JC: William Redman Carter Part 2: Hermit Chapter 7 By Lazlo Zalezac Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2006 William looked up at the stars overhead. The sight of the summer sky was always special to him, particularly on nights without a moon. The stars seemed so low that you could reach out and touch them. Turning to the dark shape seated next to him, he said, “I love looking at the stars out here.” “I do too,” Eddie said with a smile. In the dark, his white teeth seemed to stand out. William pulled out his pack of cigarettes and took one out. He handed the pack to his brother and said, “Have one.” “Thanks,” Eddie said taking a cigarette from the pack. Daddy Ed was aware that he occasionally smoked when around members of the tribe, but none of the mothers knew that. He was pretty sure that Momma Ling would tan his hide when she learned that he smoked on occasion. He handed the pack back to his brother. William accepted the pack and put it back in his pocket. He lit his cigarette using a match; the flare of striking it killing what little night vision he had. He held out the match, cupping it in his hands to protect it from the wind, for his brother to light his cigarette. Eddie leaned over and lit his cigarette. The two brothers took long drags off their cigarettes and exhaled to the sky. William said, “This is the first time we’ve smoked together.” “Yes,” Eddie said feeling a little dizzy from the tobacco. He looked over at the dark outline of William and said, “I’m glad to see you out of the house.” “I can’t live in there forever,” William said looking around. The quiet of the night was disturbed by some noises coming from the ranch house. It wasn’t anything worrisome, just the normal noises of men and women going about the business of ending the day. He cocked his head to listen. Eddie smiled on seeing William’s posture and said, “Daddy Ed and I stand on the roof at home and listen to the town close up at night. The door closing as Shirley shuts down the bar officially ends the business day. Her car leaving for home is our sign that all is well. Even after everyone has reached home from the bar, it is never really quiet though. Dogs bark, animals come in from the desert and rummage through trash cans, and the coyotes howl in the distance. People are up and about all night long.” “You sound like Daddy Ed when you talk about home,” William said. The end of his cigarette glowed brighter when he took another drag off of it. The smoke of the cigarette was barely visible in the dark; a mere blur of darkness in the darkness. “Why not? It’s my home too,” Eddie said feeling protective of his little home town. “Yes, it is. This is my home and I guess I should learn the normal sounds of people going about their business,” William said. A screen door, with a spring to strong for the weight of the door, slammed shut making a crack that split the night. He couldn’t help but jump a little at the sound. “Where there are people, there’s noise,” Ed said smiling at William’s reaction to the sound of the door closing. He took another drag off his cigarette. “So you’re leaving tomorrow.” “Yes. Daddy Ed has a survey up in Nevada. Some fool thinks that he can find silver that was missed in the late 1800s and wants us to tell him the best place to dig,” Eddie said. They had turned down the job a dozen times, but the man who wanted it done was persistent. “You don’t think they’ll have any luck?” William asked. Eddie shook his head and said, “The Comstock mines are all played out. There are traces here and there, but only fit for tourists to dig up.” “What is it that they think they’ll find?” William asked. Eddie shrugged his shoulders and said, “I imagine that they think there are veins of silver, but the area around Carson City is the wrong place to look for that. There hasn’t been a significant find in a hundred years. A lot of very greedy people have spent a lot of time searching. I doubt they missed anything.” “So why did Ed take the job?” “The guy is very insistent. Dad and I discussed it. We decided that it would be a good exercise for me to take part in a geological survey,” Eddie answered. Even though he didn’t think they were going to find something of much significance, it was his first survey. He would be doing most of the work with Ed supervising. “What would you like to find?” “Well, there is a chance that there are opals in the area we are going to be working. I don’t have an outstanding sample of an opal that I’ve collected myself,” Eddie said. “Well, I wish you luck out there,” William said. Eddie put out his cigarette by grinding it against the bottom of his shoe and slipped the butt into his back pocket. He rubbed the side of his nose and then asked, “Are you going to be okay, William?” “I think so,” William answered. “I’m glad.” --- Lucy stopped her horse and turned to look back at William. He had stopped and was looking back over his shoulder. Curious, she asked, “What’s wrong?” “Someone is coming,” William answered pointing to some dust rising on the other