I twist my head around to look at her. “Who’s Mister Ed?”
She rolls her eyes like I’m supposed to know a Mister Ed.
It’s not over until the fat lady sings. How about a lady with a fat ass? I should have started singing to end everything when a helicopter showed up at daybreak but couldn’t land because between the other helicopter and the boxes, there wasn’t enough room in the meadow. Now it hovers like a big evil bug trying to determine if we look plump enough to consume. Dad, Sharon, Mandi, Christi and Aunt Suzie stand in the knee-deep snow watching it while Matt and I recline next to each other, viewing glimpses of it through the trees. I’m seriously thinking that maybe Sheriff Dan got out a call and this so called rescue bird is actually another battalion of bad guys, and they are about to turn and start shooting sidewinders at us. I feel somewhat comfortable because I don’t see any sidewinders attached, and also because Dad is talking to them on the sat-phone.
“It’s probably going to give up and fly away,” I say to Matt, even though he appears to be in another place, under the spell of one of his mother’s pain killers. The last word is no sooner out of my mouth when someone is lowered to the ground, and then two more follow; last is a stretcher. Two of them have big yellow letters emblazoned across their blue coats. What I thought was a rescue team ends up being a paramedic and two FBI agents.
I relax and close my eyes. Maybe I can start singing now.
Chapter 62
May 17, 2009 – Sunday
It is never over, though I did get to sing—not literally of course. It’s been a week and a half since we were all lifted out of there, and now we’re back, but only for an hour or so, to say goodbye to Mom. I take my weight off of my cane and lean my body, and then my head against the rock wall. I put my hand on the second plaque and trace the words with my fingers. We had a second plague put up because “Mom” just didn’t seem enough.
Lake Tanya
In Memory of Tanya Price, wife, mother, and sister.
I have an extremely strong feeling that she saved my life. In fact, I’m certain of it though I can’t imagine how. “Mom!” I call into the spray, the droplets of which sparkle in the incoming light. The sparkles move, expand, present a rainbow, disappear. “Mom?” I wait a full minute but they don’t come back. Maybe she didn’t really talk to me and maybe I didn’t see her like I keep thinking I did. That’s okay. I can still talk to her. I asked Dad for five minutes alone with her. He didn’t look at me funny or say anything to indicate that I was being silly. Instead he dragged Christi and Aunt Suzie out with some pretense to go look at something.
I push from the wall and limp over to where I can kneel down and put my fingers into her water. “Well, Mom, I guess this is it. We go home tomorrow. Through records they found in Sheriff Dan’s stuff the FBI managed to identify who Mick was and got him . . . right at our house of all places. Anyway, that part is all over now. They’re still looking for the leader, Lance, who was last seen in San Francisco. Dad says you’d remember him. I doubt they’ll find him. Dad says he has enough money to hide anywhere in the world, like billions or something.
“They killed almost all the sabre-toothed cats. Only Edik and two kittens, Hansel and Gretel, are left. It is so sad. Just before our rescue team arrived, I sent them away, deep into the wilderness. I don’t think they went because I sensed them when I got off the helicopter. Maybe I’ll get a chance to say goodbye to them again, and then send them off . . . again. The word is definitely out now, that Smilodon was brought back. Even the doubters can’t doubt anymore. No way to hide all the bodies. Reporters, photographers, and weirdoes from all over the world have stormed in here. It has been crazy trying to avoid them. We had a meeting, Dad, Christi, Aunt Suzie, Sharon, Matt, and me, and agreed that the way it would be told is that all the sabre-toothed cats were killed, that there are no others. So far it is being bought. Don’t know for how long, though. I have to find Edik and the kittens and make sure they understand that they must run and hide deep in the Bob Marshal Wilderness. That’s a huge—millions of acres—protected area with no roads. Access is only by packhorse. If they live and die there without ever producing any more—though according to Sharon one is female and the other male—at least they’ll live and die in peace. If they do create others and their population grows, maybe they will still live in peace for a while as well. My rein as sabre-tooth goddess is over, I hope.
