Chapter 17

By the morning after the altercation with Kyle, the swelling in Carl’s face had reduced to the point where he could see again. His nose was still tender, but most of the pain was gone. It was hard to believe that Kyle had been able to hurt him so badly, with just two punches. He’d been beaten up a few times in high school, but that had been nothing compared to the previous day.

He had awakened that morning to find Betsy, wearing a knee-length skirt and white blouse, seated in a chair reading a journal. She was so into her reading that he was able to study her for a minute. He decided that she was one of the prettiest women he had ever seen. She wasn’t the typical fashion model or a man’s magazine centerfold. Nor was she a typical ‘hard body’, although it was obvious that she was muscular. She was exotic looking, with an unusual mixture of racial ancestry. She wasn’t tall and leggy, but of average height and a solid build. He couldn’t help but wonder what their children would look like.

Carl was aware that he had been wrong about a couple of his assumptions. For one, he had originally thought that he was staying in a guest room. It wasn’t until Kelly raised the bed so that he’d be more comfortable that he realized it wasn’t a regular bed, but a hospital bed. When he could see a little better, he had found that he was in a room set up like a room found in a long care facility.

With all of Betsy’s talk about her mothers and fathers, he had assumed that Betsy’s family history was one of instability. He had thought that her real mother and father had been married and divorced a number of times. He was rather surprised to discover that all of her mothers and fathers lived together as a single family and were very tightly knit.

It was in the middle of the night when he finally put together all of the clues and realized that he was staying at the Carter Clan enclave. It had taken that long for him to recall that Dan Biggerstaff was a member of the Carter Clan. He had lost a lot of sleep trying to remember all that he could about the Carter Clan. All he really could understand was that he was surrounded by some of the most powerful people in the world.

They weren’t at all what he would have expected of such wealthy people. Who would expect a billionaire to help guide him to a toilet because he couldn’t see? He had spent half an hour trying to remove the ice pack off his face only to find Kelly was batting his hand away. It had almost become a game between them.

Sitting around the breakfast table had been an eye opening experience. He had expected something like out of a movie where butlers and various servants were bustling about to serve the meal, but it wasn’t like that at all. There was a coffee urn on a side table and people refilled their own cups. There were a couple of chafing dishes filled with various breakfast foods that people helped themselves to. Rather than eggs Benedict or omelets, there were scrambled eggs. There were even boxes of cereal.

In terms of atmosphere, it kind of reminded him of home, except there were four times as many people there. The conversation had people detailing their plans for the day, although there was a lot of lighthearted teasing thrown in. Ed Biggers was complaining about having to go to work at the IRS that day. Dan Biggerstaff was bemoaning the fact that one of his projects was behind schedule and he was going to have to work late. They were making the same kind of comments that his father would make at the breakfast table.

After breakfast, Carl joined Betsy, Ling, and Claire in the exercise room. He had been expecting to do a little calisthenics, but they had other plans. He was told to stand on one side of the room while the three women tossed bean bags at him. He was supposed to block any bean bag before it hit him or move out of the way. At first, it was fairly easy. They’d toss a small bean bag and he’d bat it out of the air. Then they picked up the pace. Suddenly it was like he was surrounded by a cloud of hornets. He was swatting them down, ducking, and twisting to avoid getting hit. He did manage to avoid most of them, but a few managed to sneak through his defenses.

Afterward, he was totally depressed while listening to their discussion of his reflexes, and hand to eye coordination. Ling had also expressed grave concerns about the strength of his bones. Apparently, he wasn’t a total loss, and could learn to defend himself, but he would never be a great martial artist. Still, their assessments were so brutally honest, that it did hurt his feelings a bit. He now knew what a vivisection felt like!

After he was released from the exercise room, Ed came to him and invited him to the top of the building for a talk. They had gone to the roof and walked over to the side where they could look at the town. Ed leaned against the wall that ran around the roof and studied the town as if looking for something out of place.

After standing there for a few minutes, Carl asked, “Why are you doing all of this?”

“All of what?” Ed asked glancing over at Carl.

