Waves
Chapter 11 A Bus Ride

I’m not sure why I thought it was an even playing field, there were three of them and only one of me. But at least they didn’t know where I was, and I intended for it to stay that way. I stood there, like a statue. I even opened my mouth wide so my breathing would be quiet.

They continued their slow descent, the three of them. A second earlier, when I had a moment of light, just before their cell phone flashlights went dead, I took some mental pictures of this boarded up garage that I found myself in. I knew there was a paint can around six feet to my left, which, I thought, may come in handy as a makeshift weapon. But I couldn’t risk even the slightest movement, not yet anyway. They got to the bottom and just stood.

“Is it down here?” one of the men asked.

“Oh it’s down here all right,” answered the green hat killer, “and so is that weasel. Listen up weasel,” he said firmly, addressing me, “make yourself known and I might have mercy on you. Otherwise in three weeks the news will be all abuzz about the dead body found in the cellar of an abandoned house, and how it’s a cold case. I’ll make sure of that. There’s no way out for you. I want the ploncedite and I will have it. You can be sure of that.”

As he was talking, I used that as an opportunity to move slightly to my left, his voice drowning out my tiptoeing. And I slowly, and as quietly as possible, picked up the paint can with my left hand. I still, of course, had the three ball in my right.

Another interesting thing that I didn’t expect, the power of the ploncedite, in this advanced state, gave me an ability to sense where these men were. I knew exactly the location and movement of all three of them. Of course it took no magic to know where the leader was, all I needed were ears. But the other two men were trying to be stealthy, moving slowly and waving their arms. I could sense all that.

I even knew when they were taking steps so I coincided mine with theirs. That way I could move about this room, essentially with no sound. It was an odd chase. The whole thing played out in super slow motion. It was more of a chess game than a chase. My goal was to get to the stairs, which at the moment was blocked by these men. The green hat guy continued his disparaging rant. He went on and on about me being the lowest form of vermin on Earth. After awhile it was just stupid, but it helped me. His voice muffled my movements.

Step by step, move by move. The two men were trying to replace me and at the same time, trying to avoid obstructions. They were slow and deliberate and so was I. Again, like a chess game I saw an opening. By where the three men positioned themselves, I perceived that I could sneak just between two of them on my way to the stairs. Part of me wanted to rush and blow past them but I was patient. I stepped when one of them stepped, my mouth still wide to hide the sound of my breathing.

Finally I was directly in between both of the quiet men. I knew they were there, I sensed it. If either had lunged in my direction, I would be a dead man. That’s how close they were. So I just stood there, completely still, waiting for their next step so I could take mine. But they didn’t take any steps. I stood perfectly still and they did too. Why did they stop? Maybe they knew I was close. It was cold and clammy down in this cellar garage thing so maybe they felt the heat coming from my body. Or maybe they heard my heart pounding. I didn’t know why, but we all stopped. I stood with eerie silence, the thugs were silent, yes even the green hat monster stopped his ranting. It was pitch black with a sickeningly hollow quiet.

It seemed I was waiting there too long, way too long. They must know where I am, I thought to myself, dreading the possibility that I might be right. Hopefully I knew where they were. My trust was waning though. Was my sense about their whereabouts wrong? Then finally, after an eternity, one took a step and so did I, then another. I was starting to distance myself, just a little. I was inching my way closer to the stairs. The leader started ranting again, I actually liked it. It was better than the deathly silence.

I wasn’t completely convinced, though, that the green hat guy really knew I was here. Maybe he thought that I probably was and was ranting to get me to give up. Another step, I was almost to the stairs, at least to my recollection of the stairs. I could sense these three men just fine but the stairway was another thing. I got to where I thought the stairs should be and took a step slightly up, but there was no step. I took another and this time I landed directly on the first stair. But as I put my weight on it, it squeaked.

The three men whipped around toward the noise. It was too late for stealth. I started bounding up the stairs as fast as I could, making all kinds of racket that no longer mattered. About half way up I dropped the paint can behind me. The men got to the stairs and were in pursuit until the front man tripped on the paint can. I could hear him behind me crashing down and it sounded as if the other two men tripped on him.