“It looks like Matt’s going to have a full recovery, and he’s talking about going back to school in the fall at the University of Montana in Missoula, where he had been going before his dad died. Mandi wants to transfer there. I tried to talk her out of it because, according to Sharon, he doesn’t really care about her, that his true motives are toward me. What does a mother know anyway?”
I laugh.
“Mandi thinks I have an interest in Matt. Really, Mom! She has got to be kidding. Maybe for a little while, but now . . . no way!
“Mandi would still be at Matt’s side except I talked her into calling her mother. She had told me that her mother kicked her out after her boyfriend beat up her stepfather for raping her. Her mother didn’t believe her. While I lay around healing from my own gunshot wound, I remembered my inspiration as to the real reason her mother pushed her out. I asked Mandi if her mother actually said she didn’t believe her. She had to think about it a while before coming up with a no. I then told her that maybe her mother simply sent her away to protect her, that she knew what her stepfather had done, what he was capable of. So she called her. I was so proud of her. I don’t know what all was said, but she flew home yesterday. As she was saying goodbye she said something about making her stepfather’s life a living hell, and about saving her mother. She thinks there is abuse. Do you think that the money that was coming from her aunt, her mother’s sister, for the University, was actually coming from her mom? I have a real strong hunch that it was.
“Speaking of sisters, Aunt Suzie is stepping in to take your place. She is not you by a country mile, but I guess she is okay. At first I was pissed, but then I realized that she is your sister so she’d be better than some stranger coming in to become our mom. Dad deserves to be happy again. I hope Suzie can get him there, can get both of them there. Maybe in time we can all get there.
“Oh, yeah. There’s Sharon. There was a spark between her and Dad the day we were rescued, but I haven’t seen anything more of it since. It may be because she has been rather focused on Matt, and Dad doesn’t go anywhere without Aunt Suzie. I still can’t decide if Dad and Sharon would be a good thing or not. Long distant relationships are never good, right?
“Christi is growing up, and becoming more and more like me. Scary, I know, but hey . . . we’re sisters.”
The rainbow appears again. A coincidence? I don’t want to think so.
“Anyway, I just wanted to say, I love you, Mom, and miss you terribly. I am so sorry for the hell I put you though a year ago, for causing you to think you had to commit suicide to save us. God I wish I could turn back time and make it all go away.
“Dad was angry with me when he found out what was going on here. ‘Haven’t you gotten enough people killed already?’ he yelled at me. He was so right. I’ve gotten way too many people killed and it is over.
“It is over.
“No more, Mom. No more. I will use my talents no more. I will call for Edik, Hansel, and Gretel, if they are near, say goodbye, and send them away, and then that is it! No more . . . ever!”
The rainbow hangs for a long time and then gradually fades until it only exists in my memory.
“Another thing, Mom. Remember back when Dad lost his eye and you broke your back at Sans Sanssabre? That was nine years ago, right? I read in Dad’s journals about the babies that were being made there, babies to order or something like that. If Dad’s calculations are correct that’d put the oldest one at about my age.”
I suddenly realize the implication of that and stick my hand out like to stop traffic. “No! I don’t mean t
o think that I’m that baby. No way. I’m not one of those girls who suddenly thinks she has been adopted. I’ve got Dad’s psychic abilities, and your impulsiveness. I also have your eyes. I definitely came from you guys. It’s just that I’m wondering what has happened to all those hundreds of cloned babies?”
“What cloned babies?”
I turn around to find Christi standing not five feet behind me. “What are you doing here? Dad promised I’d have some alone time.”
“Then shoot Dad. What cloned babies, and what psychic abilities?”
Christi has been protected from all of this, for good reason. “Don’t worry about it. You’re better off not knowing. Okay?”
