The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by (5 page)

“Billy Speer, you have been hit by lightning, can somehow

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release bits of that electricity, and I’m starting to understand  how you do it”. I’m glad she has a clue, because I sure don’t.  “There have been reports of 3 other people, recently, having been hit by lightning, and survive, showing some of the  same abilities that you currently possess. The first one was  in Guatemala, he couldn’t be touched without shooting high  amps through everyone trying to help him. The electricity left his body within 24hours. The second one was from  Beijing, his powers left his body in 4days. The third from  Canton, Ohio, electricity stayed with this man for almost 2  weeks. You need to understand the government’s interest in  you as a possible asset, or weapon if you will. A special task  force has been formed to research, and investigate how the  body is able to retain so much electricity, of which I am one”.

The government thinks of me as an asset, or a weapon, the weapon part I can understand, especially after I eat  Taco Bell, you don’t want to be around me. I don’t suppose  that’s the type of weapon she was referring to. “I’m still all  sorts of confused, what would the government want me for”?  “These are troubled times in a lot of places Billy Speer, if  you maintain your abilities, you could be quite a useful force  in numerous situations. That brings me to the other part of  our talk that you need to be clear on”. A brief moment of  silence, which I was going to need many of, to even start to  absorb what Mattie was telling me. “What I’ve told you is  confidential, and I could even be fired for discussing this if  they ever found out……..But, I have also taken a new job.  The FBI is not aware of it, nor would I want them to be. I  will have 20 years with the bureau in 6 weeks, actually 2 days  after you turn 18, which is when they can legally do with you

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what they please. My new position is to make sure my previous employer doesn’t succeed with their assignment, and that  you are safe”.

I’m sure Mattie was trying to break it to me as gently as  possible, though I was not thrilled with the phrase , Legally  do with me as they please, just doesn’t please me. I had questions, quite a few actually, but could not get them out, I had  a headache, with the probability that it was not going away  anytime soon.

“As far as the bureau knows, I’m her for 6 weeks then  start collecting my retirement package. I’ll be in communication with the two outside in the van in the parking lot, but  also in contact with my new employer. I can’t stress this hard  enough, but if you are approached by those two in the van,  I’ll tell you about them later, make sure if the name Mattie is  brought up, make sure that you refer to them as your nurse  in the Hospital”.

“Tomorrow, family services will be here to take you to the  old coast guard site by the harbor. They have facilities set up  for those who will be of legal age soon”. She noticed that I  lowered my head. That news really hit hard, no parents, no  home, and I get to go live in World War II billets. Not what  I had in mind for my senior year in high school.

“I will be by every couple of days to check on you as  Nurse Mattie, to make sure you’re ok, and to remind the staff  of your needs. And when those 6 weeks are done, and you  turn 18, I’ll be there to make sure the FBI is lead in the  wrong direction concerning your whereabouts”.

That made me feel somewhat better, not much, but some.  “Do I call you Wendy, Agent Boling, or what”? “For the next

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6 weeks call me Nurse Mattie, then we’ll decide after that”. “I  do have one question, though, you said earlier that you were  starting to understand, my powers, or whatever you call this”.  “Billy Speer, I have noticed a few consistencies with some of  your outbursts let’s say, and the main constant, from what I  can see is your anger. When you get angry things begin to  fry, so we need to work on making sure to get ahold of that  anger, and try not to let it pop up, you know what I mean”?

“You mean, don’t let people piss me off, let it roll off like  water off a ducks back”. Mattie seemed pleased that I understood, or was starting to understand, as shown by her smile.  “Well that’s a strange way of putting it but yes, exactly that;  would that be a local phrase”? “My Dad’s, he used to say it all  the time”. I had a smile of my own.

“Before I leave you, is there anything you need, besides  more food”. It was like she could read my mind. “Well”, I  pointed to the TV in hopes she would turn it on and trust  me not to nuke this one. “Here’s where we start focusing on  your abilities. You want the TV on, make it come on, but  be careful, I can’t get another one in here”. Mattie had a sly  smile on her face, and winked as she left the room to retrieve  some more food.

