Desert Son Trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, Spiritual Intervention (Books 1-3)

by Glenn Maynard

  Carter stopped speaking for a moment to look at Angie, but there was nothing going on, no spark or even a hint of life. “If you’re unable to give us the information that we’re seeking, then I’m hoping you can find Charlie and pass the information on to him. Then maybe he will visit me again in the night, and he can get your answer to us. Angie, it’s very important that we find out what happened that day we came to you for a reading. I know that you can’t give us answers the way things are now, but we’re praying that this works. Please, Angie… ”

  Carter had been holding her hand the entire time, and suddenly the blipping became faster and louder, ever so briefly, before settling into the regular tone. There appeared to be additional energy in the room. Then Carter felt his hand again being squeezed gently. He looked at Brenda. She had been watching, but missed the subtle squeeze. Carter knew that Angie had squeezed his hand this time. He felt it firmly, and there was no question in his mind that Angie had responded to him. He looked up at Brenda and said, “She got the message.”

  “She did? How are you so sure?”

  Carter got up from his chair with a smile on his face. “She got me good,” he said. “She got me real good.”

  When they returned home from the hospital, the Blankenships were at the house. Wendy was in the kitchen preparing a pot of spaghetti sauce and meatballs. The aroma was evident as soon as they opened the car. Garlic popped in the air, and it was the sweetest combination known to Carter’s nostrils. They were pleasantly surprised to learn that when they got home from such an exhausting day with Angie that a spaghetti and meatball dinner with Carl, Wendy, Billy and Willy awaited them. They could not decide on a dinner plan on their way home, so this was perfect.

  Carter sat down at the kitchen table, which was preset with six plates. The twins were already sitting at the table waiting for their feeding. They sat next to each other, continuously exchanging glances, not saying anything, but cracking up on occasion. It was clearly a kid’s game that was really funny, but only to them. There didn’t appear to be any written rules, nor was there any interest on the part of the boys to teach Carter this game they invented.

  Since Carter sat across from them, all that he could do was watch them make faces at each other and laugh. Carl was in the bathroom washing up for dinner and Brenda was assisting Wendy with dumping a pot of steamy spaghetti-filled hot water into a colander in the kitchen sink, and toasting up a large chunk of garlic bread.

  The twins stopped their game soon after Carter joined them at the table. They changed their concentration onto the new guy, looking at each other briefly, and then looking at Carter. He just looked straight ahead at the twins, not making any attempt to look away. Billy and Willy were still hard to tell apart, and Carter could only guess at this point. He would need to tell a funny joke or find some other way to get the boys to open their mouths in order to properly identify them through dental exams. Even so, he was sitting across the table from them, so he would have to be closer in order to identify Billy from Willy.

  Wendy placed a big bowl of Linguini on the table, and Brenda followed her with a big bowl of sauce and meatballs. Carl arrived with the bread that he had sawed up, and placed that plate of goodness on the table. They all concurred that there was no smell better than one created in an Italian kitchen. Tonight, they would break Italian bread together, and get reacquainted, since it was not long after the Blankenship’s arrival when Carter and Brenda needed to leave home for a while. It seemed to work out fine; a blue print to perfection. Carter and Brenda did not have a pet to worry about, but two weeks is a long time to leave a house unattended.

  As everybody was getting themselves situated at the kitchen table, and with random murmurs about how good everything looked and smelled, Carter looked up from placing his napkin on his lap and noticed the twins again looking at him intently. They were not looking at each other this time. It was only Carter they were fixated on. Carter was not going to back down from this one. He was not going to break his retinal connection with two four-year-old brats who seemed to want to take over his house. It was ludicrous, and Carter felt that he needed to handle this himself, without the help of his oblivious parents. These kids ran amok, like a heard of wild banshees, and nobody seemed to notice. That’s why they did it.

  The staring match continued as Brenda carried on a conversation with Carl and Wendy. It was Carter vs. Billy and Willy. Carter studied their faces during this contest. His eyes bounced back and forth from Billy to Willy, back to Billy, and then back to Willy. As he was doing this, he was somewhat amazed that two four year olds were not backing down. It was sort of brave on their part, and with a sprinkle of bizarre, but Carter had never seen anything like it.

  He continued to look at them, when something great occurred to him. He noticed that one head was slightly longer than the other. It wasn’t much of a difference, but it just might be enough for Carter to tell the boys apart in the future. Carter thought this information might be invaluable. He now moved back and forth with his eyes, saying “Billy… Willy… Billy… Willy.” He keyed his eyes in on Billy and finally said, “You’re Billy,” pointing. Billy giggled.

  “You got it,” said Wendy. “Didn’t take long. You get used to them. The differences in their features become more prevalent as you get used to them. They’re sweet boys… sometimes.”

  Wendy stood up and placed a mound of Linguini on everybody’s plate with a claw. She then grabbed the bowl of sauce and meatballs, and plunked two meatballs and a healthy scoop of sauce onto each mound. “There’s plenty more where this came from,” she said.

