THE LEGACY – CHAPTER 15
"Remember, you know what's going to happen, you have the advantage, think about what you're going to do, then act." The words were spoken by a man to a young woman; he wasn't quite old enough, or she wasn't quite young enough for people to think they were daughter and father, cousins maybe, or a young uncle, the kind that always stirs up trouble at reunions. But the two people weren't related, at least not by blood. I suppose you could argue that they were related by bonds that were as tight as family, the same kind of bonds that soldiers or firemen feel for the people that they depend on. Comrades would probably be the best word to describe their relationship. This was quite a change from three weeks ago, when they were angry with each other, and hurling barbs and accusations back and forth, at least in their minds. But now they were comrades, partners, two people with a mission. "So how are you gonna handle it?"
"Little girl lost, I think."
"Not bad, that should work well, I mean the guy is a grandfather, some teary doe eyes and I bet he melts. Now remember what's important, ya got it."
"Yes Gary, keep him away from the corner until after the red Volvo is past."
"You realize that means grabbing his legs and holding on if he doesn't go for your play, right."
"By any means, fair or foul" the girl agreed.
The El stopped, and the pair got off at the station near the corner of Michigan and East 21st Street, just west of McCormick Place. Mr. Edward Daniels was going to drop his antique pocket watch in the road while waiting for the light to change, and as he was picking it up, a red Volvo was going to strike him in the head, killing him instantly. Well that's what the paper said. It was the mission of the pair to make the paper wrong. The only problem that the pair had was that there was no picture of the victim, so the girl wasn't exactly sure which old guy to approach. 'There he is' the girl thought, she had spied an old man looking at his pocket watch, and now he was having a bit of a time getting it back into his vest. She approached him rapidly. In the back of her mind, she realized that there could be two old guys with pocket watches on the same street corner in Chicago, but she was able to relax, knowing that Gary was there to back her up; that if she happened to pick the wrong guy, Gary would still be there to make sure everything was OK.
Quickly she whipped up some tears "excuse me sir, I've been trying to find this address and I'm just turned around, could you help me?"
The man looked around startled, this was Chicago after all; but what he saw was a young woman, she was certainly not dressed like a hooker or anything, with tears in her eyes. She was holding out a piece of paper towards him. "Excuse me Miss, what did you say?"
"I asked if you could help me find this place, I've been wandering around this part of town for two hours, but I can's seem to find it, do you know where it is?"
He glanced at the paper in the young woman's hand, it was an address, and one he actually recognized. He was still a bit wary, this was Chicago after all the young girl could have been a con artist or something like that, but she was crying and looked like an older version of his granddaughter, right down to the curly hair. He glanced at the address again, just to be sure. "You are a bit lost aren't you" he said in a calming voice "but don't worry, I'll give you directions." The girl's sniffling cleared up and she shot him a tentative smile.
"It's not hard, you walk uptown, till you hit 18th street, they you head west over the river, then turn north on Canal street, it's a few blocks north on the corner of Roosevelt." He had to speak up at this last part because a red Volvo, who's driver was obviously an idiot the man thought, had cut the corner sharply, earning him or her various slanders from the pedestrians.
Ruthie thanked the man profusely and then, maintaining character; hugged him hard and headed off in the direction he had indicated. The man checked his back pocket for his wallet, this was Chicago after all, but finding it still there, walked down the street towards the Logan Monument, where he was meeting an old World War II buddy. Had he looked in the other direction, he would have seen the teary eyed young girl meet up with an older man, but he didn't look, and didn't see.
"So; any comments?"
"Only that I should take acting lessons from you."
"Thanks Gary, but you know that there's a bunch of stuff that a twenty something girl can get away with that a thirtyish guy can't."
"Don't I know it, with me I always get the 'are you stupid or something' looks, the folks you save look like they want to take you home for milk and cookies, it's not fair."
"Yeah, but you get all the young ladies to swoon over your dashing good looks" Ruthie said, tongue firmly in cheek.
