The Night the Sky Fell (11 page)

Johnny Angelo hid many things from friends and family. It’s true that in the past he was the most popular kid in school. Even some of his women teachers had a crush on him and acted on this by giving him a higher grade then he deserved. Many of the male teachers wanted to relive high school in the shoes of Johnny. Johnny skated through life on his looks and athletic prowess, but he cared about people. In particular he cared about Peyton’s plight and Banks’ care and love for the kid. He admired the profession of Tricia’s father. Johnny enjoyed learning about Tlingit traditions. He would get a high when working on boat hulls. And the high was elevated to exhilaration when he added pot to the mix. Also he felt for the plight of women by reading all the Jane Austin novels. He would definitely keep Jane Austin a secret from everyone.

Johnny stinks at math. Although he had enough credits to graduate in May, he simply could not pass the required math proficiency exam. No passing exam meant no diploma. At least Johnny would not have to go through public humiliation since he would ‘walk’ at the graduation ceremony with other seniors. But when the school passed out diplomas, his paper would simply state that he received a certificate of attendance. For now this will be a secret between his school counselor and himself. He considered a math tutor for the exam.

As he dressed for his dinner date, he thought about Tricia and the way she treated him…publicly humiliated him. His pride was hurt when he delivered an expensive gift to her this afternoon, she didn’t even say thanks. There was just the usual silence. It was strange to be with a desirable girl that he cared for and not talk. They could be Prom king and queen but their relationship was waning. He decided it was not his fault. This was happening to his friends and no one had a solution. Johnny considered dropping Tricia. This also meant dropping sex. He felt like a piece of meat. Like a whore. Sex was always on her terms and that irked him. He thought about when she stopped by last summer and said, “Do you like me for who I am or what I got?” Tricia, he thought, liked Johnny solely for ‘what he’s got.’ He should drop Tricia Powers. But the problem was that Johnny was an honorable young man. He could not drop the woman he thought that he impregnated. Yes, Johnny thought he was the baby’s father. Once again, Johnny’s math stinks. Of course he was not the father.

Johnny booked the Star Restaurant the day after Thanksgiving. Every seat was taken. During the first three courses, Tricia uttered one word, “Good.”
 

Johnny attempted to make conversation that he hoped would interest Tricia, “It’s hard for you and me to be at the top. People always want to knock you down. Tricia you’re not listening to anything I say.”
 

Tricia puts her fork down, “Could you fast forward?”
 

“Okay, the baby, the baby you are carrying. I want to help you take care of it.”
 

Tricia laughed hysterically as Johnny’s face reddened. “Stop it, Tricia. That’s so unseemly.”
 

Tricia turned and ‘sent’ to other pregnant women in the restaurant. The laughter intensified as the men wondered what was causing the ruckus.
 

Johnny blurted out, “You told them all. It’s no one else’s business.” And the laughter boomed through the restaurant.

Johnny requested the check. All he wanted to do was to get out from the laughter and the hideous looks he received from everyone. He wanted to leave Tricia there but he still felt he was the father of her child; he would be abandoning the baby as well as Tricia.

Johnny paid the bill and ushered Tricia to his pickup. Johnny sped towards Skyline Boulevard. Tricia looked out the window, “Pull over.”
 

Johnny was furious with anger, “What?”
 

 
“I said pull over now, boy.” Johnny and all of his friends learned to obey a woman’s command. He stopped the car. Tricia reclined her seat, pulled up her dress and removed her panties, “I want you now! Give it to me now, boy!”
 

Johnny seethed at her, “I’m not your boy. We’re done.”
 

Tricia bellowed a hideous noise. She placed her seat in an upright position. She slapped Johnny on the face. He attempted to start the car. Her fingers went for his. She bit his fingers. She socked Johnny in the groin. As he screamed out, she punched him in the face. She removed her seat belt, got on top of him and pummeled his face.

