Gateways. Part 23

Jack looked at him. "As a matter of fact, yes."

"Don't tell me you believe in UFOs. Please don't."

"The kind with aliens inside? Hardly. But I've had to stop believing in coincidences."

Tom wondered at the bleakness in his son's tone. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." Jack shook his head. "Maybe I'm reading too much into this. For a minute I had this wild idea that the Gateways honchos might be offing some of their healthier residents in order to have their houses revert to them."

"That is is a wild idea." a wild idea."

He sighed. "I know. Especially when I realized that the houses would stay with the spouses. So there goes the motive for that scenario."

"Except...," Tom said as that tightening sensation crept again into the back of his neck, stronger this time. "Except that Adele was a widow and Joe and Ed were widowers."

"Oh, Jeez," Jack said as they stared at each other.

10.

In Semelee's vision, at least in the eye covered by the sh.e.l.l, she moved at a height varyin from one foot to almost two foot above the ground. Clumps of saw gra.s.s whipped past at eye level. Then she was splashin' through a shallow pond, and now back up into the gra.s.s again. The goin' was tougher than it shoulda been. In September of any other year, she-or rather, Devil-woulda been able to stay in the wet for the whole trip. This year, though, was different. Still, the drought wasn't gonna keep Devil from goin' where she wanted him to.

The goin' was rougher for another reason: She had to stay on course and find her landmarks with only one eye.

At last she came to the pond she'd been searchin' for. The level was down, but not as much as most others. She slid into the water and dove deep. Devil's underwater vision was good, better than any human could claim, and soon enough she found the mouth of the tunnel.

She entered a dark place, so dark that even Devil's eyes was no good here. Sometime long ago, when all this land was formed, something happened hereabouts that left a channel through the limestone. Its width was enough to allow Devil to swim through, but just barely. She had to go mostly by feel.

The channel branched and Semelee guided Devil to the left. It seemed to go on forever, but eventually she saw a glimmer of light ahead. Devil surged forward. She could feel his hunger, but she held him back, slowin' him to a stop a few feet below the surface. She made him hover there for a few heartbeats, then started a slow float toward the surface. She let only his eyes and the top of his snout break the surface. An egret wading at the pond edge saw him and took flight. Smart bird. As Devil took a breath through the nostrils atop his snout, Semelee focused on the old man's house.

She'd been watchin' the place through a frog's eyes, waitin' for the son to come home. After bein' so close to him in town this afternoon, she had to see him again. She'd felt somethin' click between them. Like magic. She sensed destiny there. No doubt about it.

But as she'd been watchin' she saw him arrive with that old crone from next door and and his daddy! Semelee was so shocked she almost dropped her eye-sh.e.l.l. She thought this was bad at first, but then changed her mind. She realized that somethin' must be helpin' her, somethin' big and powerful, maybe even the Glades itself must be guidin' events. Because now that the old man was out of the hospital, he was closer to her. Comin' home put him within' strikin' distance. his daddy! Semelee was so shocked she almost dropped her eye-sh.e.l.l. She thought this was bad at first, but then changed her mind. She realized that somethin' must be helpin' her, somethin' big and powerful, maybe even the Glades itself must be guidin' events. Because now that the old man was out of the hospital, he was closer to her. Comin' home put him within' strikin' distance.

And strikin' was just why she'd guided Devil here. She had to get this finished. And it had to be this old man. He'd been offered, and had to go before the time of the lights.

As a bonus, after the old man was gone, there'd be nothin' standin' between her and the son. They could get together, just like they was meant to.

She watched the front door. She wondered when the old man would come out...or if he'd come out. Might be a long wait.

She heard voices. Good thing a gator's ears was atop his head, just behind the eyes, otherwise she woulda missed it. A swish of Devil's tail angled him around so she could see who was talkin' and...

Semelee blinked-her own eyes, not Devil's-and stared. There he was: the old man-wearing one of the ugliest Hawaiian shirts she'd ever seen-and his son sittin' in the neighbor lady's front yard. This was too good to be true.

She made Devil sink toward the bottom of the pond, and then had him back up to the far end. When she and Devil made their strike, he had to be movin' fast. He had to come out of the water at full speed and charge right at the old man. The big gator was hungry so she couldn't let him get distracted and go for anyone else-not that skinny old lady and especially not the son. She had to keep him on course. Not such an easy thing because when a gator opened his mouth, it blocked his straight-ahead vision. To make up for that, nature made it so that if anything touches the lower jaw, the upper snaps down like a bear trap. That meant she had to aim just right so that nothin'-not furniture and not the wrong people-got in Devil's way.

Once he got his teeth set in the old man, nothin' was gonna break his hold. Semelee would have Devil drag him into the pond and take him to the bottom. The tunnel was too narrow to fit both gator and prey, so once the old man was drowned, she'd let Devil chow down a little before high-tail in it back to the lagoon.

