The Providence of Rudy Nes: An Edenix Cycle Story
Page 4
Three
The rest of dinner was a blurred mishmash of pointless conversations from around the table before everyone broke into the now traditional song for the day. The odd sensation in his side happened twice more. He tried to ignore it. Maybe it's a muscle spasm or something, he thought.
As everyone broke apart and drifted off to other places to nap or talk, Rudy found himself wandering along the fence line where the Lizardis kept the settlement's horses.
"Rudy, Rudy, hair like rubies," two of the Jenkins girls chanted as they rushed past him to go see the horses.
Rudy ignored them. That one wasn't even new, he thought. He morosely looked out on the penned in animals and sympathized with them. He didn't want to be just a workhorse plowing the same field his entire life. He didn’t want to just be the product of Survivor’s Day. He didn’t want to merely survive. He wanted to live a full, action-filled life. He wanted to live. He wanted to thrive. He wanted something more…something adventurous.
Mayor Corben was on his way back from the outhouse.
"Happy Survivor's Day, Rudy. Come to think of it, happy birthday too!" The big man gripped his shoulder. The rotund mayor’s massive fingers squeezed him until he was certain he was going to have a permanent injury. Corben laughed for what appeared to be no reason at all then looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. "What's on your mind, Son? You look troubled,” he chuckled with a knowing twinkle in his eye. “You didn't really expect Diella to say yes, did you? She's what I like to call a real pistol. Maybe someday I'll explain to you what a pistol is."
Rudy sighed and shook his head. "In my dreams, Mr. Mayor. But no, I didn't. I mean, yes, I would love to marry her...I think. I just didn't really think I'd ever even get the chance to talk to her. Have you ever had a dream in the daytime?" he asked, changing subjects without notice.
"You mean Diella?" he chuckled. Then Corben went from silly to serious as if someone had thrown a switch. "Tell me what's happened."
Rudy hesitated, scratching absently at his protruding left ear. But then, sometimes you just had to jump in—just like he had with asking Diella to marry him. Maybe he would be proven to be a fool twice in the same day. He really didn’t care anymore.
"I saw things, but it was more than that. I smelled them—tasted them. I was there, except I don't know where there is," Rudy described each moment in lengthy detail, only omitting the one with the woman. He told the mayor everything he'd touched and tasted.
Corben seemed to mull it over for a moment, and he turned and leaned against the fence. It began to ease over from his considerable weight, but he ignored the creaking post and instead kept his focus on Rudy. His eyes narrowed in thought, but he held his tongue.
"Do you think I had a vision?" Rudy asked as he watched the big sandy-colored horse eat some dry, tawny grass and mosey past them. "Like maybe the Creator wanted me to see it?"
"Well, Rudy, I'm in no position to say what the God of the Galaxy may or may not do. I will say that every time I've heard someone say they heard from the Lord, it was words they heard, not something they saw. Certainly no one I know has ever claimed to have experienced anything like what you're describing," Corben paused.
"What do you think?" Corben asked. Rudy realized he had ultimately withheld his answer to the direct question in that maddening way the town's politician was in the habit of doing.
Rudy was afraid to say what he thought. Aside from the moment of playing dice with Oregon and the too few seconds of sheer delight next to Diella before the crushing defeat, he had been thinking about nothing but the experiences since they had happened. Finally, he dredged up a smidgen of courage to tell the Mayor his interpretation.
"I think I'm supposed to go see those things. I think I am meant to go find the ocean and see that incredible mountain. Let's face it. I don't fit here,” Rudy said flatly. “Maybe I'm meant to be out there."
Corben frowned and crossed his arms over his beefy chest. "We need every man we have and more, Rudy. This is a sudden and fanciful notion you have just had. Why not wait on this? I'm not saying I know what you're saying is wrong, but I do know the practical side of things says your destiny is here,” Corben advised. “Do what is right in front of you. Don't go rushing off chasing this dream. Maybe you just had something funny to eat, like the cassava root."
"That's what Randy said," Rudy admitted, disappointed that yet another person was saying he had hallucinated the vision. "Look, I know it sounds crazy. You didn't touch the old man's face. I felt his wrinkles, his beard. I saw the three-legged crab. I smelled the pines, not like the ones we have here either. These were different. They had shorter needles. Not like the rings these have. If that doesn't all mean something, I'm not sure I can be sure of anything at all. It was all too real."
Corben listened and unfolded his arms. "Rudy, I can't tell you what choice to make,” he began. “You must either go or stay because it is what you wish to do. I'm just asking you to think it over for a while. If you still feel this way next year, maybe we should see what we can do to launch a small expedition to follow the river to the ocean. For now, I'd prefer you think about how you can be of service to your fellow townsfolk. We need you, Rudy. Please don't forget that."
The mayor walked away and was soon talking to Washington a little further along the fence line. Rudy sighed and watched the early sunset that came this time of the year. He didn't want to go back inside. He didn't want to stay here either. It was getting cold. He just felt the urging pull of something calling him. It was as if his entire life was waiting for him out there somewhere, and he was stuck here in this town on another Survivor's Day. He wanted to be there, not here.
"Am I going to wake up and regret this if I stay here? Am I going to regret leaving if I go?" he asked himself as he looked at the horses milling about.
Randy found him still leaning on the fence as the stars were coming out.
"Hey, there you are. Rough day?" he asked. "Diella says she might have been hard on you."
Rudy shook his head and answered, "No, it's not that. I was probably joking."
"You weren't joking, Rudy. We all know how attractive Diella is and the affect she has on some of us. But I'll take you at your word and believe you when you say that's not it. What's really bothering you today?" Randy asked.
Rudy explained. "What if I was meant to see those images and respond? What if I am supposed to go out there and explore this land? No one else has done it."
"The Seville boys are talking about heading north—to the other town," Randy said. "Maybe you could go with them?"
"I’m not supposed to go to the other town. I never saw another town," he dismissed the idea. "I saw this amazing planet. We call it Eden IX, but none of us has really even seen more than a few kilometers of it. I'm telling you, Randy, I want to see it. Now that I have tasted a little of it, I want to go. I want to experience it for myself. I can't imagine another day here," Rudy spilled his guts passionately. Was his brother going to suggest he'd gone off the deep end? Had he gone off the deep end just because Diella had rejected him?
Randy crossed his arms and Rudy sighed. He knew how this was going to turn out. If he didn’t have his brother’s support, he really couldn’t go. Sure, he could wander off into the woods on his own, but without at least some equipment and supplies—which would have to be purchased in trade from others—he just wouldn’t last long. That much he knew from his hunting trips over the past year with Davis.
“I’m going home,” he said to his brother and began walking toward the town.
He was dejected and irritated.
I was so stupid, he thought, asking Diella to marry me. What was I thinking?
Even as he was admonishing himself his mind returned to the palpable perceptions he’d experienced just hours before. Lost in thought, he made his way home.