Chapter Nine
“Sequoia Adventure”
Two Weeks Later…
It was a Saturday morning and all was quiet this early Bakersfield day, as a new Jeep Cherokee drove into the estate driveway.
Wesley got out, and closed the door on the vehicle, then pocketed his keys and walked quietly into the foyer with a noticeable limp, as not to awaken Lana.
He had wanted to get her out of town and run away from the problems that seemed to be cropping up all around the two of them. A different environment as it was. But inside and upstairs, he quickly learned how in touch she really was. Not only was she dressed and breakfast on the griddle, but she was almost finished packing their gear, for the great get-away adventure that awaited them.
Wesley approached her from behind, placing his hands on his sides. “Are you almost ready?” he questioned.
“Yes,” she replied, turning a moment to spy him. “I just need to finish up the lunch food and other necessities down stairs. It should only be a couple of minutes. Breakfast is also cooked, help yourself.”
He blew her a kiss, turned and ate some food, sipped hot coffee for the morning. She came downstairs, brought their luggage and camping stuff with her.
He finished a slice of toast and helped her carry the luggage to the Jeep. They stored it in the back of the vehicle, and he kissed her lips. “Just a few more and we are ready to hit the road.”
“Good,” he smiled. “I want to put all of the bad events behind us.”
“What about Steve and those Klansmen?” she questioned, her enthusiasm all but gone for worry.
“It will be ok. I don’t think he will be bothering us. The police are after him, and now the Fed’s are getting involved. They think a local splinter group of the Klan is to blame. Besides,” Wesley shrugged. “With your ex-boyfriend, it’s a personal matter, something the two of us have to settle once and for all.”
Lana suddenly grabbed her head a moment and became dizzy. Wesley dropped a bag outside by the Jeep and then grabbed her, holding her in his arms as she quickly recovered. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Probably the alcohol last night,” she smiled. “I felt a little nauseous and dizzy for a second, but I’ll be fine.” She propped herself up in his arms as he stood back.
“Let me get you a doctor,” he told her.
“No, really,” she replied with her sweet smile and baby blues peering into his soul. “I’m okay.” Her smile always melted Wesley’s heart and he still wondered if she had said that as not to worry him, the delicate flower she was.
“Are you sure?” he persisted. His voice seemed bent on desperation and she realized it was their time to enjoy things, leave the horrors behind.
She deepened her smile, “Yes, I am sure.”
“Okay,” Wesley grinned. She could see he was back to the state she wanted him in, stress free and happy once again. “Now my lady, let us get this trip on the road. I’ll lock the place up, be right back.”
Wesley walked back to the estate, and went inside as she got into the passenger seat in the Jeep.
She watched him lock the estate and punch in the security code for it, to secure against vandals. Wesley returned to the awaiting vehicle. He got in and cranked the Jeep engine, steering the vehicle out of the long driveway, and open gates. He hit the remote, closing the gates to his estate behind them, driving away from his home, with the mighty Sequoia’s beckoning their arrival in the foreground.
The mountains loomed inviting, etched against a clear blue sky with some haze and wispy strips of clouds. All in all, it was the perfect getaway for the two of them, a chance to escape the evil deeds of others that had befallen their lives, interrupting a near perfect time they shared together.
Across town, Fred and Priscilla were busy packing day gear, unaware that Lana and Wesley had done the same, but for a bit more of a stay in the mountains. “I like this idea of a nice mountain hike, sugar,” she smiled, tapping him on the shoulder.
“I know,” Fred replied, grabbing his pack, opening it and storing some packages of food, along with plastic bottles of drinking water. “I think it will be good to get out of town for a short time. Let’s get the remaining stuff packed up.”
Emma lay there in her hospital bed, much weaker then when they last saw her. Lana set the flowers and vase on the table next to her bed and held Emma’s hand a moment as both ladies stared at each other with a smile and acknowledgment. “If I do say so myself,” Emma’s smile deepened politely. “I had my doubts at first, but now I realize the two of you do make a fine couple.”
That endorsement instantly brightened Lana and Wesley. It meant that Emma had blessed their being a couple, and that she had accepted that when two people truly love each other, that no barriers in the world either internal or external could separate and destroy that love.
“Thank you misses Houston,” Lana choked a tear of joy. “You have a fine son here in Wes, and I do so love him. Things are working out very well for us.”
“You take care of this lady,” Emma pointed at Lana.
“I will mama,” Wesley stepped forward, grasping his mother’s left hand at her bedside. “I promise I will.”
With those words, Emma rolled over to her right, her head turned away from them, the fatigue she had succumbed to, sapping every moment that passed and she let go Wesley’s hand, for her life was fast becoming a past and Wesley represented a future. “I’m very tired,” she told them in a low tone. “I need to get some rest now. The two of you have fun this weekend.”
“We will mama, we will.” Lana could see the saddening of Wesley and knew that he had to get going. She took his hand and led him away quietly, while he took another moment of pause to glance back through the open door at her.
