* * * * *
Linda walked around the front of her little blue pickup truck and looked JT in the eyes. Her expression could only be described as polite, but, in a way, it also asked, What in the world are you doing?
She opened the passenger door and gestured for JT to get in. Her direct gaze and her palm patting the seat made it clear that she would not be leaving by herself.
JT nodded, his head hanging. He locked the gate behind him, got in the truck, closed the door, and watched Linda march around the front of the truck.
Linda plopped into the truck and the axle squeaked a little. The way she held the steering wheel with both hands reminded JT of Michael.
“JT,” Linda said, her voice stern but comforting. “Michael was upset. I don’t understand half of the stuff that he told me and I don't know why, but I believe him. I am having a hard time believing he has been gone for three years, but whatever your grandfather found in that desert seems to be very powerful. He told me about Kali and the adventure you guys had.” She reached for her purse, which could easily be described as a satchel, and pulled out a newspaper, which she handed to JT. “I hope you know that it is different out here than in that world. Sometimes you just don't get what you want out here.”
“Tell me about it,” JT mumbled.
Linda pointed to the newspaper and JT followed her finger. Linda did not say anything else as she cranked the little blue pickup truck and pulled away from Warhead Dale.
JT read the headline, “Bidding on Davis Mansion set for November 6th.”
JT skimmed the article. His breath became shallow and his heart raced; he had forgotten about the memo he, Kali, and Michael found outside of the gate a few days before. The memo had said that his grandfather's house would be condemned.
He recognized the name from the memo, J. B. J. and Sons, in the text of the article. To JT, it felt like a lifetime since he returned to Athens Eden, but he was relieved that he still had time before the city auctioned off the property. The auction, though not a long time away, was not tomorrow.
He could not have cared less about the rest of the article. He needed to find a way to stop the auction if he could. He took deep breaths. Something told him that this might be a good thing. Maybe part of him wanted him to let go of the old house and his childhood; he could forget about the events that had taken place. It might be simpler to go back to his quiet life on the Shorts' farm. Louise had said that he always had a home there.
Closer to town, heavy, anxious feelings overtook JT. People stared at him and Linda as the little blue pick-up pulled into Parker's diner. Though no one said anything that they could hear, people around JT were obviously uneasy. Thankfully, not all showed their disdain for him as he and Linda stepped into the diner.
“You must be hungry,” Linda said as she threw her keys into a small wicker basket.
“Yes, ma'am,” JT answered.
“No need to call me ma'am. I'll fix you something up to eat.” Linda disappeared into the kitchen, while JT plopped onto a leather barstool and rested his cane between his knees.
He twisted the chrome stool back and forth—it is hard not to do that on stools like those—and sank his face into his hands.
Moments passed, then Linda came back with two plates of food and two glasses of soda. She placed one in front of him and one at the empty seat beside him. Just as JT wondered why, he felt a gentle, friendly tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Michael smiling at him.
“Hey,” Michael greeted him.
“Hey,” JT replied. He gave Michael a quick glance, but looked away even quicker.
JT snatched his fork and began to eat. He did not want to look greedy, but the smell of the fried eggs, bacon, and toast made it impossible for him to resist. Warmth spread through his body as the food slid down his throat and the fizzy bubbles of the soda tickled his nose, flooding his thoughts with memories of the Shorts' farm. There was now a second place where soda tasted good to him.
Time stood still.
Michael and JT ate their food. The fuzziness JT felt in his head made him feel as though he looked directly through a tunnel. His thoughts were a jumbled mess. He had placed the newspaper Linda had given him between him and Michael. He glanced back and forth at it in hopes that the words might just disappear.
Some customers passed by, discussing the demolition of JT's grandfather's old home.
“About time.”
“It sure will be nice to have that massive scar removed.”
In the corner of his eye, JT noticed that Linda did her best to stick up for JT and Warhead Dale. He paid the patrons no mind, but his muscles tightened and his face turned red with irritation at the pointed, hateful words.
“I wish I could drive the bulldozer,” said one man with a blue ball cap on.
“That's it!” Michael yelled. “Please! Mind your own damn business, you freaking idiot!”
The diner erupted in a loud gasp; the man in the blue ball cap looked taken aback. His eyes bulged and his throat made a noise as though he could not speak any words. He huffed, turned, and marched straight out of the diner.
