City Limits
7
The Nut
The Meaning of Life
THE WEEK AFTER Labor Day was stressful as Gee attempted to return to a normal relationship with his coworkers. Oddly, Rupert was easiest to work with. Clubbing Gee had been understandable and Rupert’s apology simple.
“I’m just glad you care so much about your employees,” Gee said.
“Get a slab of bacon and get it sliced,” Rupert responded. That was all that was needed for the two to be back to normal.
Onyx flushed in embarrassment each time she saw him. She was the one who dialed 911 and screamed that a rape was in progress. But she quietly stepped aside as he came to the deli each morning and moved the heavy kettles of soup. “You did the right thing,” Gee said softly as he finished his task. She breathed a deep sigh and returned to work.
Nathan was the most difficult. Gee thought of him as his closest friend and his actions had been… personal. They avoided each other most of the week, Nathan leaving a note with instructions for the day on the bulletin board and twice calling Gee over the intercom to assist in a particular area of the store. Marian brought Devon to the library Wednesday night and stayed nearby. She thanked Gee for helping get Devon’s jacket on after the reading time and then left.
To compensate for his feelings of lost friendship, he threw himself into cleaning at Karen’s house each day after work.
He picked up his pay envelope Friday afternoon. Frieda silently held out the envelope of cash. Gee hefted it and raised an eyebrow at the unexpected bulk. Frieda shrugged dismissively. “Let’s just call it worker’s comp,” she sighed.
Across the street at the credit union, he presented his City ID and was taken into the vault to retrieve his safe deposit box. When he was alone, he opened the pay envelope. His normal pay of $300 in crisp $20 bills was attached to a hand-written paystub. In addition, there were fifty $100 bills.
He sighed and put the bundle in the box with the rest of his cash, now increased to over six thousand dollars. He pulled five of the big bills from the half strap and put them in his wallet.
Karen would not be home until nearly time to go to the football game, so Gee wandered alone until he reached Jitterz. Something tugged at him to enter the coffee shop—perhaps just the need for companionship after a stressful week. He stood inside the shop staring at the menu board for so long that a young couple asked to go ahead of him while he decided what he wanted.
Elaine made drinks for the couple, took their money, and stood waiting for Gee.
“I’ve got this, honey. You can go home,” a large dark woman said, moving up beside Elaine.
“I don’t want him to think I’m impatient,” Elaine said softly. “He’s always nice to me.”
“You’ve done a good job. Go home and rehearse. I hear you’re singing in Palmyra this weekend.”
“Yes ma’am. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Elaine hung her apron and headed out through the ice cream shop where she paused to order a cone.
“Mr. Gee, why don’t you have a seat. I’ll bring your drink to you,” the owner said. “Violet! I need you to watch for customers for an hour. Just keep an eye out.”
“Yes, Momma.”
Gee heard the exchange but was still reading the board. Birdie Lanahan stepped around the counter with two cups in her hands and motioned Gee to a comfy chair with a small table next to it. He sat on the left and she set the cups down before sitting opposite him.
“Now tell Birdie your troubles, Mr. Gee,” she said.
“It’s nothing, Miss Birdie,” Gee said, finally grounding himself in the warm steeping tea before him. “I wonder sometimes if I had friends… you know, before I came to Rosebud Falls. It seems I’m not very good at making them or keeping them.”
“Oh. Feeling sorry for yourself. Drink your tea.” Birdie watched as Gee took a few more sips. It was cooling rapidly in the thin cup she served. He set the cup back on the table.
“I have a remedy for the blues,” he laughed. “All I need is to go home and wait for the love of my life. I can’t feel sorry for myself when I’m with Karen.” Birdie picked up his cup and began swirling the tea leaves around the bottom.
“I see. True, you have few friends. But you are important to many people. The Forest is in your cup. Be forewarned—it is as dangerous as it is soothing.” Gee looked at the woman. Troy had told him she was a Voodoo sorceress. She was looking into his teacup. “You have love and heartbreak in your life. Maybe with the same person and maybe with others. You are puzzled and think you must find the solution. You are the solution. Discover what the puzzle is.”
“Are you seeing that in my teacup?”
“The tealeaves. The smell of the room. The cut of your hair. You are a friend,” Birdie concluded, “especially to the children.”
“In the library,” Gee smiled.
“Even children you don’t know yet. Maybe they will be yours.”
My own children? With…? Gee thought about his time with Devon, with the children in the library, with precocious Sally Ann. He could see himself with children. Lots of them. When he was with children, he felt almost the same as walking in the Forest. Happy. Content.
Birdie swirled the tealeaves in his cup again and looked at them before setting it down to face Gee.
“You may not have friends, but you are not alone, Mr. Gee. When you face the devil, you will find friends have your back.”
Birdie picked up the teacups and took them to the kitchen, leaving a befuddled Gee. He made his way to the First Rose Valley Bank to purchase another gift card and then went home to wait for Karen.
His Passion
“HEY, CAN WE JOIN YOU?” Gee asked as he and Karen made their way to seats.
“Oh, hello, Gee. Karen. Please. Take a load off,” Wayne responded.
“You look tired,” Karen said. “Doing okay?”
