Blue Butter True by Tom Thompson

Giavon Norcross (Von) felt like a lost soul.

Like a ship drifting through deep waters with an anchor to drop, but feeling like there was nothing beneath the water for an anchor to land on and grab ahold of. He wasn’t anxious, needy or panicky; nothing like that. He just felt sort of homeless, foundationless, directionless… sort of lost. He felt he needed to go on a journey; a journey to look for a fresh path and leave the old one behind. Not to forget, just to go forward.

As he descended the steep trail a day and a half’s walk from the European city Sanclair, toward this tiny village nestled tightly in a small valley between cliffs and wildly steep hills, he could see smoke from a chimney atop one of the more prominent buildings in the center of the town.

Behind the silhouettes of the town the sun was setting on the ocean, and it was the grandest sight he’d seen in such an awfully long time.

When his father Jardon (Don) had fallen ill two years earlier, it was tough.

He and his dad had always had a good relationship, and Von had felt fine helping to get his father through that difficult time.

But it soon became apparent that his father was dying.

He‘d lived a full, rigorous life, and now his body was simply shutting down.

Von could tell that his father felt badly about being a burden to him, but their time together soon bloomed into an opportunity to share great memories, and simply hang out and become extremely close, the kind of closeness achieved when you know one of you is going away soon, forever…

Among many other things, his dad had told him about the times he’d spent during and after the World War that squelched the radical enemies’ plan for world power.

He’d flown bomb dropping raids on enemy strongholds and advancing armies for over three years, but he was away for almost ten.

When the enemy backed down from their goal of world dominance and the fighting ended, he stayed, finding his way to this very cove and falling in love with the local landscape and people.

A few months after he’d fallen ill, his father died.

He missed him like he didn’t think possible.

The time they’d spent together long ago racing hot rods and traveling together were even more cherished now that they’d become great friends and reminisced about the places they’d seen and the people they’d known during that period of fifteen years, when his dad toured professionally as a race car owner and driver, and Von was a crew member.

It sparked in him a desire to reignite his passion for hot rods, and when he did he got his grown son, Gianni, intrigued and involved so he could spend that type of time with him.

It had only been a couple of months ago that he’d seen his son crash, a crash that had taken his life.

It felt like ages ago.

He could hardly imagine how it felt to hug his son or proudly shake his hand after an especially triumphant race or successful testing and learning session.

Two months felt like two decades, like he’d passed through a vast tunnel of time since then.

Now, looking at this sunset, the ache in his heart was so strong; he missed his son and his father so much.

Seeing the village his father had spoken of with such passion, and seeing his son’s face in his memory, smiling and eager, and to have lost them both, was overwhelming…

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He regained his composure and plodded forward, and decided to instead revel in the good times he’d had with both his son and his father.

It amazed him and at the same time he felt so foolish, because right now, carefully making his way along the path that wound back and forth down the steep hill toward his destination, the chimney in the little café in this tiny town he’d heard so much about from his father, the thing he thought of and wondered about most, was the butter!

He’d almost lost his dad, only to become greater friends with him before he died, gotten back into racing to share that passion with his own son, lost him, and the thing at the forefront of his mind right now was the butter!

Even with all the pain he felt a short time ago, he almost laughed at this irony of unimportance.

His dad had told him of so many other things; how he’d ridden beautiful waves not too far from this village, and how he’d thought of him and missed him and knew how he would’ve loved riding those waves; and about the legendary killer cove right there in the village bay that once every 5 or 10 years or so, when a huge storm thousands of miles across the ocean would cause monstrous waves to charge in and break and roll back out, leaving the bay bottom exposed! Then a few moments later, another huge breaker would fill the bay again and crash down and out.

His father got to see it once, in his 7 year stay there, and it had made him shudder in his shoes imagining what it might be like to be caught in that huge monstrous ‘washing machine’ of the crashing cove.

He didn’t see it again that way, as the direction of the swells coming in had to be lined up exactly between the cluster of islands to the South far offshore for them to make their way into this small cove of this little village.

One of the things his father had told him about that had intrigued him the most, and this was another big part of why he came here, was how he’d come to know this seaside town and had set up shop here.

He’d become close friends with a sailor who’d become a valuable ally and source of information about the local terrain and resources that allowed him and his fellow fighter pilots to land their planes and perform maintenance and make fuel from the wood and foliage that was abundant in the area.

When the need to bomb ended and the other pilots were eager to get back home to their families, Don just wanted to stop in his tracks and rest.

The painful memory of losing his wife shortly before the allied nations had recruited (more like drafted) as many multi-talented hot rod drivers and builders as they could find to fulfill their new bomber plans, rushed back into his mind.

He’d felt no real desire to return home to his empty house, where he’d lost his mate.

He’d transferred his love and passion for her onto this new role of racer turned designer/builder/ pilot of this newly necessary type of warrior craft, and this passion combined with his knowledge and innovative abilities had made him one of the natural leaders.

His single minded goal of making these aircrafts fast and strong, and most importantly durable, as well as easy to control, refuel and repair pushed him to the forefront of this new and unexpected arena.

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When the need for it ceased, it seemed like the adrenaline that fed it ceased too.

He just wanted to rest.

So, when his comrade, the sailor Onan, told him of his steep hilled village and of his home there, he felt compelled to accept his invitation to return with him.

When he did he was drawn to its beautiful landscapes, lush vegetation and calming sunsets.

The local towns’ people were wary of outsiders, but when Onan assured them of this soldier’s role in bringing about the end of the need for warring, they were naturally grateful and eventually accepted and welcomed him to their village It was at his first meal that first day at that little café that Don got his first taste of that special butter that Von was now thinking of.

The woman who ran the café had told Don that the steep hillsides and thick sunlight blocking trees helped produce an especially dark, rich grass that the cows and sheep fed on, which in turn made the milk from these animals exceptionally rich.

Hence, the awesome butter!

Making his way down this steep winding trail, he could see in the fading sunlight, bluish- purple tendrils of grass growing under the thick protective trees.

He stopped and reached down, plucking one of them at the root, and held it up in what light was left.

It was a deep, dark green at the bottom changing to a very, very dark blue with a reddish- purple tint at the very top.

After all this time and all these miles, it was at the same time exciting and relieving to finally see and know for himself that this special grass, and place, really still existed.

His father had given him a map he’d drawn of the town, as well as some keys and combinations, and his all-important hand books of records, calculations and formulas that he’d kept through the years.

Some of the information would be of no use; no need to develop and maintain warring aircraft now, but if his workshop was still there, it may be useful and definitely interesting to examine the things and the ways that his father had worked out so many years before.

Von had only brought the bare minimum of things with him from the village Sanclair, with instructions to deliver the rest of his things to this village by pack mule, if he hadn’t returned in two weeks’ time.

Thinking of this suddenly reminded him of his curiosity and uncertainty of how the local villagers might react to his intrusion into their lives.

Oh well, time will tell.

One foot in front of the other, he told himself, you really are almost there.

He’d studied the map numerous times and he knew almost instinctively where the workshop was, but seeing it, he thought going into it might appear to be bold, as it wasn’t really his.

He decided to try and make his first presence known in this town at the café.

His dad had said that back then this was like the epicenter of activity, the town hall, so to speak.

Standing now only a few steps from the café he’d only heard of and thought about until now, he 3

walked from the shadows and across the cobblestone street to the door.

An older man was sitting on a bench just inside the cafés porch. When he entered, their eyes met, and Von sensed the man was friendly and unafraid.

“Hello, how has your journey been?” asked the man.

He probably saw his backpack and knew Von was traveling.

“It’s been fine. Pleasant. How are you?” Von replied.

“I’m not bad myself. I’d be doin’ better if you could spare a few coins. I’d be willing to work for it” the old man replied.

Not having any cash handy in his pockets, (it was stashed away in his back pack), Von asked “Are you hungry? Can I buy you something to eat?”

“I’m more worried how my stomach is going to feel in the morning than how it feels now” was the old man’s reply.

“Well, then how about I bring you something on my way out for tomorrow?”

“I just might take you up on that” replied the man, and then nodded a trusting goodbye.

Down the street a bit was a local named Untar.

He had spent his entire life in this village.

He’d worked the crops and raised animals and fished the sea like his father before him. And, he was wary of strangers.

His experience had shown him that just about everybody had a hidden agenda, some motive behind their friendly exterior, that usually meant their gain would come at someone else’s expense.

He suspected that this new stranger was no exception.

He had hid in the shadows, enjoying his pipe, and waited.

He had close friends in Sanclair, and long ago they’d found a way to communicate in a fairly simple manner; they’d each trained pigeons to fly to their homes when released, then they would, whenever necessary, transport these birds back to each other so they could use them to send messages whenever it was needed.

A small note would be attached to each of the birds’ legs.

The traveler had left Sanclair mid-morning yesterday and late last night before nightfall all three of the sent pigeons arrived.

In the past it turned out that one bird could be somehow lost, or captured by a predator. For a message of moderate importance, 2 birds would be sent, but the most important news would require 3, just to be safe. A notation would be made on the top of each note as to the number of birds sent.

Untar had taken the notes off of his prized pigeons legs as they arrived one after the other, and rewarded them with special treats progressively; the first to arrive got the fruit all by itself, then would also get to share in the second ones reward when it arrived. Then the first two would get another trip to the treat trough when the final bird arrived.

Untar knew that the birds were intelligent enough to know how this little game worked; the first one back got the best rewards!

He tried not to make this exercise in discipline and competition too obvious, he loved all of his prized pigeons immensely, and sometimes the slower, pudgier bird was the most affectionate…

Anyway, he got the message; a new traveler was headed his way.

Not much information about this man had been gleaned; he was from the Americas, he was quiet 4

and cordial, appeared to be well heeled and he was headed to the village where the burgundy grass grew.

Untar had had a whole day to ponder this man’s reasons for coming to this tiny little corner of the planet. He didn’t hold out much hope that it was for any good.

With his telescope he had observed him making his way across the ridge that morning, and had anticipated his arrival in town around nightfall. He found it interesting that the traveler had made his way through the north end of town before coming down into Main Street and into the café.

He witnessed him interacting with the old sailor, knowing the game the old man played, pretending to be a beggar, and wasn’t surprised to see the traveler snub the old man’s request. It was a misunderstanding of course, as the newcomer had not really snubbed the older man.

He had spent as much time as he could spare witnessing the man’s arrival, and decided to take care of his last chores of the day before deciding what action to take next concerning this new and unknown traveler.

Von entered the café from the porch and through the main entrance, two side by side doors that were on the front end opposite the kitchen, which had its back to the bay.

The interior had a rustic look with rough cut lumber dominating the construction.

It had low vertical walls that were joined to a steep A-frame ceiling running the length from the front to the back, which was lined with diagonal rough cut lumber planks from the top of the walls to the upper peak. There were a few ceiling fans hanging from the peak by long pieces of tubing, with lights on them. There were 5 or 6 booths lining the outer walls, with a dozen or so random sized tables occupying the center of the room, all of which had lamps or lanterns on them, with a couple of tables lit. Those ones appeared to still have plates and glasses on them, but the place was devoid of people.

On the far end he could see the kitchen opening behind a split counter with 8 or 10 chairs mounted in front of it, running the width of the building, with a hallway on the left side that Von guessed led to bathrooms and store rooms and stuff.

If someone was back there, he felt that they didn’t know that he’d entered, or at least didn’t acknowledge it.

Looking around as he strolled toward the other end of the room and the counter, he saw lots of framed pictures of various sizes, some with words printed on or below them, and some without, on the walls by the booths. In the faint light he could see that some had people or groups, and some were of landscapes and buildings.

Most likely a history of the town, he thought.

As he wandered down the left side, between booths and tables, he could tell that some of these were paintings or drawings, while some were actual photographs.

As he got closer to the kitchen, he could hear some activity, something going on behind the opening in the wall behind the counter.

As he approached the counter, he slowed so as to not startle whoever was back there. When he could see a person partially bent over working on something, he took another deliberate step to try and make his presence known.

A dark haired woman casually raised her head and looked in his direction. Her eyes widened a little bit as she recognized it was somebody she did not know.

After a moment of silence, they both said “hello” at the same time. Then, after another brief pause, they both said “hi”, again at the same time.

They smiled, and Von brought a finger up to his lips silencing himself, then brought his finger 5

down, motioning to her to go ahead and speak, smiling a bit more at this humorous exchange.

She picked up a hand towel and walked to where Von was standing. She held out her hand and said “I’m sorry; I didn’t realize that someone other than my old friend had come in.”

Giavon was a bit stunned; she was quite lovely, and he was at a loss for words; having come all this way, not really knowing what to expect, how he would be received, if this place really existed, and now seeing this lovely dark skinned lady in the faint light of this previously only imagined café, he suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed and light headed.

He looked down and realized that he had taken her hand in his, and wasn’t quite certain how long he’d had hold of it.

“I’m sorry, um, hi, my name is Giavon.”

“Well, now that we’re both sorry,” she joked, “I’m curious how a man I’ve not met before has shown up at my café? You must be here to try one of my famous desserts!”

Von suddenly felt quite shaky and light headed. He realized he hadn’t eaten anything since having a bit of bread and cheese early that morning that he’d brought from Sanclair.

“Do you mind if I sit down?” he asked as he gestured toward the nearest table.

“In my excitement in coming here today, I’ve neglected to have any food since this morning.”

“Of course, please sit.” she replied.

He took a few steps and slid into the booth on his left. In the light from the lamp on the table, he could now see her beautiful features clearly as she looked down at him from where she was standing near him right by the tables’ edge.

She had amazing green eyes, light tanned bronzed skin, and golden brown, slightly curly almost straight hair. She appeared to have no makeup on, and her lips were full and dark.

She had a look of slight but genuine concern on her face, and asked “Are you gonna be OK? He realized that he was staring at her, and looked down, but then slowly looked back up, almost as if he couldn’t help it.

“Wow. You are r-e-a-l-l-y beautiful.” he commented, almost as if he were thinking aloud.

She seemed a bit surprised but not annoyed or offended, and blushed a bit.

“Thank you. I don’t get that very often around here. It’s very nice to hear.”

They smiled at each other, and he started to regain his composure.

As he sighed a recuperative breath, she came back down to earth a little bit herself.

She was a little taken aback by his comment. She had been pleasantly caught by surprise by his complement and now realized that she had sat down opposite him.

“Oh, I apologize, let me get you some tea and a little food” she said.

As she rose, Von gently took her hand, and said “Could you please tell me your name?”

She turned to face him again and held his hand and said “Isobelle.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Isobelle.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you too, Giavon.”

They smiled a giddy kind of smile, almost giggling, and she turned and headed to her kitchen. As she walked away he saw that she was tall, only a few inches shorter than him, yet she had a petite build.

Wow, he thought, could it be possible that a woman this fine could be without a man? Probably not, and he decided he should be more respectful of her until he learned more.

As Isobelle turned and walked, or almost floated, to get some water boiling, her eyes widened as she thought about what was happening; Out of the blue a handsome and friendly man strolled into her café, maybe into her life.

Wait a second, she told herself, I know nothing about this man, why he’s here, what he wants, 6

who sent him, is he passing through… Don’t be foolish, she told herself.

Still, it was a tremendously nice feeling. Her instincts were usually good, and she had a positive feeling about this man.

Ha! She thought it was probably his good looks entrancing her!

As she poured some water into a pot and set it on the stove, she had him pictured in her mind‘s eye; he was tall and slender with fair skin that was slightly tanned. His shoulder length hair was blonde and his eyes were blue, about the color of the afternoon sky. He had a kind face, one that smiled pleasantly and easily. His eyes, which she knows are the windows to a person’s soul, were especially kind and caring. But again she thought, be careful.

Von crossed his arms in front of him and laid his head down for a moment to close his eyes and try and recharge a bit…

As Von stood behind it, the race car left the starting line in the left of the two lanes as the light turned green, front wheels up and charging hard as it took off down the drag strip.

It made it past the critical area where the huge rear tires tended to shake and then break loose and spin. It kept accelerating, approaching the finish line on what was sure to be an excellent test run.

A feeling of pride swept over Von, since he and his son had worked together on how to overcome the car’s performance woes, to get it to cover the quarter mile successfully, and in record time!

Just as the car crossed the finish line, it appeared to disintegrate; the right rear tire looked like it exploded and exited the car, taking some of the body with it. The car made a hard right turn across the other lane and into the guard wall, and then it was all a cloud of debris and parts tumbling over the wall.

In a flash Von was in the support vehicle and down the track at the remnants of their high powered hot rod.

It could not have been worse.

There was almost nothing left of the car.

Most of the engine and the left rear wheel and tire were still attached, everything else gone.

The composite body had been turned into confetti and the frame of the front end of the chassis was torn off and gone.

The driver’s roll cage area was intact, but a piece of steel that once had been part of the long tubular wheelie bar on the rear of the car had been bent and wrapped around, and was now between the main frame uprights inside the driver’s compartment.

It had impaled his son in his chest beside his right arm.

The flow of blood had stopped, there was no movement.

His son was dead.

He felt the touch of a safety official on his shoulder, and looked up…

He looked up, as Isobelle took her hand from his shoulder, a startled look on her face.

He had been dreaming, recalling the tragic incident that took his son’s life two months ago.

“Are you OK?” she asked, seeing tears in his eyes.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I must have dozed. I’m, I’m OK” he stammered.

“Are you sure, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

He smiled, trying to play down the emotions he was feeling, and wiped his eyes dry.

“Yes, yes I’m fine. I just, ah, need to catch my breath a little bit.” was his reply.

He didn’t want to appear to be a mental basket case, but at the same time, he wanted to share 7

with her what he was feeling, and why.

She didn’t want to appear nosy, or trying to pry from him what was going on, but she did feel genuine concern for this person she’d only just met.

“Well if I can help,” she said, “please, feel free to talk with me”.

They smiled, and then she picked up the kettle from the tray she’d set upon the table while he was dreaming and poured some hot tea into the cups.

She slid into the booth opposite him.

She then lifted a silver cover from a plate that had a blueberry muffin on it.

Beside it there was a small cup of butter.

BUTTER! There it was! Could it be? Could this be the moment he’d come all this way for?

He suddenly felt silly and excited at the same time!

Isobelle saw his eyes light up and the excitement on his face.

He must really be hungry, she thought!

“You know, this may sound a little funny” Von started, “but I’ve come here from my home thousands of miles away, to taste that butter!”

“Really? How have heard about it?” she asked.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story” he replied, “I’m not sure if you’d really like to hear all about it.”

“Trust me,” she said, “I’d love to hear about how you came to know about this butter and this place.”

“Well, alright, if you’re sure. But please, can I taste some before I tell you?”

“Of course, please do!” she laughed, picking up a spoon and handing it to him.

“Well, it could be kind of a long story; don’t you still have some work to do? I could help.”

“Hmm, that sounds great. Have some tea and a muffin, and then I’ll put you to work!”

As Von brought the cup of tea up to his lips and began to blow on it to cool it, its aroma was that of cinnamon and dark berries.

He suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, but you know what? I told that old guy out front I’d bring him something to eat on my way out. Maybe I should go tell him I might be a while” he said.

She laughed. “That ol’ character certainly doesn’t need anything to eat! When it comes to having a place to sit down for a meal, Onan is the richest man in town!”

“Onan?!” Von said, almost choking on the tea.

“Yes. Do you know him?” Belle queried.

He sat there for a moment, wide eyed and smiling. “Yeah, I do. Well, no, I don’t really know him, I know OF him. He was a good friend of my father’s. A great friend”.

Now she sat there wide eyed.

“Really?” She asked. “Wow, now I’m intrigued. Onan has been around this town forever. How on earth could your father be his great friend?”

“They fought together years and years ago, against the Radicals They were comrades in arms.”

Von told her.

She sat there silent for a moment, the wheels in her mind turning.

Of course, it started to make sense to her. Then a light went on in her head!

This man must be the son of the man Onan had brought to this town long ago when she was a young lady. It was shortly after the war had ended, yet she remembered quite vividly. That man had brought technology and inventions to this town that were still in use today, even here in this café!

“Your father was Jardon, the Craftmaster! You are the son a very valued man to this town’s 8

people. His ideas and handiwork made an impact on our people that still last today. The power generating devices he helped build give us a free source of electricity to light our streets and buildings! He taught us how to make fuel from rubbish and foliage so we could use machinery to aid in our farming! He had so many marvelous ideas that he shared with us! There’s a picture of him by the mill he helped design by the waterfall at the Northcrest!” she exclaimed, standing up and pointing toward the back of the café.

“It’s in the meeting hall by the fireplace! Come, I’ll show you!”

“OK” said Von, setting down the cup. He didn’t want to be rude, but he hadn’t tasted the butter yet, and starting to get up, he thought it could surely wait a few more minutes.

She put her hand on his shoulder, almost reading his mind, and she said “Wait, go ahead, please try the butter, you haven’t yet sampled it, and the picture’s not going anywhere!”

“Well, I really am anxious, if you don’t mind, I think I will.”

Von picked up the teaspoon and scooped a little of the soft creamy butter into it.

It was a bit darker than others he’d had, and it seemed heavier and denser, but that may have been his imagination.

He brought the spoon up and put a dab on his lips, and pushed his tongue out to slowly pull it into his mouth.

It was creamy and sweet, and very rich. It had an almost whipped texture to it, almost like frosting for a cake.

He put the rest of the half spoonful in his mouth and closed his eyes, imagining his dad’s description of it and also imagining what his father’s first taste of this awesome butter must’ve been like.

It was almost too good, too sweet or something hard to explain, almost pungent.

But in reality it wasn’t too much of any of those things: it was perfect!

It was all that he’d imagined!

“Uhmm” he hummed slowly, almost under his breath, “This stuff really is amazing. I can’t wait to have some of it on fresh popcorn or a baked potato. I’ll bet that’s wonderful too!”

“You’re right, it is. That’s how I get my pies and desserts to taste so good. Well, that and my amazing cooking skills” she added laughingly.

He smiled at her broadly then put the spoon down, picked up the knife, split the muffin down the middle and opened it sliced sides up. With the knife he scooped up and slathered a thick layer of this wonderful butter on top, and said “OK, let’s see that photo”.

He picked up half of the steaming treat on the table in front of him, took a couple of awesome bites, then put the whole half of it in his mouth and stood up.

Picking up the cup of tea, Giavon followed Isobelle down the hallway, licking his fingers while savoring the taste of that warm wet buttery muffin, almost in disbelief of its amazing flavor.

He noticed more photos on the hallway walls and they caught his glance, but his attention was quickly drawn back to Belle’s beautiful hair swaying and bouncing in front of him.

Even in spite of all the fabulous feelings his taste buds were having, he couldn’t help but notice the aroma of flowers or some unrecognized lovely scent wafting back towards him from the lovely lass that led his way.

The hall led to a room at the far end of the building, and at the very back wall was the fireplace.

In the middle of the room was a big meeting table.

“This is where our have our town meetings” Isobelle told him. There were a lot of pictures on the 9

walls of this room too.

Von stopped beside her as they both looked up at the picture she had spoken of, the warm cup heating his hand while he sipped it.

Sure enough there stood his much younger father, along with a small group of other people.

They stood in front of a waterfall that had once been used to operate a saw mill, but had been transformed into a water storage and transfer facility.

In a slow, pondering tone, like speaking while recalling from memory, Belle spoke.

“Our town’s people had been using that mill to cut lumber for a long time, but your father shared the knowledge he had about generating pressure with us so we could use it to send water and air pressure into our homes and businesses.”

“That really made a lasting difference to this place. There’s Onan standing on his right.”

Von looked closer and could see a young version of the man he’d met a short time ago out front of this place.

“I wonder if he’s still out front” Von thought out loud.

“He could be” she murmured back.

Neither of them was eager for this first meeting to end, but…

“It’s getting a bit late and I still have some work waiting for me in the kitchen” she shared.

“Hmmm, it is kinda late, isn’t it?” he said in a low voice.

He just stood there for a long moment, reveling in everything: the amazing taste in his mouth, her presence, the picture in front of him, the day, the journey, the past two years, everything.

He wanted to lean over and put his arm around her.

Instead he turned toward her and said “I could still help you in the kitchen.”

“Oh no, that’s OK, but I’ll take a rain check on that for sure, though!” she said smiling.

“Have you been to your father’s old place yet?” she asked, just thinking of the old shop Don had used to use.

“I’ve been by it, but not in it. I really am excited about going in there. My dad told me all kinds of things about his past here. I can’t wait…”

“Then let’s get you going! I’ll get you a little something more to eat to hold you over…”

“Will you be here at breakfast?” he asked her.

“No, I don’t start ‘til around lunchtime. I have some help, cousins, nieces and nephews, aunts, and of course my mother. She opens most of the time. I close just about every night.”

“Almost every night, that sounds daunting.” Von replied.

“Oh, believe me, it’s fine. We have certain periods when we don’t serve.

People plan to eat at home, and then they plan to dine here when we’re open. It works out pretty well. We’re usually in pretty big demand though, if I do say so myself!”

“It sounds like you really like what you do here” he said.

“Yeah, I do. It really is fun to cook up meals for people I’ve known all of my life. Eating is one of life’s great pleasures, so I get to help my friends enjoy some fun and relaxing time and earn a living at the same time.”

“Hmm, sounds nice. I’ve always kinda liked to cook too. And eat! Well, I guess I will get going.

I really am excited about exploring my father’s workshop. It’s been such a long time since he’s been there, I wonder what condition it‘s in? I guess I’ll find out soon. You know, it’s strange.

I’ve been looking forward to going there and investigating things about it for a long time, and now that the time has come to actually go in and do it, I’m a little scared. The idea that it might not be there… That would be such a disappointment.”

Isobelle put her hand on his shoulder and said “Think positive, Giavon. I’m certain it’s there.

10

Your father was a great man to this village, and his place and his things in it would be respected.”

That made him feel reassured, and he smiled.

They went to the kitchen.

With culinary precision Belle had a couple of tortillas warming on the grill while she was throwing together some ingredients from seemingly all parts of her kitchen.

By the time Von consumed his large cup of tea; Belle was sliding the two burritos onto a thick paper plate, and handed it to him.

He thanked her with a smile.

She asked him if he wanted something more to drink, and he said no thanks, that he had some water in a canteen.

“OK, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon?” Von asked.

“Definitely” Belle replied, and they both smiled broadly.

He handed his cup to her and she took it, then he offered the same hand to her.

She reached out and took it.

Her fingers felt warmth in the palm of his hand, and they gently squeezed each other.

Again, they both wanted this first meeting to linger, but things still had to be done; work needed to take place for her, and he still felt a sense of urgency to visit his pop’s place…

They smiled and said good night. Von headed to the door to let himself out, taking a bite of the snack she’d given him. Uhm was it ever good, too!

As he headed out the front door, the old man was gone. Darn, he thought to himself. It would’ve been nice to officially meet his father’s friend from so long ago.

He casually walked up the street toward the north end where his dad’s shop was. It was pretty steep, the ground covered with stones set in mortar. There were shops and dwellings along the way, but he didn’t really pay much attention to his surroundings; he was still in a bit of a daze from the day’s happenings; finally getting here and seeing that sunset, meeting Onan (unknowingly), meeting the lovely Isobelle and finally sampling that world class butter. Seeing his father’s pictures in the café and now strolling to the workshop while eating an awesome bit of food … he felt very content. He felt much more peaceful and happy then he could remember feeling in a very long time.

In the distance behind him he could hear the ocean. The sound of pounding surf was clearly audible, yet a bit faint. This sound excited him immensely as he remembered how his father had told him about good waves not too far from here. The idea of riding some excellent waves made the hair on the back of his neck stand up!

Before he knew it, he was standing in front of his father’s old shop with the keys to it in his hand. To his relief, the one with FT stamped on it slid in and turned the lock easily. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, a faint aroma of oil and motors gently wafting around him. It brought thoughts of race cars into his mind.

From the light outside shining in the window he saw a candle and some matches on a table, and lit it. He stood there for a few moments looking around; it was a free standing building that wasn’t very wide but appeared to be relatively deep with a few windows along each side. He could see a couple of rooms down at the far end, the one on the left having a door which was closed, the other just a wide doorway to a room.

11

With the entry door behind him, which he closed and locked, and some shelves and bookcases lining the front wall, he could see as he walked toward the back of the shop, some work benches and machines along the way.

Most were clean and uncluttered, but some had tools and what looked like projects of some kind that had been left unfinished. He stopped at a machine that looked like a milling machine and tried the light switch that was mounted to it and to his surprise it went on when he turned the switch. He turned it off and proceeded to the room in the back.

The door was locked, and the key with an O stamped on it opened the door. Once inside he found a light switch which lit up the room nicely and blew out the candle He noticed how the smoke from the candle smelled just like the aroma of flowers from Isobelle’s hair.

To his left was a desk with note pads and pencils and stuff. Beyond it along the wall were more book cases with a window between them. Further back he saw another doorway without a door, instead it had ropes or beads hanging in it. Inside this room were a small bedroom with a bed and table, and an arm chair with a small book case by it. On it was a lamp that he turned on, and sat down in the chair. From the small book case he pulled a notebook and opened it. Recognizing his father’s hand writing, he began to thumb through it, and his eyelids seemed to become very heavy. It had been a very long day… .

As the stranger waved goodbye and left her café with the snack she’d given him, Isobelle felt warm and happy about meeting him. She thought how amazing it was that Jardon’s son had shown up in this town after all these years. She had been a young woman when he’d come to stay here after the war. She had gotten to know him quite well, and they‘d become very close friends. He too had a great fondness for the rich dairy products that came from this town’s animals.

Jardon was always busy working with the townspeople on ideas and improvements to increase in the quality of life here. But it was him who first told Belle of wave riders.

A group had been picnicking one afternoon down on the beach north of town and large, beautifully shaped waves were wrapping around the point and peeling off into sandbar in front of them. Isobelle had always marveled at their power and beauty, and was doing so then, when Jardon noticed. He told her that people could paddle out into the ocean and sail away on boards made especially for wave riding, and it was still done all over the planet. She remembered being wide eyed and awed by this story. Then when a shipment came in a few months later, a long slender package arrived addressed to her. In it was a beautiful sky blue colored wave riding vehicle. It was more like a disc or a light weight plank or something. It was a little taller than she was, and it fit nicely under her arm when she picked it up. It was also quite durable, luckily for her, since the first day she carried it out of the cafe she dropped it right on its edge in the street out front; she had some butter still on her hands from baking! She didn’t let that happen again!

