Chapter Thirteen
Returning to their seats at the picnic table, Michael and Kitt joined the others, who were in the midst of enjoying the food on their plates. With their paper plates heavily laden with spare ribs smothered in barbecue sauce, Michael and Kitt settled comfortably into their seats.
Kitt glanced at the others at his table, in wonder, not sure where to begin. Although April programmed him to be able to process different food textures and consistencies, he was at a loss at to where to being and how to handle this particular food. Guzzling gasoline is surely a lot simpler than trying to tackle this sloppy, chunk of meat on a bone, thought Kitt. He noticed Lena took a knife and fork to her spare ribs. With ease, she carefully carved the meat from its bone in smooth, even, rhythmic motions. Cleon ate his ribs with his bare hands, noted Kitt. Barbecue sauce dripped sloppily from the ribs and back onto Cleon's plate as he devoured his food with pleasure. He paused after a few bites to wipe his sauce-covered mouth and fingers and resumed his eating with renewed delight.
"You okay, buddy?" Michael asked.
Kitt turned his attention to Michael, who was seated beside him. He was holding a half-eaten rib in one hand and an open can of Pepsi in the other. Kitt noticed that, like Cleon, Michael had chosen to eat his ribs with his fingers, but seemed to be having an easier time of it, as he was not nearly as smothered as Cleon.
"I'm fine, Michael," Kitt replied staring at Michael's sauce-coated fingers.
Suddenly Michael smiled. "Just pick it up and eat it, old buddy," Michael coaxed. "That's all there is too it," he said trying to sound encouraging.
As everyone's attention turned to Kitt, he decided to take Lena's approach to the ribs and quickly grabbed his knife and fork. Trying to imitate Lena, Kitt stabbed the thickest spare rib on his plate. Unfortunately, he struck a boney part of the rib and sent the rib sailing off his plate into Cleon's face and landing smack in the middle of Cleon's mountain of mashed potatoes.
Everyone burst out laughing as a shocked Cleon wiped his face clean.
"Thanks for the rib, Kitt," Cleon said good-naturedly, as he extracted the rib from his mashed potatoes and began devouring his gift.
"That's okay, Kitt," Michael said calmly, as he wiped the barbecue sauce off his fingers and lips. "That is precisely why I eat 'em this way," he said with a broad smile, as he delicately lifted the last rib from his plate. Holding the sloppily dripping rib with two fingers of each hand, he then extended his pinkie fingers and elbows outward and began a steady pace of little nibbles across the length of the slender piece of meat.
"Are you coming up for air, Michael?" Kitt said flatly, having no desire to follow Michael's example.
"Haven't you ever eaten barbecue spare ribs?" Lena asked Kitt.
"No ma'am," Kitt answered politely. "I keep to a rather strict and simple diet, nothing like these sloppy, spicy concoctions," he explained.
"Well, I say 'you only live once'!" shouted Jake as he held up a large spoonful of Mexican Spicy Hot Chili and emptied it into his mouth in one smooth movement.
"Go ahead, Kitt" Lena urged, "It really is delicious," she said gently.
With all eyes upon him, Kitt felt he had no choice but to oblige. So, he carefully picked up the smallest spare rib on his plate and took a small bite being careful not to bite into the bone. Hmmmm, he thought. What is this? He immediately began analyzing the barbecue sauce's ingredients; oil, spices, tomato paste, salt, garlic powder, molasses, distilled vinegar.
"How does it taste? I mean do you like it? Would you like more?" Michael asked.
"Michael, all of these spices and ingredients in the sauce are totally unnecessary," Kitt replied. The meat on the rib is sufficient protein for energy, but in answer to your question, I find the taste a bit severe, but interesting. I can see why you like it, Michael." Kitt took another bite and added, "Yes, a bit severe, but VERY interesting!"
Michael laughed and nodded his head in agreement as he lifted his empty Pepsi can to his lips and shook the remaining drops of Pepsi into his mouth.
Suddenly, a high-pitched squeal burst out through the facilities' loud speakers, followed by a deep hum that quickly faded away.
"May I have your attention please?" A youthful-sounding feminine voice bellowed loudly from the speakers. "Would Miss Lena Marino come to the Managers Office right away? I repeat, Miss Lena Marino please come to the Managers Office. Thank you."
"What's this all about, Lena?" Cleon asked curiously. "Want me to go with you?" he offered, rising to his feet.
Lena shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "No, that's okay, Cleon," she answered reassuringly. "I'm sure it's nothing." She leaned forward and gently kissed Cleon on the cheek.
Disappointed, Cleon nodded sadly and dropped slowly back into his seat.
"Say, Cleon, Why don't you all head over to the Music Hall?" Lena suggested. "I'll meet up with you there. Okay?" she asked.
"Okay, Lena," Cleon replied.
"What's this about a Music Hall?" Jake asked Cleon.
Cleon reached into his pocket and pulled out the brochure listing The Getaway's Grand-opening's activities. Glancing over the listings Cleon's eyes quickly spied the Music Hall. "Says here that 'Class Action' is tonight's featured rock band. Concert begins at 8:00 pm followed by refreshments with an opportunity to meet the band members," Cleon announced excitedly.