“Inviting me to your house to recover, watching over me, teaching me martial arts, and everything else,” Carl asked.

Ed didn’t answer immediately. It was a tough question to answer since everyone in the house was working from different motives. He understood his motive and decided that would make the easiest answer.

“It’s got to do with you being a hero.”

“I’m not a hero,” Carl said.

“I know you don’t view yourself that way,” Ed replied, “but you are a hero. You stepped up and faced a bigger man who was doing wrong. You may not have been successful in stopping him, but you tried and that’s a rare thing for someone to do in this day and age.”

“I did what anyone would do,” Carl said.

Ed countered, “No, you didn’t. You did something heroic and you were the only one there who did it.

“I’m sure a dozen people called 911, but that did nothing to protect that woman. All their calls would have accomplished is to get him caught after beating her. She could have been dead by the time the police arrived.”

Even the police, once they had arrived on the scene, had said that he shouldn’t have interfered. Dealing with criminals was the job of law enforcement and not bystanders. Carl knew that Ed was right about the calls to 911 doing nothing to protect the woman from Kyle. Kyle had managed to do a pretty good job on him before the police had arrived.

Ed continued, “You protected her and they didn’t.

“Not only that, but you stood alone. You didn’t have another person backing you up. You weren’t armed. You didn’t have the skills that would allow you to subdue him without getting seriously harmed. You put yourself between a victim and a brute fully aware that you were going to get hurt.”

Carl looked out over the town below thinking about what Ed had said. Maybe he had acted heroically, but that still didn’t explain why he was being treated the way they were treating him. He suspected there was more to the story.

“I still don’t get it. Why are you doing all of this for me?”

Ed sighed. “Let me start with the martial arts lessons. Things would have gone a lot differently if you had a little self-defense training. You could have moved in, and put him into a submission hold, before he was even aware that you were there. A little training could have changed the outcome of yesterday’s event, significantly.

“I asked Ling to train you, because I don’t think this will be the last time you’ll be called upon to defend someone.”

“Is that the truth?” Carl asked.

“Yes,” Ed answered.

“The whole truth?”

“No.”

“Explain.”

Ed said, “I want you to be able to protect yourself, and others. I have to admit that you aren’t the only one I’ve taken an interest in.”

“I’m not?”

“The world is heading towards disaster and times are going to be rough. I’ve been doing what I can to get good people prepared for what is going to happen. I’ve found about a dozen men and women who have what it takes to be heroes and heroines.

“I’ve been working with Ling to set up a Dojo in town. You’ve proven yourself to be one of the good people and I want you to join them. You’re invited to be a student there. If you are willing to learn, it will cost you nothing.”

“I don’t know what to say. You tell me that the world is headed for disaster and you’re creating some kind of hero squad,” Carl said. He paused. “I hate to say it, but this sounds like something out of a comic book.”

“I know it does,” Ed said looking out over his town.

His little town was going to be an island of stability in the future. A lot of small towns would be islands of stability in the future, but the big cities were going to become war zones. William had declared that the economy was going to collapse and take with it a lot of the veneer of civilization.

Ed sighed. “I’m not the only Druid who is taking steps like this. Others, all over the world, are seeking out and helping to groom people. We’re looking for those who can provide a buffer between the desperate people, and the ones they would victimize in their desperation.”

“So Betsy and Ling are in on this?” Carl asked.

“Not exactly,” Ed answered looking a little embarrassed.

“What exactly?”

“Their motives are a little different.”

“What are their motives?” Carl asked.

“Marriage,” Ed answered.

“What?” Carl asked.

“I think ... I don’t ... There’s not a good way to say this.”

There was honesty and then there was honesty. He didn’t know how to tell someone that his daughter was looking for a boyfriend without making it sound like something sordid. He was half tempted to tell Betsy to find a happy go lucky Druid and get laid.

“Not a good way to say what?” Carl asked.

“Betsy is single and looking,” Ed finally said.

It took a moment for Carl to understand what Ed was suggesting. Once he realized what was meant, Carl exclaimed, “Me? Marry her? You’ve got to be insane!”

