Eddy's Current (27 page)

He decided to do something he had never done before. He created a special, temporary category for Eddy that he named, “Probably Hopeful.” It was the first time he had ever categorized anyone in a positive way before meeting them.

River was unable to make the trip to the airport to pick up Briggs, so Eddy was elected to go there, with the twins in the backseat, and bring Briggs to River and Eddy’s small apartment. Briggs reminded himself again and again during the flight to be nice to Eddy. He was concerned that God would not be tolerant of any rude behavior toward her, especially in front of the twins. Twin toddlers were undoubtedly serious business to God. Briggs was determined to behave himself on the way back to River and Eddy’s place.

Briggs saw the sign in the side window of the SUV, “We’re Here for Sgt. Briggs.” He loaded his luggage into the hatchback, and got into the passenger seat. He quickly introduced himself to Eddy, turned sharply to his right, grabbed his seatbelt, buckled it, lifted his head and said immediately, “I know you. I know that I know you. You are familiar to me.”

Eddy didn’t know Briggs, had never laid eyes on him, and, of course, had no idea what he was talking about. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. River speaks highly of you. I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

Briggs removed a few pictures from his inside jacket pocket, took one look at them, looked again at Eddy, then put the pictures back. “Yes. No doubt about it. You remind me of someone,” Briggs said, as Eddy proceeded on.

Eddy and Briggs arrived at the apartment building. Albert had rented the vacant apartment next to River and Eddy’s for a week, to provide Briggs a place to stay while he was in Houston. Briggs carried River Jr. inside for Eddy. They entered the apartment just as River was driving into the parking lot.

Briggs gently laid River Jr. on the couch, looked up at the wall, turned slightly to his left and stopped, stock–still. “Where did you get that picture—the one of that baby?” Briggs asked Eddy, referring to an old picture of a baby hanging on the wall along with twenty–five other pictures of babies, children, River and Eddy at their wedding, and a few older adults.

“That’s my picture,” Eddy said, “if you’re asking about the one on the far left. That’s a picture of me when I was eight weeks old. I was in the hospital at the time.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Briggs said, as he continued to study the picture. “What was wrong? Why were you in the hospital? Was it Menkes disease?”

“Menkes disease, yes.” Eddy said. “But how could you possibly have known that?”

“Menkes disease!” Briggs exclaimed, as surprised to hear that it was actually Menkes disease as Eddy was to hear that he was able to determine the disease from looking at the picture. “It really was Menkes disease?”

“Yes. How did you hear of it? That can’t be. It’s extremely rare, especially in females. Babies who go undiagnosed might survive only a couple of years. I was tested at birth because of my family history, and I had its milder form, so I beat it. Survival rates are minuscule,” Eddy explained.

Eddy heard Briggs walking as she was talking, and she looked up just in time to see him open the door to leave. “Sargent Briggs, Sargent Briggs,” she called out, as he continued out the door without responding.

Finally, he turned back toward her as he was passing through the doorway. “I have to go now. I have to get to my apartment and get settled in,” he said, as he fidgeted with the envelope of pictures he had referred to before, when he and Eddy were in the car at the airport. “I have to go. I just have to go settle in.”

“Sargent Briggs, you don’t look good. Are you okay?”

“I have to go settle into my apartment.”

“Okay, but we’ll have dinner ready for you in about an hour.”

River came into the apartment a moment or so after Briggs left. “I’m starving. What would you like me to cook for dinner?” River asked Eddy, attempting to joke with her about cooking. Joking with Eddy about cooking was all he knew to do to help Eddy with cooking. River had no idea how to cook. His only real help to her for meals was that he was reasonably good at cleaning up afterward.

“Something strange just happened, River,” Eddy said.

“What’s that?”

“Sargent Briggs was just in here and he noticed my baby picture on the wall. He took one look at it and was able to tell from it that I had Menkes disease as a baby.”

“Wow! Maybe — no. No. There’s no way. Are you sure you didn’t mention it to him first?” River asked.

“No. I didn’t. He brought it up,” Eddy replied.

