Ruby Dawn-Chapter One
(Nightcrawler and the X-men are the property of Marvel Comics, Ruby is out of my own twisted little head.)
Driving I-90 back to Seattle after dark in her ancient Landcruiser, Ruby fumed over another irritating visit to her parents' home outside of Spokane. "Marriage, kids, doesn't that woman think of anything else?" Ruby muttered, her fingers tapping along with Ministry on the steering wheel. "How about being proud of what I've accomplished? How about that?" All the anger she'd kept stewing under the surface during her visit to her parents bubbled to the surface. She shook her head, her bobbed dark purple hair swirled around her face, and the rows of silver hoops in her ears jangled discordantly. "Oh no, they couldn't possibly be proud of a girl on her own. I make three times what dad makes. And Mom may as well have asked me if I was a dyke. Good God, people. It's the 21st century."
As she came up Indian John Hill, something started niggling at the edges of her consciousness, fear, anger … She reached over and turned down the stereo to concentrate. After a minute, she flipped on her turn signal, and took the rest stop exit. Pulling into the semi parking, she saw them. A group of truckers, most of them big and out of shape, surrounded a smaller figure in an overcoat.
"Oh, this ain't right," Ruby muttered. She reached over and pulled her gun out of the glove box, and thumbed the safety off. She gunned the motor and slewed to a stop right near the mob. Opening the door, she stood on the running boards and fired one shot into the air. The mob froze.
"Back off, assholes!" she yelled. "Back away from 'im slowly."
"But… Miss, he's a mutie!" one of the truckers yelled back, brave enough to talk, but not move.
"And you're an asshole, and I'm armed and potentially homicidal," she said. "You in the overcoat. Get in the car. Now." She held the gun on them while the figure in the overcoat picked itself up off the ground, grabbed a duffle bag and limped over to the car. "Don't get any ideas. I can't shoot all of you, but who wants to lay money he's the one I won't have a bullet for?" Once the figure, male, was safely inside the car, Ruby eased herself back in, threw it in gear, and drove off in a spray of gravel.
On the highway, convinced they weren't being followed, at least not yet, Ruby picked the gun up off her lap, thumbed on the safety and leaned over to put it in the glove box. She glanced at the three-fingered hands and blue-furred skin.
"There's paper towels in the back seat, and a bottle of water under your feet if you want to clean yourself up a little," she said. "Ruby Dees." She changed lanes quickly around a slow moving mini-van.
"Kurt… Wagner," he said, reaching down between his feet for the bottle of water.
"Thought so. When you were with Excalibur, the British magazines like Face used to have you guys in 'em all the time," she said, frowning into the rearview mirror. "I don't think they're coming. By this time tomorrow you'll be ten feet tall and breathing flame, and I'll be an army of machine gun bearing amazons." She laughed.
"Thank you," he said, reaching back for the paper towels and wincing as the movement strained injured ribs.
"No problem," Ruby said. "I could feel what was going on before I crested the hill."
"Feel? Are you a mutant?" he asked, uncapping the bottle of water.
"I don't know. My Grammy's people call it the Gift. Could be mutant, could be not. All I know is I'm not the first one in my family to have it, whatever it is." She glanced over at him. "They really did a number on you. You're welcome to stay in my spare room, at least until you heal up."
"I can't ask…" he started.
"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "I am not dumping an injured man without a place to stay, in the middle of nowhere."
Kurt opened his mouth to ask how she knew he didn't have anyplace to go, but thought better of it. Instead he changed tack.
"Are you sure you'll feel safe with the mutant menace lurking in your home?" he asked, bitterly.
"A. Helloooo? You listen to a goddamned thing I've said since you got in this car? And, B. I'd know if you had any ill intent long before you did yourself. You're staying." She ejected the cd from the stereo. "Don't bleed on my upholstery, what's left of it."
"Fraulein Dees…" he started.
"Ruby," she said, reaching up to put the cd in her hand back in the holder on her visor, and pull out another one. "I hope you like industrial."
"Ruby, I am grateful," he said, wiping the blood away from his split lip. "But I can't ask you…"
"You're not asking. Its settled," she said, and turned up the stereo.
