Wild Swans (27 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Two weeks after Lindt’s memorable disappearance, Althea began frequenting the library. She poured over microfilm documents and old moldy papers, looking for anything about the man whom Ruby named as her father. It took some doing as Ruby wasn’t willing to give up the name so easily. It took Cally’s threat of telling the girl herself before she finally relented, wrote the name down on a scrap of paper, shoved it into her daughter’s hand and then fled upstairs and locked herself into her apartment.

The name written on the note was that of Jimmy Winthrop, and during Althea’s research, she discovered her father had been a busy boy these past eighteen years. A very busy boy indeed.

Busy.
And rich
.

Althea was determined to meet him, and the subsequent argument across the breakfast table the morning prior to her adventure sent her mother scurrying to Mrs. Bristow’s Cadillac, and driving off in a huff, puffs of exhaust and river dust blowing in the hot August wind as she sped away, theoretically at least, to pay off the last of the failed wedding’s bills.

This was fine with Althea. She didn’t want her mother; who had recently gone from angry and obtuse, to being cloying and bitter, around when she left.

Despite her mother’s fears for her daughter’s safety, Althea was not in the least afraid of meeting her father for the first, and most likely the last, time.

Althea smiled like a well fed alligator.

If I should disappear, like Mom is afraid will happen
, she told herself, the
US Army would get involved. And what would become of Mr. Jimmy Winthrop, his little wifey, and his political ambitions then?

Besides, she thought
.
I have a trump card.
She shifted further up on the bed, crossed her legs and opened the box that she had found in the brown paper sack that Lindt had given her the night he left.

She hadn’t opened it until just then. Had Althea known what treasure lay inside the little box, she would have worn it on her wedding day. Had she done so, things would have ended differently.

The box was filled with white light. It shone around the cracks of the little box and flared like a tiny lighthouse lamp when she opened it fully. The light dropped to a small soft blue white pulse. She reached inside and extracted a necklace. A soft white gold stone glistened on a long thin filament the same color of Althea’s resident universe. She held it in her hand, and the filament inside the stone twisted and morphed like a living thing.

Instinctively she knew that it wasn’t merely a pretty bauble. It was somehow alive, and that it connected herself to Lindt.

“You gave me a part of yourself, didn’t you?” Althea asked as she raised the pendant to eye level. “I can feel your presence and that makes me glad. And I know you won’t let anything bad happen to me.” She smiled as she put the pendant on. The stone slid down and nestled between her small breasts. “It’s like you said. We’re connected. Everything is connected. There is no place you can go without me being aware of you.”

She frowned at that moment. If that were the case, wouldn’t the Remnants, who were also connected to everything, time and place also know? Surely they too knew where Lindt was, if they did not have him already. But no, Althea was certain that they had not. They might have a good idea as to where he went, but not the means to reach him.

It was equally possible they would return for her and her family as well, but that was highly doubtful. The Remnants, Lindt had once explained, had short memories.

A horn blared, interrupting her thoughts. It was Cally, with Stephen Grangier’s beat up old truck. She stepped out onto the balcony and looked down. Cally leaned out of the driver’s side window, looking up at her niece.

“Are you coming or what?”

“Is Mom back yet?”

“No, she’s still off paying bills. Now, let’s go if we’re going.”

“Okay, I’ll be down in a minute.”

She touched the pendant. It was warm, even through her blouse. Althea thought of her mother, of the boy whom she nearly married, who had finally stood up to his parents and gone off to join the priesthood, as he said, to “battle the forces of darkness,” that he knew were all too real. She thought of Jake who left home to seek his own destiny. She experienced a bittersweet pang, just as she did the day she watched Lindt tossing shovelfuls of dead fireflies onto the fire, and how the black line of smoke smeared the pale sky.

It was one thing to want to know certain things, something completely different to rush headlong into something that was frightening and dangerous. Her father was, after all, a monster, and she was now preparing to go into his lair.

The horn blared again. Althea gathered her purse along with her courage and called out the window to her aunt. “I’m coming.”

