The Legend of Safehaven (13 page)

He looked at the lanky, Latino-handsome young man and smiled once more.

“You’ve matured into quite a man now, haven’t you Freddie. Are you treating Lilly well? How are your grades?”

His face turned pink at the mention of Lilly’s name.

“We’re both acing the grades, Tio.”

He turned toward Nancy.

“Could Lilly come for dinner tomorrow? Her father is away on mission, and her mother and sister are visiting relatives.”

“Certainly, Freddie,” Nancy replied.

Edison agreed. He liked Lilly. Too few young women understood electronics.

Tonio entered the room dressed in jeans and a red-flannel shirt. With sleeves rolled up and his shirt untucked, it gave him a carefree look, Galen thought.

That’s good. He’s learning
.

After hugs and handshakes, the three youngsters sat down together.

“We dropped off Fai and Akela on the way up. He said they’d all be over for dinner tomorrow. Can we handle the guests, Tia?” Carmelita asked.

“Of course we can, dear. Why do you think we wanted you all home? Everyone’s going to help.”

She laughed at the look on their faces.

How soon they forget
.

“Anything exciting happen here?” Freddie asked.

Tonio started to speak, but then he stopped himself, got up, and left the room.

“What’s eating him?”

The story came out, bit by agonizing bit. The two college kids sat shocked. Carmelita looked at Galen sitting there quietly. She had flinched when Edison told of how Galen had unhesitatingly killed one of the convicts. Then she remembered his unwavering determination that long-ago day on the island. He always did what was necessary, no matter what it took.

Brother and sister rose and asked to be excused. They headed to Tonio’s room and knocked on the door. Carmelita opened it. He was sitting at his desk staring at the wall.

“Little brother, Carm and I would like to go visit your friend with you tonight. Would that be all right?”

Freddie and his sister waited for a reply. They saw their brother’s head nod.

“Then it’s settled. We’ll head over there after dinner. I’m starved,” Freddie added.

Dinner was quiet. Maybe the group was saving up the excitement for the next day’s holiday festivities. Or maybe it was just the comfort of having everyone home again. Long-learned training took hold, as the young people stood up after dinner and helped clear the table. It was like old times, but the elders understood that soon all three would be living their own lives.

Growing independence or not, the three did not forget to pay their respects.

“Tios and Tia, we’re heading over to the hospital with Tonio to visit Betty,” Carmelita said. “Is that all right?”

“Go ahead,” Edison replied. “Give her our love. Just don’t blast that radio down the driveway tonight. Ben and Miri might be sleeping.”

The youngsters used Galen’s physician’s pass to park Freddie’s car near the hospital entrance. They took the elevator to the ninth-floor wing, where the special-pediatric and young-adult cancer patients stayed.

As they walked along the corridor, they saw the children in their multicolored hospital gowns, IV tubes hooked to either arm. Some were able to walk alone, pushing the poles carrying the fluids that were attempting to ward off the spread of disease. Others sat in miniature wheelchair/feeding-chair units, while the nursing staff tried to interest them in games or conversation.

And there were some, their doors open, lying there unmoving, their parents sitting vigil by their beds.

They passed two nurses, eyes wet, pushing a domed cart out of one room while the cleaning crew removed the debris of a failed code. They walked by the guest lounge, door closed, where they saw through the window a haggard man and woman sitting across from a clergyman.

“This is her room.”

Tonio pointed to a door numbered 903. Carmelita stepped forward and held her brothers back.

“You guys wait here. I want to go in first.”

She had brought along a small carrying case. She knocked on the door before opening it. The girl, her face drawn from the effects of the chemotherapy, tried to smile.

“Are you a new doctor?” she asked.

Carmelita approached the bed. She carefully put her hand on the girl’s arm and spoke gently.

“No, I’m Carmelita Hidalgo, Tony’s sister. He and our brother Freddie and I have come to visit you. I thought you might like to freshen up a bit before the guys come in. I brought some makeup with me.”

Betty looked at the beautiful young woman, and female understanding brought a smile to her face. Carmelita opened her case, examined the shades and scents she had packed, and showed Betty what she thought would match her complexion.

