The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival (22 page)

Berto slapped the wall second, and crouched
over. Richard stood up then tapped it with his head.

“...holy shit, girl!” Berto said. “I run 100s
in track... I thought I was fast!”

“I guess it’s good genes.” She shrugged and
walked over toward the driveway.

Johnny and Dana’s motorhome rolled down the
driveway. It was a vintage Red and White Flxible Clipper with the
name
Flying Fox
painted in script on the side beneath a
picture of a fox with wings. A satellite dish was folded down on
the top of the bus, and a few other antennas and sensors were
attached to the top. The bus pulled over into the field in front of
the house. The door opened and Dana ran out. Johnny climbed out
more slowly and stretched his arms and back all the way over to the
group.

Dana and Tracy saw each other and hugged.

“Girl! Look at you. You are a
woman
now.” Dana exclaimed. “That face would launch 1000 ships… and that
ass!” she smacked her butt.

Tracy threw an arm over her shoulder. “It’s
so good to see you Aunt Dana.”

“Oh man, if you call me ‘Aunt’ I’m going to
puke. Call me Dana.”

“You can still call me Uncle Johnny, though”
he hugged her. She tugged the biker beard.

“ZZ Top cover band?”

He laughed. “Nah, I just like to cover up
this baby face so I don’t get carded as often.”

They did introductions all around. The Wells
farm had been quiet for a few years, since Tracy’s parents went
missing, but Tracy was starting to feel the familiar crunchy and
funky vibe that permeated the place for her whole life. She stayed
glued to Dana and they disappeared into the house.

Berto said to Chloe, “We gotta get going. It
was fun. Let’s talk tomorrow.” She gave him a quick hug.

“Say bye to Tracy.” Richard added. They drove
away in the GTI.

The whole group gathered in the library.
Everyone except Chloe had a beer. She had an iced tea, since she
was driving home soon.

Robbie’s phone rang.

Tracy said, “Oh… that’s probably Morgan.”

Robbie answered the phone. “Hey Morgan,
what’s up?”

“You know I have that gold coin?”

“Yeah sure.”

“Well, I’ve got a guy flying into Cleveland
tomorrow from Italy.”

“Whoa! That’s really interesting.”

“Well, I don’t have any way to pick him up…
And really, I don’t have anywhere to take him… Plus it’s during the
day.”

Robbie laughed. “So you want me to do
what?”

Tracy mouthed, “help him out…” to Robbie.

“Hmmm….” Morgan said. “Can you pick him
up?”

“Look, Morgan. If you want, you can borrow my
truck and go get him. You’re always welcome to come here, any time.
You know that.”

“I can’t drive…” Morgan said.

“Can’t? Do you know how?” Robbie said.

“Well, sure. I just don’t have a
license.”

“License schmiscence.” he waved dismissively.
“If you want to, you can borrow the truck, just don’t get pulled
over. If you do, well, just leave the truck and run like hell and
we’ll pick you up in the evening.”

“Ummm….” Morgan said.

“Well?” Robbie prompted.

“OK. I’ll do it. I’ll be there in the
morning.” Morgan said with conviction.

“Good! I like that. See you then.” Robbie
hung up.

“I learned to play guitar.” Johnny said. He
had a beat up acoustic guitar and he started playing, first a
rhythm, then shifted to a flamenco tune, then back to rhythm.

Tracy was sitting on the floor in front of an
armchair and Dana was braiding her hair. Dana said, “Can you
believe he learned that in about two months?”

Robbie smiled, “He’s quick!” Dana got up and
walked around to Chloe’s seat. She was in an armchair, just
absorbing the scene. Dana sat down on the arm rest and put her hand
on Chloe’s shoulder.

“Hey sister. We’re the only black hairs in
the room!”

“Yeah, look at all these red heads! It’s like
a convention.”

