Honey, on the other hand was disappointed that he never called anymore and when she called him he was always too busy to talk and her feelings were hurt, for she found that she missed their friendship. She took on extra work for herself to fill the void that Jacks had left in her heart. Telling herself that it was for the best because of their differences did not help either, for the heart knows only what it feels.
Sheila discovered that she really liked small town living and when a house became available down the street from Honey, she bought it. Though it needed updating, she loved its large wrap around veranda and southern charm.
The next several weeks were filled with painting and restoring the wood flooring that was discovered underneath carpets and layers of linoleum. It was hard but she enjoyed working in what was to be her new home, her very own home.
Jacks began making short trips to New York often and still refusing to talk about what was going on. On one occasion she walked into his office and found him with his head in his hands and could have sworn he had been crying. She did not believe it was allergies he made out it to be.
Neither Jacks nor Honey had confided any sort of feelings they may have between them but Sheila sensed the friendship between them had changed since her arrival. Bringing it up to Honey one day while she was over helping with some painting, she asked, “Honey, I thought you and Jacks were sorta close, but since I moved here you two never talk anymore. Just say so if I should just mind my own business, but is it because of me?”
Honey stopped what she was doing to answer her. “To tell you the truth I thought we were getting closer…but no, it is definitely not because of you that we aren’t any longer. I think my being a Christian has something to do with it. I may have tried too hard to convert him.”
Sheila scrunched up her face and responded, “Jacks’ does have a problem with religion of any kind, not just Christianity. Phooey, I’m one and we do fine, well until recently that is.”
Honey frowned. “What do you mean, until recently?”
Sheila put her roller down and sat cross legged on the floor looking like teen with her hair pulled up in a pony tail and paint spattered on her face. Oblivious to how she might look she took long drinks from a bottle of water before she answered.
“He has made some trips to New York in the last few weeks, mostly on the weekends but he is just acting weird, especially the last time he came back from one. And, he won’t talk about anything besides work with me.”
“Do these trips have anything to do with the men Morgan was associated with?”
“I wouldn’t think so, when Morgan died they sort of crawled back into their hole. I haven’t heard a word from any of them since then. Jacks would have told me if they were still bothering him…but then again, maybe not. He sure has been acting weird. Maybe it’s just because he misses spending time with you.”
She finished with a giggle at the thought.
“Hmmm, I doubt that but I was wondering.” Honey said thoughtfully.
“What?”
“You told me that Jacks was being blackmailed before and I just hope he is not after revenge of some kind. I can tell he is not the sort of man who takes bullying from anyone.”
“Eweee, I never thought of that. I hope not too. I can tell you, he does not want to fool with any of that bunch! They are all creepy, creepy.”
Their conversation ended as Dwight pulled up in front of the house in his pickup truck with four young men from the church.
Sheila gave her squeal of pleasure for they had come to help get the painting finished so she could move into her home.
*****
Fall replaced the sultry summer of two thousand and ten for all residents of Mississippi. It was a welcome change from the hot humid summer and Sheila was proud of the end result of her work on her house. With the help of her new friends she got all her furnishings moved in after they were shipped down from New York.
She was grateful for Honey’s hospitality and company over the summer and a week after she moved, realized just how much she was going to miss her. Living with her was almost like having a sister or as she imagined sisters would be. She also developed a close relationship with Jean who had befriended her when she first moved to town. As shy as she had seemed at first, Sheila was finding that she was fun to be around and not so shy once she got used to a person. They were both around the same age and had a lot of the same hopes and desires, but mostly Sheila loved her spirit. It was gentle and kind and she never had a bad word to say about anyone.
Jacks came to the house warming she had two weeks after moving in but only stayed long enough to have the grand tour and though he stopped to speak to Honey he did not linger. He did ask about Carol and she said that her and her parents were expected to return home soon and that Carol was doing great. He asked about her sight and when Honey told him that she was still blind, she noticed a slight smirk before he politely excused himself. There was no sign of the quirky sense of humor and underscored charm that she thought she was coming to know. He seemed tense and distracted, giving a distinct impression that he would rather be anywhere else than at Sheila’s house. This puzzled her and somehow she sensed he was in trouble. She remembered back to their first conversations and replayed them all in her mind. There had to be a reason for the one eighty degree turn and she made up her mind to find out what it was. She would put aside her hurt feelings and think objectively.
TWENTY
There were four men gathered around the bedside of Asa. They were there at his bidding for the time was getting closer that the transfer would have to be made or else everything would be lost. For all of his magical abilities, there was one thing he could not do and that was to make a mere body of flesh last more than its allotted time on Earth. It was time to change the old worn out one for one that was in its prime. One that would give him the vitality he needed now more than ever and the one that would bring about the destruction of all those who would not join his New World Order. He had several to choose from but he wanted the one that belonged to Jacks for a special reason. There was a connection and he had waited a long time to reunite with the firstborn of his own son and they would merge together as one real soon.
