Chapter 8

This was the first time that Ed had traveled outside his normal area while wearing his black robe, and the reactions that he received were beyond anything that he could have predicted. People stared at him when he walked by. It wasn’t the kind of stare that people gave freaks, but the kind of stare they gave a celebrity.

Months of television coverage about the mysterious Druids had made the name a household word. Whenever there was a forest fire, Sid was on television talking about how the Fusion Foundation had helped put it out and, of course, he was wearing his Druid robes whenever he was interviewed. Druids had found children lost in the woods, brought down drug rings, rescued people from burning buildings, and stopped riots. Every night, at least one Druid was on television talking about something that they had done to make the world a better place.

Walking beside Ed, Linda was unnerved by the attention. The closer she stood to Ed, the more attention she received. Finally, she whispered, “They’re staring at us.”

In a soft whisper, Ed said, “No, they are staring at my robe. For most of these people, this is the first time they’ve seen a Druid.”

“Wow, how do you stand it?”

“I don’t know. This is my first time to experience something like this. Usually, I’m able to fade into the background,” answered Ed as they arrived at the ticket counter. Ed found the line for first class and went up to the counter.

The woman, wearing her airline outfit, almost hid behind the counter. Summoning her courage, she asked, “What may I do for you, Sir?”

Ed was about to answer when the supervisor came out and relieved the woman. The supervisor asked, “What may we do for you, Sir?”

“I have reservations on a flight out of here,” answered Ed. He flipped open his identification so that the man could look it up in the computer.

The supervisor paled when he saw the ID for the IRS. After working on the computer for a full minute, the supervisor said, “Yes, Dr. Biggers. I’ll print up your ticket right now. Do you have any luggage to be checked?”

Shaking his head, Ed pointed to the saddlebags slung over his shoulder, while Linda held up her travel kit. Handing the tickets and a card to Ed, the supervisor said, “Okay, Sir. Here are your tickets and this is a complementary key to the VIP lounge for you to use while waiting for your flight.”

Looking at the key, which was nothing more than a credit card sized piece of plastic with the logo of the airline on the front and a computer strip on the back, Ed asked, “Is this normal for first class passengers?”

“No, Sir. You are a Druid and we’d like to extend this courtesy to you.”

Ed frowned, irritated at receiving special treatment, and looked over at Linda who was standing there wide-eyed. Rather than make a scene, he said, “Thank you.”

The two of them walked away from the counter and headed to the gate. It took them less than a minute to get through security. When they passed the VIP lounge, Linda asked, “Can we go in?”

“Sure,” replied Ed enjoying her sense of adventure. Normally, he would have enjoyed it, but he hadn’t liked the way it had been offered to him.

They sat at a table as a waitress came over to them to get their drink order. While Ed ordered a Coke, Linda ordered a glass of wine. The waitress, as she set the beverages on the table, said, “That will be...”

A man caught her attention across the room by gesturing wildly. When she finally understood what he was signaling, she said, “These are on the house.”

Frowning at the sudden change in what she was saying, Ed asked, “How much would they normally be?”

“Eight dollars,” replied the waitress.

“Thanks,” replied Ed. Not having seen the man behind him making the gestures, he was irritated at the way she had suddenly decided to make them complimentary.

When the waitress had left the table, the man from across the room came over to their table. When he arrived there, he held out a hand and said, “Welcome to the executive lounge.”

Looking up at the man, Ed asked, “Do we have you to thank for our drinks?”

“Yes. I believe that you are the first Druid that we’ve had come through this airport.”

“Not really. We usually fly out of here on a private jet, but this is a vacation trip rather than a business trip. We thought we would save a little money, so we are going by commercial airline,” replied Ed.

“Oh, so you live around here?”

Glancing over at Linda, Ed said, “Basically.”

An awkward quiet descended on the group as the man looked at Ed trying to figure out what that answer meant. A memo had passed over his desk that all airport managers were to look for a Druid that might be interested in consulting for the airline. This particular firm was in financial trouble and it was hoped that having a Druid make suggestions would help the company.

