All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Began writing this as a short story and it turned out a bit larger than I originally planned once I began editing. Depending on how the editing goes on the last part it I should have the conclusion posted sometime next week.
The thin older man put down the fishing reel he had been working on and looked up at the clock that hung on the wall above the work bench he sat at. “Bout that time,” mumbling to himself as he stood. Walking out of the workshop slash storeroom in the back of his store, the older man walked around the glass top counter picking up a boonie hat that was lying on top the counter as he passed, walking on past the shelves of fishing supplies toward the solitary wooden door at the front of the store.
The upper half of the door was a single pane of glass, with block letting on the glass that was painted backwards on the glass making it only readable from the other side. Opening the door to exit, the lettering became legible, the top line read, ‘Harkness’s,’ and the second line read, ‘Hook, Line & Sinker.’ Closing the door behind him, the old man walked across the small covered porch angling toward the boat dock thirty yards away.
The dock was a single straight all wooden structure six feet wide that stuck straight out into the lake forty feet or more, large round wooden posts stuck up out of the water holding the heavy wood planks that formed the walking surface of the dock. Only one boat was tied to the dock, an olive drab green flat bottomed boat that was easily half the length of the dock was tied up on the right hand side. At the end of the dock a small child sat, legs dangling off the end of the dock, with a fishing pole.
The old man immediately recognized the small child but then with so few children living in the their town he didn’t need to be one of the super Brainiac scientists that lived there to figure out who the child, dressed in cut off blue jeans, a red and white plaid shirt with the sleeves cut off and a straw hat was. If anything the long golden pig tails that hung down her back where a dead giveaway.
Walking past the boat Jack used as a ferry to transport the residents and the occasional visitor from the dock at the far side of the lake to their small town. “Well if it isn’t Miss Huckleberry Finn!” Jack chuckled at the way the girl was dressed, “having any luck?”
“Hey Captain Jack,” Charlie twisted her head around to see the older man wearing gray trousers, lighter gray short sleeved polo shirt and a camouflaged floppy boonie hat, as she reeled in her line slowly. “Just thought I would sit out here and get a feel for those new lures.”
“Yep, kind of figured you’d be out here, it being Friday and yer momma coming home fer the weekend.” Jack smiled at the young girl that loved fishing as much as he did. He had been told the story of how the Charlie and her mother had come to live here in their small town and knew it to be the truth, but having never met Charlie before the accident he found it difficult to think of her as anything but the cute little tomboy he had met several months ago. “So which lure ya using? I haven’t had time to try any of the new ones yet.”
Charlie finished reeling in her line, then reached down grabbing the line just above the two to three inch long bright red and yellow plastic lure, being careful that the double set of treble hooks stayed clear of herself and the line.
“Dang young’un ya done got those new lures wet ‘fore I even got mine outta the packaging!” Jack chuckled while shaking his head. Not a week after Charlie and her mother had moved to town, Charlie had almost became a permanent fixture in Jack’s sporting goods store. Not long after that Jack found himself paying her to work part time in the store and one of the perks he gave her was that any time the sales reps gave out free samples of fishing gear he would get her one too. The lure she held up was one of those perks they had gotten in early that same day. “I got a feeling that one would work best to draw somethin’ like a bass or pike out of the cattails.”
Charlie sighed, knowing the only way to fish around the cattails was by boat, something that would have been no problem before she had moved to Enchanted Valley . But now with her smaller size and apparent age she couldn’t take the chance of a visitor spotting the five hear old on the lake by herself and calling the authorities.
Seeing the look on the young girls face, Jack grinned, “Ya know it’ll be a good hour or more ‘fore your momma arrives. If we’d jump on the boat and head out now, we’d have time to troll along the cattails all the way up.” Watching her features brighten up while a smile spread across her face Jack laughed, “What’cha waiting on? Make fast that lure and get yer tail onboard!”
Charlie quickly hooked one of the treble hooks into an eyelet of her fishing pole and tightened the line to secure the lure from swinging around and hooking into anything before standing up and taking her fishing pole and tackle box and scrambling onto the large flat bottomed boat Jack used as the ferry.
“Why are we stopping here?” Jerry looked across to his girlfriend who insisted on driving them in her land cruiser.
Erika grinned as she put the vehicle in park and turned off the engine, “We take the boat from here.”
Jerry looked out across the parking lot they were in spotting a wooden dock that protruded off into the lake beside a concrete boat ramp, “What boat? And why can’t we just drive to your house?”
“The man who runs the sporting goods store runs a boat back and forth several times a day for us. And there isn’t any roads that go to town, only some hiking trails.” Erika explained, “And as much as I love hiking, I am not going to walk all the way through the woods carrying everything we brought.”
“How the hell do you get around town with no roads!” Jerry gasped.
“God Jerry don’t be so dramatic,” Erika snickered, “It’s not a big deal, we walk everywhere on campus, and it’s bigger than our little town.” ‘At least the part of it that is above ground,’ Erika thought to herself.
“I just can’t imagine you living out here in the middle of nowhere like this,” Jerry shook his head.
“What’s so hard to imagine about it?” Erika shrugged, “No car horns, alarms or sirens going off in the middle of the night. I don’t need to worry about locking my doors at home and if nothing else, smell the air!” Erika breathed in deeply for emphasis, “It doesn’t smell like freeway and garbage!”
“The nearest Wal-Mart is like two time zones away!”
“It is not!” Erika giggled, “Bellevue has one and that’s only twenty five or so miles from here. And there’s the outlet mall in North Bend.”
“Okay but do you have electricity?” Jerry twisted his head around mockingly looking for power lines.
Erika sighed heavily, “Yes we have electricity, and we have a coffee shop that puts every coffee shop you’ve ever been to or heard about to shame.”
“Now that I’ll have to see to believe,” Jerry chuckled.
They both sat silently for the next several minutes, the only sound to be heard was that of frogs croaking nearby and an occasional bird singing, as they looked out across the lake through the windshield of the SUV.
Looking down at his watch for the third time Jerry broke the silence, “So when is this boat supposed to get here?”
“Oh Jack knows I get here around this time on Fridays, he shouldn’t be too much longer.” Erika responded, “If you’re in that big of a hurry, we can go ahead and take all our things down to the dock.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Jerry opened his door to get out. “Maybe the old geezer will see us waiting on the dock and hurry the hell up.”
Opening the rear hatch of the Large Toyota SUV Jerry grabbed the backpack he had stuffed all his things into, while Erika pulled out a folded up cart that once unfolded turned into a wire basket with two wheels and a handle to pull it along with. As Erika gently moved the several bags of groceries from the back of the SUV into the cart, Jerry pulled the half full army duffel bag out and placed it over his shoulder.
Charlie grinned up at Jack after dropping the third largemouth she had caught into the live well, “I think I may have a new favorite lure.”
