by Jack L Knapp
T drifted around the spring and looked at the area around the lower pool, the one normally used by families. Something had happened here; there were a few scraps of packaging, indicating that someone had required medical attention. These might normally have been picked up before everyone left, but the sudden change from a pleasantly-warm spring to one that was far too hot to use might have caused people to want to leave the area as soon as possible. T picked up the litter to drop into the trash can near where he’d parked his truck.
Having now seen all that he thought necessary, T drifted slowly downhill below the pool. The water below the spring ran faster as well as much hotter than the small trickle that had been here before. The new flow had spread out from the shallow channel cut by running water in the past.
Just downstream from where the hot water flowed into the creek, T spotted a trout floating belly-up in the water and held by the current against a jumble of sticks from some past flood.
T drifted down until he could dip a finger into the creek. The water was warm, not quite hot, but certainly not the cold trout stream it had been before. This was likely what had killed the trout.
Having seen enough, T retraced his route upstream. He crossed the creek and eased to the ground a few feet below his truck. He dumped the litter he’d picked up before getting into the truck and contacting Ray.
Chapter Fifteen
Ray:
What to do? Ana Maria was living at the house with me, but we didn’t yet have a ‘relationship’ to replace what we’d had before, incomplete and misunderstood as that had apparently been.
Where we went from here was largely her decision. I wasn’t sure of my own feelings, certainly not sure of hers. Time would tell.
Neither of us had classes now. We were between semesters, and I expected she would continue working on her degree when classes resumed, I wasn’t certain that I would.
I liked what T and I had done together. It hadn’t brought in a lot of money so far, but we had established a few contacts and more business would come by word-of-mouth. I could continue to work on developing the contact T had made with the El Paso Police Department.
Meanwhile, the work had been good in that my Talents continued to develop and the tasks had proved exciting, even terrifying for a few brief moments.
Maybe I would drop out of college. How relevant was it, listening to a professor drone on in a classroom, when I might be working around a supervolcano or getting blown up by a steam explosion? When I might be actively working to restrict gang activity rather than reading about it in a newspaper?
Not to mention that there was no assurance that Ana Maria would revert to being a simple student rather than resuming her activities as the Chupacabra. She might not deliberately seek confrontation, but woe unto the gang member who accosted her!
I tried to start a conversation with Ana Maria over breakfast, but that went nowhere. Finally I arranged to meet her for dinner later and headed for the one place that had been helpful before, the mountains. This time I would explore much further.
T:
The trip around the hot springs hadn’t produce conclusive evidence of widespread change. Spence Hot Spring was the only one that showed clear changes. The others he’d visited, McCauley, San Antonio, and Soda Dam springs seemed unchanged.
He was still parked at Jemez Falls Campground after visiting the last hot spring. It was time to bring Ray up to date on what he’d been doing and see how Ana Maria was adapting to her Talents. T leaned back against the head-rest and commed Ray.
With that, T broke the connection.
Ray:
I followed the peaks north and simply explored. There are trails that explore the park and there’s even a day-use fee when you access the park through one of the approved entrances. I happily broke the law by not paying the fee, since I wasn’t using the access points or any of the trails. Whether I would actually set foot down inside the park was unclear at the moment; I didn’t think I would do that today.
I saw a number of animals that apparently never learned to watch overhead. A pair of hikers was on one of the trails, but I drifted across the boundary into the old artillery range and kept moving north.
I was beginning to get hungry by mid-afternoon and I’d had my fill of soaking up the silence and wildness of the untouched desert. Coyote pups are cute, even the adults are cute unless you’re a rabbit! I passed unseen above the den and watched them for a moment as they wrestled in the way that young animals seem to do. One day the skills they learned would be useful; for now, they were simply having fun. I was just short of my planned turnaround point at Anthony Gap when I saw the golden eagle. He watched me with indifference, I watched him with a lively interest for a time before turning south.