Back at the far end of the pond now, she surfaced for another look. Yes...there he was, talkin' and drinkin'...if she angled herself just right, she'd have a clear shot at the old buzzard. She'd sink, use Devil's powerful tail to propel them through the water, then hit the land a-runnin'. The old man wouldn't know what hit him. And finally she'd finish off what she, Luke, and Devil had begun the other night.

11.

Tom watched the sunset. He and Anya did this a lot. Not every afternoon, but often enough to approach the status of a tradition. He was wearing one of his favorite shirts, the one with Mauna Loa in full eruption on the back with bright orange lava flows trailing around to the front. As usual, Anya was sipping her wine. He'd brought over a few beers. Often he'd supply a stainless-steel shaker of gimlets that he put in the ice bucket, but the Sapphire supply seemed lower than he remembered. Had Jack been nipping at it?

Jack had called his brother to tell him their father was up and about, then handed him the phone. His older son had made a stab at sounding overjoyed, but what he really sounded was distracted. He said everything was fine but Tom sensed that something was bothering him.

Did this mean he now had two secretive sons?

Jack had come along for the sunset tonight, and Tom learned that he and Anya had done the watch last night.

They really seemed to have hit it off, those two. He felt a twinge of...what? Jealousy? No, that was ridiculous. He liked Anya-loved her, in fact-but in a brotherly way. He felt no s.e.xual attraction to her. She was a friend, a confidante, a drinking buddy. He could talk to her, confide in her. She'd lent him an ear when he'd talked about his self doubts and his wayward children, she'd held him when he'd cried after receiving word about Kate's death. What s.e.xual urges he had-and they seemed to be diminishing-were more than satisfied by a couple of the h.o.r.n.y widows populating Gateways South. They weren't looking for long-term relationships-what an alien concept in this environment-and neither was he. The couplings were v.i.a.g.r.a fueled, but a lot of the pleasure was in the snuggling and cuddling and having someone else in bed with you.

He turned on the battery-powered CD-player-radio he always brought along. But instead of the usual gentle music from the AM station he kept it tuned to, rap burst from the speakers.

"What the h.e.l.l?" He checked the dial and, sure enough, it was tuned to the right band. "What's going on here?"

"They changed the format while you were in the hospital, hon," Anya said.

"No!"

"Afraid so. Sorry."

He jabbed at the off switch. "What's happening to the world? Used to be I'd drive behind women and they'd be doing eye makeup and fixing their hair in the rearview mirror. Now it's men who can't take their eyes off themselves-staring at themselves and primping. Christ, everything's going to h.e.l.l in a hand basket."

"Yeah," Jack said, "and you can bet it's got a Fendi or Gucci logo on it."

"Very funny." He pointed at his son's T-shirt. "Look at that. 'Hilfiger' all across the front of your shirt. They sell you the shirt, then turn you into a free walking advertis.e.m.e.nt for their product. You should be charging them them to wear it." to wear it."

"It's the way of the world, Dad," Jack said. "Everybody does it."

"And that makes it right? Since when do you of all people want to look like everybody else?"

"Long story, Dad."

"I'll bet."

What's the matter with me? he thought. Why am I so cross? I sound like a crotchety old man.

He smiled to himself. h.e.l.l, I am am a crotchety old man. But not without reason, not- a crotchety old man. But not without reason, not- Anya's dog started yipping. The little Chihuahua was standing at the edge of the pond barking at the water. Crazy little dog. Tom had noticed a snowy egret there a few moments ago but it was gone now. Probably scared off by the pooch. Nothing in sight but placid water.

He noticed another sound. A chorus of clanking rattles from all around him. The homemade ornaments-the painted cans on sticks salted in among the leprechauns, bunnies, turtles, and flamingoes-were shaking and rattling on their sticks. Funny...he didn't feel a breeze.

The dog increased the pitch and volume of his yipping.

Tom turned to Anya. "What's wrong with him? He hardly ever barks."

"He must sense something out of the ordinary," she said. "Oyv! Get away from there and stop that racket. A migraine I'm getting already. Go back to-"

Suddenly the water erupted and something huge and bellowing exploded from the pond. Tom dropped his beer and his mind blanked in shock for an instant. What the h.e.l.l was it? All he saw at first was a wide-open set of jaws bordered with dagger like teeth, the delicate pink membranes lining the maw, and the long, tapered, slightly darker tongue waggling within. Then he saw the dark green scaly legs and the thick undulating tail behind.

An alligator, bigger than any he'd ever seen in all the gator parks he'd visited. And it was racing right for him.

The only thing between Tom and those jaws was Anya's Chihuahua. The little dog held its ground for a second, then charged the gator, leaping at it with a high-pitched growl. The onrushing jaws scooped up the dog and snapped closed.

"Oyv!" Anya cried.

"Holy s.h.i.t!" Jack was out of his chair and reaching for the small of his back.