Ten minutes later, Johnny’s car stopped in front of the Powers’ house. Tricia exited from the driver’s side. Johnny’s door slowly opened. He hobbled to the driver’s seat bleeding and bruised. When he got in the car, he burned rubber.

Tricia sauntered in the house as Stan and Banks watched TV while Peyton rested on Banks’ lap.
 

Stan said to Tricia, “Don’t I get a Valentine’s hug, Sweet pea? Isn’t that blood on your hands? You okay?”
 

Peyton chimed in, “Blood is red like roses. Tricia, what’s green?”

If Peyton could see, Tricia’s eyes turn green for just an instant; Banks would describe it as a demonic green. Tricia marched up the stairs ignoring all.

May
 

Generally, the month of May brought a plethora of cruise ships and tourists. The apparent tech savvy women of Juneau created disinformation. Warnings were issued in the name of city counselors, the Mayor and the Governor to these companies that due to inadequate staffing, Juneau could not accept tourists during this season. The general notice was that cruise companies would have to change their ports. Juneau now would be excluded from all cruise itineraries. The plan was well orchestrated by the wives of local government officials. There would simply be no outsiders during the summer and especially during the women’s delivery. Juneau was to be inaccessible from the outside world. The airport was next on the women’s agenda.

In Washington, D.C., the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Transportation were advised by the Alaskan representatives to allow the Juneau women to run their own affairs. The Juneau delegation in Washington D.C. acted in such an intimidating manner that no one would defy their requests. Other related cabinet members followed suit based on information that they received and since the media was not involved, higher administrators followed suit…all the way to the top. Juneau was now totally free from outside involvement.

Banks Blackhorse devoted all his time to the school and to Peyton and Stan. His immersion into his work assuaged the depression of losing Ann from his number one girlfriend possibilities; actually Ann was his only possibility. But when Ann Abrams came over on a Saturday, she came to see Banks. She didn’t say much, but she reminded Banks that the Prom was next Saturday. She gave Banks enough money to rent a tuxedo and mentioned the pickup time. She also reminded him that all expenses were to be incurred by her father and that she would be arranging for transportation. After giving Banks all the information, she left. There were no niceties or hints of her having positive feelings towards Banks. This information was given in a matter of fact delivery. They were polite orders.

Banks held onto every word that Ann had spoken. Months had passed by with little or no utterances. Banks swelled and hoped and wished that he could find a clue that the twosome could be a couple again. None came. He thought that everything would be clarified on Prom Night and hoped that he could recapture those exhilarating moments with her last Thanksgiving. He wanted to be positive. He needed this hope for his sense of self-worth.

The following Saturday, Banks stood in front of his full length mirror with Peyton nearby. “Well, Sport, how do I look?”

Peyton giggled, “The tuxedo makes you look like Gatsby.”

Banks replied, “Just what I wanted to hear. Wish me good luck, Peyton.”

Peyton added, “Be back by midnight or you’ll turn into a pumpkin. Good luck, Banks.”

Stan yelled from the first floor that Ann was here and Banks scurried down the stairs. As Banks flew out the door, he noticed that Johnny was alone in the back seat while Ann was at the wheel. Banks opened the front door of the well-polished Navigator and Ann gestured for him to sit in the back. At that instant Tricia brushed passed Banks and sat in the front. When Banks got into the car, Johnny with finger to his lips made the ‘hush’ gesture. Banks, as well as most of the town knew about Johnny’s nightmare incident last Valentine’s Day. Johnny passed some notes to Banks and repeated the ‘hush’ gesture.

Johnny’s notes said, “Do not talk, they don’t like it.”
 

Banks wrote back, “Why are you going?”

Johnny scribbled, “You go, or else.”

As the Navigator took off, so did The Monarch Raven.

The high school gym doubled as a ballroom. There were no male teachers present. There was no band, no food and no punch. There were folding chairs set up against the perimeter of the gym. The boys were instructed to sit there while the six month pregnant young women stood in an disorderly fashion within the perimeter. Banks and Johnny could whisper in safety now.

