JC: William Redman Carter Part 2: Hermit Chapter 10 By Lazlo Zalezac Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2006 The last test, marked with an A+, joined the rest of the tests stacked on the left hand corner of William’s desk. Looking over at Lucy, he said, “That’s the last one.” “So how were the grades?” Lucy asked looking up from her work. “Not bad,” William answered patting the stack of test papers. The first eight weeks of teaching had been hard on William. He didn’t have any real experience of dealing with high school students. Getting his early education at the Druid College had not prepared him for the social and emotional structure within which high school students operated. He had finally found the appropriate level at which to present the material and the students had responded. He said, “At least I didn’t have anyone write that a tort is a kind of pie.” Lucy giggled and said, “Good. We all know that it is a kind of toaster pastry.” “Don’t remind me of that. I couldn’t stop laughing when Patrick said that he’d had a Pop Tort for breakfast,” William said with a chuckle. “Admit it, Patrick was your favorite student,” Lucy said. It seemed to her that every day after class, William had told her about Patrick and his comments. She could even tell by William’s mood when Patrick missed class for a few days because of an illness. “Maybe,” William admitted. The young man had a very funny sense of humor, but had often delivered the jokes in a manner that hadn’t been disruptive. It seemed to William that Patrick had a perfect sense of timing when delivering a joke. “So how was it teaching high school?” Lucy asked. “Different. I really didn’t know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t know if these kids are representative of high school students everywhere,” William answered. “Did you decide to teach another semester?” “Yes. I made a lot of changes to the book as a result of teaching this class. I need to see if the changes represent an improvement,” William answered. After reading the first draft of the book, Eddie had pointed out that the level of the material was just a little too high for high school students. William had disagreed, but Eddie had been proven correct. He said, “I’m going to have to do something nice for Eddie. He really helped a lot.” “What are you going to do for him?” “I don’t know.” Lucy was silent for a minute and then suggested, “You might consider taking him to some exotic location for a rock hunting expedition.” “No, I can’t really leave here,” William said shaking his head vigorously from side to side. It had been her hope that he would agree, but she hadn’t counted on it. Lucy didn’t say anything for a minute. In a quiet voice, she said, “Christmas is coming. Are we going to the homeless hotel in Phoenix?” William rested his chin on his fist while thinking about her question. The uneasy silence stretched to three minutes before he answered, “Yes. We’ll go, but we’re taking Rock, Colt, Natalie, Nicole, and Ling with us.” It was a long awaited concession. Rather than allow him to change his mind, Lucy jumped up from her chair and said, “I’ll go make the arrangements now.” It was too late to retract his words. She had run out of the room before William had allowed his doubts to get the better of him. He sighed and said, “This is going to be a disaster.” --- A recording of Oscar Meyers leaving a church was playing on the television. William turned up the volume to listen to the news report. This particular channel was tracking Oscar’s progress through Russia. The reporter mentioned that Russia was in the middle of the coldest December of the past one hundred years. William shook his head and said, “I thought you had more sense than to visit Russia in the winter time.” Lucy looked up from the book she was reading. It was a murder mystery and she was reading a part where the crime sleuth was pursuing some significant clue. She asked, “Who are you talking to?” “Oscar,” William answered thinking that Oscar looked tired. Three months on the road had to be wearing him down a little. Georgia was wearing so many clothes that he couldn’t tell how she looked. “Huh?” “He’s in Russia. I was just saying that I thought he had more sense than to visit Russia in the winter time,” William answered gesturing at the television. It showed Oscar and Georgia trudging along a street with snow falling around them. Crowds lined the streets making signs of the cross as they passed. Lucy glanced over at the news just in time to catch the last two seconds of the news story. Nodding her head, she said, “That’s okay. He’ll be back in the Middle East at the height of summer. The temperature extremes will average out.” “Spoken like a true mathematician,” William teased. “Speaking of which, I found a transformation that simplifies about half of the equations in your theory,” Lucy said smugly. She looked down at her book and resumed reading. After a full minute passed, William asked, “When are you going to show it to me?” Looking up with a smile, Lucy said, “After I finish this chapter.” “I can’t wait that long,” William said looking up at the ceiling. --- Across from the library was a large room that William and Lucy had adopted as their work room. To say that the room was disorganized would be misleading, but it was overwhelming to the unprepared visitor. Lucy liked to refer to it as controlled chaos, but William called it comfortable. Occupying William’s side of the room was a desk flanked by two tables. There were papers stacked in neat piles on the two work tables. On the one to the right of the desk, there were fifteen small stacks of paper, each representing one chapter of his book, placed one beside the other with two inches between them. There were three stacks of books about economics and sociology on the floor within reach. The wall, ceiling to floor whiteboard, on one side of the room was filled with equations while the other was marked off in the form of a calendar with important dates filled in. Appointments for William were in red while those for Lucy were in black. Every day had something in red or black. The most intimidating part of the room was the huge array of computer monitors mounted in front of the desk. The array comprised six monitors across and four monitors tall. The top row had real-time feeds