Jardon had also received some photos when the shipment came, showing people actually riding these things in the water. This really amazed and intrigued Belle. It looked to her like they were gliding in the aquatic sea bumps! She knew she wanted to ‘aqua glide’ too, and set about spending as much time as she could out in the ocean bumps, trying to catch them.

And that she did.

Over the past couple of decades she became quite proficient in her abilities to traverse along those beautiful aquatic bumps that rolled in along the point north of her village.

In the beginning, when he had free time, Jardon had given her some help in the form of advice 12

on how to catch and lean into the walls of water as they became steep and their tops spilled over.

When she began to get the hang of it, becoming one with the fast moving surges of ocean water, he reminded her to be cautious, that the sea was also very dangerous and not discriminating as to who it would injure, or worse.

He had known of some that had been swallowed up and spit out by this awesome and powerful force, Mother Ocean.

And he was right; she had taken some lumps in her days of traversing swells in this wondrous ocean.

One of her first memories of feeling the pain of misjudging herself out there was a time she was too slow in her efforts to get into the wave and up on her glider on a particularly large day. She got stuck at the top and tried to jump up, only to get pitched over, like being hurtled off of an extremely fast moving waterfall!

She felt like she was in a set of river rapids, being rolled over and over, unable to get to the surface and catch a breath! And when she finally did, her glider was right there coming at her, and SMACK, it split open her lip!

She was really scared, and then very angry.

She had feared for her life, and had almost sworn off going back out.

Jardon shared some of the harrowing experiences he’d had a few times back in his heyday of surfing.

A few weeks later, there was another, slightly longer board leaning against the wall beside her blue one. It was sunshine yellow with orange and red flames streaming down from the nose.

Belle was perplexed, wondering if she now had two.

Jardon shared with her that he was inspired by her enthusiasm and joy for surfing.

He said he had wanted to join her in wave riding and try to pick it up again. He had sent away for this board months ago, and had painted the flames on it himself.

He said he hoped she would not give up on this thing he loved to do, and knew she loved too.

She was unsure, but in time she regained her confidence and eventually they were both out in the water hooting and hollering and cheering each other on.

As time went on, she came to cherish her blue glider, it became more than an object to her, instead more like a comrade that had seen her through many good times, and times of peril out in the treacherous waters.

She became quite adept as to how the board worked in critical situations, and by now she could handle herself in almost any conditions out in the ocean.

She sometimes wondered if others that lived along this coast knew of this wondrous and amazing pastime, and too indulged in aqua gliding…

She caught herself in a day dream about gliding, as she anticipated going out in the morning.

Through the open window she could hear the ocean pounding large waves against the shore off in the distance at the point, and her pulse quickened with excitement! She then thought about Jardon and Giavon as she got back to her cleaning and prepping the kitchen for tomorrow.

She wondered what was going on in Von’s thoughts. He certainly seemed upset when she woke him earlier. She wasn’t going to pry.

She heard a huge mountain of water crashing over the sandbar off in the distance, and sharply increased her speed in work; she was very much looking forward to the morning’s gliding session, and dawn couldn’t come soon enough!

13

Onan was a crafty old codger, the kind of person it would be good to have around whether you had a busted faucet, or a malfunction on a thermo-dynamic pressure intensifier! In other words, he was sharp. One of those guys that’s quiet and may appear to be a little slow, when in fact the wheels in his mind were spinning, assessing and diagnosing a problem and coming up with a plan of attack to remedy it.

When scouts from Squadron 7 flew up from their base on the African continent, Onan was the man who first became aware of their presence and made contact.

Jardon and Randcor were the best of their team at scouting for a new air base in foreign lands.

They had maps and info about old airstrips used in days gone by, so they at least knew of paved strips of runway where they could possibly land their ships. Two pilots in separate planes would embark on a ‘search and secure base’ mission, with the plan to send one pilot back once a base position was found. When they had discovered an airstrip, the plan was for one pilot to fly in close and survey the pros and cons of the location and surrounding resources. If people were present, a communication device would be dropped, with instructions for the inhabitants to light a signal fire to indicate their political status. The note stated that they were warriors from the America’s, and were engaged in battle with the Muslim armies. A two piece canister was dropped with the note instructing the recipient to use either the green fuel on the fire to indicate friendliness, or the red fuel to send a ‘don’t land here’ message. If they had a flag to fly signifying their nationality, this was requested of them to do. The land inhabitants were warned that if a pilot was misled by a false welcome and ambushed, the second pilot had the means to bombard the area and leave it in shambles. This was a risky mission to undertake as the enemy was crafty and sometimes willing to sacrifice an entire village in order to capture one pilot and his ship. Of the numerous missions flown, only a handful had gone badly, but still the risk was ever present. Jardon and Randcor were an excellent team and had done this mission many times with great success.

It was paramount to find a place rich in the natural resources vital to making their mission a success, and these two men were experts at it. It had been Jardon’s turn to do the ‘drop’ on this day, and he swooped in high and fast to get a bird’s eye view of the landscape and look around for human activity.

The location was a premier site for an air base; near the ocean, so no limit for purifiable water; other than the flat airstrip and adjoining building, the terrain was mostly hilly and covered in thick fuel producing vegetation, and there was even an old set of railroad tracks running along the coastline miles to the north, giving the fabricators plenty of iron and steel to work into tools and weapons. The village nestled in the steep lush valley to the South was almost hidden and unnoticeable. Oman made himself visible on one of the surrounding bluffs, and retrieved the package that fell from the plane. Having become aware of the war and the Muslims’ goal of world dominance, Onan quickly and instinctively sent the welcome message to the pilot.

No sooner had he done this, when Untar sprang on the scene demanding an explanation. He wasn’t so sure he wanted this area near his village used as an air base for a warring militia, quite the contrary! Oman calmly but firming countered Untar’s anger by telling him in no uncertain terms; “In this battle for earth’s possession, there are no spectators. We’re on one side or the other, and I know which side to be on, don’t you?”

Untar had known he was right, as this had been the subject of many town meetings, but was still angry Onan had acted on his own. And anyway, there was no time to quarrel now, Untar thought, 14

the plane was descending to the air strip and he needed to get over there and take control of the situation.

It wasn’t that far from them, but from Untar and Onan’s position atop the bluff, the plane would land before they could get there. They saw it coming in from the North at breakneck speed and screaming loudly. Untar bolted like an elk down the cliff and over into the hilly wooded area.

There was no direct path from this bluff to the airstrip, and Onan followed closely as they both worked their way through the thick foliage. They jumped out into the clearing at the airstrip a few minutes later, only to find the airplane sitting on the runway, the engine revved to a fast idle, apparently unmanned.

They emerged onto the grassy area adjacent to the airstrip, turned left and cautiously flanked the plane, keeping an eye on it, and their backs and sides as well. A few moments later, a bus length away further to the left, the warrior slowly stepped out of the bushes and into view, making his presence known. Unbeknownst to them, the pilot had a fire arm tucked in his belt behind him.

Onan put up his left hand palm forward as in a wave, nodded once, smiled in welcome, turned his palm over, gestured ‘approach me’, and proceeded toward the pilot. Untar now fell in behind him, but at a more cautious pace and distance.

The plane’s engine died. Their eyes darted to it, and then back to the pilot, who showed them a tool in his hand, pointed at the plane and gave them a knowing look.

He then gave the two men a cautious but warm and sincere smile.

Onan looked down at his feet to see his path and continued toward the pilot. The other two men’s gazes locked on one another.

Untar slowed to a stop a few arm’s lengths away while Onan kept moving. They kind of squinted and sized each other up, not feeling any bad vibes. In fact, they slowly relaxed, and their gazes mellowed, their eyes relaxing a bit. They felt somehow secure in one another. Trusting, liking each other. Onan had stopped and was standing at Jardon’s left, and he looked back and forth between the two men a couple of times, smiling and exuding positive karma, influencing this situation. Untar approached slowly, now hearing the ground covering crunch under his feet, in the relative silence. Jardon let the engine shut off device, a switch with a cable hooked to it that ran to the plane, drop from his left hand. He then stepped forward and put out his right hand in an inviting hand shake gesture. He stood there, then smiled broadly at Untar, and looked down at Onan on his left and then back up at Untar. “Greetings, Friend!” Onan proclaimed, while putting his left hand out to the pilot to shake. Don eagerly took Onan’s hand in his left hand, and gripped it warmly. “Yes, greetings!” echoed Untar, taking Don’s right hand enthusiastically. They all shared warm glances and nods, and then introduced themselves and asked “Are you healthy and safe“, etc. Untar looked over at the plane. “Wow! That thing is amazing! Hmm.” “Yeah, that’s the Jewel of Denial!” Don replied.

“What, the jewel of The Nile?” Untar queried.

“Yeah, denying the enemy the freedom to advance and plunder at will. The Jewel of Denial!”

Jardon joked. They both chuckled a little. But Jardon’s mood quickly became disturbed.

He began. “Gentlemen, time is of the essence, and I have none to waste. You know my position.

My country and I are locked in battle with the Radicals bent on world dominance. We have them in check in North America, and their threat has been greatly diminished in that region. However, their strength on this continent is unmatched. Their numbers are immense, and their technique is as follows; they send many large armies into regions and attack a city from several directions, consuming and annihilating it.

15

Their powers of hand to hand combat are overwhelming.

Their numbers are so great, and their warriors are willing, even eager, to die for their cause. That combination makes for an army whose advances are almost impossible to stop. They simply let the front line fight and die, and trample over them with a new wave of warriors to continue on, until victory is achieved.” He stood silent for a few moments.

“With our advanced Warbirds,” he said as he shot a glance and nod at his plane, “We can and WILL stop them.“ Another brief pause.

“We ask you now, free men to free men, are you with us?”

Onan stood still and seemingly emotionless, and took his gaze from the pilot and put it on Untar.

The huge villager stood silently, weighing his words in his mind before he spoke. Deep inside he knew this day would come. Even so, making the decision to commit, to choose a side, and get directly involved in this world war, was one he could not have been truly ready to make.

But he was a good man. A great man, even. He knew instinctively what he must choose.

“My people, my village, my family, and I” he stated strongly, “We are with you.”

Jardon’s glare barely changed. His jaw set firmly, he gave the huge villager a nod of affirmation.

“One thing” Untar added. “The men folk of my village, we will, by all means possible assist in your work. But I must insist that the village itself remain untouched, and off limits to you and your men. Understood.” It was not a question.

“Understood” Jardon replied. “I give you my word. My fellow warriors and I will respect your request.”

Thus began the alliance of Jardon’s warriors and Untar’s people.

Von opened his eyes to see faint sunlight drifting in the room He had fallen asleep in the chair.

He sat up, feeling a little startled. For an instant he felt a bit bewildered and unsure of his surroundings. Then, slowly his wits came back to him; he recognized where he was, the office in his father’s workshop, with the notebook in his lap. He recalled last night’s events; Isobelle, and the butter at the café, the old man Onan outside it, this town, the journey… and then the sudden surge of dread. It was like this almost every time he awoke, but it was becoming less intense each day, the rush of panic and pain when it hit him again, that his son was gone.

The pain of this loss was like nothing else he’d ever felt.

He’d never known what it felt like to feel such a strong love for another person until he had a child. Sure, he loved his parents, and of course his wife when they were together, but to finally feel the type of love where you’d actually put someone else’s welfare above your own was new, and it felt good. From something simple, like giving away the last bite of your PB&J sandwich, to feeling like you wouldn’t hesitate pushing your child out of the path of a moving bus and being run over yourself if need be.

True unconditional love.

If he dwelled on it, he’d go nuts.

The kid loved to race.

The car took his life.

No use crying over spilt milk. Or blood.

Von looked at the notebook in his hands that he’d picked out of the bookcase last night after he’d sat down. On the first page was a contents note with some things listed like Water Purifier and Ignition Intensifier, and one that caught his eye, Pressure Generator.

He turned to that page and drawn and described was an air tank type of device that had inside of 16

it a gyroscope/generator motor, that when activated by adjusting the internal components, would spin and rotate inside. When this occurred, the ‘gyrator’ would produce air pressure which would build up inside the tank. This pressure was then used in many ways with many different devices designed to capitalize on this pressure to make them function and operate. One of the simpler devices were air operated power tools. When the gyrator tank built high pressure, it would be released and captured into larger holding tanks, which through a series of pressure check valves, could be filled with extremely high air pressure. A pressure regulator would feed a hose that could be used to operate all sorts of tools that made drilling, grinding and inflating a lot of things possible. Some of the more advanced uses were to irrigate gardens and supply power in homes.

Bamboo was used in the construction of water delivery systems in fields that, with pressure from the air tanks, would send water from a lake or river source, to a field or garden that grew plants and for in homes, appliances that worked a lot like the air tools were made to make life better. In summer, fans could be ran with air pressure to spin them, and in winter, heat could be forced from a wood burning stove and distributed throughout a home or building. There were dozens of sketches and notes about other ways of using the air pressure to operate different tools and devices, some of which Giavon guessed had been built and some that were not.

He thumbed a little further on in the book to a section titled ‘Fuel Pressure Regulator / Supercharged Fuel Injection’.

On this page was a schematic of an advanced fuel delivery system for a high powered internal combustion engine. The main component of the system was a smaller version of the ‘gyrator pressure pump’ that provided pressure to send the fuel to the injectors.

Von suddenly realized that this place was where his father had discovered and developed the invention that he had returned to the Americas to share; the Gyraroter. The amazing device that utilized Martian alloy technology in a new innovative way. A way that had made his family very wealthy.

In the other rooms of this shop, he found an impressive collection of machine tools, fabrication tools, hand tools, metal forming devices, composite supplies; basically everything you’d need, to build and maintain fighter planes or hot rods, or darn near anything else. The ability to refine oil and create fuel was also present and functional.

Also an excellent little device had been developed which made it possible to melt and weld metal together. This place was ideal for an artist in metal work, which is what a welder and fabricator is, and also is what his father was.

Giavon was thick into investigating the rooms of the shop. He stepped back and paused, suddenly realizing and being kind of blown away in his mind to the fact that years ago his dad had worked and lived in this place, this workshop, this home. He suddenly felt cold and disconnected from his father. There was so much about him he didn’t know. Couldn’t imagine.

Building and flying and warring. Moving across oceans and continents. Ending the war, and settling here. Wow! What did he eat? What did he wear? Who did he hang with? The feeling of being distant and unknown by his father faded as he recalled working in this type of environment with his dad years ago. He recalled the closeness they’d shared working together, and decided he had way too much to be thankful for, than to feel down in this situation now. And he really did feel better. A lot better.

His stomach growled at him and he chuckled; that jerky he nibbled earlier was wearing off.

Hmmm. He wondered if Isobelle would be at the café yet. He knew she’d be there soon, and this got his adrenaline pumping. All of a sudden he felt the need to take a quick overview of this 17

whole abode. He felt surprised he hadn’t thought of this already. He’d woken up a few hours ago and gotten so caught up in investigating his surroundings, the organized and detailed part in him sort of got left behind. He felt he’d only scratched the surface of this place, but it was now midmorning, he was hungry, and he wanted to get cleaned up. It was when he found the washroom, which was also the kitchen and shower, that what he’d suspected became obvious; someone, most likely Onan, had been in here and had prepped the place for a visitor. There were fresh towels and even some coffee fixins’ (he wished he found that earlier ), and a note.

WELCOME TO THE HOME OF JARDON NORCROSS. FEEL FREE TO USE IT AS YOUR OWN, BECAUSE IT IS. ONAN By the time he gotten all cleaned up it was noon. He had shorts and sandals and it was a nice day. He wasn’t particularly proud of his skinny legs, but oh well, who cares. Besides they needed more color anyway…

He put on a hot rod shirt and some shades and drifted out the door and down the street toward the café. As he walked along, he came to a spot where his view cleared the buildings, and the ocean sprang into view. It was breathtaking! He just stood there for a few rather long moments, and took it all in. The sun was directly overhead. The dark green horizon of the ocean was framed by the pale blue sky. Looking down, as he was still at least 40 or 50 yards above sea level, he saw the bay and the rock formations bordering it. To the left and south was a huge cliff that shot straight out towards the sea, then appeared to make a 90 degree turn left down the coast. The rock outcropping on the right was a group of various sized boulders that turned right and paralleled the shore and became a rock cliff formation again. From his vantage point he couldn’t see the bay shore line, nor very far to the north along the coastline. But he was still very close to the water, and the smell of the salty ocean filled his senses. He could see lines of swells out a ways, and he could hear the ocean churning against the shoreline not too far away. It was an invigorating and energizing experience, standing there taking it all in, being excited beyond compare about how much fun he was going to have once his boards got here!

He flashed on a thought he’d had back in Sanclair two days ago; He was aching to bring along one of his boards on his walk here, but thought it wouldn’t be prudent, so he left it behind. Right now he really wanted to surf, but oh well, he’d just have to wait until all his other stuff was brought here. He inhaled one more big fresh breath, then resumed descending the cobble stone street.

The steepness of this place still simply amazed him. There were flat areas all around him that were built upon with space saving precision, but behind him up the hill, the elevation ascended in most places quicker vertically than horizontally. In other words, to travel 10 feet away horizontally, like across a room, you would actually climb 3 or 4 times higher vertically. It was that steep.

There was a trail or two, but mostly these steep slopes were scattered with growth. It was like a rain forest, and in most places the trees tops towering overhead were so thick that sunlight had to strain to get through onto the ground. This made the grass and shrubs extremely rich, thick and moist. And the grass blue.

As Von followed the winding road, he passed a few shops where people inside smiled at him as he passed. There was a leather crafters shop, with boots and jackets and hats visible through the 18

window. There was a glassmakers shop with vases and beautiful plates on display. He rounded the final corner, and the café came into view. As he approached it, he could see people inside. He felt a little nervous again, like he did the night before.

How would the towns’ people react to him?

There appeared to be quite a crowd inside as it was towards the end of lunch time.

As he reached for to door, he drew a deep breath and cleared his mind. He heard a wave crash in the distance, and the distraction was just the thing to free his mind to enter with no thoughts as to what would occur next.

The place was bustling with the sound of cutlery on plates and the chatter of customers. As he strode toward the counter, people looked up at him and smiled and nodded. No one stared or got up from their tables, and he was at ease with the casual atmosphere in the café.

As he got closer to the counter, Belle came from the kitchen with a couple of plates of pie in her hands. She saw him and an excited expression came across her face.

She quickly set the plates down in front of two men, smiled at them and then grabbed a towel, and while wiping her hands, quickly strode to where Von was approaching.

He started to put out his hand to take hers, but she quickly gave him a hug of hello and whispered “Good morning, I mean good afternoon, uhmm, I mean” then in a louder voice “Hi! Everyone, this is the man I told you about,. Giavon Norcross, Jardon’s son. See, I wasn’t joking, he really is, uhmm, real. He’s really here, see?”

She blushed a little, embarrassed in her excitement.

Von smiled at her and blushed a little too; in his excitement to see her and how excited she was to see him. It made him glow to feel this way.

He looked around the room and made eye contact with everyone there. Most smiled and gave a little wave, and some stood and lifted their hats to him then sat back down.

They stood there for a moment, then Belle took his arm and said “Are you hungry? Can I get you something?”

Before he could even answer she turned around to face him again, put her hands on his shoulders and with her eyes opened wide said “I was thinking about you this morning! While I was out gliding.”

Von was a bit perplexed and cocked his head a bit in wonder.

“There were some huge bumps, uhmm, waves rolling in, and while out in them I suddenly remembered that your father told me you and he used to glide together a long time ago. That excited me very much and I wondered if you still like to glide, uhmm, ride waves and we could do it together.”

Von suddenly realized what she meant, and got very excited himself!

His eyes widened, his pulse quickened and his jaw dropped open!

“You mean, you surf too?”

“Yeah, I sure do!”

“That’s awesome! I’ve been listening to those waves breaking in the distance and I’ve been DYING to see ‘em. I’ve got two boards with me, but I left ‘em in Sanclair! Oh how I wish I’d brought them with me now…” he said looking away in thought.

“Your father’s old glider, um, board is still here. Once in a while a couple of my nieces and nephews try it out, but it’s still in great condition. Would you like to see it?”

Again he was amazed! “You’re kidding. I’d LOVE to see it! My dad told me there was a great point break near this place, and I’ve had that on my mind since before I left to come here!”

19

They laughed in their mutual excitement, oblivious to their surroundings, and hugged again.

Then they noticed the others looking at them and smiling, and backed away from each other, a little embarrassed .

She looked at him with an obvious thought on her mind. “It’s a little windy right now, but maybe with some luck it will be calm later, and perhaps we could…”

“Yeah, definitely!” Von interjected. “That sounds like an awesome idea!”

He asked her if there was anything he could do, and after he choked down some lunch (a very tasty ham and cheese sandwich with fresh mayo and lettuce) she put him to work bussing tables and washing dishes so she could get a head start on the dinner dish that was on the menu for that evening.

She prepped some fresh bread to be baked and lined up her nieces and a cousin to take care of the dinner crowd, so she would be free to go gliding. This type of thing was common, as Belle often took an afternoon off to glide when the swells were in good form.

Giavon couldn’t believe it, he was beside himself with excitement. While he washed plates and glasses, all sorts of emotions were swirling through his head; it looks like he’s gonna be catching some good waves this afternoon; and on his dad’s old surfboard!

This beautiful gal he’s just had the Extreme good fortune to meet, is gonna be surfing with him; the people here seemed to like him so far; he’d found his pop’s old shop not only still intact but kept up by Onan!

The food was great, the surf was up, the sun was shining, birds were singing, Life Was Good!

It was almost spring, so the sun would be setting rather early, and when they finally finished cleaning the tables and sweeping the floors, it was almost 3 in the afternoon.

“Let’s have a look outside, see what the wind is doing” Belle said as she wiped her hands and blew her hair out of her eyes with a quick breath and shook it back.

They stepped out of the back of the building onto a porch that gave them a good view of the ocean. The wind was still gusting a bit, but only now and then, and it was appearing to be getting calmer. They both instinctively turned their focuses to the horizon, which was showing some good sized lines of swells coming in. With a calm moment of no wind, they could clearly here the ocean swells crashing against the rocky outcroppings off to the right.

“Ooooh” Belle moaned, “it looks like we might be in for some good gliding this evening. I haven’t gone out twice in one day in quite a while. In the summer I try and make a habit of it if the swells are good.”

Von’s heart had started beating fast as soon as he’d seen the conditions and the lines on the horizon. His adrenaline was pumping! He said “Oh yeah, this is looking really good. I gotta tell you, Belle, I’m having a hard time believing all this is really happening. This place. Those waves. You. It’s all more than I could have hoped for.”

They looked at each other and smiled.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” she replied, then continued “It‘s funny, but I feel like I know you. Like we‘re. I don‘t know, kindred spirits. Do you know what I mean?”

He took her hand and said “Yes, I know exactly how you feel. I feel just the same way.” They stood there for a few seconds, and then she said “OK, let go glide!”

“Yeah, let’s go ride the wild surf!”

On the way she explained that she had a shack down by the beach where she kept her things; her glider, uhmm, board she now said, some towels and wetsuits she’d had for years, and even 20

Jardon’s old board that the kids sometimes used.

“I’m anxious to see my dad’s old board. I can’t guess what size he would’ve had sent over here” Von said as they briskly walked down the path.

“I’d say it’s about an arm’s length longer than you are tall, so I’d say about eight feet or so” Belle said.

“Hmm, interesting. I’d of thought it would be longer, since he was a bit older.”

“Oh, he was a very good wave rider! He liked to do a long drawn out carve off of the bottom, then shoot out far onto the shoulder and go up to the top and turn back down slowly and deliberately back into the churning bowl of the wave! It was an awesome sight to see. I loved to glide with him” she said with a sort of sad longing in her voice.

“But now I’ve got you!” she added.

“Hasn’t anyone else around here been interested in getting out in the water and having some fun?” Von asked.

“Well, my cousin, Untar, doesn’t look too fondly on my time spent in the ocean. He discourages others, and forbids his own kids, from going into the water” Belle replied.

“Hmm, that’s kind of odd. I wonder why. He must have some reason.”

“Yes, he does. It’s kind of a long story, and it’s sorta personal…” she said.

“Say no more” Von interjected. “Let’s get ourselves over to those waves and start having some fun! I can hardly wait to get wet!”

It was usually a 7 or 8 minute walk from the café to the point, but they made it in almost half that time! They walked briskly on the flat and uphill parts of the trail, and jogged on the downhill parts. When they finally came out from the trees onto the sand, the sight of the breaking waves took Von’s breath away. There were waves breaking their way down the beach towards the north. There were lines of swells rolling in on the horizon, but over at the far left end of the beach, toward the south, a huge double overhead wave was just cresting and starting to spill over on the rocks and then pitch out into the clean water and peel over quickly down the line in an incredibly hollow fashion. At the end of about 25 yards, the wave backed down a little and the face of it spilled over in a more casual fashion with a foamier type of section gradually working its way down the line, kind of like how a plastic zip lock bag is worked to closing. Then the wave started to build up again and the inside section jacked up and pitched over in a tremendously hollow fashion, and zippered quickly down the line! It backed off a little towards the inside, and when the last section spilled over and slapped down, a mist sprayed out of the barrel making an awesome whooshing sound.

The wave backed off a bit, then built up and crashed down hard and closed out, like sealing that zip lock bag completely closed!

“Whoa” Von said, almost to himself. “That looks amazing. I haven’t seen waves like this since I can remember. This is fantastic.”

Belle was also a bit mesmerized. “Wow, it’s definitely getting larger. And it’s coming at us from a little more of a westerly direction, making it more of a challenge to get out at the end. And that ‘sea breath blast’ at the end, that doesn’t happen very often. It’s incredibly clean out there right now. This is gonna be fun!” she exclaimed.

She showed him where his father’s board was near the back of the shack as she got her own board out and set it on the sand. There were also a half dozen or so various sized wetsuits, and Belle picked one up and stepped behind the shack, saying “Excuse me.”

A minute later she reemerged with the suit on, put her clothes in the shack, and said “You’re on your own now, buddy! I’ll see you out there!”

21

“Wait. You don’t have any leashes for these boards?” he asked.

She turned around looking perplexed. “Leashes?”

“Yeah, you know, leg ropes, to keep the board hooked to you.”

“No, no I don’t” she replied, still looking puzzled. “I never have.”

She gave him a funny little look and smiled, then turned around and sprinted toward the water.

Von thought that was kind of interesting; apparently his father hadn’t shown Isobelle that a strong rubber cord could be attached to the tail of the board and to the rider’s ankle, so when a person fell off the board, it would be retrievable very easily.

He shrugged it off as his father’s way of teaching Belle in the old, more tough way, without the luxury of having a leash to make surfing easier.

Timing her entry by waiting for a wave to hit the shore, Belle leapt into the water at a run, jumping over a 3 foot high breaker as it slammed into the shore, and landed on her board and began paddling toward the oncoming surf.

After swiftly advancing through a half dozen or so walls of white water, she made her way out beyond the breaking waves and turned left, heading over to the south point where the waves were building up and cresting against the outcropping of rocks that formed the point.

After finding and putting on a wetsuit, Von followed her into the water at the same place and in the same fashion.

By the time he’d made his way out beyond the breaking waves, Belle was over in front of the point and a good sized wave face was rolling towards her. It was the biggest wave so far, which indicated that the swells were building in size!

Adrenaline pulsed through his veins as he paddled swiftly and watched as Belle paddled toward the double overhead wave, swung her board around and after three or four strokes jumped to her feet.

Her board was almost vertical as she zoomed down the fast moving wall of ocean water.

Von saw that her right foot was in front, which put her facing him and the wall of swiftly changing water, and she leaned into it angling in his direction.

As she neared the bottom, she laid down a hard turn and catapulted herself up and under the cascading sheet of water as it zipped over her.

Its beauty belied it’s strength; the lip was thick and as it crashed into the bottom it roared. She aimed for the top as if she was going to try and fly over and out of the spinning funnel, but she didn’t. Instead she snapped her board back down and pulled it under herself, steadied it beneath her feet and shot across the face parallel to the hollow wave. She expertly used her back foot to stall and slow down, and her front foot to lean forward and accelerate again, to keep herself in just the right position inside fast moving barrel.

As she sped closer to him, he ‘yahooed’ in excitement!

As the wave began to slow a bit, she stalled again and braced herself. A long section jacked up and spilled over her, almost sealing her into it. As it crashed down over her, the air inside compressed toward the open section in front of her, and a mist sprayed loudly out of the end!

Belle emerged through the cloud of sea water!

She was tempted to turn up and out of the wave to join her new friend and paddle back to the point with him.

Instead, she instinctively pulled back down and aligned her board once again parallel to the wave, and hauled ass down the line and into the next hollow and barreling sections!

As he lost sight of her, Von now focused his attention on the horizon and the incoming swells.

22

Another huge barrel was already churning its way in, with another approaching the rocky point.

Out farther there looked to be a never ending row of lines rolling in.

His heart was in his throat as he anticipated his chance to traverse one of these rolling hollow monsters for the first time!

As he got closer to the takeoff area near the rocky out cropping, the roar of the next wave crashing into it was intimidating.

A huge mountain of water was rolling towards him, and it appeared to be getting bigger with each passing minute. He figured no sense being cautious and waiting for a smaller wave which may not come. As the swell got closer he angled in and paddled toward the shore, looking back over his shoulder to see when the wave was going to jack up and crest. It rolled in quickly but smoothly, and as the sea floor pushed it up, it began to spill over and pitch out about 20 yards away over by the rocks. He paddled hard, his heart pumping fast, and he was now beyond the point of no return; the wave lifted him quickly up the face, and gravity pulled him down and forward. He felt the familiar surge of speed as the board began to quickly drop and move forward.