“From the action you’re getting of that thing it just may become my favorite too,” Jack laughed.
Sitting back down in the swivel plastic seat to the left of the outboard motor, Charlie checked her rig and cast out once again as Jack twisted the handle on the outboard motor propelling the boat forward slowly alongside the overgrowth of cattails and watergrass that grew in the shallows along the bank of the lake.
Down at the dock Jerry could see it consisted of more than the one dock beside the boat ramp as another wooden planked walkway led off to his right where several more shorter docks jutted out into the lake a couple of which had small boats with outboard motors tied in place. “What are these boats?” Jerry motioned over to the two smaller boats.
“I think pretty much everyone is town has a small boat or access to one.” Erika answered, “Those belong to some of my neighbors, who probably went shopping or something.”
“Do you have a boat too?”
“No, I’m not very good with them.” Erika explained, “And I don’t want Charlie out on one by herself, so if I really need one, I use one of Jack’s. He has several and Charlie knows where all the keys are kept if Jack isn’t around.”
“You’re sure this guy knows to pick you up?” Jerry sat down the duffle and his back pack on the dock, while looking out across the lake, “The only boats I can see are guys fishing.”
Erika looked out over the lake then pointed toward a boat that was slowly moving along the shore to the south of a large cove, “That looks like Jack’s boat.”
Jerry spotted the boat she was pointing at, and on the other side of the jetty he could see what looked like cabins in the back of the cove. Pointing at the cabins, “That the town?”
“No that’s Camp Riverbend, a scout camp.” Erika raised her hand over her head and began waving at the boat, “Can’t see the town from here because of that peninsula that forms the cove. Home is a few miles up the lake from there.” From where the two stood on the dock they could see someone on the boat stand up and wave back toward them.
“Hey squirt, better start bringing in your line,” Jack instructed as he sat back down in the plastic swivel seat opposite Charlie. “I see your momma over on the dock.
Nodding in answer, Charlie began reeling in her line as Jack twisted the throttle open further and pointed the boat toward the dock. The boat had just begun to speed up when Charlie’s pole jerked downward pulling Charlie forward out of her seat. Releasing the throttle, Jack managed to grab Charlie around the waist with one arm before she went flying off the back of the boat. “Big one!” Charlie almost screamed clutching the fishing pole with all her might while Jack pulled her back down into the seat.
“Well we can’t have the damn thing dragging ya outta the boat. I’d never hear the end of it from your momma,” Jack chuckled as he took off his belt and wrapped it around Charlie’s chest and around the back of the seat, essentially tying Charlie into the chair with it. “There ya go kiddo, no chance of that there gold fish taking ya swimming. Now show it who’s boss and reel that blasted thing in!”
Placing the heavy end of the fishing pole against the seat between her legs, Charlie grabbed the pole as far up above the reel she could with both hands and pulled back forcing the small end of the pole that hung out over the water to slowly rise up away from the water. Once she had the pole up as far as she could, Charlie dropped her right hand down to the reel and began reeling in line as she let the far end of the pole slowly drop back toward the water, repeating this tug and reel several times. Suddenly Charlie felt the line go slack, “It’s trying to run under the boat!” Charlie yelled while reeling in the line as fast as she could, trying unsuccessfully to keep the slack out of her line. Jack was an old hand at this and was already maneuvering the boat so that the fish would pass on Charlie’s side of the boat instead of under it where the line could get snagged and cut.
“Release some of yer drag, so it don’t pop yer line when it goes taught again!” Jack coached.
“Got it!” No sooner than Charlie yelled her acknowledgement the tip of her pole jerked hard back down toward the water and her reel’s drag began to scream as the fish began stripping line off the reel.
“Keep yer pole up and start giving it more drag, let it wear itself out fighting against yer drag.” Charlie was already doing just that when she heard Jack’s coaching.
Moments later everyone got their first glimpse of the fish Charlie had hooked as it jumped straight out of the water thrashing it’s head back and forth trying to dislodge the hook.
Standing on the dock, Jerry couldn’t understand why the boat that Erika said would be their ride suddenly turned around as if it was going to go the opposite direction, “What the hell is that guy doing, can’t he see that we’re standing here waiting on him?”
Erika had a puzzled look on her face when she turned to Jerry, “Umm, Jack really doesn’t have a set schedule and I’m sure he has a good reason for turning around.”
“How can you have a ferry without a schedule? That’s just ludicrious!” Jerry’s anger evident, “Can’t that old man see he has paying passengers waiting? Instead he’s out there ignoring us while he lets some kid fish.”
Both Erika and Jerry saw a very large fish jump up out of the water, throwing its head back and forth. “Holy shit!” jerry coughed.
Erika couldn’t hear Jerry, since just as he turned toward her she had cupped her hands around her mouth and was shouting, “Way to go Charlie! That’s my girl!”
Jerry’s eyes widened when he realized the kid on the boat he was complaining about was her daughter, “That’s Charlie, your daughter Charlie?” Jerry could see a gleam in Erika’s eye and a wide grin on her face as she turned to him and nod emphatically at him.
It was close to a half hour later when the boat carrying Jack and Charlie pulled up to the dock Erika and Jerry had been waiting on. Charlie who had moved to the bow as the boat neared the dock, stood up and jumped over onto the dock before the boat came to a stop, then raced across the wooden planking to wrap her arms around Erika in a hug, “I missed you.”
“It looks like you did,” Erika snickered. “Do you do anything other than fish all week?”
Jack looked over to Erika as he sat down the duffel bag in the boat that Jerry handed him, “She’s been a little angel all week. The couple times she wasn’t in the store helping me, she was over at the coffee shop helping. Business has really picked up with her at my store too, I think half of ‘em come in just to see if they can stump her with a fishing question she can’t answer,” Jack chuckled.
Erika had already knelt down to return the hug Charlie gave her, looked over where Jack stood in the boat, “Charlie, a little angel?” Pushing Charlie out to hold her at arm’s length, Erika looked Charlie in the eye and laughed, “Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?”
As this was going on Jack noticed an older four door sedan slow down as it went past the parking lot, then suddenly speed up as he was watching.
After the trip across the lake, Jack insisted on taking the tiger muskie Charlie had caught over to his shop so it could be weighed and measured and of course taking the required picture of Charlie standing beside her catch as it hung from the scales outside of the store.
It was obvious to Charlie that her mother’s ‘friend’ was annoyed by being forced to take the time to weigh in Charlie’s amazing catch. The way he went form one foot to another, even going as far as asking how much longer this would take. He reminded Charlie of the way a little kid in a car that kept asking, ‘are we there yet?’