from Wall Street and news services. One row of the monitors showed the situation status board from the Fusion Foundation command center. The remainder of the monitors showed various programs that William was using. In contrast, Lucy’s side of the room was a study in simplicity. It was occupied by a simple desk with a single stack of papers. A few neat notes were jotted on the walls. Ken entered the room and looked around. It was only the second time that he had been in it. The only people who visited with any regularity were Doug, Rock, Rudy, and Vera. William didn’t allow the cleaning staff in the room, treating the material within it as secret. Clearing his throat, he said, “William, there’s a young man here to see you.” Since interruptions were very rare, William and Lucy swiveled around in their chairs to look at him. Looking puzzled, William asked, “Who would want to see me?” “He said that his name was Patrick Black Thorn,” Ken answered hoping that he had remembered the name correctly. Rock was on the first floor watching the young man from a discrete distance. Odds were good that the young man would never know that he was being watched. On hearing the name of their guest, Lucy grinned and said, “I get to meet the infamous Patrick at long last.” “I wonder what he’s doing here,” William said rising from his chair. He glanced at the stack of tests wondering if it had anything to do with his grade. He didn’t think so. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to meet Patrick, Lucy immediately joined him. The couple went up to the first floor where Patrick was waiting for them. He was standing at the railing looking out the window at the magnificent view outside. The stories that he had heard about William’s house had not done it justice. When he heard footsteps behind him, he turned and looked at William. Feeling awed by his surroundings, he said, “This is an amazing house.” “Thank you,” William said glancing over at the far end of the room. He made a gesture dismissing Rock. Frowning a little, Patrick asked, “Isn’t it a little too large?” It was a good question. There were times when it took William fifteen minutes to find Lucy in the house despite the fact that there were major portions of it that they rarely visited. The upstairs was only used when entertaining guests. The second floor was primarily office space with the library and quarters for the staff that lived in the house. The bottom floor was their living area and they spent most of the time in their suite, the pool, the exercise room, and the dining room. William answered, “It does seem that way at times. My sister designed the house so that it could accommodate a lot of visitors. She also assumed that my family would grow in size.” “It would take a lot of kids to fill up this place,” Patrick said looking around the room. His gaze stopped at Lucy and he said, “Of course, with a wife who looks like yours I imagine that you’ll have lots of kids.” Lucy laughed at the compliment. She had been warned that Patrick tended to say things that were often embarrassing. She said, “Thank you. My name is Lucy.” “You’re welcome, Mrs. Carter. I’m Patrick.” “Please call me Lucy.” It felt weird being called Mrs. Carter despite how long they had been married. Everyone still referred to her as Lucy. “So what brings you over here?” William asked realizing that he hadn’t made proper introductions. “My sister is getting married in a month and I thought … Well, I thought I would invite you,” Patrick said. He was hoping to surprise his sister by having the famous Talks with Animals attend her wedding. No one in the family even had a clue that he was over there inviting William to come to it. Always interested in weddings, Lucy asked, “What are the names of the bride and groom?” “My sister is Cathy Black Thorn and the groom is David Light Wind.” William frowned as he tried to put faces to the names. He said, “I know your sister, but I fear I’ve never met David Light Wind.” “I feel so sorry for him. He’s a nice enough guy, but he’s definitely the slowest man in the tribe,” Patrick said shaking his head sadly. Brow wrinkled, Lucy wondered in what way David was slow. She asked, “Why do you say that?” “My sister caught him, didn’t she? If he’d have been any faster he would have gotten away. The Great Spirit knows that everyone else did,” Patrick answered. William laughed and said, “Maybe he didn’t want to run.” “Tell me a story that I’ll believe,” Patrick said with a grin. Never having had a sibling, Lucy realized that this was one of those situations over which brothers and sisters naturally fought. She laughed and said, “We’ll be happy to come to the wedding. You’ve made me curious and I have to see if the groom has a club foot.” “Good, I’ll tell my family to expect you,” Patrick said thinking that his sister would really be pleased. “I take it Dale will be officiating over the traditional part of the ceremony,” William said. “Yes,” Patrick said. He had gone with his father when they had asked Dale to officiate over the ceremony. It had been a very quiet and formal meeting. Smiling, William said, “I’ll talk to him and see if he would like an assistant.” Eyes wide, Patrick couldn’t believe that Talks with Animals would condescend to officiate in a wedding for his sister, much less do so in a secondary position. Stunned, he asked, “You’d do that?” “Sure,” William said. Although he was somewhat active in the political aspects of the tribe, no one had ever approached him to perform in his role as a Medicine Man in the ceremonies of living. Not once had he been asked to officiate at a wedding, a funeral, or a naming. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was too distant or if they respected him too much to want to bother him. This would be a good chance to participate in the daily life of the tribe a little more. “Wow,” Patrick said knowing that his sister would be overwhelmed. William reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. It took a few seconds to look up the number for Dale, but it wasn’t long before he was talking to his friend. When Dale answered, William said, “Hey Dale, this is William.” “What’s up, William?” “I was just informed that Cathy Black Thorn and David Light Wind are getting married next month. Would you like an assistant during the ceremony?” William asked. He was volunteering to participate in a sweat lodge the day before the wedding and to hand Dale the sage that would be burned before the bride and groom left for their first evening together. It was a role that was typically given to younger man learning to be a Medicine Man. There was a long pause at the other end of the line while Dale wondered what the relationship between the couple and William was. As far as he knew, William didn’t even know them. Puzzled by the request, Dale answered, “Wouldn’t you rather lead it?” “No. