The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy (37 page)

“The shelter don’t hold more ‘n’ just us. They can’t come in.”

“Yeah. Billy said that to the one he caught, Da. He told him we will kill any of them that come here.”

“Good. What else?”

“Is the hant, Da. Killin’ people on the road. Killin’ all of them he can get.”

Sam had been feeling the presence of something supernatural since the girl had arrived. He thought her people were watching for her. But it was the haunt.

“It looks like a dog, Da. A big hairy dog, big as the field. Bigger. It kills people, Da’, kills them when they’re runnin’ from Jamayuh.”

“Kills ‘em?”

“Yeah. Eats ‘em.”

This was news. “Who’d it kill?”

“Not us, Da. None from the village. Just runners. Just outsiders.”

“It’s protecting us—the hant?”

“Yeah, Da.”

That was the one good thing Sam had heard that morning.

The mansion’s rear door opened and the girl leaped out wearing the party dress from the night before. She pranced all over the field like a young filly after a long winter. She saw him and danced up, spinning in front of him. Oh, what a fine lass. She held her finger up with a ring on it.

“We married! Jeremy and me married!” She ran up and hugged him. “Good-bye, Sam of the village. I remember you.”

“Me, too, lil’ darlin’.”

“I come back, Sam, if can,” she called.

Sam felt so depressed. Jeremy emerged from the house, looking as fucked out as he’d ever seen a man. Sam smiled. He thought he’d never smile again, but the look on Jeremy’s face...

“Sam.” Jeremy stood in front of him. Sam looked at the boy, memorizing his face and form. “I wish I could do more for you.”

“Arthur give me a good look last night. You did plenty, Mr. Eger—”

“No, I’m Jeremy. Forever. If I can keep in touch with you, I will. That notebook... check it. That’s probably the way.” Jeremy’s eyes were suddenly wet. He grabbed Sam around the elbows—he couldn’t reach any higher. “Oh, Sam, if we were going to do it again, I’d be real friends with you. I’m sorry.”

A sudden glow over the ocean caught their attention.

“Holy shit!” Jeremy exclaimed. “They’re really coming.”

Sam stared at the cliff overlooking the sea. The ocean side of the property was filled with light. The only way Sam could think of it was in terms of the sun. If you looked at the sun, right around it was an area that was so bright you could barely glance at it. That’s how this light was. In the middle of that bright, white light was a darker golden light. That was centered over the cliff edge. The middle was more solid than the outer light. It reminded him of an egg yolk, if it was shiny and see-through.

He could see tall, slender forms in it. Nothing was very clear or hard-edged. He didn’t know how many of Eliana’s people were in there. But they were there, and they had come for the group emerging
from the mansion. The light seemed to be engaged in a locking operation with the cliff. It moved forward and back a bit, as though it was docking.

“Oh, my word,” Henry said as he stepped outside. He helped Lena out and down the three steps to the lawn.

“Oh, Henry. It’s beautiful.” She put her hand over her eyes to look at it. “That’s no spaceship like from the comics. It’s a piece of art, just like Ellie. I know we’re going to like it there.”

“If you say so, mother. You’re usually right.” Henry looked like he was anything but sure.

Mel and James emerged next, each of them leading one of the little dogs on a leash.

“Oh, my God,” James said. “They came!”

“I’ll say they did,” Mel added. “We’d better get going.” He walked toward Sam and stuck out his hand. Sam shook it. The little dog growled ferociously. “Oh, stop it,” Mel said. “He thinks he’s eighty pounds.”

“Heaven help us if he was eighty pounds.” James came up and shook Sam’s hand. “They fell in love with us on the ride in and now they’ll protect us until death.”

“Longer than that,” Lena said to Sam. “Do you know that I had one of these dogs? It’s a Lhasa Apso. Henry bought him for me when the girls grew up and left. Shaq, I called him. After Shaquille O’Neill, the most beautiful man in history. Except for you, Henry,” she called after him. He was heading toward the ship, if that’s what the blob of light could be called.

