Читать книгу Nathaniel's Chorus - Gary Lightfoot - Страница 6

His hair still wet from his early morning swim in the ocean, Nathan Foot is now driving toward the “Big Donut”, a doughnut shop just north of Long Beach California, that the brothers had frequented with their parents. Shortly after sunrise, Nathan had driven down to the beach for his usual swim, part of a routine that he had kept since he had been discharged from the Navy SEALS some 10 years ago. His normal routine would have included a run down to the beach followed by another on the way back, but this morning, after a sleepless night, Nathan decided to drive and conserve his energy. Yesterday, while he was shaping a new surfboard for a young and talented grom, he was shocked to hear the charges that were being leveled against his baby brother Nathaniel. In order to strategize a plan on how best to rescue their brother, Nathan had worked through the night researching everything he could on the Chairman, Senator Jeremiah Branch.

Shortly after midnight, Neil had called Nathan to let him know that he was passing through Hermosillo Mexico, and that he would make it to the surf shop closer to lunch than late breakfast. Nathan decided that he needed to clear his head and what better way to do that, than by having that hot cup of coffee and a few warm honey glazed doughnuts that he had promised to have ready for Neil.

Driving along in his 1972 three door Chevy Suburban, they called “The Burb”, Nathan thought back on growing up the oldest of three brothers. He couldn’t remember the day his parents brought Neil home from the hospital, but he did remember the day Nathaniel came home. His earliest memories of Nathaniel were visiting him in the hospital. The image of seeing his little baby brother lying in the hospital crib with tubes coming out of his nose was an image that haunted him in his dreams for years. Now that dream had been replaced by the nightmare of seeing his baby brother sitting at a table being attacked by what appeared to be the embodiment of evil. Nathan knew that it would take all of his strength, all of his wisdom and all of his faith in order to defeat the monsters that now threatened his baby brother; but first he had to wake up.

A familiar voice over the drive-thru intercom interrupts his daydream,

“Welcome to the Big Donut, how about a dozen this morning?”

“Good morning Susan how are you?”

“Well hello Junior, I thought that was The Burb I saw coming around the corner. How was your swim?”

“Am I that predictable?”

“Well duh! Let’s see, you’re going to order a cup of coffee with cream and two warm honey glazed.”

Nathan rests his arm on The Burb’s window sill, “Ah Susan, this morning you’re wrong. I’d like to order a dozen mixed and two cups of coffee, one with cream.”

“Is Neil in town?”

“Susan, Seriously? You know us too well?”

“Drive forward please.”

Nathan drives forward and is greeted by Susan an early 20’s, tanned surfer-girl who has been working at the Big Donut, off and on, since her junior year of high school.

Φ Π Ψ

Nathan, Neil and Nathaniel had first met Susan when they were surfing Dog’s Beach near San Diego. The three brothers had driven down to the beach in The Burb on a Friday before Memorial Day. Their typical plan was to surf through the day, make a fire on the beach where they would eat “ring bologna” and graham crackers and then sleep in the back of the suburban. They would then wake up the next day and do it all over again. Their dad had called it their, “I got to get out of town before I blow my brains out” weekend. The brothers knew that it was really their dad’s way of making Memorial Day special. Their dad, a World War II veteran, would load the boys into the family station wagon on Friday and drive to the beach. Their mom and dad would sleep in the back of the car while the boys would sleep on the roof. In the evening their dad would build a fire on the beach and tell stories about his old friends in the service and all the great times he shared with them. It wasn’t until the boys were older that they found out the stories were about their dad’s friends who didn’t make it back after the war.

The family weekend get-away tradition continued every year without fail, even when the two older brothers were away in the military. Nathaniel told his two older brothers that their dad and him would sit around the fire and pray for their safe return. When Nathan did finally come home, it was the first place he wanted to go, even though it was December and the water was cold and it was a glassy-flat day. Nathan and his dad paddled out alone and sat on their boards silently. All day they just sat there without saying a word. Neil was still overseas somewhere and Nathaniel was finishing a study abroad year during graduate school. Their father repeated the same ritual when Neil came home. When Nathaniel returned from his study abroad the two brothers and their dad took him to the beach and surfed all day. Their dad did spend a good bit of time sitting around the fire that night with Nathaniel, alone, just the two of them.

