Solstice - Of The Heart (17 page)

It didn’t change Cherrie’s
outlook.

“You didn’t finish telling me about
your day.”

Okay. Change of subject. I went with
the flow.

“Was horrendous.”

“Oh, yeah. You mean Mr. God-man’s
walking you to school was horrific?”

“No. But he did lie to me. He told me
he was going home for lunch to shovel snow.”

“Got a bit of news for you, girl. All
men lie to their women at some time or another.”

“That’s a given. He did tell me later
he didn’t go home because it stopped snowing.”

“See. And they always have the perfect
excuse too.”

“But you’ll never guess what I saw him
doing in the halls.”

“Kissing another girl.”

“No, but now that you brought it up,
he will be going lip to lip with another girl.”

“Okay, what am I missing here? You’re
not freaking out.”

“It’s for the school play. He’s
playing Romeo.”

Cherrie chuckled. “That’s a laugh. The
stud playing Romeo. You know he’ll have to wear tights and cut his
hair, don’t you?”

“They’re not going to make him cut his
hair.”

“But he’ll have to wear
tights.”

“I can live with it.”

“So what did he do in the
hall?”

“I saw the three of them, Aaron, Beau,
and Bel, walking through the halls, touching people.”

Cherrie’s face turned
somber.

“And everyone they touched... well,
they seemed to wilt, like they had lost their energy. And then
later a lot of kids turned up sick.”

Cherrie swung her legs off the bed.
She came and sat down in front of me on the floor.

“Julissa” (she never calls me that!)
“you can’t go hiking with this guy.”

I moved to the floor beside
Cherrie.

“I know what you’re thinking, but he’s
not dangerous. I had him touch me in Biology class. I didn’t feel
any different after he did it.”

“No. Not that time. But what about the
next time? What about the time when it’s either him or
you?”

“You’re going to have to help me out
here. I’m having a hard time understanding what’s going on. I can’t
even keep my head straight anymore. For god-sakes, I even kissed a
teacher today.”

“You did what?”

“Kissed a teacher.”

“Where?”

“In Art class. In the back. We were
building a kiln.”

Cherrie tapped her lips and raised an
eyebrow.

I nodded.

“You kissed Joe Leach on the
lips?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t like you’re
thinking.”

“No? Like you didn’t actually touch
his lips?”

“I did, but it was more like a
daughter-father thing.”

“I’m sure Mr. Whittinghill will take
that into account when they fire Joe Leach.”

“You don’t think they will, do
you?”

“Anyone see you?”

“Maybe.”

“Swell. Who?”

“Kevin Staufer.”

“Don’t know him.”

“He’s Lindsay Richard’s
boyfriend.”

“That doesn’t help. You think he’ll
tell?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if he
actually saw us.”

“You’d better think of a story, girl,
or Joe is history.”

“What can I say? It just
happened.”

“Best you can do, and I hate to bring
this up, is tell them you miss your dad and you flipped so you
kissed Joe instead. Act crazy.”

“They’ll send me to
counseling.”

“Better than Joe sent packing. I like
him, you know. He’s the only teacher that treated me with respect.
And as long as you’re acting crazy, you tell Aaron you can’t go
hiking with him. He’ll understand, because, like I said, you’ll be
acting crazy.”

“I don’t understand why. Aaron is not
going to hurt me.”

“You got that right. You don’t
understand. He may not have a choice.”

“Why? What are you saying? You’re
telling me Aaron can’t control himself?”

“Not always, I’d bet.”

“Well, I’ll just have to go and find
out.”

Cherrie jumped to her feet.

“Then go and get yourself killed if
you want!”

“Cherrie! What are you talking about?
Aaron’s not going to kill me. Why would he do that?”

“I just told you. He may not have a
choice. He may not want to, but if it comes to him dying or you
dying, he’s got to choose himself.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m dead serious. Sorry, poor choice
of words.”

I rose to my feet and circled Cherrie
in order to get a better look at her face. I had never seen the
look she showed. It looked cold, lifeless, the one you see on
people who are facing overwhelming dread.

“What’s wrong, Cherrie?”

Her lower lip trembled. Her eyes
watered. She shook.

“Ah, Cherrie.”

I pulled her in close. Hugged her.
Stroked her hair. I could feel her pain.

“What’s wrong? Why are you
crying?”

She put her mouth to my ear. In an
almost inaudible voice, she said, “Bernard killed
grandpa.”

I pushed her back. I looked into her
eyes. They weren’t lying. There wasn’t any room for deceit. I could
see her soul filled to overflowing with anguish.

“How? You mean your grandpa?
Garl?”

Cherrie nodded.

I pulled her over to the bed and sat
her down.

“We’ll have to tell the police,” I
said.

Cherrie groaned. Tears rolled down her
cheeks.

“You don’t understand.”

“Well, then tell me.”

“When was the last time you saw my
grandpa?”

“Cherrie, I’ve never seen your
grandfather.”

“Exactly.”

The realization came slowly, like a
serpent weaving its way into my consciousness.

“He’s been gone a long time, that
it?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t tell
anybody?”

It was mumbled, but I heard her say
“No.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t you tell
someone?”

“He told me not too.”

“Bernard told you not to?”

“No. Grandpa did. After I took him to
the shack to die.”

“Okay, you lost me again. Why don’t
you start from the beginning.”

“It happened last summer. A year ago.
Garland...”

“Garland is Garl?”

“That’s my grandpa’s full name. We
just called him Garl for short.”

“So how did he die?”