Gary preened a bit "well that is true enough; the only problem is that if I ever did anything about it, it'd be the last day of my life."
"Come on Gary, Toni wouldn't kill ya, she might remove a body part or two, but you'd still be alive, well probably" the girl added, remembering some displays of Brigatti's infamous temper.
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Actually it was Brigatti's suggestion that had led to this, Gary mentoring Ruthie in the paper, showing her how to deal with saves and giving her a good practical tutorial. Her reasons were twofold, one was to give Lindsey something that Gary hadn't had, a ready made helper that could fill the younger girl in on how it all worked and how to do what she was destined to do, a 'ready made Marissa' was how Brigatti had put it; two was that Toni believed Gary would be a lot less reckless with RC around, and this would keep him from taking really stupid chances. Gary suspected the second the second motive, but agreed whole heartedly with the first. Part of him wasn't sure that it was allowed to be that way, but since there was no instruction manual he figured it couldn't hurt. Of course if the British guy in the bowler hat told him to stop he would, but until then he figured he was safe enough.
For her part, Ruthie had never felt so satisfied. In the last three weeks she felt as though she was making a difference, more so than any other time in her life. She had made several radical changes to her life, and surprisingly she liked them. The first was the fact that she was in the studio a lot less than she had been. In a burst of brutal honesty, Ruthie would admit that she had several aching voids in her life, and that she had filled them with studio time, trying to loose herself in the productivity, but now she didn't need to loose herself. She still painted of course, at least two hours a day, but now it was because she wanted to, not because she had nothing else to do. She was now at McGinty's a good portion of her day, either working, or helping Gary or just hanging out.
One other big thing was the fact that she was taking Tae-Kwon-Do classes. Toni had pointed out that if she was gonna help Gary with the paper, that sooner or later she would run into criminals. Gary was a big guy and his size alone could intimidate most muggers, but Ruthie looked like just another target to the criminals; so she needed to be able to defend herself. Brigatti had sent her to the same dojo that the SWAT guys trained at, and Ruthie found herself really liking what she was doing. Her parents would probably freak out to learn that their baby girl was learning to kick ass, but she figured that this way, she'd at least be fairly safe on the streets. But before she had become too anxious to try out what she knew, Gary had reminded her of one huge fact, "remember RC, we're not supposed to be known; like the Men in Black, we see them, they don't see us."
Ruthie had immediately realized that Gary was correct, but still, she sometimes wished to try out what she knew in real life as opposed to on the mats in the dojo.
The only cloud on the emotional horizon was Teressa's change in attitude. There was something different about her now, as though she was faking happy as opposed to being happy. Something was up but Ruthie couldn't quite put her finger on what, they still talked and laughed together, but there was a wall now. Not a huge one, but a wall just the same, and the simple fact that it was there hurt Ruthie more than she could say. She hoped that it was something temporary, like when Cecelia had become such a big part of Ruthie's family. The dark haired girl recalled how upset she had been, how she had felt displaced, not knowing where she fit into her own family. She had become friends with Cecelia, and now thought of her as just another sister, but that had taken time. Ruthie realized that this was probably the case with Teressa. Ruthie had lobbied long and hard to have Gary include the other girl in the paper's inner circle, but for some reason Marissa was balking. That was something that she never told her friend. Teressa knew that someone was keeping her out of the loop, but she had no idea who it was. Ruthie did tell Teressa about the saves that she had helped with and what she had learned, but Ruthie could tell from the other girl's expression, it just wasn't the same as being there. Ruthie followed her train of thought to its obvious conclusion. Teressa had to be included, whether the 'adults' agreed with it or not. She hadn't told Teressa of this either, because frankly she was scared of revelations about the paper, but Ruthie hoped that between the two of them, they could come up with something that worked a bit better than Ruthie's New Years Day fiasco. Right now though, her problem was how to keep an extreme sports nut alive.
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"What the hell's a 'street luge' Gary asked her."
"Its kinda like a skateboard, but it's long enough for your whole body, and then you ride it down a hill on your back, feet first."
