Authors: Fern Michaels
Sara's Song (18 page)
“It's a long story, Moses. Real long.”
The rest of the trip into Dumont was made in silence. Moses parked on a shady, tree-lined street. “You git out and walk around. Don't take that cap or them glasses off, you hear? I won't be but an hour or so. You kin see the whole town in that time. You git done seein' everything before I git back, you wait in the truck.” Dallas nodded. “I'm gonna need some money, son.”
Dallas reached into his back pocket. He handed over a fistful of money to the old codger. Moses spit on his finger and he flicked through the bills. “This should do it.”
Ninety minutes later, Moses pulled the Chevy Blazer he was driving alongside the truck. A pile of packages were on the front seat. “You drive my truck, son. Just follow me. Here's your new license. It cost almost as much as the truck.” He cackled at the deal he'd pulled off.
Dallas relaxed behind the wheel of the rickety, rusty truck. For the first time in his life he felt at peace with himself.
Â
Â
It was a little past noon when Moses gave his nod of approval to Dallas's haircut. You look like one of them college professors now.” Dallas grinned.
“He does, doesn't he?” Maggie said, admiring her handiwork.
Moses motioned for Dallas to go indoors while Maggie swept the outdoor patio. “I been thinking, son, about that talk we said we were goin' to have. I think maybe you might be lookin' for advice. I ain't got no book smarts, but I got common sense. Maggi now, she has both. Do you think you might want to include her in our little talk? I can vouch for Maggie. She'd die before she'd give out a secret. Think of us as your mam and pap for now. Let's check the news to see what's goin' on. You might want to rethink whatever it is that you're plannin' on doin'.
Dallas nodded. No one but this old man had ever called him son. He liked the way it sounded.
“What's fer dessert, Maggie?” Moses called.
“I was going to.wann up the apple dumplings and put some ice cream on them unless you want hot fudge, Moses.”
“I'll take both,” Moses said smartly.
Not to be outdone, Dallas said just as smartly, “Me too.”
Moses changed the channel to CNN. Dallas moved up closer to see his brother Adam lash out in anger at one of the reporters. “Did you hear him? I always wanted to do that. They get in your face and won't back off. Then if you do something or say the wrong thing, they hack you to bits.” To Moses he said, “That's my brother Adam.”
Moses thought he would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to miss the pride in Dallas's voice when he said the words “my brother.”
The screen door slammed behind Maggie as she leaned the broom in the corner. “Chicken-pot pie for lunch. Set the table, Moses. Ice tea or coffee?”
“Guess she ain't makin' lemonade today. Fridge must be kickin' up agin. Looks to me like that oven is kickin' up, too.”
“Stop complaining, Moses. So what if the pie is a little darker on one side. It tastes the same. If you want lemonade, I'll make lemonade.”
“Coffee's fine,” Dallas said, as he eyed the immaculate kitchen with the homey knickknacks and green plants on the windowsill, and then compared it to his sterile state-of-the-art kitchen in California. Sara would call this kitchen cozy, and he would have to agree with her. He liked the pudgy woman with the thick braid of hair and twinkling blue eyes. He put her age at somewhere in the middle sixties. She looked like one of the mothers or grandmothers he and Adam used to look at so longingly in the catalogues Millie kept in the house. She wore an apron the way mothers did and she had a smudge of flour on one cheek. Probably from the pie dough. He barely knew her, but he liked her a lot. He knew in his gut she had no hidden agendas, just the way Moses had none. Instinct told him he could trust both of them with his life.
Thirty minutes later Maggie passed around the apple dumplings. “You're that fella on the news channel, aren't you?” Dallas stopped chewing to stare at her. He nodded, his face miserable. “I was in the back in the tail section. The plane exploded before I could get to it. There wasn't anything I could do. I don't know why I was spared and the others weren't.”
Maggie leaned across the table. “We're going to let these dishes set for now. I think Moses and I need to pay attention to you, young man. God works in mysterious ways. Everyone knows that. You never question the Lord. I learned that when my man died. He has a reason for everything he does. Now, why do you want to be Jack Piper?”
