Chapter 9

Rolly's vision cleared and standing before him were two women with shocked expressions on their faces, one was his sister, Stephanie, and the other was an indian princess, or a cowgirl from heaven, he wasn't sure which. She had an angelic face, bronze skin, dark eyes, and a jet black mane of hair that flowed out from under a Stetson.

For some reason Rolly became self conscious of his half naked body and moved his arms to cover his chest and stomach.

"Rolly! Wha-What just happened?"

"Steph, what are you doing here?"

"We came to talk to you. What just happened?"

"Talk about what?"

"Rolly!" Stephanie stamped her foot. "What just happened? We were looking at the empty cabinet, then there was a swirling light and you walked out of it."

"I'm practicing a magic trick. Who's your friend?"

"Bullshit. It's some kind of secret Army thing, isn't it? We read the note you left on the table. Magicians don't leave themselves notes in case they get amnesia from a trick."

"OK, but you can't tell anyone. If they found out you knew, something bad could happen to you. Seriously, forget you saw anything. Let me go put on some clothes and then you can tell me why you're here."

Rolly grabbed the pile of clothes he had taken off twenty minutes and two months before and rushed to his bedroom to put them back on. When he returned, two very serious looking women were sitting on his couch.

"Rolly, it's not an Army thing. You took your clothes off to go through it and came back wearing a pair of expensive looking pajamas."

"Metal won't go through. I have to wear special material."

The other woman spoke. "You were wearing a metal chain with a pendant on it."

"That's the costume for the magic trick."

"The stone in the pendant was glowing."

"It does that; it's a little LED bulb. Who are you, by the way?"

"Rolly! Let me see your necklace."

"No, Steph -- who is she?"

"That's not a magician's cabinet, that's Uncle Rodney's. It used to be in the barn. I recognize it from when I came over here to help Aunt Mary."

"OK, it's Uncle Rodney's magic box. I wear the necklace and it takes me to another planet where I have sex with beautiful women and swordfight with medieval bad guys. Oh, and there's a hot tub."

"You're just making stuff up now. Show us how it works."

"After you tell me who this is, and why you are here."

"This is Rachel Fuentes, she's Tommy's cousin that Paula told you about over at Mom's."

Even after sorting through the list of names, for the life of him Rolly couldn't remember anyone saying anything about a cousin.

"Of course, nice to meet you Rachel, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Rachel has a horse that she wants to board."

"And you need me for this why? You have two empty stalls at home."

"This is closer for her, and Little Joe is here all alone now. We figured that since you have to feed and water Little Joe anyway one more horse won't matter, and Rachel will buy all of the food as payment."

Stephanie knew that he grew all of the grain and hay for the horses there, so he wasn't going to get jack shit out of a deal like that. The molasses he mixed in to make sweet feed cost next to nothing.

"I don't really see a problem with that. Have you guys taken a look at the barn? It's not as nice as over at home."

"No, we came in here first to get you."

Rolly took them out to the barn where they couldn't help but notice his unusual 'workout' equipment.

"Rolly, you told us you won't ever work for those people again. Why are you practicing?"

"It's just for self defense."

"From what? The only fights around here are between drunken high school football players. What are the big sticks and wooden swords for?"

"I'm thinking of going to one of those renaissance fairs next summer and competing."

"Oh, take me. That sounds like fun."

"We'll see."

In Earth time, Rolly had had more trouble with women over the past hour than he had in his whole life. He just wanted to relax and be by himself for a while.

"Rachel, when do you want to bring the horse over?"

"I'm headed back to Denver the day after tomorrow and then pulling the trailer back here. So, I expect the middle of next week."

"I'll be here, and if not you can leave the trailer over next to the hay bailer."

That evening, Rolly got a call from Paula.

"Rachel thinks you're gay."

"What! Why?"

"She said that you were buff, and groomed to within an inch of your life; and that you were wearing some sort of necklace, and sexy, expensive pajama bottoms. And that you barely noticed she was alive. She's used to guys falling all over themselves around her."

"I can see that, she's gorgeous. About the other stuff; I had just taken a shower and shaved, and the pjs were handy. They were a gift from an admirer a few years back."

"And why the cold shoulder?"

"I was half naked when she and Stephanie scared the shit out of me. Then we talked business and they were gone. Tell Rachel that anytime she is ready, just let me know and I'll do my best to talk her out of her panties."

"Hah! That's the brother we all know and love. Talk to you later."

Rolly didn't have any desire to go back to Chaos anytime soon. The way he had dealt with Crimson Jack's belongings had left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Traveling with Melanie and Jenna had been stressful and unpleasant, and then, Jenna had been the worst fuck of his life. Who would think that having sex with a beautiful woman twice a day would be something that a straight man could dread. The time would be well spent training and growing his beard back. He didn't like looking too good on Chaos.

Rachel moved her horse in on schedule; a buckskin gelding named Caesar. Rolly was the anti-metrosexual by that point; nearly a week's worth of stubble, grimy baseball cap, Carhartt coveralls, and rubber slop boots completed the picture. He made absolutely no attempt to be forward with the woman. In chatting with her he discovered that she was a new marketing executive for the big boot company in Topeka and was renting a place about fifteen miles away. He also found out that for someone who looked like she did she was very intelligent and down-to-earth. Rolly decided that she probably wasn't the type to settle down with a high school graduate farmer; and with his unusual private life it was probably best to keep her at a distance.

Rolly had asked that she call the night before to let him know when she would be out. Like clockwork she began calling every Friday and coming out the following day to check on Caesar. She would have a few words and maybe a cup of coffee with Rolly on the way in or on the way out, but Rolly never went riding with her and always seemed to be busy doing something else when she was around. Often he would be target practicing with an old-fashioned bow but never with any of the other odd things he had in the barn.

Rachel was curious about this strange man who's sisters swore was not gay. They said that he had been acting strangely ever since leaving the Army.

It is often difficult to sneak up on someone who lives on a farm. There is usually a long driveway bordered by open fields, and plenty of room around the house, so any car is heard or seen by people, or by the ubiquitous old dog that lives there. In town you can pretty much park in a driveway and walk around back to catch the owner unawares while he waters his garden. So Rachel didn't expect to snoop around the farm, just to visit him without being announced. She wasn't worried about offending Rolly, men never stayed angry with her for small things, even if they were gay.

When the weather improved, she decided to drop by the farm unannounced. It was on a sunny Sunday. She heard music coming from the barn, along with the sounds of wood hitting wood.

For the first time, she actually saw Rolly practicing. It looked to her like something she had seen in a campy Kung Fu movie. Rolly had multiple turntables rotating with boards and flails sticking out at all angles. Human shaped plywood cutouts would pop up every so often. Rolly would jump, and duck, and throw things, and swing chains, and stab with knives. He wasn't wearing either a martial arts outfit or any sort of costume. He had on a ratty looking, slightly oversized jacket from which he kept pulling weapons.

"Hello."

That nearly got a metal spike thrown at her. The only thing that saved her life was Rolly stopping before the release.

"What are you doing here?"

"Spying."

"You are not very good. Spies are supposed to leave without being found out."

"I needed more information so I decided to use my feminine wiles."

"Believe it or not, they didn't teach us how to resist feminine wiles in the Army. Got any sodium pentathol? Cattle prods? I can resist those."

"You're not training for a competition, or a reenactment."

"Is that a question?"