Chapter 11
Telegraph to Your Soul
House rented a Toyota Camry and when he left the parking lot he went west and then south through Santa Cruz and then into Monterey. From there he went south to Carmel by the Bay, and ate dinner at the "Hog's Breath," the restaurant owned by Clint Eastwood. House remembered that somewhere he still had a sweatshirt from when Clint Eastwood was mayor of the Carmel. The food was delicious and afterwards he stayed to listen to a jazz pianist. He was told that Clint Eastwood frequently came in and played piano for his guests. Unfortunately, he wasn't there that night.
After he spent the better part of the evening listening to the pianist, House rented a room at a bed and breakfast and, after getting cleaned up, he crawled under the covers at midnight. He was laying in bed thinking back and how kind Teagan had been to him. Once again he had pushed a woman away, but then again, he hardly knew her.
The next day House took the 17 Mile Drive, a state park that consists of a road that runs along the ocean and through Pebble Beach, the famous golf course. He stopped and had lunch at Pebble Beach, eating oysters and crab and chased it with a nice Pinot Noir from Napa Valley. When he was done he walked around the golf club and heard a jazz band inside one of the restaurants so he went inside and sat at the bar. Ordering a drink, he was pleased to see a blonde giving him the eye. He gave her the eye back and then bought her a drink. She came over and sat next to him.
"Tourist?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm here for a legal convention, I'm a lawyer and you?"
"Just traveling through. I'm going to go visit my folks in San Diego." House knew that would score big,women liked men who were still connected to their family.
The conversation went on for an hour and then House realized that he wasn't going to close the deal on this one. Not because she would resist, but because he had just had three nights of very hot sex and he really didn't need any tonight. He was tired. House said his goodbyes to a very frustrated lawyer and took off down the coast to Big Sur.
He thought that Teagan would have loved riding through Big Sur. It was a combination of pine forests, rivers and the ocean. The wildlife consisted mostly of deer and smaller animals. Black bears hadn't quite made it back into the Santa Lucia Mountains that ran parallel to the ocean. He thought the views were spectacular and he wouldn't mind owning a house overlooking the ocean in Big Sur. Stopping overnight at the River Inn, House was surprised to find a great Salsa band playing at the River Lodge Restaurant attached to the inn. He listened to music most of the night and then climbed in bed, alone.
House thought about the road to San Diego. Tomorrow he would be traversing the famous Highway 1, the windy two lane road that ran the edge of the mountains as they cascaded down to the sea. It was breathtaking but dangerous, having claimed a lot of lives over the years. He thought about the rest of the road home, a road he had traveled several times when he was a teen and when he and Stacy came out to California for a vacation. Stacy had insisted on flying out to California to meet his parents, complaining that he must be ashamed of her if he didn't want them to meet. House realized that he would soon be facing his mother and his aunt.
He wasn't looking forward to seeing his Mom. Since his father's funeral, she hadn't been that happy with his performance at the funeral. His relationship with his dad was strained, always had been and he couldn't resist telling the world what a sorry father he had been. In reality, he hadn't even been his biological father, a friend of his had been. Nonetheless, he knew that his mother was full of unconditional love and would soon get over the events at the funeral. She usually called him every week just to monitor his highs and lows. He suspected that most mothers did that. He couldn't argue with Wilson about a mother's love, but he could argue that a father's love was conditional.
The next morning was beautiful and the drive was so wild and rugged, he knew that Teagan would have been in seventh heaven. He was driving slowly on Highway 1 because anything other than slow would result in his demise on the rocks below.
He knew he had gotten through the rough part of Highway 1 when he saw the lighthouse. The road ahead would be four lanes and straight all the way to San Simeon, the home of Hearst Castle. He reached San Simeon at noon and had lunch at a restaurant with a view of the "Enchanted Castle" on top of the hill looking over the world. He remembered touring it with Stacy and her being impressed with both the Grecian pool and the gold plated indoor pool with the terrible acoustics.
It didn't matter, House realized that he just wanted to get home and get the visit with his mother over with. Rather than stay in Santa Barbara, he decide to keep on going to his mother's house. Leaving the tip on the table, he looked at his watch and decided he could be home around 9:00 p.m if he didn't stop except for gas and to take a leak. He took more than the allotted Vicodin and started for home.
xxx
Teagan had a lot to do to make up for the time she was gone. First, she had to concentrate on making some money. Putting on her sun hat and sunglasses, she grabbed her burlap bags, some water and made her way into the forest. Molly followed, sniffing at the various smells all around her. Teagan played her IPOD, the only luxury she allowed herself besides her Mustang. She crossed the meadow to the creek bank and found the blackberry patch, relieved to see it was laden with blackberries. One summer she had come out and some hikers had stumbled on it, picking half of them. She found out later that they threw most of them out when they couldn't finish them. It made her sick to think of the waste.
Teagan spent two hours in the blackberry patch and brambles. She had several Blackberry recipes and would pick a quarter of the fruit today to start making the pies. She hauled the bags home with Molly in tow and began to make the pies first. It wasn't easy making pies without a regular oven, but she and her old fashioned stove oven had come to an agreement long ago. She would keep it fed with the best wood, only oak, and it wouldn't burn the food. She kept the oak separated from the other fireplace woods just for the oven. Oak burned pretty evenly and for a long time making it perfect for the oven.
