From a Distant Star (7 page)

Stepping down the back porch steps and into the yard, I called out, “Mack!” and headed toward the barn. During the day, Mack did double duty as pet and work dog, keeping wild animals away from the livestock. We didn’t get mountain lions in this area, like they sometimes did up north, but coyotes and foxes were not uncommon and even gophers, cute as they were, could burrow and do a lot of damage if kept unchecked. Out in the country, the
presence of a dog, even a friendly one, served as an added security system. “Mack!”

I heard a bark on the other side of the barn and followed the sound. As I got closer, Mack bounded out from behind the building, his tail wagging. He rushed up to greet me, and I rubbed behind his ears. “Why are you making me track you down, Mack? Can’t you just come when I call you?” I turned toward the house, thinking he’d follow, but instead, he took off again, this time heading for the field that ran along the edge of the property.

“Come here, Mack!” I yelled, but he didn’t acknowledge the command, and all I could do was watch helplessly as his back end disappeared into the tall grasses of the field. I sighed. Mrs. Walker was going to be annoyed if I took too long, and if I explained that it was Mack’s fault, he might be punished and become an outside dog for the duration of the week.

I took off after him, chasing him into the field of rocks and weeds. I was really annoyed now. It would have been so much easier if Mack had just listened to me in the first place. He’d always been an obedient dog, but Lucas’s illness had changed him, just like it had changed the rest of us. When your world goes wonky, all the rules get thrown out the door.

Even though it wasn’t that far, I was out of breath when I caught up to him. As soon as I got close, I grabbed his collar, determined to drag him if necessary. Anything to get him back to the house. But that moment, Mack looked up at me and whined, then pawed at an object on the ground. “What is it?” I wondered aloud, leaning over to take a look. It was circular, the size and shape of the metal covers they put over plates of food in the hospital. Mack nosed in closer too, and now both of us cast a shadow over the thing. I couldn’t quite get a handle on what it was made of and I couldn’t say exactly what color it was either. I’d seen tropical fish this color: a silvery greenish-blue that changed hue depending on the angle. I walked around it, watching as it changed color, sometimes looking
shimmery as the edges melted into the grass, other times almost camouflaged as it reflected the grass around it. If Mack hadn’t shown me, I might have walked right past it. The top of the object was circular and open, one side still attached, like the lid of a ketchup bottle. I couldn’t see anything inside, and I wasn’t about to stick my hand in to find out for sure.

Mack nudged it with his paw and I noticed that it sat at the end of a trail of flattened grass that went back several feet. I let go of Mack’s collar and followed the furrow, noting how it made a line that stopped and started like the thing had bounced before skidding to a halt and that’s when I knew. This was what Mrs. Walker and I had heard hit the ground the other night. In a second, my mind made all the connections and I was able to put together what had happened. This thing, whatever it was, had fallen from the sky at an angle, making the first boom. The echoing noises we’d heard came from the ricochet as it bounced and skidded along the ground. I’d been wrong in saying it sounded like it was behind the barn, but I wasn’t too far off. It had actually come down in the field next to it.

This is what the agents inside were looking for. Mariah and Todd. What agency did they say they were with? I strained my brain, trying to remember, but the most I could recall was that it was the National Something Safety Board. They were looking for pieces from a collision, they said, but that, I sensed, was a lie. This was no piece of aircraft. It didn’t have the jagged edges of something that had been torn apart. It wasn’t a piece of something; it was something all by itself. But what? I wasn’t an expert, but I’d been on this earth for seventeen years and I didn’t recognize the material it was made from. Nothing looked like this. Mack barked, breaking into my thoughts, and a second later, Mrs. Walker yelled from the back door.

“Emma? What’s the hold up?”

I yelled back. “Sorry, Mrs. Walker! I’ll be there in a second.”

She was impatient, I could tell, wanting to get these people out of her house so she could talk to the nurse and find out what the doctor said, and she also wanted to spend more time with Lucas, now that he was conscious and seemingly better. I understood, but I also needed more time. Mack circled the object and looked up at me. If I could read his mind I was betting I’d discover we were thinking the same thing. We had to hide this object. Hide it to make sure the agents wouldn’t find it. I needed more time to study it. Maybe Mrs. Kokesh would know what it was and the connection between this thing dropping from the sky and her potion and Lucas getting better. What had she said?
A
disturbance in the force?
Yes, that was it.
Star Wars
really got that one right.