“I don’t think it’s a state record, but it’s definitely one of the largest I’ve seen come outta our lake. If it’s okay with y’all I’d like to put this critter on ice and take it over to some friends so they can make a wall mount?” Jack asked, being intentionally vague as to who he would take it to with a man not from their town in their presence.
“I think it would look really cool hanging behind the counter,” Charlie grinned up at Erika.
“I have to say that is one impressive fish you caught,” Jerry smiled at Charlie before quickly glancing up to see how Erika took his compliment toward her daughter. “As big as that thing is, I’m surprised it didn’t drag you out of the boat.”
‘Suck up,’ Charlie grimaced when she saw the way he looked at Erika, hoping the compliment impressed her mother.
“Oh it tried to alright,” Jack chuckled.
“Yeah, Jack had to tie me to the chair,” Charlie giggled.
“What!” Erika gasped.
“It’s not a big deal mom,” Charlie stepped over and leaned against Erika while wrapping her tiny arm around her upper thighs. Looking up at Erika, “It’s the same thing those deep sea sports fishers do as some of those fish are powerful enough to pull a grown man off a boat.” Jack shrugged his shoulders, and then took the large fish off the scales it hung from before opening the door to the store and walking in.
Jerry noticed that the old man had never unlocked the door before entering leaned over to Erika, “You think letting Charlie hang out with this old man is a good idea?”
“Of course, why would you ask that?”
“I think he may be senile or something,” Jerry explained. “I never saw him unlock that door, which means he forgot to lock it when he left.”
Erika held her hand up to her mouth trying to stifle a laugh, “Sorry Jerry I don’t mean to laugh at you. Nobody around here locks their doors.”
“What you’re kidding?”
Erika shook her head, “It’s a small town, everybody knows everybody and you already seen how difficult it is for someone to get here. Think about it, what thief would want to hike six miles or more around a lake to steal something, then carry whatever they stole the six or more miles back.”
“They could come by boat?”
“Only two places to put a boat in are where we parked and the scout camp, both have security cameras.”
Charlie held up the stringer with the three large bass she had caught, “These are getting kind of heavy, can we go home now?” stepping off the store’s front porch.
“You going to leave your fishing pole and tackle box?” Erika motioned toward Charlie’s things.
“Yeah," Charlie nodded. "Got to be here bright and early tomorrow for the customers. I can take care if it in the morning."
Once at home Charlie went straight to the kitchen with the Bass she had caught, while Erika guided Jerry to where he could put his things. Noticing the room seemed quite plain, “Seriously the guestroom?” Jerry asked.
Erika quietly closed the door behind her before stepping over and putting her arms around Jerry’s neck, pulling him into a kiss, “It’s for Charlie’s sake, we want her to get to know you and that won’t happen if she becomes all defensive thinking she needs to start protecting her mother.”
Jerry frowned down at Erika, “But I thought you were going to tell her…”
Erika interrupted him with another kiss, “I am, I haven’t had time. This is something we are going to have to approach her with gently. ”
“Making me sleep in another room isn’t the answer,” Jerry tried to reason with her. “She five and you’re her mother, you should just tell her how things are.”
Erika sighed, “Charlie’s not your typical five year old. She’s like a miniature version of my dad.”
“I know you said your father helped a lot in raising her so you could go to school.”
“He didn’t just help, with how far away college was I only got to see her on weekends and almost not at all in the winter due to the pass.”
“But Erika, the guest room?”
“She goes to bed early.” Erika grinned mischievously at Jerry, “We only need to make it look like you’re down here.” Erika dropped her arms from his neck, taking Jerry by the hands, “Now let’s go find what she’s up to before she thinks something’s wrong.”
Jerry gasped when he walked into the kitchen behind Erika to find Charlie standing on a step stool by the sink with a large knife in her hand cleaning the fish she had brought home, “Oh shit! Charlie what are you doing?” he lunged toward the small child.
Erika grabbed him by the arm before he could reach Charlie, “It’s okay. Charlie’s fine, she’s better at filleting fish than either of us could hope to be.”
“But she’s five years old!”
“Like I said, Charlie isn’t your normal five year old,” Erika snickered.
Charlie twisted her head around to look at Erika, “So I guess your boyfriend is really going to freak when he and I have our little talk?”
Jerry furled his brow, “What talk is that?”
Charlie grinned lopsidedly at Jerry, “The one where I explain the three ‘S’s’ to you.”
Jerry seemed even more confused, “The three ‘S’s’?”
“Yep, Shoot, Shovel and Shut up.” Charlie’s smile while meant to look evil, was over exaggerated and looked extremely cute, “If you ever hurt my mommy, they’ll never find your body.”
“Charlie!” Erika raised her voice.
“She has guns?”
Charlie wiggled her eye brows up and down while giggling.
Erika sighed heavily looking down at the floor.
After a dinner consisting of pan fried bass and seasoned potato wedges Charlie excused herself going upstairs to her room while Jerry helped Erika clean up the kitchen. Erika cuddled with Jerry on the living room couch noce they kitchen was taken care of. The two had been sitting close for around thirty minutes when Erika began to untangle herself from Jerry. At Jerry’s confused look Erika spoke, “Charlie has to be done in the bathroom by now, I’m going to go braid her hair.”
“As independent as she acts, I’m surprised she lets you?”
“Dad taught her how to do a lot of things,” Erika gave Jerry a quick kiss on the lips, “but the girly stuff she only gets when I was home.”
Jerry chucked, “So your little super girl does have a weakness?”
“Oh she can do it herself just fine, but don’t let her know I said that,” Erika giggled. “She knows I love doing it for her so she pretends she can’t when I’m home.”
Jerry sat on the edge of the bed in the guest room listening intently for any noise that would tell him Charlie might still be awake. The last noise he had heard was close to forty five minutes ago and had to have been Charlie walking around as the footsteps were too light to be Erika, then a noise that had to have been Charlie dropping a bag of something that spilled out on the floor. Whatever she had spilled sounded light but solid and plentiful, like those little beads his mother used to make bracelets and other jewelry.
As it was approaching eleven pm the though she should be fast asleep, but then he had thought the young girl would have been asleep soon after Erika came back downstairs from brushing and braiding the Charlie’s hair. That hope had gone out the window when not long after Erika had returned downstairs to settle on the couch snuggled against him, he heard the soft haunting music of a violin from upstairs.
He was only slightly surprised when Erika told him that it Charlie playing and not a CD or the radio. What he had seen so far of Charlie, if anything Erika’s warning him that her daughter was very mature and independent for her age was an understatement, being a mature five year old was one thing, but it seemed to him that the small girl was five going on fifty.
It wasn’t just a matter of her acting more mature than her age, it was that Erika played into it so heavily. Jerry hadn’t said anything when Erika and Charlie were cooking but it was obvious that Charlie took charge and Erika followed her every instruction in the kitchen, a completely role reversal of what one would think a mother and daughter in the kitchen would be.
