A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (5 page)

“
So you’re a ski-bum. You
move around from town to town and just ski.” I stated.

“
Not a ski-bum, just in
need of a change. I received an inheritance and decided to travel
and ski for a few years. I work, at the hardware store, because I
can’t imagine not being a ‘productive member of society.’ My
grandfather drilled that into my head from a very young age,”
Link’s eyes became distant.

“
Is he gone?”

“
Grandpa? Yeah, two years
now. Mom and Dad died in a crash when I was ten so Grandma and
Grandpa raised me. They really did a great job. Then the month
after I finished high school, Grandma died. Grandpa was never the
same after she passed. He couldn’t seem to live without her. He
died twenty months later. So I’m an orphan, alone in the world. I
miss them terribly, Grandpa the most. Feel sorry for me yet?” he
put on a façade of a smile.

“
My parents passed away a
long time ago too, but Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jason gave me a home.
I’m lucky to have them, just as you were lucky to have your
grandparents,” I reflected on our similarities. “I’m sorry they are
gone. Is there no one else out there for you?”

“
Not family... I ruined a
few friendships after Grandpa died. I wouldn’t accept anyone’s help
and in the end, alienated some good people. I’m doing better now.
Time heals all wounds, or so they say.”

“
Some wounds run deeper
than others,” I trailed off.

I had my own gaping wound that I had never
allowed to mend. My heart, once full of love, had been ravaged and
torn into a million pieces. It was the one wound I could control.
Once, stupidly and senselessly, when I felt unable to deal with my
loss, I had cut myself to end my pain. Those wounds had healed
within minutes, without my control, no evidence remained of my
trauma. But the loss of Roger, and the wound from that loss, was
mine. If I let it heal would there be any trace of him left. I was
unmoved in my irrational need to cling to my sorrow. Would my mind
erase the memories of Roger, as my body had erased my scars?

Catherine had tried so hard
to get me to understand the importance of letting myself heal. She
had lost her family, long before we had met. She eventually let go
of her sorrow and love had blossomed again, in James. But finding
James was a fluke, finding me was a fluke. I never wanted to love
again. I wasn’t sure I could mentally recover from another loss.
Once was more than I seemed able to bear and
time
would eventually take everyone
away from me, except Catherine and James.

“
Where did you go?” Link’s
voice roused me from the past.

“
I was just thinking about
love and loss. It’s a hard thing to live through... losing the ones
you love,” I mused.

“
How old are you, high
school girl?” he asked softly.

“
Seventeen, but today I
feel vastly older.”

“
Sorry, did I start this
depressing conversation? That’s no good. I’ll have to fix that. We
should get our minds on something else. Laughter is the best
medicine right? How about you and I go to the theater and watch the
new comedy that opened? No funny business, just friends,” Link
paused, “Can a twenty-two year old guy be friends with a seventeen
year old girl?” he asked.

“
Almost eighteen,” I
interjected. “I really have no idea why I’m doing this, I barely
know you, but sure, I’d like that. Why did I just say yes to that?”
I truly sounded puzzled by my own decision.

“
It’s my powers,” he
teased.

“
Your awesome powers,” I
corrected. “Come inside and wait in the kitchen while I
change.”

I led him to the kitchen and ordered him to
sit at the counter. I pushed a can of soda and a bag of chips in
front of him. “Stay here,” I commanded as I dropped the television
remote in his hand.

“
Yes ma’am,” he saluted me
with a flash of that brilliant smile.

I paused, as a moment of déjà vu washed over
me, then shook my head.

I ran upstairs and locked the door to my
suite of rooms, a girl can never be too careful. I jumped in the
shower for a world record attempt at speed washing. Then I dried
off, dressed in jeans and a sweater, applied my make-up, and blew
dry my hair all in record time. I ran downstairs to find Link right
where I’d left him, channel surfing.

“
That wasn’t too long was
it?” I asked, slightly out of breath.

“
For a girl, that was
astounding.”

“
I’d look better if I’d
taken longer.”

“
You look fine, let’s go. I
checked movie times while you were upstairs and the next one starts
in forty minutes or so. Together or separate...?” Link questioned
me, raising his key ring into the air and giving it a
jingle.

“
Separate. I’ll stop
by
A Step in Time
after the movie’s over. Rachel was headed there after she ate
lunch with Jason.” I answered, mentally reviewing my words, hoping
I had said the correct names.

We exited the side door, out to the
driveway, and walked over to our nearly identical SUVs. They were
the same make, model, and color, but mine had the newer body style.
The differences were only subtle changes.

“
Weird... Great minds and
all,” I smiled. “I’m going to park by the boutique and then walk
over to the theater, okay?”

“
I’ll do the same then,” he
smiled back.

During the twenty minute drive from Mountain
Village into the town of Telluride I tried to figure out what had
just happened? I allowed a young man, I had just recently met, to
come into my home. And now, I was accompanying him to the movies.
This wasn’t me, I didn’t do these things. I kept people at a safe
distance. I flashed a fake smile and did group activities. This
wasn’t safe... was it?

“
Friends,” I concentrated
on the word. He had said friends. I could be friends with another
lost soul. I could be friends with someone who had experienced
similar heartache. I could be friends with Lincoln
Knight.

We parked our twin vehicles, one in front of
the other, on Colorado Ave. and walked to the theater. I pulled out
my cell phone and sent a text to both James’s and Catherine’s
phone, to let them know what I was doing.

“
Letting your Aunt and
Uncle know where you are?” Link asked casually.

“
Yeah, when they see my SUV
in front of the boutique they’ll wonder where I am.”

“
It’s nice to have someone
to worry about you.”

“
I guess it is,” I
agreed.

