by Amy Simone
Caleb was grinning from ear to ear now. He was up and following his other classmates who all paraded now mounted through the line of poles. Bob kept his eyes on all, guiding each so their horses didn’t deviate from the path. An older student, a teen, served as the leader.
“I know it doesn’t look like much now,” Bob told his small audience of parents after walking closer to their side of the ring. “After we’re done, I’ll show you a quick clip in my office of the finished product.”
Cassie helped her son take off the saddle of his pony. Caleb hugged the animal around the neck and promised he’d be back soon.
“May we go see the baby horse?” Cassie asked Bob.
“You know horses?” Bob asked her.
“I used to show,” she answered. “Yes.”
“Okay. Just don’t enter the stall and probably best if you just keep the stall door shut. I don’t want Puck to do anything fresh. He’s awfully quick.”
Cassie led both kids to the broodmare’s quarters. She grabbed a chair so Caleb could stand on it and look over the partition to see the pair.
“Here, Josh.” She rested him on her shoulder and they leaned closer.
Out of curiosity, the mare and her baby came over to investigate. This delighted Cassie’s sons.
“Take a picture!” Caleb suggested. “I can bring it to school to show them what a real baby looks like.”
“I also got some shots of you riding,” Cassie admitted.
They then heard a clapping of hands. It was Bob summoning whoever wanted to watch the horse sports film.
Ralph and Susan had arrived towards the end of Caleb’s lesson. They stood at the far end of the arena, near the parking lot, taking in the scene. Cassie and her ex nodded to each other as they filed into the room. She smiled weakly at Susan who smiled back.
Cassie observed how tastefully Bob had decorated the place. Surely he must have had a woman help him, she thought. A rack of deer antlers hung in one corner. He had appointed the kitchen area with perfectly polished copper pans and utensils. Some Western-themed framed paintings hung around the room. Over the mantle was a large oil portrait of a large bay horse with Bob sitting astride. “Number One” the tag said under the portrait.
“If anybody wants something to drink, I got tea and sodas and ice right here,” Bob offered. He smiled a huge inviting smile and poured glasses of tea.
“Cool,” Caleb said once he saw the horses cantering on the screen. “I want to go fast.” He was jumping up and down in his chair by now.
“We all do, Caleb,” the instructor said. “You got to earn your stripes first, though. Get your seat and balance.”
Cassie saw Ralph nodding in agreement as he listened to Bob talk.
Eventually the room cleared out, with Ralph taking a moment to introduce himself and Susan to Bob. Cassie went back to the grandstand to make sure she had left nothing.
“You need any help before I go?” she asked Bob. “I’m real good at cleaning stalls…”
He paused, put a hand on his hip and cocked his head to one side. “Let me think,” he said. “ I could use a hand. I’ll treat you to lunch if you do.”
It felt like the best offer she’d had in a long time—a chance to do something around horses.
31
Lunch
After they pulled the last load of dirty shavings to the compost pile, Bob pulled his truck around with the air conditioning blasting. It was almost 1:30.
“I know a place near here but they stop serving at two,” he told her. “We better hurry.”
Cassie pulled out some Handi-wipes from her purse and offered him one.
“Don’t mind if I do,” he said with a soft laugh. They toweled off as he chunked the truck down the rough driveway made of oyster shells.
“I need to level this sucker off,” he told her. “Have to do it every few months with the blade. One day I’ll get it paved.”
“Who is Number One?” she asked after they pulled out of his main gate.
“Number One? That was my go to horse,” he said. “Had him until he passed last year at thirty. Wonderful fellow. Won a lot on him.”
She liked the way he drove his truck—occasionally checking the mirrors, going right at the speed limit and passing those that were plunking along.
Bob saw she was observing him.
“You caught me. I am a reformed speeder,” he told her. “I’d prefer to go twice this fast if it were but they don’t like it when I do that.”
“They being the police?”
“Exactly.”
“I used to be one, sort of,” he told her. “Military.”
“Ah.”
He took her to a new restaurant on the north end of Lafayette.
“Always wanted to try this place,” he said. “Now you’ve given me an excuse.”
After they sat down with their poboys, he looked straight on at her.
“You may think this is presumptuous of me, but I got to ask, why are your eyes so sad?”
Cassie braced her back against the booth. “Didn’t expect that,” she told him.
“I can see it. Ever since that day at your garage sale. It just jumped out at me. Any hints?”
“You probably have heard this thing before,” she told him. “Divorce, kids. You met my ex and the reason for the divorce today.”
“That girl?” Bob’s eyebrows shot up. He had taken off his hat, and she saw he had pepper and grey in his sideburns. “She looks like a complicated deal.”
“I’m not as complicated,” Cassie bragged. “Just too plain, I guess.”
“Oh, come on now…” He bit into his sandwich, then wiped his chin. “I’m sorry to start in like that. I’ve wanted to ask since I first saw you that day.”