Banks continued, “I guess I was ordered to come too. Ann had spoken politely and yes it was a command. I never went through a similar experience that you did. And no, Ann and I never had sex and I was not the father of her baby.”

Johnny said, “There is something strange going on. Why do they need us? This doesn’t resemble a Prom in any fashion. We are here, I think, as an experiment or a rehearsal or something untoward. I don’t trust any of them.”

Banks looked around the room. He locked eyes with Johnny as to say that he was probably right about his assumption. Then Banks asked, “How’s the math going?”

Johnny replied, “Great. Roger was a great tutor and I passed the math proficiency. I’m going to graduate! Thanks for setting us up. By the way, Roger told me he wanted to meet with you at your ‘special place.’ A location that you would know. He wanted to make sure that no one else knew about the future meeting and to text him. He said you didn’t respond to his texts nor phone calls and said it was really important. He said that you would feel great after the meeting. It sounded cryptic, but I would never question Roger about anything. So, message delivered.”

Banks nodded. The women were be directed by Ann to stand in a certain pattern. One could see that a combination of her ‘sendings’ and gestures that the women formed a rectangle within the rectangular area of where the boys sat.

Ann moved to the center point of the women and held her arms up. She bellowed an indiscernible chant that caught all the young men off guard. The women followed the chant and the result was an irritating cacophony that prompted the young men to avoid the sound by placing their hands over their ears. Ann swayed and the women traveled slightly to her center point. As they traveled closer to her, all of the boys’ chairs moved towards Ann. The young men’s attempts to get off of their chairs proved futile.

Ann pushed the young women back and the young men’s’ chairs went back. Then she swayed a rotation signal and the women walked around their perimeter in file. The chairs of the young men followed suit.

After repeating several maneuvers, Ann applauded the young women and they in turn applauded back. Ann yelled out to the young men that Prom Night was over and it was time to leave.

Banks and Johnny looked at each other. They commented that the women’s powers were growing and that they were just the tools of the women’s experiment. They attempted to guess what the purpose of this was but only concluded that the young women would need to know how to conduct this kind of activity in the future. Banks and Johnny were both happy that their fifteen minute Prom was coming to an end and hoped that they would safely return home. They did return home safely and quietly without a word spoken.

When Banks undressed from his tuxedo, he texted Roger that he would meet with him tomorrow at their ‘special place’ at about 8:00 pm.

Roger Rainwater, also known as the Shaman, ignored the text ring for a moment. He was at the place where he took a young Banks camping for his Indian pre-vision quest. He ignored it since he appeared to be in a deep conversation with another. He spoke in Tlingit and then waited for a response. The Monarch Raven stared at Roger, and then cawed. The raven spoke out loud in English, “I agree.”

Banks, Peyton and Stan glanced around the church during the sermon. The congregation was practically all men save for some older women and other women who were not impregnated. Peyton had many questions while in the company of his father and Banks. He was learning not to ask questions while Tricia and his mother were present. Peyton said, “They hate it when I talk!” Overheard by Peyton as the congregation began to depart were men complaining:

“They scare me.”

“My wife slapped me every time I tried to talk to her.”

“Sometimes my daughter gets up at night and stands at her window with arms raised.”

“She doesn’t cook anymore.”

“My daughter stopped feeding her pet bird. It died.”

“I can’t get to sleep at night. I’m afraid that she’ll attack me if I sleep.”

When Banks, Peyton and Stan arrived at the Powers’ house, they saw Tricia and Julie sitting in the backyard. They were both in a trance like position. Stan learned that his women were not to be disturbed. He told Banks that he was going to visit Dassi and Murray next door.

Peyton wanted to play cards and that was fine with Banks. Peyton told Banks that his mind’s eye was coming back but that his world looked different. He asked again if it were possible for Peyton to stop taking the eye drops and Banks told him that he would talk to his mother when he hand a chance.