Chapter 22

Within his office, Ed sat back in his chair drinking a cup of coffee reflecting on the discussions last night about the marriage contract. The amount of money that everyone was considering was twenty thousand dollars as the buy in fee. That amount would basically destroy his savings, but it did put the family on good financial grounds. Eighty thousand dollars could get a very nice house built, at least in that area of the country.

Kelly was busy in the kitchen making lunch. Today they were going to have Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn. In the kitchen with Kelly, John was peeling the potatoes. Rover was under the dining room table, staying out of the way. In the living room, Beth was cleaning. Ed was supposed to be catching up on his studies, rather than dreaming about the marriage.

Beth, in response to a knock on the door, shouted, “I’ll get it.”

As soon as she called out, Ed remembered that he had invited Nevada over to visit his study. Rushing out of the study, he found Beth inviting Nevada into the house. At the same time, John came out of the kitchen to investigate, thinking that it might be Jim. Out of curiosity, Kelly stuck her head out of the kitchen. Surprised at finding four people all looking at him, Nevada said, “I’m Nevada Hays.”

Turning to face everyone, Ed said, “Nevada, I’d like you to meet Dr. Beth Hayes. She’s the lovely lady that let you in. You know Kelly looking around the corner at you. The other gentleman is Dr. John Carter.”

As Nevada looked at each person as they were introduced, he hadn’t realized that Ed would have so many visitors. When John was introduced, he remembered the news story about the energy source that had just been invented. Curious, he asked, “Are you the Dr. Carter with the energy thing?”

Since this was the first time that he had heard his invention referred to as the energy thing, John smiled as he answered, “Guilty as charged.”

This was news to Nevada. He hadn’t known that Ed knew anyone that was famous. Then he remembered the guy Ed had told him about. All of the information that he had about Ed suddenly connected and he realized John was the guy that had impressed him so much. He asked, “Have you known Ed for long?”

“Ever since I moved in across the street,” answered John. He glanced at Ed, curious why his boss would be coming over today.

Realizing that he had not told anyone why Nevada was coming over, Ed said, “Nevada thinks I’m making a mistake giving up my job to pursue rocks. I invited him here to convince him otherwise.”

Beth patted Nevada on the arm and said, “You’re here to see his study, I bet.”

Laughing, John headed back towards the kitchen saying, “I’ve still got potatoes to peel.”

Kelly called out, “You’re invited to eat. Lunch will be ready in an hour. I imagine you’ll be convinced by then.”

Rover came out from under the table to sniff at Nevada. Fortunately, Ed noticed before Nevada and was able to prevent a major surprise. He said, “The cougar is Rover. He’s adopted John. Don’t worry about him, he only attacks bad guys.”

Nevada looked down and saw the cougar sniffing him. He froze, afraid to make a move. The cat, satisfied with his cursory examination of the intruder, returned to his place under the table. Nevada said, “That’s a cougar!”

“Yes, it is,” replied Ed. Turning to lead the way to his study, he stopped and went to the dining room table to grab a chair. Carrying the chair, he gestured with his head for Nevada to follow him. As he walked, he said, “I’ll take you to my study now.”

Entering the study, Nevada stopped and looked around. He had never seen so many different kinds of rocks. After setting the chair down, Ed said, “This is most of my collection. I have a number of other boxes that I had to pack up to make room for the desk and bookcase. The specimens that I have out represent some of the more impressive looking samples, although some of the ones that I have packed up are more geologically significant.”

There was just too much to take in. Nevada bent down to look at a very pretty specimen with blue and white crystals. Ed, noticing his interest, said, “That is Kinoite and Apophyllite crystals growing on the same substrate. The blue crystals are Kinoite while the clear crystals are Apophyllite. I found that particular sample in Gila County a couple of years ago. There is a slight wax covering over that sample to keep the Apophyllite from breaking down.”

Turning his attention to the next sample, he stared at a sample with white and brown crystals on it. Ed explained, “The white crystals are Fairbankite while the orangish brown crystals are Jarosite. I found that around Tombstone.”