I knew that this crash wouldn’t buy me much more than an extra second or two, but I would take anything I could get. Good thing I had memorized this house because I ran through the door at the stairway top, across the floor in utter darkness, into the back room then out the back door. I was in daylight again. My eyes were squinting as they tried to adjust but there was no time for that. I ran down the weed hill, hopped the fence and took off left, as fast as I could run.

I could hear them behind me. At least one of those men was bound to be faster than me, I thought. I was not a fast guy but I had a slight head start. I had a plan though, I hoped it would work. I cut up the street that Derek and I walked up toward the burger joint. It was all uphill and I was not in good shape. When I got to the stairs, it was really tough to keep sprinting. This would be the time that I would have folded in gym class, but I kept pushing, as hard as I had ever pushed in my life. I heard the footsteps of the three men, they were gaining on me, there was no doubt.

I got to the top of the hill, the burger place to my left but I went right, directly into the real estate office. By the angle of the buildings, I am sure that they saw me go right, but I didn’t think they saw me go into this office. I was pretty sure that the front door would have been obstructed by the corner building. I burst in, totally out of breath, Derek’s mom was behind her desk. That’s what I wanted. She was the only one in the office at that moment.

She looked at me wide-eyed. I put my pointing finger in front of my mouth, the universal shh sign. Though I had no breath left, I was able to muster up one word to her.

“Please.”

Then I jumped behind another desk and curled up underneath. Sure enough the three men burst in. What was she going to do? Well well well, what a trouper Derek’s mom turned out to be. She put on her professional face and voice like putting on a sweater.

“Thank you for coming in, I think it’s your lucky day, we have some new properties that haven’t even been listed yet. Are you interested in a house or a condo?”

I was so proud of this lady. Now I know where Derek got his spunk.

“We’re not here for real estate lady!” the green hat man said, with his typical lack of grace. “Did some scrawny kid come in here?”

“This is a real estate office,” she responded, pretending to be confused by his question.

“I know what it is!”

“No one came in here. So I take it you don’t want to look at property?”

He stormed out, with his posse behind him. It worked. I can’t believe it, it actually worked. Then I heard her walk toward the front window, so I peered out from behind the desk. She was checking to see if they were gone. Then she walked back.

“They’re gone,” she said, just before her mother instinct kicked in, “where’s Derek?”

“He’s fine. He went home right after we ate.”

I got up and looked her right in her eyes and she at mine. I didn’t know what to say, I was just so happy that she did this for me. She reached out and grabbed my hand and squeezed it, and I squeezed back. No words were exchanged, just two hands squeezing. There were a few more cats scattered around the room that weren’t there when I burst in. I liked that.

I didn’t let on that I now knew who she was to me. Why do that to her? She already had enough anguish and struggles. I didn’t need to pile one more thing on. She was a good woman, I could tell. She was a good mom to Derek, and she just saved my life. Our hands separated. I had just one thing to say.

“Thank you,” and I never meant that more in my life.

“You’re welcome,” as she got a little teary again.

I turned and walked out the door, very carefully of course. I knew that they saw me go right at the top of the hill, so they were probably hassling every shop owner, every restaurant worker, every souvenir shop clerk on this side of La Jolla. I peered to the right but did not see them. They were out there though, somewhere, pounding the pavement. I’m sure that his anger toward me was now at the highest level, from the tip of his toes all the way up to the brim of his green hat. So I went left and I ran, the more distance I could put between me and him the better. I ran past groups of tourists and locals, past boutiques and restaurants. I ran till I was at the outskirts of this downtown tourist portion of La Jolla.

My plan was to keep going north. There was no way I was going to retrace my steps on the beach to get back to the gliderport. That would be way too dangerous. I would never make it past the spaceship house. No, my plan was to get to my destination through the streets instead of through the beach. I had a very good natural sense of direction, plus the Pacific Ocean was a plenty large enough landmark to guide my path.

I guessed that the gliderport was around five miles from here, based on how long I walked south. So if I walked five miles or so, in a northerly direction, then finagle my way toward the water, I should replace it. Then I saw a welcome site. There it was, the answer to my problems - a city bus, going my way. And I had change from the burgers in my pocket. Thank you Derek’s mom.