“Shaq loved Eliana like nobody’s business. Do you know what he did?” She looked into Sam’s eyes. “He knew a boy in the school was going to hurt her. He couldn’t get there in time to stop it, so he threw himself under a bus. He gave his life—so he could be a spirit, Sam. So he could be the lion he was born to be, strong and fast and brave. He killed himself so he could be there fast enough to help Ellie and be big enough to save her.

“And he did, Sam. The boy was going to rape her, Ellie told
me. And my Shaq was there and killed him. He was bigger than any animal ever seen, from what little Ellie told me. And he was a ghost.”

“Lena, we’ve got to go.” Henry was a quarter of the way across the lawn. “They won’t wait for us.”

“The reason I’m telling you this,” she said, “is that I looked outside last night, and I would have sworn my little Shaq was out there, hanging over about half the forest, guarding us. If you see him, Sam, tell him we’ll be back if we can, and that Ellie and I love him. He’s the best little dog I’ve ever seen. And so brave.

“Now good-bye, Sam. Take care of Earth. You’ll be in my prayers night and day.” She reached up and hugged him. “I’d better go.”

Sam watched them walk across the lawn toward the light. It bobbed a little, as though it wanted to be off.

Eliana got on first. She danced and did cartwheels across the lawn. When she got about halfway, she dropped her dress and began to run. Naked and beautiful, she made enormous leaps, her legs stretched out like she was flying. Something broke loose from the front of her where her heart was. It unfurled like wings and fluttered in the light. She shimmered like an angel in flight.

When she got to the cliff, she leaped into the light, arms reaching high and wide over her head, shimmering wings flying, light exploding.

He saw it in that split second she was in the air, silhouetted against the light. Her slim form was translucent against the larger radiance behind her. In her belly, he saw a smaller light as brilliant as a thousand suns.

She and Jeremy had made a baby.

Sam choked back a sob. He could see her, moving back in the brilliance. She became one of the people inside.

Jeremy ran after her, stopping to drop his trousers by her dress. He ran naked into his new life, leaping over the cliff and into the golden void. He did a cannonball, yelling “Geronimo!” when he jumped.

James and Mel ran together, naked like the others. They held hands, each with a dog tucked under the other arm. They jumped in, kissed each other on the other side, and disappeared into the glow.

Lena and Henry were slower. He could hear them bickering as they walked.

“I don’t know about this nudity, Henry. I don’t see why.”

“Mother, the world is going to blow up in one hour. That’s why. They wanted us naked, and that’s how we’ll go.”

He could hear them all the way to the edge. They stopped and looked at something. He hadn’t realized there was a space between the cliff and the ship.

“Henry, that’s got to be five feet. How are we going to get out there?”

A little lip of light unfolded from the larger mass, providing them with a ramp. They walked across and disappeared, the ramp following them.

It moved out like the fog receding over the ocean. Sam stood, feet spread, fists clasped together, unable to think or feel.

He could still see them, disappearing. Mostly, he could see her, with the wings soaring and the light in her belly.

She was an angel. The others were mythical people like those in the stories. He had been lucky to know them.

They made him decide. Sam wanted to sit out there on the point and fry, as Jeremy had said. He didn’t want to leave the beauty around him for an underground jail. He couldn’t bear the thought that someone hated the world enough to destroy it.

But he realized that he couldn’t do that. If he didn’t go back, his people would wait for him. They’d leave the shelter door open and come out and see what he was doing. They’d try to drag him in. They wouldn’t close the door in time. And everyone in the village would die.

Sam turned toward the forest for one last look at its beauty. Then he would do his duty.

A movement above the forest caught his eye. He knew about
the haunt; he’d seen it in the trees, watching him. It was a hairy dog, just like the ones Mel and James had. He turned toward it, and spoke:

“Oh, great Shaq, guardian of Eliana and Lena. As you jus’ saw, they took off for somewhere. They said they love you and will be back if they can. They hope you’re OK.

