Chapter 21: The White Witch of Walden - Perception and Reality

THE STRANGEST NIGHT CONTINUES

"Brenda, I want answers! I want them now! What was all that about, back in the tent?"

We were on our way from the campground to the hospital, which was about a twenty minute drive. It had taken us only ten minutes to break camp. The tent was a wet, muddy mess, but everything else had stayed miraculously dry. Well, everything except Maxine. We'd spread a sheet over the back seat to protect it, but the truck smelled strongly of wet dog. Right now, however, I wanted desperately to make sense of the evening's events. I waited for my pretty wife to answer me.

"I'll tell you the truth, Freddy, but you're not going to like it..."

"Why not?"

"Because it won't make sense to you. I think that that's your biggest trouble in life. You believe there must be a reason for everything. But some things just ARE. Some things just HAPPEN. If you don't have faith in that, you can spend your whole life looking for answers that aren't there."

"Tell me," I ordered firmly.

She sighed. "I told you the truth about the dreams. Dee told you the truth. But... I think there's more to it. I think that, though the dream was Willie's, it was Dee that linked into it, somehow. I think that I was just sort of along for the ride."

I started to say something, but decided against it.

"Dee seems to have some sort of... connection with Willie. You can see it if you look closely." She paused to let that sink in. "She has a connection with me, too, Freddy. You MUST notice it. It's... sort of weird; but really, really nice, too. It's almost as if we... sort of... merge. But I don't think I have much to do with it. I think Dee makes it happen. It's just that it can't happen unless there are two, so it happens to both of us. Does that make sense?"

I didn't trust myself to answer.

"And when she does it... when we do it... I... I can feel what she feels." She seemed to be struggling with herself, afraid to reveal more. "I can feel the baby, Freddy."

"Aw, Brenda..." I couldn't keep the sadness and concern out of my voice.

"I know. It doesn't make any sense. You don't believe it. You never will." She was silent for a long minute, building herself up to continue. "It doesn't really matter if you believe or not. But somehow, someway, she was able to see into Willie's dream, into her life. And we saw her death, too."

"Death?"

"The tree. Last night, we saw the tree kill her. It was awful! Terrible!" She shuddered. "But Dee thought that if we could somehow... connect with her again; connect with her just as it was happening, then we could make her... move. Move out of the way of the tree. And... and... I guess it must have worked."

"Why did you want to have sex with me so badly?"

"It only happens when we have sex. The dreams, I mean. They always come just after she and I have sex. Sometimes I come so hard that I fall asleep right away. Or maybe I pass out or something. Anyway, that's when the dreams come. So Dee decided that our best chance of connecting to her would be during sex. She seemed to know exactly when it would happen. I just did what she suggested."

"And did you see her again? Did you see Willie while we were doing it in the tent?"

She shook her head and blushed. "No. I didn't see anything. But I've got to tell you, Freddy: that was the best orgasm EVER!" She was silent, thinking back on it. "I mean... Golly! I'm STILL tingling!"

"Brenda..."

"I know, I know. You don't believe a word of it. But you wanted to know. You deserve to know. And that's what happened."

We were pulling into the hospital parking lot. Oddly, the night was still young. It was only 8:30. With all that had happened, it seemed much later. I parked as near the front of the building as I could, and we went inside. Brenda went off in search of Willie, but I had a premonition (correct, as it turned out), and visited the admissions department first. Sure enough, I learned that even though the doctors were recommending a 24-hour observation period in the facility, the hospital administrators wanted to discharge Willie immediately because she evidently had no insurance. The ambulance service was on the hook for $750, as well. They didn't want to disclose any of this information to me until I pulled out my checkbook. Once again, the old adage was proven: the American medical establishment will give you the best treatment money can buy.

It took me awhile to find them. I'd paid for a private room, and they were moving her. By the time I walked through the proper door, I found an intern giving Willie an injection.

"That will help you sleep," he told her, then smiled at her (it was more of a grinning leer) and walked out.

I bent over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "How are you, Willie?"

She put her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. "You saved me! You're my hero!"

"Aw, shucks, ma'am." I gave her my best bashful cowboy routine. "How's the arm?"

She flexed her hand. "It's slightly stiff, but they tell me there are no broken bones."

"I'm sorry about your husband, Willie."

"Don't be, please. I didn't love him. I hated him!" She watched the shock register on my face. "I belong to you now, Frederick."

I shook my head. "I don't know what in the world you mean. You said that once before. It didn't make any sense then, either."

"Well, you see, it's just... just that... that... OH!"

She sank back into the pillows at the head of her bed. She blinked her eyes slowly once or twice. "Oh! I'm suddenly... suddenly... very... sleepy."