In the mean time, Ed was trying to figure out what the man wanted from them. He didn’t trust the entire setup and wouldn’t until he knew what they wanted from him. Linda sipped her wine feeling important just for being in the room.

Finally, the man broke the silence. “Are you interested in consulting for our airline?”

At last the truth was out. Leaning forward, Ed replied, “Not really. I want to be on the board of directors.”

Shocked at the audacity of the suggestion, the man sat back in his seat wondering what to do. The memo hadn’t covered this situation. There was only one thing that could be done and that was to call his boss at corporate headquarters. Standing, he said, “Excuse me for a moment.”

The man stepped away from the table as he reached into his pocket and made a call on his cell phone. From across the room, Ed watched him talking on the phone with his boss. Incredulous that Ed would have the nerve to ask that, Linda asked, “Do you really think they would put you on the board?”

Smiling at the expression on her face, Ed said, “Maybe not, since the guy didn’t ask my name. We’ll see what happens next.”

The man finished his conversation and returned to the table. Sitting down, he said, “If you’ll give me your name and contact information, the office will get in touch with you.”

Ed pulled out one of the family cards and handed it to the man. Glancing at it, the man put the card in his pocket without giving it a second thought and said, “I’ll forward this information on.”

Ed pulled a second card out and handed it to the man as he said, “I think you should call your boss back.”

“Why?”

“You might want to keep your job,” remarked Ed.

The man left the table and called his boss again. This time, the conversation was much shorter with the man looking at Ed several times as shock spread across his face. Pale, the man returned to the table and said, “Dr. Biggers. They accepted your proposition. At the next board meeting you will be recommended to become a member.”

“Thank you,” replied Ed with a smile and a wink at Linda. Her reaction was a little more muted as it was the first time that she had seen Ed use his influence.

The man looked at Ed for a minute and said, “Thank you for making me call a second time. You probably saved my job.”

“No problem,” answered Ed. He checked his watch and added, “We had better get to the gate. Our plane is about to board.”

Linda finished her wine before standing up while Ed left a ten dollar tip for the hostess. The two of them left the lounge and headed to the plane. They made it just in time and took their seats in first class. Once they had seated themselves, Linda asked, “So why were you so sure that they would put you on the board?”

Looking over at Linda as she sat proudly in her chair, Ed answered, “A lot of companies have been trying to get Druids on their boards. I know this airline is in trouble and the fact that they only wanted a Druid to consult suggested that if I were to play their game, they’d be out of business before too long. I’m sure that someone there has a list of who’s who among the Druids. I’m pretty high on that list.”

Raising an eyebrow, she replied, “That’s rather conceited of you.”

“No, it just makes me old. I’ve been serving the Two-Sided One longer than anyone else alive,” answered Ed honestly.

“Is that how rank is determined among the Druids?”

“Yes. That and how many Gods and Goddesses you serve. John serves three and that makes him the highest ranked Druid. There are three that serve two and they are the next highest ranked. Jerry has served the longest of anyone. Then there is Mary, she’s been serving the second longest. Then there is little old me.”

“So you are the seventh highest Druid?”

“I guess so. I don’t really think about it because it doesn’t mean that much,” replied Ed. It was funny, but the only Druid that seemed able to call upon others was John. Otherwise, Druids just showed up where and when needed.

Linda looked at Ed with a funny expression. It was hard to believe that two of her husbands were that important and neither one thought of themselves as special. In a way, she felt as if she and Leroy were the least significant people in the family but no one had ever treated them that way.

The trip was without incident. When they landed, Ed told Linda to stay in her seat until everyone else had disembarked from the plane. Confused, she did as he asked and watched as tired looking passengers shuffled from the back of the plane wrestling with their carry-on luggage. Their clothes, wrinkled from sitting in the same position too long, looked like they had been worn for a week rather than half a day. Turning to look at Ed with concern, Linda asked, “What’s the matter with everyone? They look like they’ve been in a fight.”

Ed pointed to one of the men and said, “Look at him. He’s flying here on business and will probably have to make a sales pitch within an hour or two. If he can’t come across fresh and alert, he’ll probably blow the sale.”

“But what’s the matter with them?”

