The Final Shortcut (3 page)

Just three weeks premature, the new Baumann was alert and active. His little shriveled features made Martin frown as he peered in at him. “He
will
start to look better than that, won’t he?”

Doctor Ray threw his head back and laughed so hard he thought he might choke.

“Yes… yes he will, and he is healthy and normal in every way.” Martin breathed a big sigh and found a chair to collapse in. He could barely hold up his head now that a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“What about Ellen?”

The old Doctor put his arm around him and said; “She will need a lot of love and care, but she’s doing well right now and she’s in very good hands. What you need to do is get home and get to bed. And so do I, if I don’t get some rest I may need a Doctor. Your pal Clyde should be here any moment to give us a ride home; I don’t think either of us would be safe on the road today.” Martin nodded his head in agreement. “By the way, have you decided on a name yet?” Martin just smiled and nodded his head, so tired he really didn’t try to answer. They got up and started on their way toward the exit, happy that this ordeal was over.

The new life in the incubator was the focus of Martin’s young life. He didn’t know where to start in the care of his new family, didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. He could not have imagined even in his worse nightmare what the years ahead would bring, what misery and horror lay in the future. What infamous history that was about to unfold in his sleepy mountain home. This new innocent life that was to fall prey to an evil fate that could only have been the plan of the Devil himself. Had he been able to see into the future, been able to foretell the events that would take place over the next four decades, he would certainly not want to claim a son like Martin Baumann Junior.

Chapter 2

Ellen rose from her chair to look out the window as she heard the sound of her husband’s new tractor coming across the field toward home. Junior was sitting in Marty’s lap with his hands on the steering wheel pretending to drive. The two of them spent almost every waking hour together at whatever task or project Marty wanted to do. She smiled and turned to go out on the porch to check her new tie-dye tee shirt that was soaking in a big washtub. Making clothes and sewing was her newest obsession and the tie-dye was the fashion of the day. She really loved the mod culture and spent most of her time reading about it. Even though they stayed in the hills most of the time, Marty made sure that they kept up with the current news and happenings around the world. He had even bought them tickets to a rock concert to be held in Bethel, New York next month in August. It had been five years since Junior was born and they had been preoccupied with taking care of each other. So much so that they hadn’t taken a vacation in all that time. She knew that Marty was doing this solely for her benefit, as he was very happy to stay at home and in the woods hunting. He didn’t care much for rock and roll music but he would do anything at all to make her happy. She still suffered from terrible headaches and occasional weakness due to her heart problem. Any permanent damage from her ordeal during the birth of her son was almost imperceptible, though she did have a hard time concentrating. The Doctors had said that she was 90 percent perfect. The only anomaly was a decreased flow of blood in her brain. But she was sure that they didn’t know what they were talking about because she felt fine. She would never admit to anyone that she often felt lost and anxious for no reason. The tee shirt was done and she was taking it out of the tub when Marty and his shadow came to the porch. He walked up to her and grabbed her around the waist, pulled her close and gave her a big hug and kiss.

“You’re gonna get red dye all over yourself,” she giggled as she scolded her husband.

“Well then you can say you jes created a new design freehand.” He held his grip on her and started dancing across the porch, splashing red dye over them both. They both laughed as she let the shirt drop to the floor. Junior joined in and the three of them spent the next few minutes laughing and dancing around. Everything within four feet was splashed with dye, but Marty didn’t care. He loved his job and business was good; his son and wife were happy and healthy and that’s all he cared about. Ellen began to get a little miffed at the red stain drying on her porch, an addition that was only finished two months ago. It was the last construction project they had completed, putting the finishing touch on their completely new house.

“You just ruined your new porch. You know that dye won’t wash out.” She scolded him lightly, knowing that he would fix it or replace it.