I picked up the object, half expecting it to shock me or start vibrating or something, but it felt as solid and inflexible as Mack’s food dish. With the toe of my shoe, I scuffed up the flattened grass until it wasn’t as noticeable. Then I hurried off, Mack following me as I darted behind the new barn to the old barn.

The old barn was original to the property, over a hundred years old. It was tiny compared to the new barn, only about as big as a three-car garage. The sides were weather beaten but the structure was solid and the roof sound. Eric used it for whatever projects he was currently tinkering with. There were always car carcasses and engine parts inside. Anything Eric thought he might need in the future. He was a genius at bringing dead machines to life, but it all looked like junk to me.

I went around the back and pushed up the wooden bar that kept the door latched shut. The door in front was large enough to drive a tractor through, but this back door was for people, and I was able to quickly open it and slip inside. It was dark, and I didn’t want to wait for my eyes to adjust, so I fumbled around, finally setting the object on the floor behind the door. No one would stumble onto it and no one would look behind the door. It would be safe
there until I returned later. I left the barn as quickly as I could and Mack trotted alongside as I headed back to the house.

CHAPTER NINE

“Well, it’s about time,” Mrs. Walker said, as I came back with Mack at my side.

“I’m sorry. He was chasing a squirrel and wouldn’t listen. I had to go hunt him down.” This time I didn’t mind shifting the blame to Mack. I needed an explanation and this one was plausible. Still, I felt kind of bad when she roughly grabbed his collar and escorted him to the basement door. Mack dutifully clomped down the stairs, banished to the dungeon of the house where he’d stay until Mrs. Walker felt like releasing him.

The two agents stood in the kitchen, far enough from the back window that I was sure they hadn’t seen me follow Mack to the field and move the object. Todd, in fact, had his attention on the iPad, while Mariah was eavesdropping on what Nurse Nancy was telling Mr. Walker.

“Dr. Griffin doesn’t want to move him to the hospital just yet, but he did order lab work,” Nancy said. “I’ll be taking urine and blood samples with me today and dropping them off at the hospital.”

“Do you really have to draw blood?” Mr. Walker asked. He put his arm around his wife’s shoulders when she returned from disposing of Mack. “Poor kid has been through so much already.”

“Doctor’s orders,” Nancy said, like the doctor’s word was law. “But don’t worry. I’m very skilled at blood draws. I’ll make it quick.”

I seemed to be the only one who remembered about the agents standing in the kitchen. I didn’t like the way Mariah openly stared while listening to their conversation. This was about Lucas and it was none of her business.

I interrupted by asking, “Is it okay for the agents to go outside now that Mack is in?”

My question pulled them out of their discussion. Mrs. Walker’s head swiveled in their direction, looking like she just remembered they were there. “Oh yes, go on out,” she said.

Agent Mariah nodded, then pulled what looked like an ear bud from the underside of her shirt. A thin wire trailed down underneath. She moved her mouth closer and said, “The homeowner has given permission for a search of the property. Do a complete sweep starting from the back of the house.”

Mr. Walker looked startled. “I thought the two of you were going to be the ones looking.”

“Oh no, sir,” Mariah said. “We’re hardly dressed for field work.” She smiled. “Our team does this on a routine basis. They know what to look for and they’ll work quickly and leave your property undisturbed.”

Even as she spoke, we could see dozens of people, mostly men but a few women too, all of them in dark-colored clothing, coming up the driveway. A few of them held long-handled equipment in front of them as they walked. Metal detectors? I wasn’t sure.

“Who are all these people? Where did they come from?” Mrs. Walker asked, her voice incredulous. I wondered the same thing. They had to have been parked down the road, waiting for the signal.

“This group is part of our NTSB search team. They’re professionals, experts at recovering aviation wreckage.” Todd looked up from his iPad to talk. “With so many working together, we can
cover more ground. That means we’ll be on our way and out of your hair in no time. We appreciate your cooperation.” His speech sounded scripted.

