by Pamela Davis
"Right," said Andy. "Then let's get back on the road if we're going to make it across that river tonight."
Chapter 7
Cape Fair, The Samuels' House
It was 11:00 p.m. at John and Jessica's house and all their friends had left except Mrs. Philpott and her cat. Harry and Samantha were groggily awake, he on the floor and she snuggled into a corner of the couch propped up with a pillow and covered with a navy and cream crocheted afghan. Mrs. Philpott sat in the rocker sipping a cup of tea, and John and Jessica took their seats in two overstuffed matching armchairs, each with a cup of decaf. Perceval sat on a hard-backed chair in front of the laptop next to Mrs. Philpott.
"I call this late-night meeting of strategists to order," said Mrs. Philpott with a weary grin. "I know it's late and Sam needs to get to bed, but I thought we should get her first impressions before she goes to sleep."
Perceval, beside her, nodded yes.
Jessica leaned forward and said, "Well, Sam...Can you tell us what you saw? Did you get a chance to...I don't know what to call it...to 'see' everyone at the party?"
Samantha looked around at all of them and said, "Oh, it's my turn now? Okay...yeah, I think I did see most of 'em. They kept on wanting to talk to me so you know they kept on interruptin' me. But I think I got 'em all." There was a pause and then she said sheepishly, "Oops, I guess you want to know what they looked like, huh? Sorry, I'm kinda sleepy."
At that point Jessica said, "I don't know if we should do this right now, I mean she's only a little girl and she needs her sleep and--"
"No, Mom, it's okay," Sam interrupted strongly. Jessica turned to look at her sharply. Sam suddenly looked much more awake than she had. "Sam, what just happened? Why do you look so much more alert and awake?"
"Oh, that. Perceval just woke me up a little bit. He said its im-port-tant that I tell all, tell you all what I know. So now I'm awake."
"Perceval?" Jessica asked worriedly. "Is this safe? This won't hurt her will it?"
Perceval typed out:
NO SHE WILL BE FINE
"Okay," said Sam, "out of all those guys at the party...there was only one."
"What?" said John explosively. "That can't be! There have to be more than that!"
Mrs. Philpott looked perturbed. "I thought there would be more," she said quietly.
Jessica just looked stunned.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Samantha said firmly, "but there was only one. All the others are not having any of the dreams. Perceval and Harry better tell you the rest...Oh, wait I'm sposed to tell you some of that...Well, Harry looked around. He says that there is about five possibles. Perceval says there's about two possibles. And that's all for Cape Fair. 'Cept for one of them is a teenager boy who don't...."
She stopped and frowned at Perceval, and said, "Sorry, who doesn't have any mom or dad. Doesn't?"
Her mother nodded, "Yes, that's right." Then Jessica turned and looked at Perceval and then back at Sam questioningly.
Sam continued, "Anyways, that boy, he's gettin' the bad dreams. Harry says he lives in that empty house on the edge of town. Harry thinks he is maybe gonna be in trouble if somebody doesn't go get him soon."
The adults just stared at the little blonde girl. If she had sprouted wings at that point, it wouldn't have surprised them. Finally John thought to ask, "Sam, who was the 'one' at our party tonight? We should contact that person right away."
Samantha, grinning and giggling, said, "It's Harmony Gold."
All three adults in unison said, "Oh, no!" as Samantha smiled contentedly and leaned back against the pillows.
Chicot, Arkansas 11:00 p.m.
As Andy and Lisanne crossed the Mississippi, Lisanne tried not to think of what it would be like when the flooding took place. Would the water beneath them become a roaring nightmare? Or just a massive, spreading, overwhelming force of water that would take over the dry land they were heading to now? How could there be a flood here? It didn't look possible. Of course, she hadn't thought a hurricane was possible at her home, either. And the radio today had mentioned some weird lightning in Oklahoma. Come to think of it, what about that earthquake in California? True, she had been drinking at the time, but now, now she wondered whether it was connected as well.
After they checked into a motel, Andy, Lisanne and the dog and cat joined forces in Lisanne's room. Merlin was perched on a table in front of the computer. Lisanne was sitting cross-legged on one bed while Andy sat on the desk chair with the back turned around so he could rest his crossed arms on the top. Waldo was stretched out on the red carpet, ready to listen.