Cassie looked up at the ceiling. “It probably was a long time in the making. Ralph worked long hours. I hardly saw him. In fact, I think his girlfriend was with him a lot more than I was, to tell the truth. Familiarity breeds…”
“Familiarity,” Bob finished for her. He scoffed. “I had a woman too,” he said. “Ran off with a roper. Younger model than me.”
They ate their food in silence for a while. The sandwiches were delicious. Cassie began to feel better.
“I think I needed this more than I realized,” she said. “I’ve been eating a lot on the run lately.”
“You work?” he asked.
“I do second shifts at the new distribution plant on I-49.”
“Ah. That place is huge.” Bob’s eyes got large. “They’re even bigger out in California. I go there a lot to do clinics.”
Cassie nodded. “Must be fun to travel and teach, huh?”
“Can be,” he said. “I enjoy seeing folks improve.”
“Sit on the porch for a minute before you take off,” he suggested. “I do a lot of thinking out here.”
“Don’t you get eaten up by the mosquitoes?”
“No. Watch.” He switched on an overhead fan. “They don’t like this much.” He sat on the wicker chair next to her. “It’s quiet here,” he said. “I like it quiet.” He’d taken off his boots and rested his feet on the footrest in front of him. She could see where the sand from his arena made a ring around his ankles.
“Want more tea?” he offered.
“No. Yeah. Why not?” she replied.
When he returned, he handed her a glass. “It’s got mint in it,” he said. “Didn’t think you’d mind. I grow it out back near an outdoor spigot.”
They sat there without saying a word until Cassie spoke up.
“Didn’t I meet you before? I mean before that day I had the garage sale?”
“Hmm.” He put his glass down, rubbed the side of his cheek with his palm. “I bet I know where you’re going with that question.”
“Yeah, the Coach,” was all she said as a prompt.
“The Coach. Yep. I know him.”
Cassie’s heart did a flip. She gave a little start and almost upset her glass. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was g
oing crazy.”
“No, honey,” he told her with his deep resonating voice. “You’re far from crazy. Maybe the rest of the world is crazy, but you are not that.”
32
Questions and Answers
As much as she wanted to pepper Bob with questions, Cassie stopped herself from barreling into him for information. Instead, she took a deep breath.
Bob watched her face as she went from incredulous relief to curiosity.
“Go slow,” he warned her. “I don’t know everything. I know some, but I don’t understand it all myself either.”
“How did you first come to see anything?” she asked.
“I was in combat,” he explained. “Got hurt bad. That’s when.”
“I see,” she answered. “For me it began with my laptop. I no longer have it, though.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Bob told her.
“It doesn’t?” her voice squeaked.
Bob reached out and put a reassuring hand on her arm. “Relax. You’re among friends,” he said.
“Friends? Sometimes I wasn’t so sure.”
“The Coach is always a good friend.”
“He left me in a lurch.” Cassie frowned.
“I have known it to happen. I bet he was teaching you a lesson?”
“Was he ever.”
“The question is—did you learn the lesson?” Bob winked at her now.
“I am not sure,” she admitted. “I haven’t seen him since so how can I be sure.” She took another breath, let it out. “A younger thing showed up. I don’t what you’re supposed to call them—ghosts? Spirits? Said his name was Bruce, and he carried a message from the Coach.”
“That sounds like a good sign.”
Cassie leaned back and let her head rest against the chair. Having somebody to talk to about all these strange comings and goings took so much energy out of her. She suddenly felt utterly depleted.
“It’s okay, darling,” Bob said to her. “You will be fine.”
“I just feel real tired,” she told him. “Like I haven’t rested in forever.”
“Tell you what,” he recommended. “If you want to take a nap, I can let you rest in the guest house over there. You look fatigued.”
They walked over to a small cabin that stood separate on the far side of the barn. Bob turned on the air conditioning. “The sheets are clean. I put up visiting buyers here all the time. Don’t feel guilty. I totally understand.”
Cassie slipped into the bed and fell into a deep sleep unlike any she’d ever had. It was like being put under before an operation—quick, soundless and absolute. She heard Bob close the front door as he left and then didn’t wake until it was dark.
Disoriented, she reached around until she found a small lamp on the side table next to the bed. Then she saw her purse on the floor next to her. She texted her mother to let Hayworth know that all was okay, and she’d be home soon. Then she texted Bob.
Thanks for letting me sleep, she told him.
Nada, he wrote back. I can make us some dinner before you drive off.
Ralph had even sent her a text that said Caleb was so happy after his lesson he forgot all about playing any computer games the rest of the afternoon. Ralph called it “magic.”
The golden light coming from the windows of Bob’s quarters looked like a mecca to her when she exited the cabin. Inside was a man who could give her some answers.
Over a simple dinner of breaded chicken, rice and veggies, Cassie explained to Bob that she had tried to talk to those on the other side but it was all for naught. However, at her new job she’d noticed voices inside the multitude of boxes and this scared her. She told him how the day at the library had proved too much for her.
He listened fully, prodding her to eat and relax. “That’s the way it works,” he told her. “You’ve gotten sensitized. There really is no turning back now.”
