Desperado Dale (Scenic Route to Paradise) (10 page)

“Coffee in the arm-y… say its mighty fine but to
me and my bud-dy… taste like iodine! Ohhh, Mommy I don’t want to go but I have
too-ooo…” she wailed happily indifferent to all that was happening around her.

Nearby, standing in the shade of a busy cypress
tree, Anna stood talking with two men dressed in black. When Anna’s eyes
shifted to the approaching Mr Adams, the motorcyclists wheeled about to face
him.

Speaking Greek, the stocky, shorter man who was
simply called Karlo by his fellow agents asked Anna about the elderly man as
Bernie drew near. She told him that he and his wife were traveling with her and
the baby.

Karlo said, “Ask the old man where he hid the
boy.”

Anna nodded and then said to Mr Adams, “He wants
to know where you hid the boy.”

Clutching his side as he had a stitch from
trotting after Guppo who easily outdistanced him, Bernie replied,, “Anna, you
know! I didn’t hide him! The little chimp ran off.”

Anna told the men that Mr Adams had run after
the boy but the short spokesman responded, “He lies. Americans are such liars.
Ask him again. Where did he hide the child?”

So she asked again. Bernie said, “What a
jackanapes… Tell him to go jump in a lake. No, don’t tell him that but ask him
if he is a Frenchman…”

Hesitant, Anna interpreted the old man’s
question.

Karlo nodded toward Bernie and said, “Yes, on my
father’s side although I never learned the language. And how did you know I was
French?”

Bernie was saying, “Yes, he is! I knew it! Yes,
he is!” but Anna was redirecting the conversation to keep Bernie and all of
them from further complications.

“As you see, he gets very excited… He loves the
French meals… bouillabaisse and all that. We may be traveling through
France
on our way to
Britain
as we have friends in
the
UK
,” she said hoping to
derail an impending conflict.

Bernie decided to take the conversation into his
own sphere and in French he said, “You jackanapes, go take a dive into a lake!”
He laughed and then repeated his insult before Anna could explain to Bernie
that they did not speak French although the tough, short one had a French
father. Bernie, disgusted at this bit of information, turned back to the car.
In the meantime, Anna was left to explain.

Improvising, Anna said, “It seems he is very
excited about the prospect of eating French food and it has worn him out. He is
going to take an afternoon nap.”

The men laughed.

Bernie looked back and sneered at them but they
took no notice.

Bean told her ex-husband, “They looked through
the car. I was so relieved we left that bogus carry-on bag at the bed ‘n
breakfast.” She held her booklet,
Great Tips and Diverting Trivia
in her
left hand and a pen in right. “You haven’t lost your touch, Berlin Billie. I
really don’t know what those two scoundrels would have done to us if they had
found that bag… They said they were looking for the boy but surely, he is too
large to be hiding in our suitcases!”

“They searched the car?” he asked with a shake
of his head.

Bean nodded.

Bernie said, “The thickset one is a frog! He
couldn’t find a noodle on a plate of pasta.”

Gwyneth had mellowed her song to a hum but when
Grandpa spoke of pasta she stopped and climbed into her car seat to look
longingly toward her mother. Her tummy and thoughts were distracted when her
cushioned seat began to buzz.

Chapter 15  A Stone’s Throw

Late morning sunlight pushed through the
shuttered windows above the sink revealing an empty kitchen. Everyone was gone,
including the dogs. A half loaf of bread and a wedge of white cheese were on
the table.

A cup of strong coffee… Greek coffee would be
nice right now
.

Dale found that there was no coffee but only the
makings for tea on the counter. Mugs and plates had been rinsed. The dishes
dripped next to the sink in the sun dappled light.

Next to the empty grocery basket, Dale saw his
phone still plugged in from the night before. He wrapped the charger and pushed
it into his jeans pocket.

Time to call Anna!

Dale sliced a chunk of cheese and pulled a large
hunk of bread from the loaf. Juggling toward the back door, he rang Anna’s
phone.

“Hellwhoa,” Gwyneth answered after several
rings.