Looking over at the digital clock on the bedside table that read ’10:52PM’ Jerry decided he had waited long enough. Charlie’s violin music had stopped close to an hour ago and he had not heard anyone walking around upstairs for over thirty minutes. Wearing only a pair of jersey shorts he slept in, Jerry quietly got up and left the guest room.
“Give it about an hour after Charlie puts down her violin,” He remembered the grin on Erik’as face when she whispered in his ear before getting up to get ready for bed, “then come upstairs and tuck me in.”
Easing his weight slowly down on each of the thick wooden planks of the cabin’s staircase, Jerry slowly made his way upstairs in his bare feet. Looking down the short but dark hallway Jerry saw two doors, one on each side, stepping into the hall from the stairs he could hear Erika in his thoughts once again, telling her which room was which. His sight focused on the door on the right side Jerry started for the door only a handful of steps away. On his third step Jerry felt excruciating pain from his left foot. So sharp and sudden it caused him to put his right foot down hard and fast as his left foot came up on reflex. Although the pain only moved from one foot to the other as whatever he had stepped on with his left foot, his right foot had found even more of.
Charlie woke to the sound of something large falling to the floor outside her door. Realizing what it was a grin spread across her face. Rolling over so her back was the her closed bedroom door she pretended to be asleep. Noticing the darkness of her room brighten a bit, Charlie twisted her head back over her shoulder to see the hall light seeping in from under her door.
“Oh my god Jerry!” Erika screamed, then knelt down beside the fallen man, “What happened?”
“Careful where you step,” Jerry reached down beside him feeling around on the floor until he found one of the offending devices that he had stepped on before holding it so Erika could see the tiny caltrop of a child’s toy.
Seeing the jack form a jack and ball set in Jerry’s hand Erika took a deep breath before yelling, “Charlie!”
A minute later Charlie’s door swung open. Charlie stood in the doorway rubbing her eyes wearing an adorable capped sleeve pale violet night gown that came all the way down to her ankles to end in a ruffled hem, with several Disney princesses displayed on the front.
“What’s this?” Erika motioned to the jack Jerry held between two fingers while glaring at Charlie.
“I forgot I left them out and went to put them away after you went to bed, but I dropped the bag and they went all over,” Charlie began spinning her tale. “I didn’t want to turn on the light and wake you so I thought since I always wake up before you, I could clean it up in the morning.”
“You want to try that story on someone that believes you?” Erika glared.
Jerry, who had sat up by then on the floor, reached over to Erika taking her arm, “Calm down honey, she’s only a kid, it was an accident. I’ll be fine.”
“Get this picked up before someone else gets hurt,” Erika shot at Charlie as she helped Jerry to his feet and into Erika’s room.”
Charlie let out a heavy sigh as she watched as the door to Erika’s room closed. ‘Well that backfired,’ Charlie thought to herself, ‘ I wanted to piss him off, get him cussing mad not Mom.’ Going back into her own room she grabbed a heavy magnet before going back out in the hall and using it to gather up all the jacks she had scattered out in the hall earlier.
Looking closely at the wooden floor of the hallway to make sure she hadn’t missed any, Charlie turned off the hall light and went back into her room, closing the door behind her. Laying the jack ladened magnet on the corner of dresser in her room, Charlie walked over and climbed up into her bed.
Laying under the covers staring at the ceiling Charlie began dissecting the failure of her little trap to produce the desired outcome. Charlie expected Erika’s first thoughts to be why Jerry was even upstairs near their rooms but it wasn’t. Going over the scene in her mind that she saw after opening her door, Jerry was laying on the floor up on one elbow with one of the jacks in between his fingers. Mom was kneeling beside him, wearing a robe. One Erika’s legs was sticking out of the robe, Charlie took in a long gasp of air when she realized Erika had been wearing sexy black nylons. Charlie could even see the end of the black lace garter that held it up. ‘God I’m so stupid!’ Charlie thought to herself, ‘She was expecting him to come up!’
Erika came out of the bathroom wearing only her robe, tied closed by the belt that went around its waist. Walking over to where Jerry lay in her bed, she kissed him on the lips.
“Morning beautiful,” Jerry opened his eyes and grinned up at the face of Erika hovering above him.
“I’m going to go start us some coffee,” Erika smiled, giving him another kiss before standing up and walking toward the door.
Throwing the covers off his nude body Jerry sat up, “I’ll be down soon as I go to the bathroom and find my shorts.”
After reliving himself Jerry found the shorts he had worn the night before then scurried down to the guest room where all his things were. After getting himself dressed he walked into the kitchen to find Erika sitting down at the table with a half-eaten Belgian waffle covered in butter, sliced strawberries and syrup in front of her on a plate. “You had time to do all this?”
Erika’s mouth full she shook her head then pushed a note toward Jerry that was lying on the table.
Picking up the note Jerry read it,
Mom ,
Sorry about last night, it was really stupid of me to leave those out. Please tell Jerry I’m sorry he got hurt.
Had to get to the store, Saturday is always Jack’s busiest day. Made you coffee and left a peace offering in the oven.
Love,
Charlie
Looking up from the note to Erika, “This is Charlie’s handwriting?”
Erika nodded while cutting off another piece of waffle. “Yes, I found that on the table this morning along with a stack of homemade Belgian waffles in the oven,” motioning at the large stack of waffles on a plate in the center of the table.
“Wow, It’s really hard to believe she is only five.” Jerry sat the note on the table, “Five year old should be working on learning their ABC’s. Apparently Charlie not only knows them she can write in cursive! Is she some kind of child prodigy genius or something?”
“God, don’t let her hear you call her that,” Erika giggled. “We would never live it down!”
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“Like I’ve told you before we came up, Charlie is different. It’s the main reason I’ve been working on getting all the paperwork the state wants so she can be home schooled.” Erika sighed, “Can you imagine how bored she would be in a normal school?”
“So you home school her,” Jerry shrugged as he pulled two waffles off the stack onto the plate in front of him. “Lots of parents are doing that anymore.”
“It’s not that simple, first you have to be certified. Which I have the college credits to do so, but the way the law is written only a parent can do the home schooling! There’s more PHD’s in this town than all the instructors on campus combined, and all of them are willing to help with Charlie’s education but they can’t be the ones that home school her!” Erika slumped down in her chair.
“And of course you can’t be here to home school Charlie and finish your degree,” Jerry nodded his understanding. “Bring Charlie back with us, we can get a bigger place and you can home school her in the evenings after our classes.”
Erika shook her head, “And what would we do with Charlie while we’re both in class… Daycare? May as well send her to school.”
“What about Susie?” Jerry suggested, “She works nights, she could babysit Charlie.”