  “This is wonderful,” said Brenda. “You outdid yourself!”

  “Oh, no… I love to cook. I’ve worked in restaurants since I was a kid. Actually, I was kind of forced into the workforce to support my family after my father passed when I was only fifteen years old. I had to keep the family afloat because my mother’s salary wasn’t cutting it, and my father’s salary was how we had survived.”

  “Oh, dear,” said Brenda. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “That’s terrible,” said Carter.

  Wendy finished serving and sat down at her own plate. “Well, things happen, I guess… more to some than to others.”

  “That’s for sure,” said Carter. “I lost both my parents in a car accident four years ago. I certainly know how it feels, but at least I was older and didn’t have siblings to support. I don’t know how that part feels.”

  Wendy swirled some pasta together in a ball and inserted it into her mouth. “Mmmm,” she said, and then swallowed. “That was like a double whammy. I tell you… some people were not created for good luck. Not early on… as far as my life goes, anyway, but it all turned around when I met Carl, while waiting tables at the Waffle House. He liked the way he was served, so he asked me out, and then these guys came around shortly after we got married. Maybe my good fortune was set on a time-release.”

  “That’s my girl,” said Carl. “Always finds the good. Sometimes it takes a bit, but always finds it.”

  “So you had brothers and sisters to support?” Brenda asked.

  “A younger brother and younger sister. That’s why it was imperative that I work. There’s no way my mom could have done it on a teller’s salary. You can bank on that. That was my mom’s favorite joke. You can bank on that.”

  “Was? Is she still with us?” Brenda asked, cringing for the reply.

  “Yes, she’s still breathing, but she sort of went mad after a few years and the state committed her to a home. It was a few years after my father passed, so we were all a bit older. All of us were thrown into the workforce, but we were able to pull together to save the house. It was tight, very tight, but we were able to manage. Gotta play the hand you’re dealt. College was out. There would be no higher educatio
n for any of us, but if I went to college, then I wouldn’t have met Carl and produced Billy and Willy.”

  “Always finds the good,” Carl interjected.

  There was a loud crackle of thunder that shook the house, and then there was a lightning strike that lit up the twilight sky.

  “Wow,” said Carter. “That was a doozy!”

  They continued eating their dinner, but the intervals of thunder and lightning continued to assault them more frequently, and about halfway through dinner all power went out.

  “Oh, boy,” said Carter. “Let me find some flashlights and candles.”

  “The flashlight is in the top drawer next to the dishwasher,” said Brenda. “I’ll get the candles in the den.” She got up from the table and returned with three large candles that were well used from past storms with solid drips down and around the small white plates that they rested on. She grabbed the long lighter used for the outdoor grill, and lighting was somewhat restored; enough so that they were able to finish up their meal.

  “We’ll just scrape the food into the garbage and put the dishes into the sink, and worry about them when the power is restored,” said Brenda.

  Everybody brought their own plates to the garbage and scraped them, then placed them in the sink. Carter came back and gathered up the glasses. The twins made their way into the den, and once the kitchen was somewhat cleared, the adults joined them, holding the lit candles. The storm raged on with a sudden rush of wind, and then rain began to pummel the house, along with what sounded like hail mixing in with the intermittent thuds.

  The worst of the storm subsided after about 20 minutes, but they were still sitting in the dark in a small room, lit only by three candles. The darkness outside was the result of dark clouds associated with the storm, and the onset of nightfall.

  “So,” Carter began. “What to do now?” He twiddled his thumbs sarcastically.

  “I have an idea,” said Brenda. “Let’s wait for the lights to come back on.”

  Wendy laughed and said, “This place is rather creepy in the dark. It would make for a great haunted house on Halloween.”

  Carl smirked at his wife. The twins looked at each other and smirked. Carter noticed that Billy was on the left and Willy was on the right. They continued to look at Carter through the conversation and the candlelight, and nobody but Carter seemed to notice. He began to feel self-conscious, and a bit of paranoia set in. Then he told himself that he wasn’t going to let a couple of brats make him feel that way, and he turned the tables on them.

  “You’re Billy, right?” Carter asked, pointing to the boy on the left.

  Billy turned and looked at his brother with big eyes.

  “Goooooood,” said Wendy. “Now try to guess which one is Willy.”

  Carl blurted out laughter, but stopped quickly. He was not the type of guy to steal a show, and he liked staying on the back burner. After he blurted out that quick laugh, his face returned to a blank, so the onlookers would look away from him.

  “That one is Willy,” said Carter, pointing to the boy on the right.

  Billy said something under his breath to Willy. Then Willy spoke. “We have a winner,” he said. All four adults laughed. Another stray crackle of thunder shook the house.

  Carter and Brenda both looked at the twins before them. They didn’t say much, but then they would collaborate on a sarcastic remark. They weren’t sure how to take them, but their parents only saw it as adorable.

  “They sure are cute,” said Wendy. “Aren’t they?”

  “Yeahhh,” said Brenda. “Yeahhh… cute.”

  “Absolutely,” said Carter, obligatorily, but in a creepy way, he thought.