“Well, I think Johnny’s more of a blonde, but
there’s some red in there, too.” she ran her fingers through
Chloe’s hair and felt her skull. Chloe arched an eyebrow but didn’t
move away. “Girl, even though it’s dark, your hair
shines
like honey. Like dark buttered honey. Mind if I braid it?”

Tracy walked over to the two. “Chloe’s new to
Chardon.”

“Could you sit on the floor?” Dana asked
Chloe. She moved to the foot of the chair and Dana climbed in
behind her. “You two girls, you shine! It’s like you’re sisters
from another mother.”

Tracy sat on the floor next to Chloe and
leaned against her. “Dana’s psychic. She can do Tarot and what
else…”

“Girls, I don’t need the room to be dark to
see your aura. I’m glad you’re here Chloe. You belong in this
place.” She had finished braiding and was just massaging Chloe’s
head. Chloe decided to go with the flow and just relaxed.

The pause in conversation prompted Robbie to
bring up the Sheriff’s visit. “Hey Tracy, just to let you know,
someone installed cameras on the property. You can hardly notice
‘em in the trees. They’re monitoring the house.”

Tracy stiffened, “What! that’s weird...
Who?”

Robbie scratched his head. Johnny looked at
him to take the lead.

Dana put her hand on Tracy’s shoulder, “don’t
sweat it… why we’re here.”

Robbie said, “We’re trying to figure it out…
I didn’t want to alarm you, but I think you should know about
it.”

Chloe leaned forward and looked back at Dana.
“Are you guys also part of this…. thing?” she asked.

Dana said, “Ohhhh good. So you know.”

Robbie held up his hand. “I haven’t told the
whole story.”

Tracy frowned, “Ugh, there’s more?” she stood
up. “I’ve almost gotten back to normal life…”

Robbie said, “If you want to stay out of it,
you can. We’ll take care of everything. You just go on with
normal.”

Chloe was intrigued. “I have to say, I
thought everything you told us before was totally crazy. I thought
maybe you guys were part of some strange religion. I’m from
California--we had neighbors, really nice people, that were
Satanists. No biggie. I’m curious to hear the rest.”

Tracy sat down by her again. Chloe’s strength
gave her a boost.

Robbie sat down and leaned forward in his
chair.

“Remember the Egregore?”

“How could I forget?” Tracy said and tapped
her head.

Chloe answered, “Yeah, the ‘thought
entities’.”

“Well, when I introduced this, I focused on
the idea aspect of them.” Robbie said.

Johnny added, “really in a lot of ways that’s
the most important part.”

“Right, that’s true, and I also said these
things are basically attached to our world through humans. Really
through consciousness…” he waved his hand, “but that’s getting too
complicated.”

Dana was getting impatient and said, “My god,
why hold back?”

Robbie looked at her and held up a hand.
“Dana, go easy…”

Dana furrowed her brow, and acknowledged him
and tried to stick with generalities. “Our world--the human
world--and their world are like this.” She entwined her fingers
together. “They enter our world, through people, take them over
like a virus.” She was getting angry. “When they’re totally
infected, they look and sound like any other person. Over
time--thousands of years--they’ve built up organizations. So,
they’ve got helpers and hangers on. It seems like some of their
minions are focused on the farm right now.”

Tracy deflated; she leaned on Chloe.

Robbie said, “Look, it’s not as bad as it
sounds.”

Tracy said, “It sounds really bad.”

Robbie made a diminishing motion with his
hands and said, “They’re almost always extremely careful and try to
accomplish their goals indirectly. We believe they won’t hurt
us--certainly not you.”

Dana looked at Robbie and frowned. She said,
“You
need
to know they can be dangerous. They’re not human….
they don’t give a shit about anything human.”

Johnny said, “nothing’s going to happen.
You’re safe.”

Dana followed up, “I look like a hippie
chick, Johnny looks like ZZ-Top, and Robbie looks like a mechanic,
but we are
bad asses
.” She patted Chloe’s shoulders, “and
this one. This one is a lioness-to-be.”