Twenty minutes later two very impatient males were admitted to the room, where Carmelita and Betty were talking like two sorority sisters. Tonio looked at Betty and flushed—she was gorgeous!

Freddie nudged his brother.

“I thought I was the only one with an eye for the good-looking ones, little brother. Lucky for you I have Lilly!”

“Come on, Freddie,” Carmelita said. “Let’s leave these two alone for awhile.”

“Call me if you need help, Tonio,” Freddie laughed, as his sister yanked him from the room by his elbow.

“She’s quite amazing, Tony. How did she know what to do?”

“She’s always known, ever since we were kids stranded on that island.”

“She told me about that. You guys really lucked out with the Edisons and Dr. Galen.”

“Yes, we did,” he sighed.

He looked at the bedside table and saw the small music box sitting on it.

“I asked Daddy to bring it in. And, see…” she held up her right hand, “I still have it on.”

He saw the silver friendship ring glowing from the reflected rays of the bedside light. He reached over, took her hand, and touched it to his face. She turned and kissed him.

The door opened and their brother walked out. He went to Carmelita and hugged her.

“Thanks, Carm,” he said, his eyes glistening.

The three rode home in silence.

Just as predicted, light snow spotted the ground on Thanksgiving morning. Galen got up early hoping for a quiet, predawn walk on the mountain. He had tried to maintain his lifetime habit even after closing his office in Northern Virginia and moving to Pennsylvania. The mountain weather here was harsher than the relatively mild climate of the Piedmont Plateau, but he had managed to adapt to it and continue his one concession to exercise.

He put on boots and took his walking stick—no telling if there were ice patches under the snow. Quietly he made his way out the back door and slowly trudged down one of the side trails that wound past the now-frozen, migratory-bird pond.

Wonder if the wolves are up and about
.

No, they were smarter than humans. They had enough sense to stay in their den when it was dark and cold. He continued walking, his boots making sharp, crystalline crunches in the shallow snow. The sky was brightening a bit, and the early dawn cast an amber glow over the leafless trees.

There was a strange scent in the air, not just the aromatic smoke from the many wood-burning stoves and fireplaces across the valley below. No, this was something else—something musky and wild!

With that thought he came to a full stop. He looked ahead and saw the large tracks in the fresh snow. These were big—bigger than the wolf paw prints he was used to seeing on the trails. He arrived at the lightly frozen pond and saw the cracks where something had attempted to drink at the edge.

Then he heard the snuffling noise behind him and turned slowly.
Urso americansis
, a black bear! He stood still, walking stick held tightly at his side.

Weren’t they supposed to be hibernating by now? Maybe not. Even with the snow, it had been a relatively mild autumn.

Suddenly Galen experienced a strangely giddy moment, his thoughts seeming ridiculous and sensible at the same time. He almost wanted to laugh out loud, as he thought about it. Ever since childhood, his nickname had been Berto, and as he grew older others had called him the Bear. Maybe, if the Indians were right, the bear was his totem—his spirit symbol—and it had decided to pay him a visit.

“So, what’s your name, Bear?”

Before he realized it, he had spoken out loud. His voice shook as he said, “Did you know that my nickname is Bear?”

The critter, undisturbed by the ruckus, sat on its backside and watched Galen. It was a full-grown male, about three hundred pounds of muscle. It brought its left front paw up, scratched its muzzle, yawned, and made a noise halfway between a groan and a belch.

“By all the gods that sure sounded like Baloo,” Galen laughed.

Then both turned toward the sound of crunching ice crystals and saw the wolves approaching, the alpha male on point, deciding whether to attack the ursine stranger. The bear rose up on its hind legs, standing at least five feet tall, a deep, rolling growl emanating from its throat.

Another giddy moment hit the old doctor. He raised his arms like Moses spreading the Red Sea and spoke to
lupus
and
urso
.

“Stop it, both of you! You will both live here in harmony. There’s plenty of room and food for you all.”

He caught himself.

What the hell am I doing? I’m talking to wolves and bears like that? I must be going senile!

