Heckel Casey

mind. He threw a stone at the water really hard, making a good-sized splash. Anger flared inside him every time that knife appeared in his mind's eye and he tried to appease it by pitching another rock into the water.

Slowly, the face of Vonnie replaced the image of the repulsive, evil-looking knife. She made him feel good inside again. Maybe if I told her what Madeline wants me to do, she could tell me if I have to do it or not, he thought. Jackson would be really mad at me, though, and he'd probably tell Madeline. She'd be very upset with me. I just don't want to do it. Even though Madeline said she'd be helping guide my hand. Thinking about Madeline made him scared. He hurled another stone at the water as hard as he could.

'Nice arm.'

Bobby spun around. Heckel was standing there. A lump formed in his throat and it was difficult to speak. Bobby dropped his head and stared at his feet, hoping they would sprout wings.

'Can I join you?' Heckel asked softly.

Bobby nodded his head slowly and lobbed a stone into the water. Finally after what felt like an hour, he got his mouth to work. First he muttered, 'Thanks.' As Heckel moved closer, he said louder with more confidence, 'Sure, you can join me.'

'This is a good spot. I bet it'd be a fun place to swim or take a bath,' Heckel remarked as he sat down on the large boulder.

'I think it's probably really cold,' Bobby mumbled, watching out of the corner of his eye as Heckel tossed a stone into the pool. I really don't know this man, but he seems like a friendly guy. Why would anyone want to hurt him?

'It looks like it's going to be a nice day to travel,' Heckel tossed another stone in the water. 'Are you all packed and ready to go?'

'Yup. Vonnie helped me pack my bag.'

'She really likes you.'

'I like her a lot too. She makes great food.'

Heckel continued to pitch stones into the pool. Thinking of Vonnie made Bobby remember his mother. 'I miss my mom,' he said with a quiver to his voice.

'I'm sure she misses you too. When did you lose her?'

Bobby's arm stopped in midair. Tears quickly formed in the corner of both his eyes as if they were wild bulls waiting to be released at a bull-riding contest.

'I don't like to talk about that,' he said, hoping Heckel didn't push him. He didn't like the tears that came when he thought of his mom.

'That's okay. You don't have to. Someday if you want to talk, you come find me and we'll share stories. Okay?' Heckel asked.

Bobby nodded his head. Heckel slid over next to him and put his arm around his shoulders. His touch made Bobby feel comfortable and relaxed. It made his insides feel safe, unlike Jackson's.

Heckel looked down at Bobby, smiled and said, 'We probably should get back to camp. I think we are leaving pretty soon.'

'Okay,' Bobby said tossing the rest of the stones into the pool. 'Thanks for talking to me,' he said quietly. Heckel extended his hand and Bobby shook it.

'You're perfectly welcome. It was nice hanging with you as well. Are you riding with Vonnie today?' he asked as they started walking back to camp.

'Yeah, she said I could. It sure beats walking. My feet still have blisters from all the walking I did with Jackson. He's kind of a…' Bobby caught himself before he said anything bad.

Heckel looked down at the young boy and just nodded slightly as though he knew what he was going to say.

Walking back to camp, they chatted about fun things like baseball, school, drawing and reading. It was all cool stuff Bobby hadn't thought about in a long time. He cracked some fun jokes too. Bobby had never heard 'Knock, Knock jokes,' or 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' Heckel reported that they were classics. Bobby felt really good to laugh, and laugh hard, even though some of the jokes made him groan. After Heckel left him at Vonnie's campsite, Bobby sat down on a log. His thoughts were going ninety miles an hour. One thought braked in front of his mind-I…can…not…hurt my new friend. I don't care if I'm not a hero and Madeline can keep all her crummy gifts.

Chapter 23

The day we left Flagstaff, summer decided to come out by midmorning, and preview what it had to offer for its upcoming season. Temperatures climbed their way to around eighty. Sela said she thought it was about mid- May. Someone else we talked with thought it was closer to the beginning of June. At any rate, it got hot and that meant we'd soon have a shortage of water. Everyone did begin rationing and mostly made sure the horses had enough water.

Fortunately, we made good time that first day out and managed to make it to Williams, Arizona. There we found water at Gonzalez Lake, not too far off Interstate 40. It had a lot of water from the winter snowmelt. We decided to stay an extra day to enjoy the lake.

Before we left, everyone worked hard to fill every conceivable container with water. People were really good about rationing and we made it to Kingman, Arizona, just in time to find an old watering spot called Camp Beale Springs. As soon as we made camp, we were met by a small group of about fifty people who had managed to survive. Initially, we were suspicious and guarded. We just didn't trust anyone and our first reaction was to suspect Madeline. After we talked and decided they were not tainted by any evil, we invited them to join us. They were eager to become a member of our merry band of would-be warriors. I sat down that evening with the new people and gave them the Cliff's Notes version of what had transpired. They were filled with questions, most of which Sela was happy to answer. She always knew when I was getting a little overwhelmed or even just whelmed.

We hadn't seen much of Jack and Vonnie over the past few days. Of course, we heard that Vonnie and Missy were taking really good care of Bobby. I hadn't seen Jackson since that morning when we talked.

We stayed three days in Kingman. Our next stop would be the Colorado River crossing into California. Now for some odd reason, I kept getting nervous every time I thought about entering California. What's waiting for us in California? What's Madeline got up her sleeve now? More snakes? Another bad storm? Demonic roadrunners?

'Just keep your guard up,' I mumbled to myself. I looked down and Jerky was curling her body around my legs. 'Yeah, I know. You feel it, too. Don't cha?' The cat looked up at me and meowed. I picked the big bundle of fur up and petted her. 'Whew, you're getting heavy. With all those mice you've been eating, I bet your cholesterol numbers are high.'

'Well, are you two having a little bonding session?' Sela asked.

'Yup, Jerky's my second-best girl and you're my first,' I said, putting my free arm around Sela. Jerky leaned over and licked Sela's cheek.

'You guys ready for dinner?' Sela asked, petting the top of Jerky's head.

'Absolutely,' I replied, setting Jerky down. The cat ran off most likely to find her own dinner. 'Try a salad for a change,' I yelled, prompting Sela to give me a quirky frown.

I stuck my head out of the tent early the next morning and Jerky slithered under my chin to get outside. 'Okay, let's not be a pushy broad,' I mumbled. Sela rolled over and grunted something unintelligible.

'Hmm, looks like a cloudy start to the day,' I muttered.

Sela stretched and with a groggy voice asked I how slept.

'I had a couple of bad dreams,' I answered. 'But I was able to get back to sleep.'

'Yeah, me too. I kept waking up and reliving some of them. Do you think its Madeline messing with us?'

'Maybe. Hadn't thought of that,' I said patting her behind. 'We better get going. We should make the crossing into California hopefully tomorrow or the next day.'