Justification For Killing (25 page)

“
Now I find out! Oh
well... oh yeah, cows, you’re right Clem, there were a lot of cows
also. I don’t know what kind of cows they were. They were just
cows, gentle cows, with big, ole moon-eyed white faces.”

“
John, fer like of a
better name we just call’em whiteface cows.” That brought a chuckle
to all sitting around the table. “You no Penelope if I was’ta cut
off the main road and take that road over Saddlehorn Gulch, it’d
only be a couple of miles over thar to that Double Pond Lake,
what’d you think?”

“
I figure your right Clem.
It can’t be more’n five miles.”

Moving from the dining
room to the fireplace room Clem went around behind and plugged the
TV cord into the wall. “Sorry,” said Clem, “the turn-on switch is
broke. I jest have to plug it in to get it to come on.”

The TV announcer was
talking about Dallas, and the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy. They all sat staring at the screen as if it were an event
they were just now hearing about but knowing full well it was their
interference, which caused the Presidents ultimate demise. Captain
Scarburg was the first to speak, “You know, this is weird. I
watched this same television news program while I was a junior at
the University of Alabama. I remember it distinctly. All my buddies
were sitting in the rec room frozen to the TV. Watch right here
Walter Cronkite will come on with an interview with Abraham
Zapruder.”

No sooner had Captain
Scarburg uttered the words Conkrite appeared with Mr. Zapruder.
“Well I’ll be,” said Clem. “How old was you John?”

“
Let’s see... I was born
in 1943, and this is in 1963, so I guess I was about twenty years
old.”

“
What! What you sayin’
John I was born in 1938 and Penelope in 1940! John you must be
fifty or sixty years old! I’m not tryin’ to make fun, but you’re a
lot older than us. We should be older than you! What’s
up?”

“
Clem and Penelope, in
1963 you are older than a person born in 1943, but remember I am
from the year 2012. In fact, I am sixty-nine years old! You forget
I come from the 21st century.”

“
I know this is supposed
to make sense, but for the sake of me, this is crazy. But John,
young or old, I reckon you done what you come here to
do?”

“
No Clem, WE did what I
came here to accomplish. Today, I can assume, you both are
extremely sad and upset by the scenes of President Kennedy’s death
on your television. But believe me Clem and Penelope, you will
never know how much better the world will be from this day forward.
I want to thank you both; although, your deeds will go unnoticed
and recognized, just always remember, I will not forget! I WILL be
returning to an entirely different world than the one I left. I
just hope and pray this new world will include my grandson
Bud.”

“
We do to,” said Clem.
“But, you’re right I’m sad watching this Kennedy stuff, but I’m
glad knowin’ what we did was for the best.”

“
Oh, almost forgot – do
not forget to watch your Uncle Sparky shoot Lee Harvey Oswald
Sunday. You don’t want to miss that.”

The hours passed swiftly.
Grandpa explained the world of the 21st century. It was like trying
to explain an airplane to cave men. The more he talked, the less
they understood. They liked the idea that everyone would have a
color TV. Clem was glad he finally would get off his eight party
telephone line.

They couldn’t believe the
U.S. had sent a man to the moon. They argued with John about that
for a long time. Clem finally said to Captain Scarburg, “John, you
have told us a lot of thangs but you ain’t never goin’ to convince
me y’all sent a man to the moon. This jez ain’t possible – I know I
can see the ‘man in moon’ but he ain’t no real human bein’ – naw, I
ain’t buying that a man actually set foot on that moon. Ever body
knows it is made of green cheese Captain.”

Grinning, “Okay, Clem, I’m
not going to continue trying to convince you that Neil Armstrong
landed on the moon in 1969, you will just have to live to see it
yourself.”

They were sad the Vietnam
War was going to get worst, and many young men were going to die.
“I thought by us fixin’ this Parallel Universe thang there wouldn’t
be no more war!”

“
I wish that were true
Clem, but the Vietnam War does continue but it does not spill over
into the Viruchi War and the atomic warfare between the United
States and Russia will not occur now. We did stop a lot of the
killing, mayhem and destruction.”