The weekend they met Susan, started off routine with the three brothers loading their surfboards on top of The Burb and driving to Dog’s Beach. On Friday when the brothers returned to the suburban to bed down for the night, they found a young teenage girl sleeping in the back of The Burb. They woke her up and tried to help her, but she ran from them. On Saturday night, the runaway was sleeping in the back again. This time they convinced her that they could be trusted; that they would sleep on top of the suburban as they had many times growing up and that she could stay in the back all-alone.

The brothers were surprised to find her still in the suburban in the morning. They weren’t completely surprise, they had taken turns standing watch through the night, but they never told her. As the brothers were packing up for the trip home, they offered to drive her to wherever her home was. When she said, “Newport Beach”, they said “no problem”. They didn’t ask any questions nor did they condemn her, they just helped her find her way home.

On the drive home, Nathan told her that he knew the manager of the Big Donut, that he might be able to help her find a job, if she was interested. A few weeks after dropping her off at her home, she called Nathan and took him up on his offer. Ever since then, Susan had worked, part-time at the Big Donut.

Φ Π Ψ

Nathan is smiling proudly at her as he drives forward and asks,

“How you doing Susan?”

“Pretty good, how’ bout you guys? Where’s Neil?”

Nathan hands Susan his money, “He should come sliding in here in about an hour.”

“Hey Junior, my parents said they saw Nathaniel on the TV last night. How cool is that?”

Nathan’s smile disappears, “Not too cool, I think he’s in something bad.”

Susan’s upbeat voice doesn’t waver, her smile still radiant as she responds,

“Hey big bro! Don’t worry. Look at me; I’m covered in sticky doughnut glaze having the time of my life. You remember the mess I was when you found me?”

Nathan says in his big brother voice. “You weren’t a mess, just lost.”

“What EVER.”

Nathan begins to smirk and says, “You just take care of yourself, ok?”

Susan leans out of the drive-through window as she hands him his change,

“Junior, if there is anything you guys need . . .”

As Susan is talking she stops mid sentence and looks around, her eyes widen, she leans further out of the window craning her neck to see past The Burb and into the intersection in front of the Big Donut.

“Here he comes!”

Nathan turns to follow Susan’s eyes into the intersection, as he does, he hears a deep rumble followed by the screeching of tires and a distant police siren straining to catch up to the wild driver, followed by a “beep-beep” of a British sports car horn as around the corner comes a guardsman blue 427 Shelby Cobra. It’s Neil drifting in full counter-steer around the corner. As he passes the Big Donut, he lifts his right hand waving at his big bro and his adopted little sis.

Nathan points his finger at Neil then shakes his head as he turns back to Susan,

“Don’t let him influence you. I swear, between the two of them, he’s going to be the first die.”

Susan, grinning more than before, “Maybe, but boy can he drive!”

Nathan waves goodbye to Susan and says, “I better run interference for him or I’ll be trying to get both of them out of jail.”

Nathan pulls forward and stops with The Burb’s nose halfway into the road blocking the passage of the police car. As he braces for the impact of the police car, the pursuing car is hit, broadsided by a black van driving through the intersection. The police car spins out of control ending up on the sidewalk across from Nathan. Nathan waits to see if the policeman is ok. When the policeman climbs out of his car, Nathan guns The Burb and drives off toward his surf shop.

When Nathan arrives at the surf shop he looks all around for Neil’s car, but can’t find it anywhere. Nancy is standing at the counter when Nathan comes inside carrying the doughnuts. Nancy raises her hand to stop her husband.

“Honey, it’s Neil . . .”

Nathan protests, “Before you say anything, I need a cup of coffee.”

“Didn’t you get coffee?

“Yep, it’s all over the inside of The Burb. I was trying to catch up to him . . .”

Nancy again raises her hand and stops her husband,

“You’re suppose to be the smart one and you’re trying to catch Neil when he’s driving Shelly?” She breaks out in wild laughter, “Maybe I married the wrong one?”

“That’s not funny Nancy.” Nathan pushes Nancy’s hand out of the way.

Nancy follows Nathan into the back as he puts the box of doughnuts on the unfinished surfboard. As she reaches in the box for a doughnut she continues to laugh and says,

“What I was trying to tell you is that Neil called, he’s down the street at Uncle Carroll’s garage, he thought it would be safer to park Shelly where there were a few others that look similar to her.”