Tracy sighed.

Chloe said, “You want to stay at my place?
I’d have to ask my dad, but he’ll say OK. I’m pretty sure you could
stay, ya know, however long.”

Tracy’s face brightened. “Sounds like
fun.”

“Can your dad give me a call?” Robbie asked.
Chloe nodded.

Dana said, “just make sure you girls hang
around here, some!”

Morgan woke up extremely early. He was a
bundle of nervous energy. He waited until the sun came up, then
rode as hard as he could to get to the Wells house. Robbie was
already out on the patio going through his slow motion morning
routine.

“What time’s the guy getting here?”

“10:30” Morgan was pacing back and forth.

“Morgan, sit down.” Robbie couldn’t take the
pacing. “You’re a good kid, and that’s why you’re nervous. Being
nervous isn’t all bad, either. But it is bad if it gets in the way
of what you’re trying to do.”

“Yeah, so much on my mind doing this…” Morgan
said. He breathed out.

Robbie folded his paper and closed his
notebook. “When I was about your age, I worked at a bicycle shop…
There was a mechanic there who was so deliberate and slow when he
worked we called him Mol-A, as in molasses. Plus, he had thick ass
glasses, so like a mole.”

“Huh?” Morgan asked. “What’s this got to do
with me?”

“You’re spazzing. Spazzing is always bad.
It’s a habit. If you were a mechanic, you’d be flinging wrenches
all over the place and breaking stuff.”

Morgan nodded. He tried to calm down.

“It’s good to have that nervous energy, but
apply it toward your goals. Think about what you’re trying to
do.”

“OK. First problem, I don’t know how much the
coin is worth… Not at all.”

“Alright.” Robbie took a sip of his coffee.
“What else.”

“Well, getting to the airport. Driving
without a license.”

“Billions of people drive. You know how to
drive. Believe me, there are worse drivers on the road
with
a license than you.”

“What if I get caught.”

“Like I said, leave the truck, run like hell.
The odds of you getting caught are slim to none. Does your phone do
GPS?”

“Yeah.”

“Just listen to what it says. It’s easy
peasey. You’ll need some cash for parking--there’s some in the
glove box.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

“Well… I guess I’ll go. Is Tracy around?”

“She’s staying over at her friend
Chloe’s.”

Keith Marte put on a suit and tie. The girls
were sitting on the living room couch eating breakfast and getting
ready for school.

Chloe said, “ooh, Dad, when did you start
selling cars?”

He chuckled, “Very funny. Gotta look sharp
for work today--need to impress someone.”

She nodded. “I was just kidding about the
salesman thing. I’m impressed.”

Tracy said, “Me too. I think it’s a nice
suit.”

Keith nodded, “Thanks.”

Chloe put her hand over her mouth, “Oh dad!
Call Tracy’s Uncle. He wants to talk to you.”

Tracy knitted her brows, “that’s a little
weird.”

“Hey don’t kill the messenger.” Chloe
said.

Keith said, “I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ll let
you know what he says?”

She nodded. “Sorry to be paranoid. I’m not
used to being a kid.”

Keith said, “Well, I’ll do my best to respect
that. Heck you two are basically adults.”

Chloe laughed, “Oh I should have recorded
that!”

He said, “Well, it is true… I haven’t totally
accepted my little girl’s all growed up, but I’m getting there.” He
kissed Chloe on the top of the head. “I’m outta. Lock up?”

“‘kay.” Chloe waved. He left. “See? I told
you he’s cool.”

“Yep. I was wrong.” Tracy shrugged.

Keith went to the office and printed out a
fake check paid to the order of Dickie Parsons. He put the check in
a black folder and printed a label for the front. “Office of
Unclaimed Wealth: In-Prison Transfer”. He printed out some
boilerplate legal documents and stuffed them in the other side of
the folder.