Chapter Thirty-Nine

Hurry Up and Wait

There are people who believe in you. You might not always believe that yourself, but there are—parents, teachers, neighbors, relatives, me. I know that no matter what is thrown at you, you’ll recover amazingly.

Leven lived the first thirteen years of his life surrounded by people who didn’t believe in him. They may have stunted his growth or knocked him down a hundred pegs or so, but they couldn’t erase the fact that he was something much more than they believed. Every time they told him he was nothing, they simply made it that much more difficult for him to believe he was something. But once the darkness of their influence and attitude was removed from his life, Leven truly began to understand that he was much more than he had ever thought. And part of the reason he felt like he did now was because of Geth.

Even as a toothpick, Geth had made sure that Leven understood what he really was. And as a man, Geth had followed through, never wavering in his belief in Leven.

Never.

Geth knew that in the end Leven would not only become what he must, he would believe wholeheartedly in what he was doing.

“I hope Leven comes through,” Winter said.

“Don’t worry,” Geth smiled. “He will.”

The helicopter settled onto the ground and the rotors instantly began to slow. Geth, Winter, Phoebe, Ezra, and Lilly jumped out.

“I can’t believe we made it,” Winter said.

“Not all of us did,” Ezra said angrily.

“Sorry,” Winter tried.

Ezra crawled under the collar of Geth’s robe.

“Where are we?” Phoebe asked.

“Burnt Culvert, Oklahoma,” Geth answered.

The helicopter had landed in the field just next to the Rolling Greens Deluxe Mobile Home Park. They had seen the rubble and debris from the air and decided it would be best to land outside of it. The weather was calm at the moment, but they had seen avalands and telts not too far away while flying.

“Come on,” Geth waved.

They trudged across the field and into the mobile home park. Trash and pieces of building were strewn everywhere. A couple of tractors were moving stuff around while residents were shifting through the wreckage looking for personal belongings or valuables.

“Reality is messy,” Lilly observed.

“It’s not always this bad,” Winter said.

They all followed Geth through the devastation and back to 1712 Andorra Court. That piece of property was completely cleared. All the topsoil was gone, and all that was left was the stump sticking out of the ground.

“There it is,” Winter smiled.

Geth stared at his old bottom half as Ezra crawled out from beneath his collar.

“That’s us?” Ezra asked.

Geth nodded.

The stump was wide and hardening already. Ezra jumped down and felt it.

“It’s cold,” he said. “We came all this way and killed Dennis for a cold stump?”

“We came to wait,” Geth said calmly.

“For what?”

“For Leven.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Ezra barked. “We’re not just going to wait.”

“I suppose we could help people clean up a bit.”

“Girl!” Ezra called out. “Big eyes!”

Winter turned from what she was looking at. “Are you talking to me?”

“Well, I’m not talking to the pretty one,” Ezra snapped. “Did you know that we came all this way and killed Dennis just to wait?”

Winter nodded, and Ezra swore accordingly. “Pretty one!” he then yelled.

Phoebe floated over.

“Did you know that we were coming all this way and killing Dennis to sit here and wait?”

Phoebe looked sad. She reached down toward the stump to touch Ezra.

“Don’t touch me,” Ezra hollered. “You’ll just make me angrier. Listen, I don’t know how the soft half of me operates, but I don’t fly across the world and kill somebody harmless just to wait. That is a sorry plan even if part of me did make it up. Now we’re here—why?”

“To wait,” Geth said.

“Not you, you big sack of moisture,” Ezra ranted. “Why?”

Winter sat down on the ground leaning against the stump.

“Sorry about Dennis,” she said.

“What?” Ezra growled.

“Sorry about Dennis,” Winter said again. “I know how much he meant to you.”

“Where’s this coming from?” Ezra demanded. “I could care less what happened to . . . Dennis.” Ezra began to sob. He lay down on the stump and cried his eye out while Winter gently patted him on the back with her index finger.

“He was so stupid,” Ezra wailed. “But he had a sort of janitorial smarts.”

“I know,” Winter soothed.

“He saved my life,” Ezra admitted. “And his pants were always so neatly pressed.”

“He did look clean,” Phoebe tried.

“And now that big lumpy part of me,” Ezra turned over just enough to point up at Geth. “That big lumpy part just wants to sit here waiting—or, worse yet, wants me to help clean up. I hate cleaning up.”

“How about you just rest here on your stump?” Winter suggested. “We shouldn’t have to wait long.”

Ezra turned over and lay flat on his crooked back. With his one eye looking up and his arms stretched out, he looked just about as pathetic as a fancy toothpick could.

“He really was a decent person,” Ezra sniffed.

“Just rest.”

“He didn’t say a lot, but when he did talk it was so funny.”

Winter looked at Phoebe and Geth, not knowing how to respond to that.

“He . . .”

Ezra passed out from exhaustion.