Nathan now holds his hand out toward Nancy, “First coffee, then Neil.”

“He said don’t worry, that Uncle Carroll would drop him off.”

Nathan holds his hand back up and says, “What EVER.”

As Nancy turns to go back to the front-counter she asks, “Speaking of Susan how is she?”

Nathan, now completely frustrated, plops down on the couch where he had spent the night attempting to plan the rescue of their baby brother. In front of the couch, sitting on the drift wood table, is a picture album opened to the page containing pictures of Nathan and Neil when they were in the military. The left page has pictures of Nathan in his Navy uniform and pictures of Coronado, California when he was with SEAL Team Five. As Nathan thumbs through the pages he sees pictures of him and Neil posing together somewhere in the desert. It was a rare time when the two brothers saw each other during their time in the military. Both had been selected by Special Operations Command to be a member of a team that combined Special Forces from the Navy, Army and Air Force. Nathan represented the Navy as a SEAL and Neil was a member of the Green Berets. The team was tasked with rescuing captured military personnel and civilian contractors during the Gulf War. The team’s codename was “Tiger”. For the team logo, Neil drew the head of a tiger wearing a little beret. The team had a local artisan make lapel pins with the team logo on it. Every member of “Tiger” wore the pin and when they rescued someone they would take their own “Tiger” pin off of their uniform and place it on the rescued personnel, saying, “You’ve just been pinned by a Tiger!” Almost every person rescued by “Tiger” still today either wears their lapel pin or carries it in their pocket. To honor the team, their commanding officer, Colonel Rich House, commissioned a Challenge Coin to be made with the “Tiger” on one side and “the United States Special Operations Command thanks you” on the other.

As Neil and Uncle Carroll walk into Footboards they are greeted by Nancy carrying a fresh pot of coffee.

“Hi Uncle Carroll!”

Carroll Shelby was not the brother’s real uncle, but he claimed the boys as relatives after he had traveled to Iraq with the USO on a morale-boosting trip. During his stay, the caravan that was transporting the USO group was attacked. Several hostages were taken. One of the hostages was Carroll Shelby. The two brothers never talked about what happened during the rescue and neither did Mr. Shelby. Standing in the doorway today was a healthy man in bib overalls sporting a small lapel pin and Neil had the keys of a “real” Shelby Cobra in his pocket.

“Good Morning honey, where’s that husband of yours?” Mr. Shelby hugs Nancy and is escorted into the shaping/work area in the back.

Neil following behind shouts, “Hey how about your brother-in-law?”

Nancy looks over her shoulder back at Neil, “Junior’s upset with you.”

“What did I do?”

“You made him spill coffee all over the inside of The Burb.”

Nathan stands up as Uncle Carroll embraces him. Uncle Carroll pulls Nathan in close and tells him, “You boys let me know what you need to help Nathaniel. Now I’m serious, you won’t be able to do this one on your own. Don’t go cowboy and charge off half-cocked.”

Once Uncle Carroll’s bear hug relaxes, Nathan reassures him, “Don’t worry Uncle Carroll, you know us. We’ll have everything planned out before we move.”

Nathan points to the drawing board where he usually draws out the plans for his surfboards, now it’s covered with printouts and reports on members of congress who might mean harm to them. On a side table are letters from Nathaniel the most recent were post marked a month ago.

Uncle Carroll nods to Nathan and then turns to Neil, “As for you!”

“What?” Neil says as he’s reaching for a doughnut.

“Well, ‘bout Shelly, I’ll have my tech boys go over her with a fine tooth comb.”

They both knew they were really telling each other that they cared for each other.

“Don’t worry Uncle Carroll, I’ll come home.”

“I’m not worried about you I’m worried about you completing my painting.”

As Uncle Carroll leaves, Nathan asks, “What painting?”

“Your brother told me about a scene he saw while driving up from Mexico. I told him that I’ll tune her up and fix the scratches on Shelly, if he would paint that scene for me.”

“Don’t forget that she’ll also be paid off, once I finish the painting.” Neil says after swallowing his bite of doughnut.

Nancy follows Uncle Carroll out; as they walk he says to her, “those boys mean the world to me. You let me know what I can do.”

Neil joins Nathan as they eat a few doughnuts and drink their coffee. As they’re sitting on the couch, Nathan begins to replay yesterday’s tape of Senator Branch listing the charges against Nathaniel.

