Page 34 of Ultimate Freedom

Charlie stuttered, his gratitude for seeing her mixed with his terror of what had just happened. “The – the prick made me let him take pictures, Beth.” He held his hands over his genitals to cover himself. Feeling dirty… anger and self-pity rolled up into hate until he felt like he’d explode.

Fury making her scary-ugly, Beth rushed past Orville who stepped back. She grabbed the boy’s clothes and flung them his way. “Take these and get out.”

Not fully understanding that something nasty had shattered his innocence, Charlie dressed quickly. He left the room but listened to the two going at it from the other side of thedoor. Their vile language came through clear. Soon, the vitriol ramped up to physical violence.

Beth screamed her anger over Orville’s newest money-making scheme and warned that she’d kill him if he ever came near Charlie again. And Orville’s harsh laughter sounded before he slapped her.

That’s when Charlie ran for the landlord. When the large man carrying his rifle had yelled through the door that he had a gun and didn’t want any trouble, that they needed to leave, Orville rushed out, his face scratched and his eyes cold as ice. He’d glanced once in Charlie’s direction, and the look spoke volumes.I’m coming for you.Charlie knew instantly that Orville meant business.

Pushing past him, Charlie ran inside to find Beth curled up on the floor, her face all bruised. Rather than take time to nurse her wounds, she’d made them pack what they could carry and stay in hiding outside the bus station. “I want to be here and ready when the first bus leaves in the morning. We can’t let that sick prick find us again.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it, Charlie We gotta stay out of sight. He’s mean as a weasel when he’s high, and by Jesus, he was flying tonight.”

Once they left that town, they’d moved to a few more before landing in Hyder. He’d liked that this place was small, not the kind where Orville would likely find them. And he hadn’t… until now.

After he heard Mrs. Stanch’s remarks about the prick, he’d known fear so bad he’d tasted it. With his belly shriveling and his head ringing, he’d almost lost his lunch.

Thoughts of running began to form, but this time he’d be alone with nowhere to go and no one to take care of him. Tears pushing hard to get out, he’d turned to hear Demi say wordsthat made a huge difference… words to believe in. Their secret weapon was coming home, and Whit would know what to do.

Ignoring the sneers some of the other boys sent in his direction, for the rest of his first afternoon in school, he paid attention to the teachers, sat quietly, and mostly kept his head down. Because he did, he missed the boy who first approached until he spoke.

“Hey, Charlie. I’ve seen you working at the store with Norrie. Lucky you to get a job in this town. All I could find was babysitting and walking the neighbor’s dog.”

Charlie shyly looked up into the freckled face of a boy about a foot shorter than him but wearing a smile he couldn’t resist.

“Shoveling’s hard work,” he’d mumbled.

“Guess so, but I’m stronger than I look. My dad says dynamite comes in small packages, and that’s me. I’m Teddy by the way.”

Chapter Eighteen

Whit knew that Florida suffered winter storms, but the unexpected gale-force winds and unforeseen rainfall were interfering with everything. He’d intended to fly from the state two days ago and had been held back by the vicious weather.

Hearing tension in Demi’s voice on their last call, he’d forced her to tell him why she seemed upset. He’d listened to her carefully, and when she’d mentioned the name of the man who claimed to be Charlie’s father, he erupted. “Demi, you listen to me. That man is a no-good snake. He’s not to be trusted. I want you to be sure to keep Charlie away from him. If what’s-her-name comes back saying she has DNA proof, hide the kid until I get there. Got it?”

“Yes. I will. It’s the same thing that Norrie said. We’re all gathering information to take to Dawson so he can show evidence that the man’s not to be trusted.”

“Good. Keep Charlie close. I promise I’ll do everything I can to get there as soon as possible. In fact, I won’t wait until the storm passes so I can fly. Instead, I’ll rent a car and drive out. Keep in touch, baby. And don’t worry. It’ll all work out in the end. You know how slow the government works. This could take weeks.”

***

As the days passed, and she heard nothing from Mrs. Stanch, Demi began to relax. The town had rallied around Norrie’s request to find out whatever they could about Orville Blanchard. Stories were collected every day about his reputation. Unfortunately, the dude didn’t have a criminal record which would have gone a lot further than just versions of bad behavior and innuendoes.

They’d learned things about the man from selling drugs and pushing porn to bar fighting and abusing women. Yet nothing substantial enough to prove him a lawbreaker who’d been caught and jailed.

As Dawson remarked when Demi had spoken with him, anyone could say they’d seen the light and found God, turned over a new leaf, and intended to be a good father. Words come easy. Doesn’t make it so.

Another bright star in her sky – Charlie had made a friend at school and talked nonstop about a boy called Teddy. When Demi met him, she’d instantly approved of their friendship. He had a sunny disposition and laughed a lot like his dad Clive, which lightened Charlie’s ofttimes seriousness.

From what she could tell, they spent all their time together during the school day, and when Charlie had asked if Teddy could spend the night with them at the cabin on the upcoming weekend, she’d suspected he’d wanted to prove that he did look after an injured fawn and live with a wolf hanging around.

Of course, she’d agreed and helped him form a mattress on the floor of his bedroom. She’d let the boys make popcorn and even lent them her laptop so they could watch a movie late into the night. It had turned out to be a fun evening, one that Harold and Lefty had also enjoyed as they watched the boys shovel in their spaghetti dinner and then taught them a new rummy card game they instigated.

As she later drove the oldies home, she agreed with Lefty. “It is nice to see Charlie acting like a normal kid.”

Harold interrupted, “You’re right about one thing. Sometimes, he is acting. It’s not natural to him. He’s jumpy and nervous. Watch him, Demi. And if you’re scared alone out there, you come and stay at Whit’s with us. We’ll look after you both.”

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