side of the hill. There was no reason for anyone to come out that way since the cattle were down by the river. Of course, there were fences to mend and other activities that went along with running a cattle ranch, but no one had said anything about working in that area. “I don’t hear a pickup or a motorcycle,” Lucy said thinking that only a pickup truck or motorcycle could raise dust like that. The tension he was feeling immediately lifted when he saw what was creating the dust plume. He laughed and said, “I’ll be.” “Is that...,” Lucy started to ask unable to believe what her eyes were telling her. “Betsy,” William said watching his little sister running towards them. Her legs were churning so fast that they were a blur. She was kicking up dust just like a motorcycle. The young woman came to a sliding stop in front of William and Lucy. Without even breathing heavily, she looked up at the two on their horses, smiled, and then, in a sweet voice, said, “Hello.” “Hello, Betsy,” Lucy said amazed at the bright eyes looking up at her. “Did you have a nice little run?” William asked. They were five or six miles from the house. “Yes,” Betsy said starting to fidget. Her movements were starting to make the horses nervous. Lucy looked down at Betsy and said, “You looked like Speedy Gonzales running here.” “I’m not a mouse,” Betsy said with a grin. The smile turned feral before she added, “I’m a shark.” A shiver went through Lucy as she remembered the sight of Betsy swimming with the sharks at the wedding reception. Pursing her lips, she said, “Of course you are. Did you have a good run?” Despite the repetition of the question, Betsy answered, “It wasn’t too bad. I promised Momma Ling that I’d be back in an hour. I guess I better head back now. I’ll race you to the house.” “Okay,” William said knowing that standing around this long was almost too much for his sister. “One, two, three,” Betsy said just before she spun around and raced off. Chuckling, William watched his little sister streak across the landscape. The route she was taking was probably closer to ten miles than the direct distance of five miles. Considering the distance from the house and the kind of terrain on which she was running, he wondered if she was going to make the one hour limit. Leaning forward to pet the neck of her horse, Lucy asked, “Aren’t we going to go after her?” Nudging his horse forward to a leisurely walk, William said, “She’ll beat us there anyway. There’s no sense in risking the horses by running them on this terrain.” Lucy quickly caught up to him and said, “I wonder why she came here for a visit.” “She’s supposed to be in California working at the Shark Institute for the summer. I can’t think of any reason that would cause her to return,” William said. He wondered if the institute had a problem that required them to close. He couldn’t imagine Betsy willingly giving up a minute of her time with the sharks. He added, “She wouldn’t leave the sharks unless it was really important.” “There aren’t many sharks around here,” Lucy said smiling at William. --- After searching the house for twenty minutes, William found Betsy and Ling in the swimming pool. Betsy was doing her normal impersonation of a shark. William looked at the figure of his sister moving through the water. It was almost unnatural the way she moved. When she didn’t come up for air, he examined her a little more carefully and noticed something in her mouth and what looked like a vest. He asked, “What’s she wearing?” “A rebreather. She can stay down there forever with one of those,” Ling answered making her way to the edge of the pool. She paused to watch her daughter cut through the water. Her movements appeared effortless. It never ceased to amaze her when Betsy swam with sharks. “I’ve never seen one that small,” William said. From where he was standing, it looked like a hose that went to a very small vest. “It is an experimental version. Unlike most rebreathers that are based on a scrubbing technology, hers uses a fusion battery to power a CO2 extraction process. She can stay underwater almost indefinitely with it,” Ling said. When Ling had questioned her about the details, Betsy had answered that with sufficient energy anything was possible. “Interesting. There are lots of applications for something like that,” William said wondering about the physics involved. Of course, if the answer was obvious then it would have been invented a long time ago. If it worked outside of the water, then such a device could also be used by firemen and others exposed to harmful gases. There were great benefits associated with a small rebreather that would allow individuals to stay separate from the atmosphere for long periods of time. “Yes there are,” Ling said wondering why they were discussing Betsy’s rebreather when there were matters of greater importance at hand. “It is not that I want to sound inhospitable, but what are you doing here?” William asked. “We were on our way to Florida to pick up a shark from an aquarium there and decided to stop here,” Ling