When the movie was over, Link and I stopped
for a coffee and a hot cocoa at the innuendo named bookstore. We
had an easy banter with each other, and kept the conversation
centered around the movie, staying away from anything personal.

Afterwards, I headed over to the shop.

“
Aunt Rachel,” I called out
as I used my key to enter the boutique. It was a Sunday evening, we
were closed, so I was pretty sure she’d be alone. She liked to go
in when James was working. “Catherine,” I called out next when I
didn’t hear a response.

I went into the back room to find her
intently bent over her drawing pad. Her chalks and pencils were
scattered across the table. She was so absolutely absorbed in her
drawing that she didn’t hear me enter.

“
Well who are you today? I
tried both Rachel and Catherine and didn’t get a response to
either,” I teased.

“
Still Rachel, always
Catherine,” she smiled at me. “So, I got your message. Sorry I
didn’t send one back, you know how I hate texting and email. It’s
such an impersonal way to communicate. Cell phones I can deal with,
then I can hear your voice and judge your temperament from it. I
was just leaving James when we got it. He said that Lincoln gave an
excellent first impression. Did you have a good time?”

“
The movie was good, not as
funny as I’d hoped. I just don’t get comedy these days,” I
confessed. “It’s strange, Catherine, there is something so familiar
about Link. It is easy to be around him. He is irritating and
calming all at the same time. Is that weird?”

“
Not weird,” she answered,
“James irritates me and calms me on a daily basis.”

“
Friends, we are going to
be friends, Catherine,” I stressed the words to her.

“
That’s all you should be
dear, you just met the boy,” Catherine smiled.

“
The twenty-two year old
boy,” I stated.

“
That’s still a boy to you
and me,” she replied.

“
Yes, you are right about
that,” I agreed.

chapter four

FALLING

“
We shouldn’t invite her,
all the trails aren’t open yet,” Rusty whispered to
Summer.

“
I bet she could handle it,
you and Burke could teach her the basics in an hour,” Summer
whispered back.

“
No babe, I don’t want to
deal with a newbie falling down. Let’s wait until they open up Lift
One, Meadows is the easiest green. She should start there. We can
go by ourselves and do the blues,” Rusty pleaded with Summer. “I
don’t think they’ve opened any blacks yet,” he thought out loud,
making a mental list of all the trails that were sure to be
open.

“
We’ll talk about it after
class Rusty, Mrs. Beech is looking this way,” Summer
warned.

We were in History class, watching a film on
prohibition. Rusty and Summer sat in the back row debating, whether
or not to invite me to go skiing with them. I didn’t understand the
entire lingo yet but I knew green trails were easiest, blue got
harder, and black was a death wish for a beginner. It was the week
after Thanksgiving and the day after our first heavy snowfall. Most
of the mountainside was covered with a smooth, even blanket of
fresh powder. But it wasn’t enough, apparently, because ski season
was supposed to have opened on Thanksgiving day and the locals were
getting anxious.

I listened to their exchange from the front
row. That was one of the disadvantages of entering the school in
October. You just had to take whatever desk was open and in History
all the back seats were taken, with Rusty and Summer back and
center. Burke and Delilah sat directly in front of them.

I wondered if Burke was going to teach
Delilah this weekend.

When the lights came on and everyone got up
to make their way to the school wide assembly, I went over to
them.

“
Hey, don’t worry about it
guys, I can’t go this weekend anyway. Aunt Rachel wants an extra
pair of hands in the shop. So, I’ll be working all day on
Saturday,” I tried to smooth over the argument that I felt was
brewing between Summer and Rusty.

“
Oh you heard us. Are you
sure you don’t want to come?” Summer asked.

“
I’m sure. You guys have
fun on the blues,” I said, trying to sound like I knew what I was
talking about.

“
See babe, no big deal.
We’ll take the gondola over Saturday morning,” Rusty sighed in
relief. He put his arm around Summer’s shoulders and they walked on
in front of me.

Delilah and Burke followed right behind
them. They were officially a couple now. Burke reached over, and
took hold of Delilah’s tiny hand with his full size one, as we all
walked down the hallway.

“
How did she hear us?”
Summer whispered to Rusty. “We were in the back row and the movie
was playing and everything.”

“
Who knows, you’re loud
sometimes babe,” Rusty answered.

“
No way,” whispered Delilah
“I could barely hear you and I was right in front of
you.”

“
You were probably lost in
your tabloid trash mag again and I admit it,” Burke yawned, “I was
sleeping!”

Oh crap! I did it again. I knew I could hear
things at a greater distance than the average person. I was always
forgetting to gauge the situation and decide if I should have been
able hear a conversation or not.

All of my senses operated on different
levels than everyone else’s. The traditional senses were all
heightened: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. The other six,
little mentioned senses, were varied. I had a heightened sense of
time and direction. I rarely needed to look at a clock and I always
knew exactly where I was, which came in handy when I went
exploring. My equilibrium and joint motion were completely average,
hence falling and breaking my ankle. My sense of pain and
sensitivity to temperature were both dulled. I knew when I should
feel pain and was aware when I should be too hot or too cold, but
it rarely affected me. A broken ankle felt like a slightly twisted
foot. A cold day required a light jacket and my body didn’t pour
sweat on a hot day. I shared most of these traits with James and
Catherine.

“
So... It’s the first
weekend the ski lifts are running. I’m sure you guys will have so
much fun on the slopes,” I smiled at the group as we sat down in
the back row of the auditorium, and waited for the assembly to
begin.

“
I’m not going yet,”
Delilah chimed in, “not until they open up Meadows. Rusty always
says that’s the easiest one.”

“
I’ll help you Dee, you can
trust me. There’s always a green run open,” Burke tried to convince
her.

“
No way bucko,” Delilah
answered, unconvinced.