In a flash his experience and instinct made him jump to his feet and lean into the wall of incredibly beautiful and powerfully spinning, churning wedge of fast moving water.

In contrast to Belle, he put his left foot forward, so when he turned hard at the bottom and to the left to be parallel with the breaking wave, his back was to it.

He was unfamiliar with his father’s surfboard, so he planted his feet solidly on the deck a little farther apart than he usually would, to give him a bit more stability. On his own board he would’ve been zipping down the line getting out ahead of the falling lip, but at this point the board was going a little slower which allowed the curtain of water to pitch out and over him as he leaned forward to try and keep pace with it.

Von had never really excelled at riding the hollow tube part of a wave; the areas he surfed back home generally didn’t get this round, and this was by far the nicest, most hollow and juiciest tubular wave he’d ever had the good fortune of dropping into!

He flashed on how he’d seen Belle get deep into her wave a few minutes before, and felt secure enough to stall a little more and let the cascading ceiling pass him up even more as he crouched beneath it.

He found himself deftly maneuvering the board under him as he pressed his front foot down to speed up and his back foot down to slow when he began to get out ahead of the falling lip. He saw the section in front of him starting to slow as it walled up and got steep. He zoomed up to the top and turned down as hard as he could, pointing the board straight toward the shore.

The wave jacked up and Von zoomed down the steep face as the lip chased after him.

As he approached the bottom, he leaned left into another hard turn, pivoting off of the bottom and rocketing back up across the next section and under the next falling lip.

He was tempted to try and shoot up and over the unbroken section of wave in front of him, to relative safety and calm, but instead he turned back down and set the board under his feet and screamed down the line under the now cascading wall of blue water.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Belle on the beach walking back toward the point. Then his instinct set in again and he was crouching down with his right hand holding onto the rail of his board, going as fast as he could ever remember going on a wave, as he tried his best to keep up with the rolling, barreling wave as it screamed down the line!

After what seemed like minutes, which was probably more like ten seconds, the wave stalled again and gave him just enough time to straighten out and exit down the bottom as it crashed 23

down and closed out as the ocean floor beneath it curved back out toward the sea and left it no other place for the wave to advance.

The wall of white water was still at least head high, and Von dropped to his stomach and grabbed the rails with both hands to steady himself as he rode the remnants of the wave to the shore line, where he quickly scampered up the sand as soon as the wave deposited him there!

WHEW! He felt exhilarated as he trotted up the bank toward the high tide line. He saw Belle on the beach 50 or 60 yards away. It was impossible not to notice that the waves were getting bigger and bigger with each set that came in. They now looked to be about 20 feet high on the faces.

He caught up with Belle and they stood for a minute in awe of the power and beauty of the incoming swells.

“Wow that was amazing.” Von said, breathing heavily. “Simply amazing. That may’ve been the best wave I’ve ever ridden in my entire life! Honestly, I’m serious. And that one you caught.

That was so awesome! You looked like you Owned that thing, you were in such control!”

Belle replied “Thanks. That WAS amazing. That one you rode, it was way bigger than mine!

You rode it masterfully too. I’ve seen pictures of people riding with their backs to the wave, but never in person. It’s so cool to watch, I was having a blast! It’s so great to have another to share this experience with! I’m so glad you’re here.”

Von put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I’m so glad to be here with you. I can hardly describe how good I feel.” he said, his breathing returning to normal.

As he looked into her eyes he could not help himself.

He leaned towards her, and when she did not move, he kissed her.

At that moment he knew beyond any doubt that he loved this woman.

“I hope that wasn’t too bold of me. I apologize if it was…”

“No, not at all. That was nice” Belle replied, smiling warmly at Von. After a moment she added “You know, if we’re going to go back out, we’d better do it now.

Those waves are getting bigger and bigger!”

“Yeah, I know. It’s looking a little scary out there.” said Von. Belle said “There’s a spot beyond the point where we should be able to get out relatively easily.

This wave is pretty predictable, and once you’re out there and make it past the drop, you should be able to manage it beyond that. I’m gonna go for it! This is the best I’ve seen it rolling in here since… I don’t know when! I’ve just got to glide across one of those huge mountains! Are you coming?!”

With that she turned and jogged up the beach towards the point, her board under her arm. Von took off and trotted beside her.

The intensity of the situation totally distracted his attention from his feelings for Belle. Well, almost totally.

He couldn’t help but be energized by the fact that he was running up the beach to paddle out into some world class powerful surf, beside a gal who was so beautiful and talented, and potentially his new mate!

It was almost overwhelming!

Of course his attention was drawn to the next big wall of water that was approaching and beginning to line up and pitch out onto the rocks at the point. The sand in front of them was smooth and uncluttered, so they could trot up the beach and watch the wave folding over and pitching out to form a large rolling barrel!

24

As it jacked up it was about 25 feet high as it crested, then it tapered to form a huge round room at least double overhead! It just sort of casually spun down the line in an almost serene, alluring fashion, like it was saying ‘come on, get in here, I won’t hurtcha!’

A section would slow up, build and then pitch over into a tube, then slow up and do it again down the line! It was truly a sight to behold.

Anticipating how it would feel was also quite an experience!

They came to where the rocks started to form the outcropping and Von followed as Isobelle wound her way up a path that led to the top. There, it flattened out and as they continued south it turned to brush and trees. A couple of hundred feet or so farther down, they emerged on a cliff that over looked the ocean. It looked like they could enter the water down below and paddle out and around where the swells were breaking against the rocks. Even straight out, the waves were still pitching over and breaking, forming big rolling walls of whitewater, and they would need to time their entry to attempt to get outside of them in between sets.

“It looks like the waves are coming in sets of about 8 or 10,” Von observed out loud. Belle added “And it appears that after the 4th set there is a lull. With a bit of luck, we should be able to get out in between the lull and get back into the lineup.”

They watched and counted the sets as they descended the cliff.

A few minutes after they reached the sand, their chance came and they hit the water running, and scrambled out into the ocean as fast as they could. They knew if they lollygagged around, they could get caught by a big roller, and that was not advisable! They made it outside of the impact zone safely before another set came, and had a chance to catch their breath. “If you look back a bit to the south on the bluff, you’ll see we are being watched,” Belle said. “I almost always have someone keep an eye on me when I glide, and especially when the ocean swells get quite large, just to be safe.“ Von looked and saw a few people on the edge of the bluff nearest the bay by the village. “Who is that?” he asked.

Belle squinted a little and observed the spectators.

“It looks like my cousin Untar standing with Onan, a couple of my nieces, and my mother, and “ she hesitated for an instant, “my daughter”.

Their eyes met for a moment, and Von smiled and nodded in a positive acknowledgement. All of a sudden they saw a new wave approaching. Von’s heart pounded in his chest in excitement! He wasn’t scared or afraid; he felt confident in his abilities, and had been planning his ’attack’ on the wave he would catch. He knew the most critical part was the initial drop. Once he made it to his feet and down the steep pitching take-off, the rest should be a lot more manageable. As they paddled toward the wave, Von said to Belle “I think I’m going to wait and take one near the end of the set, maybe the 6th or 7th wave. The later in the set, the bigger they are, but it will be easier to kick out at the end and get back out and past the impact zone when the set has ended.”

“My sentiments exactly” Belle added. “You go first, and I’ll be right behind you on the next one”.

“Sounds good to me” Von responded.

And so it went for the next hour or so, until it started to get dark; Isobelle and Von each rode a wave all the down the beach then kicked out and over the top at the end and made the long paddle back up to the point.

The waves were huge and flawless!

They both worked their way through the waves with experienced expertise.

They only caught 3 or 4 waves each , as the paddle back to the point was time consuming. Von 25

was a stronger paddler than Belle, and by the time he caught his last wave to its end, dropped to the prone position, rode to the shore, and got out of the water, Belle had been well behind him, and was just paddling into her last wave of the day.

He watched as she paddled into what was almost a 30 foot wall of rolling blue ocean.

The sun had set over the horizon, but there was still enough light to clearly see as Belle worked her way towards him. She glided through each section with a confidence in knowing how this wave unfolds over the sandbar. She rode it with caution, though.

These were the largest swells she’d ever been out in, as gliding by one’s self seemed a bit more dangerous than with someone else, and being out there with Von made her feel a little more secure.

She’d carve hard off of the bottom, shoot up into the barrel, cruise through the hollow section, turn back down from the top when the section began to slow, then do another hard bottom turn and do it all again.

The last section began to line up to close out, and she turned sharply down and towards the shore as the wave exploded behind her. She disappeared from view for a few seconds and Von was startled; he thought for an instant she might be getting rolled up in the huge, churning wall of white water.

She emerged from the soup on her stomach and zooming to the shore with a confident ease. She exited the water near to where Von was waiting, and scampered up the bank with a satisfied, spent look on her face.

“Whew, that was one amazing gliding session!” She exclaimed.

“I’ll say! It’s amazing out there” he said, then added “And you! You’re an incredible wave rider!

Wow that was an awesome session.”

They stood there together for a few minutes catching their breath, watching the huge mountains of water powerfully, yet somehow serenely, come barreling down the shoreline toward them, the sound of the pitching lip crashing into the bottom of the wave growing louder as it got closer to them. ”It looks like it’s actually getting bigger out there, doesn’t it Belle?” he commented.

She answered kind of slowly, like she was lost in thought.

“Yeah, it sure does” she replied. “Come on, let’s get going” she added, “I’m hungry, how about you?”

They strolled down the high tide line toward the village, excitedly talking about their experiences in the water. With the approaching darkness of twilight, the crashing of the waves a couple of dozen yards away, and the spent feeling of having worked so hard out in the hazardous surf, the scene felt almost surreal, kind of like a dream.

They both felt giddy in one another’s presence, and they reveled in it!

As they got closer to the shack where their clothes were, Von reached over and took Belle’s hand. They stopped and faced each other.

“Isobelle, this has been an amazing experience. An amazing day. I am simply beside myself.

These waves, my father’s workshop, that blue butter… and you…“ He paused for a moment, tongue tied, then added “You are so lovely”.

They leaned and kissed, this time a slow passionate kiss.

The taste of salt water was on their lips.

A clump of hair that she‘d pulled behind her ear came loose and plopped onto his cheek, comically disrupting the moment, and they pulled back.

They stood there for a moment and laughed a little. He gently pushed her hair back behind her 26

ear and rested his hand on her shoulder.

They stood there for a long moment, savoring it, as if it were like a beautiful butterfly that would probably fly away.

All the while the ocean roared as waves continued to roll in relentlessly.

He squeezed her shoulder lightly and said “We should get going”.

They put the boards inside and shared the one towel that was in there. With their wetsuits still on they grabbed their clothes and walked.

“Please, tell me about your daughter.”

She took his hand and they walked up the narrow trail close together.

“Her name is Sabina. She’ll be 7 years old soon. And she’s a stubborn little monkey! She’s a Taurus, you know, the bull.”

“Hmm, a bit independent, huh?”

“You can say that again. But she really is a little sweetheart, though. She’s very thoughtful. And VERY loyal.”

“Well, I hope I can get to know her.” Von added.

Belle looked at him and they smiled.

They meandered up the trail back to the village, and when the bay came into view they could see that the wind was starting to blow out on the ocean.

“It looks like a storm is brewing. We might’ve caught it at the right time” she said.

“Yeah, we definitely scored! Those waves were simply awesome. Whew” Von said.

They nodded in mutual appreciation.

“Come on, let’s get inside and get something to eat.” said Belle.” I’m famished”.

They entered the café in the back door unnoticed. Belle pointed to a door and told Von he could change into his clothes in there.

They both reemerged at the same time, and headed up the hall to the bustle of people in the dining area.

They stopped at the doorway and stood there for a moment. No one had seen them yet. The aroma of barbequed ‘something’ filled Von’s senses. ”Oh man, that smells great, what is it?” he whispered to her.

“That’s our famous roast pork” said Belle. “We fix it once or twice a week. It’s a town favorite.”

“I can tell, or should I say SMELL, why!” said Von, and they both laughed.

Belle’s daughter Sabina was the first to notice them.

She instantly scrambled down from her seat at the bar and ran over to her mother, who knelt down and put her arms around her.

“Mommy, mommy, I saw you out there in the water! Those bumps were so big, they looked like mountains!” She paused for a moment, then asked with concern on her face, “Weren’t you afraid?”

“Hmm,” Belle replied thoughtfully as she looked up at Von, then back to her daughter. “No. I guess I should’ve been. It was pretty huge out there. But I wasn’t scared, sweetie, not really.

Were you scared?”

“Yeah, I was a little scared” Sabina answered sheepishly.

“Well, it’s OK to be a little scared, Hun. Hey, I have a new friend I want you to meet. He’s right here.”

Von knelt down to be at eye level with them both.

“Sabina, I would like you to meet Giavon.” Then, looking at Von, added “Giavon, this is my 27

daughter, Sabina.”

Von put his hand out and took hers in it, and said “Hi Sabina. I’m very pleased to meet you.”

They smiled at each other. “You have very beautiful hair . So long, and thick. I’ll bet it’s a lot of work taking care of it” Giavon commented thoughtfully.

“Yes, it is. Mommy or Grammy brushes it out for me after we wash it. Sometimes it takes so long. And sometimes it hurts too” said Sabina.

“Well, it sure looks like it’s worth it. It’s so pretty.” said Von. He was being honest. Sabina was a beautiful little girl. Dark eyes, dark skin and long thick jet black hair, almost all the way down her back.

“Hey sweetie, you know what, Giavon’s father used to live here, a long time ago” said Belle before she caught herself.

Sabina looked at Von thoughtfully. “You’re daddy used to live here?”

“Yes, a long time ago” he replied cautiously, aware of an awkward moment by the look on Belle’s face.

“My daddy used to live here too. But not anymore” Sabina said matter-of-factly.

“Hmm,” Von said to her as he held her little hand “I’m sure he misses you, wherever he may be”.

They smiled again, and Belle interrupted on purpose.

“Did you save us any dinner, you little munchkin, or did you eat it all up?!”

She grabbed her up in her arms and tickled her, and Sabina giggled.

As Belle tickled and Sabina laughed, a tall muscular man walked up to them.

“That was pretty risky what you two did.” he stated firmly.

He then looked directly at Von and said “What are trying to do, get her killed?” gesturing toward Belle.

Von was dumbfounded, and before he could think of a reply, Belle intervened.

She quickly put Sabina down and stepped between the two men.

She faced the big man and put her hands on his shoulders, and said “Oh now honey, come on. It wasn’t too dangerous.”

Honey, Von noticed she called him, which made him feel a bit odd.

“Why must you pester me so, for doing what I love so much. I simply love riding huge swells, you know that. But I’m sorry, really. I know how you feel about me going into the ocean.” She put her hands on his cheeks and pulled his gaze from Von’s to hers.

Then she stood on her tip toes and hugged him around his broad shoulders.

He seemed to relax a bit, and his tense stance seemed to melt.

“Come, I want you to meet my new friend.” She turned around so they both faced Von, and took hold of the big man’s hand. She then reached out and took Von’s hand and said “Giavon, this is my cousin, Untar.”

Von felt a sense of relief at knowing him to be her cousin, and he felt like he should have known this man was a member of her family. ”Untar, this is Giavon. Giavon Norcross.”

The two men’s eyes met for the second time, but this time the big man’s look was one of warmth and friendship. And of knowing.

“I know who this is,” he said to Belle as he looked down at her.

He looked back at Von and put his hand out.

“I knew your father. He was a good man. A very good man. I’m, uhmm, pleased to meet you 28

Giavon.”

He didn’t sound to convincing, and Von sensed Untar was wary of his presence here. “Anyway, that was a very impressive display of aquatic dancing, or gliding… or whatever you call it.”

“I call it surfing. Riding the wild surf. And thank you. It was without a doubt one of the most intense surfing experiences of my life. Simply amazing.”

Von looked at Belle, and could not help but smile ear to ear. For them both, it really was an epic session, and they both knew it would probably not be duplicated anytime soon. Unless of course possibly tomorrow…

“So, Untar” Von said “you and Belle are cousins. That’s wonderful. I am very pleased to meet you. It’s very exciting for me to know the people that my father spent time with long ago. Did you know him well?”

Before he could answer Belle interrupted “Let’s get something to eat, Von. Join us at the table Untar, won’t you?” she asked.

“No, I’ve got some things to do before it gets too late. Maybe later.”

The two men’s eyes met yet again, and they smiled at each other, then the big man took his leave.

Now that this semi confrontational situation had passed, Von suddenly became aware that the whole place full of people had fallen silent.

Perhaps they anticipated a fight or something… but it ended smoothly.

Von was baffled by what Untar had said about getting her killed, and asked Belle “What was that comment about? Was he really thinking I would try and put you in harm’s way?”

Belle replied “Untar’s a little sensitive about that subject; the ocean. He had a very bad experience once. We’ll talk more about it later, OK?” ”Sure, of course”. Von felt relieved to hear he wasn’t totally the cause of her cousin’s anger.

The chatter, and clatter of cutlery had started to resume, but most of the patrons were still glancing and looking at Von and Belle as they made their way to the kitchen.

Belle asked her daughter to go and finish her dinner.

The aroma of something really good filled the place, and it was now overwhelming Von’s senses as he was feeling famished. Or perhaps the wonderful scent of barbeque was making him feel hungrier with each passing moment! Either way, he was ready to chow down!

As they passed the bar, Von noticed most of the people were enjoying some meaty looking stuff, either in a sandwich or on a plate with some potatoes and veggies.

“Hmmm, that looks really good” he softly said to Belle as he followed her into the kitchen. “Yes, it’s one of our specialties here” she replied as she turned around and stopped in front of him.

“You go and sit down over there” she said pointing to an empty stool down near the end of the bar “and I’ll fix you a plate of our famous Bar B Q pork.”

“OK. Sounds good to me” Von replied, smiling broadly. ”Thanks.”

“You’re quite welcome” Belle said smiling back, then turned and headed into the kitchen. Von turned around and strolled towards the empty stool to the North end of the counter.

As he scanned the crowd, the people he made eye contact with smiled and nodded.

He felt comfortable and welcomed. And hungry!

He sat down next to a man probably around his same age and said hi. The man looked at him and nodded as he chewed. A few moments later the man cleared his throat and put his fork down.

“Hi, I’m Sam.” “Hi Sam, I’m Von. Nice to meet you.”

29

“Nice to meet you too” Sam replied.

“Hmm, that stuff sure smells delicious” Von said, gesturing to Sam’s nearly empty plate. “Yes, it is” Sam replied. “It’s one of the favorites here. They lay out the menus on Sunday afternoons for the coming week, and you can bet that when the barbeque pork is up, darn near everyone around this area is in town for it!”

“Boy, I can hardly wait.” Von added.

No sooner had the words left his mouth, and Belle came from the kitchen with a plate and set it down in front of Von. A baked potato covered with sharp cheddar cheese, some steamed broccoli and cauliflower speckled with seasoning, and a good sized helping of roasted pork.

“This should hit the spot” Belle said, smiling. “What would you like to drink? Coffee, tea, water?

Or maybe you’d like to try some of my grandfather’s famous banana liqueur. But I must warn you, it packs a powerful punch!”

“Hmm, the banana stuff sounds interesting; maybe later on that.” Von replied. “But I will have some coffee please. And some iced water too, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“No trouble at all. Enjoy.” She disappeared back into the kitchen. Von picked up his fork, and had a hard time deciding which to sample first. He stabbed some veggies and brought them up to his lips and blew on them, as they were still steaming. They tasted awesome; soft but not mushy, and seasoned to spicy perfection. The cheesy potatoes were also delicious, but when he put a fork full of BBQ in his mouth, he felt like he’d tasted the best possible food on the planet!

“Wow, this stuff is amazing. I can certainly see why it’s a favorite around here.” Von said to Sam. He dug into his plate of food. When Belle appeared with his drinks, his mouth was full and all he could do was smile at her. She smiled back, then disappeared back into the kitchen. He swallowed his food, then gulped down some water.

As Von sipped some coffee, Sam said “Umm, you know, I knew your father quite well.”

“Really? Wow, that’s cool.” Von replied.

“Yeah, there were a few of us younger guys that hung around his shop, and also helped out with some of the installs in the village.”

“Installs?” Von queried.

“Yeah, some of the fabrication and construction of your father’s power supply ideas. Most of which are still in use today.”

“Yeah, he shared a little of what he did around here with me” Von said.

Sam went on. “I certainly learned a lot from your father. He was a wonderful teacher.” “Yes, he was. You don’t know the half of it” Von said between bites. He felt like a jerk for a second. He didn’t mean for it to come out like that.

But Sam was unfazed, and replied “Actually I probably do. He and I used to spend countless hours together talking about his exploits, while we tinkered away on his hot rod.”

Von stopped chewing abruptly, startled by the mention of a hot rod.

“Hot rod?” he garbled through the food in his mouth. He quickly swallowed. “I didn’t know about any hot rod. What ever happened to it?”

Sam answered “It’s in the back room of his shop. In his ‘play room’”.

Now Von was really intrigued.

Very much so in fact.

He set his fork down and cleared his throat. He turned in his seat to face Sam. He was quite eager to hear more about what Sam was talking about.

30

“You know, I didn’t make it all the way through my dad’s shop this morning before heading here. I had no idea he had a ‘play room’ and a hot rod in it! I can’t wait to check this out!”

He thought for a moment, then said to Sam “Can you come and show me?”

He was poised in his seat as if he was ready to go at that instant!

“Sure, of course I can. But it’s not going anywhere, you can finish your meal first. And besides, we haven’t had our desert yet!” Sam added laughingly.

Von slowly settled back down in his chair and nodded. “You’re right. It’s not going anywhere, I just got so excited.”

Sam added “It’s pretty nice, too. We had a ton of parts to use from the leftover bomber planes and their spare parts. It really is one trick machine. Of course we rarely got to take it out and seriously put it through its paces. Nowhere around here close to really do it and get after it with a lot of power. A dirt road isn’t you’re best choice” Sam said laughing. About that time Belle came around the corner into Von’s view, and his heart leapt a bit. To have been distracted by the knowledge of his father’s hot rod here in town, and then reawakened to Belle’s lovely presence was a wonderful feeling for Von. Again he felt beside himself with joy and excitement to be here. He just couldn’t believe how good his fortunes had been going. He sighed and slowly shook his head in amazement.

Belle smiled at him and gave him a look of puzzlement. Von just shrugged his shoulders and smiled broadly back at her.

Through an open window to his right he could hear the roar of the ocean as it pounded against the shoreline in the distance.

Belle came over and asked with a mischievous smile “What’s going on between Your ears? You certainly appear to be thinking about something.”

“Hmm,” Von started, “just the events of the last 24 hours. It’s been quite a day. Quite a day indeed.”

“I see you’ve met Sam,” Belle said, shooting a smile to Von’s new friend. “He’s one of the few that were part of the crew that worked with your father here. Together they accomplished many great things for this town.”

“Yes, that’s what he said. He also told me about a hot rod they’d built together that’s still over in the workshop” Von said in excitement. “I knew nothing of this, and I’m pretty excited to have a look at it!”

“Well then, I guess you’d better get your skinny little butt over there and check it out” Belle said, smiling. “I’ve got my evening cut out for me cleaning up and preparing for tomorrow’s menu, so that works out nicely.”

“Oh, I could stay and help if you’d like.”

“No, no, of course not, don’t be silly. This is my thing to do, and I’ve got plenty of help.

You go and look things over at the work shop. I can imagine how eager you are to see some of your father’s handiwork. You go on.”

“OK, thanks. But do you think Sam and I can have desert first?” Von asked.

“Well of course!” Belle said, then disappeared into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with two plates of hot pie and ice cream.

“Here you go” she said as she set the plates down in front of them. “Alright, I’ll see you later.

Enjoy your desert and get over there and check things out”.

She put her hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled sweetly. “Bye.” “Bye” Von replied to her.

She lingered there for a moment while they looked at each other, smiling, then went back to 31

taking care of her work at the café.

Even though he was totally preoccupied with the anticipation of getting back to the workshop, he forced himself to eat his desert at a normal pace and enjoy it. Besides, Sam wasn’t really in too big of a hurry himself. Sam didn’t lollygag around though, and as soon as he swallowed his last bite said “OK, are you ready to go and check that bad little hot rod out?”

Sam splashed some cash on the bar and said “I got this”.

Von started to reach in his pocket and protest, but Sam said “Really, I’ve got it. Let me.” Von shrugged and said thanks, and they got to their feet and made their way toward the front door. As they got close to exiting, Von looked back and saw as Belle emerged from the kitchen wiping her hands with a towel.

“Hold on a second. I’ll be right back” Von said to Sam. He wound his way back to where she was standing as her eyes followed him.

“Dinner was great. Surfing was awesome. You are…” he hesitated for a moment. “I think I’m falling for you.”

“I think I’m falling for you too. “ Belle replied.

A huge smile spread across Von’s face as he took in her reply. She smiled back warmly, but cautiously it seemed, and even though they wanted to kiss, Von took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and said “I’ll see you soon. Bye” As they wound their way up the steep street toward his father’s shop, Von’s mind was awash with curiosity and questions.

“So, Sam, you used to work with my dad while he was here? He never really mentioned anyone specifically, besides Onan.” Von said, suddenly realizing that it may have sounded kind of bad.

Sam took it in stride, without any hint of being offended. “Yeah, there were a few of us guys that hung around with your dad and Onan at the shop. We were his helpers, and he called us his ‘torpedoes’! It was a great time, lots of building and learning and experimenting. I happened to be with him the night he made the big breakthrough with the gyro-generator he was working on.

It was amazing!” Sam said.

“Yeah, that thing WAS amazing! It really revolutionized the energy industry when he brought it back to the Americas. It made him, and us, quite wealthy” Von replied.

“Yes I know. And he was quite generous, too. He had often times sent things of great value and beauty to us here in the village. Even after his departure, his impact on this village and it’s people has been enormous” Sam added.

They had just about reached the entry to Von’s father’s workshop, and they were panting from climbing the steep cobblestone streets.

Von started to get his keys out, and Sam said “Let’s go ‘round back and go in that way. That’s where the hot rod is.” They walked to the end of the face of the building, and made the left turn to walk along the edge of the east wall.

The place was longer than Von imagined it would be. About 30 paces back a wall jutted out to the right about 20 feet or so, then turned back left again towards the back. Finally they came to the end of the wall, and it was then obvious that the building was placed deeply into the face of the hill that was behind it. They turned left and only went a few paces until they came upon a door. The hill itself prevented them from going any further, and it appeared that the hillside itself actually covered a good sized portion of the top of the structure, and that this walkway was dug 32

out to provide access to the door.

“I don’t think I have a key to this door” Von said.

“It’s a combination lock” Sam replied.

Von knew there were combinations in his book, and suspected that the numbers were included in it.

The sun had set an hour or two, and the nearly full moon had come up over the Eastern horizon.

Even though it was not right over them, it lit things up nicely.

Sam sounded out the numbers as he spun the dial, as if to dispel any secrecy that he imagined Von might be feeling.

“13. 33. 77. 2.“ The door clicked open “A few of us have access to this place. We visit it occasionally to keep it in good condition, and to reminisce sometimes. Your father gathered us together before he left, and asked us if we would keep it up in his absence. He told us to utilize whatever tools and resources that were available here if we liked. It has been of great value to us over the years since his departure. I, umm, hope you’re OK with that. We, of course, would respect your privacy now that you are here…” Sam was saying, when Von interjected “Oh, of course. No problem at all! It was more than I could’ve hoped for that this place was even still here.”

“Cool” Sam said.

Sam swung the door open. Von followed as Sam went in. The aroma of ‘race car’ was recognizable; of engine exhaust fumes, of motor oil, and the presence of heat, or perhaps the remaining scent of heat from when the engine was last fired up. Sam strolled over to the wall on the left and turned a knob which engaged a turbine that began to hum. Von recognized the hum of one of his father’s Gyrorators. A light nearby flickered and lit up. In the center of the room was the figure of an automobile with a canvas cover over it. The room wasn’t very big, about the size of a one car garage, with benches and shelves lining the walls. Von looked around and saw no visible door large enough for the car to exit through, and was baffled.

“How’d you guys get this thing in and out of here?” he asked Sam. “Well, it’s kind of a chore, but not too big a deal. After removing the body and suspending up there” he said as he pointed to a couple sets of straps hanging from the ceiling directly above the car, “you then remove the front axle and the rear end housing, as well as the exhaust headers.

Then it fits through that door and goes into the main machine room“ he said, motioning to an oversized entry door in the far right corner of the room.

“After we get it up front, we bolt it all back together and it’ll go through double entry doors in front. With the body turned sideways, it also fits through the door easily. All in all it’s not really a very big deal.”

While Sam was talking, Von had moved over by the rear of the car and started to lift the cover off. The first thing he noticed was the body. It was made of the same hi-tech composite material that served as the fuselage on the fighter planes. Sam helped him remove the cover and then took it and stuffed it into a cubby hole on a shelf nearby.

Wow, Von thought. He marveled at the workmanship of the body. It had been shaped to resemble a streamlined roadster from long ago.

It had a low, blunt nose that served as the front bumper, then angled back and tapered up to cover the front suspension and engine. The fuel injectors stuck up out of the hood just in front of the middle of the windshield, which curved and laid back in an aerodynamic fashion. The car was topless, like a convertible, and two roll cages stuck up above the body line just enough for the 33

driver and passenger’s head’s to be above the hood line. The body continued back to cover the rear tires and frame, and then sharply angled back down to form the rear bumper area. It even had a parachute mounted on the center of the back panel, with a release cable that went through the body.

Von recognized this type of race car technology, and imagined how some of the rest of the vehicle’s components and controls were probably constructed. He knelt down and looked at the rear wheels and tires tucked inside the body. He smiled to himself in acknowledgement, recognizing that they the very same ones used on the fighter planes main landing gear. The wheels were quite trick, made from an exotic lightweight metal, and the tires suited this car just fine, although they weren’t quite as flat as dragster slicks, having 4 or 5 grooves running along their circumference. The wheels were slotted, and he could see the shiny brake rotors and calipers behind them, as well as some of the car’s frame work. He put his hand on the body to help himself up, and the car rocked a bit under his pressure. He stepped forward and bent down, peering into the driver’s compartment from the passenger side.