****

“Do you know where he is?” Cally asked as Althea climbed into the passenger side.

“Yes,” she replied. “He’s been making a big name for himself. He’s not hard to find.”

“That’s good,” Cally replied as she put the truck into gear. “I want him found and dealt with, so we can all get on with our lives.”

“Same here,” Althea replied.

Chapter Eighteen

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Cally asked as she pulled the truck to a stop in front of a series of nondescript buildings. “We can turn back now, let this whole mess go.”

“You and Mom have let this whole mess go for eighteen years now,” Althea replied. “Ain’t it time someone put an end to this?”

“I don’t see why. Let’s go home and get on with our lives.”

“I plan to,” Althea stated, “as soon as I take care of a little business with Daddy Dearest.”

“He was a punk when we were kids,” Cally said. “I never liked him. He bullied the smaller kids and the girls...well, you already know what he was like with the girls...But his parents were loaded and he was popular with the jocks and the girls who didn’t mind walking on the wild side. That made him bad back then, but now he’s all grown up, still loaded, but with political ambitions. He’s got friends, Althie, dangerous friends. You might not make it out of that store; much less us get home in one piece.”

“You really think he’s that bad?”

“All I know for sure is that there’s a lot of swamp land between us and Eldred’s Bend.”

Althea felt the warmth of the pendant nestled between her breasts and said, “He ain’t gonna do nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Althea replied.

“You might find that being sure of something isn’t necessarily a good thing,” Cally said. “I told you before; the man inside that shop is a monster. Your momma and I spent our whole lives protecting you from him. Now, I’m going to ask you again. Are you sure you want to confront the man who raped your momma and made you a bastard?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m coming in with you.”

Althea put her hand on top of her aunt’s. “No, I have to do this,
Tante
. It’s got to be me.”

“All right,” she said after what Althea saw was a long deliberation. “But I’m letting you know right here and now I’m not happy with this in the slightest. Who knows what he might do to you when he gets you alone?”

“He can’t do too much. It’s a hardware store.”

“You’d be surprised. That man is a pig, Althie. A big nasty pig and he ain’t particular about who he goes after. And remember, he’s got friends now...powerful friends.”

“So do we.”

“What are you talking about?” Cally asked.

“I’ve got a trump card,” Althea said, pulling the stone out of her blouse. “You know
he’
s not gonna let anything bad happen to us.”

Cally’s eyes widened. “He gave you one too.”

Althea laughed. “So, the two of you did more than just smooch in the bushes then.”

Cally offered Althea a lopsided grin, and pulled a similar stone out of her blouse. “He gave it to me the night we went to the movies together. Lindt said it was a part of him, and as long as it was close to me he’d be close to me too.”

“Well what do you know?” Althea said. “Lindt was the lover you yearned for and the daddy I wish I had. I wonder what would have happened to Mom if she had let him into her life, even just a little bit.”

“I don’t know. But I tell you, I wish she had. His brief stay healed this family in more ways than you can know.”

“I wonder what would happen if we got into big time trouble? Is it like a bat signal? Will he come to us when we call?” Althea asked, changing the subject.

“I have no idea niece-mine. And I don’t care to risk it.”

“I’m not a stupid woman,
Tante.
I know this is taking a big risk,” Althea said slowly. “But I’m really not afraid. I honestly don’t think Winthrop can hurt us anymore.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” Cally said as she returned the pendant to its place between her breasts. She gave the front of the hardware store a scathing look

. “You’re hunting razorbacks with a hope and a prayer that our angel will come in case the boar charges. I’m not so sure this is a good idea. But you’re a grown woman and you’re as bull- headed as your momma, so you’ll do as you want regardless of what I tell you.” Cally jerked her head toward the store. “You go in, say what you’ve got to say, and get out. You’ve got ten minutes or I’m coming in after you. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Althea took a deep breath and looked out the pickup window. They were parked in front of Winthrop’s hardware store—the only newish looking building on the city block— facing toward an old WPA bricked street. The abandoned 19
^th
century buildings running along the road were the same dirty red brick and looked as if they were on their way to ruin. Grass grew in large weedy clumps between broken patches of what might have been sidewalks. Trash and dead leaves huddled in the gutters. Hot August wind whipped up the red dust and leaves and carried it all tumbling down the street. The sky had a burned creamy white appearance, like scalded milk.