  “They actually had a say in where we were going to move to,” said Wendy.

  “Oh?” Brenda said. “The four year olds did?”

  “Yeah,” said Wendy. “Right Carl?”

  “Right.”

  “Carl was given a few locations of where he could transfer when his plant was downsizing. He was given the choices of San Francisco, Reno, or Boulder.”

  “Which one did he choose?” Carter asked, and only Brenda thought that was funny.

  “The twins didn’t know a thing about any of them,” Wendy continued, “but for some reason they both really wanted Boulder, Colorado. Strange how four-year-old kids had so much influence over a family move, but they did. I’m not sure how or why, but they did.”

  “It made sense,” said Carl.

  “Yes,” said Wendy. “It did make sense. We didn’t just move here on a whim because the twins wanted to move here, but they really did push for it and got their way. Whether it was what we wanted or they wanted or all of us wanted… who knows, but here we are.”

  Carter looked at the twins and they were looking at him yet again. He decided to ask them a question. “What was it about Boulder that made you guys want to come here?”

  “You,” they said together.

  Wendy laughed and said, “Oh, aren’t they a riot?”

  “Sure are,” said Carter, who looked over at Brenda’s mouth, which was agape.

  “No, really,” Carter pressed. “What was it?”

  Billy whispered something to Willy.

  “We like mountains,” said Willy.

  “Aha… do you ski?” asked Carter.

  Billy again planted something into Willy’s ear, and Willy’s output came out. “Used to.”

  Wendy laughed again. She was like their personal laugh-track. Carl was stoic through it all, but Wendy was their biggest fan.

  “You used to ski?” Carter asked.

  Billy answered himself this time, “Back in the day.”

  Carter looked at Brenda’s mouth, which was still contorted. They were like little men who had lived a life, but they were only four years old. They told a series of jokes that just weren’t all that funny.

  Billy again whispered in Willy’s ear, and Willy turned to Brenda and said, “Nice to see you again.”

  This time Wendy did not laugh. She looked at the twins and said, “Okay, enough of that. Now you’re talking nonsense. You guys must be overtired. Maybe it’s time you two get to bed.”

  Billy whined, “Mommy, no bedtime yet. I’m ascared of the dark… and… surely you don’t want us to go to bed just yet.”

  “Surely?” Wendy said. “What do we have a movie star out of the 1930’s among us?”

  “No,” said Billy. “She wasn’t in the movies.”

  “Okay,” said Wendy. “Let’s get you kiddies to beddy bye.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Wendy got up and Carl followed with one of the candles. They moved into the twins’ bedroom and got them into bed. They used one of the flashlights as a nightlight so the kids would not be scared with the power outage. When they were gone from the den, Brenda was the first to express concern.

  “Did you hear that freakazoid?”

  “Yeah, how could you not?”

  “They kept looking at you and then looking at me,” said Brenda. “They really are not funnier than they are creepy. I almost wanted to say that to Wendy. She really needs a reality check. Her kids are much older than they appear.”

  “You’re not kidding,” said Carter. “There’s something about them… something about them that even their parents are blind to. They are blinded by their cuteness. I guess that’s part of being a parent. I wouldn’t know, but I’m fairly certain that I would pick up on those boy’s shenanigans and think, Houston… we have a problem.”

  “Actually, Houston knows there’s a problem,” said Wendy as she passed from the hallway bac
k into the den, having overheard the private conversation. “We’ve known there was a problem pretty much since day one, but you don’t just abandon your kids if they have issues. You don’t abandon your family like my father abandoned us. You try to carry on as normal a life as you can, and give them as much confidence and love as you can in order to survive in such a difficult world. Kids these days… you always hear that they have it so easy, when in reality they have it very rough.”

  “What’s going on?” Carl asked as he had just returned from tucking the kids into bed.

  “Oh nothing… just that apparently the boys are not making too good of an impression on Carter and Brenda.”

  Carl took another step into the room and looked at Carter, and then looked at Brenda. His stature was imposing. “You know we’ve had a time with these boys, but we try our best to help them assimilate into society. It’s a rough world out there and… ”

  “I already gave them the speech,” said Wendy, and Carl knew that she would handle it from there.

  Wendy and Carl took a seat on the couch. “It’s really hard being a mother. I know you two don’t have children, but when and if you do, you will know what I mean. I know you think you know. I was the same way, but holy shit was I way off base. I had a pretty good head start when I was 16 years old and had to replace one of my parents. It was rough losing my father the way I did. One day I’m a junior in high school and the next day I’m helping to feed the family. I still resent my father even though it’s not his fault. I was forced to pick up a job right after burying him. Ruined my teen years.”

  “How did he die,” asked Brenda, “if you don’t mind me asking.”

  “Surely,” said Wendy, pausing and putting her hand to her mouth. “We never did find out. It was about 15 years ago when his body was found in a wheat field. Foul play… was… detected.” Wendy took a dry swallow before she was able to continue. “It was such a small community where we lived. Everybody knew everybody else in the town. You know the term Cold Case?”