“
What about the country
John, what about the president? Is he a good’en?”

“
Well, Clem I really
didn’t want to get into this subject - you have to realize it is
1963, and I come from 2012. Many things have happened. Most of them
good.”

“
Like what
John?”

“
Well there’s no use in
beating around the bush - in 2008 the United States of America
elected a... a...”

‘
What John, y’all elected
a WOMMAN!”

“
Well no, but one did run
for vice president, but their ticket did not win.”

“
What happened? Did she
get elected next time?”

“
Not quite Clem, we
elected a black man! As the blacks themselves want to be called in
2012, an African-American.”

“
You mean a colored man?
Y’all elected a colored man?”

“
Are you prejudiced Clem?
Being a white man do you resent black people? Do you feel superior
to them? Do you think of them as laborers, workers, field hands and
such?”

“
You know John, I’ve never
give it much thought. Thars Mr. Jefferson, he comes around ever now
and then to shoe the hosses. And there’s ole Mason who comes in the
fall and helps us pick the cotton. I don’t never think of them as
black, or what’d you say, ‘Africans in America,’ theys just plain
ole workers doing thar job right alongside me and
Penelope.”

“
That’s admirable Clem,
real admirable. I had a feeling you were the type of person that
would not let a man be judged by the color of his skin but judged
by the content of his character.”

“
That’s good, John, real
good. Thems fine words to live by. I’ll try to ‘member
them.”

“
Yes they are Clem, but
I’m sorry, I copied those words from another man. In a few years,
the African-Americans will have a black leader to come on the scene
who will preach peace and non-violence – you will, in just a couple
of years, know him as the Reverend Martin Luther King.”

“
Was he the one that
becomes our President?”

“
No John the President
will be a man by the name of Barrack Hussein Obama. Here’s the way
the Presidential elections will go: You know President Kennedy was
assassinated today, Lyndon Johnson will replace him and be
president next, then in 1969 Richard Nixon will get elected, then
it will be Gerald Ford, then Jimmy Carter, Ronald Regan, George
Bush, Bill Clinton, George Bush and finally Barrack
Obama.”

“
Okay John I heered yew.
That Ronald Regan one, I’ve seed him in the movies, your Ronald
Regan president jez got the same name? And what about them two Bush
names - did he get elected two times?”

“
Quick answers Clem -
Ronald Regan, IS the same movie actor you watched in the movie, and
no there wasn’t a Bush president that was elected twice, well they
did get elected twice, but this is confusing. Just let it go... it
was two different men. One was the father and the other his
son.”

Before they all realized
it, the large mantel clock over the fireplace had struck
eleven.

“
When do you think we need
to get started Clem? The clock just indicated the bewitching hour
was about to arrive.”

“
The betwich... twitch...
what... ah John you just use to many of them fancy
words.”

“
It just means it’s eleven
o’clock I believe it’s about time to get started over to Double
Pond Lake. What about it Clem?”

“
Dadburn, your rite John,
let me jest turn over to KDAL Channel 5, and see the weather and
we’ll be off, is that okay.”

At 11:30, the local news
and weather finished, and Clem announced he was ready. “John that
weather man said it was goin’ to be cold tonite’ you got a coat or
anything?”

“
Just these stolen duds
everyone says are a red shirt and blue overalls Clem, that’s
it.”

“
Well I got your red
overhalls back from Mr. Simpson. They looked like they would keep
you purty warm. Penelope wher’d you put’em.”

Penelope retrieved the
flight suit from the hall closet, and the Captain pulled it over
his red flannel shirt and blue denim overalls. “Snug as a bug in a
rug,” he said patting his stomach. “Let’s be off, my good man,” he
laughingly said to Clem.

“
That’s a good’ern John,
never heered that one. Got to see if’en I can remember
it.”