“Master you cannot wait much longer! I have no idea how long I can keep this heart beating with this implant. You must step things up or choose another!”
These words came from a doctor of sorts, though he had no patient save the one man, Asa. It was his only duty to keep him physically fit and well.
Asa gave the man a look that quieted him instantly.
“I have watched my children and their offspring come and go throughout the years. This one is my closest relative living and I will not have you pushing a weaker vessel at me! This one is coming around, you know it has to be freewill on his part or it will not work! I need a little more time with him; he is just now becoming comfortable with me. Thanks to that idiot Morgan, we lost precious time.”
He went into a coughing spasm, while the men argued among themselves.
Abe, Caney, Chad and the doctor, Arty, all held opposing views of what should happen.
“Enough, I tell you!”
The four quickly bowed their heads to him in submission, careful not to further antagonize him for his eyes were already blazing a fiery red.
“As you wish, Master, we are here to carry out any orders you may have for us and nothing more.” Abe spoke and the others nodded.
“I will have him ready in time for if I fail…well, we all know what happens…and that is not an option. Now leave me to my own thinking, for I swear by all that is unholy I will replace every one of you!”
The four men left without any argument, leaving Asa to himself to contemplate Jacks’ next visit. He had used all of his powers to hypnotize him into a false sense of security and just a few more weeks and he would have him willing to do anything, even willing to go into the ring with him.
He liked Jacks but he would like having his strong virile body even m
ore. It was going to be the last one he would need to inhabit, for when his kingdom was established he would have his own preferred glorious body back.
He thought he had lost him on the first visit but coaxed him into staying long enough for his voice to work its magic. It was what he did best, beguiling people with his hypnotic voice and eyes until they were putty in his hands.
Thinking of the very first people that had fallen into his enticement, Asa laughed an evil filled laugh and cursed when it sent him into the hated cough. He quieted it with the glass of water handed him by a silent maid and looked forward to later in the evening when Jacks was due to join him.
It was imperative that he be the meek and mild grandfatherly type Jacks was beginning to know and not ruin the progress he had already made with him. He was sure he was getting close to having Jacks just where he wanted him. Afterwards he had much work to accomplish for soon every soul would have come through the flesh and his ultimate deception was growing nigh.
Lying back on his freshly plumped up pillows he made plans as if he already owned the new body. Just a matter of time and the plan that was set into motion long, long ago, was about to make him winner of all and at the same time proving that evil would always supersede good.
He laughed again so deep and loud that the sound echoed throughout the halls and rooms of the stone house and beyond its walls. Even the animals within range cringed in their skins while fleeing from the direction it came from.
TWENTY-ONE
For some reason Jacks decided to cancel his planned trip to New York. He woke up in the early morning deciding he wanted to go fishing. It was barely light when he gathered his gear and walked down the trail that led to the place he liked best for catching bass.
An hour went by and not having much luck, he leaned against the tree he was sitting by and dozed.
He dreamed he was again a child, a frightened child that had been moved to yet another foster home. It proved to be worse than the one before. The man was cruel and took pleasure in terrifying the small boy with stories of boogiemen while the woman forced him to kneel and repent his sins every night telling him he would burn in hell if he didn’t. He was running, looking for a place to hide when the dream ended abruptly and he had a strange feeling he was not alone. He opened his eyes wide to the sight of a young man standing close to the edge of the water, fishing rod in hand, reeling in a fish. At first, he thought he might still be sleeping for the only route to the spot was directly behind his cabin and no else used it besides him.
The man was dressed in casual trousers and a long sleeved shirt and both were rolled up. Jacks made a noise causing the stranger to look back at him. The sun was shining in such a way that Jacks could hardly see his face. The man laughed gleefully as he took one of the nicest bass Jacks had ever seen off his hook and held it up.
“Nothing like it, huh? I mean such perfection!”
“I guess.” Jacks came to his feet about to caution the stranger that he was trespassing, when the man asked, “Creation is an amazing thing is it not?”
“I believe in evolution, not creation. How did you come to be here, it is a private road to my house?”
The man concentrated on putting the fish back into the water and answered without looking back at Jacks.
“How I came to be here is somewhat like how you came to be here, all by design of the entity that created your world.”
“Look, I do not have a lot of patience with religious freaks. I am trying politely to ask you to leave. You are trespassing on my property.”
The young man kept fishing.
“Religion? Religion has nothing to do with why either of us is right here, right now. Besides, Christianity is not a religion, it is a reality. It is a spiritual union with our creator and all about freewill. We always have a choice Jacks’ in anything we do.”