Dale got a lump in his throat and it wasn’t the
coarse brown bread he was having for breakfast.

“Gwennie!” he squawked. “Gwennie, its Daddy! How
you doing, you little tomato cake?”

There was a momentary silence before she
answered with a giggle, “Tomato cake? You’re a potato pie!”

“Gwennie, give the phone to your mother!” Dale
said realizing that the conversation was going down the typical father-daughter
rabbit hole.

Dale could hear his grandparents debating
argumentatively in the background as his daughter informed him, “Can’t. The bad
boy has her.”

“Let me talk to Grandpa or Bean, please,” said
Dale, throwing a rock with all his might in frustration.

“Bean says Papa always blames French fries but
Papa says, no and…” Dale interrupted her diatribe.

“Sweetheart, Grandpa is funny about the French
but just put him on the phone. It’s very important. Be a good girl and give him
the phone.”

There was shuffling. Dale was sure his daughter
had dropped the phone. He could hear Bean’s squeaky voice reciting a recipe for
Mousaka and then the phones lost connection. Redialing, Dale concluded that his
wife’s phone needed to be charged.

Grandpa Bernie’s phone was seldom used because
the elderly man usually had it buried in the bottom of his luggage. Dale
pressed Bernie’s number.

“Who is this?” Mr Adams asked suspiciously after
the first ring.

“Uh… Oh, Grandpa, it’s me – Dale,” said Dale
surprised by the unexpected and quick pick up from Bernie. “I was talking to Gwyneth
and we got disconnected. I think Anna’s phone went dead.”

“Well, young man, we’ve been extremely worried
about you. You’re not in the airport hoosegow as I suspected, then? Or did you
escape?” asked Bernie.

“No… no, they didn’t catch me. I got away. There
has been a big mix-up,” Dale responded.

“Yes, we realized that and apparently, somebody
is looking for something and they think you…
we
have it!” Bernie said
hotly. “That is why I answered my phone. Surprised you didn’t I? Well, this is
no game.” Bernie shifted himself in the backseat of the rental car.

Outside, Anna was speaking with Guppo, the child
who had been herding geese as they left the inn over an hour ago. The boy
looked like a dust covered goblin, with his body and face smeared a dirty
brown. Only his erratic smile and white eyes appeared clean. Charlie Brown’s
comic friend, Pigpen came to mind. The boy had been deathly afraid of the New
Dawn agents.

He had already told Anna about the man on the
motorcycle from the night before. Bean and Bernie were alarmed at the news and
because they hadn’t mentioned the misplaced treasures they had found, Anna had
translated the episode indifferently. Not knowing about the cache, Anna assumed
that the men in black were solely looking for Guppo. Bernie knew otherwise.

Dale said, “I know. I know. Can you get to
Anna’s family and keep a low profile until I arrive?”

“Yes, sonny boy. That is our plan. I think we
need to consider getting a boat out of here a.s.a.p… Like bats out of hell!”
Bernie said. “Now I better hang up. Anna is returning with our tour guide and I
don’t want to alarm her.”

“Hang on, hang on! I need to talk to her. I have
no idea where her cousin lives, except it’s on the north part of the island,”
Dale said hurriedly. He didn’t want another disconnect.

Reluctantly, Bernie handed his phone over to
Anna after Guppo climbed in next to him. Anna’s face was all smiles as she
spoke with her husband,

“Dale! Oh, Dale! Are you okay?” she asked before
he spoke.

“Babe, I’m fine! I’m sitting on a patio
overlooking the ocean and I’m eating cheese and bread for brunch,” he told her.
Outside of the kitchen was a small herb garden and another larger enclosed
vegetable garden grew beyond that. Stones inlaid with a mossy green between,
stretched out a hundred feet or more in front of him. Although rundown, the
grounds still held their majesty of better times. There was a skinny black goat
tethered to a wrought iron chair off to the left. The animal munched
complacently from the green and brown grasses growing as the lawn. Immediately
beyond the yard, the ground fell away and vineyards and orchards could be seen
below. The beach and
Ionian Sea
met the far horizon. A mixture of earthy manure and jasmine hung
in the air. In the cool of the morning, Dale thought the smell not a bad
combination.

