Chapter 18

I made it into our house before I ripped my outfit off, then ran through the house, into our bedroom, and just fell face first onto the bed. I felt it move with four girls getting onto it, around me. We did have tissues in there, which one of the others handed to Margie, so she had several in hand when I finally raised my head up. She and Beth were both stroking my hair, Dora and Eve were rubbing my back.

“You must think me incredibly childish about now,” I said.

Margie and Beth both leaned over, to kiss me on each cheek. “No, my love, we think you’re even more grownup now than ever. More loved by all of us than ever. You’re sharing your grief with us. Your family, your wives in all but name. Margie will be the first mother among us, to have the honor of bearing your child. The rest of us follow in her footsteps. And we will stand with you, through anything.”

“Thank you, Beth. I think I needed that. I guess I’m showing my ass in more ways than one about now.”

Eve bent down and gave me a playful nip on one of my butt cheeks. “As much as I’d like to take this to the next level, we need to go see what’s going on,” she said.

“Is it weird to say that I just felt you bite my butt?”

“Yes, but only if you can tell me I can kiss it, now.” She did that as well.

“Yeah, something for us to discuss and check out, later. My skin seems to be a lot more sensitive to all of your touches.”

“Conscious versus unconscious. We’re not a threat to you. At the same time, we’ve all clawed your back with our nails, and done nothing but break our nails,” Beth said.

“News!”, Dora said.

I quickly dressed into something reasonable, and we all ran over to Harry’s house. We got in just as the local news ended.

“This is NBC Nightly News, and I’m Tom Brokaw. Our top story tonight comes from Europe and the Middle East. Here with more, are Garrick Utley in Switzerland and Ann Curry, in Tel Aviv. Garrick?”

“Thank you, Tom. What was originally seen as possibly a stunt of some kind, perhaps a protest against the ongoing war between Iran and Iraq, has taken a decidedly different perspective as the day has progressed. The following is video, taken from a security camera placed upon a power pole, at the intersection of Thunstrasse and Steinerstrasse here in Bern, and facing down Elfenstrasse, directly across the street. The reason for this camera is simple. Barely five houses apart, on Elfenstrasse, are both the Iranian Embassy and the Iraqi Embassy. We are going to play the full video of what transpired at 8:03 this morning, local time.”

“As you can see, there is a police box at the corner of Elfenstrasse and Thunstrasse. Now, it’s difficult to see because it happens so fast, but suddenly, this figure apparently came down from the sky, landing next to the police box. You can see that the police officers notice the figure, seeming to appear from thin air. The official police report states that the officer asked, “Where did you come from?” The reason this was thought to be a stunt earlier in the day, and much more than that now, is due to a mistranslation of what the figure, apparently a man, said to the officer. The initial report said that he was a messenger from god. The official report shows that the man actually said, “I am a messenger from above, with a message for two peoples here. It is time to end the fighting.” The man apologized for what he was about to do.”

“Now, you can see that he literally picks up the police box, with both officers inside, and flies it across the street. He then crosses back, digs up the crosswalk on Elfenstrasse with his bare hands, then carved in the street in front of the Iranian Embassy, in Farsi, End the Fighting. He ripped the gates from their embassy with his bare hands. He then flew down to the Iraqi Embassy and did the same thing there in Arabic. To make sure there was no misunderstanding, where Beatustrasse intersects with Elfenstrasse, he carved the same thing, in the pavement, only this time in German. He then flew back, picked up the police box, and put it back where it originally was located.”

“The man then apologized for the inconvenience, stating he didn’t want anyone innocent injured due to flying debris. As you can see, one of the police officers had his pistol drawn, and the report says he told the man to stop, he was under arrest. The man said, and I quote, ‘How can you arrest a messenger from above?’. The man then looks up and again, it’s very difficult to see, but he took off, into the air, straight up. You now see the camera shake. At the time, it was thought this was a large explosion. It has since been determined to be a sonic boom, caused by the acceleration of him breaking the sound barrier, less than a hundred feet off the ground.”