“I’ll ask him about it later, at dinner. Maybe he visits children’s hospitals in Montana. You know, dressed in his full uniform. The kids probably look forward to it. Maybe he ran across a baby in the hospital that had Menkes. You know that the disfigurement is similar on all people with Menkes. Maybe he met a baby with Menkes and the look of the disfigurement stayed with him,” River said.

“Little babies? I could understand if sick older children were visited regularly by troopers. Older kids would be impressed. It would really lift their spirits. But babies?”

“You’re always logical, Eddy. Let’s just wait and see if he brings it up again.”

Briggs returned to River and Eddy’s apartment to have dinner. All of them sat down at the dinner table to enjoy Eddy’s spaghetti, salad, French bread and store–bought pecan pie.

“How do you like Houston so far, Sargent Briggs?” Eddy asked.

“Please call me Mark. I like Houston. Thank you so much for having me here. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. It’s good to have you here. Have you thought any more about coming on with the USFIA?” Eddy asked.

River interjected, “You’re worse than I am, Eddy. I’ve been driving Mark crazy with my requests during the past few weeks. Now we’re both piling on him.”

“I don’t mind. I really don’t,” Briggs said.

For the first time in Briggs’ life he felt that he made friends. He had been close only to a few of his family members. Briggs had known very few friends that he could trust throughout the years. Most of his family members had died so he had been feeling more isolated in recent years.

In the short week during his stay in Houston, he and River grew to be close friends. Briggs also grew close to Eddy and the twins. His relationship with Eddy was odd, though. Their relationship was that of close friends, but it was more. It was not a romantic or sexual attraction, not at all. Eddy embodied all that Briggs had wanted his baby sister to grow into. It was as if God had handed Briggs a sister to replace the one God took home to be with Him so many years before.

Also, for the first time in twenty years Briggs found himself creating new categories. He needed one for Eddy and River and the twins that was unique. He didn’t want them to be corrupted by going into one of his many categories of stupid people.

From that point on, Briggs, River, Eddy and the twins were like family. Briggs liked that feeling.

It was Briggs’ third night in Houston. Eddy was nervous. She and River had spoken many times about her feelings regarding capital punishment. They had no choice except to talk about it again, this time in front of Briggs. They felt strongly that Briggs should not be caught off guard by Eddy’s plans to attend a protest rally against the state of Texas death penalty.

“We need to speak with you about something, Mark,” River said, as they relaxed at the dinner table well after the twins were asleep.

“Sure. If it’s about whether or not I’ll interview with Albert, I haven’t decided yet. Is he a man with good character, backbone and the guts to do what is right?” Briggs asked. “Can he take a stand?”

“Speaking of taking a stand,” Eddy said, taking advantage of her perfect opportunity to open the discussion. “River and I want you to know that I will take part in a protest against the state of Texas death penalty tomorrow. We didn’t want you to be caught off guard. I hope you won’t be offended by my participation in the rally.

“I belong to a protest group called Mothers United To End The Death Penalty Now. I’ve been a member for years, since well before the twins were born.”

“Why would I be offended?” Briggs asked.

“You’re a law enforcement officer. We figured that you would be in favor of the death penalty,” River said. “Or we thought maybe you would be against participation in a protest group, regardless of whether or not you’re against the death penalty.”

“Eddy, you plan to take a stand for something you believe in. That means you have guts and character to do what you feel is right. That’s really all we can ask of people, isn’t it?” Briggs asked.

The silence was awkward as River and Eddy considered what to say next. Briggs remained silent.

“How do you feel about the death penalty, Mark?” Eddy asked.

“The death penalty is the stupidest thing this country’s got going. I hate the death penalty. The government shouldn’t be killing its own citizens. I’ve studied the issue of capital punishment many times in depth and with great care.

“It’s simple. We’re killing the wrong people. We have innocent people on death row. How many more examples do we need? We convict people, put them on death row, then DNA evidence shows that they’re not guilty. How about a policy that allows for an accuracy ratio of ninety–nine to one? Ninety–nine times they’re guilty; one time they’re not. That’s great, isn’t it? One dead innocent man in order to kill ninety–nine guilty men. Nice.