“Great! While you’re relaxing at the country
club, we are busy getting lost and hassled and then we found a stow-away riding
our back bumper,” she responded trying to sound angry but she wasn’t convincing
herself or anyone else.

As Bean turned to get Mr Adam's reaction to
Anna’s tongue-in-cheek comment, the old man winked at Bean. She blushed.
Grinning, he caught her confused look before she turned to face the windshield again.

Guppo did not understand English but he
understood people. His teeth glowed in a grin at the old man which brought
forth his own wink from Mr Adams.

A few minutes later, Dale sat listening to the
hum of bumble bees and smelling the Jasmine aroma; the phone tucked away in his
shirt pocket. He missed Anna, the baby and even his grandparents. It wasn’t a
huge island. He should have remembered the village was named Evangelos after
Anna’s cousins. The tiny town was just up the mountain, east of Avliotes and
yet, Dale had no idea how he was going to get there.

God knows
.

God had a plan.

Chapter 16  Sacred Sensitivity

“Why are you hiding?”

The old woman drew her scarf tight under chin
before replying. “We hide because everyone hates us. Now there is a bounty on
our heads. There is no place to go but home. It is not the first time. We hide
to survive.”

A stone covered with thin, raw leather was
placed in her hand. “If you insist on hiding, then take this.”

The woman looked at the rock. It was very
familiar and yet, she was confused. She asked, “Is this a gift?”

The hooded figure replied, “No. It is not a gift
but it is the key. When the door is before you, use the key. It is your
escape.”

She examined the key. It certainly didn’t look
like any key that would open a door. Turning the stone over for the third time,
she asked the stranger, “And afterward? Good sir, do I give this key to others
so they too may escape?” Looking up, she saw she stood alone with the cloaked
figure walking away. He had gone some distance before looking over his shoulder
at her. The cloak shifted revealing a brief glimpse of a sad face before
disappearing again as he gave a negative nod in answer. But in her head,
Bethania heard his words.

“Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One,
that is, God. But if you want to enter into life eternal, keep the
commandments.”

Bethania smelled jasmine. She liked that smell.
Opening her eyes, she was startled as she realized she had been asleep… asleep
and dreaming again.

The old woman had understood for many years that
she was sensitive to the spiritual side of life. The hooded figure was often in
her dreams but for the most part his words, the man’s instructions, were enigmatic.
Not long ago, as Bethania dreamed, she questioned the man about her inability
to understand because she knew she must comprehend his advice. It was
imperative.

His reply, “You have a sacred sensitivity to
God. It is a holy endowment even if you do not know how to wield the gift.” And
then she woke up.

Her dreaming, the night visions were a gift but
the stone covered in goat skin or sheep skin or… badger skin for all she knew,
was not a gift… as he had said.

Hopefully, Bethania looked around. Nothing but
the usual. Her little room opened unto a small balcony that connected to the
master bedroom terrace. The tiny bedroom and the adjoining porch had been
originally designed for a personal assistant. Early, she had milked the goat
and after her morning toast and tea, she had come out on the bedroom terrace to
sit in the cool and mend her sweater. The wooly red yarn was unraveling and the
entire sweater would be ruined if she didn’t fix it soon. Cooler weather was
coming and she would be wearing the warm red sweater everyday, soon. Kerkyra,
and all of
Greece
- was busy during the
fall and winter months. She would be busy too.

Her sweater and a crochet needle lay in her lap.
The sun had shifted and she was no longer in the shade. The chaise lounge she
rested in was the only piece of furniture on the balcony. There was room for
little else. Below, the American emerged within her view as he came from the
kitchen. He stood a moment before squatting to pick up a stone. There was a
cell phone in his other hand and he was speaking. Suddenly with an explosive
gesture Dale threw the stone. Bethania drew her breath… This stranger, Dale
from
America
reminded her of the
stone bestowing cloaked man of her dreams.