Alice 1

by Ernest Kinnie

  I gently put little animals to sleep, and they were usually up and around in a few seconds.

  Late in the afternoon we got our third huckleberry ice cream cone. They are really good. That one-eyed shaman followed me around all day, glaring and shaking his silly rattle. I finally had it and told him to stuff that rattle down his fucking throat. He raised it high in the air and I raised high my double dip, huckleberry ice cream cone. He grinned, turned coyote, and ran into the woods.

  Tomorrow we go to Many Glacier, the most beautiful and magical part of the Park. And David promised to teach me more about the Squeeze, something the group has been working on.

  CHAPTER 11

  Well no. So much for Many Glacier. Linda is at San Francisco General. She was mugged and the bastard broke her arm. Quick drive to Great Falls, shuttle to Denver, red eye to San Francisco. On the way I told Greg about the Squeeze and he thought it would be good to teach it to the group. I could tell he already knew about it. Why has he kept it a secret?

  Linda’s ready to come home so we hit the interstate. I’ve never seen her so mad. If she knew the Squeeze, that guy would be on a cold slab. And what would I have done? Squeezed the hell out of his brain stem, kicked him in the balls on the way down, and spit in his face when he hit the ground.

  The next morning I taught everybody the Squeeze. We went from birds to cats and dogs. Once a curious deer came out of the woods and Linda squeezed a little too hard. He lay there for quite a while, but eventually got up, looked dazed, and jumped back into the woods. Linda was the best student and accidently killed a couple of seagulls. I figure she plans to go back to San Francisco to get that bastard.

  Johnny is a fisherman as well as a clammer and loves to fish off our pier for rock cod. He saw a fat one near shore, did the Squeeze, and that poor fish turned belly up and floated to the top. He jumped up and down, yelling and screaming, pointing to that poor dead fish. Is that legal in California?

  Tomorrow we practice on each other.

  ____________________

  By the end of the next day we mastered the Squeeze, and God help the next mugger.

  I was right, Linda’s going back to get that bastard! Skinny Santa said no way and we had a very big fight. Molly and I sided with Linda. Johnny and Maggie with Skinny Santa. Old man Benson but didn’t say anything.

  “Ok, ok, so you’re going,” Skinny Santa said. “What are you going to do if you find him, which is not very likely?”

  “I’m going to squeeze the hell out of his balls, like Alice did to a guy. I want that prick to hurt, like he hurt me. Maybe he’ll learn what it’s like to hurt people.”

  “I understand revenge, not so sure about the lesson. What are you going to do if he attacks?”

  “I’ll put him to sleep and hope he has a real bad headache when he wakes up.”

  “Won’t that blow our cover?”

  “Who’d believe him, and he’d never tell anybody he was put down by a woman.”

  I asked if she would like me to come along and she gave a big hug. “We leave in the morning.”

  That really got everybody going. Greg went on and on for some time about my reservoir of anger, my lack of experience, immaturity, impulsiveness, misuse of the Gift, etc, etc. He honey coated the sermon with my great progress, how much they all care for me, concern for my safety, etc, etc.

  Santa’s a nice guy and I love him, but I don’t do well with heavy parent.

  ____________________

  We got to San Francisco mid-morning. Bad neighborhood. What was Linda doing here? Guys whistled and a few cars stopped and asked our price, but no mugger until the afternoon.

  “There, just inside that alley, the man in the brown shirt with that other guy.” We acted as if we didn’t see them as we walked by.

  “Hey Jimmie, look at that sweet pussy. Hey ladies, lookin’ for some wild stuff?”

  “I know the old bitch. I took her money and gave her a lesson not to give me a hard time.” They pushed us into the alley and pulled knives.

  “This is your lucky day, ladies. You’re going to find out how a real man fucks a woman, and don't you try to fight me again or I’ll cut you good.” And herded us to the back of the alley.

  “Now we’re real gentlemen. You want it on the ground or against the wall?”