I held my altitude, higher than I’d attempted before, and simply soared across the dips and passes between the peaks. It took me slightly more than an hour to reach North Franklin Peak and begin dropping toward my car. I passed over Rattlesnake Springs and the short-lived stream that it spawned. A skunk was downstream near where the stream sinks into the desert sands and a family of deer was drinking from the spring itself. Beautiful spot, but marred by trash and broken beer bottles.
Another time I’d bring a trash bag in and pick up the debris, but for now, I wanted to get home. Ana Maria should be back by now and we were going out to dinner.
I commed her when I reached the car.
I dropped the connection and wondered. She hadn’t seemed to be very enthused.
Well, things would happen as they would. If she wasn’t prepared to stay with me, better to find out now.
The thought left me feeling depressed. The trip up the spine of the mountains had been wonderful, but most of the good feeling was now gone.
T might get a companion for his exploration trips after all.
T:
Shezzie was waiting when T got back to the cabin.
“T, I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning. I packed a few things this afternoon, but I’m not taking much and I’ll dump everything I take with me as soon as I adopt a new identity.
“I’m not sure how long this is going to take, but I’ll comm you every day, or you can comm me. I’ll be in New York for a few days. Can you cash in some of the diamonds and gold coins and deposit them into the checking account? I’ll plan on using the credit card for a while, but I’ll take cash out when I’m ready to break my trail back to New Mexico. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.
“The cash will go into an online bank using my new name. There are several banks like that, and the advantage is that there’s no teller or officer who’ll remember anything about me. You can use the account to deposit money and pay bills electronically and you can use the account to get a credit card.
“I can withdraw cash from the account later using any number of ATM machines too. I’ll make sure to use a scarf and sunglasses when I use an ATM so that I won’t leave a trail on a security camera that might cause my face to be associated with my new name.”
T agreed, not that she’d left him with a choice. The two had a hasty supper and turned in for the night.
Shezzie would be catching the early morning flight out of Albuquerque’s Sunport, so she’d be leaving the cabin around two in the morning.
Shezzie was bubbly, T was a bit grumpy but tried to hide it. Perhaps he did; at least she didn’t say anything, even though it’s tough to hide something from an empath who can also pick up about half your thoughts whenever she wants!
Ray:
The dinner was a bust. Ana Maria had called her mother and that lady had been upset.
The family priest had contacted her and informed her that the Church was considering whether to seek an intervention by a specialist; at some point it might be necessary to try an exorcism.
The priest had been vague as to his reason, but after questioning he admitted having been contacted by a priest from a church in El Paso.
The El Paso priest hadn’t given details, only that he’d confessed a young woman who’d given her name and the church she attended with her family, and that the confessor was now convinced she harbored a devil. Any facts in his possession were held in confidence because he’d learned them from confession.
An older priest might have decided his duty to the church required that he release at least a few of the things he’d been told. The younger one still believed that the confessional was sacred and not to be revealed under any circumstances. Still, did the secrecy of the confessional extend to a confession from the Devil? Something would have to be done about whatever had taken possession of the young woman.
Despite the lack of facts, the family priest had decided to see what help he could be; perhaps this could all be sorted out. It was surely a mistake to believe that the young woman he’d known since she moved to Juarez with her family was devil-possessed.
It was all very confusing, but finally Ana Maria’s mother had spoken sharply to her husband. His stubbornness had gone quite far enough. It was time for their daughter to come home. They had lost one daughter to murder; they would not lose another to a devil!
Ana Maria would be leaving in the morning for her parents’ house in Juarez. She would be staying a week, possibly two, depending on how things went. Even her father now agreed it
was time for her to come home!
Perhaps the separation would be good for the two of them. They could comm each other daily, after all. When the situation with her parents improved, she would be ready to discuss whether she and Ray actually had a future together.
Chapter Sixteen
Ray:
Ana Maria left after breakfast and I mooched around the empty house, straightening things and vacuuming the carpets. I took out the bag of accumulated trash and put it in the dumpster before picking up my paper and taking it inside.
A second cup of coffee sat on the table when I began reading. Nothing much on the front page that I was interested in, mostly continuations on page two, but then I got to page three.
And sat bolt upright. Shit!
He was back in a moment.