“Oh yeah, great idea!” Erika rolled her eyes, “Once Charlie found out what she does for a living we would come home to find Charlie tossing dollar bills at her while she practiced.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Oh no! Charlie would do it for the entertainment value she would get from the look on our faces when we walked in.”
“Okay then what about Maggie?”
“She smokes pot,” Erika quickly killed that suggestion. “If Charlie thought she smelled it on her, all hell would break loose.”
“Tracy?” Jerry continued to list friends they knew.
“Tracy? Are you serious?” Erika asked. “We would have to pay Charlie to babysit her.”
“Okay then what about my grams?”
Jerry held the door for Erika to walk into the store. The pair easily spotted Charlie wearing a ball cap with the fishing store’s logo on the front. Charlie’s hair pulled into a pony tail through the hole in the back of the cap, obviously standing on something behind the counter to appear as tall as she was behind the counter. Charlie was counting out change into the hand of a man on the opposite side of the counter. Two boys, the youngest looking about the same age as Charlie stood beside him, the older of the two gathering the paper bag off the counter as his father collected his change.
Looking up at the door Charlie smiled, “Hi Mom!” then a bit less enthusiastically, “Hi Jerry.”
Erika walked toward the counter while Jerry stood holding the door for the man and his sons that were leaving. “I was going to give Jerry a tour of the town, thought you may want to come along?” Erika knew from the look on Charlie’s face that Charlie was going to decline so she added, “Thought we would stop at the coffee shop first and I know how much you love their hot chocolate.”
The thought of the deliciously creamy mugs of hot chocolate they served at the coffee shop brought a wide smile to Charlie’s face. Jumping down off the small step stool she had been standing on to reach the register, Charlie ran over to the opening to the back room and shouted, “Jack, I’m going with Mom down to the coffee shop, you want anything?”
“Whatever Lily wants to send back fer me,” They heard Jack’s voice before he came walking out of the back room. “Darn woman got a knack fer knowing what ya want.”
Looking over at Jack, “I was going to give Jerry a tour of the town, so it might be a bit before we bring Charlie back.”
Jack waved his hand dismissively, “Take yer time, Them waffles Charlie brought with her this morning will hold me over till then,” patting himself on the stomach.
“Those were really good, Thanks Charlie,” Jerry spoke loud enough to be heard from where he was standing between a couple isles looking at some of the fishing gear the store sold.
“I’m just surprised they weren’t chocolate, as much as Charlie loves chocolate,” Erika grinned at Charlie.
“Hey!” Charlie protested with a giggle, “I’m not a total chocoholic!”
“Well I thought they were great Charlie,” Jerry praised. “They reminded me of the French toast the way they tasted.”
“So you ready munchkin?” Erika’s lopsided grin was not lost on Charlie as the three made their way toward the door.
Holding the door for Erika and Charlie, Jerry leaned close to Erika, “Munchkin?”
Grinning back at him Erika quietly explained, “It was a pet name my dad used on me a lot.”
Looking at the buildings and the dirt packed street, the whole town gave him the feeling of being in the old west. The small golf cart vehicles he saw parked near a couple of the buildings were the only thing that gave evidence that he had not stepped through some sort of time warp that dropped him into the 1870’s.
Jerry remembered an old movie where they created a theme park of the old west using robots to act as the townsfolk. Of course in the movie a computer virus had spread causing the robots to malfunction and start killing guests. Looking down the short line of buildings that faced each other to create the small town’s street, Jerry couldn’t help but imagine Yul Brenner stepping out from an alleyway wearing all black with cowboy hat and boots and two six guns strapped to his sides.
Jerry stopped in his tracks after following Erika and Charlie into the coffee shop, the modern amenities inside a startling contrast from the ancient exterior of the building. Small raised areas in the center of the tables offered power, network and USB charging ports for the customers.
When the barista behind the counter saw the three enter, she quickly turned around giving the equipment behind the counter her attention while she began creating drinks. By the time the three walked across to the counter the barista was snapping lids on the paper cups and carrying them to the counter.
Reaching up Charlie picked up the one that had her name written in marker across the coffee sleeve wrapped around the cup. “Thanks Lily!” Charlie grinned wide.
Erika reached down picking up the other two cups, handing Jerry the one with his name on it. Jerry furled his brow at the sight of his name on the cup. “How…”
Charlie looked up at Jerry giggling, “Lily always knows what a customer wants.”
Erika nodded with a broad smile, “try it.”
Gasping after taking a sip, Jerry’s wide eyes showing his surprise, “Holy crap, This is the best cinnamon almond milk macchiato I have ever tasted!”
“Just the way you like it,” Lily smiled from behind the counter.
“But how could she know what I like,” Jerry puzzled. Looking from Erika over to the barista, “How could you know what I like?” Noticing her cat-like ears for the first time Jerry’s eyes grew wider.
“It’s my job to know what my customers like,” Lily’s smile never wavered.
“But I’ve never been here before?”
“It’s not worth worrying about dear, “Erika said after digging a bill out of her purse and lying it on the counter to pay for their drinks. “Let’s go show you the rest of town.”
At the end of the street Erika pointed out the building she referred to as town hall, but explained it was more of a community center that also held their small post office. Off to the side Erika led them to a large gazebo. The very center of the gazebo was open to the large granite rock it was built upon. On this granite slab stood what looked like a large egg shaped quartz crystal close to ten feet in height. The quartz was cloudy and only semi-transparent. In the center of the quartz appeared to be something that could only be explained as a cross between the black knight’s armor and a space suit.
Pointing out the monolith, Erika explained, “This is our one big claim to fame. Everyone calls it the Sentinel.”
Jerry walked around it several times closely examining the statue, “Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this, there are no seams or anything.” Kneeling down he examined where the crystal met the granite. “To do something like this they would have had to carve the base to fit, then turn it on its side and drill out the shape of a man from the bottom like they do with those imitation crystals that have images carved into the inside of them then paint is poured in to fill the void that is left, but to do that with solid quartz… Wow!” Peering into the quartz at the image held inside, “I wish the quartz was clearer so I could see more detail.”
After they left the strange statue Erika suggested they stop by the small market to pick up a few things they needed at the house. Jerry did make a remark about the lack of variety in brands of goods there. Almost all the items the store carried were unbranded generic in plain white packaging. All the white generic boxes and bags also held writing that they were made from recycled materials and or biodegradable and organic.
“What do you both think about some steaks on the grill?” Jerry motioned toward the rear of the store where he thought he spotted the meat counter.
Erika chuckled at the face Charlie made after hearing Jerry’s question, “Charlie won’t eat any of the meat from the store. If you want to do some steaks we’ll have to drive up to North bend.”
“Why’s that?”
“What we sell here is a meat substitute, it’s made form mushrooms.” Erika explained, “There are huge caverns under the town that have huge mushroom farms and other hydroponic gardens. Most everything in the store comes from there.”
