Chapter 8

Both men got out of the Navigator. The other guy looked familiar. Perkins came up to me first and took my hand in both of his, holding on while he said, "What did you decide?"

"I'll be happy to do what you ask. I reserve the right not to lie about anything."

He pumped my hand. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

He let go and held out his had to the other man. "This is Rob Andrews. He writes for the Gazette."

Andrews held out his hand and shook mine. He held up a small tape recorder and said "Do you mind?"

I shook my head and then he said, "I remember you. I did a short interview with you when the baseball team made the playoffs."

"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar. Too bad we lost the first game."

"Maybe this year," he said.

"We'll see. We lost some good guys when they graduated last year."

"Well, you aren't doing too bad this year. Four and one, isn't it?"

"Sorry, Mr. Andrews, I have no idea. I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to sports this year."

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry. You've missed the whole season, haven't you? How does that make you feel?"

Just that fast and he was in interview mode. We sat on the porch swing and just talked for over an hour. It was close to ten when he ended off. Somehow, when Perkins gave me the keys for the pickup, it didn't bother me that they'd taken a half hour more than I promised.

The interview went well. I didn't mention powers or special water and my memory was still hazy when it came to exactly where the cave was. I also didn't point out that I'd bulked up and was stronger than I'd ever been. If people noticed I was bigger, there wasn't a lot I could do about it. But I wasn't about to point it out and get questioned to death about it. Frostbite, gangrene and infected legs didn't get mentioned, either.

Once Bev gave her last name, it didn't take long for him to figure out that she was Jimmy's sister.

"How's your brother taking all this? How was he when it seemed Val wasn't coming back and how did he react when Val showed up all of a sudden?"

"My brother's an asshole. He was pissed off that they took his gun away from him and I don't think he gave a damn that Val was lost and maybe dead. I haven't talked to him since Val got back, so I have no idea how he feels about that. Probably nervous."

"Why do you say that?"

"If he hadn't been stoned and acting like a damned fool, Val wouldn't have ended up in the river. It's my brother's fault that Val was lost for all that time."

I looked at her and said, "Don't hold back, Bev. Tell him how you really feel."

She stuck her tongue out at me and our two guests laughed.

That was pretty much it for the interview. I got the keys and Perkins took the chains off the truck so I could back it off the trailer. It had 2.3 miles on the odometer when I started it up. There was a CD changer, six speaker stereo and it had that new car smell. Four wheel drive, heavy duty heater, tow package, A/C, power windows. I could live with this.

I got out of my new truck, we all shook hands and Perkins gave me a cell phone number. "You have them call me when you get to the cash register and I'll give them a credit card number. You're going today, right?"

"As soon as I can get two girls ready. Shouldn't be too long since it's shopping."

He laughed and shook my hand again. "Thanks, again, Val. You really pulled my ass out of the fire.

"You're welcome. I didn't say anything that wasn't true. I hadn't thought about it before you called, but I wouldn't have done as well in there without the training I got from your classes. I might not have made it out."

Andrews had his tape recorder out. "That's going in the story," he said. "You can count on it."

They drove off. As soon as they turned around and started down the driveway, Vicky was out the door like a tornado. "HA HA," she said, then held her fist up. Bev hit fists with her.

"What?" I said.

"Don't you remember?" Vicky said. "What you said about a ride?"

"No."

"You asked Mom and Dad if you could use one of their vehicles. You said your bike wouldn't work for all three of us. Then you said 'I wish I had something bigger.' Well, you got your wish," she said, pointing at the new truck.

"OK. So why the fists?"

"Because we knew something was going to happen the moment you said it last night," Bev said as she squeezed me.

"You don't know how hard it was to keep quiet when you told us about Mr. Perkins and his 'Special Prize.'"

"Well, I want to take it out and see what it will do. Are you ready to go?"

Bev said, "I have to go potty. Then we can leave."

"I can help you with that," I said.

"Don't be gross."

The truck was great. It had a bench seat that was split 2/3 of the way towards me for getting in the back. The back was more suitable to a dog than a person as far as I could tell. Bev sat in the middle, as close to me as she could get while letting me drive and Vick rode shotgun.