"All right," said Andy. "I know we are all beat and need to sleep. But we need to plan also. Where are we heading tomorrow?"
"Merlin says we head north on 65 towards Little Rock, but there seems to be some question about whether we will actually go to Little Rock?" Lisanne looked questioningly at Merlin.
He nodded and tapped on the keyboard. Andy looked at the screen and read out loud: "Troubles," and then said, "Whatever that means."
"I think it means we just go north and see what happens," Lisanne said in a tired voice.
Merlin tapped on the screen again.
Andy read the screen and his eyebrows shot up. "It says--gun show--does that mean you want us to go to a Gun Show? What for? Oh, no, wait a minute now...you want us to buy guns?" he said in a disbelieving voice.
Merlin stared at him and nodded. Waldo barked twice.
Lisanne spoke, "I picked up some of this from Merlin before, Andy. I think he's discovered there is a Gun Show not too far off our path tomorrow and we need to go there to buy weapons. It's the easiest place to buy guns without a waiting period or any questions. And from what I can gather we might need them at some point in the future."
Andy said hotly, "There is no way I'm going to use a gun! I will not be like my father--I will not pick up a weapon and kill someone!" he said, ending on a somewhat pleading note. "It's just not in me, don't you see?"
Lisanne didn't understand the reference to his father, but could clearly see that Andy was disturbed by the topic of guns. She tried again, "Andy, this isn't something we are suggesting so that we become killers or something. This is a precaution. Things are going to start breaking down out there," she waved a hand to the windows and door. "Society is going to start falling apart at some point, and we have to be prepared to protect ourselves from the bad guys. That doesn't mean we will become the bad guys. We can still be the good guys."
Andy was shaking his head, saying, "I don't know. I just don't know. It feels wrong."
Waldo got up and padded over to Andy, pushing his head against Andy's leg. Andy reached down and began to stroke Waldo's back and head. Slowly his breathing became more normal and he seemed to calm down.
Lisanne had been staring at Merlin and suddenly said, "Oh, oh my goodness! Andy, there's another reason." He looked up at her. "Merlin just told me that the other part of why we need to buy the weapons is for the people at the place where we are going. They don't have time to travel to where they could get what they need, so some of the stuff we are going to buy is for the place there, where we are going, and part of that is for protection. You don't have to necessarily use the guns if you don't want to."
Andy thought for a moment and seemed to feel better after Lisanne's speech. "Okay," he said finally. "That sounds reasonable enough to me. Just know that I don't plan on using a gun."
Lisanne nodded.
"Now, what about the rest of the list?" Andy said briskly, getting back to the business at hand. While he and Lisanne looked at the shopping list, Waldo and Merlin gazed deeply into each other's eyes. Waldo was worried and let Merlin know it. Merlin agreed. They might soon be in a situation where their survival would depend on Andy being able to defend them. He could only hope that they made it to their destination before Andy was forced to choose between using a gun and one of them living or dying.
Cape Fair, the Samuels' House
"Ha-Harmony Gold?" splutter
ed Mrs. Philpott, in utter astonishment.
"You've got to be kidding," said John in a pleading tone to Samantha.
"Nope," Sam said. "She's the one. What's wrong? She's fun!"
"Oh, Sam," said Jessica wearily. "I think it's time for you to go bed."
"Ah, Mom, you guys are gonna stay up and talk about Harmony, aren't you?"
"Oh, definitely," stated Mrs. Philpott firmly.
Sam started to protest the order to go to bed, and then looked thoughtfully at Harry for a minute, giggled and skipped to her room and hopped into bed.
As Jessica made fresh coffee, John reviewed what they all knew of Harmony Gold. She was a thirty-year-old flower child. Her parents had been true hippies living on communes in the sixties; they had brought up Harmony with virtually no rules or boundaries from what anyone could tell. She was what some would call flighty, others scatter-brained, others downright loony. Harmony was always working two or three part-time jobs that she was on the verge of getting fired from, or had just gotten fired from, and was just starting a new one. She had traveled all through her twenties with just a backpack and somehow gotten by "on the kindness of strangers" and had landed in Cape Fair about three years ago.