“So instead of soy based substitutes, they use mushroom based ones,” Jerry stated. “That’s actually pretty cool.”
“Yeah and Charlie is fine with it except for the meat, she calls it soylent green and won’t touch it.”
“I’m willing to try it,” Jerry continued walking toward the meat counter.
“It’s really hard to tell the difference,’ Erika confided. “If anything it’s more tender.”
“Sure you won’t try one Charlie?” Jerry asked while bent over looking through the selection.
Shaking her head, Charlie grimaced at the thought of eating the fake steaks, “There’s plenty at the house I can eat instead of that stuff.”
As they wandered down the aisles of the market Erika deposited she needed into a wooden basket she had picked up from a stack by the door they had entered. Once she was satisfied that she had found the things she wanted Erika led the trio to a solitary checkout lane that was set a ways away from two normal checkout lanes.
Jerry found the checkout line reminded him of the self-checkouts that had been appearing in stores over the past several years although this one had a small conveyor belt that ran the items through a machine after Erika punched in a code on a touch screen panel on the machine.
Charlie had moved ahead of her mother and Jerry and was putting the items in a canvas bag Erika had had given her. Pulling his wallet from his back pocket Jerry slipped in beside Erika looking for the cash or credit slot in the machine. Not finding either Jerry looked toward Erika for advice, “How do I pay for this?”
“It’s taken care of already,” Erika informed, pointing at the sign above the checkout line that read ‘Residents Only’. “Everyone that lives here has a code to use, putting that in unlocks the register and takes care of everything for us.”
Separating their ways after leaving the market, Erika and Jerry walking home while Charlie stopped by the coffee shop to pick up something for Jack and another hot chocolate for herself.
Charlie got home right after five that evening, quickly changing into a pair of shorts before showing Jerry how to light the grill in their backyard. As Jerry was lighting the grill Charlie went back inside filling a large blue enameled pot three fourths of the way with water that she asked Jerry to carry out and place on the grill.
“What’s the pot for?” he asked.
“While you guys eat your fake steaks, I’m going to have some real food!” Charlie grinned as she picked up a plastic five gallon bucket that contained a small fishing net and began jogging barefooted toward the large creek a little over hundred yards away.
“Damn, we should have never got the steaks!” Jerry heard Erika softly swear behind him.
“Why’s that?” Jerry turned toward her.
“She’s going to go catch some crayfish isn’t she?” Erika pointed to the pot of water on the grill.
“Crayfish? Like they eat in Louisiana and such?”
“Not quite, the ones here are much bigger, almost like little lobsters.” Erika held her hands about six to eight inches apart.
“You’re kidding?”
Erika shook her head, “Hopefully she’ll bring back enough to share. They’re really good.”
Wading slowly into the shallow clear water so as to disturb the bottom as little as possible so the water wouldn’t turn murky, Charlie slowly waded back and forth across the creek looking for crayfish and the places they liked to hide. Finding one then another of the giant crayfish and catching them by slowly lowering the net behind it and then distracting it with her foot. Most would use their tail to flash away backwards into her net, while a few were openly aggressive and stood their ground claws raised in defiance, only to be grabbed up and tossed in the bucket along with the others she had managed to capture.
Charlie saw the man sitting on the back of the lake fishing but paid little attention to him since there were always people out on the lake fishing especially on the weekends. Although she did find it strange that he was bank fishing on this side of the lake since he would have had to hike in six or seven miles to get where he sat. All thoughts about the man fishing were lost when she spotted a really large crayfish half hidden under a flat rock, nor did she notice the large binoculars he brought up often to stare past her at the homes on the small peninsula the town was built on.
Holding the binoculars to his eyes, the man watched the young girl walk back up to the house to the woman he had been watching, chuckling to himself, “Isn’t that nice, the whole family in one place.”
The next morning Charlie came out of the bathroom to find Erika laying a child’s dress on her bed, the same color blue as the calf length dress Erika had on, “If you think I’m wearing that you lost your mind!”
“Charlie, it’s just a dress.”
“Sure and these?” Charlie walked over to the bed picking and holding the socks edged with lace, “are supposed to go with those shoes,” Charlie nodded toward the small pair of shiny black Mary Janes sitting on the floor by the bed.
“Can’t I want my little girl to look nice once in a while?”
Rolling her eyes, Charlie looked up at Erika, “I may have bene born at night, but it wasn’t last night. These are church clothes. You said we were going shopping in North Bend.”
“Well we plan on shopping too.”
“I can’t go into a church!”
“And why not?”
“Because,” Charlie tried to think of a reasonable excuse, “I don’t know… lightning will strike or something.”
“Please Charlie, for me?”
Looking into the sad doe eyes Erika made, Charlie sighed, “I thought becoming a girl would make me immune to that look.”
“So you’ll do it?” Erika saw Charlie nod. Bending down she kissed Charlie on the forehead, “Thank you sweetie. It really does mean a lot to me.”
Tossing the towel she had wrapped around her on the floor after Erika had left closing the door behind her, Charlie sat on the bed and began getting dressed. Donning the white cotton panties, then the white camisole, Charlie picked up the dress holding it out in front of her staring at it for some time.
A bird sitting on the tree limb outside her window drew Charlie out of the staring match she was having with the dress. Looking out the window Charlie thought of how easy it would be to throw on a pair of shorts and a shirt and climb out onto the tree limb and slip away, escaping the indignity of putting on the dress. She had used that limb often enough to slip out and get in a few hours of catfishing after Erika had thought she was asleep.
’It would be so easy, but I know how much it would disappoint Mom,’ Looking over at her dresser where she stored the normal clothes she wore, then back to the dress in her hands Charlie sighed heavily while she let her head and shoulders droop down in defeat. Charlie sat for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and begun to dress herself in the clothes Erika had laid out.
Charlie cringed at the, ‘clomp, clomp,’ sound the shoes made on the hardwood floor as she made her way down the short hall toward the stairs. One of the reasons she liked the rubber soled boat shoes she normally wore was how quiet they were. Not that she was the type to sneak around, although she preferred not to sound like a herd of buffalo stomping around.
“You look very…” Charlie cut Erika off before she could finish, “If either of you use the words ‘cute’ or ‘pretty’ I will talk this dress off and feed it to the garbage disposal!”
“I was going to say you look very nice,’ Erika smiled.
“Jerry! Erika! I’m so glad you made it,” Charlie saw the older woman standing beside the large double doors at the top of the short flight of steps that led into the church. As Jerry, Erika and Charlie reached the top of the steps the woman wrapped her arms around Jerry giving him a warm hug, once she released him she did the same for Erika. Releasing Erika the woman looked down at the much smaller Charlie, “And this pretty little angel must be Charlotte.”
