Blind turn, p.15
Blind Turn, page 15
“Wow, how long have you been here with Joel? You’re starting to sound just like him,” Gabriel said, cutting into the meat.
“Long enough to know you rescued these boys like you rescued me and Ayana. I’m asking to make it easier for everyone if we know,” Dex said, looking Gabriel square in the eyes. A week ago, he couldn’t do that.
A week ago, he looked at his feet when he talked to an adult male. A week had changed a good deal in his life, and he wanted to be a good big brother to the new members of the family. He led back into the conversation with that.
“I want to be a good big brother to these guys, Mr. Uncle Archangel Gabriel,” Dex said. “Help me, help them.”
“You’re good,” Gabriel said.
“I’m learning to be honest in my intentions,” Dex replied, smiling at using the words Joel had said to him.
“Good enough,” Gabriel replied. “Kevin and Cody were sent to a group home just outside of Cincinnati. It was not a good place, rough kids and rough lives, and they found each other and became a team. It was difficult to separate the boys, and no one wanted to take them both, so I brought them here.”
Ayana spoke up, “Have they been abused, outside of the neglect and being treated as if their disabilities make them stupid versus two young teens who are handi-capable?”
Gabriel arched his eyebrows as he looked at her. “This meal is very tasty.”
“You’re avoiding the questions,” Ayana added.
“No, I’m complimenting you on the meal,” he said, offering her a smile.
Kevin tapped on the table, gaining their attention. He shook his head no. His hand touched Cody on the shoulder, and he shook his head no again. Kevin held up his fists, turning his body towards Cody as if he were protecting him. Cody in turn, picked up the knife, holding it tight in his hand.
Dex looked at Gabriel. “See, that can be taken six, seven or 800 different ways. That could mean those kids are going to kill us in our sleep if we make them mad, or he’s telling me they weren’t abused because he protected the kid, and the kid used a knife to shank someone on the playground. I need answers and another lock for my bedroom door.”
Gabriel started laughing. Kevin did too and the sound which came from his mouth was loud. It sounded like a seal in pain. Dex gripped the end of the table.
“See. See. Scary. Just like I thought. Scary,” Dex said showing Gabriel the hairs standing up on his arms.
Ayana ignored them both. “Mr. Uncle Archangel Gabriel, Dex told me it was you who sped through his paperwork to live here,” she said. “I want to file for emancipation with Doc Tootie as my guardian. Can you help me with that?”
“I can,” he said.
“What do I need to do, and if I do the emancipation, can I also take Mr. Thomas’ last name? I mean, I want to be a part of the family, but can I have it both ways?”
“That, I don’t have an answer for but let me find out,” he said, finishing the meal and explaining the journey of Kevin Dale, a thirteen-year-old mute child who grew up in the foster system. Cody, born deaf and abandoned by his parents to an orphanage, ran away from Dayton and ended up in Cincinnati at the same group home with Kevin.
Gabriel only knew the boys had become inseparable. If they found each other, then he wanted to find a way to keep them together and allow them room to flourish. Dex would make a great big brother to them and a means for the boys to heal and develop. Joel would see to that. He knew the man he named Merge was also going to heal by giving these kids a home.
“Dex and Ayana, this is the perfect place for all four of you,” he told them all. “Thank you so much for this tasty meal. Please give me a moment to stretch, hydrate a bit more after my long drive, then we can talk and make a plan.”
“Sounds good,” Dex said.
“Works for me,” Ayana added, and Kevin and Cody both gave a thumbs up. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
IN TOWN, AT THE MEDICAL offices of Dr. Trisha Landy, Tootie spoke to her good friend, a family practice doctor, about doing the blood tests for her and Joel. They found out, which made Joel extremely happy, that blood tests were only required in the state of Montana in order to get a marriage license. Tootie also discovered that her soon to be husband didn’t like needles.