The camera cut back to Garrick Utley. “Tom, it’s now half past midnight, in Bern. As you can see behind me, there are floodlights illuminating all of Elfenstrasse. Traffic here is rather snarled right now, Thunstrasse is closed, primarily due to the massive crowd presence. Many of them are curiosity seekers. With the other news today that has come from the Middle East, many others are hopeful that perhaps this will finally bring something that has been long needed, peace in the Middle East. In Bern, Switzerland, I’m Garrick Utley, for NBC News.”

The camera immediately switched back to Brokaw, who said, “For more on the Middle East, here’s Ann Curry.”

“Thank you, Tom. It’s an hour later here in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Israelis have been the focus of many wars in this area. Tonight, they’re trying to figure out what’s going on in another section of this war-torn land.” The camera cut to a view of daytime, looking down from a great height, at many columns of smoke, rising from different parts of the desert. “This is footage that was provided to us, under the condition that we keep the source anonymous, with the clarification that it was not an Israeli airplane. What you see are fires, where early yesterday morning, local time, both the Iranian and Iraqi Air Forces and armies were effectively destroyed by an unknown source. Not only were their planes and tanks obliterated, but nearly all of the usable runways in areas where the countries border each other were also, not just rendered inoperative, but as one analyst told us, turned into rubble. This is a picture of the Baghdad International Airport, from last week. You can see there are five runways, along with many military aircraft, and a large armored unit, just north of there.”

The view changed. “This is Baghdad International Airport, yesterday afternoon. The fires to the north are where more than 200 Soviet main battle tanks of the Iraqi Army were turned into so much scrap metal. You can see how the runways have all been plowed up, their entire length. The fires to the west are from ammunition storage facilities, and destroyed military aircraft. This level of destruction was repeated at more than 30 locations between the two countries. This is a picture of the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, from last month. This is a picture of what’s left of their port facilities last evening. Two Iranian destroyers and numerous smaller craft have all been destroyed, as has the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and the Iraqi naval vessels located there.”

“What makes this most interesting are three signs found in the desert. This sign was photographed 10 miles inside the Iraqi border with Iran, and this sign was 10 miles inside the Iranian border with Iraq. For a sense of perspective, these signs rival the famous Nazca lines in Peru, being more than half a mile tall in size. Both of them, one in Farsi, one in Arabic, say the same thing. End the fighting. The third sign is the most puzzling. It runs from the small town of Baalbek, in Lebanon, across Syria, across Iraq, and ends just outside the city of Tehran. While it’s been difficult to get anything from Iran, apparently the Tehran International Airport was destroyed LAST week, as were the Iranian Air Force units stationed there. A news crew did manage to take this picture, from the town of Baalbek, where a building was destroyed, with multiple people killed in that building. However, it is reported that all of those killed were members of the Islamic Jihad Organization.”

The camera cut back to Ann. “There is also a report that there was an eyewitness to the attack last week. No one believed him at that time, but in light of yesterday’s events, there have been attempts to find him to confirm what he told the news crew last week. The building had been a training facility for Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad Organization, that a man floated in midair, was shot multiple times with rifle fire, which simply fell off him, and that the man told him, in perfect Arabic as it was spoken before the children spread out, that they did not understand peace, that he was disappointed in them, and that the destruction of Mehrabad Airport was only a small taste of his righteous anger.”

“Tom, right now the Israeli military is on high alert, because they simply don’t know what to make of things. Whether this was a warning last week, and with no one taking heed, things escalated, and whether this messenger from above that was in Bern is the same being that has decimated the ability of two nations to make war, is unknown at this time. However, I will note that there is, at least with some of the people in Tel Aviv, a hope tonight, that perhaps this messenger from above may be a signal for peace in the Middle East. For NBC News, I’m Ann Curry.”

Tom came back on. “As of right now, there has been no official word from the White House on these developments. However, unofficial Pentagon sources have confirmed that the mysterious mark running from Baalbek to Tehran did appear last week, and the building and airport appear to have been destroyed then. We’ll keep you updated as we know more. In other news this evening...” Harry turned the volume all the way down on the TV.

