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Steel
“Spike?” I hollered, trying to locate my dog. “Spike, you’ve got five minutes to get back home before I come after you.” This was unusual behavior for Spike; he typically stayed close to home.
Worried, I began to search around the house to see if he might be sleeping somewhere. After all, he was getting up there in dog years, equivalent to seventy in human years. My heart raced with the fear that he might be injured. I decided to head to the swimming hole to check if he was there.
I heard a scream that caught my attention as I walked uphill to the swimming hole. A woman in a wheelchair came barreling down the hill, and I had a sinking feeling she was about to end up in the cold water. I ran toward her, and just as I expected, she splashed into the water, letting out another scream.
I ran to where she was, quickly righted her wheelchair, and helped her out of the water. She was trembling, so I took off my shirt and wrapped it around her for warmth.
It was then that I recognized her as the niece of the Randal sisters. I remembered her as a tall, skinny girl with braces, but she changed considerably. She no longer had braces, and the closer I looked, the more I could see she was no longer skinny; she had plenty of curves. I wondered why she was in a wheelchair. She was still tall, but gazing at her, I saw she was as beautiful as she always had been. I remember her mom was Spanish, so she had all that dark hair and big brown eyes.
Her expression seemed ready to unleash fury, and I assumed her anger was directed at one of her aunts, who, at this moment, was running down the hill, yelling she was sorry. I just knew she was going to come sliding into us.
“They are going to kill me if I stay here any longer, Charlie muttered to herself. “I desperately need to return to my own home. I don’t care what Dad says. My aunts are too clumsy to help me. I told my father, but would he listen to me? Hell no, he said my aunts begged him to take care of me while I healed from my wounds. I’ve had enough.”
That’s when Miss Molly showed up. “I’m so sorry, dear. Your large dog startled me, and I accidentally bumped into your wheelchair. That’s why I always ask that you sit in one of the chairs on the porch. I’ve been so concerned about this hill and the swimming hole.”
“Aunt Molly, I think it’s time I went home. I’m too much work for you and Aunt Hillary.”
“Nonsense, Levi, can you please push Charlotte Primrose back up the hill to our house?”
I noticed that mentioning her middle name caused her to shudder. If I remember correctly, she has always hated her middle name. I remember her aunts named her. The house was a very large Victorian.
Charlotte suddenly realized I was there and heard her talking to herself. She looked down at my shirt wrapped around her.
She looked back at me, “Levi, I’m sorry for ignoring you. Thank you for saving me. I doubt I could have crawled from the swimming hole alone. It must have shocked you when you realized you had saved the life of that buck-tooth, long-legged, stringy-haired witch. Or wait, I believe what you said was bitch.”
“Now Charlotte, Levi was a child when he said that, and if I remember right, you let him have it with a kick in his nuts from those long legs,” Aunt Molly giggled.
I watched as Charlotte shook her head; I stopped pushing and walked around to examine Charlotte. She was bleeding from a spot on her forehead. “I’m sorry I was a stupid jerk when I was sixteen. I was so upset when that ball hit me in the face because my dog Rover had just died. I know you can never forgive me; it’s obvious you haven’t forgotten it if you remember it word for word.”
“I promise I went up to tell you how sorry I was, but you had already left and never returned. I wrote you a letter; I gave it to Miss Hilary to mail to you.”
“Will, that was your first mistake. Aunt Hilary can never remember anything. Forget about it.”
“Let me see your head. You must have hit your head; it’s bleeding.”
“I hit a bush before going into the water. It’ll be fine. I just need to get back to the house and take a warm bath.”
“Can you walk at all?”
“Yes, I can walk; it’s just still painful. I need to go home, where I have all my equipment to help me. I have to push myself, and that’s hard to do with my aunts trying to make me sit down all the time. They watch me like I’m a newborn baby. I’ll call my father and have him come and get me.”
“I can help you. I have nothing going on right now,” I noticed her frown.
“You don’t have a job?”
“Remember, dear, I told you about the boys here who left the Marines and started their own security business,” Aunt Hillary said.
“We actually have a high-security business and travel worldwide for rescue missions,” I added, feeling compelled to explain our work to her.
“That must be a rewarding job. Mine felt rewarding before the accident. Now I’m happy if I can get to the bathroom alone. I’m sorry; it’s just that I get so frustrated that my recovery is taking so long.”
“When was your accident?” I asked.
“Six months ago. An eighteen-wheeler hit me, and it wasn’t an accident; the driver wanted me dead. He almost succeeded, but there was a police car at the red light next to me. The police officer had to kill the driver because he was coming at me with a gun in his hand. He was angry because his brother was murdered in prison, and he blamed me.”
“Wow, an eighteen-wheeler? You’re lucky to be alive. I have all the equipment you’ll need at my place. I’ll come and pick you up in the morning. What time should I be here?” I could tell she didn’t want me helping her, so I waited patiently for an answer.
