songs, and watched cartoons on the car’s DVD player until boredom and fatigue eventually put my wife and daughter to sleep again.
I was content. I knew that Dahlia would appreciate my gift of the relic cross and the story that came with it. That would more than satisfy my debt with her, and maybe even rack up a little house credit—not that I planned on needing any. The cross was valuable before, but like all weapons, once it had seen battle, it had become even more precious. I felt the mambo would see that it went to good use.
That only left one person to thank.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Our Lady Of Mercy. Mrs. Clermont answered.
“May I speak with Father Frank, please?” I asked.
“Who?” Mrs. Clermont’s voice crackled with static as I drove. Maybe all the cell towers weren’t back up and running yet after the storm.
“Mrs. Clermont, may I speak with Father Frank, please? Is he in?”
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have anyone here by that name.”
“I think we have a bad connection from the storm, ma’am. I’m trying to reach Father Frank. Is he available? Or can I make an appointment with him?”
“No, I heard you, sir. There’s no Father Frank here. Do you have the right number? This is Our Lady Of Mercy.”
�
�Mrs. Clermont, I just spoke with him a few days ago. Father Frank. He was doing confessions—”
“Sir, we have no Father Frank here.” Mrs. Clermont replied cooly. “In fact, we have nobody on our roster named Frank at all, first name or last. And I’ve worked here for ten years.”
I set the phone down, speechless, staring at the highway stretching in front of me.
Then I remembered.
Why should the bad guys get to have all the fun?
I almost drove off the road.
THE END
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About the Author
International bestselling author Dan Alatorre has 17 titles published in over a dozen languages.
From Romance in Poggibonsi to action and adventure in the sci-fi thriller The Navigators, to comedies like Night Of The Colonoscopy: A Horror Story (Sort Of) and the heartwarming and humorous anecdotes about parenting in the popular Sophie Stories series, his knack for surprising audiences and making you laugh or cry—or hang onto the edge of your seat—has been enjoyed by audiences around the world.
And you are guaranteed to get a page turner every time.
“That’s my style,” Dan says. “Grab you on page one and then send you on a roller coaster ride, regardless of the story or genre.”
Readers agree, making his string of #1 bestsellers popular across the globe.
His unique writing style can make you chuckle or shed tears—sometimes on the same page (or steam up the room if it’s one of his romances). Regardless of genre, his novels always contain unexpected twists and turns, and his endearing nonfiction stories will stay in your heart forever.
25 eBook Marketing Tips You Wish You Knew, co-authored by Dan, has been a valuable tool for upcoming writers (it’s free if you subscribe to his newsletter) and his dedication to helping new authors is evident in his wildly popular blog “Dan Alatorre - AUTHOR.”
Dan’s success is widespread and varied. In addition to being a bestselling author, he has achieved President’s Circle with two different Fortune 500 companies. You can find him blogging away almost every day on www.DanAlatorre.com.
Dan resides in the Tampa, Florida area with his wife and daughter.
Other Books By Dan Alatorre
Novels
The Navigators
A freak landslide at a remote Florida mine uncovers a strange machine to Barry’s group of paleontology students. Rumors spread about the discovery of a time machine, creating risks everywhere: a trusted classmate betrays them, and a corrupt school official tries to sell the machine to another university. When power company executives learn it may contain a unique fuel system that would put them out of business, possessing the machine becomes a matter of life and death. Now on the run, Barry’s team struggles to keep their amazing discovery—but using it has consequences more severe than anyone can predict. Buy now on Amazon or FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback!
Poggibonsi: An Italian Misadventure
When family man Mike Torino lands a project in Italy, home of naked art, Valentino, and taxi-crashing yoga pants, he brings along his wife, hoping to rekindle their marriage. But romance gets derailed by head colds, constant bickering, and assaults from ankle-breaking cobblestone streets. Their daughter develops a gelato addiction. Mike’s Italian partner has a coronary. And as for amore . . . Mattie tells Mike to handle things himself—and storms back to America. Mike is trapped. Leaving Italy will blow a promotion; staying might cost him his wife and family. While reeling from Mattie's frantic departure, a replacement liaison is assigned—a top-notch, beautiful young Italian woman who is instantly smitten with Mike and determined to reveal the passions of her homeland—whether he wants to see them or not! Normally immune, Mike is tempted—but is headstrong, voluptuous Julietta worth the risk? Buy now on Amazon or FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Also available in paperback!
Family Humor
Savvy Stories: funny things I learned from my daughter
The TERRIBLE Two’s: funny things I learned from my toddler daughter
The Long Cutie
Short Stories
The Short Years
There’s No Such Thing As A Quick Trip To BuyMart
Night Of The Colonoscopy: A Horror Story (sort of)
Santa Maybe
A Day For Hope
Children’s books
Laguna The Lonely Mermaid
The Adventures of Pinchy Crab and Ramon D’Escargot
The Princess and the Dolphin
Cookbooks
All American Favorites: 35 Delicious Family Recipes That Will Make You The Star Of The Show
35 Great Recipes You Wish Your Mother Made
35 More AMAZING Recipes Your Mother Would be Proud Of!
Marketing (available to newsletter subscribers only)
25 Great eBook Marketing Tips You Need To Know!