As the Eagle Flies

by J. D. Oliver

  Those four thought that they had easy pickin’s. One of them had brass knuckles, one had a knife, the other two had guns. I glanced over at Faith, those two had reached her, she stuck a stiletto through one of their throats. The other one lost his balls to one fell swoop of her razor sharp stiletto. I could see all of this going on as I sidestepped a lunge by the one who had the knife, just as the one with the brass knuckles took a swing at me.

  My Bowie knife was very sharp, it cut the hand clean off the one with the knife, my swing continued on to the ribs of the one who had the knuckles. The other two were surprised, therefore it hampered their reflex’s. I was on them before they could raise their guns. I jammed the hilt of my bowie down one of their throats. The other one was holding his insides in, blood was dripping down his hands.

  I heard the bang of a gun, I turned in time to see the bartender shooting at me, I staggered back, I seen a black hole appear in the forehead of the bartender. I looked toward my wife, her gun was held fast in her two hands, still smoking…..

  Chapter Seventeen

  Clay sat down on the nearest chair, staring straight ahead, I ran over to him, Chip and Dale on my heels. I felt his neck, he was still alive. He had a furrow down the center of his head, damn another head shot. Couldn’t they just shoot him in the shoulder or something. I tried to take the knife from his hand, he wouldn’t let go of it.

  I turned and checked the room, “If anybody has any ideas, you had better forget it, or I will plant you just a sure as looking at you.” Then I said to Chip and Dale, “Pick Clay up, let’s get out of here.” They picked him up, his legs still worked, Clay walked along between them. I glanced around the room, there was a man standing in the office door in the back, he raised a pistol, I shot him through the head.

  I got to the door and turned around, “You all seen what happened, they started it. Is there anyone here who thinks otherwise?” I said. No one said a word.

  Chip mumbled to Dale, “Eight of them, did you see that, they killed eight of them.”

  “I don’t think the one who got his hand cut will die, I least I don’t think so.” Dale whispered back.

  Chip and Dale lifted Clay into the back seat. He sat there staring straight ahead. There was a siren coming down the street. It was the local law. The same guy who we had dealings with last time.

  His car slid to a stop beside me. “What happened? I got a call that someone was killing everybody?”

  “Not someone, us. They jumped us, we just defended ourselves, tell him Chip and Dale.” They told him what happened.

  I asked him, “Do you know any of those people who bought the bar?”

  “No, well, just by name, they’re from back east somewhere. There were eight of them, hard cases, they looked like to me.”

  Chip said, “Not anymore, their pretty limp.” Then he giggled. I looked at him, nerves, I guess.

  “If you’re done, I have to get Clay to the Hospital, they hit him in the head again.”

  I got in the back seat with Clay. I pulled out my phone and called Suong. I told her to beat her butt to the Hospital. “No, don’t take him there, if he’s stable bring him home, we can keep him safe here. In the Hospital we can’t.”

  She was right, I don’t know what I was thinking. It didn’t take us half as long to get home, they put the pedal to the metal. Everyone was there waiting for us, well not everyone, Red wasn’t. I opened the door, Hank jumped in with Rosie right behind him, Tiff was holding Alita.

  Suong was right there as they lifted Clay down. They hustled him into the house. Daisy was standing there, “Where’s Red?” I asked. “He’s at the house, he’s been drinking, you know how us Indians are, we can’t handle alcohol very good.” I turned and walked over to Daisy’s house, Red was setting at the table with a bottle of whiskey, he stood up when he seen me, I kicked him right in the balls. He bent over, I took the bottle and hit him over the head. Then I left.

  Daisy was coming, I stopped her and said, “Tell him he stays sober, or he’s history. Also he had better talk with respect when he talks to Clay, or I will cut his tongue out.”

  I went into the room where they had Clay hooked up to I.V.’s and such. “How is he?” I asked Suong.

  “He’s stable, he’s in a light coma. The bullet didn’t penetrate the skull, but he has a concussion again. He sure has a hard head.”

  Daisy was at the door, “Uh, Suong will you come look at Red. He hasn’t woken up yet.” Suong went with her.