"Class Action? Would that be the band with Stephanie March?" Kitt asked Cleon, turning to eye Michael suspiciously. "How peculiar. I understood that they were still on tour out of the country," he commented flatly. "Might you have known something about this, Michael?" he added not waiting for a reply from Cleon.
Cleon glanced from Kitt to Michael. Dora and Jake exchanged puzzled looks, curious what this was all about.
Michael uneasily looked down at the palms of his hands before speaking. "Okay Kitt, I knew but I wasn't sure. I mean I had read it in a magazine advertisement, but ..."
Michael paused to get a grip on the emotions that were beginning to surface as memories of his beloved Stevie flooded his mind. The memories of her were so real; he could still feel her as the part of him that made him complete. To wrap his arms around her delicate, slender frame, hold her tight, inhaling her scent and kissing her soft, smooth skin, was intoxicating. He melted at the sight of her; lost himself in her loving blue eyes and silky long flowing golden hair that glistened brightly in the sun. Snapshots of their 5 years together flooded his mind. In his mind's eye, he saw her laughing at his silly jokes and crying at those old romantic films he pretended not to like. He saw the tears of joy she cried when he gave her that necklace; the gold necklace that symbolized their forever love in the shape of a heart encompassing 5 small dangling diamonds. They were engaged to be married and every day held the promise of their love building stronger bringing them closer then even they could imagine. That is until the accident that changed everything; when he became Michael Knight and everyone he knew grieved Michael Long's death, including Stevie.
Michael uncomfortably shifted position aware of the growing curiosity his discomfort was evoking from those around him. He looked upward as he bit his lip and took a deep breath. Facing Kitt again, he gently grabbed hold of both his shoulders and looked him squarely in the face. "Kitt, I'm sorry," he said, "I should have told you, but I didn't know what to tell you. I still don't. I just need to see her."
More memories flooded his mind. In the beginning, he focused completely on his work and new life at FLAG. He was born to help others. Immersing himself in a life of protecting and defending others was natural to him, in fact it was exhilarating. He was able to accept his new life and even thrive in it. That is, until Stevie's picture showed up on the newspaper's front page. Able to convince Devin to allow him (through FLAG) to help protect her, Michael was reunited once again with Stevie. Her questions and suspicions were hard to dissuade, as she had correctly suspected that he was indeed her Michael Long. Their time together was sweet, but brief. He grieved deeply at the memory of her sad, forlorn, tear-filled eyes peering out at him from the car's rear window as she was carried away... out of his life and into anonymity through the federal witness protection program. After she had disappeared from sight, he discovered she knew his true identity. Placed carefully in Kitt's glove compartment was the heart necklace he had given to her. She had left it behind to return it to him.
"You mean all this is about a girl?" Dora asked excitedly as she rushed toward Michael to give him a hug. "Michael, that's wonderful! Who is she?"
Michael warmly received Dora's hug with a smile. She reminded him so much of his own mother.
"Michael, you mean you know Stephanie March personally?" Cleon asked in disbelief.
Stephanie March, Michael sighed quietly, remembering their last encounter. His assignment had been by request from a 'Miss March' of the rock band, Class Action. It was just another assignment, but from the first glimpse of her at the piano, his breath was taken away. There was no denying that his feelings resurfaced. She was out of the witness protection program and now the female vocalist for a popular rock band. Michael's assignment was to help solve lead singer Greg Noble's murder. Going undercover, as Greg Noble's replacement in the band, worked beautifully to solve the case and brought Stevie and Michael closer together again. Although Michael had been willing to give up his work at the foundation to go with Stevie; she would not allow him to make that great a sacrifice for her. She left the country and Michael to go on tour with Class Action. That heart-wrenching good-bye was that last time he saw her. The last image he had of her was blurred by his own tear-filled eyes.
"Whoa! Just a minute everyone," Michael said calmly, raising his hands as he backed away. "I really don't want to get into this right now, okay?" he answered trying not to sound emotional.
It had been almost a year since he had said good-bye to Stevie. Once again he had tried to throw himself into his work in an effort to keep his mind off of her. This time it was harder. He wondered, Was working at the Foundation worth losing Stevie? It was excruciatingly difficult. He began to feel like the doctor who spends his days curing desperately ill patients, but he himself suffers from a malady he cannot cure. That is, until the day he saw an advertisement in this month's Rock-n-Roll Music magazine. This full page colorful advertisement caught Michael's attention at first glance. In this ad, The Getaway announced its Grand-Opening festivities featuring several contemporary popular music bands expected to perform. The Opening Day schedule listed Class Action as the first band to perform in their newly constructed Music Hall.
"What do you say we all head over to the Music Hall then?" suggested Cleon studying the map on the brochure he was holding.
"Alright then," said Michael, as he rubbed his hands together with renewed determination. "It's this way," he added, taking a few steps in the direction in which Lena had gone a few moments earlier.
"You sure?" asked Cleon. He looked up at Michael and back at the map, not convinced Michael knew his way around.
Kitt glanced at Michael's face, now bearing that familiar self-satisfied, over-confident smile. "Affirmative, Cleon. He is quite sure," Kitt replied.
Cleon looked up from the map and nodded in agreement.