Seated in the privacy of his vehicle, she turned in the seat to look at him. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, but there was only one she wanted to address. Tootie swallowed hard and looked at him.
“I love you,” she told him.
“And I you,” he replied.
“Are you marrying me because you love me, or are you marrying me to give those children a momma?”
“Both,” he said, turning in the seat to face her. He stared into the green eyes which had brought him comfort when he returned home from jobs that tainted his soul. He also really liked her company, and until the arrival of Dex, he’d never considered adopting kids, getting married, or having a non-traditional family. The more he thought about it, the more he also liked the idea of walking the road of life with Tootie.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say on the matter?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears.
“Regina, this life is hard and lonely, and sometimes the weight of standing outside in the middle of a barren field can be a metaphor to how it can feel inside of your soul. You know that feeling as well as I do,” he said. “The orb which has encapsulated us has brought us both full circle. We could have allowed those things which were out of our control to embitter us, but we didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“My mother was run away from her home by my grandfather because he couldn’t stomach the thought of a white man touching his child and inheriting his lands,” Joel explained. “Yet, the white child in need that he helped, who is unable to bear children, is repaying his gift by giving a home to children since his only living seed is unable to bear fruit. Full circle.”
She blinked several times as she stared at him. “Just when I think you’re a total idiot, you say something almost prolific.”
“You have never for one moment thought me to be a dumb man.”
“No, I just don’t know you, know you,” she told him.
“Hmmph,” he countered. “What’s my favorite meal?”
“Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green peas,” she said, “and you prefer field peas, but don’t like them with mashed potatoes.”
“Okay, my favorite color?”
“Green.”
“What are my degrees in from college?”
“Chemistry,” she answered, squinting. “You did the master’s and Ph.D. program together, right?”
“Correct. What do I truly enjoy when we are loving each other?”
Tootie blushed. “You like it when I’m on the bottom, my legs on your shoulders and you can go deep.”
“All. Of. That,” he said with a chuckle. “See, you know me just fine.”
“Joel, the whole government thing. Are you an assassin for the government, and who is that man who brought those kids to the house? Does he go around finding lost children and pairing them up with people?”
Joel found himself smiling at her. “When my parents were killed in the car accident, like I said, I went into foster care. His best friend, Brody Johnson, was the son of a minister, who ran a summer camp for at risk kids. That’s where I met him.”
“And he what...took you in?”
“Not until I was sixteen and in trouble,” Joel answered. “Once Gabe found out that the woman had hurt me, he took me in.”
“He doesn’t look much older than you are,” she said.
“Seven years,” he explained, “he’s got me by seven years. He served as a guide. He brought me and my grandfather back together, and he keeps watch to make sure I’m okay. This family thing, I need, Regina. I need this family like I need you.”
“I’m scared. I know nothing about being a mother. I didn’t have one, and Granny, well, she was old when I was born, and she was old when she died, so what can I teach that girl about being a woman?”
“You can teach her what you know, the lessons you learned, and how to become the person you wish to be, which can evolve into the person you’re meant to be,” he told her.
“Joel, you really think we can do this?”
“Shit, it’s too late to ask that now. We have four damned kids, two of which are non-verbal,” he told her. “That is going to be a challenge by itself.”
“We can do this,” she said, giving him a weak smile.
“We’re going to do this, and failure is not an option. If we fail those kids like every adult who has touched their lives, then we don’t deserve this shot we’ve been given to have what neither of us ever expected to have—children,” he said.
“Four damned kids,” Tootie said, smiling. She grinned at him. “Let’s hurry up and head home so we can make sure the kids are okay.”
“Yes ma’am,” he added, turning the nose of the pickup towards town hall. He had a marriage license to buy and a woman to marry. A smile stayed on his face the remainder of the afternoon.
YEARS LATER, WHEN DEXTER Thomas looked back on the day the man he called father took the hand of the woman he called Mama Tootie, he would recall with fondness the tears his father shed. The Archangel, once he pronounced them man and wife, told Joel to kiss his bride.