“Two weeks into the school year and the little imps are running me ragged. My new home isn’t habitable yet. I’m still trying to figure out Harvest responsibilities. I’m doing fine,” Wayne sighed. “How are you?”
“I’m surprised you are even at the game with all that going on,” Gee laughed.
“I was… informed… that it wasn’t wise for teachers to not show up for football games. Even first grade teachers! Is there anyone in town who misses a high school football game?”
“You’ll find slightly fewer come to the Flor del Día games. But we still have a good turnout. It’s all part of the city preparing for Harvest and then celebrating it,” Karen said. “It’s not the same for basketball in the winter or baseball in the spring. Only football attracts so many.”
“I have to admit, I’ve never seen a football stadium so big in a town so small. I have colleagues teaching in schools four times this size that don’t have as good a stadium.”
“Say, Wayne, I was wondering if you have plans for tomorrow evening. My lovely… girlfriend has to be out of town tomorrow and I’m looking for something to do,” Gee said.
“You’re lucky to have a girlfriend,” Wayne sighed. “Maybe if I get out more, I’ll meet more eligible candidates. I guess it depends on how far I get on my house repairs tomorrow. I have some broken windows to re-glaze and shingles that are damaged. I’d like to get the whole place ready to paint before we go into the Harvest chaos that I’m told we’ll face.”
“Would you like some help?” Gee volunteered. “I work at the market until noon, but I’ve no plans for the rest of the day.”
Wayne considered Gee and glanced quickly at Karen. She was intent on the game as the two men talked. He nodded.
“That would be great if you have the time. I don’t know many people in town I’d ask for help.”
“I hear you.”
“You handled that masterfully,” Karen said as they walked into the kitchen for a dish of ice cream.
“Handled what?”
“Getting an inside track on Wayne. Volunteering to help him tomorrow. It will be hard work, but you should be able to find out details about where he’s from and why he’s really here. I can’t help but believe he is in some way related to the Savages of Rosebud Falls,” Karen said.
“Karen… I’m not investigating Wayne. I know… You have a lot going on and a lot of suspicions about people’s involvement, but I like the guy. We have a lot in common, being new to town and both being involved with children.”
“I don’t mean to come off sounding like I want you to spy on him. I mean… I do,” Karen sighed. “I have the same kind of feeling about him you do, but my mind continually wants confirmation of what I believe.”
“Like why you continue to place online ads to find out if anyone knows me?” Gee laughed. Karen straightened from where she was leaning against him.
“Am I infringing on your privacy, Gee? Do you want me to stop trying to find who you really are?”
“I don’t mind if you keep investigating. But, you should know that I don’t care. If you find something that needs to go to the police, take it to them. Don’t even bother telling me I’m going to be arrested. If my past life reveals that I’ve done something, I’ll pay the penalty. It’s… Birdie said something when she was reading my tealeaves today.”
“Birdie Lanahan read your leaves? I didn’t think you’d be into that kind of thing.”
“She just gave me a cup of tea and then started in about who I am and who my friends are. Mostly, it was what you would expect from a fortuneteller. But between what she said and what you are doing, I see one thing clearly. You are trying to solve the puzzle of my life. Who I am. Where I came from. But you are sitting beside what you are looking for. I am the solution to the puzzle. I’m the only one who can give meaning to my life. It can’t be found in my past. It can only be found in my actions and my passions.”
“What are your passions, Gee?” Karen whispered.
“You, Karen Weisman. You are my passion.”
They kissed again at the top of the stairs before Karen turned to her room. She hesitated at the door to see Gee still looking at her. She mimed a kiss and left the hall.
Gee went about his nightly routine, shaving and showering before finally crawling into bed. He stared toward the ceiling in the dark, thinking of the miracle in his life named Karen Weisman. She completed him. He had no need of memories to know that he was in love and that he would be forever hers.
The door opened and in the dim light of the hall, he saw Karen silhouetted, a diaphanous robe only slightly obscuring the shape of the woman beneath.
“Karen…”
“Is it too soon?” she whispered. In response, he simply pulled back the sheet and held out his arms.
He woke up alone and for a brief moment wondered if he had dreamed the night with Karen. Her light scent on his pillow quickly disabused him of that notion.
In the kitchen, he found her happily singing as she broke eggs for breakfast. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air. Her hair was neatly brushed out and she was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.
“I love you,” he said from the doorway. Karen spun and rushed to him, her smile lighting up the room.
“My lover, my lover,” she whispered between kisses. “My beloved loving lover.”
“When I woke up alone, I thought it might have been a dream.”
“If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!” Karen quoted. “For me, my dreams have come true.”
They kissed again and she pushed him toward his seat in the breakfast nook. When he was settled, she handed him his coffee.
“I know you have to go to work this morning, but I thought we could have breakfast together. I don’t normally make more than coffee and toast for breakfast, so I hope this is okay.”
“I don’t mind cooking for you. You don’t have to get up early for me,” he said.
“It just seemed like the most… domestic… couple kind of thing… best that I could do to show you I love you. Especially since I need to go to the city today and won’t be with you tonight. I’ll miss you more than I can ever say.”
“You’ll be careful, won’t you?”