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been to a wedding that I’ve probably forgotten what to do,” William answered winking at Lucy. His comment drew a look of incredulity from Patrick. Dale laughed at the comment knowing what William had really meant. Dale had been asked to give it and William was not going to interfere in the honor that had been given. He said, “In that case I’ll be more than happy to have you provide backup during the ceremony.” “Alright,” William said. He was about to disconnect when an idea came to him. He said, “One of these days, you’ll have to come over for dinner. We’ve just gotten a new chef.” Surprised by the invitation, Dale answered, “That would be nice.” “Great. How about you come over on the second Friday after New Years Day?” “That would be good. Do you mind if I bring a lady friend?” The request caught William by surprise. He hadn’t been aware that Dale was currently dating anyone. He answered, “Sure. I have to admit that you surprised me with the request.” “Why?” Dale asked. “I just figured that as handsome as you are that you’d be bringing two or three lady friends,” William answered with a laugh. Dale burst out into laughter on the other end of the phone. Lucy perked up and mouthed, “He’s bringing a girl?” William nodded while Dale said, “I walked into that one.” “See you on the second Friday after New Years day,” William said. “Okay,” Dale said. After hanging up, William turned to Patrick and said, “It’s all set up. I’ll help Dale with the ceremony.” “My sister is not going to believe this,” Patrick said. Although it made sense that Medicine Men would socialize, he had never thought of Spirit of Desert Rocks as being in the same social circles as Talks with Animals. “Why?” Lucy asked. “Talks with Animals is the greatest Medicine Man alive. He is an elder to all of the tribes, not just ours. To think that her wedding will have him involved is a truly great honor,” Patrick said. “I am a Medicine Man, just like Dale. One of the most joyful of our responsibilities is to participate in wedding ceremonies,” William said. “Sure, but you should be doing it for important people,” Patrick said. William was about to answer when Lucy asked, “And who is more important to you than your sister?” “No one.” “See, he’s doing it for an important person,” Lucy said looking over at William with a smile. Looking from Lucy to William, Patrick didn’t know how to answer. Finally, he said, “I guess I should go home and tell my sister the good news.” “If she has any questions, have her give me a call,” William said. “Thank you,” Patrick said. William watched the young man leave the house. It had taken a lot of nerve to come over and invite him to the wedding. He had risked getting turned down. Turning to Lucy, he said, “I like him.” “I do too,” Lucy said. Although there was a vast difference in education and social standing, Patrick was only five years younger than William. She felt that there was a real possibility of a friendship developing if Patrick could get past the difference in social standing. “Do you realize that he’s the first member of the tribe who has invited us to a social event that wasn’t a family member? Even my more distant cousins have not invited me,” William said. “I didn’t realize that,” Lucy said with a frown. Now that he had mentioned it, they had lived in the house for almost six months and no one from the reservation had extended any kind of invitation to them. It made the actions of Patrick even more significant. “I guess there’s a lot of distance between me and the members of the tribe,” William said wondering if it was his fault somehow. “There’s a lot of distance between you and the rest of the world,” Lucy said admitting a truth that was unpleasant, but true none the less. His social standing among the Native Americans put a distance between him and the tribe. His wealth put a distance between him and everyone else. His intelligence and education put a further barrier between him and the average person. It wasn’t a real barrier erected by him, but one perceived by everyone else. “I know,” William said. He knew that distance didn’t exist between him and Lucy. She understood him. He sighed and said, “From the way Patrick was talking, you’d think the Pope was helping a Parish Priest officiate a wedding.” “In a way, I think that is exactly how he views it,” Lucy said. She had seen how other Native Americans treated William. To them, he was TALKS WITH ANIMALS in all capitol letters. He was responsible for removing the great curse that had held them back for three centuries. It gave him legendary status and put a huge distance between him and the people he had helped. “That’s wrong on so many levels,” William said shaking his head sadly. With the loss of his foresight, it seemed to him that much of what had made him different from others had disappeared. It only made the separation even more difficult to bear. Hugging him, Lucy said, “No it’s not, but that’s why I love you.” “So what do I do to change how people view me?” William asked her. “You show up to the wedding, get drunk, and make a complete ass out of yourself,” Lucy answered with a smile. “That will change the way that people look at me?” William asked knowing that she wasn’t serious. “No, but it will be a start,” Lucy answered with a grin. “I couldn’t ruin someone’s wedding that way.” “I know, but that’s why I love you.” Putting an arm around her, William started to head back to the library. As they walked, he said, “You love me because I won’t ruin someone’s wedding?” Grabbing his ass, she said, “That and you have one of the finest asses I’ve ever seen on a man.” Laughing, William said, “It’s good to know that I’m appreciated for all of the right reasons.” “Only the best of reasons,” Lucy said in agreement.