John and Jessica knew her because she was a great fan of science fiction and tried to start a sci-fi convention in Cape Fair, which failed miserably. In the process they learned a lot about her amazing ability to talk her way into just about anywhere, her complete lack of organizational skills, her gift for getting into trouble, and that underneath all those blond curls lurked a mind of great depth, albeit strange and convoluted at times.
Mrs. Philpott sat rocking slowly, thinking about how she met Harmony when Harmony decided to join the Garden Club and wanted to promote the growing of marijuana as a project of the Club. Since that fiasco, Harmony had given up drugs, and the last they'd heard from her, she was into crystals. Harmony's long flowing skirts, sandals on her feet, and beads threaded in her waist-length dark blond curling tresses presented an innocent and inviting picture to the male population, which had done nothing to make her popular with the women of Cape Fair. Rumors flew and accusations were leveled, but inevitably Harmony was proved to be the innocent bystander. Of course, there were times when it seemed she was the catalyst for trouble. In fact, as time went on, more and more people felt that her name was a misnomer, for it seemed that wherever she worked, or lived for that matter, things were not exactly harmonious.
Because John and Jessica were two of her first acquaintances and had yet to be actually hurt by any of her accidents/schemes, they had been called upon to vouch for her on more than one occasion, so that over time Harmony had become a kind of friend, someone who was always around on the periphery. They were there to smooth the waters when Harmony had been fired from her job doing hair and makeup at McDougal's Funeral Home. Harmony had not seen why it was a problem that she gave old Mrs. Whitman a dye job changing her white hair to bright red for the funeral. "I just thought she'd want to look her best when meeting her maker," said Harmony soulfully.
Then there was the apple pie incident at Ned's Pastry Shop. Harmony's studies with herbs, herbal laxatives, and apple pie spice had led to another job termination. And there were others...not so bad, some worse, some just minor little things, and some not even Harmony's doing, but eventually just about anything in town that went wrong came to be laid at Harmony's door.
So on this night, to hear that the only other person they could reliably bring into their circle to be trusted with the knowledge of all that was to come was Harmony Gold, this was the reason Jessica added large swigs of brandy to the coffee she served.
Tucson, Arizona
Maria threw her suitcase onto the bench next to the desk in the hotel room. Zack led Phoebe in and shut the door and dropped the rest of their bags. Maria asked, "Phoebe? Do you want to just go to sleep now?"
Phoebe nodded, barely. She had taken another valium about midway during the flight and seemed only partially aware of her surroundings even now. Maria helped her into bed and told her she'd be in the next room if needed. Phoebe appeared to drop right off into a deep sleep. Maria went with Zack into his room, which was next door.
"I thought we'd go directly to meet Margaret when we landed," she said, sounding aggravated.
Zack rubbed his hands over his face as if trying to wake up. "You know, I've been thinking about why she had us stay at this hotel. I think it has to do with the other passengers we picked up."
Maria looked at him quizzically.
"I doubt she wants to deal with someone like Hutton," said Zack.
"Oh, God!" said Maria, getting where he was going. "I hadn't thought of that. Of course she wouldn't." After a pause, she said, "I wonder if Mayor Dubois will get to meet Margaret or if it will be just us."
Zack looked worried and asked, "We didn't mention Margaret's name on the plane around Hutton, did we? You know, spill the beans or anything?"
Maria grimaced and then tried to remember just what she and Zack had talked about on the flight. Finally, she said, "I don't think so, Zack. Besides, all I heard from Hutton was how badly he wanted to get back to D.C. and how we were all putting him out by flying in the wrong direction!"
"That's a relief," said Zack. "Then everything should be all right. Let's hit the hay and get some rest. I think we'll have an interesting day tomorrow." And with that, he and Maria both settled down in their respective rooms for a night of much-needed sleep.