Before he could do anything else, the phone rang. Emily answered it. “Hello? Oh, hello, SJ. Um, yes, we got home this afternoon. No, they don’t have cable over at their house yet, they’re all over here, talking to us and watching the news. Okay, hang on.” She held the phone out for me.

“Good evening, SJ, this is Cal.”

“I don’t know whether to be pissed or not. Why didn’t you say anything to me last night about what happened last week?”

“My sources aren’t perfect. I just found out a lot of stuff myself on the news tonight. And to be perfectly honest, with you out of harm’s way, I didn’t give much thought that I needed TO gather any more. You’re family. Like you said on the phone, and last night, I’m not related to you, but I’m your brother. I found out what I needed to, for you.”

“We’ll let it slide for now. But you and I, we do need to have a talk next weekend.”

“I’m looking forward to it, SJ. Talk to you later.” I hung the phone up.

Harry was looking at me. “How many?”

Elroy interrupted him. “It doesn’t matter, if it was one, ten, or ten thousand.”

Harry turned to him. “How can you say that?”

“Because as Cal saw, I have a zipper and an extra asshole, from being shot in combat. Cal is my grandson. Period. No further discussion on that subject allowed or permitted. My decision is firm. He cannot marry any of these ladies. But they are all as close to him as if they were each of them his wife. While he was not born here, this is also his home. In the literal sense. Over the course of the next 10 years, I expect that his advice will make a lot of people in this area wealthier than they ever thought possible. And so, a member of his family was attacked. His country, his home, was defiled. Terrorism is a blight upon humanity. It’s public knowledge that Iran sponsored the terrorists that killed our boys in Beirut last year. Neither of those countries is worth a single American life. But they brought the war to us.”

“We all saw what happens when our government gets its balls cut off, in Vietnam. I may have made a damned fortune off of a war, but by god, I fought and bled for this country myself, and while Ronald Reagan is a damned fine President, his hands are tied by a bunch of fucking traitors to the Constitution. Cal could fucking wipe both of those countries from the face of the earth. He may have to do that, you know. Because the ONLY way to stop us from fighting and killing ourselves is for him to become the ruler of this whole fucking PLANET. Dammit, son, get your head out of your ass and look at what’s going on. Do you want your baby growing up in a world where some terrorist asshole could drive up to the school and blow it up?”

Harry sat there, very quietly, while Elroy ranted on. When Elroy was done, Harry took a deep breath, and opened his mouth. Emily put her hand on his arm. Harry looked down at it, at her. I could see him deflate, and flop back into the couch.

“Have I ever mentioned to you how much of an annoying old man you are, especially when you’re right?”

“Yes, you have, several times over the years. Don’t worry about it. Until the day I’m dead, I’d rather you start to stand up to me and disagree with me, than roll over like a whipped dog. You just have to THINK this time. This isn’t about you and Elizabeth; this is about you and Emily and your unborn child. I’m going to let you in on a little secret here. The other three would throw their birth control pills away right now, if they thought it would make Cal happy. They know they need to finish this year of high school, graduate, and get next year of college under their belts first. They know Cal is going to need people to support him in what he does, people who will do so, without any thought or reservation, because they know he’s thinking of the town, the county, the state, the nation, and the whole planet. In the future, they will have his children. His children, including the one that’s growing in Margaret’s belly right now, deserve to grow up in a peaceful world, if we can make it so.”

He shook his head in disgust. “We came home, thinking we’d done something good, that it was worth the sacrifice, the loss of life. You all know Earl, Harold, and I made our seed money from scrap metal. What you don’t know, or maybe didn’t realize, was how many times, when we’d get out there, pick up a tank chassis to haul back, that we could still smell the roasted crew. Or if it hadn’t burned out, the rot from their dead bodies. Harold said one time, ‘We all grew up, where the smell of cow shit and pig shit was the smell of money. This isn’t the smell of money; this is the smell of hate. I hope to God when this war is done, no one else ever has to smell hate like this.’ Well, that war ended, and then Korea came along a few years later.”