“Charlie this is Mrs. Nevers, Jerry’s grandmother,” Erika introduced the woman.
“Hello Mrs. Nevers,” Charlie nodded.
“Oh please,” Mrs. Nevers smiled down at Charlie, “You’re almost family, call me Grams Nevers or just Grammy.” Turning toward Jerry, “Knowing you were coming your grandfather has a special sermon planned and wants you sitting up front with the rest of the family.”
After the services they milled around with Jerry’s family, those that had not met Erika were introduced and everyone was introduced to Charlie, including the Reverend Thomas Nevers, Jerry grandfather, who had walked down to mingle with the family and other parishioners after the services concluded. When Erika mentioned that they had plans on some shopping for Charlie, Barbara, Jerry’s aunt insisted they come over to their place first as she had a lot of things that her daughter Cathy had out grown that she would be glad to give to Charlie. Before leaving to follow Barbara and her family home, everyone was invited to Jerry’s grandparents for a long overdue family get together and dinner.
“Stop! Stop!” Charlie screamed while laughing hysterically.
“Admit it then!” Erika lay half on top of Charlie in the floor of their living room tickling the smaller girl mercilessly.
“Okay, okay,” Charlie gasped for breath, “It wasn’t bad.”
“Wasn’t bad? I’ll show you wasn’t bad!” Erika’s fingers dug into Charlie’s sides with just enough pressure to make the small girl squeal and begin laughing again.
“You’re going to make me pee!” Charlie squealed.
“Did that ever stop your grandfather?” Erika grinned evilly down at Charlie while continuing to tickle her.
“Okay I had fun!” Charlie relented.
“And?”
Charlie looked up into Erika’s eyes, “And wearing dresses is not that bad either.”
Erika raised up off the girl, helping Charlie up to a sitting position as she did, “What about church?”
“Well I didn’t burst into flames going in the door,” Charlie grinned. “But I’m still surprised the sky didn’t darken and the building wasn’t destroyed by earthquakes and lightning.” Looking over where Jerry was sitting on the couch, “You could have warned me that your grandpa was a preacher!”
Jerry shrugged his shoulders, “I grew up with him being the pastor of the church so I really never thought about it.”
“I think it was really nice of Barb giving Charlie so much of Cathy’s old things.” Erika smiled at Charlie, “Don’t you think so dear?”
“Yeah, It was,” Charlie found herself agreeing. “But one box was almost all dresses and skirts. Those won’t ever get used.”
“You have time to grow into many of them and by the time they do fit, you might even like dresses by then. It’s starting to get late, why don’t you head on upstairs and put away the clothes that are still on your bed. That way you have time to shower and your normal evening routine,” Knowing how Charlie loved to sit and play the lively Celtic and bluegrass music on her violin at night before bed.
Charlie nodded then jumped up and began to run barefooted toward the stairs. “Hey don’t forget your shoes!” Erika yelled after her, causing Charlie to go back and grab the Mary Janes she had quickly removed as soon as they had gotten home.
Charlie had finished putting away the things that were laying on her bed and was going through one of the two large boxes packed full of clothes that Jerry’s aunt had given her when she heard Erika scream. Dropping the clothes in her hands Charlie raced out of the open door to her room, her small bare feet almost soundless on the hard wooden floor. Charlie froze at the top of the stairs when she saw a man standing in their living room holding a large military style bayonet. The large bayonet was covered in blood and Jerry lay at the man’s feet, no doubt in Charlie’s mind that he had been stabbed by the man. Erika stood across the room facing the man both hands covering her mouth.
Before the accident Charlie would not have even thought about rushing down and attacking the large man that stood in her home, picking up whatever came to hand on the way down to defend herself and Erika, but then she had been a bit larger than the three and a half feet tall that she now stood. Knowing that racing straight down toward the stranger or her mother would only put herself in peril along with Erika, Charlie slipped quietly back into her room.
At the window in her room, Charlie pulled the screen open and slipped out onto the nearby tree branch climbing out into the tree and down to the ground. Looking close at the nearby houses Charlie could see no lights on, which wasn’t unusual as their neighbors spent most of their time either down in the labs or away giving seminars at universities and hospitals around the country. Knowing the closest person that was likely to be home was Jack Charlie knew she didn’t have the time to get help. Her only hope of saving her mom and Jerry was with herself.
Cursing her small size under her breath, Charlie ran to the small tool shed in their backyard. Swinging the door open she stepped inside, leaving the door open to give her enough light to see in the dark interior. Stepping inside Charlie scanned the various tools inside the shed as she looked for an equalizer to use against the large man.
The double bladed axe hanging from the wall would work, but as much as Charlie wanted to save her mother, using that would kill and even if Charlie would have had no problems using lethal force, the axe was heavy enough that she would only get one chance to swing at him, if she missed with that one chance they were all doomed. Hanging beside the axe was a pick mattock that Charlie grabbed from its hangar. While it was heavier than the axe and possibly a worse weapon with the design of the heavy metal head, it wasn’t the metal head that she wanted.
Holding the pick mattock by the spade bit and pick that protruded from each side, Charlie tapped the bottom of the handle against the concrete floor as quietly as she could several times until the hickory handle slipped loose of the tools head. Armed with the thick wooden handle Charlie crept around to the front of the house. Standing with her back against the door frame Charlie stopped to listen before going inside.
What Charlie heard made her blood boil. While she may have missed much of what he said to Erika at the beginning, it was obvious this was the man that tried to rape Erika and now out of prison he was here for revenge. Peeking around the corner of the door frame Charlie could see Erika was still on the far side of the room and the man had only taken a few steps past where Jerry lay bleeding on the floor.
Erika’s eyes grew wide when she spotted Charlie slip in through the open front door. Charlie, still behind the man wound up the bat like a baseball player before swinging with all her might. The hickory handle caught the attacker in the side of his right knee with a loud bone crunching thwack. Twisting as he fell, the man lashed out with the bayonet. Although expecting a much taller attacker the bayonet passed harmlessly above Charlie head while she wound up for another strike.
Knowing the knife was the greatest threat, Charlie focused on the hand that held it. Before the man hit the ground the pick mattock’s handle was in motion again following the man’s out stretched arm. As his arm met the floor the wooden tool handle met his wrist shattering bone.
“You god damned little bitch!” The man screamed as he reached for Charlie with his good hand, “I’m going to fuck you in front of your fucking mother!”
Swatting his hand away in a back swing Charlie screamed at him, “God damned pervert!” Raising up the pick mattock handle over her head she brought it down hard into his crotch.
Screaming like a girl, his hands flew to his crotch after the blow. But that didn’t stop Charlie would was now seeing red, raining blow after blow directly at his crotch until Erika finally came over stopping her.