“Of course. I don’t go without protection. But my source says she’s found a lead—a young girl who simply showed up on the streets. She’s been protecting her until she can find a way to help her.”
“I’ll worry about you. If there is anything I can do…”
“Not today. Help your friend. Have a good time tonight. Relax and know I will be with you soon.”
Repairing the Past
PEAR STREET was a crowded and narrow one-block street between Mill Street and Orchard Avenue. When the railroad was being built in the early 1800s, the Orchard Project had housed hundreds of Irish laborers in small ‘shotgun’ houses along streets named for fruit trees. The streets of the Project ran haphazardly between and among the houses. The original structures had no bathrooms, just a string of outhouses lining back alleys. Next to each outhouse on the alley was a coal shed and as part of their wages, the residents received a full shed of coal each fall to last them through the winter months. The Meaghers were proud of how well they took care of their laborers and housed their families.
After the railroad was completed, many families moved, and the houses fell into disrepair. Some collapsed altogether. The surviving houses gained new life in the 1930s when water towers were built to collect rain water and siphon off groundwater. The City was modernized with water and sewer lines replacing the outhouses and wells. The Orchard Project became, if not a desired location, at least an acceptable one.
Wayne’s ‘new’ home was the epitome of the shotgun house, eighteen feet wide and forty-odd feet long with a narrow stairway leading to a second story addition. The house was nearly the width of the lot and set back twelve feet from a broken sidewalk. The yard, overgrown with weeds, was barely large enough for the covered stoop and a rusted swing set. Gee found Wayne scraping paint from the front of the house.
After greetings, Gee immediately reached for Wayne’s toolbox and began removing the first of the windows that needed glazing. Wayne had everything necessary for the project, but admitted he’d never actually glazed a window.
“Have you done this before?” Wayne asked as Gee set the first window back into place. It had been scraped, primed, glazed, puttied, and refit. “You worked like a professional at this.”
“I… uh… I must have done this at some point in my life. My hands remember how to do it, but my head doesn’t remember having done it,” Gee said as Wayne helped him remove the next window in line. No matter how fast Gee could work, this job would take another day to complete.
“I heard you had memory problems,” Wayne said. “Not that I’ve been checking up on you. I just mentioned your name in the faculty lounge once and stories came flooding out. You’ve got… a reputation.”
“Well, whatever the reputation is, it’s only two months old.”
“Yeah. You made quite a splash when you got to town.” Wayne looked at Gee and tried to keep a straight face. Both men laughed, and Wayne went back to his task of painting the trim on the front of the house. Gee continued with the windows.
That joke never seemed to get old among the denizens of Rosebud Falls.
Wayne and Gee worked until dark and sat on the stoop with a beer. The upper story and front windows had been glazed and set. All the trim in front had been painted and the siding scraped and primed.
“What time would you like to start tomorrow?” Gee asked.
“Tomorrow? Really? You’d come back to work like a slave again?” Wayne laughed. “Uh… nine,” he added.
“Well, I think I can do those windows in the back. They’re the worst. Looks like it was easier for kids to throw stones at the front and back of the house than at the sides.”
“True that. If I get the front painted and the lawn mowed tomorrow, the place will no longer look derelict and I can continue painting. As long as the rest of it is primed before snow flies, I’ll be good for the winter.”
“The windows are all single glazed. Do you have storm windows to put up outside?” Gee asked. Wayne shook his head.
“None on the property. I figure I’ll make a stop at Jacob’s Home Improvement after school this week and order aluminum storms. That could wipe out my housing funds but they have a deal where you can get them installed free if you finance them through the company. Eighteen months to pay. I suppose they make as much from the financing as they would for installation,” Wayne mused.
“Well, we need to get them all glazed, painted, and measured this week then. I’ve got time. I like to be home when Karen gets home, but that isn’t until late tomorrow. I usually have dinner and just tinker at maintenance around the house.”
“Speaking of dinner, a laborer is worth his pay. Let’s head up to the Pub & Grub and get a burger and beer.” He finished the bottle he was drinking, and Gee walked the couple miles to the tavern with him.
Bar Brawl
“TIM-MAY! RAVEN! Where the hell is Timmy? We’ve got dishes piled from hell to kingdom come,” Sherry, the bar owner, screamed from the kitchen door.
“He’s not coming in,” the waitress sighed. She set burgers and fries on the table in front Gee and Wayne. They grinned at each other and dove into their food. “His girlfriend hauled him off to wherever it is they go off to,” Raven called back to her boss. “I don’t know when he’ll be back. Not tonight, I’m sure.”
“He’s supposed to let us know so we have a sub in here when he’s gone,” Sherry said as Raven took a Lite from the big bartender to the table near the door.
“I know, but… When he gets excited, his brain doesn’t connect right,” Raven sighed as she leaned against the bar. “What am I supposed to do? He’s twenty-seven and the judge says he’s competent enough to be independent. Hah! Like that will ever happen.”
“Honey, you need to talk to that judge again. We all know Timmy’d be lost if he didn’t live with you. Where else would he live? Twenty-seven years old and he still thinks he’s in high school,” Sherry said to her friend and waitress. “And I don’t think that woman is good for him. He’s been worthless for two weekends in a row. Last week because he thought he was going away with her and this week because they’re gone.”