“What do you mean no turning back?” she put down her fork abruptly. It clanged on the side of her plate.
“Shh. Slow down. This is not a bad thing.”
Cassie cried. “I just understand none of it. It’s beyond me.”
“Oh, honey, don’t cry.” Bob stood up, came over to her, sat down on the sofa next to her and cradled her in his arms. “You’re doing fine.”
“Oh yeah? I don’t feel it,” she complained. “I don’t feel fine.” She sobbed more. Bob reached over, got a napkin, handed it to her.
He stroked the back of her hair. “You will be all right. You are going to go home, sleep some more and come to terms with all this and understand. It is a gift.”
“Bullshit. It’s a curse,” she argued.
He embraced her more firmly. “You’re fine,” he kept repeating while stroking her hair until she calmed down.
She finally came up for air. “Jesus. I haven’t cried like that since I was younger.”
“Take a sip of water, kid,” he recommended. “Go wash your face. We can talk another time.”
He walked her to her car. The cavernous arch of the steel span building that housed the main barn and arena stretched into darkness. She could hear the contented munching of horses in their stalls. Above them was a half-full moon.
“I’d like to kiss you,” he admitted, “but that wouldn’t be fair. You’re not yourself right now.”
Cassie nodded. “I am glad I could talk to you about all this. At least I think I am.”
“Life has a way of splitting us up into pieces… then if we’re lucky we get put back together again,” he said. “Good night, pretty lady.”
33
More Questions
As Cassie drove back towards her mom’s house she wondered what was the point of her even being able to see this parallel universe. It confused her that Bob also was seeing the same stuff. And it bothered her he did not give her a clear solution how she might get back in touch with the coach and others.
Cassie had to show up at work so she forced herself to go in with a can do attitude. She decided if she heard any strange voices or bumping noises while she was at the warehouse she would just ignore them.
It was about mid shift for her about 8 PM when she felt the familiar surge of energy. Cassie looked wildly about to see if anybody noticed. In a blur, she found herself thrust inside a dark cardboard box packed with several video games and bubble wrap. Making herself into a ball was the best solution. Perhaps she should have looked in some boxes maybe she would’ve found people like her self herself stuck in them.
She felt the rumblings of the conveyor belt that led her that led the box to a wedding 18-wheeler. She knew what the process was and tried to remain calm. Above all, she hoped that wherever she was being taken would be the same as when she had gone on little forays before—that nobody would notice her disappearance even for a second, particularly her supervisor.
It didn’t take long because after all distribution center promised speedy deliveries. Cassie saw the light of day when a sullen-faced teenager open the box again quickly pulling out The contents in the box during the bumpy ride forced her to nestle herself between cells of the bubble wrap.
“Yeah buddy! This is what I’m talking about,” the boy cried out. Cassie crawled out of the box and hid under the boy’s bed. He was already loading the discs into his computer and had called a friend while he did this. Cassie peeked out from under the bed and saw a familiar teddy bear sitting on a corner chair in the bedroom. It was Caleb’s, a Xmas present he’d gotten when he was young. Now he was a teenager.
“I got ‘em,” Caleb chortled on his phone. “Fire it up,” Caleb commanded his friend. Immediately there was a gigantic swoosh of a surround sound huge bass coming from all around the room. The volume filled the room as if it was a movie theatre.
Yikes, when did all this happen? Cassie asked herself. Her son had become all hormones it seemed.
Then suddenly there was another surge of energy and she found herself vacuumed into the game itself. As was so typical this game was violent, multi level an
d layered. She realized by her dress her role was to be a damsel in distress with the forces of evil and good were fighting outside of the fortress.
Cassie looks down from the top of the castle walk and saw knights in shining armor and massive horses trying to gain their way into the front gate by ramming a massive log against it. Behind the lines of soldiers was a motley crew of raggedly dressed citizens. Cassie did not understand what that was all about.
“Excuse me, milady,” gasped a castle guard as he ran past her.
She saw that above her they were heating a large cauldron of burning oil and getting ready to tip that into the crowd below.
She desperately wanted to stop the action or at the least get out of the entire setting but there was nothing she could really do. There before her eyes would be a large scale murder. She looked again at the horses and men on the ground and tried to wave them away but nobody took notice. Suddenly she felt a rough pull. Upon looking about she saw it was the Coach that had pulled her aside.
“Don’t interfere with the action,” he warned her. “The game is already in.”
“What do you mean by that? And where of you been?”
“I have other cases to tend to beside you.” He guided her towards a narrow door. “We must leave. This will not end well. Teenage boys do not make good war decisions,” he yelled above the fray.
She heard nothing more once they went through the wooden door.
“It’s a portal,” the Coach told her. “We had to use it. They will storm the castle and there will be much sacrifice of blood.”
“How did my son end up like that?” she asked.
“Because he’s normal. Relax. He’ll grow out of it.” The Coach kept pulling her down flight after flight of stairs. She was losing her breath but she could feel a coolness as they went subterranean.