Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 19: Tree girl

Two visitors in the middle of the night

Welcome new subscribers! Get started with Chapter 1 or learn more about this book. You can also browse the full archive of my fiction. Each Friday, a new chapter will arrive, just like the latest one below! Thank you, Bill

---

Last week, in chapter 18, Christo met with Tom before lambasting the tech team

---

Chapter 19: Tree girl

“Wait a second, let me see if I have this straight,” Holly said while scarfing down a slice of pizza. “The girl you think you saw in a dream and then did see at the shop was in your Replay at The Center?”

“Exactly.”

“I see the problem here, Tak. It’s clear as day.”

“Really?”

“Sure. You’re fucked in the head. See this here?” She pointed to his head with the crust in her hand. “This is the part that’s having trouble. Seek help.” She laughed and playfully kicked him.

“Thanks, Doc. I owe you a co-pay for this visit?”

“It’s on the house, nutjob.” She wiped her hands on her shorts. “But seriously, what did they say about it? It’s not, like, a normal thing, is it?”

“Apparently, it’s not all that uncommon. So much so that the situation I experienced is referenced in the terms and conditions that you sign off on when you enter. They call it the Time Bleed Effect.” He wiggled his fingers as if it were spooky.

“More X-Files shit, Time Bleed?”

“Yeah. They said it wasn’t uncommon, but I had this feeling that it wasn’t normal either. And, they sort of got me out of there as fast as possible, paying me off with some coupons,” he paused, “and, oh, I’m supposed to check in with my doctor.”

“Your doctor? Why?”

“I guess to see if the thing you pointed to is indeed fucked.”

“Better not be. Terms and conditions or not, that place shouldn’t cook your noodles. It’s supposed to be fun.”

“Cook my noodles? Another great one.”

She took a mocking bow.

“H, this Chimera thing has me pretty weirded out. I went there tonight with a feeling that I might see her again... I gave this some thought on the ride back, mind you, this was before tan pants dude... You and I live simple lives. I mean, yours is more exciting than mine, but for the most part, it’s like clockwork.”

She stared and blinked, “I guess that’s fair.”

“Okay. It’s my birthday, and some weird birds hit the building. Then, I have a waking dream with a time-bleeding little girl who I see three times. Later, a tree man scares the crap out of you, and even later, you maybe almost get murdered.” He finished wide-eyed.

“Sounds friggin stupid when you put it like that.” She dropped a half-eaten slice on her plate with resignation.

“What I’m saying is… uh, you’ve heard of Occam’s Razor?”

“Sure. That thing where the simplest of two explanations is, like, probably the right one.” Holly said.

“Yes. Well, it doesn’t apply to this shit. I think that your thing and my thing are connected. And before you say it, no, I haven’t the slightest idea how. It’s just too much at the same time for both of us. I had this insight from a random sort of thing….” 

He took a long breath.

“Well, what was it?”

“The color red. Chimera’s dress was this brilliant and deep blood red; that’s the best I can describe it. And, I swear it was similar to the color of the bird’s foot and leg or whatever,” he shrugged.

“The trees eyes were red,” she said.

Holly sat thinking for a minute and patted Triscuit absentmindedly. The dog leaned into it. “I think most normal people might think we’re both a little out there. But my gut says that there’s something to your, what’d you call it? Your insight? Maybe…" She stopped patting Triscuit, who grumbled.

“Hey, I’m going to try Seamus again. He should weigh in on this,” she said.

“Again? Have you talked to him since it happened?”

“No, tried him a couple of times, texted, got nothing,” she said as she picked up her phone and dialed. “Dammit, voicemail again. Seamus, PLEASE call me when you can. Or, if you’re up tonight, come down to Takeda’s apartment. It’s about today… of course.” She tossed the phone onto the coffee table.

“Hey, want to go knock on his door?”

“And wake Mrs. Emerton? No. No, I do not, Tak. You know as well as I do that she’s not well, and it’s…” she looked at her phone, “1:30 am, might scare her to death.”

“Shit, it’s that late? No wonder I’m exhausted. It’s been an interesting birthday, to say the least. H, I want to go to sleep. Well, I’d rather research this fucked up shit, but I’m too damn tired.”

“Okay, looks like she’s done too.” Holly looked down at Triscuit, who had gone from grumbling to twitchy leg REM sleep in a minute.

“Want to stay over?” he said.

“Because you want my protection or my body?” Holly laughed.

“Well, uh, both.” he laughed too. “I just thought you might want some company after today.”

“I’m tired, a little drunk, and full of pizza. So maybe I’ll stay, and we can fall asleep to an old X-Files rerun.”

“Really? Haven’t you had enough of that for one day, Scully?”

“Listen, Mulder, I’m a scientist,” she said while grabbing him by the collar and pulling him in for a long kiss.

“Scully, I have to tell you something before this goes any further,” he said seriously.

“What?”

“You have to quit smoking. Please brush your teeth,” he laughed.