He looked at her with a sheepish grin, “I can sand it off or we can paint it, or I’ll just build you another one, maybe even bigger than this one. How would that be?” She couldn’t stay mad at him and he knew it. He cherished her and doted over her, his devotion to the two of them was paramount in his life. He knew she wasn’t fully well, he also knew that she had problems that she would never admit. But as long as she was happy he would give them almost anything they asked for. They talked about their trip to the Woodstock Music Festival all through dinner and into the night. She was so excited that she didn’t notice when Junior fell asleep on the floor in front of the TV. They had bought a new camper trailer for the occasion. She wanted to paint it with flowers, peace signs and hang tie-dyed curtains inside. He laughed at her exuberance. And laughed at the way she put her entire energy into this trip. Smiling broadly, he pulled her into his lap for a long hug and she responded in kind. Slipping down to the floor, she scooped up Junior and looked back at him with a familiar gleam in her eyes. Without a word she turned and headed down the hall toward Junior’s room, turning on their bedroom light as she passed it. Marty rose to his feet and went to check the door locks and looked out the front window across his mountain. It was just a little past sundown, too early for bed, but he knew that it would be some time before either of them got any sleep. As he stood there taking in the scenery, he thought about how lucky he was to have this place in the hills. And how lucky he was to have a loving family and friends in town that helped him to safeguard his profitable family business. His reflection in the darkening plate glass window made him chuckle as he had a huge toothy grin plastered across his face. Ellen’s footsteps padding up the hall told him she was through tucking Junior in, time to tuck Marty in now. Life was good. Walking toward the bedroom he decided that he would wait until tomorrow to tell her that she could hang the tie-dyed curtains in the camper, but no peace signs.

Long before daylight he was out of the door and into the woods on one of his almost daily hunting trips, one of the few true passions in his life. He would be back by breakfast and then he and Junior would make their rounds on the farm. Besides the marijuana, he also kept a few pigs, chickens and a couple cows. But just enough to keep them in fresh bacon, eggs and milk. Ellen had read somewhere about how psilocybin mushrooms grew out of cow dung and she harvested them whenever the conditions were right. He didn’t really care for anything more than the reefer but as long as they were a natural high, he didn’t have a problem with it. Sitting quietly on a ridge overlooking a deer trail he smoked his first joint of the day, still grinning from the night before. Even though he knew the deer would smell him a mile away he really didn’t care. The solitude and the beauty of this place were enough for him. Besides more deer would come along later. Not long after he had finished the smoke, he spotted some movement in the trees upwind of him. Slowly raising his rifle to his shoulder, he took aim at the rustling branches. A doe stepped out of him brush and stopped to sniff the air, but he didn’t move. She stood there for what seemed like an eternity before moving on down the path under his perch. In his experience he knew that a buck was most likely behind her in hiding, and he was right.

Ellen was just opening her eyes when she heard the rifle shot echoing through the trees. That meant that her man would be home in about an hour with some fresh meat and an appetite. That also meant she had time for a couple joints and a couple cups of coffee before breakfast, just some of her many passions in life. The happy homemaker’s role suited her fine most of the time but she was yearning for adventure and excitement. She had gone from Daddy’s house to Marty’s house and felt she was missing a lot of the outside world. Both of them were avid readers, though their tastes were markedly different. His favorites were mysteries, horror, science and technology, while she concentrated on travel, music, and the current news about the free love, drug culture set

She yearned for friends outside the normal residents of the back woods; felt that she was being deprived of fulfilling her dreams. Being an artist or singer was just a couple of her more recent obsessions, something that changed as often as the seasons of the year.

However, she couldn’t get motivated enough to actually do anything about it. Her frustration over her inability to accomplish any of her dreams had started eating away at her. Privately making her resent her present life. This trip, she hoped, would make Marty anxious to travel more often.

Heading out to New York at the beginning of the week would give them plenty of time to sightsee along the way. Their new camper was stocked to the hilt with food, clothes and plenty of smoke. Ellen had also stashed some other goodies that she was keeping to herself for now.

