Crusader (53 page)

A gruff voice answered, "Yes?"

"Mr. Lewis?"

"Yes."

"This is Roberta Ritter from the West End Mall in South Florida. Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, I do, Roberta. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing. I had a message to call you back, so I'm calling."

"Oh? Oh yeah. Well, you know we got stuck with the shipping charges for your franchise materials."

"Were we supposed to pay them?"

"Technically, yes. It's part of the contract. You always pay your own shipping."

"We have to pay even after we've lost everything?"

"Technically, yes. Or it comes out of your collateral. Colonel Frank Ritter's collateral, I should say."

"I think I speak for my uncle, Colonel Frank Ritter, when I say that he doesn't care anymore."

"Oh. Okay. I just wanted to let you know."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

I wondered, "Is this how it ends for your franchisees?"

"Some of them."

"How many of them?"

"I'd say maybe half."

"And we were in the wrong half?"

"I guess so. Oh well.
Deus vult,
right?"

I held the phone out for a moment. "What did you say?"

"Deus
vult.
It was the motto of the crusaders."

"It was?"

"Yeah. Didn't you ever see it written on his collar?"

"Isn't it
volt?
"

"No. It's not supposed to be, anyway."

"What does it mean?"

"It means 'God wills it.'"

"It doesn't mean 'Two volts'?"

"No. It's Latin."

"Of course." I stopped for a moment to collect my thoughts. Mr. Lewis hung on the line, so I asked him, "Mr. Lewis?"

"Yes?"

"What did God will?"

"What?"

"
Deus vult.
'God wills it.' So what did God will?"

"I don't know. I guess God willed that the crusaders should take back the Holy Land from the infidel. That's what the legend says, right?"

"Right. So you don't mean that God willed Hawg's death, do you?"

"Hawg?"

"Because I was there, and Hawg did that to himself. I didn't see God do anything."

"Uh-huh."

"Or did God will Ironman's death? Because if He did, He didn't get His way. We saved him."

"Ironman?"

"Or do you just mean, no matter what happens, either way, whether it's good or bad, God wills it?"

"You lost me, kid. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. I just don't know what God wills."

"Neither do I. But I think we'd better wrap this up."

"Okay." I hung up. Then I went into my bedroom, got undressed, and crawled into bed. I knew it was the wrong night, but I switched on the TV and lay there with the remote control anyway, searching the airwaves in vain for Stephen Cross.

I woke up early today. I poured a glass of orange juice and stood on the balcony, taking in the swamp view.

I noticed a peculiar smell. Peculiar, but familiar. Then I recognized it. It was the swamp gas smell that had filled the mall during the Santa seat disaster. I had never noticed it out here before. I stood in that damp, sulfurous air and thought about the day that stretched before me.

I thought about this: Today was Halloween. Seven years ago, this day became my mom's last on earth. What would today become for me?

When I passed through the entrance, I spotted a clumsily printed
CLOSED
sign on the door of the mall office. I walked through the rotunda and stopped before the door of Arcane, Slot #32. It was dark inside.

I turned around and leaned with my back against the door, waiting for someone to show up. A pair of power-walkers
huffed by, then I saw a flash of motion across the way. Someone was in the window of Slot #61. I crossed over there and peered in.

It was Leo. I watched him drag the three mannequins to the back and stack them up, like cords of firewood. I rapped on the window. Leo looked up, annoyed, but then he saw who it was. He hurried over and let me in.

Right away he started explaining something to me, like I knew what he was talking about. "Mrs. Weiss had this planned for a long time, but she had to get it approved. I guess it came through too late for her."

"What did?"

"The expansion." He explained further, "The thing I've been talking to Millie—uh, Mrs. Roman—about. Don't you know?"

"No."

"The card store's gonna expand into Slot #61 here. It's gonna be a double slot, like Eyes and Ears, and Sports Authority. It's gonna be one of those Hallmark Gold Crown Stores. You know what those are?"

"No."

"They're the big ones. They don't just sell cards. They sell those collectible things, bears and stuff. They sell boxes of candy, stationery, wedding napkins. All kinds of stuff. Expensive stuff."