“You know, that’s when I quit going to high school games. So many eager, young faces out there. So much meat for the grinder of war. Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, even last year with Grenada. I felt ... almost glad that I didn’t have sons, that even the kids that were supposed to be mine, really weren’t, so when they went out and ended up grist for the mill that I wouldn’t feel the hurt. I was lying to myself. I still felt the hurt, felt the pain. I met Cal, and ... something in me changed. This is going to sound ... I don’t know, but I started to care again, like maybe, something would be different, that he could make a difference. You sounded so self-assured, so confident, for someone so young. You were making decisions affecting lives permanently, and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, so I could step back. Things just didn’t add up, and I couldn’t figure out why, so I just kept waiting.”

“Well, that shoe’s fallen. And I’m not stepping back. I’m also enough of a realist to know that there’s shit in this country that needs changed, too. What you’re doing is the first step on a long road that’s going to be dirty at times. You’re a damned good person, and I’m sorry that you’re going to have to kill more people than you already have, to get to the goal you want. I’m not saying that the ends justify the means. Just don’t ever lose sight of what ... makes you human. Your love for these women, your love for us. This is going to sound hurtful; it’s not meant that way. Everyone you grew up with, they’re ... gone. They told us that if we were alone and behind enemy lines, to lay low, hide out, don’t draw attention to ourselves. We’d find help soon enough. Son, I’m here to help.”

“I don’t consider myself behind enemy lines because I’m here with all of you. There’ve been a few idiots locally, but on the whole, I feel like the whole town has been positive towards me. I know that some of that has to do with the football team. But a lot of it is because I’m building on what you’ve done. I’ve read several dozen history books, and I feel like a lot of the general attitude in this town is that you’re the feudal baron of Reno County and its environs. It’s getting out that you’re deciding that enough is enough for you, and you’ve named me your successor. Even though there’s a mayor, a city council, other local governments, it’s like they all serve at your leisure.”

He had a flat smile on his face. “That’s not really too far off the mark. There’s a reason why, when you called the Governor to find out about SJ, he called the Pentagon and ended up with the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps. He owes me for his job, and he knows it. This is one way he helps pay me back.” He shook his head. “If you can get a factory here, and it gets out that you’re the reason it came here ... only a fool would ever do anything against you.”

I nodded in agreement, as did everyone else. “There’s only one thing I will disagree with you on, that you said earlier. You’re partially right in what you said, given the conditions we have now. I can’t marry any of these ladies, not until I can marry ALL of these ladies. And yes, I know exactly what that means legally.” I had to stop, because I was suddenly jumped by four women at the same time, hugging and kissing me. The other three laughed at my temporary predicament.

“Do we really need to talk about anything else tonight, or are we good? I do need to get some sleep tonight, I have to go back to work tomorrow morning, while I still have a job at the bank.”

“Not a problem, sis. We need to get home, get things ready for tomorrow, too. I’m glad you’re home. I can tell that being married is going to be good for you.”

“Harry, the computer guys and cable guys will probably be out tomorrow. We didn’t run cable to your master bedroom yet, but it’s available, so you can figure out where you want a TV here. If you could let them in our house, the computers all go in the open den, just off the kitchen, that doesn’t have anything in it. We’ll only have two TVs in the house, but make sure they put a cable outlet in the garage as well.”

He frowned for a second. “I can do that, but ... I just realized, with the way things have changed, I can’t really act like I’m skimming money off you, like we’d planned.”

“Then we’ll figure out how to hire you. Don’t forget, you’ve still got gold out in the shed to sell in Wichita, that’ll get you another quarter million or so. With Margie and I going to the west coast Tuesday and Wednesday, there’s still stuff that needs done here, that I can’t or don’t have time to do. Jim has the punch list for our house, we’ll need tools and equipment for the shop, there’s just a bunch still yet to do.”

“Good. Things really have started to snowball already, haven’t they?”

I nodded. “Good night. We may see you in the morning before school.” The girls and I walked home; Elroy stopped at his car.

“Be careful tonight, Cal. Don’t hurt anyone if you can keep from it. More importantly, don’t let anyone else get hurt. I could see a cop trying to shoot you, and hitting someone else.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I looked at the girls. “This is going to sound dumb, but I just realized something. I either use large bills, or the credit card, to pay for things. How do I use a pay phone?”