Walking to the front door
Captain Scarburg stopped and extended his hand to Penelope saying,
“Miss Penelope Ruby - it has been a great pleasure to meet you. I
want to tell you how much I have enjoyed your meals, and the good
company since you both took me in. Words cannot express how much I
appreciate what you and Clem have done. You will never know what
you both have accomplished these past few days... your lives will
go on as if nothing has happened because to you it will not seem to
change, but you’ll never know how much it will mean to you and
millions of other people. From a grateful nation – thanks to you
both.”

He leaned over gave her a
big hug, and kissed her on the cheek. “Good bye - May God bless and
keep you.”

Chapter
Nineteen

TO SADDLEHORN
GULCH

“
Right up here is that
Saddlehorn Gulch turn-off road John. Hang on, when I said road, I
might have mis-spoke a tetch, maybe I should’ve said trail. Anyways
it’s purty rough. Jest grab ahold and I’ll git you to yer flyin’
machine.”

Clem wasn’t lying
about the road. Trail might be giving it more importance than it
deserved. It would have to come up a notch or two to qualify for
that name. But after bouncing over gullies, rocks and sometime
small trees they arrived at the place where the Captain left
Pegasus
. Unfortunately,
they needed a big ole full moon to illuminate the whole area;
however, that would be more than two weeks later. Tonight it was
just a sliver of a crescent showing. It wasn’t bright enough to see
without any other light. Fortunately, the headlights on Clem’s
wrecker brighten the area considerably. ‘John’ found the stump
right away. He did not see
Pegasus
. He walked up to the stump,
reached his hand out almost expecting to touch something – nothing.
He swung his hand back and forth across the stump. He still felt
nothing, yet he knew his flying machine was right there in front of
them both. He could not see anything, but the air felt different -
something like a fresh rain in the summer time. You cannot see the
rain, but the air feels and smells invigorating. This is the same
sensation the Captain was observing standing on that stump in the
middle of the cow pasture in nowhere Texas.

Clem stood watching, “what
you doin’ John, thar ain’t nothin’ here.”

“
Wrong
Clem! She’s here all right. We just can’t see her yet. Do you smell
that? She’ll appear, just wait.” The smell ‘John’ was referring to
was the ozone
Pegasus
creates when she was arriving or leaving.

Before leaving the
Ponderosa, Penelope had loaned her watch to John, or Captain
Scarburg. She had wound it up real tight and set the hands while
mentioning the watch kept perfect time
. ‘I
hope she is right’
, thought ‘John’.
According to her watch the time was 12:20. Even if
Pegasus
had been close
enough to check the time on his Iphone it would be of no use - the
Iphone was out of power and the Captain had forgotten his charger;
however, once entry was gained to
Pegasus
a power adapter installed in
the control console would allow for the charging of the
Iphone.

“
That’s cutting it fairly
close Clem. The machine should reappear in about ten minutes. Have
you got the wench on the wrecker ready? Okay... good... nothing to
do now but wait. I hope whoever messed with the numbers in the
computer did not, in some way, alter or change the time the five
minute window would occur.”

“
Got my fangers crossed
John. Ever thangs goin’ to be okay.”

Captain Scarburg, leaning
on the fender of Clem’s truck, watched the minutes pass. He was
counting them down to Clem: “five minutes to go... four minutes...
three minutes... two minutes... one minute. Get ready Clem she
should be appearing any second now.”

Slowly the slight
breeze picked up considerably. A hint of a glow could be seen in
the vicinity of the old stump. What was being seen wasn’t actually
a glow it was more like a vapor. A crackling similar to a fire in a
fireplace began, a slight high-pitched hum could be heard along
with the beautiful sound of
Amazing
Grace
on the bagpipes, which seemed to be
playing off in the distance. Gradually, something akin to a blurred
picture began to appear. Suddenly without warning it instantly
materialized. It was beautiful, all shiny and slick in the light of
the waxing moon. Clem could not say anything. If a person had not
known better, he would have thought Clem was in shock, standing up.
His mouth had fallen open, and his eyes looked like a deer caught
in a car’s headlights. “Well I’ll be,” he said. “Well I’ll
be!