I looked around at the empty, dusty space. "Do you think this is a good idea, Leo? What if the mall goes under?"

One of the mannequins started to slip off the pile. Leo gave it a kick back into place. "Ah, there's no use thinking like that, Roberta. You gotta move forward in life. Who knows what's gonna happen? Mrs. Weiss always made money here. You just have to make up your mind to do it, too."

"Yeah. Hey, Leo, did Suzie know about this? Did she know the card shop was expanding?"

Leo gave a delighted snort. "Suzie? What did she ever know?"

"She must have. I'm going to ask her."

"I don't think so. Suzie don't work here no more."

"What?"

Leo beamed with pleasure. "It was a beautiful thing to behold. Lyons sent that rent-a-cop of his back last night. I was right outside the door, helpin' Sam move those TVs. I watched the whole thing. He came in and told her she was canned. Then he stood there while she packed up her stuff. He did everything but take his gun out and shoot her. She walked out with a cardboard box full of things, then he took her key away and locked up the office."

I couldn't help myself—I smiled along with him. Then I turned and looked across the way. I saw Dad opening the glass doors of our slot. By the time I said good-bye to Leo, left La Boutique de Paris, and crossed the mallway, Kristin and Will had arrived, too. Once we all got inside, Dad slid the doors closed again.

He said, "Good morning, everybody," but no one answered. We were a sullen group today, there for one purpose only: to dismantle the hardware of Arcane—The Virtual Reality Arcade, and to pack it into boxes.

Dad started to say something else, but he thought better of it. He led the way back to the office and opened the outside door, revealing a big pile of cardboard boxes. We started to haul them in; still, no one spoke.

I broke the silence when I asked Kristin, "What do you hear about Karl?"

She shook her head grimly. "Nothing yet. Dad was at the Atlantic County Medical Center all night. He's trying to get Karl released, but it's just not happening. That judge's order has him bound for the Positive Place for at least ten days."

"Oh, god. What's he going to do?"

Kristin's eyes filled with tears. "I don't know. Karl is really very fragile. Last time he was there, he shut down completely."

"How bad a place is it?"

"They put, like, criminally insane kids there. Kids who kill their parents in their sleep. Kids who stuff their pets into microwaves. Stuff like that." Kristin's tears poured out. "And what did Karl ever do? He never killed anybody. He tried to get out of here with Hawg. Who can blame him for that?"

"I'm really sorry, Kristin."

"I just wish I knew why he did that."

I knew I had to tell her. "He did it to help me."

Kristin pressed her T-shirt against her wet eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I told him I needed a distraction. I needed to get Bill out of the RV. He figured the rest out himself."

Kristin nodded, slowly and thoughtfully. "He did?"

"Yeah."

She wiped her eyes some more. Then she smiled as best she could. She said aloud, "Not bad, Karl."

I tried to smile, too. "No. Not bad at all. He did his part. Now we have to wait and see if I did mine."

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"Did you hear what Lyons told the reporters?"

"No."

"He said the recap would come through for the mall. He even said he would start building at Century Towers again."

"Those could all be lies."

"They could. But Philip Knowlton is a smart man. And a politician. I'm betting we see a new Ray Lyons from here on out."

We heard a rap on the glass. It was Suzie. Her eyes looked puffy, like she had been crying. Or drinking. Dad walked over and let her in. He asked her, "Where were you last night?"

Kristin went back to work, but I stayed by the door. Suzie looked over at me and then mumbled, "At home."

"At your old place?"

"Yeah. It's mine until November first."

"I thought you were coming out to the beach place."

Suzie looked at me again, as if to say it would be nice if I left them alone, but I didn't. She turned back to Dad. "I got fired last night."

"No!"

"Yes. After that ... zoo left, I stayed to try to sort some things out. Mr. Lyons sent that Joe Daley guy back with orders to fire me. He wasn't very nice about it, either."

"Why? What for?"

"He didn't even know. Or care. All he would say was, 'Orders from Mr. Lyons.'" Suzie blew her nose into a Kleenex. "I get blamed for everything that goes wrong in this damn place. And I get credit for nothing."