He knew things have a beginning and that things have an ending, the way of a universe always growing, shrinking, and changing from one moment to another.
Emma was the past, yet she had been a major part of his life that seemed as though it would have stretched forever. That was not to be the case. Reality was quickly fixing that notion of immortality and now he turned and glanced into Lana’s eyes, for here stood the person he would try and maybe live out his days with, his remaining days.
An hour had passed as they drove the Jeep on a winding mountain road surrounded by giant Sequoia trees that towered into a mist of infinity, clotting streams of sunlight. It was an awe-inspiring sight of mysticism, isolation, beauty and wonderment all thrown together around each bend in the road. On such a beautiful day with blue skies, this was a very great time in their lives and how blessed they had been to have such a place nearby, standing sentinel for their arrival.
They reached a turn and there was a nice sized lodge. The two of them had arrived at their destination. Wesley parked the Jeep and they both got out, amazed at the tall trees that enveloped this entire area and forest about them. If there had been a God, then truly, only a God could have created such magnificence. The fresh pine scents cleared their sinuses and the gentle breeze rustled through pine needles.
Overhead, Lana glanced up at a single wisp of a cloud as it slowly turned within itself. Just heavenly she thought as she then followed Wesley to the lodge.
The two of them soon exited the lodge with map in hand and got back in the Jeep. They made a turn onto the road and continued away.
Soon they parked the Jeep on a dirt road turnout where some camping facilities had existed, but remained unoccupied. It was a cozy place that greeted them, a forest romance they were deserving of. Its very beckoning was something of a fairytale story, but then again theirs had almost been a fairytale linkup from the very start; so was this so out-of-bounds for the scenario that had brought the two of them together?
The sound of wind and a distant bird chirping throughout the forest greeted the two as they got out of the Jeep. Lana took a deep breath of air. “I like this place,” she smiled.
Wesley approached her. “I knew you would. I sometimes make the drive up here to get away from work and the town,” he added. Then he glanced at a nearby grouping of trees. “It has a certain way of clearing one’s mind.”
“Yes it does,” Lana smiled, “listen, you can hear the sound of the wind in the pines. It’s almost like the sounds of waves on a beach.”
“Oh well, we have to get the tent and camp pitched. It will be dark soon.” Wesley walked to the Jeep and opened the back hatch, with Lana following him.
“Your mother, she isn’t going to be around long?” Lana asked.
Wesley grabbed the tent, and glanced up at her. “No,” he became saddened, his smile but gone. “Her time is very short.”
Suddenly there was a click and from near the bushes behind them a man called out, “and so is yours—nigga!”
It was a familiar voice filled with an inner rage in a lowered tone. A voice from anger mixed with cowardice. A voice that had not learned to leave as is and move on in life, and a voice of the man who had the axe to grind with the both of them, Steve Schweinfert. Steve had a high powered scoped bolt action rifle in hand as he motioned them. “Lana, come over to me, I’m gonna kill this nigga.”
But that had just the opposite effect on her. Instead she clutched Wesley’s arm tighter, and this stunned Steve for the second as he backed his eye away from the scope. “No,” she screamed at him. “I won’t let you.” She placed herself between that rifle and Wesley Houston, spreading her arms and making it a shot through her to get to the Oil Company Executive.
“Dammit bitch,” Steve hollered. “”It’s over between you and him. Now come over to me,” he demanded in a psychotic frenzy.
“No,” her eyes filled with tears. “If you squeeze that trigger, you’ll end up killing me.”
Steve was totally amazed at what had just transpired. It wasn’t what he had planned on, for it was beginning to sink in that he had lost her a very long time ago and that she had found a new man, a man who treated her with great respect.
It hadn’t mattered that he was a black man, just that he had proven himself more man than Steve could ever be, and this further enraged his blind jealousy mixed with a brink on the edge of insanity. His facial expression began to reflect this as he took aim at them.
“I don’t know what kind of power you have over her, boy. But my patience has worn out a long time ago. If I have to shoot her to stop another nigger, I will,” he threatened as his finger went to squeeze the trigger.
Then Steve squeezed the round and just as he did Fred ran in front of them, knocking Wesley and Lana to the ground and taking a nasty shoulder shot that could be life threatening.
Dazed, Steve couldn’t believe what had just happened as Priscilla ran to Fred, blood spewing from his shoulder.
Steve worked the bolt action and was taking aim when another gun shot hit near his position, causing him to take off running into the thicket for cover, as a distant armed ranger and assistant both with guns, ran to the aid of the couples.
The ranger, a tall guy paused by them while his partner chased on, pursuing Steve through the brush. “I saw him. I’ll radio down to the sheriff’s department for you.”
Wesley rubbed dirt off his face and helped Lana up as they rushed to Priscilla and Fred. “That’s twice with that man, God’s gonna get him.”
The ranger bent down over Fred. “How bad is it?” He helped remove the jacket and found it was more a scrape than anything else. But there was blood oozing from it.
