“I’m wide open to suggestions,” I said, shrugging helplessly.
Anger gathered in Meche’s immobile features before turning into frustration. “Haven’t we been through enough?!”
I couldn’t think of an answer that would help.
A few minutes later Glottis lay back down, dropping his clipboard and pencil with a clatter. “There it is,” he wheezed, “my final work. It could save me…” he trailed off and went to sleep.
One of the little demons picked up the clipboard while the others gathered around. I peered over their tiny shoulders to get a look.
“What is it?” Meche asked.
“It looks like plans for some kind of rocket sled,” I answered. “They’re brilliant. Hey, gremlins,” I said, “can you build this thing?”
“Perhaps,” one answered.
“We have never attempted anything this powerful before,” another added.
“But could it save Glottis?” Meche asked.
“Yes,” they all said at once.
“But we must have time,” another said. “We have much to do.”
“OK,” I said to Meche. “Let’s give them space.” I tugged on her sleeve to get her to follow me to the kitchen.
“We should stay with Glottis,” she said.
“He’s resting,” I said, “and we’re not going far.”
She sighed and followed.
In the kitchen Meche made herself busy making coffee. I’d noticed that on the long trip here—the busier her hands were, the better she coped.
“Do you really think this rocket sled can save Glottis?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said. “He thrives on speed.”
“But… how can speed keep him from dying?”
“Don’t try to understand it. Remember what I told you about the time he ripped his heart out? And staying underwater for hours? A demon body isn’t like a human body.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“We’ve got nothing if we don’t have hope,” I said.
Meche shot a surprised look at me. “Since when do you talk like that?” she asked.
I didn’t realize I was out of character. “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe it has something to do with the past year.”
“Maybe,” she said. She shook her head. “There were days when I was sure I couldn’t put one foot in front of the other. But I did. It took faith to keep going.”
“I think your right,” I said. “Funny. That doesn’t sound so stupid.”
She just ‘smiled’ and said, “Hand me a couple of mugs.”
“Yeah,” I said, picking two off the rack. Suddenly I got silly. “It’s the mug rack at the end of the world!” I said in my best Twilight Zone voice.
Meche laughed, then choked back a sob.
“Hey!” I said, taking her by the shoulders and giving her a little shake. “It’s OK.”
She moved closer and I folded my arms around her.
After a minute or two she gently pulled away and rubbed her face. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be.”
“I’m not sure where that came from.”
“We’ve all been under a lot of stress for a long time,” I pointed out.
“I guess so,” she said, getting back to the coffee.
When we were finished, we felt warmer and ready to face… well, whatever it was we were facing.
The little demons were busy trying to make Glottis’ idea a reality while Glottis himself seemed to fade away. Meche sat beside him and I felt useless.
“Go for a walk,” Meche finally said.
“I’m staying right here,” I insisted stubbornly.
“You’re not doing any good by pacing around,” she countered. “Work off some of that nervous energy. Talk to the Gatekeeper again, build a damn snow fort, but do something.”
“Yeah, all right,” I said, and marched out in a huff. Once outside, though, I slowed down. Meche was right. I couldn’t just sit around patiently, and I wasn’t doing Glottis or anyone else any good. I didn’t want to lock horns with the Gatekeeper’s stubborn calm again, so I went down instead of up and eventually came to a circular space at the end of a road. As I was coming down, a couple of DOD trucks pulled in. I hesitated, but the drivers barely glanced at me as they hopped out of their cabs and started unloading caskets.
I wandered over and watched them open them one at a time to let out the souls inside. Each looked around, dazed, then started climbing the steps up to the top. One casket caught my attention. I recognized the handwriting on the label. It was mine. The drivers ignored me as I opened the casket. The midget inside sat up and glared at me.
“You!” he exclaimed in anger and surprise.
“Bruno!?” I blurted out. “Bruno Martinez??” Well, goddammit… sonofabitch!
“You were the one who packed me in there!” he accused, jumping out of the casket. “You could at least have given me a magazine. Four years with nothing to read but this damn mug!” He flung it at me and I caught it. “What are you doin’ here?” he demanded. “And if you were headed this way, why didn’t you offer me a lift? Bah!” He didn’t wait for answers. He started trotting up the stairs. “I’m gettin’ outta here!” he growled, “this world’s for suckers!”
I noticed the drivers staring at me. I just shrugged and walked away.
The little demons worked all through the night on the rocket sled. By morning they were setting it up on the tracks by the Gatekeeper’s platform. Glottis was looking old and withered as they loaded him on top. He seemed to be in a coma. I expected the Gatekeeper to raise some kind of objection to what was going on, but he just sat there, staring off at nothing. When the demons had the sled in place, they brought up a gondola car and slung it underneath for Meche and me to ride in.
A couple of demons helped us into the gondola as the others readied the sled and chanted, “We shoot you now like an arrow in the wind. May you pierce the heart of the wind itself and drink the blood of flight.” Once we were in the gondola and the door was secured, our helpers rejoined the others. “Speed is the food of the great Glottis,” they all chanted. “Speed brings you life.” The demons jumped back onto the platform and one picked up the remote control that would start the rocket. “Come back to us one day,” the little demons warbled.
Meche and I braced ourselves. The rocket fired, but we moved forward slowly to begin with, only gradually building up speed. It wasn’t long before the landscape became a blur. We sped along, faster and faster. The gondola shook and the wind screamed past. Meche and I had to shout to hear each other. Late that same day we whipped past Puerto Zapato. I felt strangely angry, at what or who I wasn’t sure. We were over the ocean all through the next day. The gondola started to bounce and rattle even though the rails looked perfectly even and smooth. Night fell and things got rougher.
“You sure this thing’s going to hold together?” Meche shouted.
“Uh…” Of course I wasn’t sure. “At least most of the way,” I said. We were drawing near land. I could just make out familiar cliffs and a skyline. “Hey, look!” I pointed. “We’re already to Rubacava!”
Meche seemed a little conflicted as she looked toward the city where Domino used her to lure me into his trap. Before she could say anything, the gondola began to gyrate violently. There was a new noise among all the creaking and clanking and the rush of the wind. It sounded like a voice. I couldn’t make anything out until the scream, “Manny!? I’m frightened!” Glottis. Before I could feel relieved, the rocket sled jumped off the rails and into the sea.