“I know but I… Karen’s the only one who stayed his friend after the injury. More than a friend. I don’t know where she takes him, but he always comes home happy.”
Gee’s head came up with a sudden awareness of the conversation taking place a few feet from him. The waitress’s son. With Karen. Cancelled last weekend. Gone this weekend. He couldn’t be mistaken. They were talking about his Karen out of town with another man.
Gee couldn’t remember having ever had the kind of knot in his stomach that was forming. It was nearly as painful as when he thought about leaving Rosebud Falls. Only this thought was of being separated from Karen. Is this jealousy?
Karen had nearly twenty-eight years of life in Rosebud Falls, less the time she spent at college and working in the city. Gee had only a little more than two months. How could he expect to know everything about a person in that time? The waitress, Raven, had said that Karen was the only one who stayed Timmy’s friend after the injury. Gee wondered what kind of injury and why everyone else abandoned their friend.
Finally deciding that he was being irrational and needed to trust the woman who had told him repeatedly this morning that she loved him, Gee snapped back to the reality of the half-eaten hamburger in front of him.
“Hey! Gee! You still with me, bud? You just went a long way away,” Wayne laughed. “Hey, did you remember something?” Wayne had ignored the idea of Gee’s amnesia, but when he went all still like that, it looked like he was caught in a mental labyrinth for some moments. Gee focused on his friend and smiled.
“A weird sensation, but no new memories,” Gee admitted. “It was all about my reality here and now. I keep remembering that I only know a little bit about Rosebud Falls and the people in it. When I learn something new, I have to figure out how it fits with the rest of the picture. Sometimes I pick up a puzzle piece and I can see where it should go, but it doesn’t fit right. It’s confusing.”
“I should think so. I… uh… have a similar kind of thing happen, even though my memories are all intact. I tend to jump to a conclusion before I know all the facts. It’s hard sometimes.” The two men returned to their burgers and became lost in the food as the bar got noisier.
“Hey, big man! You’re back in town,” called one of the Saturday night carousers. “Where you been this time?”
“Savannah,” was the reply. “Don’t ask me any damn thing about this trip. I just pick up the stone and deliver it. Then I pick up a load from somewhere else and bring it back here. If anybody got these de-spatchers coordinated, half the shipping costs in America would be cut.”
“You got that right. I was out in my rig through Ohio headed west. I’m following a log truck because on that stretch there just isn’t any room to pass. Must have been fifty to a hundred logs tied down to that flatbed. I don’t know if he’s going to a lumber mill or a paper mill. Who cares? But I’ve followed him for well over twenty-five miles when another logging truck passes us going the other direction. Same kind of load. Same size logs. Now why doesn’t somebody figure out that there’s already a load of logs two hundred miles back the way I came and another load two hundred miles ahead and just use the damn logs where they started? Stupidity!”
“Yeah, I feel like I’m just driving the same load around all the time. Back and forth. I swear the trailers never get unloaded. I drive one to Miami or Mobile or Toronto, and the next time I’m there, I pick up the same damn trailer and haul it back here. I marked a couple slabs once—subtle-like, you know? Sure enough, four weeks later, I hauled the same slabs back to SSG.”
If Gee’s reaction to the news of Karen and Timmy had been sudden, Wayne’s reaction to the loud conversation behind them was just as unexpected.
“Wayne? Hey, I thought I was the only one going blank here. Want another beer?” Gee asked.
Wayne looked up at the puzzled expression on their waitress’s face.
“Yeah. I think that would be good. Let’s have one more and then walk back to town.”
“Glad you boys are walking. I hear the police are punishing one of the new guys, McCarran, by making him patrol for drunk drivers on Saturday nights. He’s not in a good mood,” Raven said. She turned to the bar and ordered two more beers for the friends.
“Hey! You!” a big fellow from the table of truckers yelled. He pushed back from his table and knocked his chair over backward. Everyone in the bar turned to look at the ox-like man, but his eyes were focused on Gee. “I know you. You’re the SOB who attacked and raped my wife. You’re done here. I’m gonna put you in your grave.”
“You’re drunk, Larry,” shouted the big bartender. “Sit down and shut up or get out.”
“The hell. This little punk walks into town and all of a sudden he owns it. He rapes my sweet little Roxanne and gets off scot-free. He’s gonna pay for it now.”
“I’m warning you, Larry,” the bartender said as he started around the bar.
“You must be the husband who beat his wife and shoved her out of his truck in a parking lot so he wouldn’t be seen taking her to the hospital,” Gee said softly. “Some courageous man.”
Larry was through talking. He lunged at Gee, not waiting for him to stand from the table. Gee blocked the meaty fist aimed at his face and grabbed the wrist. The giant roared, but Wayne grabbed the opposite wrist. As if communicating silently, both men kicked at Larry’s unstable legs as they twisted his wrists. Larry flipped over the table and landed on his back on the floor. Gee grabbed his beer bottle to stabilize it on the table and then raised it to Wayne. They found the bartender next to their table staring down at the big truck driver. Sherry was a second behind him as she burst through the kitchen door with a baseball bat in her hand. Larry struggled to get his wind back and sit up.