“Just a small graze,” Fred commented.
Wesley bent down near him. “You saved my life.”
Lana grabbed Fred’s head, propping a pillow under his head. “You know Fred,” she told him, “we’re you with.”
“No he wasn’t,” Priscilla became instantly defensive. “We didn’t know anything about this. All we was doing was taking a day hike.” She folded her arms and got up, turning away from them as in some form of protest.
“Lana,” Wesley pointed at Fred. “You and this man know each other?”
“He’s Kerry’s ex-boyfriend,” she told Wesley. It had been the first time this had been brought to light for Wesley and this changed many interesting variables in Wesley’s view.
“Oh boy,” Wesley sat next to Fred on the ground. “This is a coincidence. I’m grateful, never-the-less for your actions. I owe you my life Fred.”
“No you don’t,” Fred smiled.
Wesley turned and glanced up at Priscilla who still was facing away from him. He stared a moment then held his chin and thought. Then something hit Wesley. “You look very familiar to me,” he commented as she tried to look away without appearing to be doing that. “Haven’t we met somewhere before?” Wesley questioned.
She turned, glanced down at Wesley with a type of guilty scorn. “I don’t recognize you,” she replied and it wasn’t a friendly reply either.
Lana turned and faced Priscilla while all three men watched. Then Lana crossed her arms, as she didn’t like Priscilla’s tone. “Well, have you?” she pressed it again.
There was a moment of pause and confusion and it seemed that Priscilla might recant her earlier reply. “No, I haven’t,” she again told them. That seemed to settle the question between both ladies and it had become apparent that Lana didn’t like Priscilla one bit.
“I’m sorry, I was thinking aloud,” Wesley told Priscilla, cracking a phony smile at her. “Fred, thanks for saving my life.”
The assistant returned with Steve’s rifle in hand. “He took off like a darned coward,” the guy smiled holding the rifle up like a trophy catch.
The ranger approached his assistant and then squatted by Fred. “The sheriff’s on his way up and with a medical kit too. At least we got that guy’s gun, so he won’t be shooting anything around here. I’d recommend packing things up, just in case.”
“Okay ranger. Any place to get some good grub to eat around here?” Wesley asked.
“Lodge back down the main road a few miles. They have some fresh meals there; otherwise you will have to hit the diner near Tehachapi.”
“Okay,” Wesley put his hands up. He glanced at Fred as he squatted. “You want us to—?”
“Naw,” Fred played it up, as if it had all been no big deal. “I’ll be fine, besides I have the misses here,” he pointed at Priscilla, who acted a bit shy at his praise.
“Okay,” Wesley patted him on the shoulder. Then he turned to Lana and grabbed her elbow very gently, walking her back to the Jeep. “You get the stuff in the back with me and we’ll head back.”
A week later, Damon walked Kerry to the car outside his place. This beautiful Sunday evening had the crickets out in full force as autumn was winding down and the colder months in the San Joaquin would soon be here.
She was in a gorgeous black little number, revealing as much cleavage as could be had, without her breasts popping out. She was also fairly high already on marijuana, which is why she seemed so jubilant and giggly. “Now listen to me bitch. I have a date set up for you,” Damon instructed her. “All you have to do is take care of him. You understand?”
“Yes I do,” she immediately giggled, then laughed. “This is going to be a fun evening.”
“Yes bitch,” Damon grinned. “This is going to be a fun evening. Now don’t you forget, take care of this man and any other woman he brings. Else you gonna make me mad, and you don’t wanna make me mad,” he scowled.
“No Damon, I want you happy,” she put her hand out, touching his cheek.
“Good, very good,” he got his smile back. He grabbed his keys and opened the car door, letting her inside. She got in and he closed the passenger door on her, walking around the car to drive her to her destination.
It was a fresh Monday morning filled with lots of energy in Fred’s office and things seemed to be going perfect, bristling with more than the normal pace of business. Phones were ringing, the secretary was busy and he was in a very upbeat mood as he received the mail early and opened a letter that brought a smile upon his face.
Dan had been standing by the door, a bit jealous of Fred’s success over his own; and when Fred smiled, Dan made his move into the office, to Fred’s desk, sitting himself on the edge as Fred glanced up at him. “What is it?” Dan asked in anticipation of any news that Fred had received.
Fred held the letter up to him in victory. “We got that big account from Northern California. Do you realize what this means?” he waived the letter around. “I’ve been pulling this account’s business for almost a year.”
“What kind of numbers?” Dan became even more excited, but in a phony sort of way. There had been jealous overtones in his inquisitive and persistent questioning.
Fred reclined in his chair, closed his eyes a moment, swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Then he glanced directly at Dan and with a blunt stare told him. “Two million dollars. Tonight we celebrate,” he broke a big smile as Dan was just blown away. “I don’t think we need the old fart’s business anymore,” he gleefully added, and with those words, Dan almost slumped on his desk in disbelief.