  “And we’re real ladies,” I said. “So we’re gonna give you sorry pricks one chance to get the hell out of here before we beat the shit out of you!”

  Oh my, how they did laugh. Probably the funniest thing they ever heard, and maybe the last. I don’t do well laughed at, so I did my thing. They doubled over and hit the ground. Linda’s guy got up wild eyed, spraying spit. We squeezed and he hit the ground hard.

  His friend turned into a wittle, waby wabbit, and hopped back down the wabbit twail as fast as he could hop.

  “Think we killed him?” Linda asked.

  “Yes.”

  Why aren’t I even a little upset, remorseful? I just killed a guy and all I felt was that oh so satisfying, so dangerous surge of power. Are the monster horns growing so soon?

  The next morning there was a report was on the bottom of page one of the Chronicle.

  A STRANGE DEATH

  An unidentified man was found dead in the Mission District yesterday around 7 PM. Two knives were found nearby, but there are no knife wounds on the body. Police report no obvious cause of death.

  ____________________

  Skinny Santa got us all together that afternoon for more preaching. Nope, not Santa. Old man Benson.

  “Let me give you a little history. As some of you know, Stephen was the leader of the Vigilantes for many years and died recently. We call them the Glacier Gang. He and I formed the Vigilantes and everything went well for a few years. We discovered the Squeeze and used it to right the wrongs of the world, to spread Freedom, Justice, Truth. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. It all fell apart for me one day when we made a mistake, and killed two innocent people.

  “The lesson Stephen learned was to be more careful. I spent a month revisiting the places that had been blessed with our good deeds and found we had not looked carefully enough at the possible consequences of our actions. I came to the very painful conclusion our fight for Freedom, Justice and Truth may well have caused more harm than the wrongs we righted. Stephen did not agree and we parted.

  “I know the surge of power you feel, the glorious crusade to punish the wicked and reward the good. Please, please, don’t fall into that so seductive, so self-righteous trap. Continue to go on missions and have fun but don’t start a Freedom, Truth and Justice crusade. Humans don’t have the capacity to know enough of the consequences of their actions.”

  “Ok then, what should I have done?” Linda asked. “Just let that bastard go on mugging and raping? Have we no responsibility to rid the world of scum like him?”

  “I have no problem with what you did, but things are rarely that clear. You have to take other people’s word for things. You have to consider motives, reputation for telling the truth, conflicting information, your own motives and prejudices, and on and on. The farther you move from a firsthand experience like yours, the more likely you are to make a serious mistake. Yes, Alice?”

  “Have groups like ours ever been at war with one another? And if one of us went crazy, is there a defense against the Squeeze?”

  “Good questions. Stephen and I formed the Vigilantes to protect him from a group called the Libertines, who believe all authority corrupt and freedom the only virtue. Stephen got in their face and they almost killed him. Unfortunately we never found a counter to the Squeeze except to squeeze first or physically attack.”

  “The Glacier Gang is working on a counter,” Greg said, “and may be close to finding one. Alice, would you be interested in helping them out?”

  “Sure, and I’ll finally get to Many Glacier.”

  “Good. To get back to the reason for the meeting, we aren’t going to become vigilantes. If you want that kind of life I’ll put in a go
od word with the Glacier Gang but you may be out of luck because they’ve changed since Stephen died. Anything else?

  “Ok. I just got a message from Karla, my friend in Berkeley. He has a mission for us and has sent a courier with the details. He wants us to check out an ancient Zapotec ruin on a plateau above Oaxaca.”

  If you’re wondering, Oaxaca is pronounced wah-HAH-ka. I’d like to go to Mexico, never been there, but won’t mind seeing David again. Hope they have lots of big boulders at Many Glacier.

  CHAPTER 12

  That night just before I went to sleep, I got another flash to that old, smelly village.