Dex nearly laughed to keep from crying himself as Joel’s hands shook when he cupped Tootie’s face. Tears of joy ran down both of their cheeks as Ayana held onto the bouquet of wildflowers, she’d picked earlier to make the bridal bouquet for Doc Tootie.
The old farmhouse, once devoid of life and happiness, was now filled with dirty children who spent their days tending the animals, pruning the fields, and growing the food which they ate. Each evening, over dinner, Joel Thomas would ask each of his children were they honest in their intentions for the day.
“As honest as I can be,” Dex would answer. “Besides, if I lie, I’m only lying to myself.”
“Good. Good,” Joel remarked and blessed the food. “Oh Lord, for this we have before us, may we be forever grateful, humbled, and spend our days in your service.”
“Amen,” each replied and ate dinner, a culinary delight prepared by Ayana, who would go on to be a world renown chef, but that is a different story. First, a moment was taken to complete the tale currently on the docket of the man the technicians call Mr. Merge.
Chapter Fifteen – Sour
It’s not as if you weren’t expecting me...
Jeffrey Mitchell was in a sour mood. Each of his efforts to score himself a new teenage doll had fallen apart. The ache in his lower region grew more and more each day, and without a pretty doll to alleviate the pain, he became angrier and more determined to get back his own figurine.
“She left me to go live on a damned farm with those people,” he scoffed, pulling into the gravel drive of the old house in the rear of land owned by his family for centuries. “I gave her a nice life. She went to school. I stocked the pantry with gourmet food items, and now, I’m eating beans from a can or takeout; ungrateful little bitch. I should go and snatch her ass up and have my way with her and cut out her fucking tongue.”
The anger prevented him from seeing the shadow moving in front of his window. Most of his attention was focused on his brother’s vehicle in his yard. “That fucker is why she’s gone! He wanted a piece of my toy, and he scared her off. Once I broke her in, I would have shared, but he had to go and ruin everything.”
Hard stomping feet led him to the front door, ready to give Amos Mitchell a piece of his mind, but once inside the home, he realized too late that Amos didn’t have keys to his house. Neither did the man in the black suit with the green tie, who wore stark white gloves.
“Jeffrey, don’t look so shocked. It’s not as if you weren’t expecting me to show up at some point,” Mr. Merge told him. “Come on in and take a seat. Amos, how are you doing over there?”
White foam oozed from the sides of Amos’ mouth. His eyes were dull, as he stared at the wall. The bottom lip hung loosely as the right hand twitched, the cup falling to the floor. Jeffrey jumped at the sound; his eyes enlarged with fear.
“What have you done to my brother?”
“The same thing I’m going to do to you; end your miserable life,” Merge told him. “Come on, have a seat.”
“No!” Jeffrey said, turning quickly to head for the door. A piercing pain shot through his neck. His body became rigid, his limbs immobile, and slowly, he began to fall forward, being caught by Joel and laid on the couch.
“See, now you had to go and make things get messy,” Joel explained, raising Jeffrey’s legs onto the couch. “Once that wears off, this will kick in, and you will feel everything that is happening to you as each of your organs shut down. I’m sure it’s going to be excruciatingly painful, but you’ll be unable to scream or move, and then you’ll know what it’s like to have lived in this house with you as your victim.”
Jeffrey’s eyes were wide as he watched the man take a two-pronged needle and tapped into a vein on his hand. Immediately, a discoloration began to form around the injection site. The skin started a version of necrosis Mr. Merge had never seen before. For posterity, Joel removed his phone and snapped a photo.
“I’ve never seen the effects of Taipan venom,” Joel told him. “That’s what I put into your hand. It’s going to appear as if you were bitten by a snake. You know, people who live way out in places like this usually collect weird shit, so maybe your pet snakes got loose. One even bit your brother Amos on the hand. See, look at that asshole. Oh wait, you can’t see him; hold on a minute.”
