My Hero Has Returned
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THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 7 P.M. AND 8 P. M. CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME
DATE: JUNE 27, 1985 (THIRTY-SECOND YEAR)
LOCATION: DINNER WITH FRIENDSHIP CLUB MEMBERS
***
It was a warm spring evening in the Midwest and I had spent most of it with my friends, enjoying a barbecue at one of their homes, then going out for ice cream afterward before driving home. It had been great fun and I’d enjoyed myself thoroughly, even if my friends did make me feel old sometimes.
But tonight’s dinner with them was just another ordinary day; no special reason to look forward to it or anything like that.
I pulled into my driveway, turned off the engine, and got out, looking up as my house came into view through the trees in front of me. The place was a two-story colonial brick-and-stone structure about fifteen years old, set back from the street by several large oak trees and a small wooded area behind it.
There were only two other houses on either side of mine along this particular block and none of them was much bigger than mine. My parents were both teachers at my local high school so we didn’t have a lot of extra money left over after paying our bills every month, but my dad always said he never wanted us to be rich because then people would expect us to do things for them for free.
I couldn’t argue with him on that one, since most of his friends were lawyers who seemed to think they could make themselves indispensable to anyone else just because they made money.
I walked into my garage and started unloading my gear from the trunk, setting everything down on the concrete floor. My father’s old Ford Bronco sat beside my car; the Bronco was a classic model that my dad had bought used and kept all those years ago.
It was a little too big for what I needed now but when we drove up to the cottage in Maine or to visit relatives, Dad still liked to bring it along and use it for camping trips.
I grabbed my backpack and went inside, walking into the kitchen where I found Mom sitting at the table reading a book. She looked up at me and smiled gently as she took the pen from between her lips. “Hello,” she said as I approached.
“Hi, Mom.” I leaned against the kitchen counter across from her and put my guitar case down beside her on the table. “How was your day?”
She shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Just fine. You know how it is… nothing ever happens, then something happens all at once.” I nodded slowly, thinking back to the day, remembering my lunchtime conversation with Dr. Halsey.
“Yeah,” I said, turning to head towards the door that led into the family room.
Mom stopped me with a hand on my arm. “Did you talk to Dr. Halsey today?”
I turned to face her again. “You know why I’m here.”
“Yes, I suppose so.” She sighed heavily. “But I worry about you sometimes, John. You’re not getting any younger and…”
I gave her an impatient look, cutting her off before she could go on. “It’s okay, Mom. Really… it is. And don’t worry about it anymore anyway. It’ll happen when it happens.”
She studied my face carefully for a moment, then let her hand fall away from my arm. “All right. Well, let me know if anything comes up and I’ll come take a look at it.”
I nodded and opened the front door of the house, heading outside as she followed me. “Okay.”
The sun was setting in the west and the sky was already beginning to darken quickly. The breeze coming in from the ocean felt refreshing and clean. I closed the front door behind me and headed down the short path that led from the sidewalk to the shoreline. A few people were walking on the beach nearby, enjoying their last bit of sunlight as the sun sank behind them.
A wave broke against the shore a short distance ahead of me, sending up spray and a spray of sand as it receded. The water was calm here, not too rough and not too clear. Not yet anyway; soon enough, summer storms would roll in off the Atlantic Ocean and the sea would grow turbulent for weeks on end.
But I loved the way it was here now, peaceful and serene. It reminded me of the cottage we rented every year up in Maine where we spent so much time together as a family.
“John!” someone shouted as I reached the bottom of the stairs that led down the bluff that overlooked the ocean. I looked to see a young woman approaching quickly from the direction of town.
“Katie! Hi!”
The tall redheaded girl ran up to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and hugging me tightly. We stood there for a moment in the fading evening light, Katie smiling happily up at me and holding onto me tightly. Her long blonde hair fluttered wildly in the wind from her body’s rapid movement, almost obscuring her face as she held me close.
She loosened her grip on me just slightly and looked up at me, her brown eyes twinkling brightly as she grinned down at me. “So, what are you doing down here? Did you get out early?” She laughed softly at my confused expression. “Oh, never mind. I didn’t mean that kind of ‘early’.”
I chuckled nervously and shook my head. “No, no, not that kind either.”
She leaned closer to me, her blue eyes studying mine. “Well, whatever you’re doing, hurry it up; the sun is going down!”
She pulled away from me and stepped back, reaching over to grab my hand and tugging me towards the edge of the cliff, pointing out to sea. “Come on; I want to show you something.”