“Well, I guess it’ll be okay,” Mrs. Walker said. “As long as it’s just outside and they don’t go into the barns. I mean, you wouldn’t have a reason to go in the outbuildings, would you, if you’re looking for airplane parts?”

Mariah didn’t answer, but spoke again into her communication device. “Team members, listen carefully. You are not to go inside any of the buildings. We do not have clearance for anything indoors. The barns are off-limits. Repeat, search the property, but do not go inside any of the buildings.”

Todd said, “Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Walker and Emma. We’ll be heading outside now to oversee the operation and then we’ll be leaving shortly.” He reached out his hand and Mr. Walker shook it.

Mrs. Walker saw them to the door, and watched as the pair walked back toward the others. “The operation?” she said. “First they made it sound like the two of them were just going to take a quick look, and suddenly this is a big deal with fifty people searching with equipment. It makes you wonder exactly what they’re looking for. You’d think we’d have heard about a plane collision.”

Mr. Walker shrugged. “Our tax dollars at work.”

Then Nancy announced that she really had to do the blood draw right away if she was going to drop off the samples before her next scheduled patient visit. We followed her into the dining room where Lucas and Eric were watching an episode of
Cosmos
on the laptop. Nancy opened her medical kit on the end of the bed.

“What’s going on?” Eric asked, pausing the show.

Lucas’s eyes followed me as I took my new spot in the corner and I gave him a grin.

Mrs. Walker ignored Eric and spoke directly to Lucas. “Lucas, honey, Nancy needs to take some blood before she goes.”

Nancy was all business at this point, taking Lucas’s arm and swabbing it with an alcohol wipe. The antiseptic smell filled the small room. He looked startled, but didn’t pull away. Outside, I heard the voices of the team calling out to each other as they swept the field. Would they notice the furrow? Maybe not, since the field was so big and I’d done what I could to stir things up. But even if they did see it, anything could have caused it—a farm implement, an animal, a wheelbarrow. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t arouse suspicion, but I did have another worry. Had any of those people seen me move the object they were now hunting for? I didn’t think so, but I couldn’t be completely sure. Trying not to look nervous, I wiped my sweaty palms on my shorts and focused on Lucas instead of my fears.

While Nancy cleaned her hands with sanitizer, she spoke to Lucas in that baby tone she used for anyone under the age of thirty. “Now, Lucas, I’m going to be drawing four vials of blood, but I’ll only need to do one poke. It will pinch for an instant and that will be it. And don’t worry about me taking your blood. Your body will make more.” She smiled broadly.

“I know this,” Lucas said and his family beamed at his response. I was glad he was getting better, but his speech was so odd. It was his voice and the same words he might have used before, but the intonation was like a Russian immigrant doing an impression of an American accent.

I kept thinking about how Mrs. Kokesh had said Lucas might come back different and I felt a pang of regret. I thought he might move more slowly or be not as quick-witted, but this was something else entirely. It was like he was learning to be Lucas all over again. How long would it take before he was completely himself again? I had said I’d be okay with anything, but the truth was, I wanted him how he used to be. I wanted us like we used to be. I imagined us parked in his car, his hands on either side of my face looking at me like he just couldn’t believe his good luck. I
remembered the smell of him as he came in from the fields slick with sweat and teasing me by holding out his arms for a big hug, me squealing and telling him to go take a shower. And after that, the long, luxurious kisses, the kind I wished would never end. We were constantly looking for ways to be alone. I knew the contours of his body and the feel of his skin, and even now the thought of him made my pulse race. Over time, we’d become more and more intimate. We were just a breath away from having sex when he became sick and then there was the diagnosis and the treatment. And the medicine to treat the side effects of the treatment. And it just got worse from there. We’d been through a lot, but now that it was going in the other direction, we’d have a second chance at a lifetime of happiness.

Nancy wrapped a rubber tourniquet around Lucas’s arm and flicked at his vein with her fingernail. He watched, fascinated, as she quickly slipped the needle in and blood flowed out. She filled four vials, and then expertly covered the needle with a square of gauze before pulling it out. “Lucas, could you hold the gauze in place, please?” Nancy asked.