Nobody thought to bring any CDs so we were stuck with the radio. Both of them switched stations but it was like they had it all worked out beforehand, like it was choreographed. Nobody said anything when the other changed the station; there was no animosity.

We pulled into the mall lot and I parked in the back half of one of the parking rows. There were empty spaces on either side of me. I knew it wasn't going to stay pristine forever, but there's not reason to park near the front, where idiots will wait a half hour for a space. People who pull that shit don't care if they ding a car while getting out of theirs.

I'm a simple guy. I wear Levi's and T shirts. Levi's and winter shirts like Pendletons. Levi's and sweatshirts. I got two 3-packs of briefs since I already had three pair from the truck stop. What does a guy need with more than nine pairs of shorts? We swapped the boots for a pair that fit me and got a pair of work boots for kicking around in plus a decent pair of running shoes. A 12-pack of socks.

I was ready to quit when I had a little over $400 worth. Bev wouldn't let me. She dragged me into a store and had me try on a leather bomber's jacket, fur lined. It felt fantastic and the girls seemed to like the way it looked. That almost doubled the total and I was all set to say No when Bev told me I needed a coat or a jacket and we had up to $1000 to spend. "I bet there were times in the forest that you would have killed for a jacket like this."

I bought the jacket.

Vicky told me she was going to buy me a present for my new truck and took me into a music store. She looked around, then came back with a Barry Manilow CD and one by Barbra Streisand. "Which one?" she said. They both had a good laugh at my reaction and then she pulled out a Red Hot Chili Peppers and U-2. I didn't even have to choose because Bev said she'd get the one Vicky didn't.

We didn't want to go home right away so I took them over to Dairy Queen. It was still Easter Vacation so there were a lot of kids there. I got a lot of Ooohs about my truck and my being lost forever was a big topic. I don't know how many people asked what I was going to do about school. I hadn't given it any thought. Nobody had any comments about Bev and Vicky being with me. And they made it very obvious that they were both with me, the way they hung all over me.

Once we got home, the girls got busy. They laid all the new clothes out on my bed and started cutting off tags and labels. A load of jeans went in the washer, then they got a couple of trash bags and started emptying out my closet.

Each of them came down the hall with a full trash bag. Bev had my sheepskin over her arm, too.

"I'll put these in your truck and we can take them down to Goodwill."

"Whoa, wait a minute there, Little Girl."

"What?"

"Where do you think you're going with my sheepskin?"

"Val, it smells. I got you a nice new jacket. You don't need this any longer."

I noticed something white sticking out the top of Vicky's bag. I dug out my home made boots.

Vicky did look embarrassed, I'll give her that. Bev just looked stubborn.

"I suppose the head will be next," I said.

"You can keep it," she told me. "Out in the barn."

I grabbed the skin and held onto it along with the boots.

"First of all," I said, "These do Not stink. Second, they remind me of the fact that they helped keep me alive. I'd probably be dead if I didn't find the bighorn they came from. Third, they are a reminder of how powerful I became and they also remind me how dangerous I could be if I don't keep myself in check. The two of you will be given to Goodwill or put out in the garage before any of these are if I have anything to do about it. And you might as well know, this is a spanking offense." I looked Bev in the eye and she looked down. "Don't think you can get away with getting rid of any of this stuff while I'm not looking or you won't be able to walk for a week. And if you think I'm kidding, try me!"

Bev looked up and put her hands on her hips. "Real nice, Mr. Smart Ass. Just so you know, you just spoiled any chance you had of getting lucky!"

"As opposed to all the other times I've gotten lucky since we got together?" I shouted as I slammed the front door, got in my truck and drove off.

OK, I admit it, I overreacted. And now I was in a place that was hard to get out of if I didn't want to seem like a total wuss. Dammit, I wasn't going to allow them to completely pussy whip me. A guy's gotta have some dignity.

Gravel shot out from the back tires and I turned onto the road that passes our driveway. Our address is actually on that road, even though the house is ¾ of a mile away from it. A couple of miles later I came to the four way stop.

I was all set to turn left when I took a closer look at the car that was coming down the road from the right. It was going too fast to stop at the stop sign. It was also straddling the line between lanes by about a foot.