Chapter 5
"He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determine the end." Harry Emerson Fosdick
It had taken some time to get Darien calmed down enough to go back to sleep. Claire and Bobby watched Darien sleep for a few moments to make sure he was alright. Darien mumbled a few incoherent words and then smiled. Hobbes wrapped his arm around Claire, "He's dreaming of the old black woman now, he'll be fine."
"Will he, Bobby, will any of us be fine?" Claire said watching Darien sleep.
"We have to believe that we will be, Claire, that'll be the only thing to keep us going." Hobbes nestled behind Claire and held her tight as they both drifted off to sleep and into their own dreams.
Hobbes moved through the cornfield following the sounds of the guitar and the singing. He can smell fried chicken cooking in the air and knew he was close. Hobbes walked out of the corn and the old black woman set the guitar down on her lap, "You have to get a move on, Bobby. Look!" She pointed to the cornfield.
Hobbes turned around and saw rats running around, "I don't understand, Ma'am. What does it mean?"
"Some are going to him," She said with a frown on her face. "But many will come by this side."
"Side? What side?" Hobbes looked at the growing number of rats in the cornfield.
"The Harvest is ready, Bobby. The time has come." Mother Abigail picked up her guitar and started playing again.
Hobbes shook his head, "Harvest? Time? Side?" He looked at the old black woman again, "I still don't understand what you're trying to tell me."
"I'll explain it when you come see me."
Hobbes woke up and the scent in his nose was not the cornfield but Claire's hair. He was spooned in behind her. He ran his hand through her hair and whispered in her ear, "I love you, Claire." And promptly went back to sleep.
Darien woke up and looked around the room, it all came back to him, he was in a motel room and he had had dreamed twice during the night. One dream he wanted to forget, but the other one had been of Mother Abigail. She knew who and what he really was. He questioned her about how she knew about the gland and her response was odd considering that he had been dreaming about her. She had told him, "Reckon I saw it in a dream."
The watch on Darien's right wrist, that still covered the tattoo, showed that it was 6:00am. He tapped his watch and held it up to his ear, "I never wake up this early." He ran his hand through his hair and decided that since he was up; he would go out and try to find something to eat for the three of them. He got dressed and left a note for Claire and Hobbes. He slipped through the other room, quicksilvered, and left the motel under the protection of his silvery blanket.
Hobbes woke up again to something tickling his face; it was a piece of paper. He took in his hand and recognized Darien's chicken scratch, Went to get some breakfast, behave yourself----Fawkes----P.S. don't worry, I'm undercover. Hobbes crinkled up the paper and threw it on the floor, "Damn, kid…better stay out of trouble."
Claire started to stir a bit and she wiggled up against Hobbes. A low moan escaped Hobbes mouth as he quickly realized his growing arousal, "This is terrific, I'm like a frickin', fifteen year old."
"Hmmm…what was that, Bobby, did you say something?" Claire stretched and arched her back causing her butt to push harder into Hobbes groin. She stopped and her eyes went wide when she felt Bobby's growing erection. "Oh Bobby, I'm sorry," she rolled over to face him, and she was blushing.
"Why…I'm not sorry, Claire." Hobbes brushed the hair from her face, "and you shouldn't be either." He kissed her gently, cupping her face with his hands.
"Bobby, I want to." Claire looked at him with her crystal blue eyes.
"Want to what?" Bobby said as he placed soft kisses around her mouth.
"Make love to you," Claire said. She lifted her leg and placed it on top Hobbes leg.
"Fawkes is out looking for food, that'll keep him busy for awhile." Hobbes covered Claire's mouth with his own mouth; his tongue demanded entrance and Claire gave him permission by opening her mouth. Their tongues tasted each other and the kiss deepened passionately. Their mouths and hands explored the parts of their bodies that were once covered up in clothing. Hobbes and Claire reached new heights as they made love and when it was over, they rested peacefully and satisfied in each others arms.
She ran her hand over his head and kissed him on his cheek, "Bobby, I love you."
"I love you too, Claire and I promise, before we leave…I'll stop by the drug store and get some supplies for the next time." Hobbes said.