“You! Stay!” Sherry screamed at the downed man. She shoved him back on the floor with the end of the baseball bat. The big bouncer put a foot on Larry’s chest. “You two, get out,” she snapped at Wayne and Gee. “Don’t come back until at least the first of next month. You’re banned until then.” Without saying anything, Gee and Wayne stood and placed twenty-dollar bills on the table. Gee added another ten just in case it didn’t cover a decent tip. They headed for the door where flashing red lights could already be seen pulling into the parking lot.
“Use the kitchen door. That will be McCarran out front,” Raven said, propelling the two men gently through the back. “And watch your back. Larry never fights fair and you’ve just warned him that you’re dangerous. He’s a bully. And he holds a grudge.”
“Why isn’t he in jail?” Gee asked.
“Mac will take him in to dry out tonight,” Raven said, “but Larry works for Savage. The police won’t hold him any longer.”
House Numbers
GEE SPENT A RESTLESS NIGHT in the empty house. It was the first time he’d been alone in it since he moved a week ago. He’d had no difficulty being alone at the Panzas’ but it seemed wrong to be in this house without Karen.
At six in the morning he gave up trying to sleep and prepared for his day. After his shower, he heated a wet towel to wrap his face before lathering his beard and stropping the razor. Looking in the mirror, Gee examined his face. The bruising and scratches from last week’s encounter with Rena had mostly healed, but his nose was still sore. After the lather sat on his face sufficiently, he began the careful process of scraping his beard away with the straight razor. The morning ritual was comforting. It served to balance him. Since coming to live in the mansion, Gee had been shaving twice a day, in the morning when he got up, and in the evening before Karen got home. She always enjoyed touching his smooth face, it seemed. Gee certainly enjoyed it. And Friday night… he was especially glad he had shaved.
He dressed and headed toward the town center by six-thirty. Jitterz wouldn’t open until eight o’clock on Sunday morning, but Louie’s Café next to the antique store at 8th and Main was open at six every morning. Argos, grandson of the Louie who had started the café, was as eccentric as the old man whose name it bore. His door opened at precisely six o’clock every morning. How long the café stayed open ranged from an hour to ten hours, depending on the clientele and Argos’s mood. He had a love for fishing and if the weather looked right, he was likely to serve coffee and doughnuts to the first half-hour crowd and then head for the lake.
Gee sat at the counter and ordered ham and eggs with dark rye toast. The food had been served when Wayne sat down beside him.
“Up early?” Gee asked.
“Didn’t sleep well,” Wayne answered.
“Same.”
“Well, we can sit here gabbing all morning or get an extra hour of daylight in on the house.”
“Eight o’clock.”
“What?”
“Jitterz opens at eight o’clock. I’ll buy you a cup and we can go to work from there.”
“That was amazing coffee,” Wayne said as they started for the tools they needed. Gee chuckled as it had been his own response when Troy first introduced him to it. Wayne helped Gee remove the windows that needed work in the back of the house and then went to the front to begin painting.
They worked until three o’clock and Gee professed that he was starving and would have to take off soon. Wayne was chagrined at having not taken a break, but the day’s labor had allowed him to finish painting the front of the house.
“I shouldn’t have kept you so long without food,” he said. “I was in a zone and never even thought of it.”
“I understand. It seemed like no time at all until I had those back windows finished. Then my stomach grumbled, and I realized how long we’d been working.”
“I’m going to do just one more thing,” Wayne said as he finished cleaning his brushes. “Help me line these up and we’ll take off.” He held up brass numbers for the door and Gee helped line them up, holding them as Wayne tapped in the brads that secured them. “My new address, my friend. 436 Peach Street. Home sweet home.”
Revelation
GEE GRABBED A SLICE of pizza and a soft drink from Gino’s Pizzeria. It was four o’clock Sunday afternoon. Karen might be home. Or she might not be home until late. She hadn’t said. He wanted to rush home and hold her in his arms. But he knew his emotions were rocking back and forth between elation and trepidation.
I don’t step out on the man I’m with and I expect the same from him.
The memory of Karen’s words washed over him. After Friday night, there was no question in Gee’s mind that he and Karen were in a relationship. And relationships were built as much on trust as on faithfulness. Karen took her friend Timmy to Palmyra. It was as important for Gee to trust her as it was for her to be true.
A satisfied sigh came from his lungs as the tension washed out of him. All he needed was a walk in the Forest.
He drank in the sounds and smells of the Forest as he walked, taking a long route home. He’d felt a connection to the trees since his first walk here with Karen. She’d told him—warned him?—that whatever binds the Families to the Forest had claimed him as well. He was comforted by the thought. This strange—could he say enchanted?—woodland felt like his true home. It sank its roots into his soul.
The area around the grandfather tree Jonathon told him would be cut this fall was already being prepared for the closing Harvest formalities. Spectator areas were designated with ropes. A platform for dignitaries stood at one side of the clearing. Gee sank down and leaned his back against the old tree as he let himself absorb the magic of the Forest.