Without breaking stride, the alligator made one convulsive swallow and the dog was gone, devoured like a canape.

The monster gator was still lunging forward. Tom started to leap up but his foot slipped on the gra.s.s and suddenly he was falling backward in his chair. Before the gator opened its jaws again, Tom got a look at its head. He caught a flash of two scaly protrusions, gray-green like the rest of its hide, each about six inches long, on either side just behind and below the large brown eyes with their vertical-slit pupils. They looked like horns.

Something twisted in his chest...something familiar about this alligator. But what? How could he ever forget a creature like this?

As he and his chair hit the ground, Tom rolled to the side and started to scramble to his feet. He heard Jack mutter a curse and saw his hand coming out from under his shirt at the small of his back. Jack moved quickly, like a pouncing cat, grabbing the back of his chair and holding it out legs first, like a shield. To Tom's shock, he leaped between him and the gator.

"Dad! Get back!"

Tom regained his feet and backed away, but Jack hung in there, facing the big gator down.

"Jack! Anya!" Tom cried. "Into the house!"

"Not to worry," Anya said.

Tom looked her way and saw that she was still on her recliner. She'd straightened so that she was off the back rest, but she still held her winegla.s.s.

"Anya!" he said. "Get up! It's-"

She glanced at him. Her eyes and expression were unreadable, but her voice was calm, almost serene.

"No creature on earth will harm you here."

"Tell that to Oyv!" Jack said, backing away from the onrushing gator, but keeping himself between it and Tom and Anya.

His son's courage and protective stance amazed Tom. He'd known guys like that in the service-most of them long gone, sadly-but had seen little of it in today's every-man-for-himself world.

And then, incredibly, the gator halted its charge. One second it was roaring toward them, the next it stopped as if it had run into a wall. It stood on the border of Anya's emerald sward and the brown gra.s.s that typified the rest of Gateways. It closed its jaws and shook its head as if confused. It tried again to cross the line but then quickly retreated.

It turned left and stalked along the margin of green, thrashing its huge tail as it looked for a way in, and that was when Tom saw something dangling from its right flank. He squinted in the failing light and saw that it was an extra leg. But it looked vestigial. It didn't move and didn't touch the ground. It simply hung there.

The gator then turned and stalked the other way. Tom saw another vestigial limb on its left flank. But far more puzzling was its inability to cross onto Anya's lawn. It made no sense.

And then it occurred to him that the situation might be only temporary. If only he had a gun!

"Call the cops!" he cried. "Call security! Get someone here to either drive this thing off or kill it before it kills someone!"

"No need," Anya said from her recliner. "It will be leaving soon."

The alligator stopped its stalking and bellowed. It shook its head and whipped its tail back and forth. It seemed confused. It bellowed again, and this time it sounded as if it was in pain. Then it rolled onto its side, and from there onto its back, swinging its head back and forth, thrashing its tail and clawing at the air with its taloned feet.

With another throaty bellow it rolled back onto its feet but didn't charge. Instead it made a slow turn and began a limping retreat toward the pond. As it moved away Tom noticed a fist-sized bulge in its left flank, just ahead of the vestigial limb. Not so much a bulge as a pulsation.

The gator roared again as the bulge ruptured, spewing blood along the hide, a crimson splash along the gray-green scales. Something moved within that opening, something red and snouted. The hide split further and- "Holy s.h.i.t!" Jack shouted. "It's Oyv!"

Dear G.o.d, he was right! The little Chihuahua was chewing its way out of the gator. It squeezed through the ragged opening like a baby being born. Once the upper half of his body was clear, the rest of him slid out. He landed on all fours and shook himself, then started barking at the retreating gator, chasing after it, nipping at its tail until it slid into the water and disappeared below the surface.

The dog dove into the water, repeatedly dipping its head under as it paddled in a small circle, then emerged with the blood washed away. He shook off the water with an almost epileptic shudder, then trotted back toward Anya with his tail wagging, his little head held high, and his black eyes shining. Proud, and very pleased with himself.

"Good boy," Anya said, patting her lap. "Come to Momma."

"What?" Jack started to laugh and Tom thought he heard an hysterical edge to his voice. "What the-? This is impossible! Just plain..." his voice trailed off to a whisper "...impossible."

Jack turned and stared at Anya and she stared right back. Tom would have asked what was going on between them, but he couldn't speak. He had to sit down. He quickly righted his chair and dropped into it, panting for air as his chest tightened.

He remembered now where he'd seen that horned alligator before.

12.

Semelee dropped the eye-sh.e.l.l and fell to the floor, clutchin' her left side. She felt as if someone had shoved a spear halfway through her. Never in her life had she felt pain like this.

"It hurts, Luke. Oh, G.o.d, it hurts!"

He hovered over her, hands reachin' toward her, then pull in back. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Not sure." The pain was easin' off now. "Don't know how, but Devil got hurt. Hurt bad."