Althea’s heart raced as she looked at the hardware store. It was the only building not to have an old western facade. It was new, metal, made like a Quonset hut, but the door looked old and battered. It was dull white with heavy hinges and peeling paint. Men in battered old pickups were parked in front of it.

A half dozen or so overalled men were standing around the front door, chewing tobacco and shooting the shit. Althea felt revolted by their presence and wished they’d move off. This was private business between her and Daddy Dearest. She didn’t need a pack like that sniffing around while she worked.

“Your daddy’s a rich man,” Cally said softly as she looked out toward the store. “He has stores all over the Parish. And he has designs on becoming the next Kingfisher. He’s on the city council as well as a member of the Knights of Columbus. He’s running for lieutenant governor,” She scowled, “and is keeping a girl about your age...you know what I mean...”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I kept track. I keep in touch with my mother too. Oh we haven’t seen each other in years, but I do write her once a month. She’s kept me up-to-date on some things. And other things I found out by reading the local newspaper Mom sent me, and then there’s other ways,” she said cryptically. “And don’t you dare tell your mother about that.”

“Are you kidding?” Althea asked. “Especially on a day like this?”

Cally laughed.

“I wish you’d let me in on your little secret,” Althea said. “It would have saved me a lot of time, energy and effort.”

Cally shrugged. “I really didn’t think you’d go through with it.” She eyed her niece. “In fact I’m still not sure if you are or not.”

“Oh believe me,
Tante,
I am.”

“Did Mr. Lindt show you things?” Althea whispered after a long pause.

Cally jerked her head around and stared at her niece. “What put an idea like that into your head?”

“That last day with Mr. Lindt. When he changed. You said something about the ‘showing.’ Is that what he did with you too? Did he show you things?”

“Is that how you found out about all of this?”

“You haven’t answered my question
Tante
.”

“Well...” Cally’s voice faded out as she relaxed back into the seat.

Althea removed the little pendant once more. “I’m not afraid,” she said. “He’s here, with me.” She bit her lower lip and added, “And he’s here with you too. He’ll never let anything bad happen to us. Just like that day when he got the Remnants to chase him instead of killing us all. And you know they would have if he stayed an instant longer.”

Cally’s face relaxed. “A remarkable man, our Mr. Lindt,” she commented.

“He loves you. He told me.”

Cally’s face contorted. “I know.”

“And I love you too,
Tante.”

“I know you do
bay-bay
. And I love you too.”

Althea paused, feeling too deep in the moment. She thought about the scene in the hospital. “You’re the bravest woman I know,” Althea said. She swallowed a lump in her throat and placed the necklace back into her blouse. “I saw what you did in the hospital, right after I was born. You stole me right out of the nursery. I don’t think I would have had the guts to pull that off.”

“Not half as brave as your momma. You have no idea what she went through to keep you.”

Althea cocked her head, looking once again out the window. “Do you know what my father looks like?”

“Just go in and ask for Mr. Winthrop. He’s in there. I’ll bet on it,” Cally said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

“Wish me luck?” Althea asked.

“I’ll go one better. I’ll pray for your safety. I’ll never forgive myself if you get hurt. Now, get what you’ve got to do over and done with before I change my mind.” She shuddered. “Being this close to that creepy bastard makes my skin crawl. I never did like Jimmy. I never knew what your mom saw in him.”

Althea nodded and got out of the truck, shutting the door quietly behind her. She wiped her palms off on her skirt, nervously adjusted her hair and then walked purposefully across the dusty windswept street to the hardware store. She approached, seeing several men frankly leering at her in front of the doorway.

Above their heads “Winthrop’s Hardware” blazed in peeling red letters with a lightning bolt etched across the top of the door casing. Below, on the glass, were faded posters and signs advertising everything from fuel filters to sixteen penny nails.