“I’m tired of you all treating me like a child. I’ve known all along that you two are strange. Aunt Suzie suspects something, too.”
“What is she doing, turning you against us?”
She rolls her eyes, which I consider slapping out of her head. “No. She’s not turning me against you. She’s worried about you, and about Dad.”
“Well she can just stop worrying. We are both just fine.”
“The hell you are!”
“What?”
“I said, ‘the hell you are!’ You’ve both gone off the edge. I think Dad would have been fine if you hadn’t of run away.”
“I did not run away. I went off to college.”
“And stole money that wasn’t yours yet.”
“What makes you so high and mighty? Half that money was . . . is mine and I am using it for college, just as Mom wanted.”
“You broke into Dad’s bank account and took it without asking. I don’t think that was in her will.”
“Who the hell have you become? What happened to my easygoing little sister who got along with everyone?”
“I grew up, remember? I’m becoming like you.”
“Becoming like me! How long have you been standing behind me . . . eavesdropping?” She smirks at me like it was a cool thing to do. I glare back at her.
“Tell me about the babies and the psychic stuff.”
I want to use the same f-word on her that she used on me before she hung up on me. Proudly, I restrain myself. “Screw you, little sister! You’re still more a child than you think.”
“Screw you, big sister! You’re less of an adult than you think.”
“I’ve never claimed I was an adult.” I may have thought it, but I’ve never verbalized it to anyone.
Christi’s face softens. She steps up closer to the water and sits down. Her face turns up to me and in her eyes I see an invitation to sit next to her. I don’t sit so well, so I kneel. She says, “You’re the one who said I was growing up. I’m not going to claim I’m an adult, but I’m definitely not a child.”
I put my hand on hers. “You know what, little sister.”
“What?”
“Growing up sucks. Sometimes I wish I was back in high school with all my friends, and back on the swim team.”
“I can’t wait to graduate. I hate high school. I quit the swim team.”
“You did?”
“Don’t go ballistic on me. Dad already did that.”
“I’m not.”
“It’s not the same. Everybody thinks I should be doing what you did . . . break records and all that crap. I’m tired of trying to keep up with you, especially now that you’re gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be. You didn’t have to be that good.”
There is nothing to say to that.
“And Mom is gone. She was our cheerleader. Dad just sits there and watches now, if he comes. He never changes his expression whether I win or lose. But he sure went off the deep end when I quit.” She goes silent for a half minute. I wait. “At school your name is mud, and I have to carry that around with me all the time.”
“Mud?”
“Reba the freak. They have a chant. ‘What price would you pay for a witch? The Reba Price.’”
“A witch! They’re calling me a witch?”
“Among other things.”
“Does Dad know?”
“No. You want to know the worst of it? I don’t even know why unless I start believing all the rumors. You never told me anything, and Dad sure isn’t talking. Aunt Suzie is just as much in the dark. You took off last summer and Mom and Dad went after you. Mom got killed and then you ran away to college. With Dad I might as well be talking to a brick wall.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be. It’s been pure hell!”
I scoot over closer and put my arms around her. She returns the hold and for many minutes we remain so, wrapped up in each other. I try to remember how long it has been since we have done this. A little bit after Mom died, and then nothing. I can’t believe how selfish I’ve been. I didn’t think of how hurt Christi would be, or Dad for that matter, how much the three of us needed each other.
“Are you a fire starter?”
“A what?”
“They said you could look at something and it would combust . . . you know, start burning.”
“I know what combust means. Where did they get that idea?”
She shrugs. “You’ve been called a lot of things. I just want to know the truth.”
I hug her tighter. “Christi, Christi. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Tears start running down my cheeks. “I didn’t know.”
She says nothing, and then I say nothing; we just cling to each other as though we are dehydrated from separation and are trying to drink each other in. After a long time she stirs, and then just as I think she is going to push away, she relaxes into me.
“You know your best friend, Sarah . . .”