  I sat down with Alita on my lap, Alita was holding Clay’s hand. “Is Daddy going to be alright?”

  “Sure Honey, he’s just in another coma, he’ll be alright.”

  Suong came back, “You hit him pretty hard, but it wasn’t that, that was the problem, he was dead drunk.”

  “Well, that’s good, I guess. I shouldn’t have hit him with that bottle, but the kick in the nuts, I don’t regret. Sometimes men get to thinking that their so superior, it just makes me so mad.”

  “Yeah, I know. But Clay was never one of those, was he?” Suong said.

  “Nope, or I wouldn’t have married him. My first husband had that tendency, but he got killed before I could correct his attitude.” Suong left the room. I continued to rock Alita. I heard someone coming down the hall, it was Rosie.

  “Mom, Harry Silver called, he wanted to talk to you. But I told him you were busy. He said that he talked to the rest of the patrons in the Bar and that they backed up what you told the local law. He wanted to know how Dad was, I told him he was in another coma, he said he was sorry to hear that, but a coma was better than being dead. Then he laughed, I hung up on him.”

  “Yes, he has a weird sense of humor, but I think he means well. How are the Hoeffer boys? I hope they weren’t too traumatized?”

  “No, I don’t think so, all they said was, ‘Boy, you’re Mother is one bad dude.’ They know how bad Dad is, they expected it out of him, but I think they’ll make a wide circle around you from now on.” Rosie said, with a crooked little smile.

  “Which one of them is sweet on Tiff? Or are they both?” I asked.

  “To tell you the truth, I think they both are, but of course Tiff can’t have both of them, or can she?”

  I rocked on for a few seconds, “No, of course not, it wouldn’t be fair to them, would it?”

  “No, it wouldn’t. But I bet Tiff would have a ball.” Rosie said, as she left the room laughing.

  I checked Clay, he was breathing easy, Alita had went to sleep so I laid her beside him. Then I sat back down and picked up a magazine. I absently read some of it. I heard a flapping at the open window, Gabe settled himself on the window sill. I now heard a tapping on the hallway floor, Clancy came in the room….

  “Well, you guys are a ‘day late and a dollar short’, aren’t you?” I said.

  “Could be,” Gabe said, “but you two are pretty hard to keep up with. Contrary to what some people might think, we can’t be everywhere, every minute of the day. Isn’t that right Clancy?”

  “Well me, anyway, I don’t have wings. But the truth be told, Gabe was just funning you. We can be everywhere, if we need to be.”

  “You didn’t think you needed to be there, we almost got killed.” I said.

  “No you didn’t. Haven’t you ever wondered how come Clay never dies from these head wounds?”

  “Well, I just thought it was chance and circumstance, wasn’t it?” I said.

  “No, we won’t let them kill him. Oh they want to, but he’s something like Job, they can only go so far. But unlike Job, we won’t let them kill his family either. So you don’t have to worry about you or the children being killed by them. You can have an accident that’s unrelated to them and kick the bucket. So you had better make sure you fasten your seatbelts.” Gabe said.

  “Why haven’t you told Clay this?” I queried.

  “We have, didn’t he tell you?” Clancy said. “No, I don’t suppose he did, it is all a little far fetched, isn’t it?”

  “Yes
and No. It’s not really, given what’s been happening to us. I would believe almost anything at this point.”

  “Momma, who are you talking to? I don’t see anybody.” Alita said, setting up and looking around.

  “Gabe and Clancy was just here, they just wanted to see how your Daddy was. They said he was going to be fine.”

  “Why didn’t they stay? I would like to talk to them.” Alita said, as she crawled out of bed and came and sat on my lap.

  “Perhaps next time they come for a visit, they’ll stay longer.” I said.