“Senator Foot, do you understand the charges that I have just listed?”

Neil interrupts the recording,

“Wait Junior, back it up to where he lists the charges.”

Nathan rewinds the tape until he thinks it’s far enough. He then presses PLAY,

Senator Jeremiah Branch, is preaching in his heaviest southern drawl,

“We will show that you have been involved with the terrorist group known as tri-P and that you have been willingly providing sensitive intelligence information to the tri-P. We will show that this, aforementioned intelligence, has been used in the planning and funding of assassinations.”

Senator Branch pauses for effect, looking to the gallery for a response. But the response is muted, having just recently tossed most of the gallery out, leaving only a handful of media to cover the event. Senator Branch sits back in his chair as his aide who is standing behind him leans down to tell him something.

“I wish we could hear what that aide is telling him.” Neil says under his breath.

Nathan agrees, “yeah, me too.”

Nathan pauses the tape, freezing the image on screen, “That guy looks real familiar, doesn’t he?”

“I don’t know Junior, once a guy puts on a suit, they all look alike.”

Nathan discounts his thought and presses PLAY. As the tape plays, he stops it again. “Look at that guy, we know him.”

Neil sits up and stares at the screen. “From where?”

Nathan picks the photo album up from the table in front of them and begins paging through it, “The Teams”

Neil relaxes back into the couch, “Dude, that’s a long time ago.”

“I know, but trust me Neil.”

Neil knows not to argue with Nathan’s memory and asks where another album is.

“Junior, let me help, where do you keep those?”

“In the bottom of the side table.”

Neil walks over to the side table and begins to open the cabinet door. As he does he sees the letters from Nathaniel.

“Hey Junior, when did you get your last letter from Nathaniel?”

Nathan looks up at Neil, “About a month ago, I guess?”

“Yep, me too.”

Neil pulls out several albums and then sits back on the couch next to Nathan, as he begins to look through one of the albums he says, “Junior, we looked pretty good back then.”

As Nancy enters the room she says, “You guys still look good.”

Neil nudges Nathan in the side with his elbow, “She said I look good.”

Nathan nudges Neil back, “Lil bro, she said I look good.”

Nancy steps in, “I said you BOTH look good,” she leans down and gives Nathan a kiss, and then pinches his check and says, “and I love you.”

Nathan says, “See, she loves me!” as he does he slugs Neil in the shoulder.

Neil grabs his shoulder and says, “Dude, that hurt!”

The two brothers begin to wrestle on the couch, as they do the PLAY on the remote is pressed and the tape begins to run. The two brothers stop wrestling and look at the TV. As they do the aide behind Senator Branch, begins to stand up, as he does he moves awkwardly. Nathan lets Neil fall off the couch and onto the floor and begins looking through the album again.

“I think I know who that is.”

Neil gets up from the floor and stretches his back, while rubbing his shoulder. He picks up the remote and begins to pause, rewind, play and then pause the tape again.

“Junior, watch this.”

Nathan finds the picture he was looking for and asks Neil to look at the album as he looks at the TV. They swap places, now Neil is staring at the album while Nathan is standing in front of the TV.

Together they say, “It’s him!”

Nancy, totally confused says, “Who him?”

Nathan points at the aide standing behind the Senator and then points at the picture in the album. Nancy isn’t convinced,

“I don’t know guys, they sort of look similar. Who is he?”

Nathan punches Neil in the same shoulder he hit earlier and says, “It’s Neil’s sore shoulder that gave it away.”

“Yeah thanks Junior.”

The two brothers go on to explain that one of the team’s members was wounded in the shoulder. He was a medic and knew that the wound needed to be treated, but he continued on their mission helping other soldiers until the infection was so bad that he was transported home for more medical care.

Neil presses SLOW motion and watches as the aide stands up and awkwardly adjusts his shoulder when he stands upright.

“I’d bet that he’s still in pain, and that he’s trying to medicate it himself.”

Nathan reaches for the phone and asks for someone to find Nathaniel’s friend and lawyer’s phone number. “Find Jeff’s number, we’ve got to get a message to Nathaniel.”

Nancy, getting a little impatient, demands, “Okay boys, who is he?”

In unison the brothers say, “Cliff Cortez.”