answered looking at William. She had expected to find him waiting for them when they arrived. The fact that he hadn’t been expecting them had been a shock. “Oh. Isn’t this a little out of the way?” William asked rising an eyebrow. “Your father did mention …” Ling faltered in her explanation. She didn’t know of a kind way of saying that William wasn’t quite himself. She tried again. “Your father said that you lost your gift of foresight.” “Yes, I have,” William said watching his mother’s reaction. She didn’t know what to say or do. He wasn’t used to seeing her so uncertain and insecure. Ling climbed out of the pool and went over to where William was standing. They were separated by three feet, but it could have been a mile. She stood there naked, water dripping from her body and collecting on the floor beneath her. William stood facing her; watching as she bit her lower lip in indecision. The relationship between William and Ling had always been filled with tension. In part it was because William had always been strong enough that he hadn’t needed her. Ling didn’t know how to mother him when he didn’t need a protector. She often felt that it was unfair that even as a child, he wasn’t a child. Another reason for the tension was that he knew things that others shouldn’t know. He had frustrated her by always knowing what she was going to do. Looking at him now, she could see that he had no idea what she was going to say or do. That thought unnerved her. Lucy stepped into the pool room. Rather than interrupt, she stood to the side to watch the pair of them. It hurt to watch. Each wanted to reach out to the other, but that wasn’t the nature of their relationship. Kelly and Linda would have been hugging William as soon as they had gotten out of the pool. Ling and Claire were more reserved, although the word that probably applied was that they were more controlled. “For goodness sakes, won’t you two hug each other,” Betsy said from the edge of the pool. She rolled her eyes and dove backwards under the water. Before the wave she had created died down she was twenty feet away. Taking the advice of her daughter, Ling stepped forward and hugged William. With tears in her eyes, she said, “Oh, William.” “Mom,” William said hugging her back. Tears flooding her eyes, Lucy stepped out of the room to give them their privacy. She couldn’t remember the two of them hugging although she was sure that this wasn’t the first time they had held each other. After a few seconds, Ling asked, “Are you okay?” “Yes, Mom. I’m okay,” William answered. “Do you want to talk about it?” Ling asked. Looking at his mother, he realized that she needed to talk about it much more than he did. Her son had lost something important to him and she wanted to support him in the experience. Nodding his head, he said, “Yes, I’d like to talk about it. I’d also like to spar with you later.” “You’d like to see how much of your ability to fight was based on your knowledge of what was going to happen,” Ling said. She had always tried to warn him not to depend on that in the same way that she taught him not to depend on his eyesight or hearing alone. “Yes,” William said. After the fight with Sue Sun, he felt a little more confident in his fighting skills. He hoped that he would discover that his skills were still good enough to spar with his mother. She was the only test of skill that mattered. Having found a way to support William, Ling felt much better. She smiled and said, “That would be nice.” --- William sat down on a chair and watched Betsy jogging on the treadmill. It was his experience that this was the best way to have long relaxed conversations with his sister. He said, “You’re looking fit.” “Thanks,” Betsy said. She reached down and adjusted the speed of the treadmill so that it was moving at a fast walk. “How’s college?” he asked. “It’s okay. I’m making good grades although I find it hard to sit through class. They don’t allow me to take an exercise bike into the classroom. Do you know how long an hour and fifteen minutes is?” Betsy asked with a slight whine in her voice. She had actually had a professor who demanded that she start taking drugs for ADD because she was disrupting the class with her fidgeting. “There are times when an hour and fifteen minutes feels like forever,” William answered with a smile. “You can say that again. I thought I’d go crazy in my English class. The professor had a thing for love poetry. It was love this and love that for the whole class. It was boring. I figure that he was trying to pick up some of the starry eyed women in the class. I finally had to pay someone to tape the lectures so that I could watch them outside of the classroom,” Betsy said shaking her head. The professor was more than happy for her to do that since he found her presence in the classroom distracting. It was hard to make grand poetic statements when she was shadow boxing in her seat. William laughed and said, “I would have liked to watch you in class. You aren’t quite the type of woman who goes for poetry.” “I got