  “They had better, or I’ll be mad. They’re my friends too.” Alita said. Clay stirred a little in bed, I went over to him. His fever had went down, he was sleeping comfortably, I don’t think he was in a coma, I think he was just sleeping now. Or anyway, I hoped so…

  “Mom?” Rosie came in, “are you ready for supper? Come on Alita, I’ll help you wash up for supper.” She lifted Alita up and put her on one hip and left the room. I bent over and gave Clay a kiss on the cheek, smoothing his hair back from his eyes, I gave him a better kiss, he stirred a little bit with that one. Well at least that wasn’t in a coma…

  Chapter Eighteen

  I was dreaming about my wife, we were making love. “Come on Clay, wake up, you don’t get to lay around this time.” The voice sounded like Clancy. I opened one eye. Yep, it was him, with Gabe standing on the window sill, Clancy was setting on the chair, with his tongue lolling out.

  “How are you feeling?” Gabe asked.

  “Surprisingly, pretty good.” I said, as I raised my hand and felt my head. It was all bandaged up. “So, they got me in the head again, huh?”

  “Yes, you have a very hard head, if they hit you anywhere else, it would probably kill you.” Clancy said.

  “Do you think I can get up?” I asked, as if they were Doctor’s.

  “We can’t see any reason that you can’t, that is if you take all of those tubes out of yourself.” Gabe said.

  I shut off the I.V. clips, then pulled the needles out of my arm. There were some band-aids beside the bed, I put one over where I took the needle out of my vein. I sat up. I wasn’t even dizzy. I sat there a while longer.

  “Say, did I get them all? I can’t remember.”

  “You only got four of them, Faith did for the other four, by the way she saved your life. The bartender was going to finish you off, after he bounced a bullet off of your head. Faith got him as well as the one that came out of the office, plus the two that came her way, when those other four jumped you.” Clancy said.

  “Who were they? Did you find out?”

  “Their identities doesn’t matter, they were some of the Evil Ones crowd. They were just some of his tools.” Gabe said.

  “Alright, I guess I can get up now.” I said.

  “Maybe you had better wait a few more minutes, for that swelling to go down.” Clancy said.

  “Huh? What swelling?” Clancy inclined his head. “Oh, I hadn’t even noticed it. I was dreaming about my wife.” I said.

  “We know.” Gabe said. “You humans are so fortunate, you can make love anytime you want to, we have to wait till our preprogram kicks in.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right, I hadn’t thought of it. So what’s next, what are we supposed to do?” I asked.

  “Do? You do what you always do. Everything humans do is all vanity anyway. But I suppose you’re talking about what to do in this time of the end. Do onto others, as you would have them do unto you, but you already do that. That’s one of the reasons that your ancestors came here. You will be guided, when it is needed.” Gabe said, then he looked at Clancy, “It’s time for us to go.” He flew away, Clancy jumped down from the chair and jumped out of the window, even though we were on the second floor.

  ‘My ancestors came here?’ What that meant I didn’t know. My clothes were laying on the chest at the foot of the bed, they were clean. I suppose the ones I was wearing were all covered with blood. I got dressed, I could hear the family talking from the dinning room downstairs. That’s where I headed, I was hungry.

  Alita was the first one to see me, “Daddy,” she shouted, holding out her arms. I picked her up, she gave me a big kiss. Faith and Rosie were all over me. “Are you alright?” Faith said, taking Alita.

  “Sure, but I’m hungry, what’s for supper?” I asked as I sat down.

  “The usual, fried Chicken, meatloaf, corn on the cob, green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes. Everything you like.” Faith said.

  “Good, load my plate up. Were Gabe and Clancy there, before you left?”

  Hope looked at me, “Who’s Gabe and Clancy?”

  “Uh…Friends of ours, you remember we told you about the Valley. Well they came to visit.” I said.

  “Uh-huh, hallucinations more than likely.” Hope said. I just let it go. Faith said, “Yes, honey they were. But Alita was asleep, she was disappointed that she didn’t get to see them.”

  Suong was eating with us. She said. “Why didn’t you call me to take the needles out? You could of bled.”

  “Yeah, I suppose, but Gabe and Clancy said it would be alright.” I said. Suong just rolled her eyes. “But I tell you what, you can take these bandages off after supper, if that would be alright?”