“I know you like to protect, so if I could ask you a favor, we really need protection. If you could protect this village and all that’s around it? The trees, and birds, the wild animals. My horses, and the cows and sheep. Even the chickens.” A couple of his hound dogs wandered out, looking to and fro. “An’ Flossie and th’ other dogs...

“I’ll tell you, Mr. Shaq, I’d sooner be up there with you than where I’ll be. I hope that when my life is done, I can join you and protect all this that’s mine. Though it belongs to Mrs. Egerton.

“Jeremy said he gave this place to me, but he don’t own it, I know that. I’ll just keep it until Mrs. E comes back.”

Sam stood there, unable to move. He didn’t want to go into the shelter, though probably he should. But he couldn’t maintain control of the village if they saw him weep. And he couldn’t stop.

S
am watched the golden sphere recede. Once it pulled out, it took off fast. It faded into a speck and then a memory. Sam stood. Though part of him wanted to fall on his knees with awe and reverence.

The rest of him knew the truth: that wasn’t God. It wasn’t the fire-spewing monster seeking vengeance that the snake men worshipped. It was how people got around somewhere else. Jeremy and the girl and the rest of them were going to be safe.

He slumped as he watched the last twinkles of the globe disappear. “I would have gone, if they let me,” he whispered.

Sam Baahuhd of the village, you are meant to stay here and care for your people. I have chosen you to carry out My will.

It was a real voice, very loud. No snake man bull; this was a real voice. It wasn’t from a yellow ball made to carry people. It was bigger than that. He trembled.

I have chosen you, Sam Baahuhd, to carry out My will for the Earth from this time forward.

He couldn’t breathe. The voice was speaking to him and about him. “OK. I’ll do what you want.” Sam was speaking more and more like a regular person, as Jeremy had ordered. God undoubtedly was more regular than anyone. “Could you stay with me, and help me? I’ve never done anything like this. I don’t know that I can.”

No one has ever done anything like this. I will be with you every moment. I will guard you. I will hear your prayers and answer you.

The voice was so normal. That’s what Sam liked. The snake men made God sound so big and terrifying. Like a haunt of haunts. But the voice he heard was normal. It was loud, coming from all around him, but mostly inside him.

Sam, you need to do something right now. Be calm and know that I am with you. Turn toward the road.

Sam turned. A woman was walking across the meadow toward him, a pistol held in both hands. She never would have gotten that close had he not been distracted.

“You’re under arrest,” she shouted. “Federal agent Valerie Zanner. You’re under arrest for treason. Put your hands over your head.”

He didn’t move. She kept moving toward him. He could see that her gait was unsteady. She looked like she’d been in the river all night, filthy and covered with muck. Her face had bruises and cuts all over it. She wore a short skirt that showed her knobby legs, and a half-buttoned shirt. Her boots were the type made in Jamayuh.

He held her eyes with his, his shoulders down and relaxed. He relaxed all over, feeling his long, slow breathing. He was in the same state as when handling a dangerous horse or hunting for bear. Relaxed, focused, and ready to move. Ready for anything. Not afraid. She was so close that she’d have to be a terrible shot to miss him. The way she held the gun said she was a very good shot.

“Is this the Piermont mansion?” she barked.

“Aye.”

“Is she here?”

“Mrs. Egerton?”

“Yes.” Her eyes flashed. She looked feverish.

“Nah. She never comes here.”

“Is Jeremy here? Her son?”

“He just left.” Sam waved his head in the direction that the golden orb had disappeared. “Did ya see it?”

“Yes.” She seemed to deflate. “Was that a spaceship?”

“I don’t know, lass. I don’t know what it was.”

She looked at him like she was really seeing him for the first time. “Who are you?”

“Sam Baahuhd of the village. I’m the headman.”

“You live here?”

“I live in the stables with my family and the rest.”

“Of who?” He could see her swaying on her feet; the tracks of dried tears split the dirt on her cheeks. She shivered. Kept that gun pointed at him, though.