The bright silver bell over the entrance jingled and JT spun his body around on the stool, his eyes fixed on the door. He had hoped that, like the last time he sat at the counter and heard the bell ring, Kali would saunter up behind him and he would smell her sweet skin.
“Please let me help you,” Michael said.
JT was confused. His whole life seemed confused now—and daunted. Every time he thought he had finally figured it out, something else reared its head. He felt a lump in his throat that grew by the second. Choices. It was always about choices. What should I do?
The thoughts in his brain scrambled as they always did, like the eggs scrambled the pan in Linda’s kitchen. If he told Michael that he didn’t want his help, where would he go? Would he go back to the Shorts’ farm to live out his days trying to forget what had happened to him in the last week? Yeah, only last week.
What would happen to him if he accepted Michael’s help? Would he find himself in the middle of a situation he couldn’t get himself out of—say, in the middle of another desert with people, including Michael, trying to kill him—again? What other creatures, monsters, and people would he meet? Who would try to harm him? Was it worth the risk? What kind of help could Michael really offer him?
The questions struck his brain like a million bullets from a machine gun. His heart pounded. He twirled his fork helplessly between the fingers of his sweaty hands.
In an odd second, JT’s surroundings compressed themselves into a foggy channel and the back of his neck tightened. He took a deep breath. Everything stood still, his thoughts and his emotions, even in the diner. In that total feeling of emptiness, the entire weight of the world lifted from his shoulders.
He did not know where the answer came from nor did he particularly care. At that moment, he only cared that he actually had an answer. Before he could let himself change his mind, he spoke. His voice started low and shaky, but ended a tad louder. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?” Michael answered.
“Yes.” JT paused. His voice came out stronger. “Yes, I want you to help me figure this all out. But, most importantly, I want to find Kali.”
JT expected the pause that followed. He had made another huge decision. Things were definitely going to change. He did not know what would happen, but Athens Eden, Michael, and this new adventure would be a huge part of it.
Linda strolled over and wiped the counter.
“She left here the other day, right after you guys went back into that house.” Linda stopped her cleaning and rested upon her arms on the counter. Her face showed concern. She knew that, at some point, she would be drawn into this crazy story. She wanted to be supportive, but she also knew that she might get in over her head, just like JT and her brother.
“She stood there.” Linda took a deep breath and peered out the window facing the parking lot. “I was unlocking the diner for brea
kfast yesterday morning. She looked at me with such sad eyes as she climbed into her car. It was almost like she didn’t want to get in her car and leave—she had empty, soulful eyes. I really wanted to go to her. I don’t know why I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
JT sat still for bit, then took a drink of his soda. He knew Linda could not have prevented Kali from driving off. “Where did she go? Any idea?”
“Home, I suppose,” Linda answered. “Back home to Maryland.”
“Well, let’s go. I want to go to her.” JT’s voice was panicked, eager, and hopeful. “I don't think I can start my story without her.”
Michael took a deep breath. He knew exactly how JT felt. He had also wanted to find JT and get back to Bruinduer so much that he lost understanding of the big picture. Though Michael briefly wanted to bounce off the stool, take JT, and head to Maryland after Kali, he calmed himself down. “I want to go with you JT, but I think we need to take care of Warhead Dale first.” Michael tapped his fingers on the newspaper headline.
JT glanced at the headline and went back to eating.
His insides were tied in a knot again. Just a moment before, he had been as calm as a river on a windless day, but now he couldn't think straight anymore.
“Well, I suggest we go and find the documents about your granddad’s house. Remember how I said that he had all of his money and house in trust? He explicitly said that he could never let the house get in the wrong hands.” Michael paused for a moment. “I don’t know, but I have a suspicion that someone might be trying to take the house, someone who knows about the mahogany door.”
JT focused on the present. He needed to be at his best if they were going to save his grandfather's house. Though he wanted to be with Kali, wishing would not do him any good. Maybe whatever action they took to save Warhead Dale would lead him back to Kali or maybe, just maybe, lead her back to him. Meanwhile, she was safe at home. He knew he could not cause her any pain at the moment.
“So where do we start?” JT asked, taking a deep breath and gulping down the rest of his soda.