  “You shouldn’t take them off yet, you haven’t even started to heal, it’s only been a few hours since you got shot.”

  “I don’t know, it itch’s, I think it’s healing, it wouldn’t hurt to check, would it?” I said.

  “I suppose not, I could check the stitch’s anyway.” Suong said.

  “Okay, before bedtime, I want to check the stock after supper.” I said.

  “My, but you must be feeling pretty good.” Faith said, with a thoughtful look.

  “Yep, I do.” I said, giving her a leer.” She said, “Just as I thought, that’ll have to wait, till your head gets better.” I leaned close and whispered, “Which one?” She kicked me under the table.

  Rosie was setting across from us, tapping her fingers on the table, she said, “Will you two act your age?” Faith stuck her tongue out at her. I winked at Rosie, “We are.” I said. Faith giggled.

  After Suong took the bandages off, she exclaimed, “I don’t believe it, they’re already healed!”

  “What’s healed?” I asked.

  “Well you had two grooves in your head, when that bullet hit you, it split in two, making two grooves, on either side of your crown. I stitched them up, but now I can take the stitch’s out, cause they’re healed.” Then she giggled.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  “Well, you have those two white lighting strips at your temples from the previous hits, but now you’re going to have two more going back on each side of your crown. We’re going to have to think up some kind of a nickname for you.” She laughed, as she was taking out the stitches.

  After the last stitch was out, I said, “Come on Faith, let’s check the stock together.” I took my hat off of the peg by the door and clamped it on solid. “Me too, me too.” Alita said. Rosie said, “I guess I will come along also.”

  The four of us walked out into the moonlit yard. The yard light had come on automatically. We skirted around its edge of light, no use tempting fate. We went over to the barnyard where the horses and mules were standing hipshot. They picked up their heads as we approached. They came over, wanting us to pet them. We each picked up a curry comb and brushed them down, one by one.

  It was calming on our part, and I guess on theirs too, this task. After we were done, we leaned against the corral rails and talked. I picked Alita up and sat her on the top rail.

  “Well Rosie, what’s your thoughts on all of this?” I asked.

  “All of this what?” she said.

  “Everything, the oil business, the ranch, your hopes, your desires?”

  “I really haven’t given it much thought, I’ve been too busy.”

  “Well then, let me ask you this, are you happy?” Faith asked her.

  She looked at
the moon and glanced around the barnyard. “Yes, I’m happy, who wouldn’t be. I have everything that I’ve ever dreamed about. A loving family, mostly. All of the material things do not matter that much. Oh, they’re nice, but I could live in a cave and still be happy, as long as I still had the three of you.”

  I pulled her close and hugged her. “Us too, Rosie. That’s how I feel and I’m sure Faith does also.” We had a group hug, Alita had crawled on my shoulders, so she wouldn’t miss out.

  “But Dad, I don’t understand, why do they keep trying to kill you and not us?”

  “Well, they did try to kill your Mother this time, maybe they’re branching out. But it could be they figure to kill the head and the rest would die. But they don’t know the three of you like I do. I know if I was to kick the bucket, you three would carry on.

  But don’t ask me who they are and why they want us dead, I don’t know. But I think it has something to do with what’s coming upon this world, they think I have something to do with it. What, I haven’t the slightest idea.”

  Faith said, “On your trip to New Mexico, those Hoeffer boys didn’t try anything did they, like hitting on you?”

  “No. Chip is sweet on Tiff. And would you believe Dale was always asking questions about Hope?”

  “Hope? She must be ten years older than he is, if she’s a day.” I said.

  “That doesn’t make any difference,” Faith said, “just because she’s a woman. If it were the other way around, if he was older than she, no one would even raise an eyebrow.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry. Besides Hope is a looker, I guess your can’t blame Dale for trying. Has he said anything to her?”

  “Not much, every time he tries, he gets lockjaw. But I think Hope suspects he likes her. At times I see her get a soft look in her eyes when she talks to him.”

  “You know, I never did understand why people pussyfoot around, if they like someone, just tell them and get it over with.” I said.