2:00 a.m. that night, Cape Fair, Missouri
Harmony woke up screaming, fighting the sheets tangled around her legs. Only as she realized she was sitting up in bed fighting phantoms did she notice she was screaming. Abruptly she shut her mouth, shuddering and hugging herself, trying to regain control. Into the still, dark night she whispered, "What is happening to me?" followed by the broken words, "all those people..." as she sobbed.
Across town, Jessica and John sat with Samantha on the edge of her bed and tried to calm their quivering daughter. Harry whimpered in a corner, periodically darting over to nuzzle Sam, only to run back to his corner when John or Jessica tried to pet him.
John glanced at Jessica with hollow eyes, saying, "I only remember a piece of the dream, but it was enough to scare me, an adult. I can't imagine what the entire thing must have been like for a child."
Sam and John both jumped when the phone rang, breaking the gloomy silence of the house. Jessica said, "It's okay, guys, just the phone. And I'll bet its Mrs. Philpott." She got up to get the phone and walking away, heard Sam say in a small voice, "It was really, really bad, Daddy, wasn't it?"
"Yes, Sam. Yes, it was really, really bad," he replied. "Come on, let's go in the other room and get some milk and cookies." As they entered the kitchen, they heard Jessica on the phone saying, "Yes, come right over--do you think so? Well, I guess if you think it's that important--and Sam did say she was the one. Okay, I'll call her right now--Yes, I guess she would be awake at that."
Jessica turned off the phone and enlightened her family. "Mrs. Philpott and Perceval are on their way over. They want to talk about what's coming up based on the dream. Get the details while they're fresh in your minds. And she wants me to call Harmony and have her come over. She says that Harmony probably had the dream, too, since it was so strong and she deserves to be let in on what's going on so she doesn't think she's going nuts."
John started to object and then thought about it. He'd only experienced one small part of the dream, or rather, he only remembered one small part of it. If he had gone through the whole dream and didn't know what was going on, he guessed he'd want to have some answers too. And Harmony was a good person, no matter what foibles or idiosyncrasies she brought to the mix. He looked up to see Jessica smiling at him fondly, and he grinned sheepishly knowing she had just followed his thought processes by watching his face. She did that sometimes...most of the time...all the time. He shrugged and said, "What the hell...call her!" Jessica laughed.
A little scream came screec
hing out of Harmony when the phone rang before she could stop it. "Damn, girl, get a hold of yourself!" she said aloud. Gingerly picking up the phone, she was glad to hear Jessica's voice. John and Jessica had been great to her. Then she realized her mind had wandered because Jessica had asked her a question. "What?" she asked.
"We want to know if you would come over to our house," Jessica said.
"Well, sure, anytime," Harmony said. "The party there tonight was great."
"No, Harmony, I mean we want you to come over right now. Tonight. As soon as possible," stated Jessica firmly.
Harmony was silent for a full ten seconds, thinking about the night, the party, the dream, and now this call. Finally she spoke in an excited low voice, "You know something, don't you?"
Jessica paused before she said, "Yes, we do, and so will you if you get over here. We'll be waiting."
"I'm on my way," Harmony replied.
Throwing on clothes and frantically brushing her hair, she was out the door ten minutes later, almost tripping on the stairs as she stumbled over the stray gray cat she had been feeding for the past week. Nursing the old 1967 Volkswagen engine to life, she was soon speeding down the empty streets of Cape Fair, hoping to soon hear answers to the many questions that were multiplying in her busy mind.
Chicot, Arkansas, 2:00 a.m.
Waldo woke up first, jumping onto the bed waking Andy, who was crying out in his sleep.
"No, no," he sobbed. As he came to full consciousness, he was thoroughly startled by the fact that Waldo was practically sitting on top of his chest, growling.
"Waldo!" he said sharply. "That's a good boy, now, get down, boy, it's okay, it's okay, boy, get down," he kept saying over and over until Waldo moved. As he sat up in bed, he realized Waldo was still growling and had moved to the interconnecting door that led to Lisanne's room. That was when he woke up enough to notice the screams coming from next door. Leaping up, he raced to the door and opened it, running into her room. Expecting to find something horrible, instead he found only Lisanne and Merlin, the cat meowing at Lisanne to wake her up and Lisanne obviously still caught in the web of sleep and a bad nightmare.