Both bear and wolf were watching him now, so he stared back. The wolves calmed down and sat. So did the bear.

“That’s better. I’m going up to my own den now and get back into bed. I’m sure this is all an old man’s dream and none of you exist. Now…” and he laughed again, remembering the priest’s blessing at the end of mass when he was a boy,
pax vobiscum
.

He turned away from the animals and began trudging back up the path.

Better not say anything to the others. They’d probably have me committed for mental testing and blame it on the stress of the last few days
.

After all, he had killed a man, even though the police said it was justified. But in his soul he wondered.

Green lupine and brown ursine eyes followed his passage up the mountain.

The State Police car pulled into the driveway in front of the mountain home. A light dusting of snow sat on the wooden sign at the entrance, little mounds highlighting the letters.

All the occupants, save one, looked at it before opening the doors and stepping out into the crisp, wood-scented air. Lachlan and Diana got out first then helped Ben and Miriam. The two wolf-dogs jumped from the car and started to roll in the snow, before Faisal called out “Akela, come here.” The large male rose quickly and went to his master’s side, waiting until the young man stepped from the car and grasped his harness lead. The smaller, gray-brown female, nameless except in Ben’s mind, also rose and stood by her charge.

Ben had wanted to call the dog Irene but thought it might be regarded as a sign of disrespect for his late wife. And, besides, the wolf seemed to need no name or command. It was Miri’s shadow at all times, and the two seemed to understand each other on some level that other humans could not.

Faisal hadn’t seemed to need eyes to guide him for some time now. He ran up the steps to the door faster than the sighted could move and was met there with a hug from his friend Tonio.

“Wait till you hear what I’ve written for you, for all of you. It’s still in my mind, that is, I actually haven’t written it on paper yet.”

Faisal was so excited he would have rolled in the snow if he were a dog.

Ben led Miri up the steps. He carried a shopping bag with him and presented it to Nancy in the kitchen.

“Ben, you didn’t need to bring anything. There’s plenty here,” Nancy told him.

“This is special stuff, Nancy. Don’t tell Fai. It’s a honey-nut cake from a Middle Eastern bakery. A friend of mine from the force brought it back from Philadelphia.”

After exchanging greetings and hanging up coats in the hall closet, they all crowded into the living room. Edison had stoked the massive fireplace well. Nancy and Carmelita brought out trays of cups and a large pot of tea. Miri sat on the floor in front of the glass fire screen and stared at the flames hungrily consuming the wood logs inside. Her wolf companion lay next to her.

The youngsters listened, as Ben described the cleanup that had been done in Miri’s studio. Faisal stretched out his hand and placed it on Tonio’s shoulder, when he heard about Betty and their close call with the escaped convicts. And they were astounded to learn who the heroes of the escapade had been.

“Lem’s getting out of detox next week,” Galen said. “Ben, I’d like you and Edison to come with me when he does. I’ll talk with you about it later.”

“Dinner!” Nancy announced. “Everyone take your seats.”

They filed into the dining room and found places at the now-larger table that Edison had expanded to hold even more than the eleven who were present.

“Ben, why don’t you do the honors and say grace,” Nancy offered.

“I don’t know stuff like that, folks,” the old trooper stammered.

“You start it off, Tio Benny, and we’ll each add something. How’s that?”

Faisal grinned and waited for Ben to reply. Ben took a breath and began.

“Thank you, Lord, for reuniting me with my daughter. And for bringing friendships that exceed anything I’ve known since I lost Irene and Bandana.”

Each in turn added a comment until only Miri was left. As usual she didn’t appear to understand what was happening. Then she looked down at the wolf lying next to her. Nothing needed to be said.

When the dinner dishes had been cleared away, Tonio quietly walked into the kitchen, where Nancy was arranging the dessert.

“Tia, could I take some dinner to Betty?”

She saw in him the same love and devotion that she beheld in her Bob’s eyes, when he looked at her.

“Certainly, Tonio, I’m sure she’d like that. Are the others going with you?”

“No, just Fai. He hasn’t met Betty yet.”

She paused.