Jerry opened his eyes to find himself in what appeared to be a hospital room. Realizing his last memories he tried to sit up, “Erika!” he tried to shout but all that came out was a hoarse whisper.
“I’m right here Jerry,” He felt a hand gently pushing him back down. Turing his head he could see the hand belonged to Erika. She and Charlie both were standing beside the hospital bed he woke up in.
“Are you both okay?” Jerry forced his raspy voice, “What happened?”
“After he stabbed you, Charlie heard me scream,” Erika began. “She slipped out her bedroom window.”
“Good girl,” Jerry grinned at Charlie, who began blushing, “Got help.”
“Not exactly,” Erika stated as Charlie’s face reddened further. “She came at him with an axe handle from behind.”
“What!” Jerry gawked at the small girl, “You could have gotten hurt!”
“She came very close to beating him to death with it.” Erika took a deep breath, “Look there is something things we need to tell you. You lost a lot of blood before we could get help for you.”
Jerry tried to follow where she was going with this, “But I’m okay now?”
“Yes, you’re going to be fine,” Erika informed, “But it was very serious Jerry. The knife went through your heart. They, the blood they had to use to save you, it’s different.”
“Different how?”
“It’s artificial blood.”
“I didn’t know that was possible?” Jerry questioned.
“It isn’t, that’s why we have to let you in on the little secret about our town.” Charlie giggled, “On the bright side mom won’t have a reason to say no the next time you propose.”
“Let he start at the beginning,” Erika sighed.
“You expect me to believe that she used to be your father!” Jerry gasped unbelieving at the story Erika had told her.
“Look at your chest, where he stabbed you,” Charlie grinned.
Jerry held the hospital gown out so he could look at his chest to see no bandages, stitches or even a scar, “How?” Realizing how long it would take for a scar to heal that well if in fact it ever did, “How long have I been in the hospital?”
“Three days,” Charlie grinned.
“You lost a lot of blood dear,” Erika consoled the confused man. “Your heart was destroyed and you had bled out. These people don’t believe in letting anyone die if they can do anything to stop it. The blood they used is made for one of their kind that are part machine.”
“You have little tiny robots now that do the job of blood cells,” Charlie held two fingers very close together for emphasis.
“The good side of this is that the artificial blood also repairs the body,” Erika stated. “Using it they were able to repair your heart and save you.”
“You make these guys sound like aliens or something,” Jerry chuckled nervously.
“Yeah, they really don’t like to be called that. Some have been around since before man walked on two legs,” Charlie chuckled.
“So why tell me all this now?” Jerry looked up at Erika, “It’s not like I’ve seen one open it’s skull up and a little green man get out.”
“Honey you need to know because of your blood.” Erika explained, “You can’t ever let anyone take a sample of it now. While it may look like blood if you get cut, under a microscope it’s obvious that it’s not real blood.”
“So I’m one of you now, an alien?”
“Charlie and I are not aliens,” Erika stated. “Well I’m completely human, you and Charlie are mostly human.”
“That sounds like my que,” Greg came in smiling, winked at Charlie before turning to Jerry, “Hi Jerry, I’m the mad scientist that saved you.”
Jerry looked over at Charlie giggling then back to the man who had just entered the room, “You’re a doctor?”
“I do hope so, or all those degrees hanging in my office have lied to me!” Greg grinned. “You ready to get out of that bed?” He watched as Jerry nodded. “Good because all of us are needed at town hall as soon as we can get over there.”
Walking into the little used building, it was the first time Charlie had ever seen it this crowded, there must have been one hundred and fifty people or more in the hall. At the front of the room on a small stage stood Jack at a podium. When he saw Erika and Charlie being led into the room he tapped the microphone a couple times to get everyone’s attention. “Okay everyone it looks like the last of those that are required to be here have arrived, so let’s get on with this. Charlie, Erika and Jerry y’all need to come on up here with me.”
After giving the three time to get through the crowd and join him Jack turned back to the microphone, “Having been the only one dumb enough to not run back when our little town decided we needed a mayor, and not slick enough to pawn this job off on anyone else yet, I call this meeting to order.” Jack turned to look at the three standing beside him. “Several days ago a man that we have determined to be Franklin Thomas Sykes entered the Moore’s home and attacked those that were there. In the process Mr. Sykes mortally stabbed Mr. Nevers and boasted that he was going to rape both Erika and Charlie. Before he could carry out those threats Charlie intervened with the handle of a garden tool which she used to render Mr. Sykes unconscious and in need of severe medical care.”
Jack knew that most were already aware of the circumstance but by their own rules he had to read everything on the paper laid out on the podium in front of him. “To save Mr. Never’s life we were forced to use treatments that we are not able to allow the outside world to know about yet, which led to us being forced to let Mr. Nevers know the truth about us and our town.”
Jack looked over at Jerry, “We all hope, that you understand the ramifications of the world learning about our technology before it is ready for it? And we hope for everyone’s benefit that you will choose to keep our secret.”
Jerry stepped forward, “I’m still trying to get a grip of everything that has happened but the last thing I would ever do is hurt Erika or Charlie. If I told anyone about this place, they would find out about them too. So even though I am still in the dark about most of this, as long as I don’t discover your planning on taking over the world my lips are sealed.”
“We only do that on Tuesdays!” someone shouted while the crowd roared with laughter at the comment.”
Charlie stepped up beside Jerry tugging at his arm, “It’s a joke.” She explained once he leaned down to hear her over the roar of laughter, “Down in the labs someone wrote ‘take over the world planning session’ on the labs schedule board, they have left it there as a joke.”
“You sure it’s just a joke?” Jerry looked nervously out at the crowd.
“It was signed by Pinky and the Brain,” Charlie smirked.
“Alright, alright people let’s continue so we can get this over with and go home,” Jack looked over at Jerry, “Mr. Never hasn’t had the full tour yet so he isn’t privy to that inside joke. Next point of discussion, what are we going to do with Mr. Sykes?” Turning to the crowd, “He apparently followed Erika and Jerry up from the city and stalked the home waiting on a time to attack. I recognized him from a car that drove by slowly as I loaded the ferry with Erika Friday evening when she returned from school. A few others have come forward stating they saw him hanging around the lake.” Charlie gasped when she realized he was the same man she saw fishing the night before.
Looking toward Charlie, “As you were the one that gave him his injuries, as per our rules you are the one responsible for him,” Jack held a finger up at Charlie when he saw she was going to speak, “But due to your apparent age it would not bode well to have you be the one to do this.” Turning his attention to Erika, “You understand that we cannot take a life. It’s against everything we strive for, but we also cannot allow Mr. Sykes to go back out and harm others. It has been decided that instead of healing his injuries he will be regressed to a small child and given to a family that we can be assured will raise the child into the adult he should have become instead of the monster he turned out to be.”