Earth Man (11 page)

“
I’m okay. I guess that’s what I get for showing off.” Danny said solemnly. “It was easier with the wings.”

Danny had figured out he didn
’t need the wings, they were optional. It was much easier for him to maintain control and it felt more natural to have them pushing him through the air. Flying under his own power made him uncomfortable. Both of them had wondered what would happen if the powers suddenly switched off while he was in the air. Helen was worried about putting her trust in a strange power, but Danny had assured her that she only needed to trust him. He kept his own fears and reservations to himself.

“
Well let’s stay on the ground for a while, okay?” Helen said, checking out his arm. It was red from the impact with the water but she was sure nothing was broken.

“
Learn to walk before you try to fly, alright?”

             
Even though Danny had only told Phil and Linda, people in Kelowna began to suspect something strange was going on. Danny’s weird behaviour was only half the story, people began to see him doing things, things like flying and digging in the dirt. Soon there were stories everywhere and they had no choice but to tell their kids. People began to watch him with interest, waiting to see if he’d do something remarkable. Danny took Raymond and Helen and the three of them drove south into Washington, DC where they could have more privacy. Morgan was at home, with Linda and Phil; she had not quite understood what they’d told her about her father.

They
found a nice quiet stretch of sand on Rimrock Lake where Danny could practice his abilities without being self-conscious. Morgan had gone to visit her grandmother so they could take as much time as they wanted. Raymond was no longer as interested as he’d been when he’d first found out. After seeing Danny flying and breathing underwater Ray didn’t find smelling things or lifting rocks to be all that exciting. Helen and Danny agreed that they’d probably discovered all they could with the animals and insects that lived in their local area.

“
It’s not natural anymore, it’s not working properly.” Danny said from the passenger seat as they prepared to leave. He’d been agitated all day and Helen decided to ignore him.

Helen drove them home, t
he sun was going down and everyone was tired, hungry and whiny.

You
have to stop trying. Let’s just relax and see what happens.” Helen said as positively as she could.

“
You need to go into the city, like Vancouver, show everyone all the shit you can do.” Ray said.

“
Watch the language Raymond.” Helen said, glancing at him in the rear view mirror.

Helen pulled over at the local convenience store just off Boundary Point Rd on the U.S. side of the border.

“I need a coffee, you guys want anything?” Helen said as she parked.

“
I have to use the washroom.” Danny said, getting out of the car with her.

The building containing the bathrooms was added to the back of the main structure so Danny headed around the side while Helen entered through the front.
Just as he reached the bathrooms a man came out and headed toward the vending machine at the end of the path to Danny’s left. The man was middle aged, black and dressed in a large cape or cloak and fur moccasins. Danny entered the washroom, relieved himself in the urinal and washed his hands. When he came back out the man was holding up a can of cold Coke and staring at it.

“
Looks good.” Danny said, admiring the frosty soda.

“
Perhaps.” The man replied.

Although clearly a black man, everything else about the man made him seem Native American. His clothes were made of fur and leather and were tanned a dark
brown. The stranger’s hair was straight and greying with a headband wrapped around that seemed to be keeping it down.

“
What brings you to Washington?” the older man asked.

His eyes never left the cola, although his face did change expression.
It was as if he were waiting for the can to do something, or say something, which Danny wasn’t in the mood to deal with. Danny saw a bench across from the washrooms and sat down. He could see the car, Ray in the back listening to his mp3 player.

“
Checking out the wildlife I guess.” Danny kept his response short; he didn’t want to get into a long discussion with a stranger at a rest stop. Especially one dressed so oddly. 

“
Aren’t the animals the same as in Canada?”

“
How do you know I’m from Canada?”

“
I can recognize one of my own,” with that said the stranger offered Danny the cola with a smile. Danny took it and smiled back, taking a small sip. It was simply too cold and refreshing to ignore. As the man watched him, Danny realized something was off.

“
I’m sorry, I can’t pay you for this, I don’t have any change on me.”

“
No need, it is my pleasure. My name is Morgan Snowfall.”

Danny shook hands with the man, but immediately the stranger
bowed and began to walk away.

“
Morgan’s my daughter’s name.” Danny said.

“
It’s a great name.” The older man replied. “Take it easy.”

Snowfall
said as he patted Danny on the shoulder. There was a smoky scent about the man, like a fire of pine wood mixed with marijuana and tobacco.

“
Thanks for the Coke.” Danny said, raising the can in the air. The man nodded in response and continued walking north toward the highway.

“
Sometimes an act of kindness makes all the difference,” said Snowfall, pulling his cloak tight around his shoulders.

             
After they crossed over the border, Danny was fed up with just slouching in his seat. During the previous two weeks it had felt like his abilities had started waning, they no longer seemed to provide the spark of energy he’d first experienced. He was becoming accustomed to it. The almost scientific method he’d been using to determine the limits of his power was beginning to bore him. The words of the stranger from the store seemed to bounce around in his head. Finally Danny sat up and turned to Helen.

“
Pull over, I want to get out.” Danny said.

Helen gave him a
sharp look and pulled over.

“
I’m going to walk back.” Danny said, getting out.

“
Why would you want to walk Danny?” Helen asked.

“
Dad wants to be at one with nature.” Ray said jokingly.

“
Actually that’s pretty much it. It doesn’t feel right, doing things like this. I have to actually do something you know? Even if it just means going for a long run or something.”

“
You’re just getting used to it Danny, like everything else. The first rush of excitement soon gives way to familiarity. It’s normal.”