I do enjoy a good challenge, though this one carries a bit more effort on my part, then compared to my last challenge, you remember the graffiti at Dairy Queen, and my Mother sure did. After a few moments of trying to plan my strategy for getting the TV on, I realized I didn’t have one. Trying to recall how I did it in the other room, I failed to jog any memory of that moment.

Let the showdown begin. Ok TV it’s just me and you.

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Suddenly glad I wasn’t saying this out loud, for I didn’t re-ally need any body coming in my room toting a strait jacket.  Bellevue party of one, ready for pick up. Looking around the room to make sure that I was indeed alone, I began my quest.  Staring at the TV failed to accomplish anything. Staring at it harder achieved the same results. Remembering what Mattie had said about my anger, about using it to my advantage but not going overboard, I decided to try to reason with it.
 
Ok  TV I want you to come on.
 
Nothing.
 
All you have to do is turn on and we’re both happy.
 
So much for reasoning with inanimate objects.
 
Turn your ass on before I nuke you to kingdom come!
 
The TV turned on quickly as if in fear, smart TV.

Mission accomplished, I didn’t get too angry though I still don’t get it. How can you just will something to hap-pen? I had so many questions but doubted that anyone could answer me. I’m hoping Mattie in time, would be able tell me what’s going on with me. I was going to need plenty of help.  My mind began to wander. First I wondered If I was being filmed, did anyone just see what I did with the TV. How about if they bugged the room, and could hear everything that Mattie and I were just talking about. I couldn’t help feel-ing paranoid, after what Mattie said.

Relax, that’s what I needed to do, I was giving myself a headache. The TV was on, so I got as comfortable as I could, and began watching…..Oh crap, Bonanza! Wondering if I would be able to change the channel in the same manner as turning on the TV was intriguing to me. It also sounded ex-hausting, and I was very tired. That would have to be a battle for another day.

Okay Hop Sing, what’s for dinner, I’m starved.

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8

I could smell
 
the cheeseburger long before it arrived, although it had a different type of alluring quality. It was a little closer, ah, ha! I knew that smell so well- Dairy Queen, even though the hospital version was palatable, this one I will savor every delicious bite, Yum. Excitement grew as I heard the crinkle of the bag as it and its carrier came through the door.

Danny Pinkins, my god, what a sight for sore eyes. His long blonde hair made him look more like an adolescent girl than a 17 year old teenager. The fact that he was maybe 5’5” tall and 110 pounds dripping wet also aided in the confusion.  I could see his smile as he made his way through the door-way. Danny’s smile faded quick as he turned to face me. His mouth hung open, without any hope of being able to close it, or so it appeared. His blues eyes went almost trance like, and  I was starting to question which one of us should actually be lying in bed.

After what seemed to be an eternity of silence Danny finally muttered, “Dude, your hair man, what the hell, how did it, I mean”. I held up my hand, for we’ve been through this routine before. Danny, being my best friend and all, was without a doubt the king of sentence fragments. I don’t be-lieve a fully formed thought ever made it all the way out of his mouth. I was kind of like, his interpreter. “Danny its ok, the lightning did this to my hair. If you think that’s bad you

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should see what’s left of my foot”, as I pointed to the puffy  bulge at the end of the bed.

“They told me what, you know, the room and where I  could find you, and being okay that I was here and, (he held  the dairy queen bag out) that you could munch on this, since  you not dying or anything, you’re not are you”? Listening to  him ramble on was just the medicine I needed, but one thing  you don’t want to do is to try and listen to hard to figure out  what he was saying, I’ve tried and it will give you a headache.  ‘No I’m not dying, and that does smell good (as I pointed to  the bag in his hands) so, you gonna make me suffer, while  you slobber down those cheeseburgers”? “Oh no, no , oh man  I’m sorry these are for you”. He placed the bag on the edge of  the bed, seeming to be hesitant to get near me. “Don’t worry  about it, I know the nurses, gave you a heads up before you  came, did they give you any rubber gloves”?