Once cooled, Teagan packed up the pies, all ten of them, and took them up to the lodge. They would sell them for her to the tourists, some who came back to the lodge each summer just for her pies. She had cooked a dozen of them which sold for $6.00 each. She gave the lodge $1.00 per pie although they frequently refused to take it when they knew she was low on money. When she returned home she decided to work on the blackberry jam the next day and focus on getting more wood. Wood was always a priority. In the summer it was only used for cooking. But she still had to bring it in on a regular basis to make sure she had enough for the winter. Occasionally one of the woodcutters would have some ends left over and drop them off for free. She always gave them jars of blackberry jam in exchange.
When the day was over, Teagan sat at the dining table and put on gloves. She opened the letters one by one to make sure that there was no money or checks in them. She had started receiving more than usual psychic requests because Richard the ex-boyfriend had been giving her address out to people who contacted him. Occasionally money or a check would fall out of the envelope, trying to entice her into helping the corresponding family. But she returned it along with a printed flyer telling each of the persons who wrote that she was sorry, but she no longer gave consults and referred them to the FBI profilers. She took great glee in giving the direct phone number to the profilers out. It probably pissed them off, but it served them right. They had abused her talents for years, almost causing her to stroke on several occasions, so she thought it was time for a little payback. She wore gloves to prevent picking up the pain in the letters or worse, a picture of the person that was missing or dead. The mail had piled up while she was gone and she had a lot to return. There had been $3,450 total in the letters that had come in. She could use the money, but the pain was overwhelming and not worth the price. She sent it all back.
Teagan had thought of him while picking the blackberries. She tried not to be melancholy because there was always the chance that she would broadcast it to him and she didn't want him to feel guilty. At night she thought of the sex and it made her smile. She tried reciting a mantra to help her, "I hope he's happy, I want him to be happy, I want good things in his life." She said it over and over in her head until she finally gave in to her exhaustion and fell asleep.
xxx
House pulled into his mother's drive and got out to stretch. The automatic light that detected motion came on illuminating the drive. Pulling his bag from the trunk, House went around to the back door. He had called his Mom about an hour before to let her know he was coming and would arrive soon. He heard her shriek with delight, causing him to smile to himself. Only his mother would be that happy to see Greg House pull up in their drive.
His Mom was already opening the door when he came up the back. She had her arms ready for him, expecting a hug, and since no one was looking, she demanded a kiss.
"Greg, oh sweetie, you look tired. Come on in. Does your leg hurt?"
"Yeah a little. I need to stand for awhile. I've gotta pee Mom, let me go." He went down the hall to the bathroom.
She asked him about his trip and why they took such a long route to California?
"We stopped to see friends of the woman who owned the car. You would have liked the car Mom, it was a mint 1965 Mustang, like the one you and Dad owned. Ran great. Not a single problem. They were well made back then, simpler, easier to work on...especially clutches."
His Mom was fixing him some food while they spoke of her health, travels, the neighbors, old friends. They stayed up until midnight talking and then his Mom started in on him.
"Greg, when are you going to find someone and settle down? You're 50 now. You have to get over Stacy. What about that Lisa Cuddy?"
"We're no longer seeing each other, besides she's my employer. I don't think she has feelings like that for me anymore. Don't worry Mom, I don't need a woman in my life. I'm ok."
"What about the woman you just drove out with?"
"You are relentless, aren't you?" he squirmed in his seat a little and his mother smiled.
"Oh, so there is something."
"Not really. We had a good time but she lives like a hermit in the mountains and loves it. The relationship wouldn't work on a fundamental level."
His mother was obviously disappointed. She patted Greg's hand and sent him off to bed. Lying in bed he looked at the ceiling and remembered standing in the desert looking up with Teagan at Orion's belt and the Big Dipper. He played with the dial on the radio and stopped when he heard the song...
...I ain't missing you, No matter what my friends say ...
He could see her dancing in the café, wondering if she was upset over his leaving or if she had already moved on.
...And there's a message that I'm sending out
Like a telegraph to your soul
And if I can't bridge this difference,
Stop this heartbreak overload...
He wondered? Would it be possible for him to open the gate and touch her mind? He tried. He thought of nothing, but talking to her with his mind. He pushed his thought as hard as he could. Sending a telegraph to her soul. He did this for a few minutes and then he started to laugh to himself. Who did he think he was, Kreskin?
But just as he rolled over on his side to go to sleep, he heard her softly say, "Yes, Greg?"
"You can hear me?" He thought.
"You're shouting at me, how could I not hear you? You're pretty loud you know; your shouting woke me up."
"I don't believe this is real. I'm asleep and dreaming this, right?"
"If you need to believe that, fine. But in the meantime, are you ok? How was the trip?"
"I'm fine, I'm at my folks and the trip down was ok, nothing great."
"I'm glad you're well. I've been sending up prayers for you. Do you need anything?"
"No."
"Well then, good night and sleep tight; don't let the bed bugs bite."
"Goodnight Teagan."
House turned on the light and assured himself that he must have been dreaming. What a nice dream it was though. It was great to hear her calm, soft voice in his mind.
What was that about? God that man could be loud when he wanted to be. He certainly knew how to connect with me. Thank God I had let down the gate, I might have missed him. At least he's thinking of me, I'm not just a three night stand.
She chuckled and rolled over to go back to sleep.