A nut fell next to him. Gee picked it up and examined it. With only a little pressure, the four-petal husk fell away from the shell. He rolled the remaining nut in the palm of his hand, feeling the glossy smooth texture of the shell.
I wonder what would happen if I ate one? Would I die immediately? Would it make me sick first? Take a day to die? A week? Would I recover? What is the mystery held inside this shell?
He tested the strength of the shell between his thumb and the first knuckle of his forefinger. It cracked, surprising Gee. He’d expected the shell to be thick and tough, but it was actually rather fragile. Opening it, he looked inside, using his pocket knife to pry the tender meat carefully from the shell. He kept it intact as much as possible, but where it broke apart, he could see the blood-red flesh. It felt slightly oily in his fingers. It was fascinating—terrifying—and Gee half-expected a forester to step out at any moment to arrest him for breaking a nut in the Forest. He quickly buried the husk and shell in the sawdust mulch under the tree.
Then, without thinking further, he popped the nutmeat in his mouth and chewed.
It was bitter. He wandered off toward the creek and scooped up a double hand of water to wash it down. Then he dipped his head in the water and drank more deeply.
He didn’t feel sick. He didn’t notice any effect at all. He wondered if the story of poison nuts was something the Families made up to conceal and hoard the fruits of the Forest. The tree gave him a nut and he ate it. Gee thanked the grandfather tree as it reached out to help him to his feet. He took time to listen to its story of growing to this great age—of what it had seen in the Forest. He followed the tree’s roots, noting how it touched the roots of the other trees around it, sharing its great knowledge, and how they, in turn, touched the roots of others.
As Gee wandered through the Forest, he saw that the roots also touched people. In fact, everyone in Rosebud Falls was part of the Forest. Some were no more than a leaf or twig or even a breeze in the branches. Others were deeply rooted. Still others, bore fruit—nuts—and planted new trees. Gee could see how he himself was a part of the Forest. He and the Forest were one. The Forest had brought him to Rosebud Falls.
The man who emerged from the Forest was the same man who entered, but his mind was gently altered. He was at peace. He was here-now and that was all that was necessary.
Gee went home.
“Will he be all right? Please say he’s okay.”
Dr. Poltanys sat heavily in the chair next to Karen. “I honestly don’t know. He’s unconscious. There’s been no change since you found him sprawled on the floor inside your front door. But antidotes… They aren’t as effective when the drug has had that long to enter the system.”
“What drug? He was drugged?”
“His blood shows a high concentration of RDH. It’s the same chemical that we find in patients who have used Lustre. The same thing we treated Rena for last weekend. But we had Rena in treatment within half an hour of when the drug was administered. It’s hard to tell, but I’d guess the drug had been in Gee’s system for as much as two, maybe three hours before you found him. The fact that he’s not dead gives me hope. The fact that he has such a high concentration in his bloodstream… I don’t know what the outcome will be.” Poltanys put an arm around Karen as she collapsed against him, weeping.
“Can I… at least be with him?”
“It’s not exactly… I shouldn’t even have spoken to you about it… but he lives with you. Until his attorneys get here, you are the closest thing we have to a next of kin. Come on.” He led Karen to the room where Gee lay, oxygen cannula in his nose and an IV running to his left arm. She rushed to him and grasped his right hand.
“Please. Please come back to me,” she whispered. It had been a difficult trip to Palmyra. The interview abruptly ended as her subject panicked and fled. Timmy had abandoned her to play with his girlfriends and she found herself alone in a seedy hotel. She barricaded her door. In the morning, her contact had berated her for letting the girl she was interviewing run away. What was I supposed to do? Chase her down? Timmy hadn’t appeared until mid-afternoon and it took forever to get back home. And when she opened her front door, she found Gee, face down on the floor. “Please. Please. I need you. I love you,” she repeated.
“Karen?”
“Gee! You’re awake.” She reached for the call button by his head.
“Yeah. What an incredible dream. We were… It was so real I thought I’d wake up with you in my arms. Why are you crying, Karen?”
“You don’t remember?”
“We did make love. But that was Friday. I was waiting for you to get home and hoping…” Gee pushed himself up. “Where am I and why do I have tubes running all over?”
“You’re in the hospital, Gee. You overdosed on Lustre,” Karen said. Julia entered the room and quickly began assessing Gee’s vitals—pulse, blood pressure, and temperature.
“Adam will be here in a minute. He was on the first floor,” the nurse said.
“What’s going on?” Gee asked. “Why am I in the hospital. The last I remember, I was waiting for Karen to get home. It’s morning?”
“Good to see you awake, Gee,” Dr. Poltanys said as he entered the room.
“Vitals are all within the norm, doctor,” Julia said. Poltanys immediately checked Gee’s eyes and removed the nasal cannula.
“Breathing okay, Gee?”
“Yeah. No problem. My nose is a little dry and sore.”
“Typical when you’re being given oxygen. Tell me what you remember.”
“Again? Uh… The first thing I saw when I walked into town was the bar… the Pub and Grub. I…”
“Gee, about yesterday. Last night. What day is it?”
“Since it’s light outside, it must be Monday. It was already dark when I got home last night.”
“Home?”
“To Karen’s house. That’s where I live now.”