Again, wow! The hand crafted metal seats were mounted low so the occupant’s legs would be straight forward on the flat composite floor. Fighter plane seat belts rested in the seats; a pair of lap belts and shoulder belts, and a crotch strap. The right side passenger seat had a pair of hand holds, one on each side of the seat, just above where your knees would be. On the composite dash panel in front of the seat were four gauges; boost pressure, fuel pressure, with fuel level and exhaust temperature closest to the center. The gauges on the other side in front of the driver were the critical ones; oil pressure, engine temp, engine RPM”s and clutch temp. On the far side of the cockpit on the side panel, to the driver’s left, Von saw some controls. Sam had moved over on the other side of the driver’s area, and seeing Von looking at the controls, said as he pointed or touched each one, from front to back, “This is the ignition on/off switch, this is the starter button, and this is the fuel shut off lever.“ Sam then reached into the center of the vehicle, between the two seats to the driver‘s right, and grabbed and pulled back on the handle.

“This engages the brakes” he said, then turned loose of it, and put his hand on the lever directly behind and below it and added “this is the parachute release, and” he continued as he pointed in front of the brake handle at the bottom of the dashboard “ that knob activates the fire suppressor.”

Von nodded as he looked at Sam, a look of amazement and marvel on his face.

“This thing is simply awesome” he stated.

Von leaned over to the other side and craned his head down into driver’s seat and looked forward to where your feet would go, and said “There’s the clutch and throttle pedals.” As he stood back up, he continued “Hmm, no shift lever, one gear only I assume?“ “That’s correct” Sam confirmed, “and no reverse either. We talked about machining one up and putting it on, but decided it was just not needed.”

“Where would you run this thing? Von asked.

“There’s a runway far North of here where they used to land the planes. It’s bit of work to get there with a vehicle. There’s a narrow road running along the bluff out towards the sea on the South side of the bay. From there it’s up around East of town and around to the airstrip and hangar. We have to tow it there with a tractor or horses. Sometimes, just for fun or to test it, we would take it out and run it around a bit in the streets here in the village, but not too often. It was a real kick in the pants! Some of the older folks didn’t appreciate it much though“ Sam said with a smile on his face. “You know ,“ he continued, almost saying to himself “we haven‘t had this thing out at the air strip in a very long time. In fact, not since Jardon was here.”

34

“Does it still run?” Von asked.

“Oh, yeah!” Sam replied. “We get together once in a while, at least a few times a year and crank it over. We just had it fired up a few weeks ago. You can still smell the remnants of the exhaust fumes a bit.” Sam could see the excitement building on Giavon’s face.

“Do you think we should drag this thing out, and get it ready to rumble?” Sam asked.

Giavon’s face lit up. “You bet I think we should! Heck yeah!”

“Ok” Sam replied, a bit of excitement burning in him too.

It didn‘t take long, and before they knew it they had it up to the front of the shop bolting the rear axle back into place.

First they’d lifted up the front of the body (which hinged in the back) and strapped it up in place, then crawled under the rear and unhooked the latch mechanism holding it on, and then lifted and hung the rear of the body as well. They had removed the front and rear axles from it as well as the headers and rested the frame on a long low wheeled cart. After turning the lights on up front, they then worked it through the small door into the main room past the machines and work benches, up to the front of the shop. There they reinstalled the complete front axle assembly and the rear axle housing, and put the rear wheels and tires back on it. Von was really impressed with the ease in which this machine went back together. How the brake lines quick connected without leaking or needing to be bled, and how the driveshaft rotated and snapped into place without nuts and bolts. It was an engineering masterpiece.

“This thing is really nice” Von commented. “The way the gauges are set into the dashboard panel, the fuel shut off lever, the brake handle, all machine finished and detailed.

Someone really spent some serious time on this thing!“ “Yes, you’re exactly right“ Sam replied. “You father really wanted us to learn the craft of high quality fabrication, and this machine was our classroom project. We spent over four years working on it in our spare time before it was even close to being road ready.” “Obviously most of the parts came from the airships, leftover from the war days,” Von said.

“Yeah, we took parts off of the war birds that were left when the others pilots all took the cargo ship back to their homes in the Americas. They left all this equipment, too” Sam said as he gestured to the machines and tool boxes in the shop around them. “They didn’t see the need to haul all that extra weight back overseas. I think that’s part of the reason your dad stayed here. He wasn’t comfortable with the idea of leaving all this useful stuff behind to rot and go to waste.”

“I can understand that” Von replied.

“It was a huge undertaking transporting all this stuff over to this shop” Sam continued. “There‘s a hangar over by the airstrip that the pilots had rebuilt, and there‘s still some equipment and stuff in it. And some of the other airships are over there too.”

“Wow, I’d like to see that“ Von said. “I spent a great deal of time working on getting some of those war birds air worthy back when the resistance was ramping up. The government gave us an unlimited budget; whatever it took, get it done. It was like working on space age race cars, but they were race planes! Every trick, lightweight, state-of -the-art, go fast, last long, kick ass gizmo you could come up with -- no problem! Some of the best minds on the planet were involved in designing and working on those planes. It was really, really an amazing time.”

Sam replied “As I recall, your father told us quite a bit about the preparations for the war. He 35

was obviously very proud of you.”

This made Von feel good. He knew his dad was proud of him, but those types of words were sometimes rare between father and son. For Sam to have remembered it and say it now, his father must‘ve made a strong point of sharing it with him back then.

“Yeah,” Von said, “I was fortunate to be involved with some of the brainstorming on how to get those flying hot rods to be more efficient. It was even my idea to rob power from the atmosphere to pick up more longevity for cross ocean flights. Back then the spin-spheres were still real heavy and not practical for a light weight fighter plane. I thought of putting an air inlet duct on the outside of the plane to catch air and help spin a much smaller version of the spin-spheres.

Coupled together, they produced enough energy to operate a sufficient amount of hydraulic pressure to control the plane. With that, a plane could be flown across the oceans with minimal fuel consumption. It was enough of a fuel savings to be able to fly over here.” As Von said this, it occurred to him that his idea may have very well been a huge contributor to his father coming to this very place. He marveled for a moment or two on that concept. As he did, his body started to tell him that he was feeling quite spent. Riding that huge surf was very taxing on his body, and he felt as though sleep would be a very welcomed thing. It was also in that moment of reflection that the adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins in just about every one of his waking moments since he’d arrived here the night before, had taken a moment to stop pumping. He was bushed, but still excited enough to hear this thing make some noise. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and moved his shoulders around to stretch his sore muscles. He raised his arms and arched his back. The warm feeling slowly traveling across his back as he tensed up his muscles and then relaxed them, sent a warm glow and tingle through his whole body. He shook the almost overwhelming feeling of wanting to fall asleep from his head, and got back to the task at hand; getting that hot rod ready to rumble!

“So” Von picked the subject up again “that airstrip, is it in good condition for running a race car on it?”

“Yes, it actually is. It’s an old concrete runway that was originally built and used by a huge company that did a lot of farming North of here. They did some air seeding and fertilizing, and tried to keep an eye on the thieves who helped themselves to some of the crops. When the world conflict started to look like it would head in this direction, they packed up their equipment and headed South. Your dad and his team did a masterful job of repairing the cracked and weathered runway, and it has turned out to be a very good drag race track. Of course we didn’t really race, having just one car. But we did set up some timing equipment, and had a blast trying to get the quickest time out of this wild machine!”

“How many of you got to drive this thing?” Von asked Sam. “Four of us all together. Your dad, me, Spivvie and Onan. Onan was a natural behind the wheel.

His sixth sense seemed to help in his ability to be more agile in guiding this thing straight down the track.”

“Sixth sense?” Von queried.

“Oh, yeah” Sam responded seriously. “He really is an exceptionally unique individual.

Sometimes some of the things he does, just amaze me.

“Like what”.

“Well for starters, he knew that a fleet of warplanes were scouting for a base days before they showed up in our skies. And” Sam continued, with an eerie look of wonder in his eyes “he knew you were coming.”

This intrigued Von quite a bit, and in his current exhausted physical state, it kind of sent him for 36

a loop. Wow, what a trip, apparently this old guy could see the future. It did however explain how the old man on the café porch seemed to be unsurprised by a newcomer. Oh well, Von thought, back to the task at hand.

As they put the final touches on the assembly of the vehicle they also went over the details of how things worked or were hooked up.

Sam explained how to prime the fuel injectors prior to cranking the engine over, which was done with a spring loaded starter mounted in front of the crankshaft pulley.

How the clutch operated.

The fact that the brakes weren’t really strong enough to hold the car from moving when the engines rev’s got above 2500.

How the parachute that was designed for a 200 pound man and not a 1200 pound hotrod, hit a bit hard when released at the end of a fast run.

He basically shared with Von everything he recalled about how it felt and how it all worked.

They then checked the oil level and filled the fuel tank with bio-ethanol.

Sam pushed on the side walls of the rear tires and seemed content that they were fine, checked by hand the supercharger belt tension, gave the engine a once over look and said “ She looks ready to roll to me!”

“Hmm, well I guess it’s time to make some noise” Von said, then added “Do you want to get in it?”

“No, no. You go on, go for it.”

Von lifted his right leg over the side roll cage bars (the body was still hanging in the back room) and slid his backside down into the driver’s seat, pulling his left leg down into the floor and put his feet on the clutch and throttle pedals. He pulled the seat belts up from under him and moved them off to the sides. He grasped the steering wheel and pictured himself handling the car as he put it through its paces.

About that time they heard a little clatter outside the front door. The locked clicked and the door swung open, and in stepped a tall gangly character. Behind him walked in the old man Von had met on the café porch the night before.

“Onan!” Von exclaimed as he quickly clambered back out of the car. In the excitement of the wild day he was having, he had just about forgotten about Onan and the prospect of meeting up with him again. He rushed over to where the two men were standing and took Onan’s hand in both of his, and shook it vigorously.

“I was so blown away last night, when I found out that I’d met you and didn’t even know it! I’m so glad to know you, sir. My father spoke so very highly of you. To finally meet you is just, just so awesome” Von calmly exclaimed.

He then looked at the other man and said “Hello”.

“Hello” the other man replied, “I’m Spivvie Johannson. Pleasure to meet you!”

“Thanks, my pleasure as well” Von replied. He then returned his attention to Onan.

“Wow, this is so cool. I‘m so stoked to be here with you! Last night, you knew it was me didn’t you?”

The old man nodded with a sly smile. “Yes, I knew. But I like things to take their natural course whenever possible. And besides, you’ve had quite an amazing day so far it seems. Had I distracted you last night, things would’ve gone differently.”

Von pondered the old man’s words, and in fact it was true. Things would’ve undoubtedly gone very differently had Onan made himself known to him. They smiled warm and knowing smiles 37

at each other.

“Thanks” Von said with meaning, “You are completely correct.”

“So” Onan said loudly as he clapped his hands together, “It looks like you two were just about to put some fire in the pipes of our beloved speedster!”

“Yeah, we were,” Sam said. “I’m kinda surprised that you didn’t show up sooner, not much goes on around here without you’re knowledge.” Sam and Onan smiled at each other.

“Yes, well I knew it wouldn’t take long for Jardon’s son to discover that a gem of an automobile existed on these premises” Onan said.

Sam replied “We’ve got it pretty much ready to fire up. I gave Giavon the once over on how everything is controlled, and we’re confident in his abilities, so…”

“Yes,” Onan interrupted “absolutely. I too am confident in Von’s abilities.” He then looked at Von and said “I, however, would like you to be suited up and strapped in for your initial introduction to this machine. That was the way we all had our first feeling of the thunder and power under our control. Besides, it would be much safer, in case of some mishap, don’t you think?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right” Sam and Spivvie said in agreement. “It’s been so long since we went through this, I just forgot.”

“Sounds reasonable to me” Von said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Sam and Spivvie hastened their way back to the car storage area and returned a minute or so later with arms full of pilot suits and helmets and gloves and stuff.

Onan met them when they got close, and said “Ok, this should fit about right, and these and this…” as he picked out a complete set of safety wear for Von to put on.

Von put on the thin fire proof suit, and replaced his sandals with a pair of animal skin boots that had been covered with the same fire proof material. He bent down and set the helmet and gloves in the passenger side seat. He stood back up and hitched his pants up a bit so he could raise his leg and put it over the side of the car. Just before he did this he drew in a deep breath, and a slight feeling of nervousness and cautious fear crept up on him, the kind that most drivers and pilots feel as they prepare to strap into their high powered vehicles once again. This also reminded him of how spent he felt from the activities of the day. The physical requirements and mental challenges of making it through those huge powerful waves earlier had left him in need of rest and a recharge.

He sighed and then clambered into the spot behind the wheel. When he rested back in the seat, he realized he would need to pull the helmet on before he was under the roll cage.

“I trust you guys can strap me in” he said as he leaned forward and grabbed the helmet to put on.

“Yup, no problem” they said, and he slid the full face helmet over his ears and nose and down on his head, then slid back into the seat and proceeded to attach the chin strap.

As he did, Sam on the driver side and Spiv on the right pulled the belts in to place and waited for Von to finish with the clasp on the helmet. When he was done, he put his arms up in the roll cage so they could buckle him in.

They went about their business of pulling up the left lap belt and slipping on the left shoulder belt, the crotch strap, the right shoulder belt, and then pulling hard to attach the right lap belt in place to finalize the 5 point harness, then flipped the latch on the right belt to hook to the left belt, and locked it in place.

As they were doing this, Von had to inhale and draw his abdomen in tight so they could get it hooked up. When they clicked the latch in place, he exhaled.

At about that same time they pulled down on the shoulder harness to pull him tightly into the 38

seat. He was now so tightly strapped in place he could hardly move.

When he tried to take in a breath, he could not fill his lungs.

He exhaled and tried to take in another breath.

Again, he could not catch his breath.

A slight sense of panic rushed his body and began to grow, and a sort of cold sweat felt like it had suddenly covered him.

He wasn’t a particularly claustrophobic person, normal he thought, but this situation seemed a bit intense.

He was quite fatigued from the day’s activities, and it had now become very dark outside. The full moon was just now in plain view to him outside the window just above the roof line of the building across the street, and the present moment seemed a bit surreal.

In fact very much surreal, almost like being in a dream state. In his mind’s eye, for some reason, he pictured himself, actually almost felt himself, strapped into this foreign machine, upside down in a boggy marsh, under water unable to breath, unable to get out before suffocating, and panic suddenly gripped him.

He needed to get out NOW! He reached down with his still ungloved hand and released the lap belt latch and in an instant was out of the seat and jumping out onto the ground beside the hotrod as Sam jumped out of the way!

He unhooked the helmet strap and quickly took it off and gasped for a full chest of air.

As suddenly as he’d felt panic, he suddenly felt foolish to have been so spooked by what had just transpired.

“I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t draw my lungs full of air. The belts were so tight that… I couldn’t breathe. I freaked out.” “Wow” he added under his breath, himself amazed at what had just occurred. “Whoa” he sighed as he leaned on the side of the car and slowly brought his breathing under control and regained his composure.

Sam and Spivvie were a bit shocked at what took place, and stood there with looks of bewilderment on their faces.

Onan simply placed his hand on Von’s shoulder, giving it a firm and calming squeeze, and consoled him.

“That’s not an uncommon thing to feel” Onan said. “Your instincts simply took over, and you needed to get out of where you were. The belts were too tight. Simple as that.” “Yeah, you’re probably right” Von replied. But inside he wasn’t so sure. With what he’d been through with his son, he wondered if he might not be able to do this thing; drive this hot rod; be strapped in and one with this high powered piece of high performance machinery. Hmm… it really made him wonder.

‘Bout this time, Isobelle steps through the door and into the shop.

All eyes fall upon her.

A fresh supply of adrenaline courses through Von’s veins.

“My Beautiful Belle” Onan says with enthusiastic warmth. He then adds, while reaching out and walking to her “It’s always so nice to see you!”

She smiled sort of coyly and shyly, and as she approached him while extending her arms, she said his name in a different pair of tones so it sounded like ‘ooh-non’.

They embraced, Belle’s hands on his shoulders, his around her upper waist, and clasped at her back. They then drew in and rested their left cheeks to one another‘s, and gently sighed an 39

affectionate low growl or a moan, or actually like a hum. Sort of a combo of all 3, Von guessed, he couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. He was aglow again with her presence. She had changed from her jeans, work boots and apron into smooth leather almost flat soled light tanned boots, a similar colored wrap that hung just over her boot tops and tied around her waist. Tucked into that was an emerald green clingy top with gold buttons and a few gold thread accents. It was like a vest, but had small ruffle sleeves up at her shoulders. Her hair was pulled into a pony tail up on the right and tied with some small predominately white flowers with burgundy accents. The now recognizable scent of those flowers and Belle wafted over Von seconds after the embrace started.

Belle and Onan had drawn back for a moment to look into each other’s eyes then share a small smooch on the lips.

As they then nuzzled together in a warm neck and back hug, Belle said lowly to Onan “It’s been so long since I’ve held you like this; I’ve missed you.”

They drew back, again face to face.

“Yes. I’ve missed you too. You’re right, it has been so long. Since right after our… loss…” “ Yes. Yes” was all Belle could reply.

Small tears formed in her eyes as she gave him a consoling look.

She then added “She was so sweet. So kind.”

After a long moment, they released each other, and Belle said hi to Sam and Spivvie, who said hi back. She took the few steps to where Von was leaning on the car.

She reached up and took hold of the loose collar strap on the driving suit and said ‘Looks like you were just about to climb in this thing and have some fun.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about it” Von replied.

He was getting ready to elaborate on what had just transpired when Onan interrupted; “Well, it’s now a bit late, and I don’t think we should ruffle any feathers by causing a noisy commotion right now”.

“Good idea” Sam added.

The 4 men all looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“We’ll pick this up again another day” Onan said.

Von was relieved. He wasn’t planning to keep it a secret from Belle, but didn’t relish reliving it right now.

Sam reached down in front of the engine and backed off the torsion spring loaded starter mechanism that he and Von had engaged earlier. He put the fuel primer bottle on the table by the window and made sure the ignition was disabled as well.

Spivvie looked at his watch and said “I think I’ll head home. The kids are probably getting ready for bed and I’d like to help momma tuck ’em in.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a couple of things I need to take care of, too” Sam added. ”Well, it sure was nice meeting you guys tonight” Von said as they shared warm handshakes.

“I’ll see you tomorrow” he added, and with that, Sam and Spivvie headed out the front door, smiling and waving as they left.

“Hey, I’ve got some fresh cinnamon rolls in the oven at home” Belle said with some excitement in her voice. ”My mother is most likely taking them out as we speak! Do you two want to come over and have some?”

“That’s sound wonderful” Von replied enthusiastically.

“Splendid” was Onan’s comment, with a large smile spread across his face.

“Let me peel this suit off and kill some lights, and we’ll be ready to go.”

40

Von went over by the back of the car where his sandals were and took off the boots, jacket and pants, then slipped back into his sandals. He and Onan flipped off a few lights, and out the door they went, the 3 of them strolling down the cobblestone street, Isobelle in the middle of the two men as they walked closely, shoulder to shoulder.

The ocean was alive with activity, and it’s presence filled Von’s senses.

The roars of distant waves crashing along to shoreline off to the North at the point were clearly audible. The usually calm bay there in the village was also starting to shows signs of activity, and the strong smell of salt water was dense in the air.

The full moon was gleaming overhead and Von felt wonderfully alive and extremely fortunate to be here with two wonderful new friends.

“You two sure looked like you were having an exciting time out in the ocean today” Onan said with enthusiasm.

He then added a little more solemnly “Seeing that reminded me of watching you and Jardon riding swells together, long ago, Belle. It reminded me of how much I miss him.”

They were silent for a moment or two.

“Yeah, I miss him too” said Von. “It’s been about a year and a half now since his passing, hasn’t it?” Belle commented. “Uh-huh” both men replied.

Onan then said “Your father had sent me a letter after he’d fallen ill. He said it was an industrial accident, but he didn’t elaborate. He just said he knew he wasn’t long for this world and wanted to let us know.”

“What actually happened, if you don’t mind me asking?” Belle said to Von. “Well, my dad was very much a ‘hands on’ guy. He wanted to be involved in everything, and always was up ‘til the very end. His wealth allowed him to have access to and maintain all sorts of different types of businesses and processes. He was in the middle of building some new components for one of his hot rods, and they needed to be plated. Instead of waiting for the next days’ crew to handle it, he was putting the parts through the dipping and bathing process to coat them, almost like chroming them.”

The 3 of them had found their way down at the end of the street, and were now down near the bay shore line.

There was a bench, and Von said “Let’s sit here for a minute, OK?” and they all sat down and he continued.

He was a little bit emotional, but it wasn’t like he was going to break down or anything, he was just taking his time to thoughtfully relay the story accurately as it happened.

“He was alone in the building, which he shouldn’t have been, and he wasn’t wearing a respirator.

That’s not really that big of a deal, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, but it is the proper and required procedure. Anyway, as he was on his way out of the plating area he lost his footing while carrying the box full of parts. He ended up falling against one of the acid tanks, and when he did, some of the parts fell from the box into the acid dip causing a small burst of toxic vapor to erupt. As he fell, his side hit the edge of the tank which kind of knocked the breath from him, causing him to gasp. Well, when he did, he got a lung full of that poison gas. He said he knew right as it was happening that it was the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his life. He couldn’t believe he’d done such a bone head move. Those were the words he used, ‘bone head move’.”

Von sat there shaking his head. “Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. It still blows me away that that’s the way it happened, after all he’d been through in his life, to have something like that do 41

him in. Hmm…” Von finished.

“Yes, that is tragic,” Onan said. “And ironic, too. He was always such a stickler for safety here in our village when we were working on something. It is wild that a safety issue would be his undoing.”

“Was he in pain and discomfort?” Belle asked.

“Only a little” Von replied. “He was mostly just short of breath and unable to do much. It forced him to slow down and take it easy. In that way it was good.

From his chair he directed my son and I on how he wanted his hotrod put together! It ended up being a lot of fun for us three, it really did.”

Von paused for a moment, as if he was drifting in thought, or his mind was in another place.

“Damn” he said in a low voice.

Belle asked him “What’s the matter?”

“Well, that’s what prompted my son and I to get back into racing… and that’s what took HIS life.”

“Racing took your son’s life?” Belle asked in a low, concerned and semi shocked voice. Onan remained silent.

“Yeah. Yes, it did” Von answered.

He was a little surprised with himself; for the first time since his son’s death two months prior, he didn’t feel so quite overwhelmed with emotion talking or thinking about it, as he had up until then. He was glad to not be overcome by emotion, and he thought perhaps he was starting to come to terms with it, and get over his loss. And, he knew, it was also the warm feelings shared by his two new friends, Belle and Onan.

He continued “After pop died, my son, Gianni, noticed and took an interest in another race car that my dad had there in his collection. It was an all-out purpose built hot rod, meant to push the limits of extreme acceleration and speed. Together he and I worked on it and got it race ready to meet the current requirements of a class called ‘Unlimited Nitro Coupe’. These cars are the wildest, most fun to watch and most difficult cars to drive! They are awesome and amazing!

Imagine a car that puts out so much power that the rear end is trying to drive around and pass the front end! Literally! They are very wild machines. And my son was a natural driver. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to anticipate what the car was going to do. I was very proud. We had developed one of the most potent combinations and were one of the top few in the nation in performance.”

He paused for a moment, and realized that he was speaking in a very animated way and felt a little embarrassed.

“I’m not boring you guys am I?” Onan gave him a look that said ‘no way are you boring me!’ and Belle answered “No, not at all.

Please, by all means, continue.”

As she spoke, she put her hand on his, where he was resting it on the seat between them. He went on “ Well, we were working on some new ideas, and making more horsepower. Trying to get the car to handle the extra power was a big challenge that was giving us fits. Trying to channel the energy through the clutch, so as to not over power the rear tires and cause them to break loose and spin, was what we were working on. On the last run, the third one of the day, we finally succeeded in getting the car to cover the entire length of the drag strip under full power.” He excitedly said “The thing hauled ass!” and then put his hand over his mouth and said “Oops, sorry” and sort of smiled.

“Don’t worry about it” Belle said. “You’ve got to remember I sometimes share the company of 42

some pretty salty sailors!” They all smiled.

“Anyway,” he continued, but with a slightly more solemn tone of voice “the car made an excellent run; it launched off the starting line hard and straight, front wheels up and charging. It settled down and kept accelerating, making it past the critical area where the tires tended to shake and break loose and spin violently. It continued down the track and cleared the finished under power, and registered a record breaking time on the scoreboard.” Von hesitated for a moment. He could feel his emotions starting to bubble to the surface. Reliving this in his mind’s eye while expressing it verbally to others was not something he’d done yet.

Belle could see, as she looked at the side of his face while he stared out at the churning ocean, that he was hurting inside. She said nothing, but only squeezed his hand a little tighter.

He cleared his throat and went on. Now his voice was slightly shaky, and a bit lower.

“As the car cleared the finish line, it looked like the right rear tire exploded. It made a hard right turn and hit the guard wall pretty hard, and then, in a cloud of debris, looked like it tumbled over the wall. I jumped in the truck and got down there as fast as I could.”

He paused for a moment. “There wasn’t much left of the hot rod. Gianni was still strapped in, but the only parts of the car intact were the engine and the left rear tire.”

Von unconsciously pulled his hand from under Belle’s and put it on his forehead. He held his head in his hand, and then pulled it down over his eyes, slightly shaking his head.

He drew in a breath while putting his hand over his mouth. He exhaled in a sigh and put his hand back down on to Belle’s to his right.

He took his gaze from their hands and looked up in to her eyes, and said “he was dead.” Her eyes widened a little in amazement and concern, but she didn’t speak.

“A piece of tubing that had been the wheelie bar on the back of the car, had been bent and wrapped around the frame in the area where the missing rear wheel and tire had been.”

He paused for a moment, again amazed, and relieved, that he wasn’t becoming overwhelmed with grief and emotion.

He went on “The, uhmm, wheelie bar tube, had come into the drivers’ compartment” he said as he lifted his right hand from hers and demonstrated in a sweeping motion how it would have come towards his lower chest just above his stomach, and pressed his finger into his lower ribcage. “It had come through the aluminum seat, and pierced his chest pretty severely. He may have been knocked out from the crash, and the doctors said he most assuredly died almost instantly. I’m sure he didn’t know what had hit him.”

Belle lifted her left arm up and put it over his shoulder and leaned into him, giving him a warm hug.

“I’m so sorry” she said, wanting to say more, but not knowing exactly how to verbalize her feelings.

He leaned into her hug and said thanks. As he did, his eyes teared up and a few droplets ran down his cheeks.

He wiped them away, and concluded by saying “Well, he died doing something he really loved.

That‘s not the case for most people.”

“That’s true, he did” Bells added.

Onan reached across behind Belle’s back from where he was sitting on her other side, found a place on Von’s shoulder, squeezed it, and said “Wow, that’s tragic. You’ve been through a lot lately. I’m really sorry too.”

The two men leaned forward a bit and looked at each other, smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

43

They all just sat there for a minute or two, allowing the roaring sea to penetrate their senses and help to lessen the heaviness of the subject.

Von recalled the exchange between Belle and Onan in the shop earlier, and didn’t think it inappropriate to inquire about it at this time. Still, he did start off cautiously.

“It looks like you two are mourning a loss, too. I hope I’m not bringing up too painful a memory, but I’d like to hear about it, if it’s alright.”

Belle replied “Certainly it’s alright Giavon, and thank you for being so thoughtful.”

She paused for a moment, in thought, then continued “I actually believe that it’s a good thing to remember and talk about the ones we’ve lost that were close to us. It somehow helps keeps them alive and present in our minds and hearts, and I think that is important, and very good.”

The two men nodded in agreement.

“Yes, you’re right. It’s important to keep the ones we’ve lost alive in our hearts and minds” Von added.

After a few moments Onan took his arm back in front of himself, and looking down into his hands starting telling the story; “Francesca was a sweet and beautiful young lady. She was like the daughter I never had. When she came to live in our village she was only 15, and had lost both of her parents. Her mother had died giving birth to her, and her father was killed in the shipwreck of the Great Storm”.

“Yes, the shipwreck in which Untar was the sole survivor” Belle interjected. “And that is why he now loathes the sea” she added.

“Wow, that sounds pretty intense” Von said.

Onan said “You go ahead Belle, tell him about the shipwreck.”

She began; “Well, it was about 4 years ago I guess, wow, it’s been that long” she said quietly and introspectively, “and most of the men of the village regularly went to sea on Untar’s ship, The Medallion. It was a fine vessel that his father and grandfather had sailed before him. It was quite sea worthy, and Untar was always a safe and conservative captain. On that final, fateful trip, the catch was not up to their expectations, and they decided to stay out one more night even though the weather was threatening. We later found out after many months, when Untar finally shared it with us that it was a collective decision of the entire crew to stay out and attempt to increase their catch. To this day though, I’m certain that Untar still holds himself responsible for the deaths of his crew. And I know being the only one to survive weighs heavily upon him still.”

“Untar was a very strong man” Onan said. “Still is. I know of no man stronger. His instinct and will to survive is unmatched.” “ It’s a wonder even he survived” Belle said, and then continued; “ He spent 3 days adrift clinging to a piece of wreckage, and finally made it to shore many miles south of here. One of his crew lived in a village also south of here, and Untar passed through that village on his way back here. We were all distraught, since the storm came and went and The Medallion had not returned. We suspected the worst, and we were correct.” Belle put her head in her hands and added “What a terrible week that was.”

She went on “ Anyway, the man from the southern village, Bartomolo, had a daughter. After telling her of her father’s tragic death, Untar could not bear to leave her all alone, and brought her back here with him to live with us, as a member of our family. Francesca truly became one of our family.”

“Yes, she truly did” Onan interjected, and continued; “In the short time she was here, Frankie touched us all with her outgoing personality and wide eyed wonder and honesty.”

