The doorbell rang the next day. It was Lou Strickland. All the stories floating around were conflicting. I’d been abducted and left to die. I’d been tasered and left to die. I’d been beat. I’d fought wild sand sharks. The stories were as wild as my life and he didn’t know what to believe anymore so he came to find out.
“You’re looking pretty good compared to what the stories say,” he said.
“I’m glad this isn’t the days of knights and bards. I don’t think I could stand to hear ballads sung about my adventures. The stories are bad enough and I never actually hear them. Wild sand sharks?”
“Okay, maybe I was exaggerating.”
“You? Or the person you heard it from?”
His eyes crinkled. He was in grandfather mode.
“I’m disappointed. I thought you really had taken on the sand sharks.”
“I shot a wild rabbit and ate it raw. Is that rough enough for you?”
“If you had a gun why didn’t you shoot Gonzo?”
“He threw it out into the desert for me and drove away. At least he did that much.”
“Cassidy… I need to know.”
His real reason for being there was to know if I could track, if I could handle a search.
“I don’t know, Lou. The only way to know what I can take on is to try. You know I’ll try. I’ve been beaten and spent three days walking across the desert with no water. I fell down a flight of stairs. Rusty is hovering over me like a mother hen and I’m going nuts. I’ve got a jewel thief on the loose and a mysterious map missing and I’m trying to put the two together and figure out what’s going to happen next, but Rusty wants me to drop everything and it’s just not in me to do that. If something comes up, call me. I’ll try anything.”
“I missed the part about falling down the stairs. That one hasn’t made the rounds yet.”
“Will you make sure it doesn’t?”
A raised eyebrow.
“Look, you’ve had reason to need to find me, so I’ll show you. But don’t spread it around. It’s no good if the wrong people know.”
He leaned forward, interested. What would this kid come up with next? He seemed to be thinking.
“I discovered something about this house. Come here.” I took him to the closet and shoved the clothes aside. “Look at this wall.”
He looked carefully, noted the joints in the panels. He examined the edges, nodded his approval.
“Very ingenious.”
“Believe it or not, my dog found it first. Pull to the side.”
He placed his hand against the panels and they slid aside. He stared down into the dark below.
“Watch your step. They sure could have put the light switch at the top of the stairs but I guess if someone’s looking for me I’d rather they enter the dark than surprise me with light.” I went down into the secret room and flipped the switch. “Now you see why I don’t want a lot of people to know about this? If anybody comes after me at home I’ve got an out.”
“You can use an out.”
“Definitely.”
“I sure hope you never need it.”
“I’ve had a few times when I could have used it. I’m guarding the knowledge of this room. So far only you, me, Rusty and Agnes know about it.”
“Agnes?”
“It’s another long story.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“Then come to the kitchen. I’m going to fix lunch. You’re welcome to stay.”
As we were eating lunch silence finally settled in.
“So everything was true except the sand sharks?”
“Basically.”
“And you can track?”
“Sure, I’ll try. If I have to slow down, I just have to, but we haven’t found a way, yet, to speed up a search. It happens the way it happens.”
He nodded agreement.
“Oh, that reminds me. I did a search and the woman insisted I take something for my efforts. Let me find the check. I told her I’d donate it to the search and rescue team and she insisted on paying me anyway.” I found the check Vivian had given to me. “I figure you can use whatever comes your way.”
“What were you tracking that you got paid five hundred dollars?”
“A little dog. You didn’t hear that one?”
“No.”
“Golly, that was a fun one. I had to wrestle rattlesnakes and everything.”
“Maybe that’s where someone got the idea of sand sharks.”
“Maybe.”
“Cassidy, are you ever going to slow down? Someday reality is going to catch up with you. You can’t live this charmed life forever. You’re either going to have to back off from it or live through the consequences of it.”
“It’s not in me to slow down. Maybe someday it will be. But, right now, no, I wouldn’t even consider it. I back off for Rusty’s sake, but in the long term? No. I can’t.”
“How much do you think that body of yours can take? You’re young. The way you’re going you’ll be old by the time you’re forty. You can’t expect to keep going the way you are now.”
“Yes I can. But if it doesn’t work out that way at least I know I put my all into it.”
“All of how many years?”
“Tell you what. You give me work to do. Make sure I have my survival kit, don’t freak out when my Jeep gets stuck in the middle of nowhere and I’ll get into a lot less trouble.”
“What’s in your survival kit?”
“A hunting knife and a magnesium stick.”
“That’s it?”
“Yup.”
“You have that and you promise to stick around a while?”
“Yup.”
“Kid, what am I going to do with you?”
“Drop me anywhere with my knife and my magnesium stick and I’ll make my way back. Hell, I did it with a 9mm and a pair of shoelaces. I’d have been better off with the knife and stick! I could have cut open the cactus easier and I could have actually cooked my food. I’ve spent many days in these mountains with nothing but those two things. The trick is to keep me busy and thinking without getting me interested in things that will bring on trouble…so use me. It’s safer than leaving me idle.”
He sighed, not understanding his little tracker at all. I was used to it. Rusty was the only one I could count on to understand me and even he had his limits.