The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by (9 page)

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Raising my arm and pointing at the ball I tried again.
 
Ping Pong ball rise when my finger rises,
 
it was air born just a couple of inches. I lifted my hand a little higher, the ball followed suit. It was almost at the top of the glass, come on you can do it. I moved my hand slightly higher and the ball was a good two inches above the glass. Stay focused, I moved my arm just a little to the left until the ball was directly over the glass. There, dead center, I lowered my finger aiming at the bottom of the glass,
 
Ping Pong ball release!
 
Plinkety plink, the sound of it bouncing around the glass was almost as awe-some as to how it got in there. A little more practice and I could start doing Jedi mind tricks, it was just a thought.

Nurse Mattie brought both hands up to her mouth, as if to stifle the delight of my accomplishment. It didn’t work to well, she got loud. “Oh Billy Speer, that was just amazing.  The short amount of time you’ve been trying this, and to get these results so quickly, well I’m just so, so, pleased for you”.  I had to put up a finger to my mouth to give her a hint that she was a little too loud. That’s okay, I was excited too.

Just as quick as she got excited, she turned for the corner of the room and got on her phone, making sure of course that she was far enough away from me. Was she calling her boss about my progress, or was she expediting a paycheck for yours truly. Whatever she was doing, she did it quickly, and quietly. That left me with one more question, “Now what did you want me to do with the Doritos”? Nurse Mattie turned back towards me, “Why eat them of course, they should tide you over until the pizza arrives that I just ordered”. She looked at me and then at the Doritos sitting on the mobile tray across the room, and then back at me. “Don’t expect me

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to get those for you”, as she pulled another Dr. Pepper out  of her smock pocket, handed it to me, and smiled as she was  leaving the room. As she was walking out of the room she  finished, “I’ll bring in the pizza when it gets here, and then I  have one more test to conduct, after we’re done eating”.

The way she was pulling stuff out of that pocket of hers,  I was half expecting her to pull out the pizza she just ordered.  Well Doritos, it’s just you and me. I put my focus on the  Doritos, which should be easy since I really do want them.  Staring at them for a second, I motioned the bag to come to  me with my arm. The Doritos immediately flew off the tray  and landed on my lap, not too fast this time plus I forgot to  hold out my hand. The end result pleased me immensely, as  I ripped open the bag and munched away.

The Doritos were delicious and salty which made me a  bit thirsty, but I wanted to save my Dr. Pepper for the Pizza.  Now is the time to actually get up from bed and get myself a  glass of water. I would have to test my foot out at some point  anyway. I pulled the covers back swung my legs over to the  side and stopped. Okay, I had no crutches, or anything else  that would aid my trip to the bathroom. After a quick second  I decided to just walk on the heel of my semi-toeless foot.

Standing up was no problem, so far no pain. A couple  more careful steps prove to be as painless as standing up. I  took one more step this time putting all my weight on my  injured foot, and surprisingly enough it didn’t hurt one bit.  Making sure I still had my gloves on, although I’m somewhat  sure that I couldn’t do much damage to the metal fixtures of  the sink, I took the glass off the shelf turned the handle and  filled up with water.

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The water was good, but paled in comparison to DR.  Pepper, as rightly it should. I decided to walk back to the bed normally, without favoring my left foot. I reached the side of the bed before I realized I was walking normally and without pain. I tried to figure out how I could lose two toes, and two days later walk on it without pain. Without realizing it I was already sitting back in bed all comfortable and covered up, all that was missing was the pizza.

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12

I hAd mIssed
 
the first hour of Hellraiser, but that was alright since I had already seen it a few dozen times. I still couldn’t get over how my left foot had no pain. Not being able to figure that one out, I pulled the covers back from the bed and brought my left foot up and crossed it to where it was laying on my right leg. I tapped it a couple of times, then tapped it a little harder, nothing. This was too bizarre for me to grasp so I thought the answer to that question would lie in the capable hands of one Nurse Mattie.

Focusing my attention back to Hellraiser, I had watched a good ten minutes of it before the smell pizza was welcomed to my awaiting nostrils. Nurse Mattie came strolling into the room with not one but two pizzas and not just any pizza,  Goonies’ House pizza, my favorite. I was going to wonder if she knew that or that it was just a coincidence since Goonies’  House was just up the road from the Hospital on Marine  Drive. I might ask her later, but in the meantime, a fitting feast awaits.

Nurse Mattie had the pizzas in one hand, walked over to grab the mobile tray with the other. She sat the pizzas down on the tray as she wheeled it up next to my bed. She brought up the chair and sat it next to my bed, and of course pulled out another can of Dr. Pepper from her infamous pocket.  Drooling with anticipation I opened the first box. Peperoni with Italian sausage, oh yeah. I sat that box on the tray next

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to the other one and opened up the second one, ham with  onions, I was in heaven. Then it hit me, that’s’ the same order  my Dad brought home two Friday nights ago. Rather timidly I asked, “This is spooky, how did you know what to order, because this is the same……” Nurse Mattie interrupted,  “Billy Speer, I am with the FBI, we do have our resources.  Now hush and eat this before it gets cold. That was one order  I was happy to follow.

I felt like I was going to explode and have little slices  of pepperoni flying around the room, but what a way to go.  “Thanks for the pizza, it was great, but I don’t think I can  move for a while”. “You’re quite welcome and luckily for you  the last thing on my agenda for today does not require any  activity from you, so relax for a few and I’ll be right back”.  She started to leave the room, “when you were out getting  the pizza, I got up to get a glass of water from the bathroom  and my foot feels fine, no pain at all, I thought it would hurt,  but it doesn’t. Should it be hurting”? Nurse Mattie stopped  before she got to the door and replied, “It does hurt Billy  Speer only your body has seemed to shut down the ability to  feel pain with all that electricity running through you. That’s  one of the things you’ll have to keep an eye on. Other people  who have been struck like yourself were also unable to feel  pain, so trust me when I say that your foot hurts. Stay put  and I’ll be right back”.