  A very dirty eight- or nine-year old girl was rolling a drunk lying in the mud. People in the village call her the Krazy Kid. The drunk woke up and chased her down the dark, winding street, bellowing anger at the top of his lungs. No problem, she’s a very fast runner. He tripped over a cobblestone, hit his head, and was out cold. The little girl giggled and laughed as she finished going through his pockets, but couldn’t get the nice ring off his fat finger.

  The guy was up from the city for cheap wine and easy women. She’d never roll a local, just outsiders.

  ____________________

  David picked me up at the Great Falls airport. Am I falling in love with him? God, I hope not. When you are in and out of a bunch of foster homes, you learn not to get too close. Being dumped back to Social Services by someone you loved and thought loved you hurts…a lot. I’m close to Skinny Santa and the others, but that’s different. They’re family.

  But here I am, looking at him, loving him. Nah, not love! Just my hormones kicking up a ruckus. But maybe the rules changed and I don’t need to be so scared. Nah! Stick with wild sex. Leave love to giggly, pimply school girls.

  Everyone was so glad to see me. Ruth and Betty were jumping up and down, Doris had a big smile, and even old Ralph gave me a hug. The mountains are so lovely and I feel such a yearning to be among them. I must have been a trapper, exploring the wild rivers and mountains of the old west. Those were the glory days.

  Gone! All gone.

  We’ll work on the Squeeze when we get back from dinner at the East Glacier Lodge.

  ____________________

  “Ok Alice,” Doris said. “Squeeze David’s brain stem just a little, just enough to put him to sleep briefly.”

  I squeezed and he fell asleep for a few seconds.

  “Ok, try again.”

  Nothing! Wide awake.

  “A little more.”

  Still nothing.

  “Wow, it feels like squeezing something covering the brain stem. You’ve solved the problem. Great!”

  “Not quite. We don’t know how strong the defense is and aren’t about to find out the hard way.”

  “How did you do it, David?”

  “Cradle your brain stem with one or both Shadow hands. People squeeze your Shadow hands, not the brain stem.”

  “What if two people attack at the same time?”

  “We don’t know and afraid to try,” Doris said, “and there’s an even bigger problem. Your whole body is vulnerable. If you guard your brain stem, all somebody has to do is squeeze some other vital organ. Stopping your heart will kill you almost as fast”.

  “Well, can we make giant Shadow hands and cradle the whole body?”

  “Nope. The defense is too thin and people squeeze through.”

  Ralph had an idea. “There seems to be about a two-second delay between the first awareness of an attack and when it arrives full force. We need an alarm that triggers immediate awareness and a counter. Ok, enough for now. Let’s figure out how to set up an alarm and meet tomorrow morning.”

  That evening David and I didn’t have to hide behind a rock, he has his own cute little cabin. We melded together on the soft blankets, in the warm flickering light of the fireplace. The fairy bells were ringing and the blue and green fairies flashing around our shining bodies, as the ancient dance of soft hardness, sliding into slippery softness, created the holiness, of love and joy.

  Sometimes gentle.

  Sometimes wild.

  Just sex of course. No love. Nope. None. Nada. Just the glorious rush of hormones and pheromones. Two wild animals in heat.

  Eat your heart out you romantic, fantasy loving, sentimental fools.

  ____________________

  The next morning Ralph had the answer, associative conditioning. We’ll associate a word or sound to the first tiny feeling of being attacked. ZAP was the trigger I chose. ZAP will pop and I’ll quickly put my Shadow hands around what is being attacked.

  It took two days of practice before the sequence became automatic for everyone. Now the whole sequence from ZAP to defense takes about a second, well within the time needed. We’ll have to reinforce the association now and then to keep it strong.

  Maybe I’ll go back to school and learn more about intermittent reinforcement and associative conditioning. It would be so much fun taking advantage of all those big, strong, horny guys with my naïve, little girl act. Yes, I love playing predatory female. About time we got ours.

  But that’s all in the future. Tomorrow morning, real early, David and I are off to Many Glacier.