Joel positioned Jeffrey to have a bird’s eye view of his brother Amos as he took his last breath.
“Dang, that serum worked fast,” Joel said. “He got the black mamba venom. Whew, I think he shat himself. Oh, no, that was you. Well, that’s just nasty.”
He took a seat across from Jeffrey, watching him slowly give into the pain. Joel Thomas was many things, but sadistic wasn’t one, and he wasn’t staying to watch the man die. He just didn’t think anyone should die alone. Not even these two ass munchers.
“Just in case you were wondering, I did look for Ayana’s mother,” Joel told Jeffrey. “I figured the woman had a right to know her child was alive, but you know what I found out? She died six years ago. Most folks say it was from a broken heart. The loss of her only child broke her spirit and her soul.”
Still rigid, Jeffrey’s eyes remained on the man.
“Mr. Mitchell, I am never one to wish a man’s soul be condemned to Hell, and even in my line of work, I know there is a price I must pay for the souls I take from this earth, but I pray that God will be merciful in my judgment since I am honest in my intentions. You and your brother should not be on this planet ruining people’s lives and taking for nefarious reasons, that which doesn’t belong to you. If I must serve in Hell next to you, then I do so knowing I sentenced you for your treatment of that beautiful child,” he expounded.
He watched as the venom worked its way through the man’s veins. He could almost see the rot on the fair skinned man as the color changes to his skin mapped the course of the poison. Jeffrey began to twitch starting low around his ankles and shaking the thin body all the way up to his arms.
“Ah, it has reached your heart,” Joel explained, “so it won’t be long now. I do have to get going pretty soon, and in a day or so, I’ll have the police come and do a welfare check on you since no one will have heard from you for a couple of days.”
He waited fifteen additional minutes. For good measure, he checked for a pulse, and when he found none, he got to his feet. He checked the room for any evidence the man they called Merge had been in the house, and finding none, he let himself out the way he came in.
“If I take the back route and drive at a clip, I can be home in time for dinner,” he said. “Ayana is making poblano pork tacos, and that is quickly becoming my favorite.”
Whistling, he climbed into his shop and removed his gloves. Right outside of Pine Bluff was a chocolatier. He’d stop there and pick up a box of chocolates for his wife. She often complained that he was trying to keep her fat, and he gently corrected his wife by reminding her that he loved her and all. Of. That.
More than anything, he loved his kids. He’d never thought he’d be a dad and loved every minute of being a family man. He owed one to Gabe, and this weekend, he was expecting One Way to come for a visit.
Family was everything.
He knew that now.
- The End
Epilogue – Subvert
Well, that changes my weekend plans...
Initially, One Way’s plans were only to stop and pick up his knives, but then he fancied a few tacos and a tray of fries cooked in the same grease that he knew Frankie J had kept in the hopper since the summer of 2014. Frankie J claimed that’s what gave the fries that special flavor. One Way knew it was because his partner, Lucious, was a cheap bastard that called himself saving money. Truthfully, the fries were amazing and tasted like every object that had been fried in the same black grease which, in fact, did give it a special flavor. Thus far, none of it had made him sick or left any residual traces of death in his colon, so fries it was.
This weekend he was headed back to Merge’s place and looked forward to hanging with his friend, Dex and even Doc Tootie. Over the past few weeks, he’d seriously considered getting a little family of his own, but his life was too erratic. He was on the road a great deal, and now, being able to stop in and hang out with Merge and his brood kept him from feeling so alone.
The wheels on his Toyota Four Runner crunched the gravel drive as he pulled into the working side of F & L’s Eats and Treats. The hard bald road portion of the truck stop, if one could call it that, held two antique gas pumps, retrofitted to accept credit cards. One Way enjoyed stopping at the place. On top of getting the fries and tacos, he could also get his favorite knives sharpened, which he’d dropped off before his initial trip to Arkansas. Tonight, they should be ready.