“Remember I told you Garland was one
of the story tellers.”

“Yes.”

Cherrie pointed to the Lemurian
book.

“He read a lot. He knew a lot from
what was handed down to him from the old timers. He knew JC Brown
personally.”

“And who’s that?”

“Grandpa said JC Brown’s real name was
JB Body. Few knew the history. Grandpa was one of them.”

I looked puzzled so Cherrie filled me
in.

“Grandpa said Brown claimed he had
found a hidden tunnel on Shasta while prospecting for a mining
company in nineteen-thirty-four. He told grandpa and a few others,
that some miles—I think he said eleven miles inside the mountain—he
found a huge cave big enough to hold a village. He claimed it had
streets and it was filled with all kinds of ornate things made of
gold and copper including spears and glass that wouldn’t
break.”

“Sounds like a fairy tale.”

“He also said he found skeletons. They
were large. If I remember right, grandpa said they were ten feet
tall.”

“Is that why Bernard killed him
because Garl was fabricating these stories about the
Lemurians?”

“
No. They were friends.
They’d hang out together in Billy Goat’s Tavern. They didn’t drink
much. Usually. Just a couple of guys passing the time, telling
stories.

“Two old lonely guys, huh?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what exactly
happened, but Garland told me he and Bernard got in an argument in
the bar. Garland told me Bernard tried to walk away. He defended
Bernard, saying it wasn’t his fault. He said, ‘I pushed him into a
corner’. Grandpa could get pretty mean after a few
drinks.”

There was something Cherrie wasn’t
saying. Thoughts of Cherrie being man handled by Garland entered my
mind, but I wasn’t about to ask the question. Not now,
anyway.

“Garland said he was pissed because
Bernard turned his back on him. He followed Bernard out to the
parking lot. Garland told me he yelled at Bernard, cussing him out
for not being a good friend. He kept telling me it wasn’t Bernard’s
fault. Bernard hadn’t been to the mountain in weeks. He was running
low on life-force. Growing weaker.”

I had a feeling I knew where this was
going.

“Garland said he took the first swing.
‘Nearly knocked Bernard’s jaw off’, he said. Bernard fell back.
Garland reached out to stop his fall. That’s when they locked
hands.”

Cherrie stopped. She looked down. Her
lips convulsed.

“Grandpa said it only took a second or
so. He fell to the ground. He thought he was having a heart
attack.”

I held Cherrie and massaged her
shoulders.

“It’s okay. Go on. You said you took
Garland to a shack. Why?”

“Yes, the next day.”

“So he didn’t die.”

“Not then. But he was, as he put it,
beyond repair. He said there is a point of no return and he had
reached it. I told him I would take him to the hospital, but he got
mad. Told me if I did I’d wind up in some orphanage. He scared the
shit out of me. I could see he was dying, and fast. We drove up I-5
into Oregon.”

“Where you left him in a
shack.”

“He said it’s where he wanted to die.
He went fishing there when he was a kid. Said there weren’t any
shallow fish in the lake. All deep water.”

“How do you know he died?”

“Because I waited and watched. I saw
him die.”

“You just left him there. You didn’t
tell anyone?”

“He told me not too. He said no one
knew about the shack. It’s a tiny shed tucked way back in the deep
of the forest off the beaten trail. I couldn’t find it now even if
I wanted to. The only way I found it the first time was he showed
me. I don’t know how I found my way back out. He told me to go
home. To act like nothing happened. He told me to tell absolutely
no one.”

I looked around at the basement. Not
much to look at. Not even a TV or computer.

“What’s upstairs?”

“Don’t know. Been awhile. Try not to
go up there.”

“No one asks about your grandpa? How
he’s doing? Where he’s at?”

“Grandpa wasn’t a social bug. People
don’t miss old men.”

“How’re you living, Cherrie? Who pays
the bills? I mean you got to have some money.”

“I do. I pay the bills. It’s the one
thing Garland told me to do. He said to sign his social security
checks and deposit them in the bank. I’d been doing the deposits
for grandpa before he died, so no one at the bank questions
me.”

“This is unreal.”

“Yes, it is. But it’s also very real.
I’m not lying to you. Bernard killed grandpa. He didn’t want to
according to grandpa. But it happened anyway. Bernard lost control.
That’s why you can’t go with Aaron on a hike.”

“You think he might suck the
life-force out of me.”

“If the right circumstances present
themselves.”

“What are the odds of that happening?
I could be struck by lightning first.”

“All I know is if Bernard could do
what he did to my grandfather and, if it is true like you say,
Aaron pulled the LC off the cliff, made a pig come to life, and can
talk to others through, what did you say? A walnut? Then he has
powers beyond what any of us can understand. The question is; is he
capable of controlling those powers and do so one-hundred percent
of the time?”

I thought about what Cherrie said for
a minute.

“I’m willing to take the
chance.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to get to know him.
I’ve never felt so excited about another person in my
life.”

“That life being sixteen years. You
got plenty of life left to meet and get excited with a lot of
people. Don’t blow it on this guy.”

“You think Aaron is
Lemurian?”

“If he has the gift to be doing what
he is doing, yes. Grandpa said Bernard once told him he was a
direct descendant of the Lemurians and there are others and they
all were born with the ability to do things us regular folk could
never do. But he didn’t believe him at the time. All the old timers
here in Mount Shasta tell stories about the Lemurians and the
village beneath Shasta. It’s common folklore. So Grandpa dismissed
it as Bernard one-upping everyone else.”