Chapter 9

So far, the trip to the cabin was everything that Ed needed. Five days of sex with Linda, fishing, sleeping, and eating had brought him to a point where he felt refreshed and ready to take on the world once again. They still had two days left on their vacation and Ed felt that his energy levels could only get better.

A storm was brewing on the horizon, bringing with it gusts of wind that threatened to chill them. The unusually cool day for late spring prevented casual nudity, so both of them were dressed as they sat on the porch. Ed watched the storm clouds gather, wondering what a storm in this area would be like. Deciding that it was likely they would spend the whole day in the cabin, he got out of his chair to bring in enough firewood so that he wouldn’t have to run out into the rain. Linda watched him work knowing that if she offered to help carry in wood, that he would turn her down.

Satisfied with the amount of firewood stacked on the porch, Ed sat down and said, “Do you want lunch in town?”

“If we miss lunch today, people will talk,” replied Linda. Ed had slowly thawed the wall of silence that had greeted them their first time in town. It was hard not to like Ed when he was relaxed and genuinely interested in the lives of everyone around him.

Laughing at the concern for the locals, Ed said, “We can’t upset our audience.”

Driving into town, Ed watched the sky overhead darken as the clouds thickened. By the time they reached town, flashes of lightening appeared on the horizon. They made it into the diner before the rain started to fall in large heavy drops. Entering the diner, a number of patrons shouted, “Hi, Ed.”

Ed raised a hand and waved to everyone as he replied, “Hi, everyone. It looks like a little rain is headed this way.”

One of the men at the counter turned and asked, “Are you always that prone to understatement?”

“Yes, except when it comes to describing how beautiful my wife is, then words fail me,” replied Ed. The statement was greeted with laughter around the room.

Everyone glanced over at Linda, who blushed at the attention. She said, “Oh, Ed. You are such a flatterer.”

The waitress, having come to know them a little better, led them to a table. She brought water and iced tea to the table without them having to ask for it. By now, the couple knew the menu by heart. Linda said, “I’ll have the Chicken Fried Steak.”

Ed said, “I’ll have the stew.”

The waitress smiled and went to the back to drop off their order. It was a few minutes later that she returned to the table. Once there, she said, “I heard that you were the guy that helped capture the serial killers a couple of years back.”

As Ed looked down at the table, Linda realized that she would have to answer for him. She said, “Yes, he did. He was cut with a knife on his chest and on his back.”

Looking out the window, Ed took a sip of his iced tea. A number of the other patrons there watched him and saw that he wasn’t boasting about it. In a way, it made him more approachable. The waitress answered, “Oh, wow. I didn’t know that.”

Linda looked across the table at her husband and said, “He doesn’t like to talk about that kind of stuff. He’d rather know about how other people are doing.”

“But he’s a hero,” said the waitress unable to understand why he wouldn’t want to talk about it.

Ed turned and looked at the waitress with a smile. When he knew that he had her attention, Ed asked, “So what if I was a hero for one afternoon of my life? The rest of my life is spent working, playing with my kids, loving my wives, and visiting with my friends. That is what I’m proud about.”

Understanding burst upon the waitress as she realized that he valued the things that everyone did rather than the extraordinary things that he had experienced as she said, “I see.”

A number of other people nodded their heads in agreement. The weather outside turned horrible suddenly, as rain came pouring down amid bolts of lightening striking the ground around them. Ed looked out the window and said, “Isn’t nature amazing? Such power that it makes you feel like an ant.”

Others in the room couldn’t help but agree as a bolt of lightening struck outside the diner and the following crash of thunder deafened nearly everyone. When everyone could hear again, Linda asked, “Are you always that prone to understatement?”

The entire place burst out laughing. After that, the discussion in the diner turned to politics with people offering their differing positions on current events in the good-natured manner of people who knew each other and discussed the differences rather than exploring the commonalities. Ed listened to the discussions carefully taking a pulse of what a variety of people felt about the world around them. It was importa-nt to him to understand how others viewed current events. If it was his job to make the world a better place, then one had to understand what people thought a better place would be like.

The discussion was interrupted when a couple entered the diner. They were soaked and water flew when they removed their jackets. The man looked up and, in a voice that carried through the whole dinner, said, “I heard there were a couple of lightening strikes about twenty miles from here that started a forest fire.”

With a sudden shift from friendly patron to serious Druid, Ed looked up and, in a sharp voice, asked, “Are you sure about that?”

“Pretty sure,” answered the man. The woman next to him was nodding her head. The man continued, “Heard it on the local two-way radio as we pulled in here.”

Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, Ed dialed the number for the Phoenix office of the Fusion Foundation. When the receptionist answered, Ed said, “May I speak with Ellen Faber?”

He was quiet for a moment until Ellen picked up the phone. With a slight pause, he asked, “Are you tracking any forest fires where I am?”

There was a moment of silence and then he said, “I just heard that a couple of lightening strikes started a fire up here.”

As everyone in the room watched him talking on the phone, he said, “Put them on alert. I’m sure that it will get escalated if what I’ve been told is correct.”

Listening to the reply from Ellen, Ed frowned and then smiled. He asked, “They can be here within thirty minutes?”

“Okay. I’m at the Blue Goose Diner,” answered Ed. After slipping the cell phone back in his pocket, he looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at him. Embarrassed, he said, “I just called the Fusion Foundation to have them put on alert.”

“You can do that?” asked the waitress amazed by what she had heard. If he was talking with the Fusion Foundation and was able to put them on alert, he must be much more powerful than she had thought.

“Anyone can do that,” Ed answered. Seeing the looks on people’s faces, he added, “I volunteer some of my time there. Other people really do all of the work.”