“My ex-best friend.”
“For good reason. I think she started it all. Her brother is in some of my classes. He’s vicious.”
“Maybe I’ll go down and threaten to ignite his hair.”
“You can really do that?”
“No. But it’d scare the crap out of him if he believes his own rumors.”
She laughs. “That would be cool.”
“Yeah; it sure would be.”
“So, what about cloned babies and psychic stuff?”
Over her shoulder I see Dad and Aunt Suzie come around the corner. “Not know, okay? I promise that when we get home I’ll tell you everything. A long sister to sister talk. Be prepared for some really weird stuff, though.”
“Can’t be any weirder than fire starter.”
I start to say, ‘oh yes it can be,’ then think better of it. Dad steps up close to us and stares across the water for a time. Aunt Suzie takes his hand, and then he puts his arm around her. I guess I’m all right with it. I’ve a feeling while I was talking to Mom, before being interrupted by Christi, that Mom gave her approval. I don’t know how I feel that, I just do. Christi rises to her feet and offers her hand to me, a gesture that lightens my heart. I accept.
For a very long time the four of us stand on the brink of Mom’s watery grave, thinking our private thoughts, saying our private prayers, saying our private goodbyes.
Chapter 63
On the way back to the helicopter, in which the FBI were kind enough to give us a ride, I tell Dad that we’ll be right back, and then without waiting for a response grab Christi’s hand and lead her away, south from the meadow, into the trees.
“Where are we going?” she asks, nearly out of breath.
I am setting a fast pace, even with my cane and bad buttocks. It feels so good to be back in the forest. Most of the snow is gone and the sun hints at the return of spring. I am being guided by some kind of internal feline homing device. Edik and the kittens were out of communications range as I wasn’t able to call them, but I could sense where they were. Now, five minutes into our trek, I stop.
“I’m going to demonstrate to you a little of my ability,” I say to Christi.
“What?”
“Wait. I’m calling for the sabre-toothed cats.” I consider putting on a demonstration, like throwing my hand
s in the air and looking and reaching to the sky, or doing a little tribal dance. Instead I just look at my sister’s face, and smile. “The day we were rescued you watched Edik, the sabre-toothed cat, carry Matt, Sharon, and Mandi over the water. How do you think he did that?”
“What do you mean, how? He jumped over, they climbed on his back, he jumped back.”
“Yes, but how did he know to do that?”
“I don’t know. Smart cat.”
“I told him to do it, that’s how.”
“Okay . . . so he’s a very smart cat. I kind of knew that you have a power over them from the way Sharon and Mandi talked.”
“What else did they tell you?”
“They didn’t tell me anything. I overheard them. When they realized I was near they shut up.”
“That’s good. They shouldn’t be talking at all. And what you are about to see is between them, you, Dad, and me. I don’t want Aunt Suzie to know, even if she becomes our stepmother. Agreed?”
She nods her head.
“You may wish that I was only a witch.” Edik and the kittens were where I didn’t want them to be, back in the cave where I found Edik when I first arrived with Mandi. He and the kittens are coming from there, now within range and attuned to my commands. I stop them. I sit on a log with my back to their approach and tell Christi to stand in front of me. She does so. “Okay,” I say quietly. “Watch behind me.” As I talk to Christi I give orders to Edik, Hansel, and Gretel. “You are going to see three cats coming, Edik and two kittens. Tell me when you see them.”
She looks at me and then over my head. “I don’t . . . wait! Yes, there’s one. Yes, there are all three. You keep calling them kittens. They’re the size of big dogs.”
“Kittens just the same. That’s Hansel and Gretel. At this moment they are both on Edik’s right and a little behind him.”
“Yeah.”
“Now Edik is going to stop and then Hansel is going to break to the right, and Gretel is going to break to the left. You may try to watch them, to track them, but you won’t be able to. They’re cats, big cats. They know stealth.”
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