“It’s okay my friend, it’s just me Ed.”
“Mister Ed, I got one of em, I got the Mayor but da sheriff, he got away from me.”
“You did well just to do that Buster, and don’t worry about Rosen, we’ll catch up with him very soon. George will be back in a couple of minutes with some help to get you back to the cars but I just want a quick look under your hands there okay?” He had seen many bullet wounds in Vietnam and knew stomach wounds were the worst type to get. Buster nodded his head and tried lifting his arms a little but they felt like lead. Ed gave him a hand and peaked under Buster’s yellow check shirt and slightly lifted the blood-soaked handkerchief then placed it gently back. He reached around the giant’s torso and felt around his back, feeling for an exit wound which was usually much bigger than the entry wound, but he found nothing.
“Okay, you’re doing fine Buster, just stick with me and we’ll get through this.”
“Well, to tell the truth Boss, I don’t really feel any pain, I just feel real tired like I could sleep a hundred years.”
“You can sleep soon Buster, but not yet. Stay awake for now. Hey, tell me how you met your wife?”
The big man smiled as he reminisced about his wife, how they met in high school but were both too shy to talk to each other until one day after church service Elsa had bucked up the courage to ask Buster out on a date. “She always said that if we had waited ‘til I asked her we would never have gotten together at all!” His words poured out but were slowing down. Ed kept him talking until George returned five minutes later, out of breath but with another of Buster’s friends, BJ.
“We got here as quick as we could,” he panted, “ Linda has called for a medic.” He knelt down beside his injured friend and tenderly took the hand that was holding down the handkerchief. “Buster, they found her, they found Grace.”
“They found her, they found my baby?” Life came back into the man and with a strength that surprised all of them he started to stand.
“Buster no! You gotta get some help!” cried George. He shrugged them off as if they were a dream and started to stagger back towards the glade. They all realized it would be futile to try and stop him seeing his little girl so George and Ed caught up with him and took the weight off of him on either side and walked slowly back to the others while BJ headed for John’s pick-up and the bottom of the hill. Within a few minutes Buster was almost completely exhausted but somehow he just kept on plodding, one foot in front of the other, his two compatriots taking more and more of the big man’s weight as they fought their way through the trees. Buster found another burst of energy as they spotted lights up ahead and heard talking. While Ed had been away from the clearing, the diggers had been swopped around and now both the blonde girl in the red and yellow dress and Grace Benjamin were almost completely unearthed. Eugene ‘Buster’ Benjamin burst back into the clearing and ran unaided to the pile of earth near the middle. He sank to his knees at the foot of the now very wide grave and took in the sight of the two girls lying before him. Complete silence engulfed the woods, even the animals and birds seemed to understand the significance of the moment and dared not tweet or coo. George came to his side and offered a hand. He took it gladly and his friend helped him down the few feet into the ground. The gravediggers jumped out as the big man came in. Using the last of his strength he crawled up to his daughter and took both her young hands in his large calloused palms. On his knees, he raised her hands to his mouth and kissed them. His tears ran down his face and on to her hands.
“Hello Princess, I have missed you so much, but Daddy’s here now and we gonna go home to see your Momma, yes we are.” He lifted his head up and looked at the faces surrounding the grave and came to rest on a space where no one stood. He smiled and tilted his head as if listening, then nodded and searched the faces until he saw Ed’s. “We all three would like to thank you for what you’s done for us, you made our family complete once more,” he caught his breath, “and Esta says you paid your debt, no more bad dreams for you, no sir!” He coughed heavily and a thin spray of crimson was caught in the many beams of light shining across the grave. “Thank you, thank you all.” He smiled, stroked his daughter’s face and said “I love you baby.” then fell to the side. Linda, John and George jumped into the hole, mindful not to step on anyone. With Ed’s help from above, they pulled the giant out and to the side of the grave, his head resting on the mound of freshly excavated earth. Linda put her fingers to his neck then put her ear to his chest. Through the tears she couldn’t speak, she simply shook her head then sobbed even harder. Ed pulled her up and they hugged each other tightly.
When the heaving sobs became small sniffs, Ed lead Linda to the side of the clearing and sat her down on a fallen log. There they sat in silence until the noise of the woods began to re-enter their consciousness. For Ed Saunders, the first thing he was aware of was the noise the cricket was making that had jumped up onto the log next to him. It seemed to be looking directly at him and played his tune music vigorously with his back legs. Ed thought once again about that heart-breaking day in Vietnam, the last day he had ever fired a gun in anger, the sound of the crickets bringing it all back, so fresh and clear in his mind. But only briefly did he have time to dwell on that as the headache returned and his mind went white. It was Linda’s turn to hold onto Ed this time as she felt his body suddenly stiffen then go completely limp. She held him tight to stop him from toppling backwards off the log. “Now what the hell do I do?!” she thought to herself.
THIRTY-FIVE
As Ed came to he immediately recognized where he was, he was at the Mountain View Motel and he was standing just outside of his room, room 14, but it clearly wasn’t 2010. Just the myriad of finned cars in the parking lot told him that he was back in 1962 once more. Two and three-toned cars almost filled the parking lot, sitting outside of a motel that had fresh pastel primrose paint on the walls and primary colour doors for the rooms. He looked around and spotted the sign to say the place was authorized by AAA and even a sign for a swimming pool, he was pretty sure that didn’t still exist in 2010 and had probably been filled in and built on. The big black shiny DeSoto sat in front of where he stood, looking low and menacing, a veritable rocket ship. As he stood there he could almost taste the smoldering electricity that filled the air, hinting of a thunderstorm not too far off in the hills. He looked to the sky but it was still clear blue, the sun still beating down the last of its heat for a late afternoon. But a storm was coming, oh yes, a big storm was just over the horizon.
He knew instinctively what he should do. He put his right hand into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a leather key fob that held the key to the DeSoto. He unlocked the door and climbed in. As soon as he turned on the ignition the radio came to life, blasting loud music at him. He quickly switched off the radio cutting Del Shannon’s Runaway off in mid wine.
“God I’m starting to hate Rock ‘N’ Roll!” he spat at the now quiet car radio. He turned the car key again and the engine rumbled into life. He knew exactly where he had to go. With a sense of urgency, he pushed the Drive button, let out the handbrake and hit the gas, with a spin of the rear tires the big Mopar car shot forwards and out on to the street narrowly missing a silver double-decked greyhound bus that honked his horn at Ed. Even driving at speed it still took him the best part of forty minutes to get where he wanted to be, on the lane leading past the sheriff’s land. As he slowed the car to a stop he could just make out the roof of the barn through the tops of the trees about one hundred and fifty yards to the left. The clock at the center of the steering wheel read ten off seven, and looking through the windscreen he guessed that was in the PM and not morning. There was still plenty of summer sun but it was low in the sky out to the west. He looked further and saw dark clouds rolling quickly towards him, obliterating the distant mountain range from view, the static electricity in the air smelled like burning plastic. Yep, there was definitely going to be a storm, and it was going to be a doozy!