Danny reached down into his well-worn blue jean jacket,  and pulled out a pair of gloves, held them up as if he was going to catch something from them. “I was gonna you know,  put them on, but with you in here, I didn’t want to well”….  “Piss me off”, I interrupted. “Well yeah”. He hung his head  for a moment. “Don’t worry about it, a lot has happened to  me, and I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with it,  so don’t sweat it, pull up a chair and watch some Bonanza”.  That seemed to calm Danny down a bit as he pulled up a  chair fairly close to my bed.

Danny was watching TV but seemed more preoccupied  with the bulge at the end of my bed. “Why is, you know, your  foot all, well, all sort of like, bandaged”? “They said when the  lightning hit me, it blew my shoe off, along with a couple off

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toes. I’m supposed to get fit for some kind of walking boot,  until my foot gets better”. “No shit, blew off some toes, let  me see”. Danny started to reach down to uncover my foot  from the covers (he always had a soft spot for the macabre).  “No way dude, remember the rubber gloves, if you touch me  without them, you could get quite a shock, literally”. Having  a soft spot for the macabre myself, I pulled off the covers myself. “I haven’t even seen them yet, so let’s have a peek shall  we”? Seeing something gross and disgusting would always  put a smile on Danny’s face, and this was no exception, as his  grin was already kicking in.

I slowly peeled back the gauze they had wrapped around  my left foot. When I came to the final layer, I slowed up and  started feeling sick to my stomach. We took turns staring at  my foot and then back at each other. My last two toes were  indeed gone, and the remaining stubs were scorched black,  with what appeared to be dead skin. My trophy foot seemed  to please Danny, his only reply “Awesome”.

After a few moments of toe gazing, I started wrapping  the gauze back around my foot, I had seen enough, can’t say  the same about Danny. He sat back in his chair upon completion of my toe wrap, and said “You know when I first heard,  about the fire and all, I thought all of you, and you know  were……dead”. He softly trailed off by the time he got the  word dead. “Sorry about your folk’s man, it just isn’t right,  you know. What happens now, I mean, you could stay with  us, my parents think you’re pretty cool, maybe not so much  with the new hairdo”. He smiled as he pointed towards my  newly acquired look.

“Sounds cool, but I’m a walking electric chair, and

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anyway someone from family services is coming to pick me  up tomorrow sometime, I think to take me to the old Coast  Guard station. That’s only 5 or 6 blocks from your house, so  I’ll be close”. I handed him the bag of burgers “Think you  could locate a microwave and nuke these a bit”? He smiled

as he grabbed the bag the bag and headed for the door when  he almost ran into Clatsop County’s Sheriff.

Danny came close to running into the sheriff, but Sheriff  Pasco held out one big paw of a hand, to cushion the blow just  a bit. “Slow down a bit there Danny, I believe this Hospital  might have a speed limit inside as well as outside”, He said  with a sly grin. “Yes sir Sheriff, didn’t mean to, well you know,  go so fast”, as he side stepped the sheriff out into the hallway  in search of a microwave.

Sheriff Pasco was intimidating not only by his badge, but more so by his size. He stood at least 6’6”, and thick, not fat, but fire hydrant thick, with hands the size of a catcher’s mitt.  He made his way into the room, looked around the room a bit, ran his hand through his graying hair, and brought his attention to me, almost piercing me with his steely blue eyes.

“Hello Billy”, I could tell he was sizing me up, more spe-cifically, my hair. “What’s with the hairdo, did you turn Goth or something, my son did, but he doesn’t have that white streak running down the middle”? Oh great, another Pepe le pew reference in the making. “No, the lightning did this”, and pointed to my foot, “and that”. The Sheriff just nodded, and added, “Quite a mess down the hall isn’t there”. I wasn’t comfortable to where this was going, considering what hap-pened earlier. “Anything you can tell me about what hap-pened in there”?

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Remembering what Nurse Mattie had said, about keep-ing my anger in check, I took a couple of deep breaths before attempting to answer. “I’m not really sure Sheriff, Dr. Bangor came into the room angry with me about ruining a lot of equipment, threatening to sue me over some nurse, and got all pissed about the TV being on. I got angry and pointed to the TV and electricity shot out of my fingers and nuked the  TV, that’s when he started shaking and shaking, then took a dive out the window”, throwing my arms up in hopes he would buy this.