In one way not feeling pain gives you a sense of invincibility, although scary to think if something did happen  to you, you could be dying and not know it. Nurse Mattie’s  been through this before so I think I better listen to her advice. I’d hate to be walking around thinking my foot is fine

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then all of a sudden my foot falls off, Then my nickname  would be Tippy.

After only a few minutes, Nurse Mattie came into the  room carrying some hand held device that was connected to  a cord that was attached to something on the other side of  the door. She stayed with her back up against the wall about  ten feet away from me. “Just one final thing and then the rest  of the night is yours”. “So what is that thing, it’s not going to  blow up around me is it”? “Rest assured Billy Speer, what I  have here is a digital voltmeter. It will register high amounts  of electricity”. Sounds intriguing, “Is that like the EMF meter they use on those ghost hunter shows”? “Similar, except  this one is around 100 times more powerful, so just sit back  and I will turn this on and see what we come up with”.

I could hear the humming of the machine out in the hall  as she turned it on with the device in her hand. Nurse Mattie

pointed it directly at me. Her eyes widened in what she saw  on the device. Slowly taking a step towards me, she turned  some dial and the humming became louder. One more step  towards me and she yelled, “Oh my God”, and dropped the  device on the floor. Nurse Mattie ran out into the hall to

turn off the machine from out there. As I looked down at

the device it has smoke coming up from it. Well, you’ve done  it again.

Nurse Mattie came back in the room holding some type  of wrap on her right hand. She propped the door open and  kicked the hand held device back out into the hall. The

smoky smell from the hall was invading the room. “Are you  okay, what happened to your hand”? She dabbed at her hand  for a moment then replied, “I’m fine it just got a bit hot”. “So

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what happened to the machine out in the hall”? “It overheated I’m afraid, but I got a good reading before it did”.

The smoke was annoying but not overbearing. Nurse  Mattie went over to the window and used the hand crank to

open it a few inches. That’s as far as it would open. “What  did you find out from that machine”? She came back over  and sat down on the chair by my bed, “The machine registers volts and AMPs, and converts that information into  kilovolt amps which is apparent power then converts that  into a scale of power from the source measured”. I was confused, nothing new there. “You lost me at volts”. Her smile  returned, “ how’s this, you possess enough power to send  the Back to the Future car, back in time and return at least  three times, probably more, the gauge was still going up  when it started smoking”.

That explanation I could relate to and the only response  I could come up with was, “Great Scott, Marty”! Her smile  at me continued. I’m not sure if it was the news of how much

juice was flowing through me, or if it was the Back to The

Future Reference.

Now all I needed was Doc Brown to help me harness my energy. I had a feeling I was going to need all the help I could get. Nurse Mattie was examining her hand as she said, “you know the average bolt of lightning, if contained could power a 100 watt light bulb for about 2 months. You on the other hand could probably power this entire Hospital for at least a week”. That was impressive; maybe I could to that to pay them back for the damage I caused. The thought of me being hooked up to their power source did not provide a healthy visual in my mind.

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Nurse Mattie looked at her watch and said, “I think that’s enough for today, so the rest of the evening is yours’.  I’ll be by in the morning when Family Services gets here; they should be here by 10:00 am. I will need a few minutes of their time to discuss your needs”. She started to leave the room but stopped. “Almost forgot”, as she pulled another can of Dr. Pepper out of the convenience store which is her smock pocket. “See you in the morning Billy Speer”. “Okay  Goodnight, and thanks again”.

It was just me and the TV now and a good combination if I do say so myself. The clock on the far wall was still in working order and it was almost 9:00 pm. That means mara-thon movies on channel 32. The screen on the TV was pick-ing up glare from the sun which would be setting shortly, but in the mean time it was annoying. You know if the curtains were closed the problem would be solved, but Nurse Mattie didn’t want me roaming around with my foot the way it is.  That leaves just one option, here goes.

Setting down my Dr. Pepper on the tray, I focused my attention on the curtains. Just remember that I really wanted the curtains to close. After a few seconds I waved my arm in the directions of the curtains, and moved my arm to the right as if I was right there closing them.

The curtains quickly closed, swinging about for just a second. Satisfied with my conquest, I turned my focus to the  TV. Focus on channel 32. I waved my arm at the TV, and presto change-o, channel 32. This was kind of fun. I just now realized something, I am the world’s biggest remote, and the best part, no batteries needed.

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13

FrAnk And don
 
continued to labor away in the van strategically parked in the corner of the parking lot with a clear view of Billy Speer’s window. Frank was busy on the phone and Don was tapping away on his keyboard. Frank concludes his phone call. “Evans will be here in 15 minutes to set up a new camera, and I just got of f the phone with  Gable who would like you to check into Agent Bolings re-cent phone calls”. Don lifted his head up from the keyboard,  “Why does he want that information”? Frank turned slightly from his seat up in the front of the van to face Don. “Gable has been receiving communication from a few of his infor-mants in D.C., and is concerned about some of her activi-ties of late”. Frank handed Don a slip of paper, “These are the two cell numbers he has on file for her, and he’s confi-dent that if there are others that you would be able to obtain them”. Don shook his head and muttered to himself, “Hope springs eternal”.

The silence in the van continued until Don stated,  “This is interesting, her have a look”. Don turned his moni-tor so that Frank had a good view. “What am I watching”?  “Camera 21, which is over the nurse’s station right outside  Speers’ room”, Don replied. Frank watched as Don clicked on the play button.

Frank viewed the screen but showed little interest until

Agent Boling wheeled some machine just outside of Speers’