"So you don't look where you're going?"
"Well, that's where it gets tricky, you gotta have your head up to see, but it slows you down, so the trick is to look up just once in a while and then steer on what you remember."
"So you've done this kind of nonsense before" Gary asked, a little shocked.
"Hey, I'm from California remember. If you're a teenager out there it's a rule that you have to do some dangerously stupid stuff, besides, some of the guys are cute and really buff."
Marissa just laughed at the way Ruth had said this last bit. It was tough for her to remember sometimes that this was a young woman. She acted so contained and mature that it was funny when the hormones revealed themselves. "So any cute and buff guys in particular" she asked with a smirk.
"Well there was one" Ruthie replied, the color rising in her face "but I wasn't quite dangerous enough for him."
"So what happened?"
"He found a really dangerous girl, then he broke both his legs, now he's an accountant. I guess he got all the danger out of his system."
"As fascinating as all this has been RC, do you think we could concentrate on keeping this guy from killing himself" Gary asked.
"So he's supposed to miss a curve and then go flying down a hill and end up in a concrete storm drain where he drowns, is that right."
"That's the story."
"Are you sure we should help, I mean someone like that sounds almost too stupid to live" Ruthie said with a grin.
"I'm not disagreeing with ya" Gary said with a grin of his own "but that's not our call to make. So; any ideas?"
"Three possibilities; stop him before he starts, warn him about the curve, or put up a barrier so when he does miss the curve he's still OK."
"And which do you think is the best option?"
"Number three, definitely. Number one, you end up arguing with a pissed off teenage guy who's friends are gonna be ragging him for being a wussy, so he'll hesitate, but he'll go. Number two is just too uncertain, he might miss the warning, it might not help; I mean if he's out of control or something. That leaves number three."
"So what do you suggest for a barrier?"
"Hay bales, they're cheap and easy to come by."
"And the cover story?"
"We're a lawn service, seeding the yard and then putting down the hay to keep the birds from eating all the grass seed."
"Seeding, in the winter?"
"According to the weather, it's gonna be melting today, that's the perfect time to seed because the melting snow pulls the seed down into the ground. You'd be surprised at how well it works. My Grandma always waited till winter to seed the lawn; and it always looked great."
Gary smiled at his protégé "so, it sounds like we need some grass seed and hay bales. Gary thought for a minute "hang on, what about the house there, what do we say to them."
"Tell em the truth, it's a free service from a new lawn care company and that they were chosen at random."
Gary gave the young woman a look, the ease at which she concocted stories intimidated him from time to time "you're a bit scary Camden, you realize that; right."
Ruthie just looked up at her boss, not entirely sure what he meant. She just nodded and went back to figuring out where to get hay.
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"So how did it go with extreme guy" Teressa asked with a playful grin on her face.
Ruthie looked over at her friend smiling. They were showering at Warren Pak's dojo after a Tae-Kwon-Do lesson. Teressa had asked to take the classes as well when Ruthie had told her about them, and Ruthie was immensely glad that she had. For one thing, having a friend there made the classes that much more fun; for another, Teressa didn't seem to have any of that holding back when they were here together. When they were at Warren's her friend truly did seem happy and not just acting the part.
Warren was kind of a funny guy in and of himself. He was Korean, both his parents were from right around Seoul, but he had been born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That made him tough as a teacher because he looked like Bruce Lee and talked like Gabby Hayes. When Warren was talking it was tough to listen to what he was saying and not just laugh out loud at his voice.
Ruthie laughed at her friend's question "not bad, he came roaring down the hill and missed the curve of course. Then he smashes into the hay bale, flips up and over it, and skids face first in the yard. Gary and I are just standing there looking at him like he'd grown a second head or something, and he's trying to cool it out, like he meant to do that. So the jerk comes over to me and asks 'so how was my form babe'; I'm telling you Teressa it was all I could do not to just laugh in the guys face."
"Why didn't you?"