“You found all these rocks?” When Ed had said that he was interested in rocks, Nevada had no idea what that actually meant. This was phenomenal, never in his wildest imaginations could he picture Ed having amassed all of these rocks.

Nodding his head, Ed answered, “Yes, I did.”

Nevada asked, “How much is this particular sample worth?”

The fact that Ed didn’t really keep up with prices didn’t stop him from estimating the value. He answered, “Somewhere between a hundred and two hundred dollars. Most of these samples probably run anywhere from thirty to two hundred dollars. The copper over there is quite valuable. The gold sample is not too bad, but the silver next to it is worth about five hundred. All of the samples in this room are amongst the best in the state.”

“And you found all of them?” He tried to calculate an approximate value for all of the rocks on display. There were twenty shelves per wall and three walls. There were hundreds of samples here.

Smiling at Nevada, Ed answered, “Yes, I did.”

“When did you find the time to get them all?”

Remembering back to his days pushing cattle on places all over Arizona, Ed answered, “Driving cattle doesn’t take that much attention. I found these around the places we camped or as I drove the cattle.”

This went beyond a little hobby or some kid’s idea of a collection. This room was as good as any museum. Nevada walked around the room looking from one specimen to another. Sitting in his chair, a very amused Ed watched him examine each and every specimen. Finally, Nevada sat down in the chair that Ed had carried in for him. Looking over at Ed he shook his head and said, “Well, I’m convinced you’re serious about this. I don’t know what kind of jobs they have for people in this business, but I can see that you’ll be one of the better ones in the country.”

Nodding his head, Ed said, “When I decided to go to college, I talked to John. He told me that if you are truly passionate about something, there is someone that will pay you for it. I believed him then and now I know that it’s true.”

Nevada said, “Well, I’m not going to stand in your way. You’ve convinced me that you could make a living out of looking at rocks. In the worst case, you can find them and sell them.”

That was not exactly what Ed had in mind to do for a living, but thinking about it he realized that wasn’t entirely an unpleasant future. Ed said, “I don’t know exactly what career I’ll get out of this, but I’m sure that it will be a good one.”

Surprised that he was agreeing with Ed, Nevada said, “I guess you’ll start work Monday. I’m going to miss having you around the place.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate all of the help you’ve given me. The opportunity that you offered was a good one. Believe me, I really had to think long and hard about the decisions that I’ve made.” Ed smiled at Nevada and said, “Are you getting hungry? Lunch should be about ready.”

Although he wasn’t hungry, Nevada was interested in knowing more about John. He answered, “Sure, I’ll join you for lunch.”

Ed led him out of the office into the living room. The scene presented them was one of domestic tranquility. Beth was sitting on the couch reading a medical journal. Next to her, John was reading the latest issue of Physics Today. Next to John, Kelly was reading a magazine on home decorating. Ed said, “My, don’t we all look comfortable?”

John looked at his watch and said, “Thirty minutes. It took you a little longer than I thought it would.”

With a sly look at Beth, Kelly said, “Beth wins the bet. She said it would take thirty minutes.”

John said, “That’s because she has you working for her. She knows how much an employer will fight to keep a good worker.”

Curious about the nature of the bet, Nevada asked, “So what was the bet?”

Smiling at Ed, Beth replied, “Who gets to spend the night with Ed.”

Nevada looked at Ed, then at Kelly, and finally at Beth. It was difficult to believe that two beautiful women would be betting on which one of them got to sleep with Ed. With a little more respect, he looked at Ed wondering what was his secret. He said, “I thought that Kelly was your girlfriend.”

Looking around the room at his fiancées, Ed shrugged his shoulders and said, “Things are a little more complicated than that. I’m engaged to all of them.”

“All of them?” echoed Nevada incredulous. He looked around the room and asked, “Does that include John?”

Looking up from his journal, John answered, “Yes it does.”

With an audible groan, Nevada looked at Ed wondering if he had joined some weird cult. Then he wondered if Ed was actually sleeping with John. Was Ed a closet faggot? To everyone in the room, the thoughts that were going through his head were clear. John said, “There’s a lot about Ed that you don’t know. He’s taken a few days off from work, but I bet you don’t know what he was doing.”