44

“Well, what happened was …” Onan started in a manner that seemed to indicate that he was trying to convey the facts accurately, but abruptly. It was that he wanted to get through the telling of the story without taking the time, or more importantly having the opportunity, to stop, dwell and become emotional about what he was saying “… shortly after her 18th birthday, a man appeared in the village, and for all intents and purposes swept her off her feet. He was handsome and appeared to be well heeled, with coin and jewels in abundance. And, he was smooth.” At this point Onan leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and appeared to look down at the ground at his feet. Belle, who had taken her arm from Von’s shoulder while Onan was talking, now leaned over, put her arm around Onan and rested her head on his shoulder.

This seemed to strengthen Onan a bit and he continued; “You know, from the day she got here, it seemed destined that she and Tavi, Gustavo, would end up together. It was obvious he adored her. And she seemed happy to be around him. It appeared the feeling was mutual. But Tavi was shy and reserved. He was very respectful, and also it seemed, perhaps a bit afraid to share with her how he truly felt. You know, it was safer to keep the option open, than to lay his feelings out on the table and have her decline his advance. So, he never did, as far as I know, share with her how he truly felt.”

At this point Onan paused. No tears or visible emotion. Just silence.

Belle started “In retrospect, nobody really liked Lekorie. He seemed shady or something. Just not trustworthy. When he left, proclaiming he’d return in a few months later in the fall, we were all pleased. But Lekorie was crafty. He knew Untar and some of the others would be gone taking cattle to the market, and returned shortly after they’d left. Onan and Gustavo had gone with them as well.”

Again, a short silence. Belle cleared her throat and went on; “Those of us here warned her and pleaded with her to be very careful, and she assured us she would be. But on the 3rd morning, Lekorie had left his room at the Inn, and had taken Frankie with him.”

The sound of a wave crashing against the rocks off to their right nearer than any had prior, distracted their attention for a moment. Onan and Belle looked in that direction and seemed a bit concerned.

After a moment, Onan continued in the same controlled manner as earlier; “As soon as she could break away, Belle grabbed her horse and rode like the wind to get to us. We were on our way back when she met up with us a days’ ride from here, and told us what’d happened. Tavi and I wanted desperately to go with Untar after Francesca, but he was adamant in going alone. We knew he would easily out pace us with his superior horse. We had a bad feeling about the whole situation. A real bad feeling.”

Belle added “Untar has not yet shared with me the details of what transpired when he found Frankie. I think it’s still too painful for him to recount; this all took place only about 6 months ago.”

Onan straightened up and Belle took her arm from his shoulder. He then sat back against the bench and placed his hand on Belle’s shoulder.

“Only last night Untar revealed to me the events that took place on that day.”

Belle and Onan looked at each other and Von couldn’t see Belle’s face but could see Onan’s. His face showed the pain he was feeling and tears began to well in his eyes. He straightened up, cleared his throat and began.

He directed his talk mostly to Belle, only glancing to Von occasionally.

“Untar is a very smart man. Not very much, if anything, takes place in this area without his knowledge. And like Belle here” Onan shot a glance to Von “he has a keen intuition about 45

people.”

Belle turned to look at Von and while wiping her eyes “Nothing like Onan though! His intuitions are downright telepathic!”

“That’s true. I do have a gift for sensing things. Not always though; This terrible event with Francesca and Lekorie completely evaded my senses.”

Onan continued. “Untar knew of Lekorie and of the area in which he dwelled. He knew Lekorie had a serious head start and was fearful he would reach his destination before Untar could catch up with him and Frankie. This would put Untar at a great disadvantage, and this is why he insisted on going alone. ’Follow if you wish, but I cannot wait’ he said to us, and follow we did.

His tracks were easy to follow; He ran his horse Bolt, as hard and fast as he could, and they tore the ground up all along the way. He did not stop to rest at all, save for a short drink of water along the way. Bolt seemed to sense the desperation of the journey, and was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.”

Onan stopped for a few moments. He seemed to be pondering how to continue the story racing around in his head.

“When Tavi and I met up with him on his return from battling Lekorie, he was without his horse. He had built a gurney, and was pulling it back to our village himself, with a lifeless Francesca aboard. The momentary look of joy on his face to see us instantly vanished and was replaced with a look of deep despair. Tavi and I got off our horses and approached him.

He looked at us and said ‘I have failed. I was not able to save her’. He put the gurney down, turned and knelt beside it and pulled the blanket back. There she lay in all her beauty and innocence, looking as though she was only asleep. ‘And what of Lekorie?’ I asked him.

‘He’s dead’ was all Untar said. He then asked Tavi and I to take her back to the village and prepare for a funeral, and that he would be along in a day or two.”

Onan leaned back again. “I had not once asked about what took place prior to that. I knew he would share it with me if and when he was ready. Last night after Giavon’s arrival, he was ready.”

This was a little unsettling to Von, but it also made him understand why Untar had gotten so upset with him earlier that day about being out in the ocean with Belle. Von could understand that Untar would be protective of his cousin. And after all, she would not have gone back out into the ocean a second time today had it not been for him being here.

Von decided in this moment that he needed to be more sure of where he stood with Belle and her current status before perusing her further. He felt certain she was not involved with another man since she had accepted his advances, but he still now felt that it was imperative to make his feelings and intentions known to her, and to know hers.

The wind had started to pick up and was blowing in from the sea. Another big wave crashed against the rocks to their right a little closer, and a gust of wind caught some of the spray from it and deposited it directly onto where they were sitting.

They all jumped up, startled from the ocean mist that had now dampened their clothes. “Whoa! I think it’s time to go inside!” proclaimed Belle.

“I’m gonna go and close up my windows before the winds pick up” Onan said, pointing up to his right. “I’ll be over in a little while. Go ahead and start on those cinnamon rolls without me, but be sure to save me one!”

“No promises” Belle joked as she led Von toward the cliffs to their left.

As they approached a trail ascending the cliff into the brush, she stopped for a moment, turned around and took his hand.

46

“I forgot that you don’t know where we’re going. Hang on to me” she said smiling, and then continued making her up the path.

As they wound their way up and down and around the path, they occasionally passed dwellings where lighted windows would come into view. They’d gone about half way up the cliff and about half the distance out toward the end of the bluff, and Belle stopped on the trail where a home came into their view to the left. “This is where Untar lives with his family” Belle said pointing to a doorway with lit windows to the right of it. Not much else was visible behind it.

“His wife Silvie and their 3 children, and Silvie’s mother.”

“Hmm, that place must be bigger than it appears” Von commented.

“Yes, actually these dwelling are quite large” Belle informed him. “They’ve been built into the side of these cliffs. Usually not very deeply, only one room deep, but many with multi floors going up. Over time more levels have been added. It takes many years to excavate the cliff side as it is very solid and strong. Untar’s place has been there over three centuries, and now has four levels, two of which he has added himself in the past thirty years.”

“Wow. Very impressive” Von replied. He looked up the cliff face and could in fact see a couple of windows with faint light coming through them.

“My place that I share with my daughter and my mother is two levels, but the upper level is the deepest one on this cliff. It’s closest to the top and the walls are a little softer and easier to dig into.”

Belle turned around to look out at the bay and Von did too. As they turned they let go of each other’s hands, and Von leaned over and put his left arm around Belle’s shoulders. The view was breathtaking and Von was taken aback.

They stood in an area that gave them full view of the entire landscape around them.

The full moon had drifted a bit more to the west and the faces of the buildings were illuminated by its light. The ocean was alive with activity, large churning brutal activity.

Off into the darkness of the sea, large swells could be seen rolling in, reflecting the moonlight. In front of and below them, huge waves were crashing into the rock formations that were to the North of the bay. Beyond that Von imagined the point being inundated with huge, fierce waves battering the shoreline. The conditions were becoming stormier, and surfing those waves was not on his mind.

The bay itself was still relatively calm, but instead of being completely flat, it was slowly pulsing up and down in time with the breakers hitting the rocks a few hundred yards away. A small ship was hurriedly making its way into the bay, it’s sails still in full bloom as it sped toward the inner bay. A large farm tractor with a long trailer was backing down into the water’s edge on a cobble stone paved boat ramp on the south end of the bay shore road, which they’d past on their way up, obviously readying itself to pluck the small ship from the water.

Belle said “That’s Untar down there getting ready to retrieve the ship from the bay.“ Von wondered for an instant how a paved pathway could be built into an active bay , but the thought vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Off up to their right, Von could see the steep mountainside that he had descended only last night.

It was an amazing perspective, to see that almost vertical hillside with thick trees and growth all over it. A path of any kind could not be seen. It looked un-travelable.

Up at the very top of it the sky behind it was black, with stars twinkling in the night sky.

A lot had certainly happened since his arrival last night.

Von took a deep breath. “Belle, I would like to talk to you about something important. Can we spend a few minutes here before going inside?”

47

Belle nodded and replied “Sure.” After a moment she added “There’s a place to sit down a little further up the path, if you like.”

“OK” he said, then followed her about 20 paces up the path to a place where a bench had been carved out of the rocky wall and set back into it so it was actually covered by a stone ceiling. It was purposely built to give a panoramic view of the earth and ocean below. Belle sat down and looked up at Von. He remained standing; He’d read once that the phrase ‘thinking on your feet’ was actually an accurate description of a person’s ability to think and talk being better while standing, because of the blood flow being better, or something to that effect.

“When I decided to leave my home, and my life there, behind a few weeks ago, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do. I really had no idea at all. I knew I wanted to come here, to the place that my father was so fond of, but I really had no plan beyond that. I would’ve never of guessed that I would fall in love with Everything about this place.”

He paused for a moment. “When I crested the top of that hill last night, and saw that sunset” he said as he motioned to the cliff top above the village “I felt a sense of… belonging. Like it felt right to be here. I felt a real feeling of being home again. A feeling I’d not felt in quite some time.”

He looked out at the sea and then turned and scanned the bay and village below him. With his back to her, he shook his head in complete awe of his surroundings.

“This place is magical. Simply magical.”

Von still felt quite spent from the day’s activities; the incredible surfing experience and the emotional turmoil behind the wheel of the hot rod had placed a strain on his energy, but right now he felt energized by the opportunity to share with Belle his feelings and intentions.

Naturally, he was also a bit apprehensive, not knowing for sure how his revelations to Belle would be received. He was an honest and sincere man and knew of no other way to conduct himself.

Belle sensed his emotion, and wanted to stand and embrace him. Again, her instincts told her that this new person was a very positive thing in her life.

She instead allowed him the chance to express himself in the manner of his choosing.

But, she could not help herself. She reached out and took hold of his hand.

He felt her hand take his and grasped it eagerly. He instantly turned and sat closely beside her, taking his hand from hers and putting his left arm around her shoulders and pulling her tightly to him.

All of his planned words and rehearsed verbiage escaped him now.

His emotions overcame him and took hold. He was trying to bite his tongue and share his feelings more cautiously, but to no avail.

“I love you Isobelle.” he said, biting his lip a little bit, still unsure if this was the best road to travel down.

“I don’t quite understand it, and I’m not sure I even thought it possible until now, but I know, in my heart and in my head, that I could spend the rest of my days… by your side and your side only.”

He looked down. “I can only hope that you have similar feelings for me, and more importantly, are in a position to be free to go with them if you desire.”

She put her hand on his chin and pulled his gaze back into hers. They were both trembling. She too was unsure of how she felt, how feelings as strong as the ones she was having for him, could so quickly occur.

48

“I feel the same way” was all she said.

Von’s heart leapt and he gave her a strong hug, and Belle hugged him back. They drew back and Von gently kissed her forehead, then just pulled back a bit, smiling.

Belle pulled away from him a bit, turned and sat facing him as she pulled her knee across the bench between them as though to steady herself.

“My daughter is very important to me. I can’t think of anything more important. It was very kind what you said to her earlier, about her father missing her. I’m sure it would be true, be he never knew her.”

She looked down, not sure how to talk about it with Giavon. It had been so long since she had discussed it or even thought about it.

“He was a sea faring man. A ship on the ocean was his home. I had no illusions of him staying permanently and he made no promises, or even suggestions. But I loved him, in spite of the knowledge he would eventually go. He was here almost a year,” she said, then added with a sort of half laugh “a long time for a sea faring man to stay ashore!”

She then looked back up into Von’s eyes before continuing, scanning Von’s face for reaction.

He remained quiet and steady. He could feel the pain in her voice as she told this story, and his empathy showed on his face. In that moment Belle cared for him even more.

He put his left hand on her two hands that she had placed on her leg in front of her and brought his right hand up to her face, placed it gently on her cheek and caressed her cheek bone with his thumb. She leaned into his touch and it made her feel secure in his presence. He remained silent, and put his hand down with their others so all four of their hands were now together, and ever so slightly squeezed them.

“On the night before he was to go out to sea…” she hesitated, ”I knew I was… fertile.” She looked down for a moment, feeling a little embarrassed by the personal nature of her talk. But she only felt that way for an instant. She was calm and comfortable talking to this man. She instinctively felt a closeness to him and continued, looking straight into his eyes; “I knew I had ovulated shortly prior to then; I’m quite in tune with my body and I had felt cramping here” she said as she pulled her right hand from beneath his and touched the area where her right ovary was. “Anyway, I felt the risk was worth it. I could not deny him, or myself, that one last closeness.”

As she brought her right hand back to their others, Von took it in his left, so that he was holding each one of her hands in each one of his. His expression was not changed, as if he were allowing, even inviting her to continue.

“So, he left without ever knowing” she finished.

With a gentle caring in his voice he asked her “How did you feel, being alone… and with child?

And knowing that he didn’t know? That must have been daunting.”

She pondered for a moment, looking up a bit and over Von’s head, in thought. “Yes, it was. But I’d known what I was in for, so it was no surprise. No harbor was his home, and that was his choice. I never felt alone though, with my mother here. And” she said jubilantly “when I knew for certain I was expecting, I was aglow with excitement!”

Belle beamed at Von, her face lighting up with joy and pride. “When I knew I would have this little girl,” and then she tucked her head in close to his and said in almost a whisper, like she was sharing a secret “and I knew it going to be a girl, then straightened back up “I couldn’t have been happier!”

Von and Belle now beamed at each other! They shared a feeling of mutual pride and love, the kind of love only a parent can know. That amazing, wonderful, awesome feeling of holding your 49

own baby child in your arms, their little loving eyes looking up at you with wonder and joy, and… hunger for love and knowledge and… food!

“She was the best thing to ever happen to you, wasn’t she?” Von said.

“Without a doubt!” Belle replied without hesitation.

Von pondered for a moment, then said half seriously and half-jokingly “I would like to be the second best thing.”

Belle stood up quickly, playfully pushing Von over backwards, and said “Oh, we’ll just have to see about that!”

Von stood up and they laughed and hugged for a few moments.

Belle pulled back to look into Von’s eyes again, and said to him in a serious and calm tone “I am truly free of him. Even if he were to reappear, which I seriously doubt, he would hold no special place in my heart. I don’t think I would even tell Sabina he was her father. To what end would that serve?”

Von felt completely confident that what she said was true and accurate. He felt it was up to only him to win her love for his own.

“OK, are we done here? If those cinnamon rolls are all gone I’m holding you responsible!” Belle proclaimed to Von, then grabbed his hand and up the path they went.

As they got nearer to the top of the trail, Belle stopped and turned around.

“So” she said with a short pause “what about you. What’s your story. You had a son. So you must’ve been married?”

“Yes, I was” Von replied, thinking of the best way to use his words. “We just grew apart. We weren’t compatible, and it became extremely unpleasant. I didn’t want my son witnessing a bad relationship and thinking that it’s how it’s supposed to be. He was about 5 when I left her. That was well over a decade ago.”

“What about since then? You probably had some fun I suppose?” Belle asked a little coyly and jokingly.

“Yes, there were two others, the last one being fairly long term. But when it became obvious that we weren’t compatible enough to cohabitate, I had to break it off.”

Von stood there for a moment in a short awkward silence, then added “That was about 2 years ago. I’ve been celibate ever since.”

Belle looked at him a little sideways and smiled and said “Well, that’s a little bit too much information.” Then a huge smile came across her face and she bolted toward her home, Von quickly following close behind.

When they reached the doorway Belle turned and leaned back against the wall. He put his left arm against the wall beside her as they faced one another and stood there panting and catching their breath. After a few moments there breathing slowed a bit and their heartbeats started returning to normal. They stood there in the soft light of the porch.

The full moon was heading west, but was still in plain view and illuminating the whole area. A few clouds had begun drifting ashore overhead. The wind was gusting more, and below the ocean roared as huge waves battered the rocks across the bay.

Belle’s eyes changed ever so slightly, becoming a little sultry. She leaned her body up from the wall, put her arms around Von’s waist and pulled herself firmly against his body.

The moment had suddenly become erotic and exciting, and they both became… excited! This was the first time that real sensual energy pulsed between them. They actually really hardly knew 50

each other, but that’s certainly not how it felt.

“Hmm, your eyes. They are so amazing.” Von said in awe.

“Yours too. They are so blue” was all Belle could think of to say.

She put her face into his neck and nuzzled into it. Von put his right arm around her and pulled her in even tighter, savoring the scent of her hair that was now resting on his face. He was a little embarrassed with his growing excitement, but Belle was pleased, and it was fine. Just fine.

After a few rather long moments of just standing there and seemingly melting together, Belle pulled back and put her hands on his shoulders. She smiled, her eyes a little misty and still sultry, and said “We’d best sit down and relax for a minute before we go in” with a glint in her eyes.

“Now why would we need to do that?” Von replied with a little smirk on his face. “Because, I’d like my mother to meet you, and perhaps not in That condition” she said, glancing down.

“Oh, I get your point” he said with a little laugh, knowing full well all along her meaning. They pulled apart and she led him to a bench in front of the property, and they sat down together shoulder to shoulder and slumping forward a bit.

As their blood began to fill in to its proper places and their thinking became clearer again, Von spoke, but he was slightly trepidant.

“Your cousin Untar, he is obviously a very intense individual.”

“Yes, when the need arises he does not hesitate taking the actions he deems necessary to stabilize the situation” she replied.

“Well, I certainly would not want to be the situation that he deemed necessary to stabilize” Von said.

“Yes, well, I can understand why you would feel that way.”

She paused for a moment in thought.

“My cousin is a very level headed man. And, he is a pretty good judge of character, too. But he is also extremely cautious as well. Especially in light of the events that took place only six months ago.”

She paused again, shaking her head slightly, feeling some renewed pain from the incident with Francesca.

“He feels some responsibility for what took place. We all do. Onan’s keen sense evaded him completely on that one, and that’s quite rare. I know that troubles him greatly. I should’ve known better too. I sometimes think of what I could’ve done, what I should’ve done. It breaks my heart.

I know it’s fruitless to do so, but I can’t help it sometimes.”

Von sat up a little and put his arm around her shoulders.

“I know. You look back and you can so easily see that some simple action could’ve changed so much. But there’s just no way to know, and certainly no way to go back and change what’s already been done.”

Belle knew he was talking about his son, and that he could empathize with how she was feeling.

And his loss was perhaps even greater, and also a bit fresher in his memory.

She turned and looked into his eyes.

“I’m so sorry for what happened with your son. You…” she stumbled a bit. “Your loss…” She was at a loss for words.

“I know” Von said reassuringly. “I’m sorry for your loss too… We just have to keep them alive in our memories. That’s the best thing we can do.”

She nodded and wiped her eyes dry, looking back down. “Yeah” was all she said.

He took his arm from around her and leaned back against the wall, and she did the same. They tilted their heads together and back against the wall of the dwelling, rested them that way, feeling 51

the wind blow, watching the clouds roll in and listening to the awesome ocean roar below. It was just a peaceful, serene moment and they were both content to just sit there and bask in it.

Although Von still felt quite spent from all of the activities of the day, he in no way felt like sleep was something he wanted to do just now. He felt so vibrant and alive, and so jazzed to be in the situation that he was in. He felt that it was incredible, simply incredible.

After a short while, they saw someone coming up the path. Onan came into the light from the moon and approached them and stopped in front of them. He smiled broadly as he looked down at them, and they smiled back. He kneeled down so they were at eye level. “You two, you look really nice together. Really comfortable” he said to them.

Von took a breath and sighed “Yeah, I am really comfortable.”

Belle sat up and slid to the edge of the bench, propping herself up on straightened arms. “I guess we should go and see if we have any cinnamon rolls left” she said, knowing full well that her mom and daughter would’ve undoubtedly waited.

They all slowly rose and casually made their way over to the front door by the porch. Belle reached up and pulled a string as she opened the door, and a little bell jingled inside. A very elegant, slender woman with graying hair was sitting at a table with the adorable Sabina across from her, playing some sort of board game. Their eyes shot up from the table as they heard the bell and saw the door open. Sabina said something to the woman, who smiled and nodded, and the little girl slid down from her chair and ran over to them as they entered, Belle, Von and Onan in order, and Onan closed the door.

As she got to them, she became a little shy and kind of tucked in beside her mom, putting her arm around her waist. Von smiled and kneeled down so their eyes were level. He truly loved little kids, and wanted them to feel at ease with him, and as his equal.

“Hi Sabina. It’s really nice to see you again” he said to her in a way that made her know he was sincere. He put his hand out to her palm up, and smiled.

Instead of taking his hand, she calmly released her mother’s waist and stepped toward Von. Von instinctively welcomed her with an embrace, and they gently hugged each other.

Belle simply glowed. It gave her heart such a warm feeling to see her little daughter take to this man and like him, and him to her.

A tiny twinge of fear crept into the back of her mind, like she wanted to knock on wood or something. It just seemed a little too good to be really happening.

She dismissed the thought, and stood there and let them interact without interrupting or distracting them.

Onan put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. They looked at each other, a look of happiness and pride in their eyes.

“They look good together, too” he whispered in her ear.

She smiled and nodded.

“Gramimma, come and meet my new friend!” Sabina called to her grandmother excitedly. The older woman looked more like Belle’s sister than her mother. She had stood and was approaching the others. She was a little shorter than Belle, with similar features; Slight of build with slender curved hips, a small waist and small yet nicely shaped breasts. A slightly pointed chin rose up to high cheek bones, a cute little nose, beautiful dark full lips, and those same, almost glowing green eyes, set slightly a bit more apart than usual.

Her hair was also brown like Belle’s, but strands of silver looked like they were slowly overtaking it, giving her a look of nobility or something.

52

“Mom, this is Giavon Norcross” Belle said as her mother approached.

Von was caught a little off guard; kneeling down with Sabina, yet needing to rise and make Belle’s mother’s acquaintance. He gently scooped the little girl up in his left arm, and slowly stood to greet the lady.

“Giavon, this is my mother, Senica.”

“It’s quite nice to meet you” the elegant lady said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Senica” Von replied. “My goodness, I can certainly see where Isobelle gets all of her beautiful looks” he said, realizing how that sounded like he was trying to impress her. “And this beautiful little girl, too” he quickly added, looking at Sabina.

“Hmm, I like this man already” joked Senica, smiling at Belle and Onan, then back at Von. “Please come in. We’ve have some delightful rolls sitting on the stovetop, and they’re still nice and warm” the pleasant and friendly lady added. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked in a general fashion to everyone as she led the way into the abode.

They had entered on the eastern side of the dwelling. From the porch they’d gone into a small entry way through a single, wide door that swung inward. Von observed to their right and in front of them was a living room that went out about twenty feet toward the bench they’d been sitting on outside, and was probably about twice as long across as it was wide, to the other wall on the far end. On that far end was a spiral staircase that was on the right, or outside of the room, and rose up toward the ceiling. There were huge 1 foot square wooden beams vertically spaced about every 15 feet or so, along the entire perimeter of the room. There was also one in the center of the room that had been tied into a bookcase or something, and two to their left that bordered the doorway to what was obviously the kitchen.

Belle reached to take her daughter from Von and said “Would you please fix us some coffee, mom, while I give Giavon a quick tour of our place?” as she set Sabina down. “Certainly dear.

Be sure to show him the view from my room, won’t you?” she added. “Sure mom, I’ll be sure to show him the best view from the whole house!” Belle replied in a jokingly sarcastic way.

“You mean the best view on this whole cliff side, don’t you?” Onan chimed in.

The two women chuckled.

“You go on and help gramimma, OK?” Belle whispered to Sabina. “I’ll be right back in a few minutes.”

“OK mommy” the cheerful little girl answered, and the two of them trotted off to the kitchen with Onan close behind.

Belle took Von’s hand and led him out of the entry way and into the large room.

“This is our family room. It is very comfortable, and has many modern conveniences to make our lives quite enjoyable.”

Von looked around. There was a long comfy looking couch along one wall, some chairs and a loveseat, an entertainment center with gadgets and gizmos and stuff on it looking like sound and picture equipment. There were plants and pictures. Lots of plants and pictures, on walls, on shelves, hanging from hooks. The place had an amazing scent from all of the various types of flowers. There were also tables here and there, some with lamps, some with books or pictures.

The room just had a very homey, inviting feel to it. It was a warm night, and a couple of fans were circulating air around the room, the sounds from them giving off a mellow hum.

She led him toward the far wall where the staircase was, stopping along the way every so often to show him a photo or something of interest, just being a good hostess.

When she did, Von just smiled softly, listening to her voice, and watching as her pretty face 53

looked from him to an object, and back to him again, becoming more and more mesmerized by the sweetness of her voice and the warmth and beauty of her glowing green eyes.

She strolled over to the staircase and they began to ascend it. He followed her up as it made one complete rotation and deposited them on the landing that had a hallway that went to the left back toward the other end of the home and to the East.

As she flipped a light on, she turned to him and said “It’s amazing all the wonderful things your father gave to us here. The power for our lights; we have little generators that give us a never ending supply of electricity and air pressure. We’re able to operate and power everything we need to make our lives so nice, so convenient.”

She paused for a moment, then put her arms around his neck. “And now he’s given me you.” She looked at him, shaking her head a bit. “What a guy he was” she added.

“Yeah, he was.” Von replied.

She let go of him then continued to the left and down the hall.

At about 15 paces they came to a hallway on their right and she stopped.

“That door on the right is my mother’s room, the best one on the property” Belle said, pointing to a door about 10 paces down the hall.

“Beyond that on the right is an extra room that serves as a library and study. On the left is Sabina’s room.”

She paused, and added “I’ll save the best for last” and took his hand and led him further down the main hall to a door at the end of it on the right.

She let go of his hand and entered the room a few steps to the right, and turned on a light, illuminating it.

From where he stood in the doorway he could see a closet directly on his left, a long chest of drawers with a large painting above it and beyond that a night stand against the back wall. Beside the night stand, with its head also against the back wall was a very big, very comfortable looking bed, with a beautiful, carved wooden headboard.

Von had a playful urge to take a running jump onto it, but of course did not!

To its right was a doorway that led into what was obviously a bathroom, as he could see from the light in the room a sink and bath tub inside of it, and also another doorway at the end of the bathroom.

On his immediate right was a small couch, which had some clothing and shoes placed on it. The wall on the right of the room, which would have the hallway on the other side of it, had a desk of sorts with a mirror on it and a chair in front of it. There were some toiletries, a hair brush and some other thing upon it.

To the left of that, nearer the bathroom, was a set of shelves with some sound equipment and music recordings, and books as well, on it.

Naturally, there were plants on the walls and hanging here and there, giving the room a nice scent. An overhead fan was spinning serenely in the center of the ceiling.

The colors of the room were predominantly deep dark reds and blues, with tan and silver accents in the form of pillows and pictures frames.

This place looked extremely comfortable and inviting. ”This is my room. My daughter’s room is through that door and beyond that bathroom” Belle said, pointing.

She walked to Von and took his hand, bringing him into the room enough to be able to almost close the door.

“This is a very nice place in this abode” she said as she walked past the door and toward a 54

doorway that was now visible just on the other side of it.

“Come on, I’ll show you” she said, waving him to follow her.

They went through the doorway that had a door that opened away from them and into the room and was hinged on its left. The door was opened against the wall that would have the end of the hallway on its other side.

The room was only about as deep as the width of the door, and had a window in front of them that went to the right about 10 feet.

Through the window Von could see the ocean to the left, the bay in front of him and parts of the village off to his right. If it had a light in it, Belle didn’t turn it on.

She took his hand and slowly led him to the right, and a door came into view at the window’s end.

She turned the knob and pulled the door into the room. The aroma of ocean and outside air swept into the room and filled Von’s senses.

The window must’ve been slightly tinted, since the atmosphere outside was a bit brighter than it had appeared from inside.

Belle turned loose of his hand as she went through the door and out onto the balcony, which was about the same length of the room they’d just exited and about a yard deep. The ocean roared below them, as they were now quite high above sea level.

She went to the sturdy wood railing bordering it, and leaned against it, and Von joined her on her right side.

“Wow, this is amazing. What a view. What a place” Von said as he took it all in.

They just stood there, shoulder to shoulder, scanning the area.

The fishing boat they’d seen in the bay was now being pulled up a steep road to the right of the village, by the tractor.

“Come on, I’ll show you my mom’s view from her room, it’s even nicer” Belle said as she turned and ushered Von back inside and closed the door behind them.

He led her into the bedroom and let her pass, and she went and turned off the light.

She gave him a friendly smile and led him out of the door, turned left down a few paces and turned left again down the hallway so they were now outside the door that led into her mother’s room.

Belle took his hand and led him through the dark room, not bothering to turn a light on. She made her way to the far corner of the room to the North Western most part of the property. There was a door there and they went through it out onto an enclosed porch that was similar to the one in Belle’s room. It ran off along the cliff side about twenty paces where another door was that opened to a patio. It continued on about twenty more paces and then made a gradual turn to the left where it opened up a bit to a larger patio that had a nice wooden table with a few chairs around it. This patio area wasn’t quite out to the end of the bluff where it made it’s hard left turn and towards the south, but it was in an area of the cliff side that was flat and open enough to afford an awesome view of the bay below.

They had made their way to the end of the patio where its point was out farther than any other part of the deck.

“You’re right” Von said to her as they stood there, “this IS nice.”