They spent the next two days winding through the mountains, finding scenic campsites along the way. Everywhere they stopped was a new thrill; everything was new and exciting. The plan was to get to the concert site a couple days early and check out the area there, maybe even go into New York City for a quick tour. When they had gotten within twenty miles of Bethel, they couldn’t help but notice the increase in hitchhikers and vans with “Woodstock or Bust” signs. After stopping for gas and getting the lowdown on the amount of traffic headed their way, they decided to go on to the concert and camp there until it was over. Which turned out to be a very good idea. As it was they had a hard time finding a dry campsite. The country boy that he was made him take extra care to find a good spot. A big shade tree covered most of their camper and they were far enough away to be reasonably quiet. Just a short walk to the stage area and within sight of the emergency crews. The first evening they hardly stood still. They walked around meeting people, sharing a joint here and there. Ellen was extremely pleased that Marty was so outgoing, making introductions and meeting new friends. They didn’t sleep very much that night, or the next. The old cow pasture seemed like a city of its own. Cultural diversity, food of many kinds and more drugs than they had ever heard of. They fell asleep in each other’s arms after making love, twice. The concert would start tomorrow and the field was teeming with activity. A local radio station had kept them up to date on the amount of people there and which bands were to appear. It seemed to them that this was to be the event of the year. The event of their lifetime to be sure, in more ways than one.

When Marty woke up that morning, Ellen was already outside watching the mass of folks that had converged on them during the night. A nearly unbroken carpet of moving colors; a deceptively dangerous throng of humanity. A couple camped nearby had become new friends and Ellen was anxious to go with them to the stage. And as how Marty wasn’t into music much, he seized the opportunity to stay back and look after Junior. He used the reasoning that it was a long concert and he could take his turn later. Truthfully he wanted to get some more sleep. Once she disappeared into the crowd a thought crossed his mind that she might not find her way back. A thought he didn’t dwell on long; didn’t give into the sudden feeling of dread that swept over him. He turned instead to see if Junior had gotten up yet. When he looked at his son lying in his bed, cold chills ran up his spine. An anxiety flooded over him, the likes of which he had never felt before. He couldn’t understand it, but it frightened him. Just then Junior woke up, rubbed his eyes and looked at him. Without a word he grabbed Junior and gave him a long hug. Junior giggled a bit and Marty smiled broadly and asked, “Are you hungry sport?”

“Yeh!” Junior squealed as he bounded out of the bed; Marty rose feeling a little better, just a little.

That evening around a campfire, Ellen and her friends Sarah and Mark, regaled Marty about all that had occurred during the day. They laughed and sang parts of songs they had heard. Mark had a guitar and did his best to entertain the rest of them as they passed yet another joint around the fire. The stage was well lit in the distance and the music played late into the night. Everyone, everywhere was partying like there was no tomorrow. Three times Marty had seen naked girls and guys strolling about, he had even come upon a couple making love earlier that day, right out in the open. Ellen jumped up and said, “Hey, I got a surprise for you.” Marty looked at her with red eyes and a permanent grin.

“Who me?”

“Well,” she started, “something we can share with our new friends.” She went into the camper and retrieved her stash. “I got some ‘shrooms I been saving for the trip.” She giggled when she said trip. “For a trip…or two.” They both giggled as she held out the bag

“ Man o’ man.” Mark stood up and staggered a bit as he reached for the bag. Ellen opened it enough for them to see that it was over half full of the intoxicating fungi. “I have never seen that many mushrooms before.”

Ellen smiled, raised her hands in the air and said, “I got more than that for later, enough to share with the world.” She almost fell as she turned to set the bag down. Marty was not extremely happy at the thought of babysitting her while she tripped, but he was so stoned he couldn’t stop smiling. “Would you like one.” she gleamed as she held one out to Mark.

“Man, you mean you just eat them, raw? We usually make tea or a cocktail.”

Sarah chimed in, “Yeh, they taste a lot smoother in some tea or a screwdriver.” Ellen popped one in her mouth and hugged up to Marty, holding the mushroom in her teeth. She kissed him and they chewed it up together, she getting the larger portion. Marty didn’t like to be so out of control and he made a mental note that he was going to have a serious talk with her about it once they got home. Mark and Sarah followed suit, laughing so hard they almost didn’t get to eat it all. “Where did you get so many of these? Are there more?”