“Told you she was smart,” Moses cackled. “Let's have a cigarette to go with this dee-licious coffee.”
“Don't try to butter me up. You know your limit's five, Moses. You're not supposed to be smoking at all. Well, how many?”
“Two,” Moses lied.
“One, that's it.”
“One's good,” the old man said. It was a process they went through at least a dozen times a day. Left to his own devices, Moses would chain smoke. With Maggie guarding the cigarettes, he had no choice but to obey because it was for his own good.
“You go ahead now, son, and tell us everything from the git-go. We're goin' to sit here and listen and won't say a word, till you're all done. Maybe we'll give you some advice and maybe we won't. You can trust us both. Ain't that right, Maggie?”
“Whatever you tell us will go no further.” Maggie agreed.
Dallas talked until he grew hoarse. When he wound down he looked at Maggie and Moses expectantly. He didn't realize he was holding his breath until it exploded from his mouth like a gunshot.
“I was a schoolteacher for twenty years before we moved out here to the desert. I can tell you where to go and what to do. Your Sara sounds like a very smart lady. It's obvious to me you feel inferior to her because of her education and her being a doctor. You love her, don't you? At the same time you're afraid to admit it. So you played it cool. Isn't that the way young people describe it today?” To Moses she said, “It's a way of saying something to save face in case something goes awry later on.” Moses nodded sagely.
Maggie held up her hand. “You love your brother, and that's the way it should be. Moses and I know what it's like not to have children. Yet you resent him, and that's understandable given your circumstances. What happened to you, Dallas, happens to many children. You were allowed to slip through the cracks. It's unforgivable, but it's in the past. We can't get yesterday back. We have today and all the tomorrows yet to come. I know many people in the education field back in Los Angeles. If you want, I'll make some calls and set things up for you. I think you need to hear with your own ears from someone in the know that you are not retarded. And speaking of hearing, just how bad is your hearing?”
Dallas felt his jaw drop. “How did you know? I barely hear out of my left ear.”
“I watch you read lips. If Moses or I say something to you when we're behind you, you don't hear us. Hearing aids are wonderful things. They've perfected them to the extent they're almost invisible. It can be fixed, Dallas. The television gave your age as thirty-eight. That probably means you should have reading glasses at the very least. Do you have trouble seeing?” Dallas nodded. “That can be fixed, too. Why did you wait so long?”
“I just gave up. Things were going from bad to worse with Adam. Then Billy died. I met Sara, and things started looking better, but I didn't know where to turn. I wanted to be . . . like Adam. For her. I didn't want to be Dallas Lord anymore. I wanted to be Joe Schmo. What I wanted was to be goddamn
normal.
Half my life is over. Do you have any idea how much I missed?”
normal.
Half my life is over. Do you have any idea how much I missed?”
“Of course I know. Unfortunately, you cannot unring the bell. Yesterday no longer matters. You
are
normal, Dallas Lord. You have to believe that. Think of it like thisâyou are going to go back to school with a teacher who will give you one-on-one instruction. If that's really what you want. Are you clear in your own mind about the consequences of what will happen to your brother, your estate, the band, all the things that made up your old life?”
are
normal, Dallas Lord. You have to believe that. Think of it like thisâyou are going to go back to school with a teacher who will give you one-on-one instruction. If that's really what you want. Are you clear in your own mind about the consequences of what will happen to your brother, your estate, the band, all the things that made up your old life?”
“My brother will take care of all that. Everyone is financially set. Adam saw to that. Sara has her profession. Sandi Sims is the only one who concerns me. She has a mean streak in her. She might try to manipulate Adam, but he'll see right through her. I worry that she might try to steal ”Sara's Song” from Sara. She's the only one who wasn't provided for.”
“Why?” Maggie asked bluntly.