As she approached, the men noticed and stepped aside, offering wolf whistles and suggestions that otherwise would have made her blush. But not today. Today she was a
grand dame
, a goddess, a Bette Davis and Joan Crawford bitch queen rolled into one. She felt her confidence grow despite what the men were saying. She felt her power blaze within her, just as she did when she pushed Jake off the dock seeming ages ago. The jeers and sexual taunts meant nothing to her. The men who tried to halt her progress into the store meant nothing to her. Her heart pounded, true, yet she was determined to see her plan to completion. Althea knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would work. And when it did, things would change greatly. For her and for everyone else concerned.

Her reverie was cut short by a fat balding man in overalls but no shirt, who cut in front of her.

“Whatcha need darlin’?” he drawled. “Goin’ in to see the man with the fuzzy balls?” He looked down at her chest. “We can show you just as good a time as he can. Maybe even better.”

The men snickered. Althea ignored them. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cally rolling down the window and sticking her head out.

“Get out of my way,” Althea said softly, dangerously, “before I do something that will baffle proctologists for years to come.”

“Oooo,” one of the men behind her exclaimed. “Such awfully big words for such a little bitty workin’ girl. Now what are you gonna do, go tell your daddy?”

How prophetic
, she thought. Instead she looked fat boy right in the eye and said, “Get out of my way.”

“You’re sure uppity for a
putain
aintcha missy?” the fat man said. “How about I take you right off of your high hor—”

Althea drove the peg of her spike heel into fat boy’s sneakered foot. Sharp intense satisfaction welled up in her when she felt rather than heard the bones in the man’s foot crack. She grounded down harder in sadistic glee as she tried to drive the heel completely through.

The men behind her, gasped. Fat boy yelled, and swung a meaty fist at her and managed to miss. Althea drove her knee into his groin and he toppled onto the ground, clutching his nads and vomiting on the cracked concrete entranceway.

Nonplussed, Althea stepped over him and headed toward the door. The men, she noticed, did not approach her, but stood in stunned silence as she passed.

“Hey!” Cally called as she approached. Althea turned with her hand on the door knob and saw, along with the rest of the men, that Cally was walking over, swinging a tire iron as she went.

“So you bastards like picking on little girls? How about taking on a real woman?”

The men tipped their hats, ducked their heads and scurried into the lengthening shadows of the abandoned buildings.

“You okay honey?” Cally asked.

“I’m fine. I just want to get this over with.”

“Fine. I’ll stay outside with lover boy here,” Cally said as she pushed his hip with her foot. “Go do what you gotta do, and make it snappy.”

Althea nodded and opened the door.

The door opened with an agonizing creak from arthritic hinges and a tinkling of rusty silver bells. The room was darker than she expected and surprisingly unoccupied except for a boy standing at the counter who was not much younger than herself. He ignored her as he put away radiator hoses. Althea stepped up, rang the little bell on the desk and said, “I’m here to see Mr. Winthrop.”

“I’m Mr. Winthrop,” the boy squeaked, “how can I help you?”

Althea found herself looking into the face of a boy who looked remarkably like her. They had the same oval face, the same dark eyes and arching eyebrows. His hands were like hers too, she noted and realized with stunning horror that she was face to face with her half brother.

“I’m—” She stopped, cleared her throat, realizing that the monster hiding somewhere inside the store was actually a human being, someone who had married and had children. Sure, she knew that to be true, because Cally said he was married, that he was a businessman and a big wig on the city council and wanted to be governor and all that jazz. But to stand across the counter from someone you knew with all your heart was connected to you by blood, well, that made things a little different.
No, she amended; it makes things a lot different. Can I go through with this now?
She wondered.
It hadn’t occurred to me that I could be hurting other people in the process. His wife, his son and whatever other kids he might have fathered over the course of eighteen years. They didn’t have anything to do with this. They probably don’t even know.

And yet, there was no flicker of recognition on the young man’s face. Whatever family resemblance there was between them was lost on him.