If not for the raging ocean below, this would’ve been a peaceful, serene moment to just stand and bask in the outside open air.

But, the ocean was in full roar, and it was almost impossible to not be completely distracted by its activity.

55

From this vantage point you could see past the rocky bluffs that were to the North toward the place they had been riding waves earlier that day. The full moon allowed them to see as huge swells rolled in and made their way over there.

“Wow, I’ll bet that point is just getting hammered by these waves” Von said to Belle.

“No doubt about it. This swell is simply massive. I haven’t seen it like this for at least twenty years. It’s really going to tear up the beach over there, and destroy the sandbar as well” she said with concern in her voice.

“Really? Will that make the shape of the waves a lot worse?” Von asked as he looked at her.

“Well, it’ll certainly make it different. It’s mostly a rocky bottom out there, so that part of landscape out under the water doesn’t change, but when it fills in with sand over time, the way the swells are pushed up and forced to crest, changes dramatically.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I’ve seen some huge storms roll through back home, and the aftermath from them definitely had a big effect on the shape and contour of the land along the coastline, and the waves breaking onto them” Von added.

Belle turned to face Von and put her arms up around his shoulders, and said to him “Well my new and dear friend, you may’ve just gotten lucky enough today to catch some of those waves like they probably won’t be again for a long, long time.”

Von looked into her eyes and said to her in an honest and sincere voice “Well, I hope to stay here long enough to see it like it was many more times. In fact, if it’s alright with you, I don’t ever want to leave.”

They looked at each other lovingly and smiled. She leaned up and kissed him, a warm passionate lasting kiss, and then drew back a bit.

After a few moments of just gazing into each other’s eyes happily, Belle said “Let’s go down stairs with the others” and led Von back into the home on the cliff.

Down in the village and up the hill a bit, Untar was hard at work. And relieved. There had been one more boat out on the sea. Galaraga and his men had been out fishing for a few days, and time to get back in to the harbor safely had almost run out. But the boat was now on its way to the safety of dry dock. The crew had hit the ground running as soon as they were on land, and already they were preparing to clean and store their catch on fresh ice.

It was Untar’s job to operate and maintain the rig that plucks the boats out of the harbor. It was not a small task; the boats were big and bulky, and especially difficult when fully loaded with tons of fish. Add to that the churning ocean making its way into the usually calm bay, and this turned out to be an exciting night! But all was well now. The families of the sailors were all around, happily hugging and helping the men they’d been worried about.

Going to sea was always risky business. One never knew when it would be his last trip. And one’s family never knew if this was their last goodbye. This aspect of these fishermen’s lives tended to make their family life better. The time spent when together was appreciated more.

Galaraga spoke “Let’s get those tanks draining while we load up fresh ice. Get ‘em covered, and let’s get outta here. We’ll off load our catch at first light”.

The crew hooted and hollered at the prospect of putting off unloading their catch until the morning. A hot shower and a warm bed sounded mighty nice right about now!

As Von followed Belle into the kitchen, little Sabina was placing small plates around the table 56

with forks beside them. There was a small bowl on the table, and in it Von instantly recognized some of that awesome butter! He strolled over to the table and put his finger in to scoop a little bit of it out.

“I hope those hands are clean” Belle said to him in a playfully scornful way.

Little Sabina looked up at him and gave him a playful scornful look, as if to say ‘ you’re a bad boy’.

“I’m sorry, I’ll wash them” Von said in a playfully forlorn way. He stuck his finger with butter on it in his mouth, smiled and winked at Sabina and went over to the sink.

He felt strangely comfortable in his surroundings, and put a little dish soap on one hand, turned the water on in the sink and washed his hands.

Onan was a few steps away to Von’s right and had some cups lined up and was pouring some hot coffee into them.

Belle’s mother was on the East side of the kitchen at the oven where she had set a pan on top of the stove. She was using a spatula to cut and separate the rolls in the pan. She looked over and smiled at Von. She really was quite beautiful, and like her daughter Belle, had an air of elegance about her.

Von smiled back. He then went back to washing his hands. As he looked down into the soapy bubbles and rinsed them off of his hands, he wondered if his father had ever stood in this exact spot and done the same thing as he was doing now. The taste of that amazing butter filled his senses. He felt a twinge of pain, as he realized that his son would never get to experience the taste of this awesome stuff…

In her innocent little voice, standing by the table’s edge with napkins in her hands, Sabina said, in a matter-of-factly way “I sure do miss Francesca.”

As Senica rose her gaze up and looked over her shoulder and gave the girl a knowing, sort of mournful but upbeat look, Belle, who was behind the ‘fridge door said “Me too, honey.”

She set some coffee creamer on the table, knelt down and put her arm around Sabina’s shoulders.

“She was so good to you, wasn’t she” Belle softly said into her ear.

Sabina nodded.

“And” Senica said as she came over and knelt down as well “she was so good FOR you. She helped you learn how to groom and ride the horses.”

“And macramé and make your own jacket” (which she had on even though it was warm and she didn’t need it) Belle chimed in.

“And to read and understand some of those big words.” Senica added.

“She was so funny sometimes…” Onan added excitedly, and the four of them, while going back about the business of getting ready to eat cinnamon rolls, laughed and carried on in a positive remembrance of this person they had the good fortune of spending time with, however short lived.

At a lull in the conversation when they’d finished their humorous antidote, there was an awkward silence.

Sabina said quietly “who’s going to teach me now?”

The adults all looked at one another questioningly and all started to speak at about the same time.

Von cut them off and spoke first. “Maybe I can help?”

Sabina looked up at him a little sheepishly, but interested.

“I know some big words,” and that broke the awkward moment.

“Oh yeah,” Belle said jokingly as she pretended she was going to snap his bottom with the dish 57

towel she’d picked up “what big words do you know?”

“Uhmm” Von started, feeling a bit humorously put on the spot, “Serendipity,” and after a short pause, like he was trying to think of another word “ and willy-nilly.“ “Who’s willy-nilly?” Sabina asked, smiling and moving a little closer to where Von was standing across the room. She stopped short, holding onto the table’s edge for security.

The adults chuckled.

Von quickly responded to the little girl‘s query, kneeling down a few feet from her. “Willy-nilly is someone who makes his choice without really thinking about it first.”

He looked at the plate that Senica was setting down on the table.

“Like someone who would pick the first cinnamon roll they saw ‘cause it was the closest, without taking the time to pick the best one they could!”

The other adults all chuckled more.

“No he’s not! Is he really, Mommy?”

“That sounds pretty accurate to me, sweetie” Belle replied, stifling her laughter and answering seriously.

Sabina looked at Von and giggled, stepped forward and sort of acted like she was going to push him over.

He grabbed her up in his arms again and stood up.

“See, I know something about words.”

“What about… ‘serendipity’?” the little girl asked, close to his face, looking from his eyes to his mouth.

“Hmmm, serendipity,” Von said thoughtfully.

“It means” he went on cautiously, choosing his words carefully, “like finding something by accident, something very , very special, when you weren’t even looking for it.”

The little girl looked into his eyes thoughtfully, believingly, and smiled.

They all smiled. It was true. And the feeling of serendipity was strong in this room.

Von squeezed Sabina with a warm hug.

“I think meeting you today” Von said right to the little girl, “is serendipity.”

She paused for a moment, then smiled broadly and said “Hmm, me too!”

They giggled and smiled, and then Von rubbed noses with her.

He then set her down and they went about finding a place at the table and mowing through some tasty grub.

Belle bent down behind where Von sat, and said softly into his ear “Hmm, me too.”

They’d finished their wonderful treat, and were sipping hot coffee or chocolate when there was a tap on the door.

Before they could get up, Untar walked in with some mildly alarming news and a request for help.

Word had just come the from next coastal village to the South that the pier had been washed out, and some of the pillars helping to support a few of the homes along the cliffs had been compromised. One of the homes belonged to relatives of Belle and Untar’s, and they needed assistance in evacuating their premises, and to help them come back here to stay until the abode was put right again.

“Belle, I need you to go” Untar said to his cousin. It wasn’t a dire situation that required Untar’s attention. Mostly, someone with the knowledge of how to best get a horse and carriage back into this village was needed, and Belle was the next best candidate.

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Untar would’ve of eagerly gone himself, but he had his work cut out for him tonight preparing the fish house for the offloading and cleaning job that awaited him and the fisherman in the morning.

Of course Belle agreed without hesitation, and was ready to spring into action for the short journey on horseback.

Von wanted to come along and help, but Belle assured him that that would not be necessary, that she could easily take care of it herself.

“There are plenty of people there to handle the situation. They’ll most likely be almost loaded and ready to go anyway. But guiding a rig back into this place is pretty tricky, and that’s where they need my help. But don’t you worry” she said to Von as she took his hand and squeezed it.

“I should be back by early afternoon tomorrow, OK?” Von agreed, and asked if he could do anything to help.

Belle looked at Untar with a questioning expression, and Untar said “I’ve already got Siln and Pewley rigging up Nimbless, so I think you’re good to go.”

“OK, excellent” she replied.

Looking back at Von, she said “You two should get some rest, you might need it! It could be busy around here for a while.”

Von and Onan shrugged in acknowledgement, actually eager to have some time to relax. As Belle went upstairs to get ready, Untar helped himself to a warm, buttery cinnamon roll, and they went about helping Senica clean up a bit.

“That was a pretty big scrape you helped get those guys out of, wasn’t it?” Von Said to Untar.

“Yeah, it coulda' been a real close call” Untar replied.

“Hogwash!” piped up Onan. “That was nothing compared some of the adventures this character’s got himself into!“ and with that the two men, Onan and Untar, began to mock wrestle, pretending to do harm to one another.

The little girl got in the middle of them and was playfully pushing them apart and saying “Stop, stop, you two! Something’s going to get broken!“ “Now, now, boys, you settle yourselves down, and there won’t be any trouble“ said Senica.

They looked at her and pretended to be afraid, like being scolded by a school teacher. “Hmm, boys huh?” Onan said under his breath, and he and Senica gave each other a playful look.

“You’re lucky she saved you” Untar said. “I was about to roll you up!”

“Yeah, right” replied the old man. “I know all your moves, you’ve got nothing on me.” And it was true, the old man was agile and quick and probably could box the younger man’s ears off!

Of course, if Untar just got hold of him, or anyone for that matter, in a bear hug, it would all be over!

“I’ve got to get going anyway, I’ve got a full day ahead of me which starts in a few hours.”

With that he picked up Sabina and gave her a kiss then set her down, thanked Senica for the roll and said good night to her, and gave Onan a little shove while passing him on his way to the door.

At the door he stopped and turned, then said “see you ‘round” to Von. Von sensed a slight look of satisfaction on Untar’s face, like he was happy to have interrupted Von and Belle’s potential evening together…

Von gave it no other thought; could be his imagination anyway, and said bye.

“I’m gonna drain my radiator” Onan proclaimed with a grin, and trotted off to one of the 4 bathrooms on the property.

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Onan left the kitchen and went outside the entry door and turned right, where a commode and sink occupied a quite small room near one of the storage caves.

Back in the kitchen, a nice friendly warmth seemed to permeate the room.

They sort of shuffled and mingled about one another, not saying much of substance, Things like ‘oh, here’s a cup’ or ‘here, take this towel and wipe your sticky hands’.

Not at unease at all, just a bit tongue tied, the three of them, glowing in one another’s presence; Giavon, Sabina and Senica.

Finally they ended up at the sink; Von with his back to the ’fridge facing Senica in front of the sink, and Sabina past her to her left, sitting up on the counter.

Senica looked at Von. She smiled as she dried her hands.

Von smiled back, feeling his cheeks warm up. He wanted to beam, but stifled a goofy ‘Cheshire cat’ like grin from his face.

The elegant older lady raised her right hand and gently touched his left cheek with the outside of her fingers.

“I see your father’s eyes in your eyes. I see your father.”

There was a slight pause as Senica took her hand down and looked back down to the sink. She had a pleasant smile on her face, and she sort of squinted a little, and cocked her head, kind of with a ’what if’ twinkle in her eyes and on her face.

“I knew your father” she said smiling and looking back up at the handsome young man that closely resembled the handsome man she‘d had the pleasure of acquainting herself with so many years ago..

“I knew him very well.“ ”Hmm, he was a good man to know” Von interjected.

Sabina was distracted; she was playing with a little red tabby kitty that looked to be no more than a couple of months old at the most. It’s little head was no bigger than a Ping-Pong ball, and it was adorable! She was dangling a string over the counter past her hanging feet, and the kitten was jumping up playfully.

Senica looked at Von thoughtfully, gently reading his emotions, looking into the aura of his eyes.

She smiled sweetly and cocked her head a bit, her beautiful green eyes twinkling.

She leaned in, put her arm back up to his shoulder and pulled him to her a bit. She seemed to savor the memory of his father’s being, in him, and Von felt very connected and proud. And close, and just amazed at the positive vibe, the warm feeling, the closeness to his son, and to his father. He felt as though he was glowing, he really did. He felt content to say to himself that he felt as happy and as peaceful, as he’d ever felt in his entire life.

The elegant lady pulled back a bit and said a little “hmmm” to herself as she went back about her business in the sink.

Von just looked at the side of her face as she smiled and thought to herself about her past with his father. She looked up again, that sweet smile back on her face, her friendly eyes sparkling, and started matter-of-factly “Your father and I, we were never intimate.”

She let a moment pass by, for that to sink in.

“But we spent countless hours in each other’s company! He was such a man, such a spirit. We talked a lot, a great deal, and he told me of his wife; how he loved her, how he lost her. He also shared so many harrowing stories of some of his exploits with me! Some, many, with you.”

She smiled real broadly, and beamed “I knew about you many years ago. Many years ago, and now to get to see you and meet you, it’s phenomenal!”

She smiled and laughed a little, and looked back down into the dish water, still lost in her 60

memories and reveling in them anew again after all these years.

She felt gratitude towards this man, Von, and it felt very good to her to feel this way.

She looked up at him one more time, this time with a thoughtful, sort of faintly pained look on her face, and said “Welcome to our special little village. Welcome. And please, please stay.”

Von simply delved into her eyes, looking and longing and caring… So many emotions swirling through his mind, through his being.

“Thank you so much. So very much.“ He didn’t know what else to say, didn’t need to say more.

He simply took her hand and kissed it, a kiss of honor and of respect.

And of genuine caring.

They blinked, and he turned loose of her hand, and she then looked back down and went about the task of cleaning up, still beaming.

Von drifted over behind her and over to where the little girl was playing with the cat a few feet away.

“What’s this little guy’s name?” Von asked her.

She looked up at him cheerfully and said “Scraps.”

“He was a rascally little scamper when we got him over at my friend’s house across the bay. His name is Scraps, because we caught with taco scraps in the cage.”

“Hmm, that’s a cute name. He sure is a cute little guy, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is” she replied. “You can pick him up if you like, it’s OK, he’s a nice kitty. He doesn’t fight or scratch too much. Unless you get him all riled up though, then he can get pretty ‘rough and tumble‘.”

Von was impressed and pleasured by this little girl’s use of vocabulary. It was fun and stimulating to chat with her.

He reached down and picked the little ‘wooly booger’ up, and it squirmed playfully in his hand.

It wasn’t much bigger than a handful, just a little fluffy puff of life, dependent on these humans for its survival.

Make no mistake, this village was tough on little innocents, and vigilance was always the order of the day concerning any young vulnerable creatures of these hills, human and otherwise.

Onan came back in the front door as Belle was coming across the front room back from getting ready upstairs.

“Anything I can do for ya while you’re gone?” he asked her.

“No, not anything I can think of” She replied, “except maybe make sure Giavon doesn’t get into any trouble or slip away!” They chuckled jovially.

They both re-entered the kitchen. Belle had changed into jeans and boots, and had pulled on a sweater. She carried a small back pack in one hand.

She walked over to her mother and said “OK, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Keep an eye on our little munchkin’.”

She went and hugged her daughter with her free hand, and said “Behave yourself, and listen to your grandmother, OK?” “OK, mommy.”

“I’ll see you guys soon, too” she said to Onan and Von. She went over to Von and put her hand on his chest and looked into his eyes, suddenly feeling a little nervous about leaving.

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He sensed her apprehension, and felt a little of it himself.

“You be careful, alright?” he said, trying to put her at ease and perhaps inject a little positive vibe on the situation that had popped up. “You be sure and come back in one piece, OK?” he finished.

“Alright. I will. You be careful, too.“ They smiled, and then out the door she went.

As the two men meandered down the trail back toward the village, Von asked Onan in a concerned tone “I’m a little worried; do you think everything’s gonna be OK over there in the next village?”

“Uhmm, I think so” was Onan’s reply, not sure what Von was getting at.

“You know, with your, uhmm, sense, can’t you tell…” Von continued in an awkward sort of way.

The old man shot Von a knowing look, as if to acknowledge the crux of Von’s inquiry, but then his look turned to one of slight puzzlement, conveying an ’I don’t really know for sure if it’s going to be alright’ feeling.

“I learned a long time ago, I can’t really, uhmm, ‘persuade’ myself to detect if something is going to occur.” Onan stated. And after a brief pause, he added in a pained voice, “and I learned again only recently, some things just totally evade me, and blind side me like a herd of buffalo.”

He sighed a soft exhale, and shook his head as if to shake the painful thought from it.

Von put his arm around the older, shorter man’s shoulders, and they continued down the trail in silence.

As they got to the bay shore road, a group of a few fishermen were coming down the hill from the boat house. They said ‘hello’ to Onan and the stranger they did not recognize, in a jovial tone. They felt a tiny bit awkward at not greeting and meeting the stranger, but the feeling past them as fast as they passed Von and Onan and down the road they went. Knowing the answer before he asked it , Onan said “Are you guys going over to the pub?” and added as the men turned and nodded sheepishly, “We’ll see ya up there.”

“Good - Excellent - Great” the sailors replied, and again resumed their hurried trek to a warm fire and soothing dose of ‘spirits’.

“Pub, huh?” Von chuckled. “Looks like I can sample some of that banana liqueur.”

“Uhmm, no you can’t” Onan answered. “Not tonight anyway. Belle’s grandfather came up with that recipe himself, and Belle is the only one to serve it, I mean you can only get it at her café.

But” he added enthusiastically “we can get ourselves an ice cold butter brew, and boy is that ever a smooth wash of cool splendor to roll our down our gullets!”

And with that they picked up their pace to match the men ahead of them.

They had gone up the hill on the north side of the bay, and entered the crowded and newly bustling pub, filled with thirsty fisherman.

They found a pair of empty stools near the far end of the bar, and ordered.

As they sat there huddled together sipping their butter brews like a couple of school boys who’d found a new hideout that served hot fudge sundaes for free, they chatted and enjoyed each other’s company.

“Umm, that was sure some good grub we had today.” Onan commented. “That gal can sure cook.”

“Boy, I’ll say“, was Giavon’s reply “that stuff she cooks, it’s just amazing. Best food I’ve ever 62

had in my life. Bar none.” He paused.

“Gosh, and she’s so pretty. So sweet” Giavon said quietly, almost to himself. “Hmmm” he added, as he slowly sipped his brew.

“Hmm, what?” the old man asked him, nudging him back to reality.

“Oh, I don‘t know, it’s just, to think that to get to be able to spend enough time here to get to really know someone as lovely as Isobelle, seems like a lot to hope for. And gosh, I already feel like I’m in love with her, but to be able to be truly in love, and loved back. Hmm, way too much to even consider hoping for.“ “Oh, I don’t know, who knows what’s gonna happen. Life’s a crazy thing sometimes. And love’s even crazier!” Onan laughed hard as he added that last part.

They both laughed and nursed their brews.

Untar was seated at a table within earshot of them, and had witnessed the conversation.

In that moment his view, and feelings toward Giavon Norcross, changed a little.

He didn’t feel threatened, or fear for his cousin’s safety any more when it came to this man.

Something just told him, instinctively, that this man was a good man, a man to be trusted.

Still, he knew to be cautious, people are often not what they seem.

Of course, the old man had known Untar was seated nearby.

He hadn’t planned this event, or even thought up a plan as they sat there chatting, but when the opportunity arose, he did provoke Giavon’s thoughts about Belle.

He felt he knew Giavon well enough to know what his feelings for her were.

He knew Giavon had a good heart.

He also knew Untar had serious doubts about him, and couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome.

He didn’t at that moment know that Untar’s view of this newcomer had changed, but much later when Untar shared this fact with him, he felt warm and proud. And satisfied.

Senica was at the sink putting some water in a vase with some flowers she’d picked while having her morning coffee outside near the cliffs edge.

She had a few things on her mind and they were keeping her a bit preoccupied; the direction of the swells coming in from the ocean were once again angled precisely so as to allow them to roll into the bay and crash with amazing ferocity and awesome power.

She couldn’t remember ever seeing it any bigger that it was on this morning, and she was feeling very unsettled about it.

The display of pure, raw energy and power was enough to give her chills every time another huge wall of water passed by and crashed into the bay.

She wasn’t real pleased that Belle had to leave the previous night. She had slept restlessly all night and wasn’t feeling good; something was gnawing at her spirit.

When the little girl had said ‘good morning’ from the doorway, it had startled Senica.

Sabina usually didn’t rise this early and it caught the older woman by surprise.

“Hey punkin’, you’re up early today.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t go back to sleep, it’s so noisy outside. What’s so loud?” the little girl asked her grandmother.

“Oh, that’s just some big waves coming into the bay” Senica replied, trying to not alarm or 63

confuse the little girl.

She then added “Sweetheart, would you please go up and bring down the dirty clothes from the hamper in the bathroom? I want to do some wash, OK?” “Sure, Grammy” replied Sabina.

The little girl had carried her kitty down with her and was still holding him.

She turned to go back up, and set the cat down on the arm of a chair nearby.

With the ocean pitching and churning, sea creatures and fish were being tossed about mercilessly, and some were ending up on or past the shoreline.

The kitten’s keen senses picked up on this, and he instinctively wanted to pursue what was filling his little nose!

He quickly jumped down and headed for the doggie door that was beside the entry door.

Normally it would’ve been latched, but in the night’s confusion, Belle had forgotten to latch it, a fact she realized after departing last night.

Not a big deal, she had thought.

At the same time the cat pushed his nose out the door and followed with his body, another loud wave was crashing into the bay. This noise masked the sound of Sabina going out that very same door, calling after her pet.

Senica didn’t even know her granddaughter her had left the premises.

The little cat was scrambling down the trail toward the cliff to get to the fish and crabs that were being thrown up onto the sand down on the bay shore.

Little Sabina was alarmed and yelled after the kitty “Scraps - No - Come Back Here”.

Of course the cat was gone, nimbly darting through the brush and heading off to the bay shore, with Sabina in hot pursuit.

She followed the steps the cat had taken off the path, and instantly lost her footing in the slippery shrubs and bushes that were wet from the ocean’s mist and spray.

She tumbled helplessly down the steep hillside, rolling and bouncing out of control, and into the water she went!

She ended up in a tide pool of sorts, a little pocket of water that was scooped up and lifted by the next massive roller.

Instead of slamming her against the shore, it dragged her back out when it retreated and left her gasping for air on the now exposed bay bottom.

Untar was across the bay, on the other side in the fish house, and saw the whole thing unfold and his heart almost stopped!

He’d immediately thrown off his work gear, bolted out the door and yelled ‘NO’ like he’d never done before, so loud it reverberated through the town and straight up to the vertical heights of the cliffs and up to the highest peak and clearing.

Birds scattered from the trees!

He bolted down the hill.

In the workshop Von heard the ferociously loud cry, and was instantly filled with an intense concern and an ambition to investigate and help, if possible.

He zoomed out the door and ran as fast as he could until he ended up down by the bay shore.

Untar was there.

He had a look of panic all over his face.

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He was extremely distressed, and it was an emotion that was completely foreign to him. He always knew how to handle himself in any situation, but this time he was lost, and agonizing over his inability to take matters into his own hands.

When Von had gotten to where Untar was, he had almost run right into him before he could stop.

He used Untar’s body to help stop himself, and then helped steady Untar after almost making him topple over.

“What’s going on?! What’s wrong?!” Von demanded.

“It’s Sabina!” Untar snapped back, almost in anger, but really in extreme and rapidly increasing frustration. “She’s out there in the bay! She gonna be lost. I gotta…” he was yelling, and instinctively acting as if he was going in after her, but then stopping and catching himself, knowing it would be suicide.

He was back and forth, going, stopping, becoming more and more agitated at not knowing what to do!!!

The sea was going to take his little niece, and there was nothing he could do!

Suddenly Von had an idea.

He grabbed Untar by his shoulders and looked him straight in his eyes. “You go in and get her.

I’ll come in and get you both.”

Von said this with a calm but commanding voice.

Untar’s mouth dropped open, and a look of disbelief filled his face, as if to say ‘what on earth are talking about?’

“No time to explain. It’s our only chance. Please, - Trust Me!” Wanting to say more and explain, but knowing that there was no time to do so, Von bolted back up the cobble stone street to his father’s workshop.

Filled with a renewed sense of purpose, but not fully knowing why or how, Untar quickly decided what to do. If nothing else, he was going in with her. If he couldn’t save her, then he guessed, they’d both be lost.

Not a pleasant thought, so he decided not to think it again.

He surveyed the scene and quickly deduced his best option.

This had all taken place in a matter of seconds; he had seen Sabina slip and tumble from across the bay, and by the time she’d been dragged back out and was lying on the bay floor, he and Von had had their exchange and a plan was in motion.

A plan Untar didn’t know the details of.

There wasn’t much time between each wave that was crashing in, and the next one was looming outside the bay and rapidly approaching.

Untar charged back up the hill, past the fish house, to an area that was out toward the edge that was sharp and abrupt and had an extreme drop off to the bay below.

As he got up to the spot, he stalled for an instant, then continued at a full run, right over the side, timing his leap into and on top of the next crashing breaker that had come barreling in from the sea.

He crashed into the water as it folded down onto the bay.

As soon as he broke the water’s surface, a strange, almost dreamlike quietness filled his senses.

In contrast to the churning and roaring of the ocean above, he was floating in the quiet and unexpected calm of rolling water.

But, he knew it would be short lived.

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And it was; in the next instant he felt himself being dragged toward the shore, and then back toward the open sea.

As the water made its rapid retreat, he broke the surface and shook the water from his head and eyes.

Standing on the now exposed bay floor he quickly scanned the area for the little girl.

As the water receded more, her lifeless body became visible about 20 yards from him.

In the distance, he could hear an unfamiliar roar of an engine of some kind.

Paying little mind to it, he moved as fast as he possibly could over the now almost waterless bay bottom.

He was at her in a flash, and scooped her up in his arms and squeezed her very tightly, as if to squeeze life into her, and death out.

He heard her cough and gurgle, and was elated to know she was still alive.

He looked apprehensively back out to sea; the next wave would come crashing in soon, he knew that.

He jerked his view back to the shore; could he make it out in time? No way!

‘What in the world am I gonna to do?’ raced through his thoughts.

Then he remembered; Von had a plan!

But what was it? What could it be?!

He instantly and instinctively started making his way toward the shore. That’s all he could do; try and make it to shore.

He was about half way to shore, and he realized that the unfamiliar roar had continued, and gotten louder. He looked up and saw an amazing and completely unexpected sight; Von had reached the bay shore road and slid to a stop right at the bottom, in his father’s awesome and cackling hot rod!

A renewed and fast growing hope filled Untar’s being!

He jerked his head back toward the ocean.

SHIT!!! Here comes the next wave!

Untar knew that there was no way he would be able to avoid being captured by this awesomely powerful, mindless monster.

He felt no anger or ill thoughts about the ocean now; it was just doing what it does, in its own natural way, like a lion capturing a gazelle, with no ill intent or evil motivations.

He simply felt like a vital and very much alive piece of this bay and town, of this earth, and the whole universe.

And if this was how he was to go, then so be it.

But, he was not yet done fighting. Not at all!

He looked back over his shoulder at Von. A tormented expression was across Von’s face.

As soon as Von had let go of Untar, he was on a mission.

He zoomed up the cobble stone street as fast as the wind. Adrenaline pulsed in his veins and in a few moments he was at his father’s work shop doors, panting heavily.

He darted to the hot rod; he quickly cranked and preloaded the starting mechanism in front of the crankshaft. He then grabbed the fuel primer bottle and squirted a liberal amount into the injector scoop, priming the engine to start and run while the mechanical fuel pump hopefully picked up pressure to feed it. He stopped for an instant, thinking and making certain nothing was forgotten.

No time, gotta go NOW! 66

He leapt over the side and behind the wheel, scanning the newly familiar gauges, levers and switches.

He moved the fuel lever to the almost fully on position, pressed the clutch pedal to the floor, switched the ignition switch on, made one more quick mental check.

‘Better put these on’ he said to himself as he quickly latched the lap belts in place, leaving the shoulder and crotch straps off, and then pulled the starter release lever.

The engine roared to life!

He kept his foot off of the throttle pedal, knowing that to press on it could have the opposite of desired effect, and cause the engine to gasp for fuel, choke and die.

He watched intently as the needle in the oil pressure gauge quickly rose to about 85 pounds.

As soon as the fuel pressure gauge began to register pressure, he gently pressed on the throttle pedal. This was against normal procedure; patience and time was generally given to a high performance engine so it would build some heat and come to operating temperature gradually.

No time to waste on building heat now!

He pulled the fuel lever completely on, romped on the throttle in gradual progressions, quickly enabling the engine to take more throttle comfortably.

The familiar aroma of race engine exhaust filled his senses.

The vehicle hummed and vibrated as he gave it more throttle.

He eased his foot off the clutch and the roadster moved forward.

He maneuvered the bodiless hot rod around and out of the front double doors.

There was just enough room to fit it through and out into the street. He made the quick right turn and punched the throttle while letting the clutch out all the way.

The rear tires squealed against the cobble stone street and shot forward and down the steep road.

He immediately had to pull on the brake handle, as the turn to the left came up fast.

He made the other turns and in a flash he was passing the café, headed to the street that borders the shore.

He came to a screeching halt right behind the bench that he, Belle and Onan had sat on just last night.

