With all the excitement that his homecoming had precipitated, he had completely forgotten about the mysterious object that he had pulled from the seas and stored in the hold of his boat. His son’s struggle with death had altered his priorities. Right now, life was the greatest treasure of all, and Liam would easily exchange the reward that would surely be coming to him for the life of his only child.
Liam made the sign of the cross and was in the midst of a reverent Hail Mary when the bass voice of the doctor boomed out behind him.
“Your boy’s going to be just fine, Liam. The bullet was intact when I pulled it out. I closed the wound, and since Annie shares his blood type, was even able to do a transfusion.”
“Thanks be to God!” said Liam passionately.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to give him all the credit,” countered the physician, who sat down beside Liam.
“Without Annie’s help, he would surely have bled to death. And if it wasn’t for you running over to fetch me as you did, there’s no telling what sort of complications would have set in. How about joining me in a wee sip to properly celebrate?”
The physician pulled a compact pewter flask from the pocket of his jacket and added, “What we’re about to partake of is some of Martin Kelly’s famous sipping whiskey. He gave me a jar when I set his heifer’s leg last week. Here’s to you and your family, Liam Lafferty.”
He swallowed a sip of the powerful potion, winced, and handed the flask to the fisherman.
“And here’s to the best doctor in all of County Louth!” toasted Liam as he took a sip of the home brew himself.
They passed the flask between them two more times before the physician looked up into the sky and commented, “It’s a glorious Irish night, Liam. Can you believe we’ve had a whole three days without a drop of rain?”
“It’s a welcomed miracle, all right. Doc. Especially after that wet spell. Why, I thought that those gales would never stop blowing.”
The physician nodded.
“The next front’s most likely bearing down on us while we speak. But in the meantime, we’ve got to make the most of this respite.” After swallowing down another sip of whiskey, he added, “If it’s okay with you, Liam, I’d like to transfer Sean up to my place in Cootehill as soon as he’s a bit stronger. I’ll be going up there shortly, and would like to be able to monitor him for infection.”
Liam accepted the flask.
“Why, that’s very nice of you. Doc. But you really don’t have to go out of your way like that. You’ve done enough already.”
“Nonsense,” returned the physician.
“The lad’s not out of the woods just yet, and I don’t want him to take any chances. Besides, Sean can keep me company while I work the place.”
“You’re a saint, Doctor Tyronne Blackwater, a blessed, kind-hearted saint.”
The physician laughed.
“Hey, I wouldn’t exactly go that far, Liam. Let’s just say since I’m the one who originally brought him into this world twenty-five years ago, I’d like to protect my investment.”
“I’ll tell you what. Doc… I’ll accept your gracious offer to take in Sean only if you’ll agree to take a load of cod that I just brought in from the sea.”
“It’s a deal,” said the physician.
“So your trip was a successful one?”
“More than you would ever dream. Doc. But I’d be telling you a lie if I led you to believe that it was only fish that my hold is filled with.”
“What do you mean by that, Liam?”
The fisherman turned and looked the physician straight in the eye.
“A wondrous thing happened to me while I was out at sea three nights ago. It was a clear, star-lit evening like this one, and as I was preparing to pull in my lines, the entire heavens exploded in a dazzling fireball of light. I tell you Doc, it was as if the sun had suddenly arisen at midnight. A rumbling blast accompanied this phenomenon, and as the light began to fade, I actually saw something floating down from the heavens above. It took a bit of doing, but I reached this object soon after it hit the sea’s surface. What I found was a massive elongated cannister tangled in the shrouds of a parachute. The cannister had a collar of floats around it to keep it from sinking. But they weren’t adequate for its great weight, and instead of allowing the sea to eventually swallow it, I decided to take the object on board myself. My guess was that it came from a satellite. And if this is indeed the case, I’d imagine that its owners would probably be willing to pay a pretty substantial amount for its return.”
The physician seemed enthralled by this story.
“Where’s this object now, Liam?”
“Why, locked in the hold of my boat, down at the Dunany leisure pier,” answered Liam.
“Would you mind showing it to me?”
“Why of course not, Doc. But you don’t mean right now, do you?”
The physician nodded.
“I don’t see why not. I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt if I’d be able to get back to sleep now even if I tried.”
Liam shrugged.
“Then I guess we’ll go down there and take a look at it, Doc. But is it okay to go and leave Sean?”
“I guarantee you the lad will be out soundly for the next ten hours. And besides, Annie will be close by and knows what to do if any complications should arise.”
The fisherman stood and found his legs a little wobbly.
Tyronne Blackwater noticed this.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll do the driving, Liam. It looks like you’re showing the effects of the most potent batch of home brew this county’s seen in over a decade!”
The drive to the pier took less than ten minutes.
Liam had to be awakened when they arrived, and he rather groggily exited the Range Rover and led the way down to the water’s edge. Dr. Blackwater was all eyes as the fisherman escorted him to the transom of the battered boat, pulled a key from his pocket, and inserted it into a rusty iron padlock. After a bit of effort, this lock was triggered, and Liam lifted up the wooden door.
The physician had to keep from gasping as he viewed the fire-charred metallic cannister.
“Why, this is incredible, Liam. Are you certain this was the object that you saw floating down from the skies?”
Fully awake now, the fisherman answered.
“Why of course I am, Doc. I would have hauled in the parachute also, but it sank.”
Hesitant to get too close to the cannister, the doctor cleared his throat and rather forcefully expressed himself.
“It appears that you’ve indeed managed to pull in a piece of a satellite. It must have broken apart while entering the earth’s atmosphere, and you just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
“Then it’s worth something?”
“You’d better believe it. This kind of equipment costs a fortune to produce, and its owners will be anxious to show their appreciation when it’s returned. So to ensure that they pay you top dollar, here’s what I suggest: since it’s much too dangerous to leave here unprotected, I’ll have several of the lads who do odd jobs for me get down here to transfer it to a safer location. I’d like to do this tonight, before any of the other boat owners arrive. Secrecy is of paramount importance, if I’m to have any success in the negotiation process.”
Liam seemed puzzled.
“Let me get this straight, Doe — you want me to let you take the cannister, store it away, and then handle all the negotiations with its proper owners?”
“You do want the maximum reward possible, don’t you, Liam?”
As the fisherman nodded. Dr. Blackwater continued.
“I thought that was the case. So lock it back up, and give me the key. And I’ll take care of everything from here on. All you have to do is worry about how you’re going to spend that reward money.”