“What?” I asked as I followed her lead, taking her hand again and allowing myself to be pulled along.
Katie smiled brightly as she continued leading us through the soft sand. “Just follow me.”
“Okay,” I answered as we began walking down the sandy incline toward the shoreline.
We reached the shore in no time, both of us kicking our shoes off and leaving them next to the staircase. Katie led me farther down the beach, further away from the rest of the crowds on the main road and down to a small cove just beyond the rocky bluffs.
There was a break in the rocks jutting out of the ground there, large enough for me to duck under and stand beneath the shelter of one of them as the tide came in. Katie did likewise a few feet away from me and pointed out towards the ocean, gesturing with her hands as she spoke.
“Look over there,” she instructed gently as the tide rushed into the cave opening, filling it completely within moments. “See those little white dots moving across the surface of the waves? There are hundreds of them, maybe thousands of them, swimming slowly through the water.”
“I see them,” I replied quietly, squinting to try and make them out clearly. It looked like they were everywhere. Thousands of tiny black dots scattered across the darkening sea.
Katie nodded in response to my words, her smile growing brighter as she watched me study the scene with interest. “That’s how it looks from underwater. Hundreds of thousands of them, all moving together in one big mass. They’re called jellyfish.
You can see them from shore sometimes if you look hard enough, but this is pretty rare. Usually, it’s just a few of them clustered around each other or floating along together, nothing like this.”
My eyes were wide open in wonderment. “It sure doesn’t look natural.”
“You think so?” she asked curiously, turning to look at me with sparkling eyes. “I don’t really know much about biology or anything like that, but I’ve always thought they looked beautiful when they move like that. It’s like they’re glowing.”
I stared at the creatures drifting lazily on the currents, bobbing along in unison as they drifted across the surface of the waves. Katie was right: they had a sort of ethereal beauty to them. Like a dream, a vision of perfection that couldn’t possibly exist in real life.
But they did exist, and more than just this one time. I’d seen it dozens of times before, and I knew that Katie hadn’t been lying when she said she didn’t know much about biology. That didn’t matter now anyway. What mattered was that Katie and I had come here for a reason, and I didn’t know exactly why yet, but I knew it must be important.
As I studied the creatures, Katie took my hand and drew me closer to her. “I wanted to show you because… well…” she started nervously, fiddling with a lock of her hair as she spoke. “I think I might be able to tell when you’re sad by looking at your face.
I feel really bad about how everything has turned out between us like I messed it up somehow. And I’m worried about you; I know you’re still mad at me, and I don’t know if we’ll ever be friends again after how things went down with Mom.”
“Yeah,” I sighed softly, nodding. “I guess we probably won’t, huh?”
Katie shook her head sadly and shrugged slightly, her hands falling to her side. “But if I could do anything, anything at all, to make up for it… I would, I promise.”
Her words made me stop what I was thinking and look back at her, smiling faintly. “It’s okay; it’s not your fault. I don’t blame you for any of this; you have no idea how grateful I am that you helped me today.”
“That’s good,” she answered quietly, then smiled again. “And you saved me, remember? So it’s only fair. Besides, I owe you one.”
I chuckled lightly and shook my head as I gazed out at the water, the tide beginning to recede in earnest. “Well, I’m pretty sure I don’t want it to end like this between us…”
“What?” Katie asked uncertainly as I stopped talking. She tilted her head slightly, studying me closely. “Are you going somewhere?”
I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, trying to get past whatever was holding me back. “Katie, uh… I think I might be in love with you.”
She froze in place and gaped at me for a moment as if she’d never heard such an absurd thing. “You are?”
“Uh-huh,” I answered with a nervous laugh as I continued speaking, knowing it sounded lame even as I said it. “It’s happened suddenly and I don’t understand it at all, but I have this overwhelming feeling that I’ve known you forever and—”
“Oh, God,” Katie groaned as she slumped against a rock wall inside the cave. “This is not happening!”
“Huh?” I gasped in confusion.
“Why are you doing this to yourself?!” she cried in frustration, pushing herself away from the wall. She stepped toward me and glared angrily into my eyes, her face contorted in anguish and fear. “I can’t believe you told me that! Don’t you see what you’re doing to me?! How could you say something like that when we just had this big fight?!”
“I was trying to tell you the truth!” I argued, reaching out to take her hand as I stepped close to her again. “Don’t you see how happy you make me?”
Katie pulled her hand back reflexively and frowned at me as she crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “What part of ‘I don’t want to hear it’ don’t you understand?”