When the car snapped to a stop, he looked out and saw as Untar was trying to make his way in toward shore, and - he had Sabina tucked under his arm!

Von saw as Untar looked back out to sea, and he looked too.

Another huge wave was approaching, and it was obvious that the two people caught in its path would soon be turned into rag dolls, their bodies would be tossed and turned and hurled toward the shore.

Von felt sick and his head spun from the terror in front of him.

Untar snapped his gaze back to Von for a moment, giving him a look as to say ’Oh well, I guess I’ll see you later‘, then turned and ran as hard and fast as he could toward the approaching wall of water.

Von was distressed and felt like panicking.

He gathered his wits, and realized that if there was any chance at all of saving them, he darn well better be prepared to do it.

He gunned the throttle as he let the clutch go and turned the hot rod left toward the boat ramp.

He quickly zoomed across to the other side of the bay, and without really thinking about what he was doing, whipped the car up the steep hill toward the boathouse.

He was scanning his environment, looking to the left and to the right as he was ascending the 67

road rapidly.

He saw a spot on the side where he thought he might be able to turn around, and whipped the front end into it instantly! He then whipped the wheel back and brought the front end around back into the road, and at the same time grabbed the brakes hard and threw the vehicle into a slide.

He’d done it!

The car was now pointed downward, albeit a bit sideways in the street, but with enough room to clear the wall of a building on the side of the road.

He eased off of the brakes and rolled quickly down the road, just in time to see Untar and Sabina disappear into the massive rolling wall of white water headed to the shore.

Von’s heart leaped into his throat, almost in disbelief of what he was witnessing.

His thoughts turned to Belle; his heart broke for her, knowing the pain she would feel when she learned of her little girl’s fate.

But, this wasn’t over yet.

He knew that if anyone could survive this situation, Untar was the one to do it!

It seemed like he had an eternity to ponder these things.

It was agony sitting there, waiting to see what was going to happen to two of his new friends.

As quickly as the big wave rolled in, it retreated and the water rushed back out.

Von was feeling frantic, his eyes darting around to see where they were, IF they were…

There they were about half way out and in the middle of the bay!

Untar had managed to keep hold of the little girl, and was using his free arm to lift himself and get back to his feet.

Von looked at the boat ramp and then back to where the two people stuck out in the middle of the bay were.

There was no way they would ever make it out of there on their own; it was up to him. Fear gripped him as he anticipated what he must do, but he pushed the fear out of his thoughts, took a deep breath and gunned the car hard down the road and out onto the boat ramp.

As he got near the bottom of the ramp he steered hard to the right and out into the exposed bay floor. The ground was relatively smooth and flat, with a few big rocks here and there, and he set his course aiming for the spot where his two friends were, determined to reach them.

What would happen beyond that Von didn’t know for sure, he wasn’t thinking that far ahead.

He only knew he must get to them NOW!

Untar gasped for breath as his head broke the surface of the water. He’d made it again and was not pulled out to sea, instead he was still in the bay!

And, he’d successfully kept hold of his little package, Sabina!

She wasn’t moving or visibly breathing, and this distressed Untar, but there was no time to be concerned with that; if he didn’t get them out of there, all would be for naught.

He heard the roar of the hot rod’s engine and looked over to see it barreling down the boat ramp and right into the bay’s floor.

He was aghast at what was obviously a suicidal move, but at the same time filled with an extreme joy and motivation!

If he was to make it out of this mess alive, that vehicle was his only hope!

Von was driving wildly, like a madman!

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The roadster was bouncing and rollicking, not getting very good traction in the murky and mushy bay bottom, and not allowing him very good control.

He had to work the throttle carefully; too much and the tires could spin and dig into the soft surface, possibly getting stuck, too slow and the car could stall and dig in and also get stuck.

Von didn’t know for certain, he just knew he had to keep moving, had to get to them… He darted and bounced and turned, romping the throttle, trying to keep the car moving but not going out of control.

He was now within reach of them, and behind them another wave was already coming into sight.

Shit!!! What was he going to do?! They weren’t going to make it!

He hammered the throttle down now, with disregard for anything but getting to them as fast as possible.

The engine roared and the car darted and bounced, jerking around wildly as the rear tires alternated between having some traction, and not.

As the car screamed out toward his two beneficiaries and approached them, Von threw the car sideways and grabbed the brakes, turning the passenger side of it directly to them.

Untar had been making slow but steady progress, and now as he saw Von and the hot rod coming at him and being thrown into a slide sideways, he summoned all of his strength and power, and hurtled himself and his lifeless little package as efficiently to it as he could.

He knew he only had half a chance, and instinct took over his actions; even before he could tell exactly where the car would end its slide, in one swift motion he took three huge strides, pulled the little girl to his chest with one arm, and made a leap to land where he thought he guesstimated his target, the passenger seat of the now potentially lifesaving vehicle, would be.

A saying goes like this; ‘Close is only good enough with horse shoes, hand grenades and nuclear weapons.’

But on this day in this bay, close was also good enough!

The car stopped just short, or Untar’s leap stopped just short, so as to cause his landing to almost not make it!

Untar had leapt and kicked his feet up so as to land on his bottom with his feet and head up.

When he came down, he was just short with his butt about half way in and out of the top edge of the steel frame that bordered the right side of the bodiless car.

Von saw that Untar was going to be short, and as the car had just about ground to a halt, he let loose of the brake handle with his right hand and reached over to grab whatever he could get hold of to pull them in.

In a flash, Untar had landed and was teetering on the edge of the car frame.

Von’s right hand had latched onto something, and he squeezed and pulled as hard as he possibly could, while at the same time he instantly gunned the throttle and let go of the clutch pedal, while keeping the steering wheel cranked as far as he could to the left!

With the car now trying to go back in the opposite direction, the task of pulling his cargo into the car became more difficult.

With one last burst of strength, Von pulled his package in successfully!

As the two people thudded down into the seat, (with Untar’s legs hanging over the edge and his head slamming and wedging into the roll bar,) the added weight was enough of a help to settle 69

the car down a bit on the right side, which caused the right rear tire to grab a bit and help hurtle the car to the left and heading back toward the boat ramp.

With total disregard for anything except escape, Von leaned forward, grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and hammered the throttle down all the way to the floor!

The engine screamed, sounding unhappy at the pressures being put upon it.

The rear tires instantly jumped to full speed, spinning fiercely and growing in diameter, as if they were going to be thrown off of the wheels themselves.

Two things happened that helped; when the tires got bigger around from the forces trying to throw them off of the wheels, it raised the rear of the car and gave it a bit more ground clearance to go over some of the rocks on the bay bottom.

Secondly, with the tires spinning ferociously fast, they created friction against the bay bottom and actually built a little heat. This allowed the tires to get a little better grip, and each time the car bounced down it shot forward and made noticeable progress toward the boat ramp.

People had now appeared, scattered around various places in the village, and had become awestruck and hypnotized by the disastrous scene taking place in front of them.

Von put all of his focus on getting out of the situation he was in.

The roar of the engine was loud enough to mask the roar of the approaching wall of water.

Instinct told Von to turn and point the car towards the shore, but he fought his urge; he needed to get to the bottom of the boat ramp which was across the bay 30 or 40 yards.

He didn’t dare look over to his right, past his passengers, to see where he was in relation to the fast moving water, but he sensed it was there and from the corner of his eye he could see it!

He fought the urge to panic!

The car’s engine was screaming wildly, and as it bounced and jerked around, he fought to keep control of it.

It was making steady and increasingly faster progress to the boat ramp.

The bottom of the ramp was coming up fast and Von had to react quickly and effectively; he turned the steering wheel slightly to the left, so the rear of the car started to come around on it’s right side.

There was a fairly sharp transition where the side of the ramp met the cliff that went abruptly upward, and Von knew that it was critical to make the turn and head up the ramp without slowing, as much as possible.

He was pleased with the angle and speed in which he was approaching the ramp.

He was there, at the bottom of the ramp!

He turned the front wheels hard to the right, so as to allow the right one to go up the cliff a little and absorb some of the impact of ramming the wall .

The front end hit the ramp and then hit the wall of the cliff at an angle, pointing up toward the top of the ramp. This sent the front up a bit and then back down. The rear of the car slammed up against the side of the cliff rather hard, and Von fearfully looked down to see his passengers; Untar’s eyes were wide open, but no expression of fear or joy or anything could be discerned. He had both of his arms around Sabina now, and had pulled his legs in, so he had her fully in his grasp and control.

Von refocused his attention to the task at hand.

70

As he had hit up against the side of the cliff wall, he had pushed the clutch pedal in but kept his foot down on the throttle a bit, not allowing the motor to stall and die out.

He now straightened the front wheels, dumped the clutch and hammered the throttle pedal down, and the car jumped up and erratically jerked around as it tried to make progress up the steep, cobblestone surface of the boat ramp.

He could feel the rear tires spinning fiercely, but the car wasn’t making a lot of forward movement.

It was hard for him to do, but he eased off the throttle a little, allowing the tire speed to slow, and the car settled down a bit and began to move forward up the ramp in jerking but steady forward movements.

As Von leaned forward in his seat, as if to will the car forward and up the ramp, a shadow crept up and over him.

All of a sudden, the car jolted forward, and his head slammed back against the back of the seat.

There was a flash of bright light, and then everything went black…

Earlier that morning as Belle was helping to put the finishing touches on helping to prepare the wagon for the journey to her village, she noticed that her horse Nimbliss was acting a bit agitated in his stall.

She decided to investigate, and she found that she could not calm him with soothing talk or petting.

She thought that perhaps there was a snake or rodent in his stall, so she let him out into the corral.

Once freed, he bolted across the corral and leapt over the fence, breaking the top rung with his rear hoof, and Belle watched in wonder as he ran as fast as he could up the hill, away toward her home.

She was worried and dismayed, but there was not anything she could do; Nimbliss was the fastest horse she ever had, and there was no sense in trying to go after him.

This turn of events troubled her greatly and she was deeply concerned, but what could she do?

She wanted very much to take another horse and follow Nimbliss back to see what the cause for his sudden alarm was, but thought better of it to stay and continue with the task at hand.

‘Ouch’ Von thought as he slowly opened his eyes.

Belle’s mother Senica was there at his side, touching a cool damp cloth to his face.

Her eyes were red and swollen, like she’d been crying.

“Don’t move” she said to him softly, yet shakily, “you have a nasty bump on your head.”

Von ignored her, rising from where he was laying and slowly looked around.

He was lying on a cot in the meeting hall in back of the café. There were quite a few townspeople in the room, and Von felt as though all eyes were on him.

Untar came in the door and was hobbling toward him. He had a crutch under his arm, and a cast on his right foot up to about his knee.

“You shouldn’t be up on that leg” an elderly woman was saying to him, and he was ignoring her as he made his way to where Von was sitting on the cot, with Senica now sitting beside him, her arm around his shoulders.

“My man” Untar started “You really saved the day” he added matter-of-factly.

He then added in a stern and meaningful way “You saved our lives.”

Von’s mind was still a bit blank, and then the events that took place only a few moments ago in 71

his memory, began to materialize…

He was startled and felt panic overtake him.

Trying to stand, he demanded “Where’s the little girl?! Where’s Sabina?!”

“She’s fine” Untar quickly and reassuringly stated, while putting his free hand on Von’s shoulder.

“She’s there, with Onan” he added, pointing to the other side of the room, where they were sitting close together on a couch.

The little girl looked haggard and a bit disheveled, but managed a smile none the less.

She had the little cat in her lap and was holding on to it tightly, obviously not wanting to let it go.

Relief swept over Von. His head now throbbed madly, and he fell back down onto the cot. Senica helped catch and steady him.

After a few moments of letting the pain ease, Von’s emotions settled down a bit.

Someone handed him a cup of something hot.

“Sip this, it’ll sooth you and help to ease the pain.”

He still felt very unsettled.

“What happened? Where’s Belle? Who…? What, what…?”

Untar began to move himself onto the cot beside Von, with Senica still on the other side. The cot creaked under the added weight of Untar plopping down on it.

He settled himself and put his crutch off to the side, then turned to Von and began. “Belle’s horse Nimbliss showed up here a short time ago, without her. We’re worried, but I expect Belle is OK. I sent my friend Del Greco back on his horse to investigate, and to tell Belle what has happened.”

The ocean roared outside, as another wave crashed into the bay, which was unsettling for everyone present.

“Everything’s pretty much OK, we think…” Untar said, looking around at some of the others in the room, sort of looking for reassurance, it seemed.

“Your hot rod though, it’s, uhmm, a bit mangled” he finished.

Von felt a bit perplexed.

Onan saw the confusion on Von’s face, got up, went over and pulled up a chair.

“Tell me what you remember about what happened this morning” he said to Von. Von had sat up and was sipping the hot drink. His eyes seemed distant as he pulled the thoughts from his memory.

“I was tinkering around in my dad’s shop. I had awoken very early; I had a hard time sleeping and the sound of the ocean was way loud. Then I heard this god-awful noise of somebody screaming or yelling, and I instantly knew something was wrong, terribly wrong.” He paused for a moment, apparently deep in thought and sipped a bit more drink. He was a bit reluctant to share what had taken place and how he’d risked his life to do what he did.

He looked around the room, and all eyes were on him.

He sensed that they knew what took place and felt no reason to relive the whole experience right now.

He then continued. “… I remember, we had made it to the boat ramp, and Man I was very relieved. It looked like we were going make it out…”

He paused, and zoned out a little, detaching himself from his present place and putting himself back in the seat of his father’s one-of-a-kind hot rod.

He went on. “…I remember, I had to let off the throttle so it would settle down a bit…”

72

Another brief pause, and with eyes closed he called out what he saw in his mind’s eye, sort of ‘thinking out loud’. ”A shadow’s creeping up” he said, recalling the last thing he remembered.

‘I don‘t know. After that it‘s all, just a blank.”

Onan began to relay to Von what he’d seen happen.

He’d seen it transpire from his place over between the fish house and the pub.

From his vantage point he’d seen as the hot rod had been engulfed by the massive wall of water that rolled in behind it.

Just as the car started to make progress up the ramp, it disappeared into the wall of water that crashed over it. A few seconds later, which seemed like an eternity to Onan, it reappeared, being hurtled up onto the road beyond the boat ramp. It crashed into the edge of the building to the left of the road, and then careened across the road to the right and smashed into the retaining wall bordering the road.

It was upside down and almost unrecognizable.

Von’s eyes widened in amazement as he took in Onan’s description of what’d happened.

By the time Onan had reached the scene, other towns’ people were there, already excavating the inhabitants.

Untar’s leg had come out, and had been broken pretty severely. Anyone else would’ve probably been in traction, but Untar simply said ‘wrap it up’ and then ‘lookout’ as he got to his feet and hobbled off to help.

He had kept the little girl grasped tightly in his arms, and she came away relatively unscathed, except for the fact that she had been lifeless, water in her lungs, unconscious.

Whoever had been on the scene had known exactly what to do and how to perform the proper resuscitative procedures.

The little girl had begun to cough and belch water as she was rolled onto her side.

She vomited sea water out of her stomach, and slowly began to recover.

Sabina had been saved.

Von had been thrown around in the driver’s seat like a rag doll, and he had bruises and abrasions all over his body.

The whole time, Senica remained silent, in shock and trembling.

Von felt her beside him and was concerned.

“Are you OK, Senica? Is everything… alright?”

She broke down and began to cry again.

She couldn’t believe what had happened.

She felt so bad for not keeping better track of the little girl she’d been given the responsibility of watching while Belle was gone.

Sabina got up and put her kitten down, no longer thinking that he was the most important thing in her life.

This little girl was mature beyond her 7 years already, and today she was becoming even more mature.

She went over to her grandmother and put her little hand on the whimpering woman’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Grammie. It was a foolish thing that I did. I promise I’ll be more obedient. Please 73

forgive me. Please?”

Senica looked up and joy rushed over her. She felt so happy that her little granddaughter was still alive, still such a very big part of her life.

“It’s alright, baby. It’s alright.”

She hugged the little girl firmly, drew back to look into the girl’s face, kissed her forehead and hugged her firmly again.

Senica added in a low voice, even though she didn’t feel Sabina needed to be forgiven, “I forgive you.“ Untar stood up and turned to face Von, a renewed sense of gratitude filling him, and put his hand out.

Von looked from Senica and Sabina to Untar’s hand. He looked up into Untar’s face, and the big man’s eyes were a bit wet. It was a strange thing to see, such a strong man showing emotion.

Von stood up as he took Untar’s hand, Untar helping him up.

They said nothing, shared no words. Just a knowing look of mutual respect and caring.

“What’s a guy gotta do to get something to eat around here?” Untar chortled, looking around and finding a few of the people that helped work in the café.

“We’re on it” one of them said as three people made their way to the kitchen on the other side if the doorway in the meeting hall.

Del Greco had rounded a corner on the trail and coming toward him was Belle and some others in a horse drawn wagon. He slid to a stop right beside where Belle was seated. “Del, what is it?

What’s the matter?!” Belle demanded.

“It’s, it’s” Del tried to reply while panting heavily and catching his breath.

He’d been trying to plan out what he was going to say when he got to Belle, but hadn’t worked that out yet. He was surprised to round the corner and run right into them.

“It’s the bay. It’s in full roar” he started, still breathing heavily. “There was an accident.” Seeing Belle’s eyes instantly widen in horror, he added “there was an INCIDENT.” He saw Belle’s horror subside a bit.

“Ok, what has happened? What’s going on?” she asked him, trying to remain calm. “Somehow” he continued, knowing that his next words would illicit major alarm in Belle, “Sabina fell into the bay.”

He was right!

She flew up from the seat of the wagon, and was standing holding the bridle of Del‘s horse!

“WHAT?!” she screamed.

“It’s OK, Belle. She’s OK, she was rescued” Del hurriedly answered.

“Rescued? How? By who… What, what happened?”

She was understandably shaken and beside herself with concern.

She tried to calm herself a bit, and then said “Del, tell me what’s happened. Tell me what’s going on.”

He began “Well, I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but Sabina slid down the slippery embankment and landed in the water between waves. Untar saw it happen from across the bay and instantly was on the scene trying to help her. I guess” he continued, looking a bit puzzled himself “he and Giavon came up with a plan to get her out. Untar went in after her, and Giavon drove his hotrod right into the bay and got them out!”

Belle was awestruck. “Are you serious? Oh my, Oh my goodness” was all she could say. She was bewildered and distraught, not knowing what to do or how to feel and react. “And 74

everyone’s OK? Everyone’s alright?”

“Yeah” replied Del, “well, I think so”.

“What do you mean?” she asked him very seriously.

“Well, Giavon was unconscious when I left. He had a nasty bump on his head. Sabina was fine after we revived her, and Untar has a broken leg.”

Del knew how badly this all sounded.

From how he saw it all unfold, it all came out very favorably, but sharing this conversation with Belle renewed in him as well the extreme seriousness and danger of what had transpired.

“That’s why Nimbliss bolted” she said softly, looking down, deep in thought. “He must’ve sensed something was wrong.”

“I’ve got to go” she said to Del, putting her freehand on his shoulder.

“You know how to guide this rig into the village, take my place.”

“Sure, of course, that was my intention. Take my horse. GO!” She grabbed her things and in a flash she was hurtling up the path, concerned that the animal beneath was tired, but not so much as to want to stop and let him rest.

As she rode, thoughts were racing through her mind; her baby, caught in the killer bay, then needing to be revived; Von, lying unconscious, or worse!

Oh my, these were going to be the longest 10 miles of her life!

As she rode, her emotions calmed a bit and she slowed down; she realized hurrying back and wearing herself and the horse out could be foolish.

She stopped and let Del’s horse rest for a few minutes and drink from a stream.

She reviewed the things Del had said; Sabina had slipped into the bay, which was in full roar once again; Untar and Von had found a way to rescue her; now everyone was seemingly OK except for Von, who had still been unconscious when Del left to come to tell Belle what was happening.

Her heart began to beat fast once again.

Amazing feelings were racing through her mind; her child had almost been taken away from her this morning, but apparently that was not so; a man she’s just met about 36 hours ago had already found his way into her heart and now he could be slipping away from her…

The act of trying to remain calm seemed to be melting.

She felt very anxious to get back.

Her stomach began to churn and her head ached.

She hastily dug into her backpack and found a bag of fruit pieces and nuts, put a hand full in her mouth and began chewing. A couple of pain killers were next on her menu, and she swallowed them without a drink.

She found an apple, leaned up against the horse and asked. “Are you hungry?“ Danekus raised his head and snorted in response.

She put the apple down to his mouth, and he began munching it, some of the small bits dropping to the ground.

Belle used her booted foot to kick the small pieces of apple into the stream, and watched as they drifted into the current. Perhaps, she thought, some fish or small animal would find these small pieces of fruit and enjoy a rare treat.

She pictured in her mind’s eye a small squirrel standing beside the stream holding the apple bit in his paws, munching away happily. She smiled and struggled to be stay calm as the horse put his nose down to the water one more time.

75

Belle’s imagination showed her an image of her little girl munching away on a piece of fruit or something and smiling up at her.

This made her feel a little startled, and a feeling of slight panic began to overtake her.

She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, and she felt a little light headed.

She shook her head jerkily, as if to try and clear it a bit, but this only reminded her that her head hurt.

She plopped down beside the stream and leaned back on a tree trunk, rubbing her temples with her fore fingers to ease the tension away, and closed her eyes…

A huge wave began to build and crested, ready to pitch out and over. As it did, her little girl Sabina popped out of the white water on top and sailed away over the falls and into the water below. At that same moment, a mist of water sprayed Belle’s face as the wave crashed down, and startled her! As her heart raced, she opened her eyes to see Danekus shaking his head and splashing her with water. She instinctively leaned up from the (hard, uncomfortable) tree trunk and attempted to get up, but pain was infiltrating more of her body, and she plopped back down on her bottom.

She slowly leaned forward on her up bent knees and stretched her back, moaning slightly while closing her eyes and resting her arms in front of her shins, joining her hands together.

This was a good thing for her, as she breathed deeply and steadily and stretched her back over her knees.

Then in an act of awesome stretching, she slowly pushed her legs out in front of herself, straightening them out, followed as closely as she could with her bending back, and then reaching down between her feet and grasped her arches. Then she pulled on them and strained in steps, until she was totally bent over, her head touching her knees.

Her feet were under Danekus’ belly, but he didn’t flinch.

She sat back up slowly, and then swung her legs to her left, down by the stream, so she was now parallel to the horse.

She rolled on to her back, bringing her legs up as she did. She brought her legs over her, as if to touch her knees to her nose again. But instead she kept her legs straight, and slowly pulled them back until her toes touched the ground behind her head.

Once completely stretched, she rolled back down on to her back, legs bent, feet on the ground in front of her. With her shoulders flat on the ground, she twisted her knees down both ways, first to the right and then all the way back over to the left, causing all kinds of things to creak, crack and pop!

It felt fabulous!

This act of stretching made he feel refreshed and rejuvenated.

Also, the pain killers had begun their journey into her bloodstream, and the pain was beginning to ease up.

She got to her knees and crawled on all fours a few feet to the streams edge, put her face down to the stream and slowly drank in some refreshing, cool water.

She was directly downstream from Danekus, who was a few to her right, but she gave him no heed; horses were like family to her and she’d probably drink from the same trough as them if need be!

She stood up and wiped her mouth dry then brushed the leaves and dirt from her clothes.

She patted the horses’ rump, and then stooped down to scratch him behind his ear. “Alright buddy, we’ve gotta get going. Are you ready?”

He brought his head up and turned to look into her eyes as if to say ‘You Betcha!’

76

She quickly mounted the horse again, and trotted off toward her home, allowing the both of their stomachs to settle their intake a little before she went into a full gallop.

The four of them, Untar, Senica, Von and Sabina, sat at a small square table near the kitchen end of the café, and sipped drinks that had been brought to them, the two men across from each other, grandmother and granddaughter also across from each other.

The little cat now had a harness and leash on, and it was tied to Sabina’s chair.

He was alternating between trying to pull away from his new confinement, and giving up and playing in the area in which he was contained.

“So, my little munchkin friend” Von began, looking down at the girl by his side as he gently squeezed her hand, “would you like to tell me how you happened to end up in the bay this morning?”

She looked down into her lap sheepishly, feeling bad for what she felt she had caused to happen.

“It’s alright sweetheart” her grandmother said from across the table as she looked thoughtfully into the little girl’s eyes, “we know, of course, that it was simply, and unmistakably, only an accident.”

“But, Oh, what an accident” Untar chimed in, sort of under his breath.

Senica gave him a playful slug on his arm, throwing a humorous mood onto the newly serious situation.

“Well” the little girl started cautiously “I was holding Scraps and he was dying to get down. I turned loose of him and he went right for the doggy door. I was surprised when he put his nose to it, and it wasn’t locked!”

She looked around at the adults with a look of surprise mixed with a bit of anger.

“The little rascal jumped right outside, and I just knew where he was going! He was going to run down and try and get his little self some fish from the boat that came in last night.” Her look turned to one of concern. ”I was worried; I saw from the balcony upstairs that big waves were coming into the bay, and I thought, I thought one might get him.”

She looked around at the adults again, as if to be asking ’am I still OK so far?’

“Go on, honey” Senica said.

“Well, I went out the little door right behind him, and I almost caught his leg, but he scampered off real fast! I ran after him, and he knew I was trying to catch him! He went in the bushes, that little scamper, and I went after him.”

She paused for a moment, and a look of fear started to come across her face.

“I, I guess I slipped on the wet grass, and I” she said as she looked at her grand mother “I fell down the hill all the way to the water.”

As tears quickly began to well up in her eyes, the two men, in spite of their injuries, jumped to their feet, and her uncle Untar scooped her up in his strong arms and hugged her reassuringly.

“It’s Ok sweetie, you’re alright now. You’re safe” Untar whispered to her.

She was trembling, and she hugged his neck tightly.

In a shaky little voice she said “I want to go home, uncle. Can we go home?” she asked, not letting go of his neck.

“Sure, baby, we can go home. Let’s go” Untar said, looking at Von. “Here, let me hold you, Sabina. Your Uncle has a sore leg.”

Sabina quickly and eagerly latched on to Von’s neck, and even wrapped her little legs around his torso as much as she could. This made Von feel warm and welcomed, even needed.

77

They asked one of the workers to put their food in to-go boxes, and up the hill they went to Senica, Isobelle and Sabina’s abode, passing right by and trying to ignore for the little girl’s sake, the wreckage of the hot rod, which had been rolled back over and covered with a tarp.

Von and Sabina led the way, with Senica helping Untar as much as she could to hobble up the path.

Sabina had the leash in her hand, and this slowed them down considerably as the kitten stopped along the way to investigate every possible distraction that came along!

This was quite alright though, as Untar was in no hurry, and he welcomed the slow pace in which they were moving.

Untar’s wife and children were not in town at this time; they had traveled to his wife’s family’s village to the north a week before, and weren’t due back for another week.

He too was shook up quite a bit and in awe of the amazing events that had taken place today. His respect and admiration, and even growing love, were feelings he welcomed for the son of Jardon Norcross.

When they’d reached the entry to Bell’s home, the two men allowed the females to go in first.

Untar took hold of Von’s shoulder and pulled him close to him. With his free hand he took Von’s hand in his and grasped it firmly.

“Young Brother, I will be eternally grateful for your unselfish action today.”

Untar looked him squarely in the eyes and added, “Anything I can do, anything I have, is yours.”

Before long, Belle and Danekus came to break in the path where it split; one going across the steep hill, at the end a curve carved out so a wagon could turn back and come across again, gradually descending until another curve was cut in the hillside on the other end, allowing a wagon to go back again, and eventually find its way to the bottom of the steep hill.

Belle took the second trail, the steep and narrow one that went almost straight down the hillside.

It was mostly taken on foot, but could be taken on horseback if the rider was talented enough.

At the top of the hill she could make out the sound of the ocean as it churned and crashed, but the thick trees mostly muffled the sounds below.

The farther down she got, the louder each crashing wave became.

When she came to a spot almost at the bottom and burst into a clearing, she stopped, looking out over the bay and her village.

A huge swell began to roll into the bay, almost serenely. Then as it began to be pushed up by the contour of the land beneath the water, it started to change its composure; it looked as if it was undecided whether or not it wanted to continue rolling in, the front of it building up and pushing against the back side, protesting the oncoming surge, but in futility.

The backside did not relent, and continued its charge into the bay, becoming ferocious and overpowering the protests of the water in front of it.

It quickly built up, became steep and spilled over from the backside, white water crashing down into the front of the wave, as if to say ‘I’m coming in here, and nothing’s gonna stop me!’

The sound came to Belle’s ears an instant later, and the roar was a shock to her senses.

It caused her to jump a bit in the saddle and become startled for a moment.

To have been barreling down the path dodging trees and brushing by bushes, the sounds of horse’s feet cutting across the terrain and the wind in her ears as she rushed past limbs and leaves, and then slide to a stop, the only sound being her own and the horse’s heavy breathing, 78

and to have the roar of a monstrous wall of ocean water invade her senses, was indeed overwhelming!

Her heart raced.

Getting closer to home only increased in her concern for what had taken place.

She quickly resumed her trip down the steep hill.

Finally she came out of the trees and bushes at the bottom and quickly made her way to the south end of the village She came upon the hot rod that had been turned over upright, and was covered with a tarp. It was obvious where it had hit the wall and come to a rest; the building’s edge it had struck first had some stones crushed and dislodged, and there were gouges in the dirt that showed where it had bounced across the road and struck the wall to the right. Where the car had come to a rest, there was some fluid on the ground, probably fuel or oil.

The vehicle had been tipped back over downhill, and was at the bottom edge of the retaining wall, just into the road where it split from running along the front of the village and began its ascent up towards her abode.

Not knowing where everyone was or where they’d gone, she quickly rode the horse up to the back steps of the café.

She dismounted, tied off the reins and scrambled inside.

In the back meeting room, there were signs people had been in there; chairs had been arranged differently and a cot was set up by a table, which still had some bandages and other things on it, but no people.

Another wave crashed loudly outside.

She sprinted down the hall into the main café, to find some patrons sitting or milling about, or standing and talking in a subdued manner.