I was on the left side of the street so I had to cross to get to the bus, and I had to get there fast before he pulled away. I looked both ways then J-walked, rather J-ran. I got to the front door just as it closed. I banged on it, the driver took pity on this lost soul and re-opened for me. This was fantastic. I could just ride this bus for a few miles, then be home free. I got on, paid my fare and started to make my way down the aisle, looking for a seat.

There was an old lady sitting toward my right, as I made my way front to back on the bus. She made eye contact with me.

“Here’s a good spot for you, sit here right here,” she said to me, pointing at the space on the bench seat next to her.

I didn’t want to sit with her or anyone else for that matter. I just wanted to sit by myself but it would have been pretty rude to pass her by, so I sat down next to her.

“Hi young man,” she said to me, “it will be nice to have some company.”

I realized that she was a talker, probably a lonely old widow. I didn’t want a talker at that moment. I was exhausted from the day, and worried about what was next, but this was my plight.

“Hi ma’am.”

“You can call me Gwen. What’s your name?”

“Paxton ma’am, ur, sorry, I mean Gwen.”

“That’s better. Paxton, that’s a name that I haven’t heard before. Is it a family name?”

“Uh, I don’t think so. It’s just a name I guess.”

“Well it’s very handsome. I like it a lot.”

“Thank you Gwen. Actually I don’t know anyone named Gwen.”

“It looks like it’s a first for both of us then.”

“Yea,” I answered.

It turned out that Gwen was a very nice lady, sort of a gentle grandma type. And maybe that was exactly what I needed at that point. She talked to me about her grandkids and her quilting and more stuff that I didn’t really care about but for some reason it was pleasant. Gwen had a peaceful vibe about her, I liked that. I found myself getting more relaxed by the minute. And she asked me about my life too. I didn’t know why I opened up like I did but I told her all about my family and my life in Kansas, nothing about my day, of course, but my life back home. It’s funny, I had almost forgotten about my life back home, so it was a nice reminder.

She told me about her travels. She had been to a lot of exotic places. It’s embarrassing to admit, but when I meet an old person, I just sort of assume that they were born an old person. But Gwen was a young vibrant girl once, filled with adventure and big dreams. Now she was just an old lady talking about the past. I guess someday I’ll be an old man talking about the past, perhaps about this very day.

Stop after stop we got better acquainted and I got closer to my destination. Things were looking good. I had asked her where to get off for the gliderport but she didn’t know. So I was just going with best guess. Gwen was sitting to my left, by the window. At this particular moment, the three ball was in my left hand. I guess we had gone two, maybe three miles. I was feeling relaxed so I suppose I didn’t have as tight a grip on the ball as normal. We came to a stop and Gwen sneezed. It was a pretty violent sneeze as her whole upper body lunged forward. As she contorted, her right arm slid forward on my left arm, knocking the ball onto the floor. Because she was already slumped forward, she reached down to pick it up for me.

“No, let me,” I yelled.

I leaned down quickly and saw that on the floor was her knitting bag and the ball next to it. I was incredibly relieved to see it. I thought that it may have rolled throughout the bus, but there it was, like a faithful dog. I grabbed it and popped back up into a sitting position. It’s funny how a person can get used to things. When I first picked up this ball, hours ago, I was stunned and amazed at the life-form essence, now I was so accustomed to it, it seemed ordinary.

At that very second as I righted myself on the bench, three men burst in the backdoor of the bus. They were not the same men who were chasing me but they might as well have been. They grabbed me and yanked me off the bus, through the back exit. I’m sure the riders were shocked but no one did anything. I was dragged onto the sidewalk, the back door closed and the bus rumbled away.

They pulled me behind a hedge then proceeded to violently rob me. As two of the men held me, the third pulled the ball from me and stashed it away in a leather bag. Then as I was still held, he punched me in the nose, it hurt like pain I had never felt. Then he punched me in the eye and a few times in the gut. He basically beat the crap out of me while the other men held my arms. There was no sneaky escape for me this time. There was no chess game, no clever mind games, nothing even close to those things. It was pure brute force. They took what they wanted, beat me to a pulp and dropped me on the ground. Then they ran around the hedge, I heard car doors open and shut then the sound of their car tearing out. They were gone and so was the ploncedite.