The hurt that flashed through me nearly knocked me off my feet. “But… but why?”
She shook her head in disgust and stepped away from me, crossing her arms over her own chest protectively. “Because I already love someone else, remember?”
“Who?” I demanded in shock, stepping forward to grab hold of her arm and pull her back to me. “Is it Kevin? Because that’s who you said you loved last summer.”
“No,” she whispered harshly, pulling free of my grasp. She took a step backward so quickly that she almost slipped and fell on the wet sand, but she recovered quickly and glared at me with blazing anger. “I thought you knew. I told you once and I’ve told you several other times since then, too.”
“I… oh,” I murmured softly as understanding dawned upon me. Katie was telling me that she’d fallen for another girl – or maybe two, judging from how she’d talked about her friends before. It didn’t matter which one it was, though, because I couldn’t stand being the person she’d chosen.
I looked away, staring down at the water as the sun began to set. My shoulders slouched and I hung my head miserably as I felt myself begin to cry. I wasn’t ready for this… I hadn’t been ready for it at all. All the hope and excitement I’d had just moments ago were gone. Now I just wanted to curl up alone somewhere and die.
“I’m sorry,” Katie whispered in horror as she rushed forward and grabbed my chin firmly in her hand, forcing me to look up at her again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you like this, but—!”
“Stop,” I interrupted her urgently, shaking my head furiously and backing away until my heels struck the rocks behind me and I fell onto them. “Just stop. Don’t talk anymore. Just let me go now.”
“What?” Katie snapped, her mouth hanging open in surprise as I pushed myself up and turned away from her. “You’re breaking up with me? After all those nice things you said to me just a few minutes ago?”
I shook my head mutely, unable to speak past the emotion clogging my throat. I stood up quickly and started toward the water, intending to walk out across the beach and keep going until I reached the opposite side of the island.
I needed to get away from Katie right now. Maybe it would be better to lose myself in the ocean, or perhaps I could find some way to disappear in the jungle. If only I could figure out how to do it quickly.
“Wait!” Katie called desperately after me, grabbing my arm as I tried to run away from her. I yanked it free and kept walking, wanting to flee the painful sight of her face.
“You can’t leave! You promised me you’d stay with me!”
My heart clenched painfully in my chest as I glanced back over my shoulder at her. Her eyes were wide with terror and she was trembling, clutching a fistful of her shirt in her hands as she watched me helplessly. “Go home,” I whispered. “Go back where it’s safe for you. Please, please go.”
“I can’t do that,” she whimpered quietly, her voice cracking. “Not without you… Please don’t go! Don’t leave me here all alone! Not now!”
A tear rolled down her cheek and I froze in place, frozen by the awful sound of her sobbing brokenly. My stomach twisted into knots and tears burned the corners of my eyes as she threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around my waist, pulling me hard against her body. “Please don’t go!”
For a moment, I just stood there stiffly in her arms, feeling her warmth and smelling the scent of her perfume as she buried her face in my chest. I closed my eyes and forced myself not to pull away from her – instead, I put my arms around her shoulders and held her tight as she wept.
Eventually, however, I felt an urge rising inside me that wouldn’t be denied. I wanted to feel Katie again. To touch her skin and taste the salty tang of her sweat in my mouth and feel the heat coming off her soft naked form as I pressed my body flush up against hers.
I sighed heavily and pulled away from her slowly, stepping back until my feet met the sand again. I stared down at her, still trembling and crying, and then I leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. It was quick and chaste and sweet and utterly unlike any other kiss she’d given me before this moment.
Katie froze in shock when our lips touched and her eyes flew open in wonder, but she made no move to push me away or even break apart from my embrace. She simply gazed up at me blankly as I drew back again and gently pressed another kiss to the corner of her lips.
Then I kissed her deeply and thoroughly, kissing her with every bit of passion I’d kept locked up inside me ever since the first time I’d seen Katie’s beautiful face. This time she opened up immediately and eagerly accepted my tongue into her mouth and returned the kiss with equal fervor.
Her fingers slid through my hair and tugged slightly and it sent tingles racing up my spine, sending delicious shivers throughout my entire body.
I groaned softly as I pulled her closer to me. For a moment, I couldn’t believe my luck – for a moment, I didn’t have to worry about who might be watching us or what might happen if they did. For this one brief moment, the world seemed to disappear and we were together in the dark. In the shadows.
We were in love, so why shouldn’t we make love? Why should anyone care about something like that anymore?
As far as I knew, Katie had never made love before.
The End