There was an anguished scream from the stairwell. Ed grimaced upon learning that Betsy had heard what Carl had said. If he had known that Betsy would have followed them, to listened to their conversation from the stairwell, he would have taken Carl further from the house.

Carl looked in the direction of the stairwell. It didn’t require a genius to figure out what had happened. He had been shocked at the idea of marrying into the Carter Clan. To his way of thinking, things like that didn’t happen to guys like him. Rich folks married rich folks, while using poor folks for their own purposes.

“Sorry,” Carl said.

Ed replied, “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”

Crying, Betsy threw herself onto the bed. Her entire body moved with great sobs. She didn’t understand what was so monstrous about her that seemed to keep nice guys from wanting to date her. She had heard the shock in Carl’s voice at the idea of marrying her.

Kelly came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Her heart broke to see how upset Betsy was.

“What’s the matter?”

“Carl is horrified by the idea of marrying me!” Betsy wailed.

Although she had no idea how the topic of marriage with Carl had arisen, Kelly almost wanted to laugh.

She asked, “Shouldn’t you have gone out on a date or two before discussing marriage?”

Rather than answer, Betsy just cried even harder.

“My poor little girl,” Kelly said running a hand along Betsy’s back.

With real anguish in her voice, Betsy asked, “Am I so horrible?”

“No, you aren’t horrible,” Kelly said.

She understood being frustrated at not finding the right man. Her search had lasted years until she found Ed Biggers and John Carter. William had waited sixteen years before finding Lucy.

Stroking Betsy’s hair, Kelly said, “Finding your life partner, or life partners as the case may be, isn’t easy. I looked for years to find just the right men and women. There were times I was ready to give up. I was almost at the point where I figured that I’d have to settle for less than what I wanted.

“Then I met Ed and John.

“I remember having dinner with Ed on our second date. It was when I told him about the kind of marriage I wanted. My heart was beating in my chest so hard that I was surprised that he couldn’t hear it from across the table. I could barely eat.

“I was convinced that Ed would get angry and walk away without even giving me a chance, but Ed surprised me. He listened to what I had to say and he gave the idea full consideration. The rest of the story, as you know, is history.

“Here’s the thing you’ve got to understand. If I had met Ed two days earlier, I’d never have gone out with him. If he hadn’t met John Carter two days earlier, he’d never would have considered my ideas for an ideal marriage. Sometimes, it is just a matter of timing.”

Betsy said, “I’ve been waiting forever.”

“I was older than you when I met Ed,” Kelly said.

“I’ve never been kissed,” Betsy said.

Kelly continued to stroke Betsy’s hair. “I know. You don’t know anything about dealing with men. You need to fix that before you stand a chance of getting a boyfriend.”

“I know how to deal with my daddies,” Betsy said.

“Have you ever heard the phrase that you don’t go to family reunions looking for a date?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“You need to get the kind of experience of dealing with men that you should have gotten when you were sixteen.”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

Kelly said, “Why don’t you take some time to get to know the men around you?”

“Like who?” Betsy asked.

“How about starting with Carl?” Kelly asked.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Betsy went to talk with Carl, and see how he was feeling. He was seated in one of the leather chairs in the library, reading a technical journal. She sat down in one of the chairs across from him and watched him for a moment. He was concentrating on the material and unaware of her presence.

Finally, he finished the article and looked up. It was only then that he realized he had company.

“Sorry, I was lost in my reading,” Carl said apologetically.

“I didn’t want to disturb you,” Betsy said.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

Betsy said, “It was Daddy Ed’s idea to bring you here. He wanted to recruit you for his ‘good guy squad.’”

“He mentioned that,” Carl said.

“Ling says that your bones are too fragile for you to become a power hitter. You’ll end up breaking your hand.”

“She told me that,” Carl said.

He looked down at this hands. Even he had to admit that he had delicate looking hands. Ling had declared him as being small boned. He knew from experience that his bones broke easily. That was part of the reason that his eyes had swollen so much just from two blows to his face.