“Okay. So, what happened when you got home?”
“I went in to wait for her to get home. Then I woke up here. What happened.”
“Where did you get the drug?” another voice asked from the doorway. Gee looked around the doctor to see Detective Oliver.
“What drug?”
“Let’s backtrack,” Poltanys said. He scowled at the detective. Gee’s lawyers, Jack and Gretchen LaCoe, pushed into the room past Oliver.
“You can’t question him without us present,” Jack said to Oliver.
“I just want to know where the drug came from,” Oliver nearly shouted.
“I didn’t take any drugs!” Gee called back. He coughed and Karen offered him a sip of water.
“Somehow you got the drug in your system,” Poltanys explained. “No one here is accusing you of drug abuse. Someone may have drugged you. Just relax and tell us who you were with yesterday.”
“I spent the day with Wayne Savage working on his house. About three we called it quits and I walked over to the pizzeria for a bite to eat. I figured Karen would be late, so I decided to go for a walk in the Forest on the way home.”
“Did you see anyone? Meet anyone?”
“Grandfather.” Everyone in the room seemed to move in closer.
“You met your grandfather?” Oliver asked. “You know who you are now and have relatives?”
“Oh. Sorry. I mean the grandfather tree in the Forest. The one they plan to cut this year. I sat there and talked to him for a while. I was working some things out in my head. He’s nice. He gave me a nut to eat.”
“Gee, are you saying you ate a nut in the Forest?” Poltanys asked.
“Oh shit! I suppose I’m going to get arrested and fined for taking something from the Forest,” Gee moaned.
“Oh, my God,” Karen breathed. “You ate a nut. And you’re alive.”
“Mead, you and I need to leave now,” Jack said. He looked at his wife and Gretchen nodded. “This is above our paygrade. We’re not Family. They are.”
“This isn’t…”
“We’ll find out what we need to know later. You’d better call the Judge,” Jack insisted. He pushed the detective out the door, reaching for his phone at the same time.
“We have two issues,” Poltanys said. “Three. I still need to test Gee and get another blood sample to confirm that the drug is out of his system and he’s okay.”
“And I need to call Dad to talk to the Families,” Gretchen said. “Heinz has to let them know.”
“And we need to get the annexation passed,” Karen said.
“Why are you concerned about that?” Gee asked. He was still feeling quite euphoric.
“You ate a nut. Sometime after that—long enough for a walk in the Forest and get home—you passed out and were comatose when Karen found you,” Poltanys explained. “When we tested your blood, we discovered the chemicals found in the drug Lustre. You just provided a missing link we’ve suspected but were unable to confirm. Lustre is made from our Rose Hickory nuts.”
“And all the Rose Hickories are under the control of the foresters except the ones in the South Rosebud annex,” Karen concluded. “And Gee. Only the head of a Family ever survives eating a Rose Hickory nut. It’s how challenges to leadership are settled.”
“Uh… Dare I ask how your weekend was?” Gee said when Karen finally got him home. They burst out laughing as the tension drained from them. It had been a long day at the hospital, even after the doctor had cleared Gee. Dr. Poltanys’ father, Jan, showed up as the representative of the Families to talk to Gee about his experience.
“Above all,” Jan had said, “we need to keep this quiet. If anyone discovers that someone ate a nut and survived, we’ll have a rash of daredevils trying to prove they can do it, too. That would mean deaths. You can’t imagine how unique you are, Gee.”
When Gretchen LaCoe, Jan Poltanys, and Judge Warren had finally left, Gee was exhausted and hungry. Karen picked up sandwiches and soup at the Hilltop Deli on the way home and the two went straight to the kitchen to eat.
“Even before I got home to find you unconscious on the floor, the weekend was a disaster,” Karen said. “I went to Palmyra because Janie called. I planned to go last weekend, but there was the little incident of a girl claiming my boyfriend raped her.” Gee touched his nose. It was still sore from Rena’s violent reaction when he tried to restrain her. “Anyway, Janie is a sex worker. She’s a bit older than most and I think she keeps working so she can help the younger girls. This runaway showed up in town and Janie took her under her wing. The girl had a story of being a sex slave for years. In a transfer of ownership, she’d seen an opportunity to run and took it. How she escaped is one of the things I was trying to discover when she suddenly saw something or someone out the window and just ran. I looked out but couldn’t see anything that looked spooky.”
“Did you find her again?”
“No. Janie said she didn’t come back and she’s really pissed at me for letting a vulnerable girl out of my sight. And to make it worse, my… um… friend…”
“Timmy?”
“I knew you’d hear his name if you went to the Pub and Grub. I can explain, Gee.”
“You don’t need to.”
“But…”
“I’m not very experienced in relationships. At least not that I can recall. I’m not used to the surges of wonder that course through my body when I think of you. I’m not used to the desire I feel for you. And I do have momentary pangs of insecurity and even jealousy that I can’t explain. And when I heard his mother call you Timmy’s girlfriend, that hit me pretty hard. I didn’t know how to deal with it.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” Karen said. “That was over years ago.”