Michael picked up the newspaper in front of them. “It says in the article that another trust is filing a lawsuit against your grandfather's estate. It's all pretty secret. What that means is that we are not really sure who actually formed the trust that filed the suit. In this state, it is perfectly legal to remain anonymous when transacting through this kind of entity. They made it that way to protect the names of people with very large personal fortunes, so other people won't keep bugging them for their money.
“But the name of the company that holds the trust may lead us to the people who are behind it. The newspaper here says that the company is called JBJ and Sons. I've never heard of them." Michael pointed to a picture of a thin, clean man. “See, here is a picture of the company's representative.”
The man in the black and white photo looked like he was in his mid-forties. A tall man, his flowing brown hair had a hint of gray in the sideburns. He also had a cheesy smile strung across his face. JT decided the man was cut from the same cloth as the young banker who had once tried to take the farm away from Gregory Shorts.
JT missed the Shorts. He had lost his memory when he saw his mother die. Louise and Gregory, though older had taken him in and given him a home on their farm. Life in the fields was so much easier; he hadn’t had to deal with real choices. He could not lie—on boring days, he had dreamed of leaving the farm, but now he missed the things he had taken for granted.
JT wanted to pick up the phone and call them, but he had no idea where to start explaining everything that had happened since he left, just a short time ago. Would they even believe him and the stories he could tell? Would they believe he saved a world behind a magic door from collapsing? That, if Bruinduer had collapsed, he would have ceased to exist? He didn't think so—even he had a hard time believing it.
“The First Bank of Athens Eden is the executor of your grandfather's estate. It figures that that's where all the money stuff is happening—so maybe that's the first place we need to start, I think.” Michael smiled and pulled out a small piece of paper. “I’ve got somebody on the inside that hopefully will help us.” Michael’s face turned pink as he caressed the small slip of paper between his index finger and thumb. He disappeared into the back room to make the call, while JT sat outside chatting about nothing with Linda, though Linda spoke more than he.
Michael's inside person, named Jennifer Gracen, had moved to Athens Eden after a series of less than favorable events had occurred in her young life. A native of the northern part of the country, Jennifer, called Jenny, had been attracted to the golden beaches and cheaper universities of the south. She gave those reasons to most people she met, but, in truth, she had also wanted to get away from her hometown. She wanted a fresh start. A victim of bad choices and bad luck, she thought a new town would do her good.
An only child, an athlete, and a natural beauty, she had dealt unrealistic expectations from her parents. The young blonde had competed in beauty and scholastic pageants from third grade until her senior year in high school. A standout player on her high school volleyball team, she was selected as an all-state player in her senior year, and admitted to a prestigious university. College life didn't go quite as she wanted.
In her high school years, things like academics, popularity, and athletics had come easily to her, but not so in college. She found herself at the bottom of the pecking order on her team, among even more beautiful and talented young women than herself. Her difficult transition ended in failing grades and personal choices that she regretted.
She dropped out and went back to live with her parents, until their disappointment grew unbearable. Then she enrolled in a small university just outside of Athens Eden where she was happily anonymous. With no one else’s expectations to hinder her, she excelled at everything in her daily life, to her own satisfaction. What she had learned from her mistakes allowed her to make choices she could be happy with now. She was blossoming into the young woman she thought she could be.
Jenny was content now, or at least as pleased as she let herself be. She had taken a job at the bank after graduation. It fulfilled her, though she did have the inkling to want and achieve more. But what she had now was hers—and she lived near the beach.
There is just something about the beach—walking on its soothing sands, feeling the water on your toes, trying to find that one special seashell—that heals the soul. Jenny felt the connection that a lot of people feel to the beach, especially Athens Eden.
“She said she'd help,” Michael announced as he emerged from the back room of the diner. His face was red and his checks had to be aching from the smile that covered his face.
“Who said they'd help?” JT asked.
“Jenny. Do you remember her from the bank?”
JT thought for a moment, then remembered the blonde girl from the bank when he first arrived to Athens Eden. He distinctly remembered thinking that she had the most irritating voice he had ever heard, with a screech and pitch like someone crunching Styrofoam with their teeth.
"Hmmm." That was the best response JT could muster. He did not want to judge someone who wanted to help him with his problem. She could have easily had said no.