"It's the injection they just gave you. You'll sleep for a long time."

"NO!" she said emphatically, sitting up, swaying, and then falling back into the pillows. "No! I must tell you something first. You must get my cards! You have to save my cards... Please!" Her eyes rolled. She struggled to keep them open. "My keys... in my... pocket."

Dee went to a closet, picked up a pair of torn, grimy denim shorts, fished around in the pockets, and eventually held up a key chain.

"There's an address on the tag... You must... go there... and... get my cards. I must... have... my... cards."

I bent over her and put my hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, Willie. We'll go there first thing in the morning and get your cards."

"You... should... There are... boxes... under... the... bed. You should... keep... them." She was fading fast.

"Okay. We'll get the boxes, too." I watched as she struggled to stay awake. I couldn't help it. I looked directly into her powder-blue eyes. "We'll bring your cards and the boxes. But now it's time to go to sleep. Do you trust me?" She nodded with effort. "Good. Now, look into my eyes. Sleep is coming. I'm going to count to three, and when I say three, I you will surrender to the sleep. Just let the sleep take you. You will have very, very pleasant dreams. Trust me. One... Two... Three."

She closed her eyes and slumped heavily into the pillows, fast asleep.

We stood around her bed, just looking at her. I can't begin to describe how beautiful, how innocent, how (Lord help me!) desirable, that young girl looked. Finally, I tore my eyes from her.

"Brenda, I want you to stay here with her tonight."

"Okay, Freddy." She walked to the bed and began tucking the sleeping girl in.

"Me, too!"Dee said emphatically. "I'm not leaving her!"

I turned to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Dee, what are you?"

She blinked. "What?"

"What are you?" I asked again in my most serious voice.

Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she cast them demurely, submissively downward. "I am your slave, Master."

"You will obey me."

"Yes, Master."

I allowed my voice to soften. "We need to think of your health, Dee. And the baby's. You'll sleep in a bed tonight."

"Yes, Master."

"But not OUR bed." She looked up, confused. "We're driving south, toward the city. We're going to get Willie her cards."

Dee gave a little shriek of delight and hugged me around the neck. "Yes, Master!"

I got Brenda a pillow and a blanket from the nurses' station to make her night on the room's only chair a little more comfortable, and then Dee and I left. I walked Maxine around a small patch of lawn at one end of the building, rubbed her down with another towel, and we all got back in the truck. It was a couple hours to the city, but I stopped a little short, since the suburban area indicated in Willie's address incorporated a large area. The motel was old, but the rooms were clean. It was after ten now, but it felt like I'd been up half a lifetime, and that bed looked very tantalizing. We had to leave Maxine in the truck (no pets allowed). Dee and I stripped and shared a long, hot shower, then climbed under the covers. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

HOME (NOT-SO-) SWEET HOME

I'd left a wakeup call for five-thirty. Dee brewed a small pot of coffee (provided in the room), while I walked next door to a gas station to buy pastries and a detailed map. It took me several long minutes of study before I could locate the street name indicated on Willie's key chain. It was in a very small subdivision containing numerous short, minor streets. I carefully plotted our course, fed the dog, finished my second cup of coffee, and we were off. I was expecting a house, or maybe an apartment. It was instead a small single-wide mobile home in a trailer park, sandwiched among hundreds of others, the units separated by only a dozen feet on either side. This one was much shorter than the other homes, and we drove past it twice before we figured out which one it was.

Once again, I left Maxine in the truck as Dee and I climbed the short set of metal stairs to the front (and only) door. It was still before seven a.m., and either no one was about this early, or they just chose to ignore us. The key fit the lock, and we went in.

The walls were a sickly shade of green, and thin wooden strips were spaced along them. I happened to know that this is a very prevalent feature in mobile homes. They cover expansion joints, which allow the walls to flex as the unit is being towed on the highways. A naugahyde couch was built into one wall, and it faced the only table in the room, the dining table, I guessed. This small room obviously encompassed the duties of living room, dining room, kitchen, den, and everything else except the bathroom and bedroom, which lay behind a partially open sliding door at the far end.

Dee started crying. "She was so ALONE here!" she whispered through her tears. I had to agree. There was no TV, no radio, and evidently no books. I opened the top of a small chest of drawers, and immediately came across an amazing find. It was a small, flat mahogany box, about four inches by six, and maybe three inches deep, inlaid with ancient signs of the zodiac all around its base. The top was varnished and hand painted with a great deal of skill: a picture of a woman in a sheer robe, her luscious body clearly visible beneath, an aura or halo surrounding her head. It was absolutely exquisite.