Читать книгу Adamonde - Benjamin Vance - Страница 11

Linda Donaldson arrived at the Price home without invitation. She banged on the door earnestly and it vaguely alarmed Jonathan to hear the thumping. When he saw the visitor through a side window he was truly worried. He and Adamonde had barely come to grips with the latest revelations and now Linda stood banging on their front door.

Adamonde purposely didn’t connect with Linda. Only she and Jonathan knew why, but it stressed Linda more than any frightening story she surely had to tell. Finally, among all the indecision and fear, Adamonde practically flew past Jonathan to open the door and stop the racket. Linda screamed when the door flew open and she was practically sucked in by the vacuum it created.

Linda invited herself in and just stood by the door attempting to connect with Adamonde. When she couldn’t, she sank to her knees and started crying. She gulped out where she’d been, who she’d seen and why she came to warn Adamonde and Jonathan. She calmed after Jonathan led her to the couch and Adamonde went spiraling into the kitchen to get her a sweet soft drink and some marshmallows.

Linda started with, “On the plane, I was lamenting I’d told Larry too much. He works for some powerful folks, and … no, I just flat told him too damned much, attempting to ingratiate myself I guess. Son-of-a-bitch, I felt so good and he felt so good. I think he still loves me despite what I did to him.” Adamonde chirped from the kitchen and soon appeared at the doorway with two drinks.

Linda drank practically all of hers before she continued blind into the vacuous tranquility coming from Jonathan and Adamonde, “We had a wonderful time, and I don’t think he believed a word I said, but if he comes up here from Guatemala, he’s going to want to see Adamonde. What do I tell him?”

“Simple, tell him you lied to get in his britches.”

“Shit, he’s going to think I’m insane if I do that. We’ve got to think of something better.”

“We … don’t have to think of anything. He’s your problem Linda. We trusted you. He has no place in our lives. I’m glad as hell you two connected, but he has no place around Adamonde right now. Perhaps after the babies are born we can see what transpires, but now … no.”

Jonathan continued to stare at Linda until she softly said, “Maybe he won’t come soon and the babies will be born before he gets here.”

“What difference does that make, if he’s like ninety percent of humans; he’s going to want to cut her up. That ain’t gonna happen Linda!”

“Shit, I’m so sorry you guys. I didn’t even know I screwed up until it hit me on the plane coming back. I’ll get out of here and leave you two alone. Can I come back tomorrow just to discuss this?”

“Sure Linda, we all screw up from time to time. Come back tomorrow afternoon and we’ll barbecue some steaks.” Adamonde growled deep-down.

When Linda left, Adamonde looked deeply into Jonathan’s mind and asked, “Whheree isss Ootawhh?”

***

The only important things in Jonathan’s life stood before him in one package. There were some mementoes he chose to archive and they did so within an hour. All important clothes and equipment was packed in another two hours and they were gone in the loaded SUV within four hours after Linda left. Jonathan left his gas oven on and a kerosene lantern burning in the downstairs bedroom. His home exploded in a fireball of flame about 11:20 p.m. He and Adamonde were safe and well on the highway to Utah.

When faced with a genuine life-or-death quandary most people will eventually make the right decision unless fate intervenes, but if the right path isn’t chosen, who’ll be left to relate the saga? Luckily, several years earlier Jonathan did some planning work with the lead architect for a major addition to the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was well remembered by a good man and he encouraged Jonathan and his new “fiancée” to stop by and see him when they reached Salt Lake.

As Jonathan recalled, there were many beautiful places to stop and visit on the way to Salt Lake. When he ran the beautiful places through his mind, Adamonde questioned him. She chimed and chirped and smiled at him when he remembered Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon. Although Jonathan thought the Canyon was well out of the way, he gave in to Adamonde and promised to visit Zion National Park as long as she wore clothes, gloves and socks. She assured him she would wear clothing.

Adamonde started to sing and chime as soon as they entered the beautiful chasms on highway nine. She kept singing in Jonathan’s mind, looking in all directions with both eyes and saying “Hooome, hhitttss lhiike hooome! When they saw the checkerboard cliffs she wanted to get out immediately and climb. Since it was a weekday there weren’t many people around, and he found a great niche to pull off and hide the SUV to let Adamonde “climb”.

She was nude in seconds and speeding up a bald cliff-like incline like she had wheels and wings. He quickly missed her in his mind and after a while started to panic a bit, just as he caught sight of her little naked form at the top of a giant ponderosa a short way up the narrow, protected canyon. She was screaming at a Golden Eagle she’d attracted. He could barely hear her and could not hear the eagle, but saw it land near … and saw Adamonde pet it and then look his way. He imagined she was smiling.

At once he felt a concentrated tingling in his brain and she entered his mind with wonderfully jumbled thoughts of, “eagle this and eagle that and I love you and let’s live here and I love climbing and … watch me now”.

With that last thought she dropped from the tree; watching him, apparently only touching branches as she sped Earthward to her obvious death. He yelled in fear, clinched his fists and held his breath watching her plummet.

Toward the bottom and in what seemed like slow motion to Jonathan’s overdrive brain, she slowed and gently touched ground after looping over the last limb. She came at him like a bullet then, skidded to a stop about ten feet away, skipped, pirouetted with her arms above her head and jumped him with a wet kiss and the smell of wet cinnamon and pine sap. Soon they were in the throes of making love in a bed of pine needles, in the protective shadow of some huge monolith in Zion National Park. There happened to be two young hikers---surprised onlookers---on the ridge high above who witnessed the entire spectacle, had the same urges and mimicked it right there and then, on their own bed of straw.