“The whole thing’s stupid. How many more innocent people do we have to discover on death row before we get it? What time is your rally? I would like to go, except that I’m not a mother.”

River and Eddy were not certain if Briggs was serious. Neither of them knew what to say. River spoke first.

“Well, I’m not in favor of protesting against the government. That’s for sure,” River said. “The death penalty is a deterrent to violent criminals. It’s been proven. I’m in favor of it.”

“Prove it,” Briggs said, snapping back immediately at River.

“There’s proof,” River replied.

“There’s no such thing. There’s bogus report after bogus report. But there’s no proof,” Briggs said. “I’ve researched it. It’s not a deterrent.”

Eddy was nervous. She felt that she had been the cause of a disagreement between River and Briggs. “Let’s change the subject,” Eddy suggested.

“There’s no reason to change the subject. We can disagree. It’s fine with me that we disagree. We should be able to do that without any problem,” Briggs said. “When’s the protest rally? I really would like to go.”

31 May 2024. Mothers United To End The Death Penalty Now scheduled its protest rally to begin at four o’clock in the morning. The protestors planned to hold their rally outside the prison from four until noon. The state of Texas also had a schedule for today. Texas authorities planned to execute Donald A. Williams, Jr., with or without the rally, at exactly eight forty–two in the morning.

Williams was convicted of the murder of a friend of his. The two friends had gone on a three–day drug binge over a long weekend. According to the authorities, at five or so on the afternoon of the third day of their bender, Williams slammed Joseph Wenten’s head against the concrete curb on the side of the road, killing him. The prosecutor said that robbery was the motive. Williams denied it all, said he was harmlessly asleep inside his car. He claimed that Wenten must have wandered from the car, that he fell out the side door and slammed his head against the curb. Williams awoke to see his friend against the curb, bleeding from the back of his head.

Williams rushed to his friend, attempted to lift him from the curb, off to the side of the road, when a police officer came along and saw him “wrestling” with his friend. The officer testified that he had witnessed a struggle between the two, and that it was likely that Williams had slammed Wenten’s head into the curb during the struggle. Williams’ attorney said that the officer was extrapolating such a conflict from what little he saw of the incident.

Eddy and the other members of Mothers United To End The Death Penalty Now were appalled at the state’s decision to execute Williams. The rally was well attended by mothers and their children. The group’s protest did no good. Williams was executed as scheduled.

Participation in a public rally against the death penalty by the wife of an agent of the USFIA should have been understood by Eddy to be off limits. But it wasn’t. Eddy would not be deterred by her husband’s profession. It crossed her mind that she should hesitate to voice her opinion against the death penalty in deference to her husband’s law enforcement work. It crossed her mind and kept on going, right out of her head without causing her to hesitate to do what she believed in.

Eddy’s participation in the rally caught the attention of Tyler Peterson. Eddy may have believed that she shouldn’t hold back her feelings against the death penalty, but Tyler Peterson believed that she should keep her opinions to herself. Peterson didn’t care one way or the other about the death penalty, he just wanted to capitalize on the fact that a “USFIA agent’s spouse was speaking out against law and order,” as he twisted it.

Albert was not happy about Briggs’ stand on the death penalty. Nor was Peterson.

Briggs attended the protest rally then returned to Montana later in the week. He grew even closer to River during his last few days in Houston in spite of their differences about the death penalty.

Briggs decided that he would inform Washburn that he would retire on 31 December 2024. With accumulated vacation and sick time, Briggs’ last day would be 11 October 2024. He would have time to complete all outstanding work, he told Washburn, then leave his job knowing that he had given sufficient notice. Briggs returned regularly to Houston to be with River and Eddy and the twins. He stayed for several days at a time. They all enjoyed “family time” together. Briggs’ time in Houston gave River and Albert plenty of opportunity to incorporate him into the USFIA.

FURY

10 SEPTEMBER 2024