Kurt washed his face with the towels and water. Ruby pulled the rearview mirror off the windshield and handed it to him, so could see what he was doing. After he'd finished, he handed back the mirror, and dozed off to the thumping bass of KMFDM.
* * *
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty. Wake up. We're almost there," Ruby said, reaching over to gently shake him awake.
"Oh!" He started awake. They drove down a narrow two-lane road, bordered by trees. The headlights illuminated straight ahead, but didn't penetrate the thick undergrowth lining the road. Ruby flicked on her right turn signal, slowed and turned down a dirt track, crowded with blackberry brambles.
"I live in the geodesic dome over there," she said, nodding to a dark, round shape to the right of the parking area, as she pulled to a stop.
"You live in a geodesic dome?" he asked, opening the door, and hauling his duffle bag out of the back seat.
"Its cozy," she said. "Besides, at night, with the lights on, from the end of the dock, it looks like a glowing skull."
"Dock?"
"We're on the edge of Lake Desire," she said, pulling her backpack out of the land cruiser.
He followed her over to the dome. She opened the door, and gestured for him to enter ahead of her. Once they were both inside, she flipped on a light switch.
Two black cats sat, like Egyptian statues, on the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living area. Behind them, he cold see two doors in the only flat wall in the place.
"Bastet and Sekhmet, this is Kurt. Kurt's going to be staying with us for a while." The two cats blinked lazily. "The far door is the spare room. There's a futon, and some blankets in there. The other door is the bathroom. Towels are in the cupboard over the toilet. I sleep in the loft." She dropped her backpack on the couch, and opened the door to the spare room. He followed. She flipped on the light. Walking over, she closed the curtains on the wall of windows. "Sleep yourself out. I'll be leaving for work pretty early. You're welcome to anything in the fridge or cupboards." She unfolded a couple of blankets and pulled two pillows out of a box. "See you tomorrow," she said in a tone of voice that implied she'd better.
* * *
When Kurt woke up, he was alone in the house. He staggered out of the spare room, in his underwear and looked at the clock in the kitchen. 2:30. The two cats sleeping on the futon, lifted their heads, blinked once at him, and went back to sleep. He took a shower, and dressed. Looking for something to eat, he found a note in the kitchen. "Leftover chinese in the fridge should still be good. Be back around 3-ish. Ruby. PS Cats don't go out." He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton marked with a red Chinese dragon.
By the time Ruby actually got home, closer to four, with bags of groceries, Kurt had almost finished cleaning the kitchen.
"You should be resting," she said, setting the bags on the counter.
" I was bored," he said. "And I wanted to do something for you."
"Ok, dice onions," she said, tossing one at him. He caught it. "I hope you like spaghetti. Its one of the few things I can cook."
"Sounds good," he said.
"I also picked up some fresh veggies, lunch meat, bread and a couple of steaks. If there's anything you'd like, let me know, and I'll pick it up tomorrow."
"I won't stay very long," he said. "I don't want to impose."
"Nonsense. You've got nowhere else to stay, and I could use the company." She started pulling things out of the bags. "My best friend, Stephen, lived with me for a while. He picked this place out. Then, well, heroin got to mean more to him than me. He split almost a month ago. Took my TV and VCR and computer. Probably sold them for drug money. I replaced everything material." She sighed. "I've put him through rehab twice. Maybe next time it'll stick." She sniffled and wiped her eyes with her hands. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't…"
"Now who is ridiculous?" Kurt asked, tentatively putting a hand on her shoulder. "You saved my life. Listening is a small price to pay."
"I… I just feel like I let him down," she said. "I've known him my whole life. I'm the first person he told he was gay. When his dad found out, he beat him nearly to death. I was home for a visit. I held him off with my gun, and brought Stephen over here with me. About two years later he discovered heroin. He told me it took away the pain." She stuffed some things in the fridge, then pulled out a frying pan. "You're not vegan or anything, are you?"
"No," Kurt said, still holding the onion. "It sounds like you've done everything you can for him."
"Cutting board's next to the microwave. Knives are in that drawer next to you," she said. Then, after a pause, "It just hasn't been enough. Yet. Maybe he'll come around."
"Maybe," Kurt said.