“She was new to the band. I had . . . we had . . . it didn't work for me. I knew she was using me. It was easier to go along with certain things. I told you, I mentally closed up shop. I'm not proud of it. It was what I had to do at the time.”
“Can you really give up all the fame, the money, the notoriety, and adoration?”
“In a heartbeat.” Dallas touched his chest. “I have to find out what kind of person I am once the playing field is leveled. If I have to become Jack Piper to do it, then I'm Jack Piper. The only thing that bothers me is Adam and Sara. When someone like an artist dies, his pictures become more valuable. I saw a documentary on television, so I know how that works. I don't know if Sara will keep the song private. I don't think she would ever try to sell it for money. If what the documentary said was true, that particular song will be priceless in the music field. Sandi doesn't have any . . . ethics. I'll have to work on that.”
“You'll be able to get lost in LA, Dallas, if you keep a low profile. If Moses or I can be of any help, all you have to do is call us. On your new cell phone.” Dallas laughed.
“I know what I'm planning is wrong, but I'll never know what it's like to lead a normal life if I don't do it this way. I think I walked away from that plane crash for just this reason. I think God is giving me a second chance. I can't blow it this time.”
Maggie nodded. “Your sunburn is healing nicely with the aloe. Why don't you and Moses take a walk so I can clean up here and get on with supper. It's all going to work out, honey. You call us anytime you feel down. We'll keep your secret.”
Outside, Moses fired up a cigarette. “I snitched it when she wasn't lookin'.” He was so proud of his sleight of hand Dallas didn't have the heart to criticize him. “Told you Maggie had smarts. You gonna go for them tests she talked about?”
“Yes. I'll get my ears and eyes checked, too. The whole ball of wax, Moses. But, the first thing I'm going to do when I leave here day after tomorrow is get a dog. My brother has seven. That's so hard for me to believe. He called one of them Dallas Six. Can you beat that?”
“A dog is a big responsibility. Sounds to me like you never took responsibility for anything but your music.”
“Pretty damn sad, isn't it?”
Moses nodded. “Tomorrow I'll take you to the pound. Lots of animals there that are lookin' for a good home.”
“Was there a reason why you didn't have kids, Moses?”
“It jest never happened.”
“What about Maggie?”
“Couldn't carry a baby to term is the way she puts it. Wasn't meant to be I guess.”
“I wanted a mom so bad when I was little. I used to cry myself to sleep. Adam did all he could, but he wanted a mom, too. More than a dad I think. Then when we started getting older we used to talk about what a father would do. You know, take us fishing, ground us when we did something wrong, go to ball games, and buy us hot dogs.”
“You want a stand-in pap, I'll be glad to apply for the job,” Moses said gruffly. “I know for a pure fact Maggie would love nothin' bettern standing in for your mam.”
Dallas stared at the old man for a long minute, his eyes burning unbearably. When he couldn't stand it any longer he turned and ran to his cabin, where he howled his head off.
The old man knuckled his own eyes before he returned to the kitchen to talk to Maggie.
Dallas packed his duffel, straightened up his room, and hung up the wet towels before he headed over to Maggie's for his last breakfast. For one brief second he thought he was in the wrong place. He felt a lump swell in his throat when he saw the couple dressed in what he knew was their finest apparel. Moses wore a three-piece blue suit that smelled strongly of mothballs and had gone so far as to shave off his straggly beard, and it looked like Maggie had given him a fresh haircut. Her own hair was crimped, her face powdered, and she wore bright red lipstick. She wore a glorious flowered dress that rivaled an English garden.
Other books
Cat Coming Home by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Camp Forget-Me-Not by J. K. Rock
Christmas Wishes by Katie Flynn
GHETTO SUPERSTAR by Nikki Turner
The Catching Kind by Caitie Quinn
The Convenient Arrangement by Jo Ann Ferguson
The Chocolate Heart by Laura Florand
Sport of Baronets by Theresa Romain
The Unsung Hero by Samantha James
A Colder Kind of Death by Gail Bowen