Elroy laughed. “Here. I keep a couple of dollars in change in my car. I’ll let them tell you how things work. Oh, that’s funny. Good night, kids.”

We all waved at him as he left. Margie was glaring at me. “Hey, I asked a legitimate question. I’ve really never used a pay phone.” Her glare turned into a smile.

“Come on in, we’ll teach the smartest man in the world something.”

“I thought we were doing that, already.”

“Out of the bedroom, Eve.” They all laughed, giving me quick kisses on the cheek. We went back in, and had leftovers for dinner, while Margie explained how to look up numbers in a phone book, and how to use a pay phone. Everyone got things ready for school and work. I got my clothes ready for the west coast trip, so I’d be totally ready and not rushed tomorrow night.

Even though I wasn’t going to be in it all night, when it was bedtime, the girls all put sleep shirts on, while I put on shorts, and we spent some time snuggling on our new bed. It was the first time we’d tried it, and an immediate issue came to the front. Fortunately, it was a fairly easy fix, once we pulled Dora back up and out of where the beds slid apart when she got right at the joint. Some wire to hold the legs together took care of that. I dozed off with the girls snuggling with me.

My internal alarm clock woke me up just short of midnight. I eased out of bed, trying to not wake any of them up. Beth stirred a little. “Be careful, Cal. Love you.”

“Love you, too, sweets.”

I dressed in my Scout uniform, purposely leaving the underwear off. There was a small pouch that I could carry the change I’d need. I headed to Oklahoma, like usual, then shot straight up from there. It’s amazing how it only takes 15 minutes to fly 1,400 miles when you can go from 0 to Mach 6 in 3 seconds.

I admired the sizes of the buildings that were compressed onto such a small land mass. Amazing what can be constructed without standard anti-gravity units. I dropped down to about a mile up, so I could make a better decision about where to land. That also made it easier to see the United Nations building, and examine the area. I realized that the best place would be to find one of the large parks, land, then quickly find a pay phone to call the TV stations. I picked a smaller one that was more centrally located to the tip of the peninsula.

I quietly landed between some large trees, startling a few birds. Even as late as it was, there were a few people walking on the sidewalks, cars going by along the street. I walked to the pathway, finding a fountain in the middle of the park. I turned left from where I’d landed, then walked towards a street ahead of me, visible under a large arch. On one of the corners opposite the park entrance was a phone booth. The smell inside was rather ripe, but I ignored that. There was a phone book hanging under it. I quickly scanned it, then found the phone numbers I was seeking.

I pulled my change out, then put it into the phone and dialed the numbers I’d found in the phone book. The first one rang twice, then a bored voice answered, “WNBC tip line, what’cha got for me?”

I tried to sound like I didn’t know English very well. “Hello. I apologize if I say wrong thing, English not native language of me. You play on news pictures of me in city, tell two peoples to end the fighting. I at place you call United Nations in 30 of your minutes. You come get pictures of me again there. Thank you.” I hung up on him, then placed the next call.

“This is WABC, news desk, how can I help you?”

“Hello. I am messenger from above. I be at place you call United Nations in 30 of your minutes. I leave a message for people to end fighting again there. Thank you.” I made one more phone call, this time to WCBS, with the same, simpler message.

I hung the phone up, turning to open the door, and saw two policemen standing just outside the phone booth. “Where’s the costume party at tonight? You heading home or something? C’mon out, boyo, let’s take a look at your ID.”

I decided that it was time to play with them a little. Speaking in German, I said, “Hello, gentlemen. How can I help you?”

“Sir, do you speak English?”

I tried the same in French. They looked at each other, then one asked me in Spanish, “Do you speak English?”

“Ah, hola, Señor. ¿Cómo está?”

He asked me in Spanish again if I spoke English.

In Spanish, I said, “No, I’m sorry, that’s not my native language. Is there something I can help you with? I have an appointment in a few minutes.”