“
Maybe. I just need to think about it, clear my head.” Danny replied.

“
Fine. Have fun. Only you could get bored of super powers, Danny.”

Helen pulled away as Ray saluted sarc
astically from the back seat. Danny held his soda pop up high as the car kicked up dirt and drove away.

The night air did nothing for his sullen mood.
Danny walked along the road, watching the tail lights of their red Volvo until it disappeared into the darkness. Once they were gone he stepped off the road and began to walk east into the wilderness along the border between Canada and the United States. Taking a drink of his cola, he wished he’d never accepted it now that he was stuck carrying it. He’d spent so much time revelling in his new powers he’d lost track of why he was given them in the first place. The threat to the Earth had failed to appear and he wondered if perhaps he was supposed to track it down somehow. Without knowing what to do, he was starting to feel lost. Danny didn’t want to accept that Helen might have been right in the car, that his abilities were starting to feel commonplace. The initial joys of his experiences were fading and it worried him. He wondered if this wasn’t just another one of his half-assed interests that he’d eventually grow bored of. Over the years he’d taken up many new hobbies and challenges that he’d obsess over for a few weeks. Then he’d move onto something else, the hockey gear, half-finished novel and drum set in the garage was proof of how fickle he was with his interests. Those were just from the year before; there was evidence of his aborted ventures gathering dust throughout their house dating back two decades.

Danny also began to
feel guilty for not spending more time with the kids. Morgan and Ray had seen him every day but his attention had been focused on showing off his new powers. With no job, it was no big deal to spend time with them directly, doing what they wanted to do. Yet it seemed like he could never make it happen; either the kids wanted to do something he didn’t want to or he wanted to do something they had no interest in. With Ray, this was a little more acceptable because he was a teenager and reluctant to spend time with his father but Morgan was younger and needed more time with him. Morgan was nothing but a red-headed angel, she just wanted to be kind and be loved in return. Danny had even forgotten to follow up with Dr. Rue about Ray’s accident and that angered him. When he first heard the young boy shouting, he thought for sure it was one of his own children calling to him. Suddenly he realized it was really happening, at that very moment, out in the darkened forest there was a child crying out.

“
Help! Help!”

Danny borrowed th
e night-vision of a local bobcat and scanned the area. He saw a young boy, no more than a year or two older than Morgan, running toward him waving a tiny little flashlight. The child had a very short, clean haircut and wore a red puffy vest that reminded Danny of Michael J. Fox in the time travel movies. The boy could barely catch his breath as Danny kneeled down to listen to him.

“
There’s . . . a . . . bear. My Mom and. . . . Dad are stuck in . . . . the car.” The young boy grabbed Danny’s hand and pulled him forward.

“
Okay kid, I’m coming.”

The boy dragged him toward a cluster of trees. Danny could see the van amongst the trees but he saw no sign of a
brown bear. Yet his instincts and new abilities told him there was one around, its scent was in the air. Danny had borrowed night-vision from the bobcat and he’d picked up a predator’s instinct as well. He knew there was a threat out there in the night; he could even smell the food that had attracted the bear in the first place.

“
What’s your name?” Danny asked, hoping it would calm the kid down.

“
Bradley, Bradley Thomas.” The boy wheezed, still out of breath.

“
Stay right here, okay Bradley? Do not come closer, no matter what.”

The young boy nodded in agreement.

“Do you have a phone?” Danny asked.

The young
boy nodded again, trying to hold back tears.

“
Call 9-11. Tell them you are just off the highway, near the border.”

Danny ran around the trees an
d into the camp site. The bear was circling the old gray van, driven to anger by the smell of food coming from inside. The boy’s parents sat in the front seat, too afraid to take any action. The man in the van looked identical to his son and he was even more scared than the boy had been. The father waved his arms wildly even though it was obvious Danny had seen them.

Sniffing the air, the bear
growled and smashed its front paws against the windows. Danny snuck around the opposite side, weaving in and out of the trees.

The bear had already stripped off
metal and white paint with its long jagged claws. It slammed itself down unto the van and the woman screamed. The bear then circled to the passenger side and Danny ducked around the front to the driver.

“
My son,” the man said through the window, “Did you see him? Is he okay?”

Danny just nodded and placed
a finger to his lips for silence. He suddenly realized he was still holding the can of Coke in his hand. There was no where he could put it and after having spoken to the Earth itself, he felt it would be disgusting to throw it on the ground. Instead of littering, he held onto it and circled back around the rear of the van. Danny had duplicated the bear’s abilities once he’d seen it and he knew it was chasing him. They had each other’s scent but Danny used his senses to stay a step ahead. The bear was alone and hungry; it had lived off human garbage for so long it no longer knew how to hunt. Such a proud beast, forced to live off refuse. The smell of fried food from inside the van was enraging it. Danny felt sorry for the bear but he also knew its power. The energy in his fingertips was almost buzzing, eager to duplicate the bear’s powerful claws. He understood how easily it could kill because he could feel its strength pumping through his veins. Red energy wanted to burst from him but he did not want to hurt the bear. The animal was so lonely and Danny knew why it had been alone so long; the beast was dying. It was rotting slowly from the inside. A blockage that had burst was now causing the rest of the organs to fail. Danny knew it was fatal because he could smell the sickness of it; the bear’s scent was putrid with the smell of death. There was no way he could describe the smell in human terms other than that it was the smell of rot itself. No words could describe it but it was obvious to the other animals. The bear had been abandoned to die by its own kind.