Chapter 57

Almost the second I moved into Hawk’s house the sadness settled on me, again. It was like a light blanket covering my head and arms that made everything I did seem to take three times as long and wear on me four times as much as it should. Charger sensed my sadness and stayed very close. His constant presence was a comfort and a reason to keep moving.

We walked.

Charger and I walked the beach on that island for hours and hours. He loved to chase birds, play with stray balls left behind by children and generally be a puppy. His antics gave me endless hours of pleasure.

We were walking the day everything changed, again.

It was a Friday afternoon. The sky was perfectly clear. It was hot, but the breeze cut through the heat and humidity, making it just manageably comfortable. Charger and I left shortly before lunchtime and headed south, so that by the time we were walking home the sun would be behind us instead of in our eyes.

My thoughts that day were a jumble of things and lot of nothing. Over the course of five miles, or so, my mind reflected on the many lives I’d lived, the two times I was President, my season as a baseball star and the many and varied women I’d been with. Those women were so much on my mind that I could almost feel their skin and smell their personal fragrance.

Each of my former loves brought much to my life, but took even more when they left. The fury I felt when Beth Ann was killed, matched the dark anger that drove me to revenge Benjamin’s murder. When Rebecca ended her life, the pain was staggering, but each time there were others in my life to help me make the transition. This time the loneliness was my personal demon. It ate at me and wore though my defenses like a never-ending wind that cut and ripped non-stop at my soul.

If it weren’t for Charger, I wonder if I’d have found the courage and strength to go on. He needed me because I provided those things he couldn’t live without. I depended on him because his love was without conditions, demands, or frustrations. We were rarely separated. If I went somewhere he went, too. When I settled down on the bed to read, or watch a ball game, he jumped up and cuddled.

It was what he did.

God or the universe provided him for me, because I needed him. God or the universe knew things I didn’t and never would.

God or the universe knew what was coming and didn’t bother to warn me...

Thanks a lot.

Charger and I had loitered through the winter and spring, waiting for something to happen. The laziness was welcomed after over twenty years of non-stop service at high levels of stress. Charger loved having all of my attention. I can honestly attest that we were never apart for more than a few hours all that time.

Then came the hurricane...

... Hurricane Samuel was a bitch...

... or a bastard...

... or something mean ... like really mean.

Hawk’s house was built to withstand far more than Samuel was going to throw at us. With over a week to prepare, I covered all openings with the concrete shutters and door covers, thoughtfully provided by the Dryden’s. I sent the yacht north, out of danger and systematically cleared the property of anything that could be turned into a flying projectile.

While all this was going on I took stock of my appearance. Since leaving office I let my hair grow to change the way people saw me. With the longer hair I added a two day growth of facial hair to further obscure my appearance. Added to that were clothes picked to make me seem a non-descript as possible. Someone would have to know me to think I really was Thomas Morrison.

Once the building was completely secure, Charger and I took the Mercedes AMG GLS 63 SUV that came with the house and headed north and west to avoid the storm. We left Fort Lauderdale around eleven in the evening, two days before the projected landfall and had a rather pleasant ride.

By nine A.M. we were well up into Georgia, on Interstate Seventy-Five, headed for the mountains. I was tired and Charger seemed to be ready for a respite, so I used my iPhone to find an available hotel suite that would accept pets and got lucky. We slept until evening, with a few forays out for Charger to acclimate himself to the local grassy areas. With no-where to go and no one to see, I decided to keep the suite and let the storm do its thing, then head home.

Could have been a mistake...

... or great decision...

It depends on your frame of mind.

It was late on the second night after we left Fort Lauderdale. The storm was battering the beaches with high winds, strong waves and lots of beach erosion. Most folks had intelligently heeded the warnings, but the ones that stayed weren’t prepared for the hell that Mother Nature decided to bring to Florida.