Nevada, not knowing what Ed had done when he took days off from work, could only imagine what Ed was doing now that he knew about this group marriage thing. He snorted, “I’ve got a good idea, now.”

Staring at John, Ed knew what he was going to talk about. He didn’t want to be there during the discussion. Looking over at Kelly, he asked, “Would you like some help in the kitchen?”

When Kelly and Ed had left the room for the kitchen, John turned to face Nevada. He asked, “Do you remember the California quake?’

Nevada nodded his head as he stared at John. He said, “Yeah, sure. That was a pretty bad one.”

Beth said, “You should have seen Ed and John running into buildings to pull trapped people out of them. It didn’t matter if it was burning or not. If they thought there was a person inside, they charged in. There are probably five hundred people that owe Ed their lives.”

Nodding, John said, “He was magnificent that day. That day formed a real solid bond between the four of us. We would pull them out and the women patched them up.”

Puzzled, Nevada asked, “How come I didn’t hear about that?”

“Ed doesn’t like to talk about that day. He saw too much death and too many people on the verge of death,” answered John. For a moment his thoughts turned inward and then he added, “It makes you reappraise what is important in your life. You see people dead and dying, you can’t help but wonder if they had a happy fulfilling life.”

Beth added, “You’d be surprised at the number of lonely people that we saw that day.”

Nevada was surprised to hear them talk about rescuing people so casually. There wasn’t any boasting in this discussion. None of them described their role in it, always what other people did. He said, “I’m impressed.”

John said, “I guess you didn’t know that he helped capture a serial killer.”

Eyebrows raised and mouth open, Nevada shook his head. Recovering somewhat, he croaked, “Serial killer?”

John nodded and said, “I had tracked down a serial killer. Ed backed me up on making the arrest. He rescued two young ladies that were bound and gagged in the trunk of a car.”

Finding his voice, Nevada said, “You don’t mean that guy in Utah?”

“Yes, I do.”

That case was again in the news as the case was coming to trial. He had never heard of anyone so sick. He remembered a detail and said, “I thought that it was an FBI agent that caught him.”

Smiling, John pulled his ID out of his pocket. Flipping it open, he showed his badge to Nevada as he said, “I’m FBI.”

“Oh,” replied Nevada. He looked at Beth and asked, “What do you think about this?”

“If you want my opinion, they take too many chances,” replied Beth, thinking back to the most recent death of John Carter.

John interrupted, “The thing is, that in Utah, Ed was faced with true evil for the first time in his life. The contrast between good and evil, well it makes you think about love and hate. You realize what it means to really love. Ed realized that love had nothing to do with sex. It was a desire to help someone become the best person that they can be. You’ve demonstrated a considerable fondness for Ed by trying to keep him from making what you believe is a mistake.”

Nevada couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How was it that Ed never said a word about that? There were depths here that he had never realized. The idea that he was fond of Ed was a little unsettling. Why was it that he had been trying to make sure that Ed wasn’t making a mistake in his career choices? Was it that he actually cared about the guy? He decided these questions weren’t going to be answered anytime soon. He changed the subject, “I guess you are telling me that you all care about each other?”

Laughing, Beth said, “I guess you didn’t know about when they went after the white slavery gang.”

Again, that was a national case that was hard to miss. He tried to remember some of the particulars about the case, but ended up pulling a blank. He said, “I heard about the case, but I didn’t know that Ed was involved.”

Beth said, “John was mortally wounded in the raid.”

Looking over at a very alive John, Nevada said, “You mean he died?”

Beth answered, “Yes, he did. For three minutes on the operating table, John was clinically dead.”

Surprised, Nevada looked at John who just shrugged back at him. Not knowing what to say, he just answered, “Oh.”

John looked at Nevada and said, “I wouldn’t be here if Ed hadn’t run through a gunfight to provide first aid until Beth could reach me.”

Beth said, “Yes. Ed also took care of the kidnap victims after John was airlifted to the hospital. It was almost an hour later that he mentioned that his leg was hurting.”