“How do you know my name? I do not know you, never saw you before. Who are you?”
“Just a friend.” He let another fish back into the water gently and smiled. There was a noise behind Jacks and he spun around and seeing nothing, turned back to the young man, but he was gone.
“What the…?” There was no way the guy could have left without passing by him. Jacks looked closely around where the man had been standing and could find no evidence of anyone having been there….not even a foot print on the bank.
“You got to start getting more sleep, now you are hallucinating?” murmured Jacks.
He cast his line where the hallucination had been standing and was surprised when he caught more fish in less time than he ever had before. He pondered this morning’s events as he took them up to his cabin to clean.
He decided to invite several of his friends to come over to help eat all the fish he caught. He had practiced the southern way of frying fish and devised his own recipe for the hushpuppies he liked so well. It turned out to be more of a party than he planned, with many more people showing up than he intended.
Long after the food was gone, the party continued on with drinks, music and dancing under the stars, but even with all the fun and laughter, Jacks kept remembering the strange event of the early morning. He was not able to fully convince himself that it was a figment of his imagination.
It was a wild and crazy night and when he got up the next morning there were three of his buddies sprawled on the sofa’s and floor and he did not even remember getting into his bed. As he always did when he had too much to drink, Jacks’ swore it would be the last time.
He let the guys sleep until noon and then roused them, fed them all pancakes and sent them home. He needed to be alone to figure out why he was feeling that something just was not right.
It was a peculiar feeling and he found himself wishing he was still talking to Honey. He backed off their friendship because he was certain there was no future for him and someone professing to be a Christian. He kept telling himself that, but in reality he felt a stronger pull toward her than he wanted to admit. What he could not understand was….why? It was something that both intrigued and scared him. He wondered if it were possible that after all the years and all the women with which he had been that if he was now feeling genuine love. He wondered also if that was the reason he was feeling as if there was something wrong. Or was it that he missed the long talks he had been having with Asa? The connection there was every bit as intense as the one he felt for Honey, only of a different nature.
At first he refused to believe the story Asa told him on that first visit, but the proof he had was undeniable and Jacks’ felt it had to be the truth. The conflictions of his emotions kept him awake many nights before he finally went back to the stone house for a second visit. His feelings slowly started to change, as Asa led him deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of the minds subconscious. The scales on his spiritual eyes became thicker and he began to believe all that Asa shared with him. He once again became a student and Asa was his teacher, as well as his paternal grandfather, for the story he heard on the first night was one that wrenched his heart and bonded him to Asa, as only blood could do.
Thinking back on their first meeting, caused him to long for the remote spot where the stone house shielded Asa from the harm many wanted to befall him. The pull was so strong he could not deny it.
He made plans to go the next weekend and was eager for the week to pass
It was a full week of dealing with court orders and social services. On Wednesday, there was a case to be heard in Philadelphia and Jacks had to be there.
Maybe he had lunch at the City Limits because the food was good or maybe because he hoped that Honey would be having her lunch there also. It surprised him at the disappointment he felt when he had finished and she had not walked through the door. It caused him some consternation for he realized the connection he felt between them was far from the romantic interludes which filled his past. He left the restaurant amazed at the realization that he really cared for this woman in a way he never had before and he had no idea what to do about it.
&
nbsp; He spent the rest of the day in court and when he left he ran into Andrew. They knew each other casually from the Bowler case and he stopped to chat for a minute. He asked about Carol and got the update Sheila had already shared with him. He was glad the little girl was home and doing surprisingly well for someone who was not expected to live. It was a shame she still could not see and he asked Andrew to give the family his good wishes. Before leaving, Andrew gave some general news about people he knew Jacks had met and finally told him that Honey was preparing to leave on a trip. This was something Sheila had not mentioned and he was curious. When they parted, he called Sheila and asked if he could swing by. She was just getting home but was delighted he wanted to come for an out of the office visit.
She met him at the door.
“Hey Jacks! Come on in, I am making us some tea. You want hot or iced?”
Jacks walked through the opened door and followed her to the kitchen taking in details of the makeover along the way.
“Iced. You really have made a difference here Sheila. Love the wood work!”
“Thanks, I could not have done it without all the help I got from good friends here.
“I am just a bad friend, huh?”
“Nooo…we both see how your place is coming.” They both laughed. “Or, are you getting anything finished out there?”
“Slow…. but there has been some progress since you were there. The old guy doing the work does it alone without any help except for his nephew sometimes, but he’s doing a great job. By and by it will get there. So, how is life going for you here? You still liking the small town feel?”
He took a glass of iced tea, while she sat down with hers hot.
Wings of Deception Page 13