  CHAPTER 13

  Well no, the call from Oaxaca came late at night. Linda is missing. David insisted on coming along, and early next morning we drove to Great Falls and got the first flight to Denver, Dallas, Mexico City, Oaxaca. Greg and Johnny met us at the airport and a taxi took us to a little hotel just off the Zocalo, Oaxaca’s main square.

  Click Zocalo and take a look.

  “Karla asked us to come as a favor to the Mexican government. Many Monte Alban artifacts have recently appeared on the black market, so grave robbers must have discovered something new. Karla thought of our group because there have been three strange deaths recently inside one of the temples. No apparent cause, so he suspects the Squeeze.

  “Last evening after the tourists left, two Federales and a guide took us into the temple where the three people died. We went down narrow stairs to a maze of cold, dark corridors and rooms. And Linda disappeared. She was there, and then she was gone. The guide and Federales became very nervous and wanted to leave. My Spanish is not so good, but I figured out they were arguing whether it was a brujo or an evil curandera.

  “We searched and searched. Nothing! When we got back to the Zocalo I called Karla and asked him to find someone who knew of secret rooms or passages in the temple. He called back a couple of hours later and said an old man will meet us early tomorrow morning at the entrance to Monte Alban. David, did your group find a defense against the Squeeze? We may need it.”

  “We’re pretty sure we have a good defense but it’s not fully tested, and I don’t think we can teach it quick enough.”

  “Try.”

  We tried, but it won’t be enough.

  Molly, Maggie, and Johnny protested but Greg was firm. Just he, David, and I will go.

  ____________________

  We got up early and took a taxi. Waiting at the entrance were two Federales, a guide, and a bent over, arthritic old man with a lizard-headed walking stick. Not the same Federales and guide. They refused to come back.

  The main section of Monte Alban has a simple layout, reminds me of a football field. There are large temples at each end and smaller temples along the sides.

  Click Monte Alban

  The guide pointed out the sights along the way, like the statues of dancers. I looked at those twisted forms and knew he was either ignorant or lying. Those are tortured prisoners, not dancers. How do I know? I have no idea.

  I did a quick radio dial and saw a lovely, colorful festival down on the field. People were dancing and singing to the sound of drums and very long pan pipes. But then I made the mistake of dialing a little further back in time. Mass cruelty that made me wish I hadn’t eaten breakfast.

  We walked down to the field and over to a small temple at one end. The guide unlocked the door with a large iron key and we went down narrow stairs to
the corridors and rooms where Linda disappeared. The old man led to a small room at the end of a corridor, went to one of the walls, and pushed against a stone.

  I dialed again and a procession came into the room. Silent, somber men completely naked wearing animal masks. They went to the wall opposite the old man, pressed a 5-sided stone, and pushed. As the wall they were pushing moved in, the wall on the other side of a pivot moved out into the room, like a revolving door.

  The old man was having a hard time finding the right stone, but eventually did. There was a small room behind the wall with a couple of skulls and a tiny altar. He shrugged and the Federales pushed back the wall that had pivoted into the room.

  They started to leave but I held up my hand and went to the opposite wall. As I started to push the 5-sided stone the old man went berserk, screaming and clawing at me. The Federales grabbed him but he kept screaming. Greg and David pushed, and the wall swung in.

  There was another stairway going deeper into the rock. Something smelled bad, overly sweet. At the bottom was a corridor with rooms on both sides full of pottery, statues, masks and glints of gold. There was a faint light ahead and when we went around a corner saw it was coming from behind a large wooden door.

  There were three smiling men behind the door. Linda lay off to the side and then I knew what the sweet smell was. The two Federales went down. I squeezed the brain stem of the guy nearest me and he went down, as did the guy near David. I put the Squeeze on the last one and he dropped.

  But so did Skinny Santa.

  I didn’t cry, I just stared at him, lying face down on the cold stone floor. David turned him over and tried heart pump and mouth to mouth.

  ____________________

  Back at the hotel we just sat, saying nothing. There was a knock and David and I went to opposite sides of the door. Maggie asked who it was.