The look on Linda’s face conveyed significant incredibility at the way he had characterized his role. Others in the diner picked up on that and one of them said, “He’s prone to understatement.”

That brought a general laughter to the entire place. Their lunches arrived and the pair started eating as the conversation again flowed through the room. A common topic was the work that the Fusion Foundation was doing around the country. Almost everyone had seen at least one instance where someone they knew had been helped by the Foundation. Battered wives, runaway children, medical help, and hospital facilities that wouldn’t have been available otherwise, made a difference to everyone.

As Ed listened, he felt proud to be associated with such a fine organization that had made a real difference in the lives of ordinary people. His stew was very good and Linda appeared to enjoy her chicken fried steak, although she was only able to finish half of it.

As Ed took another bite of his stew, Linda asked, “Are they coming here?”

The thought that she must have gone to a school for waitresses crossed his mind, until he recalled that she used to be a waitress. Of course she had gone to that school, that was where people learned how to ask questions as soon as someone took a bite of food. Swallowing, he answered, “Yes, a spotter should be here in about five minutes.”

He waited to see if she was going to ask another question. When she didn’t act like she was going to say something, he took another bite of his stew.

Smiling at him, she asked, “Is he coming here to the diner?”

The look of frustration on his face caused her to burst out laughing. In response to his unasked question, she said, “Yes, I went to the school for waitresses. The first rule is to never ask a question until the patron has just put some food in their mouth.”

After Ed swallowed, he said, “Yes, he’s coming here after he checks out the area for a fire.”

He pretended to take a bite of food as she asked, “Why is he coming here?”

“He wants to report to me directly if there is a fire, I guess,” replied Ed as a smile broke over her face.

The bad weather had subsided to a simple rainstorm as the wind died and the lighting ended. The leading edge of the front had passed and the storm subsided to a constant rain for the rest of the day that would leave everything soaked. As he was about to take another bite of his stew, Linda asked, “If it’s raining, won’t that put out any fires?”

“Not necessarily, it often rains during forest fires.”

A man wearing a blue coverall with yellow backpack entered the diner. Everyone turned to look at him, recognizing immediately the uniform of the emergency response section of the Fusion Foundation. The man took only a minute to spot Ed and walked directly to him. Once at the table, the man said, “Dr. Biggers, there is a fire about twenty miles from here, but it has been contained. It’s unlikely that it will encompass more than a couple of acres.”

Accepting the news, Ed asked, “So there is no need to put everyone on alert?”

“No, the ground conditions are not right for a significant spread of the fire and the local fire departments can handle the situation. I’ll stand by in case it gets out of control.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that. I’m sure that a few homeowners and businessmen in the area will be quite relieved,” said Ed with a smile.

The man relaxed a little and said, “By the way, Sir, we received official notification of the fire two minutes after you called.”

“Please call me Ed.”

Looking around at all of the people staring at him, the man said, “I’ll be going now.”

“I’m sorry to have bothered you,” Ed said.

“No bother. I’ve always wanted to meet you. You’ve done a great job in setting up this service and I really enjoy being part of it.”

“Much of the credit goes to others,” replied Ed. Nodding, the man turned and left the diner as everyone watched him leave.

As soon as the man was out of the diner, all eyes turned to stare at Ed. One of the patrons said, “He’s prone to understatement. Volunteered a little of his time? Sounds like he set it up to me.”

Linda smiled and said, “He set up the Emergency Response Section. His late wife, Beth, set up the Medical Section.”

One of the patrons looked at Ed and said, “Anything else you do, that you tend to play down?”

“How can I answer that question without playing something up?”

The room laughed at the logic of his statement. The waitress asked, “So what is your favorite thing to do?”

As a broad smile spread across his face, Ed answered, “I love to spend time with my family. I have two great kids, two husbands, three wives, and more in-laws than I can count.”

“So other than that?”

“I love to go rock hunting out in the desert on horseback.”

Several of the people looked at him in surprise. Linda explained, “He is one of the most respected mineralogists in the country. He even found a new kind of crystal in Antarctica.”

“Yes, Carterite,” added Ed with a smile.

“You sure lead an exciting life,” said the waitress.

Frowning at her impression of his life, Ed replied, “No more exciting than you.”

“Huh?”

“You see me and you think that my life is one adventure after another. It’s not. Most of it is working, taking care of things around the house, loving my family, and helping others. These are the same things that you do. I’m sure that if we were to sit down and talk about your specific interests that people would find your life interesting. Most of the people in this town are building something. All of the businesses around here don’t happen without people making it happen.” Ed looked around the room and noticed that a number of people were nodding as they thought about their lives.

He continued, “Someone in here may have raced cars at one time. Someone else might be a volunteer fireman and put out a fire or saved someone from burning to death. Someone else might have been in the special forces. Everyone in here has done or will do something interesting at some point in time.”

The waitress said, “My life is boring. I’ve never done anything interesting.”

Looking at the young woman, he put her age at around twenty. Smiling at her, he said, “I was a cowboy until I was in my late twenties. The most interesting thing I saw until I went to college was the back end of a cow.”

The woman laughed at the image. At least as a waitress she had the odd occasion to see good-looking men come in the place. She noticed that he didn’t say that she was too young and that interesting things would happen when she got older. Implicit in his statement was the idea that it was never too late to do something interesting. She asked, “Do you mean there is time for me to be rescued by someone?”

Linda played with the food on her plate and then said, “You know. Ed has rescued a lot of women from very horrible situations. We call them his damsels in distress. You can say they have had something interesting happen to them, but without exception they would have preferred not to have experienced it.”