"That would have been cruel, and I'm not cruel without a very good reason. Anyway, I told him that the shrieking like a girl part, just before he landed on his face was kinda cute, but didn't score any points with me. Gary heard that and just about wet himself from holding the laughter in. So danger boy just sulked off and picked up his luge and walked away."
"Was he at least cute?"
"Didn't notice, didn't care."
"Really, why not?"
"I dunno, he just didn't do anything for me I guess. Hey, can I ask you something Walters?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Are you jealous?"
"Jealous, of who; and why would you think that?"
"Ever since I found out about the paper and started working with Gary, you've seemed off, like you're going through the motions of being happy, not actually being happy. And I remembered when Cecelia became an honorary Camden how displaced and jealous I felt, and I was worried that you might feel the same way."
Teressa turned away from her friend, she had been both hoping for and dreading this day for more than a year; and now the opportunity was in front of her and she was scared spitless. She closed her eyes, said a prayer, and turned back to her best friend. "I am jealous, but not of you."
"Who then" Ruthie asked, obviously confused.
"I'm jealous of Gary, because of all the time he gets to spend with you; because of how important he is to you now."
Ruthie's eyes got big; her friend's response had surprised her.
"I've been missing you Camden, missing the time where we just hung out and talked or painted side by side. I know that what you're doing is important and all, but I was just missing you, and I was jealous of Gary because he was taking you from me."
"So you've been missing the together time; I'm sorry Walters, I never even considered how all this would affect you."
"It's not just the time Camden; it's what we do in the time we're together. I wouldn't mind being closer to you, but you're always so busy, especially now."
"How do you mean closer Teressa" Ruthie asked, afraid of where the answer would take them.
"Well we've been friends a long time, and you've never been much for dating and guys and stuff, so I was wondering. . ." her voice trailed off as she was staring at her best friend, anxious to see what kind of a response she would get.
Before she could continue Ruthie walked towards her "Teressa, I love you, but I'm not in love with you. Don't get me wrong; I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about us as a couple once or twice, well maybe a few more times than that, but I just can't see us that way. I'm sorry, I wish I could be everything that you deserve, but I just can't, God knows that if I ever was with a woman there's no one else I would even think about being with, but it's not gonna happen."
Teressa's eyes had brightened at Ruthie's first words, but then everything sank in, and she felt her world start to crumble around her. 'How could I have been such an idiot' she thought to herself 'I was sure Camden didn't swing that way, but I had to push it'. She stood under the shower, her head down, tears mixing with the water pouring over her, when she felt a pair of arms around her.
"Please don't cry" Ruthie said as she held the sobbing girl.
"Why not" the girl replied "I doubt you'll want to hang out with some skanky dyke that has the hots for you."
"No" Ruthie agreed "but I'd hang out with my best friend in the world anytime she wants."
Teressa looked up and met the other girl's eyes, reading the sincerity and the friendship that was always there for her. She tried to speak but the words just wouldn't seem to make it past her throat "thanks Camden" she finally managed.
"Listen up Walters, cause I'm only gonna say this once; who you choose to sleep with is none of my business, and frankly other than you're skin color, it's the least important bit of information about you. You're orientation doesn't dictate who you are, or alter in one way the amazing woman that you are. It doesn't change your passions or loves or opinions or alter in any way the things that make you extraordinary. And it sure as heck doesn't change my friendship with you one bit."
Teressa just stood there for a moment, absorbing what her friend had told her; and then another thought hit her like a ton of bricks. Camden was holding her, in the shower, and they were both naked, after what she had said. Her friend hadn't pulled away or hesitated, she had offered comfort with no reservations; it was then that Teressa truly believed what Ruthie had told her. The younger girl had imagined how this night would go for almost a year, but in none of her daydreams or nightmares had it felt like this. She had exposed her soul, and her friend had cared for it tenderly. Sure, the thought that they wouldn't be a couple hurt, but not as much as Teressa had dreaded. But what was more important was that they still had their friendship, and that was the best outcome of all.