an A in that class,” Betsy said. “I’m sure you did, but did you enjoy it?” “No. It was boring,” Betsy answered with a laugh. She thought about it for a minute and then said, “I grew up surrounded by love. I’ve seen the moms and dads with each other. I know love. I don’t need some musty old poet telling me what I’ve experienced first hand.” “I see what you mean,” William said. He wondered if she had found a lover yet. After a moment of thought, he realized that he knew she hadn’t. Betsy said, “The professors don’t make too much of a fuss. The school is very happy to have an Olympic athlete on campus. I’m taking our swim team and our track team to first place in our division.” “Are you competing in the martial arts?” William asked. “Only at the national and international levels,” Betsy answered. “Let’s see, you’re running, swimming, and fighting. That must make it tough to find time to study,” William said. “That’s the story of my life,” Betsy said with a negligent shrug of her shoulders. She glanced over at William and said, “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost my energy.” “You’d manage,” William said. “How are you managing?” Betsy asked slowing the treadmill down even more. “I’m getting by. At first, it seemed to me that the world was flat and gray. My mind feels sluggish and my movements slow. Now I find that the world is full of surprises that I didn’t know existed. I lost a lot, but gained a little out of the experience,” William answered. “Oh,” Betsy said. She cranked up the speed and ran full out for a minute. Her brow was wrinkled in concentration. She shook her head and, with a frown on her face, said, “I just can’t imagine what you are going through.” “It is only temporary,” William said. “Oh, well, that is okay, I guess,” Betsy said. Her expression returned to its normal chipper state. William watched her run full speed. It was an impressive demonstration of speed and stamina. He wondered how long she could keep up that pace. He asked, “So tell me about the rape.” “Oh, that. Some jerks had drugged some girl and were raping her. When I saw that she was unconscious I just knew that I had to stop them. I stopped them,” Betsy said lightly. “What were the damages?” William asked. “They weren’t hurt too bad,” Betsy answered ducking the question. “What were the damages?” William asked a second time. Betsy blew air out of her mouth in an indignant huff and answered, “A broken hip, a broken jaw, a crushed testicle, and a couple dozen broken ribs.” “That’s not too bad,” William said facetiously. He understood that there were three men involved in the rape. “See, you agree with me,” Betsy said. She slowed the treadmill down a little. Taking little glances over at her brother, she said, “The police were rather nice about it. The boys’ parents wanted to sue, though.” “I imagine they felt like you used excessive force,” William said. He imagined that in addition to the broken bones, there were very few places on the men that had escaped without a bruise. “Right, can you imagine that? I could have killed each of them a dozen times over and they thought I used excessive force. The nerve of them,” Betsy said feeling indignant. Momma Ling only comment about that was that she should have killed them. It simplified the paper work. “What happened to the girl?” “She was devastated by the rape. Her parents came and took her home,” Betsy answered. “Why are they suing you?” William asked getting to the heart of the matter. “Her father was a real asshole and I had to straighten him out,” Betsy answered. The father had been a real jerk about the entire matter. He kept treating his daughter as if the whole thing was her fault. It had taken her about thirty seconds to convince the man that there wasn’t too much you could do about when someone stronger than you wanted to rape you. “What were the damages?” “I broke his nose,” Betsy said turning up the treadmill. She had thrown him around a little, dropped his pants to the floor, and shoved a finger up his ass. He became a firm believer that if someone wanted to rape you that there wasn’t too much that you could do about it. She didn’t mention that she had torn his rectum with her fingernail. “Momma Ling said they charged you with sexual assault,” William said crossing his arms. Although Ed had not mentioned anything about the episode, he was pretty sure that his father was furious about it. His attempts to moderate Betsy’s reactions to threats had failed even more than his attempts to control Ling. “There was nothing sexual about it. I was just making a point,” Betsy said pouting. Seeing the look her brother was giving her, she added, “The girl was happy he learned his lesson.” William shook his head and sighed. His sister had very little restraint when it came to dealing with sexual predators and individuals who harmed children. He said, “You know better than that. It is highly likely that you’ll end up going to jail for that.” Betsy turned up the treadmill again and said, “Someone in this family needs to marry a lawyer.”