She quickly rounded the corner to the left and found her cousin in the kitchen.

“Connie, what’s going on?” Belle asked frantically, still catching her breath.

“Where’s Sabina and my mom?” Then added in a slower, more concerned tone, “Where’s Giavon? Is he OK?” Connie, remembering and realizing that Giavon had still been unconscious when Del Greco had gone to fetch Belle, quickly and reassuringly replied “Giavon’s fine! He’s up at your home with your family, and Onan! Everyone’s fine, Untar and Sabina, too!”

“Are you sure, Connie? Everyone is OK?” “Yes, yes Belle, they’re all OK. They’re all a little beat up, and” remembering her uncle “Untar’s leg is pretty badly broken, but you know him, tough as nails…”

Belle seemed to dissolve in relief, her shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh. She leaned back against a cabinet and brought her hands up to her face, cupping it, as if she were trying to contain her emotions from spilling out.

After a few moments, she pulled her hands back to her ears and then down to the back of her neck, rubbing some of the tension away and said “I can’t believe it.”

She stood back up from the wall and looked at her cousin, an amazed look on her face. “My little girl was out in that bay, with those waves raging” she sort of asked, sort of stated, while she motioned with a jerk of her head back towards the bay.

“Yes” Connie replied. “And Von and Untar. You’re right Belle, it is unbelievable.”

As she relaxed and pondered the events, the adrenaline that had been feeding her panic and enthusiasm began to subside and she quickly became light headed.

She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and leaned on her cousin hard, and Connie 79

helped her to a stool nearby.

“Here, sit down?” Connie told her, and asked her co-worker beside her to go and get some tea.

“Use one of the tea bags from the silver tin” she instructed her.

Belle put her head down in her arms on the bar and began to cry.

Somehow the relief of knowing Von was OK too, allowed her emotions to free themselves, and they now came pouring out.

A few of the other patrons became concerned and were coming over to offer assistance and see if they could help, but Connie assured them that Belle just needed a few minutes and she’d be OK. The co-worker brought over a large cup of steaming water with a tea bag in it and set it in front of Belle on the counter top. The strong and pleasant aroma found its way to Belle’s nostrils and slowly filled her senses with the recognizable scent of medicinal herbs and sweet spices.

She raised her head and wiped her eyes, then reached out to pull the steaming cup toward her, breathing in the warm steam.

Her senses began to smooth out a bit in anticipation of the intoxicating effects that the strong herbal tea would deliver. The mixture of tea and herbs wasn’t as potent as the blend that Von had ingested earlier this day, but it would still be strong enough to enable Belle to unwind and relax a bit. Belle added a spoon full of honey and while stirring it into melted liquid sweetness, poured a small shot of rich cream into it. She then slowly blew onto the surface of the hot liquid a few times before taking a few sips.

She exhaled a recuperative breath as the medicine slowly entered her body and filled her senses.

In addition to the herbs, honey and cream, a hint of mint subtly came through and gently exhilarated her.

As she blew on it and took bigger sips, Belle began to feel her emotions settle a bit more, and she began to feel refreshed, relaxed and rejuvenated.

The strongest emotion that was bubbling to the surface was relief. Belle was feeling more and more relieved with each passing moment.

Again, a wave crashed in the bay and it startled her, driving the seriousness of the events back to the fore of her thoughts. She wanted to see her baby; she NEEDED to see her! She also wanted to see Von, very much so indeed. The feelings of closeness and passion she’d felt for this man she’d only just met were quite surprising, but the dreadful fear she’d felt about possibly having lost him, was even stronger and more surprising.

It made her stop and ponder for a moment how we often take for granted that the ones we love will still be here tomorrow…

You know how some people say we should live each day like it’s our last? Belle didn’t really buy into that notion very much; we still need to plan for tomorrow and beyond.

But she told herself that she was going to try, at least once every so often, to spend some time with the ones she loves, as if it were their last day together.

This made her smile and get a bit teary again.

She’d never thought of it that way before, to imagine spending a day with a loved one as if it were their last. Imagining how strong her love would feel in that scenario, now made her heart glow with love.

More than ever, she now wanted to be with her loved ones.

At the same time she felt a sort of calmness, a reassured ness. Like knowing the worst has passed, and anything that happens now couldn’t be as bad as what has already happened.

Belle calmly but quickly finished her tea. When she got to the last bit of liquid in the cup, a little honey had settled at the bottom. She swirled it around with the remnants of tea and swallowed 80

the last bit, and savored the wonderful taste of tea, honey and mint in her mouth.

The herbs were subtly warming her senses and she felt good.

One of the busboys working this day took the empty cup and asked if he could do anything else to help her.

“Well, actually yes, there is.”

As Connie was passing by, Belle asked her “would it be OK if Estebon took care of Del’s horse for me, and cleaned him up and put him back in his stable?”

“Sure, sure, of course. That’d be fine.”

“Are you OK with that, Stebie? Do you mind at all?” Belle asked him.

“Not at all auntie Belle, I’ll be more than glad to.”

They all smiled and he took his apron off and headed out towards the back where Danekus was tied up.

Esteban was a good kid, and like most of Belle’s family he had a special affinity for animals, and actually looked very much forward to the task.

Connie walked with Belle to the back porch, and on the way asked her how much she knew of what had happened here today.

Belle pondered for a moment, then replied that Del had only told her a little before she and Danekus bolted towards home.

While standing on the back porch, Connie spent the next few minutes filling Belle in on all of the details of what took place; she too had heard the god-awful scream from Untar that echoed up the cliff side, and she’d finished tending to something she was in the middle of preparing to put in the oven to bake, then she quickly made her way out to this very spot on the porch that they were now standing.

She had gotten there just in time to see the hot rod race down the ramp and out into the bay, turn around in a snap as somebody (she didn’t know at the time who) jump in the passenger side, and then scream across the bay floor and up the ramp.

“I thought there was no way that they’d make it out of there, no way at all.”

She then described how a huge wall of water engulfed the vehicle as it ascended the ramp, only to cover it up and make it disappear, causing Connie’s heart to jump into her throat. But the hot rod bounced out of the water and up on to the frontage road, and bounced and flipped its way up and out of harm‘s way.

Connie could see the distress building in Belle’s face, so she toned it down a bit and got to the end, where everything came out relatively fine.

She also shared with Belle how she lingered around her mother and daughter and the two men, and had listened to the conversation as Sabina and Senica interacted.

Connie had heard most of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of what had transpired, and now Belle had a pretty accurate description of what had taken place this morning while she was away. When she’d heard the part where the kitten slipped out the unlocked pet door, her stomach sank; in her haste to leave last night, she’d forgotten to latch it!

Both of the women were trembling a little bit, and they hugged firmly and for a long time, sort of to steady themselves.

“Wow, that was certainly an amazing thing to behold,” Connie commented. “I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to experience.”

Belle said nothing.

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They parted and Belle headed up the path towards her abode.

As she pondered the events that her cousin had described, chills went up her spine; the waves were still barreling into the bay and she could picture in her mind’s eye the events that took place there only a few hours ago.

Belle felt all sorts of emotions; relief that everyone was OK; anger at herself for neglecting to latch the pet door; amazement and gratitude that Untar and Giavon had successfully snatched her little girl from the jaws of certain death; maternal love to hold and share joy with her daughter; feelings of strong passion for a man she only met a short time ago; and empathy for her mother who was feeling responsible for the events of the morning.

Her pace at ascending the path varied with her thoughts; quickly when she thought of her little girl and her mother; more subdued when she pondered the horrific events of the morning; and lost in thought when she wondered about her future with Giavon.

Now, she was standing at her front door, ready to go in and reconnect with her loved ones.

For some reason she sneakily peaked in the window beside the door, and she could see into the kitchen where the three men and the little girl were seated, and her mother standing beside her little girl. They were nibbling on some food and sipping some hot drinks.

Belle suddenly had a strange feeling; she wondered about her appearance and wanted to see how she looked. It was a foreign feeling to be worried about her appearance since she rarely was concerned about how she might look. But with these new feelings for Giavon swirling about in her head, she was curious.

She decided to go have a look in the mirror in the bathroom to her left outside the building.

She crept off into the bathroom, feeling sort of foolish about creeping off and being concerned at her appearance.

When she switched on the light and took a look, she was glad she did; her eyes were red and puffy and her hair was disheveled and a bit messy. She also had a few smudges of dirt on her face.

She quietly took a wash cloth and got it wet, cleaned her face and then brushed her hair. She pinched her cheeks to give them a bit of color, but there wasn’t much she could do about her red and puffy eyes. She toweled off her face, rubbing her eyes a little, then returned to the front door.

This time she simply entered and went straight to the kitchen. Von and Untar were seated at the table, but her mother, Onan and the little girl were not present.

As soon as Von saw her he jumped up and embraced her as she came in to the room.

They hugged each other firmly, but only for a moment, as they both had thoughts and feelings they needed to share.

They both started to talk and stepped on each other’s words.

They stopped and grinned comically, recalling the same thing happening at their very first meeting.

Von instinctively took advantage of the pause that this situation afforded him, and kissed Belle.

Untar got up out of his chair and hobbled towards them.

“Hey you two, don’t mind me, I’m not really here!” he joked.

Belle pulled back and opened her eyes. She stood there for a moment and reveled in the warm glow of their embrace. She looked over and moved towards Untar, pulling Von with her, not letting go of him.

She embraced her cousin, squeezing him firmly and lovingly around his neck.

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“Hey, YOU two” she said, mimicking Untar’s words.

She pulled back and looked astonishingly from one man to the other, holding them both in her arms, a little ‘wow’ coming from her mouth.

“I understand you two had quite an adventure, didn’t you?” she asked.

They all three stood there and smiled for a moment or two, speechless.

Isobelle began to tear up, pondering the serious events that would have most certainly taken the life of her daughter earlier that day, had these two men not risked their lives to save her. She pulled them both close to her, her right arm around Von’s waist, and her left reaching up around Untar’s neck.

As they hugged Belle, the two men put their free arms sort of around each other, awkwardly at first, but then growing into the sort of embrace that you share with a beloved family member.

Belle regained her composure and pulled back, turned loose of the men and wiped her eyes dry.

She finally felt calm and at ease, a feeling that was something she welcomed greatly, sort of like an old familiar feeling that she thought she might not feel again, what with all the panic and anxiety she felt most of this day.

“I guess my little munchkin has gone upstairs to rest” Belle commented.

“Yes, she was quite exhausted.” Untar said. “ I think she’s had quite a day, to be sure. One she won’t soon forget I expect” Untar added, with a half-smile half frown on his face.

He shook his head slowly, and seemed to be somewhere else in his thoughts.

“Hmm,” he finished, “what a day. What an experience.”

He started to feel a little emotional, and a somber look came over his face as he pondered how things would be if they had gone badly. He imagined his little niece caught in the raging bay, with little or no chance for survival. He thought about his own little girl and empathized with how Belle might be feeling had her daughter not survived. And he marveled at how things had gone so well, simply and almost totally because this stranger had come to this village, Untar’s home, and made a difference which was immeasurable. The reality of the extreme tragedy that had been averted earlier this day, seemed to hit him like a ton of bricks.

He’d been there, right in the thick of it, jumped in, dealt with the situation at hand, lived through it and helped another to live through it too, and he’d seemed unfazed.

But now, with Belle here, and little Sabina upstairs in her bed convalescing, and standing beside him the man who was undoubtedly the only reason that his niece had survived, the realization in his imagination of how he would be feeling had it all turned out badly seemed to feel like an arrow that had pierced his heart and made the pain of what could’ve happened now impossible to not acknowledge.

He shook the thought from his head.

He saw Giavon in a totally new light now.

He couldn’t even imagine having a bad feeling about him, or doubts about why he’d come here.

Now, any ulterior motive, any hidden agenda that this stranger might have, it didn’t matter.

Nothing he could ever do would erase the sacrifices he made today to save a little girl he hardly knew.

Untar’s emotions were overcoming him, and he felt like he needed to do something to stable himself or take his mind back away from the seriousness of reality.

To distract him.

He turned to face Giavon and took hold of his shoulders, grasping them firmly, and looked into his eyes.

“My friend, to you I am eternally grateful. Whatever is mine, is yours.”

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He’d already said it outside the door earlier, but wanted to say it again, and in front of Belle.

Untar smiled a broad sort of goofy smile, and then took this stranger who now felt more like a brother, in his arms and gave him a big bear hug. The enormity of the big man overwhelmed Von, and he just stood there, and got hugged!

When the big man turned loose of him, Von just stood there a little dumbfounded and said “Thanks.”

Belle reached over and took Von’s hand and they looked at each other.

“That’s a pretty good guy you’ve got there, you might wanna think about hanging on to him” said Untar.

“You think I should?” Belle replied, looking at Untar, then back at Von. “Yeah, I think you should” Untar stated.

Von Beamed. This ‘sealed the deal’ for him, and he said what he felt, calmly and with meaning, ”I’m not going anywhere.“ They all beamed.

Footsteps and voices could be heard coming from the front room; Onan and Senica were approaching.

Untar told Belle in a whisper “Your mother is pretty shaken up about what happened, Belle. She holds herself responsible. I’m a little worried about …”

He stopped as they came through the doorway.

Senica gasped. “Belle, your back!” She quickly ran to her daughter and hugged her especially close, and began to sob. It was obvious that she was an emotional basket case. Her emotions had turned instantly when she’d seen Belle.

“Mom, mom, it’s OK” Belle said, trying to calm her mother.

This whole scenario was a major deviation from the norm; these two women were usually the most stoic, calm and consistently ‘in control’ people around here, as was Untar. Belle’s renewed calm helped her to be able to get her mother to calm down too, and they sat down at the table, hands clenched together.

The three men felt a bit awkward, and they stepped out of the kitchen into the front room.

“It’s OK mom, it’s not your fault. Please, I mean it“.

Belle paused for a moment. “Who has control over what this bay does and what happens to any of us on this planet. How could you’ve known? It’s OK mom. Trust me, even if she hadn’t made it back, it wouldn’t have been your fault.”

She smiled and chucked a little and added “She’s a stubborn little munchkin, and that little mind of her own…” she drifted off, shaking her head. “It certainly got her in to a heap of misfortune this time.”

She looked her mom in the eyes and said quietly, almost in a whisper and in a somber tone “I’m sure it’s a lesson she’ll never forget.”

As they sat there, still in shock from what had happened and starting to recover and catch their mental breath, so to speak, their eyes welled up with tears and they stood up and hugged again tightly.

“We almost lost her” whispered Seneca.

“I’m so glad we didn’t” Belle said pulling back a bit to wipe her eyes, adding “We didn’t! We all still have each other!”

Belle smiled broadly then gave her mom a kiss, and then said in a caring and uplifting way “What more could we ask for to be happy about?”

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Her mom smiled back as a look of joy swept across her face.

“You’re so right” Seneca said, and added “I love you so much, my lovely Isobelle.”

“I love you to mom”. They smiled and hugged once more.

“I think I’d like to go upstairs and see that little munchkin. Is she snoozing?“ “Yeah, she’s pretty pooped” Senica replied.

“Come on mom, let’s go and wake her for a hug”.

Von, Untar and Onan were sitting in the front room in comfortable chairs. The afternoon sun was filtering in through the draped windows. “We’ll be back in a few minutes” Belle said.

“OK, Eesoe” Untar sighed in response.

Belle looked at Von but said nothing. She blinked and blew him a kiss.

Her mom took her hand and led her to the stairs.

At the bottom of the stair case across the room, out of earshot of the men, Seneca, who was leading, stopped and turned around to face Belle behind her.

“Sweetheart, I’ve decided. I want you to have the main room.”

“What?!” Belle protested. “No, you don’t need to do that mom. That’s your room, mom, really, I don’t want you to...”

“No,” Senica interrupted. “I’ve already made up my mind. Besides, I’ve been in that room for a long time. My mother gave it up for me when she saw fit, and I now want to give it to you.

Really Belle, you should be in there. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and it’s time.”

They stood there in silence for a few moments, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes.

“OK” Belle finally said “You’ve twisted my arm” she added jokingly.

And that was that.

Never again was ‘The Day the Bay almost Swallowed Sabina’ spoken of between them privately.

It was of course brought up over the years to retell and relive the entire episode and all the events taking place and pertaining to the day Giavon Norcross first arrived in this awesome little hamlet nestled deeply in the wildly steep hills of the place he came to call, ‘Belle Valley‘.

The two mothers went upstairs and into the little girl’s room.

Belle gently sat down on the bed and stroked her daughter’s hair back from her face and up behind her ear, and Sabina slowly roused.

“Mom” the little girl said softly, looking up at her mother lovingly, smiling.

She then looked at the nicks and cuts on her arm and hand under her chin, and sort of winced in the slight pain her head was still feeling. She became acutely aware that she was not waking from a dream, rather that the events fresh in her mind were in fact real.

She spoke in a way that belied her very young age. “I’m so glad you’re here now. I love you , Mom.” Not mommy. Mom. “Lay with me awhile?” she asked, pulling her mother to her.

“Sure sweetie, of course.”

And so the three of them snuggled up together on the bed and hummed and hugged and fell into a blissful slumber; what would be a 16 hour replenishing sleep for Little Sabina!

After about a half hour, Belle worked her way out of the ‘slumber hug’ and quietly made her way back downstairs alone.

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All 3 men were passed out on the comfy chairs, and Isobelle chuckled under her breath and smiled. She leaned up against a post and stood there for a few rather long moments, the evening sun now gone and twilight overtaking the world outside She stood there in the slowly darkening room and truly marveled at her place on this planet at that moment in time.

She felt very fortunate indeed.

She decided to be a little mischievous, she felt she deserved to be.

She spied Untar’s day pack beside his chair, went over and snuck from it his tobacco satchel.

Leaving the men napping, she casually wound her way up stairs and out on to her new balcony, the one her mother had used for many, many moons.

Isobelle stood at the edge of the deck outside the master bedroom of her home built in to the side of the cliff. She leaned on the railing with her left elbow, her right hand at her side. In her right hand she held her cousins favorite pipe. It had been filled with his personal blend of tobacco, herbs and even a sprinkling of a few aromatic leaves from the flowers that grew on the hills near town.

Only a handful of times in her life had she partaken of his pipe and inhaled smoke from it. After the events of this day, she felt the calming rush of the pipes contents would give her a welcomed diversion from reality.

She put the pipe in her left hand and pulled a match from her pocket.

The sun had dropped below the horizon of the ocean and twilight was darkening.

Stars twinkled faintly up in the high sky and the full moon was peeking over the cliff top behind her. The ocean had calmed significantly, but was still being inundated with large crashing swells.

“Wow” she said to herself.

She marveled in a morbid sort of way at how quickly a couple of events could change the course of someone’s life so dramatically.

She trembled and a chill went up her spine.

Her eyes teared up as she acknowledged to herself how drastically different, and worse, the day’s events could have played out…

She sighed a recuperative breath .

She struck the match on the railing and brought the pipe up to her lips as the sulfur on the match head flared. Just as she went to put the flame to the pipe’s contents, a gust of wind swept around her, snuffing it out.

“Hmm,” she thought to herself “nothing is going right today”.

But she instantly realized how untrue that was in relation to three of the most important people in her life; Sabina, Untar and Giavon.

She stepped back from the railing and took a few steps to one of the deck chairs, sat down and leaned back.

As she pulled another match from her pocket, the little red tabby kitten jumped into her lap, casually surprising her.

He settled down on her tummy, looked up at her and let out a soft “Meow”.

“You little reb-scallion, you sure caused a ruckus today, didn’t you?”

He blinked slowly and meowed a little louder in reply.

She struck the match on the arm of the chair and the cat casually looked in that direction, then looked back into Belle’s face.

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She cupped the match in her hand and let it flair. She put the pipe in her mouth, placed the flame above its contents and drew in slowly .

After filling her mouth with smoke, she simultaneously put her left hand with the pipe in it down on the left arm rest, inhaled deeply and rested her head back and shook the flame from the match.

She held the smoke in her lungs for a second or two, feelings it’s warmth and intoxicating effects soothingly permeate her entire being.

As she slowly exhaled, she blew the smoke into the little cats face, sort of playfully punishing him, causing him to squint his little eyes and wiggle his little nose.

But he didn’t move, he just lay there and took it all in stride.

Belle breathed in again and sighed.

She began to pet the little feline and rub him behind his tiny ears.

He started to purr and leaned into her caress, reveling in it.

Belle put her head back again and closed her eyes.

She gently rested her hand on the kitten’s body, once in a while petting him…

Shortly after Belle had snuck Untar’s pipe from his pack (he was aware of what she was doing, but of course gave it no concern), he roused and slowly sat up.

He cleared his throat and the other two men roused as well.

Untar said “I think I’m gonna ‘make book’.”

“Yeah, me too” said Onan, adding “I guess we oughta’ slide outta here.”

The two locals stood up and looked at each other with mischievous grins on their faces.

Onan slugged Untar playfully hard on his arm, and apparently it was a sensitive spot because Untar winced and yelped ‘OWW!” in playful but semi-serious fashion.

He tried to grab the old man so he could thump him, but of course the nimble codger was not to be caught!

Onan grabbed a towel that was nearby, and began rolling it in his hands, preparing to snap at his pursuer, which forced Untar to halt his advance.

“Alright, alright, put the towel down” Untar said sounding playfully winded and whooped, hobbling on his wounded leg. “Truce” he added.

The old man looked at Von, smiled and then winked.

“Smart choice, GOONtar!”

This elicited a cold look from Untar to Onan, who looked back at him and grinned wider!

“Weasel” Untar muttered, and added “Alright, let’s go, you can help me a little before I let you off the hook.”

With that the two men made their way to the door, where they stopped and turned back around.

Untar spoke; “Hey, young brother, we’ll, uhh, see you later I suppose.”

Von, still sitting down and feeling quite spent, nodded his head and replied “OK, that sounds good.”

Onan smiled and gave him a small salute, and out the door they went.

Belle went back downstairs and quietly crossed the room to where Von was laying back in a chair alone, eyes closed, apparently snoozing.

She gladly lay on her stomach on the couch a few feet from him.

As she stretched out a bit more and took in a slow deep breath, she pulled her arms up beneath her head, and pulled her arm and shoulder muscles taught and tight, releasing warmth and pleasure swarming up over and into her whole upper body.

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As she relaxingly closed her eyes and smiled slightly, she slowly exhaled, emitting a slight and low moan, even savoring the vibration in her throat as it also sent a smooth warming sensation to her neck and lower skull.

She arched her head back firmly, raised her shoulders up against her neck, and turned her head about in slow, twisting motions, releasing even more warmth and relaxing sensations in her lower cranium and the brain inside of it.

Von slid off of his chair on to the floor beside Belle lying on the couch.

He was at about her knees on her right side with his left shoulder at the height of the couches surface.

He brought his left arm up beside her and leaned on her a bit, stretching out his hand so it rested on her shoulder right beside her right cheek.

When his hand found its way to her arm, she smiled bigger and leaned into his touch.

He squeezed and rubbed it, warmth rising where his hand caused friction where he rubbed and massaged her, going over the entire area on her shoulder and over to her neck halfway across toward her other shoulder.

Slowly at first, then rhythmically and firmer, he worked these muscles for a while, until they were the only muscles on her body that were truly and completely relaxed.

“Oh, babe, that feels so good…”

She pulled her right arm down and rested it beside her on his, finding and feeling his left bicep muscle, gently squeezing it.

He reached out his right arm and found her bicep.

In a back and forth, slow sweeping motion, he pulled his hand down her arm, stopping and squeezing and savoring the touch of every nook and cranny of her lovely limb.

When he got to her hand he took it in his, gently squeezing and caressing it.

As he leaned his head down a bit, he brought her hand up to his lips, at the same time lifting his left arm from beneath hers and putting it up onto her back, putting his hand up to the base of her neck, his elbow near the base of her spine and lower back.

As he kissed and nibbled on her fingers, he dug his left arm down a bit, slowly rocking it up and down about a half inch, his elbow kneading her lower back, and his fingers clamping her entire neck, his hand cupping it with thumb on one side, fingers on the other.

She was in heaven!

With her eyes still closed, she lifted each one of her fingers to meet his lips, as he went over each one of them in procession, stopping to nibble and kiss a couple of them as he went!

He put her hand back down beside her, but kept hold of it.

With his other hand he then proceeded to rub, massage and work her entire back. Slowly and firmly, he spent 5 or ten minutes working his way across her shoulders and down her back, going over every single part of every muscle and bone, beneath shoulder blades, into armpits, down each side and along every rib, actually cherishing and reveling in having the luxury of showing her such pleasure and sharing this massage with her.

He slowed a bit, and watched as she lye there, possibly sleeping.

He continued to pet her, thinking that if she was sleeping, this would still feel good.

After a bit, he felt a little odd, almost voyeuristic or something, watching her sleep while petting her.

“Sweetheart” he inadvertently growled, his throat raspy and not ready for the surprise of sounds it was being asked to transmit.

No response, she WAS snoozing.

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He grinned, taking pleasure in the ability to sooth, relax, and ultimately knock her out!

He reveled in his talents of giving pleasure through touch and massage.

Very much so, in fact!

He could, and would imagine how it felt to have that certain muscle worked and rubbed, and empathized with its pain, if it’s possible to empathize with a muscle’s pain!

But he did, and that’s why he did it so well.

To have someone to touch that you so immensely cared for, was truly the icing on the cake.

To rub your kid’s shoulder’s, or hug and squeeze your sister, mom or friend, were fun ways to show affection. But to have someone you truly, truly felt passion for, and to get to touch them and give them pleasure, was almost too much to hope for.

Von felt so fortunate. Like he’d been given a great gift.

Delicately, he gradually lifted his touch from her, being extra careful not to rouse her.

He slid across the floor and leaned back on his chair and put his head back a bit, slowly scanning his environment.

As Belle rolled up on her side, she swooned “Ooh, please come back.”

Von was gleefully surprised; he’d thought perhaps she would sleep for a while, which would’ve been OK, just that this was so much nicer!

As he got up, she sat up, and he sat down on her right. She put her right arm over his shoulders, and swung her legs up in to his lap and pulled tightly to him.

They nuzzled a bit and then began to kiss.

Slow, sweet, passionate kissing.

Ear nibbling, play-biting, tongue tangling kissing.

They seemed quite compatible in this area, and reveled in one another’s touch.

For another 20 minutes, they continued…

They sat there relaxed and spent, like they’d just had the perfect amount of nourishing kisses, nuzzling together, warm, happy and content.

“That couch over there is VERY nice to sleep on” Belle said softly, pointing to an oversized couch/daybed with pillows and blankets lying about on it.

Picking her up in his arms, he got up and walked across the room, and set her down into the pillows, pulling a blanket up to her knees.

She slid in a bit, looked up at him and patted the cushion next to her.

He smiled and gladly obliged, sidling in and up beside her, as she turned her back to him. They worked around a little until they were spooning quite comfortably, his left arm up beneath her neck, and his right draped over her, nuzzling and snuggling.

His head lay right behind and next to hers, the faint aroma of flower petals still lingering in her hair, and he gently rubbed his cheek into it.

There they both dozed into a blissful slumber, the sounds of the now decreasing waves breaking in the bay…

About 10 years later, they were all over on the beach by the point enjoying a picnic.

The twins (Von and Belle‘s offspring), Randy and Candy (these weren’t their real names, just one of the many nick names their pop had given them over the years) were out in the water, shredding the head high waves that were rolling in and churning through from the point all the 89

way down to the sand in front of the picnickers.

As the 9 year old girl caught a wave and made her turn and began to rollercoaster down the line toward her brother who was paddling back out, he hollered and bellowed her nick-name ‘CanDEE’ loudly so it could be heard by even the dolphins!

The two of them used these nick names exclusively as it related to their surfing; when out in the water they would hoot and holler and call each other ‘Ran-DEE and Can-DEE’ in support of seeing each other catch waves, or they would use them jokingly to mock one another when one of them took a fall or goofed up on a wave.

Also, when one of them checked the surf or sensed that the waves were getting good, they would bellow out loud the other’s name, so that darn near everyone in town could hear it! When they heard ‘Ran-DEE’ or ‘Can-DEE’, everybody knew that the twins would be out in the water soon, sloughing off their responsibilities in favor of riding waves!

Over by the point, Untar was out on his longboard, snagging every big wave that came rolling in, that old rascal! He toyed with the kids, inviting them to drop in on a wave and share it with him, cruising up dangerously close as if to collide with them, only to deftly maneuver his board in line to ride alongside them.

Sabina was sitting on the beach in a lawn chair and under an umbrella.

She had no interest in being out in the water.

In fact, ever since her episode in the bay when she was a little girl, she’d only been in the water a handful of times.

No one ever tried to pressure or persuade her to change her feelings about the ocean; the ones who were present at the time of her harrowing incident needed no insight to her feelings, and when the ones that didn’t see it heard about it, they too understood.

Untar on the other hand, fully embraced the ocean again!

He figured, if it was going to swallow him up, it surely would have by now.

Plus, he realized that when it did have him firmly in its grasp twice before, it chose, or fate or karma chose, to let him go.

And he had learned to love riding waves, and encouraged his children to do so if they liked.

And then there was Giavon and Isobelle.

When the waves were good, they were out there riding and gliding, barreling through the hollow monsters when they came charging in. And cruising and bouncing of the tops of the slower, smaller ones.

And they were so in love.

It was like they were lost souls, reunited after being separated for eons.

They knew how to get along.

They knew how to disagree too, doing so with honestly and respect of one another’s feelings, trying to understand and empathize with each other’s position.

They were just so much in awe of the amazing good fortune of having someone, someone so special, and kind, and compatible.

And, they had a history.

A history, and a future.

And by the way, the twins had many names; Moon-beam and Monkey-bump, Wobbly-bob and Pee-weebly, Chance and Choyce (this one alternated between them, depending on their 90

situation), but their real names you may have guessed; Francesca and Gianni.

Imagine that, Frankie and Johnny!

Francesca was 2 minutes older than her brother, a fact she never let him forget!

And, she actually surfed better than him too‌

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