Dad said, "Come here." He put his arm around her and walked her toward an empty wall.

I wanted to get to work, but I heard another rap on the glass. I turned to see two little girls. They were dressed in Halloween costumes with pointy black witches' hats. I slid the door open a crack, and the taller of the two said, "Trick or treat."

"Uh, sorry. We're closed."

The taller girl turned to go, but the other one persisted, "The stores in the mall are supposed to give us candy."

"But we're not open anymore. We're out of business."

"The stores are supposed to give us candy."

The taller one added, "We're not allowed to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. There are too many crazy people. They put razor blades in the candy."

I said, "Yeah. I know."

"So we're supposed to go around the mall instead."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. "Here. Take this to Lombardos Drugs and get some bags of candy. Then bring the bags back here. I'll leave them outside, and kids can help themselves."

"Can we help ourselves?"

"Sure. You can be the first ones."

"Okay." The taller witch took the money, and the two of them ran off toward Lombardo's.

I joined Kristin and Will in the center of the arcade. We quickly disassembled King Kong, Vampire's Feast, Viking Raid, Serpent's Lair, Mekong Massacre, Genghis Khan Rides!, Galactic Defender, and Dragon Slayer.

Soon only Crusader remained. Will and I set to work to dismantle what was left of him. I knew we were both thinking about that day with Hawg when we put him together. Will wasn't grinning. Far from it. He started to sniffle and then to cry.

By eleven-thirty all of the Arcane experiences, legends, CDs, helmets, wands, and promotional displays were packed away. Dad was saying a long good-bye to Suzie somewhere near the front of the store, so Kristin, Will, and I hung out in the back waiting for the UPS guy.

He arrived right on time. As soon as I opened the door, he told me, "I got a notice this morning that your account is closed. No more deliveries."

"That's right. No more deliveries. Just one more pickup."

"If I pick anything up, you're going to have to pay cash."

"No. These are cash on delivery."

"No way. I'm not taking anything from here COD."

Kristin stepped between us. She leveled a stare right in the UPS guy's face. "Fine. Leave them, then. But these cartons aren't our property anymore. They belong to Arcane Industries, in Antioch, Illinois."

The guy leaned backward. "Listen, you gotta work it out with them. I'll pick the boxes up tomorrow."

"No, you listen. There is no tomorrow. This is it. This arcade is out of business."

The guy looked around like he was trying to see a way out.

Kristin opened the office door and indicated that we should all leave. She called back to him, "Tell you what, chump. I'll go get my father, the colonel. He'll explain it to you so that you'll understand."

The UPS guy smiled nervously, like Will used to do. Then he said, "Okay. Since you're not going to be here tomorrow, I guess I'll have to take them today."

Kristin, Will, and I continued through the door, leaving him to cart them away. Kristin and Will kept walking to the front of the store, but I stopped and turned back. For some reason I wanted to see the boxes go, especially Crusader's.

When I joined them at the front, Dad was seated cross-legged on the carpet. He was rolling up the hundreds of yards of wires that had electrified the Arcane experiences.

As Will slid the door open, Dad called out, "Thanks for your help, guys."

Kristin didn't look at him, so Will didn't, either. But Will did look at me. He said, "Hey, Roberta. Thanks for doing that."

"What?"

"For standing up to that guy. That politician guy. We didn't just take it from him, you know? We didn't just stand there with our mouths shut and take it from him."

Kristin added, "He's right, Roberta. No matter what happens, at least we put up a fight. And that's because of you." She hugged me and whispered so that only I could hear, "You are your mother's daughter." Then she and Will slipped through the opening and left.

Just as I lost sight of them, the two little witches returned. They set down three big bags of candy—Smartees, Junior Mints, and Bit-o-Honeys. The taller one held out her fist. "Here's your change." She dropped some coins into my hand.

I said, "Thanks. Did you help yourselves?"

"No. Not yet."

"Well, go ahead. Take as much as you want." They giggled and started ripping the bags open. I left them to it.

I took a deep breath and got my mind focused. Then I sat down on the floor next to Dad. I said to him, "We've been here before, Dad. Do you remember?"