“You’re his friend. But what he is can’t matter to me. You told me that you love me and we became lovers. All I need to do is trust you. That’s what I was contemplating on my walk through the Forest. In a way, it was what the grandfather tree was communicating when he gave me a nut to eat. His message was clear. ‘Trust me.’ Well, I ate the nut. I fell into a coma, as Dr. Poltanys described it, though I remember vivid dreams. And then I woke up with you holding my hand. I don’t need explanations. I love you, but more importantly, I trust you.”
Tears ran down Karen’s cheeks as she listened to Gee. “How can I ever show that I am worthy of that trust?” she whispered. “I love you. I want to be open and have no secrets from you. So, understand this, when I tell you about Timmy it is not to justify myself, but to simply open myself more fully to you so you know who I really am.”
Gee leaned forward and kissed his girlfriend. “Why don’t we get more comfortable than sitting at the kitchen table,” he suggested. “Wine in the sitting room?”
“A glass of wine would be nice. Why don’t we drink it in bed?”
“Timmy Raven was my classmate in high school. A friend because in a school our size you have to figure everyone is at least an acquaintance. But he was way out of my league. A great athlete. Very popular. Very handsome. I was a bit of a geek.”
“Hard to imagine,” Gee said, stroking her hair.
“First football game of the season, against Flor del Día, our star quarterback, Timmy, was knocked unconscious. No one could understand how an injury like that could cause such extensive damage. He never really recovered, did not develop any further. He’s still got the mind of a high school student. Short term memory is poor, but long-term, before the injury, is sharp. He remembers how popular he was and the kind of person he was. But his friends abandoned him after the injury. He wasn’t the same. He no longer looked forward, only back.”
“He’s still like that?” Gee asked. Karen nodded.
“Even then I already had a reputation for sticking my nose into other people’s business and calling it reporting. Something about the injury didn’t make sense. Why so severe? So, I stole his helmet and pads. I had money and my great-grandmother’s backing, so I took the equipment to a lab in Palmyra to have it tested. Our team’s new football equipment wasn’t up to the standard of most toys sold for little children. When I released the report in the newspaper, it was discovered that the coach and athletic director had purchased the new equipment and taken a huge kickback. They were prosecuted.”
“And you became public enemy number one because you exposed them.”
“Yeah. I was as much outcast as Timmy by then, so I sort of adopted him. I took him to prom. I gave him my virginity. I stood by him when all our other friends walked away. Now, he’s supposed to function as my bodyguard when I go into the city, but he’s become so popular among the girls that as soon as he can get free, he runs off with one or more and I don’t see him for the rest of the weekend. He was really frustrated when I cancelled the trip last weekend, so this time he took off almost as soon as we got to Palmyra and I ended up alone and barricaded in a cheap hotel room until I could collect him the next day and come home.”
“You’re still a good friend to him, even though he abandons you.”
“It’s not his fault. His mother tries hard, but there are some things that an eternal teen needs that a single mom just can’t cope with. I’m worried that one day I’ll take him to the city and he’ll just disappear into the underground like so many others.”
New Kid in Town
“AS YOU EXPECTED, I’ve been made.”
“That was even faster than I anticipated.”
“There are still things in town with the Family name on them. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”
“You know why you are there. We’re going to retake the Family business.”
“I haven’t made much progress on that. I’ve been more concerned with trying to get settled.”
“We have time. The lease doesn’t expire for another year.”
“I know it seems like a long time, but the City is moving to annex the whole area. In a couple of months, the leases could be voided by the City. It seems I’ve barely had a chance to breathe. School. House hunting. This Harvest thing.”
“You’ll enjoy Harvest. It’s one of the things I’ve missed most.”
“Why did you ever leave?”
“My grandfather wanted me out of town while I could still go. Said he wanted me to be able to make up my own mind. It was a brave move and ultimately killed him. When I come back it’s unlikely I’ll ever leave again.”
“Are they that evil? They’d force you to stay in town just because you are head of one of the Families?”
“It’s not about the Families. It’s the trees. Even now I can feel them tugging at me. Grandfather said it was a curse that the head of the Family could never leave. Maybe it’s true. But the trees have a hold on the Families, just as much as the Families appear to have a hold on the Forest. It’s a symbiotic relationship. The Families take care of the Forest and the Forest takes care of the Families. One can’t just abandon the other.”
Wayne listened to his grandfather and felt the same sense of wonder he’d known all his life. Gee had described the Forest as mystical. His grandfather certainly believed so. But Wayne had a job to do. He needed to take control of the company and figure out why this fanatical church had a such a strong interest in it.
“So, I need to locate all the shareholders and get their proxies without alerting anyone that they are about to face a proxy battle,” Wayne sighed.
“I’ve got the shareholder list, but a lot of them are shell corporations who hold the stock. There are five million shares. We own twenty percent. Six hundred thousand shares were put in blind trusts for the war orphans. The most important thing for you right now is getting settled in and learning who is trustworthy. Just remember that the person in power is not always the one pulling the strings. Watch for figureheads.”
“You’ve never steered me wrong, Grandad.”
“Now tell me about your new friends. Karen and Gee?”
Comments
Please feel free to send comments during the development cycle to nathan@nathaneverett.com. Thank you for your Feedback!