I heard him tell the other officer that I had an appointment. They decided to ask me for my ID again. I shook my head. “I am so sorry. I was not given that before I was sent on this assignment. They have left me to my own devices on how to complete it, so I was forced to use this device, as you see, to attempt to contact local media. Since you use these ... odd tokens ... I had to gather them from where some had been discarded in order to do that.”

The Spanish speaking officer was puzzled, and instead of stopping to translate to his older partner, he asked, “What assignment do you have to complete? You’re talking about coins?”

“Ah, is that your name for them? I noticed that some of you humans were using them, I didn’t know the word.”

“Wait, what? Some of us humans? WHAT?” His alarmed voice made his partner take a step back and draw his gun, pointing it at me.

“Tell him to get down! I’m calling in for backup!” He reached for his shoulder, where a radio microphone was hanging.

I sighed. “I am so sorry. I apologize to both of you. I do not have much time remaining now, so I am afraid I must bring you with me. Do not worry, you will not be harmed.” With that, I quickly moved, grabbing both of them with my shoulder under one of their arms, my own arms extended around them, and took off. That was perfect as far as I was concerned, because the older officer still had his hand on his microphone.

Before I’d picked him up, he’d said, “Dispatch, foot patrol 614, Fifth Avenue and Washington Park North, we need a YAHHHHH!”

“Please tell your friend that he is perfectly safe in my arms and do not struggle.” I had taken them relatively slowly up to two thousand feet. Of course, that was at about 90 miles an hour, so it only took 15 seconds. The Spanish speaking officer was screaming as well. The other officer had taken his hand off the microphone, so I could hear the radio dispatcher say, “Patrol 614, respond. Patrol 614, respond. All units, all units, Fifth Avenue and Washington Park North, Officers need assistance.”

In Spanish, I said, “I am sorry, but will you please calm down? You aren’t in any danger. I simply have to complete my mission tonight. Please tell your companion to use his primitive communication device, to tell your people you are alright.”

“Sarge! He says to use the radio, tell them we’re okay!”

“Like fuck we’re okay! We’re fucking higher than the Twin Towers!” I started slowly drifting to the west, since we had about 10 minutes to make it to the United Nations. “Tell him to please put us down!” The younger officer translated.

“Alas, I am sorry, I was trying to call your media using the odd device. In case they do not take me seriously, I must have witnesses. We are going there.” I nodded, so he could tell where we were heading.

“Sarge, we’re going to the UN Building! He says he’s on a mission, and he must have witnesses. I don’t know what he’s going to do, but that’s where we’re headed.”

There’d been a lot of radio traffic in the last couple of minutes. One of them was a report from another police officer that they’d arrived and found an NYPD gun and two police officers’ hats on the ground, with no one in sight. During an empty spot, the officer said, “Dispatch, this is ... this is 614. Officer Gonzalez and I are ... we’re fucking being carried over to the UN building. Holy shit, look out for the Empire State Building!”

I’d purposely dropped a little lower. “614, this is Captain Rollins. Say again!”

“Cap, it’s Mike. Honest to God, sir, we’re fucking flying by the Empire State Building, on our way to the UN Building. Some masked guy we asked for ID, Gonzalez spoke Spanish to him, says he’s on a mission, and he must have witnesses.”

“Goddammit, Mike, quick fucking around and get to my office, right now! You’re in a shit pot of trouble.” Gonzalez was translating to me, so I’d understand, which I thought was very thoughtful of him.

“Please tell your Captain that I am the messenger from above. I did not harm the police officers in Switzerland, I will not harm you.” Gonzalez quickly said that, Mike repeated it, then said we were hovering in the air, about a hundred feet above the UN tower.

“I’ll have both your badges if you’re screwing with me! Precinct 1, this is Precinct 6 Actual, I need all your units to the UN building, now. Officers need assistance. This is not a drill. I repeat, all units, United Nations Building, officers need assistance!”

I was inwardly pleased. Within a few seconds, a police car came screaming at high speed into the UN plaza. It took two more minutes and four more police cars before I saw the first news van pulling up. There were several police cars trying to shine their spotlights up into the air. Once the camera crew was out, I turned my head to the right.