“When everyone is off the plane, I’ll show you,” answered Ed.

Curious, Linda watched as businessmen tried to get off the plane. An elderly woman, visiting family in the area, was struggling to get her luggage down the isle and the men behind her raised their eyes to heaven as though praying for a miracle. Linda hadn’t seen so many miserable people in one place in her entire life. Turning to Ed, she said, “Was there a problem back there that we didn’t know about?”

“No. At least not in the way that you meant,” answered Ed.

When the last passenger from the back of the plane got out, Ed stood and paced off the length of the first class. Then he paced off the length of coach. In the same space that they had twelve seats in first, they had twenty-four in coach. Watching him, she asked, “What are you doing?”

Smiling, he said, “Why don’t you have a seat over there?”

She flopped down on the seat and, as she rubbed her butt, exclaimed, “That’s hard!”

After he had finished counting out the length of coach, he edged into the seat beside her. She complained, “Hey, don’t take up so much room!”

Smiling, Ed said, “That is why they looked like hell when they got off the plane. Imagine sitting here like this for the next three hours.”

Frowning, Linda said, “Your knees are hitting the seat in front of you.”

“Yes, they are, aren’t they?”

Linda answered, “Now I see why you guys usually fly in the private jet. That’s so much more comfortable than first class. This back here is horrible.”

“This is why I want to be on the board of this airline. Did you know that some people paid almost as much to sit back here as we did for our seat?”

“That’s criminal.”

“No, that’s how the airlines operate,” replied Ed. Satisfied, with his observations, Ed said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Ed and Linda went to the car rental agency and picked up a Hugger. It wasn’t long before they were on the road, headed towards the cabin. It was surprising, but Ed remembered the route with ease despite the fact that it had been several years since he had made the trip. Linda looked out the window at all of the trees and said, “Wow, it really is green here. Look at all of the trees.”

Ed smiled as he drove down roads covered over by tree branches with leaves in the early stages of emergence. The main town was nowhere near as crowded as it had been the summer when Ed had been here. The official tourist season had not yet started and wouldn’t start for another month, but the locals had returned to repair the damage of the winter. Grocery and hardware stores were open and busy as people replaced stocks of food and purchased building supplies to fix things for the onslaught of tourists.

They stopped at one of the grocery stores to purchase cleaning supplies, and food for the week. Teabags for making iced tea were a necessity, although Linda raised an eyebrow when Ed purchased two boxes of the large size. She watched as he went through the store, picking up food that catered to the male taste: coffee, steaks, eggs, bacon, bread, canned stew, potato chips, and canned peaches. She went along behind him picking up vegetables, flour, margarine, spices, lemons, and milk. They looked at the contents of each other’s shopping carts and burst out laughing. Between the two of them, they had gotten everything that they needed.

It wasn’t long after they left the store when they reached the cabin. It had aged a little since he had been there last, but it still was comfortable. The key was exactly where Cathy had said it would be. Unlocking the door, Ed looked at the layer of dust over everything. It was worse than he had thought it would be, but between the two of them it only took a couple of hours to get everything straightened up. By then, it was getting dark and cold.

Sitting in front of the fireplace watching the fire, they ate the canned stew with buttered bread. It was a heavy meal, but there wasn’t enough to make the stomach feel heavy afterwards. They relaxed watching as the flames of the fire licked heavenward. The yellow and red flames mixed, moving in an intricate dance. A crackle would open a vent and a very small jet of blue flame would emerge. Linda asked, “Why are there little blue flames like that?”

“The interior of the log is getting hot and breaks down into combustible gases that burn blue,” replied Ed recalling something that he had learned in his chemistry class.

“Does knowing those kinds of things diminish the beauty of what you are seeing?”

“Not at all. It just reminds me just how amazing things actually are.”

Linda looked confused and asked, “Knowing that makes it seem a little less amazing.”

Smiling, Ed said, “Most people look at a piece of wood and don’t see anything other than wood. Then you come to understand just how complex that little piece of wood actually is and suddenly it’s a miracle that you can see. Knowing that the wood breaks down under heat gives us a glimpse of the fire within.”