"Its okay, Bobby, we didn't know this was going to happen so soon. What are you going to tell Darien when you stop by the drug store?"
"That I need some more meds…" Bobby pulled out of her and lay down next to her, "…and some condoms."
Claire hit Hobbes on the head with her pillow and the two rolled around on the bed some more. They stopped when they heard a knock on the door, "Okay, you two it's me. Please get dressed, Claire I don't mind seeing naked, but you Hobbes…I can do without."
Claire and Hobbes jumped out of bed and put their clothes back on. "How did he know, did Kevin ever mention about x-ray vision?" Hobbes struggled to get his boxers back on.
"Either that or he heard…well, we weren't exactly quiet you know," Claire pulled her shirt over her head. Hobbes opened the door, but there was no one there. He stood there looking around.
"Hobbes, you have to move man, I'm invisible," Darien's disembodied voice said slightly annoyed.
"Oh…I forgot about that," Hobbes said in an apologetic tone.
"I wish I could forget about that easily." Once inside, Darien shook off the silver coating and he stood there with bags in his hands.
"Someone's been busy," Claire noted sitting back down on the bed.
"Yeah, well, my guess is…I wasn't the only one," Darien smiled as he reached in one of his bags full of goodies. "Okay, hot shot, these are for you but of course I appear to be late," Darien tossed Hobbes a box of condoms.
Hobbes hit the box and it flew back up in the air. He ended up juggling the box before he could actually catch it and hide it behind his back.
"Nice hands there, partner." Darien grinned and poured the bags out on the bed. "I found some meds for you, Hobbes. I got the info off your prescription bottle. You can have Claire make sure I got the right ones. Oh and I also found us battery operated travel shavers with extra batteries of course. Want to look nice for Mother Abigail."
"Darien, where did you find all of this?" Claire went through it all.
"Well, I knew I had some time to kill, so I robbed a drug store. I found one just up the road," Darien put his hands up, "No one saw me, I was completely incognito. But I did see a pick-up truck go by."
"You did? Which way did they go?" Claire asked.
"West…they were headed west, towards Nevada. The back had about three people sitting there." Darien put his hands on his hips as he stared at Claire and Hobbes.
Hobbes stood there, "Some will go to him…Mother Abigail…she told me last night that some would go to him."
"Looks like people are choosing their sides," Claire said looking sad.
"She said that too, something about coming to this side. I don't know, this whole thing is strange." Hobbes looked up at Darien, "Your nose…"
"What…what about my nose?" Darien touched his nose and it didn't hurt anymore. He turned and looked at the mirror. His nose had healed. "Okay, now I think I'm going to lose it."
"This is incredible; first your nose looked like you broke it for no apparent reason except that you dreamed it. But now it's completely healed, like nothing ever happened," Claire said while she examined Darien's nose. "As a scientist, there is no reasonable explanation for this."
"Of course not, Keepie, cause we're not dealing with science here. I mean, look at us, we're dreaming about the same people and the same place. Tell me that there's a scientific explanation for this, you can't because there is none." Hobbes said.
"What are you saying, Hobbes? That there is another explanation for this?" Darien asked.
"I don't know what I'm saying, but you have to admit it, there's something going on here that's beyond all this, my friend," Hobbes arms waved in the air signifying that he was talking about the situation they all found themselves in.
Their breakfast consisted of granola bars, dried fruit and those little juice boxes for drinks. Darien had acquired these items in the drug store. He had found plenty of things to grab there, power bars in different flavors, granola bars, various packages of dried fruit and other items that they could easily take with them.
"Okay, so what are the travel plans for today?" Darien asked as he got on his bike.
"Well, today we say good bye to Arizona and hello New Mexico. If everything goes well, we should be in Colorado tonight. We're heading east to Laguna where we'll make our first stop this morning, should take us a little over two hours to get there." Hobbes got on his bike, "We may even reach Mother Abigail's place tomorrow afternoon."
Darien and Claire looked at each other, "Whoa, you mean we're that close?" Darien asked.
"Yeah, partner, we are that close," Hobbes started his bike and the threesome took off on day two of their journey.