“Way to ruin the moment, Mulder. See you in bed. You want help carrying the princess here?” Holly gestured to Triscuit, who was now entirely on her back, tongue hanging out.

“Nah, I got her.”

“Oh, Tak?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you lock the windows and doors, please?”

“Hell yeah.”

---

They both fell asleep within ten minutes after starting an X-Files rerun. The flickering light from the show danced on the darkened walls of Takeda’s bedroom. Holly’s arm rested across Takeda’s waist, and Triscuit had bundled herself into the crook of her legs. 

For a few minutes, Chimera stood in the bedroom doorway, smiling.

---

Takeda woke with a start after hearing someone yelling. It wasn’t an unusual sound in the city. In fact, on the rare morning he’d slept the night through, he’d feel uneasy and check to ensure the world was still there. Holly remained undisturbed, softly snoring. It always amazed him how she could sleep like that.

He slipped out of bed, the glowing red numbers of the clock said 2:05. Looking out the window, he noticed a couple of drunk people. They yelled and stumbled up the street.

“OH PLEASE, BRADY WOULDN’T EVEN BE A DECENT SECOND STRINGER THESE DAYS!”

“HEY, HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE DEAD, SHITSTICK!”

Shadows revealed playful shoving as their voices faded. Takeda pulled the blinds down and walked carefully around the bed and out into the hall. He was about to close the door behind him when Triscuit lifted her head and made eye contact. He put a finger to his lips and said, “Shh.” She stood and stretched into a downward dog pose before jumping off the bed with the grace of falling lumber. Holly turned over but kept snoring. Triscuit followed him, and he closed the door.

Takeda walked out into the living room. He didn’t see his dog stop and turn back to the door. She sniffed around the threshold and tasted the air. Confused and tired, she gave up and went to see what her pack leader was doing.

He turned on a small lamp and the desktop computer, which he mainly used for gaming. While the machine booted, he picked up the pizza box, plates, empty bottles, and brought the mess into the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and, upon closing the door, noticed that Triscuit had blocked the entrance.

“Right,” he said and went into the cupboard to get a jerky treat. She happily led the way back to the computer and flopped down to enjoy the snack.

He opened up the Games folder on his desktop and double-clicked FlakFest 3084. While it loaded, he put on headphones and opened his music library. After scrolling through playlists, he found FPS witching hour speed metal and pressed play. The tunes began to pump, and his spine straightened in response. Triscuit grumbled her displeasure and left his side to camp on the couch.

He checked the list of live Deathmatch games - scanning it for friends. Just one, RAMBunciou5! was crushing it on DECK16-INFINITY. The leaderboard said he was in first place with forty-nine kills and six minutes to play. He clicked the View as Guest button in time to see his friend leap from a spot where he’d been camping, rocket jump off an obstacle on the ground, and turn 180 degrees to fire six missiles at an unsuspecting player named uRtheONEdude. uRtheONEdude saw it coming a moment before his character burst apart into a thousand robot pieces. Takeda clicked the Save Footage button, typed, “Sweet move!” and messaged it to RAMBunciou5!.

He backed out of guest mode and pulled up the main console, deciding to warm up on some bots before joining the live action. Takeda hated having his ass handed to him just because he wasn’t awake yet, so the bots would take a beating. Selecting his favorite map, Chula Vista, he chose ten characters and set the level to Difficult. 

A female voice with a flat British accent spoke, “THE MATCH IS STARTING IN 5, 4, 3….” He received a new email notification at the bottom of the screen. The subject was ‘Happy Birthday Taky.’

“Mom never forgets.”

He paused the game and the music–took off his headphones, and opened the message. It displayed a photo of him as a baby. He wore a Santa Claus hat. His parents were in Military dress blues, grinning ear to ear and holding him between them for the posed shot.

“Hi Taky, I found this photo tucked away in an old book. Can you believe I didn’t have a digital copy? One of the nurses helped me get it onto my tablet. I love this picture from your first Christmas! Our smiles show how proud we are of you. I had better send this soon, so it arrives on your birthday! I realize it’s past midnight on the East Coast, but remember, you were a West Coast baby :-)

Love always, and happy birthday, son,

Mom.”

He stared at the photo and zoomed in to see the detail in their faces. Tears arrived, but he pushed them back. He missed his mother and felt guilty about not moving back to the West Coast after college. She never pressed him to, and that almost made it worse. In fact, she’d been crystal clear, in that military way of hers, that she ‘had friends and could take care of herself.’ She didn’t often mention the nurses, but one would visit her little apartment twice a week ‘just to water the plants.’ Her apartment was part of a senior housing community for Veterans.

His mother would often say that he should come back to stay ‘Only if and when the time is right, but it may never be, and that’s okay.’ That didn’t mean she wasn’t excited when he could visit. But a pizza delivery guy’s salary didn’t make that terribly often, and he wouldn’t let her pay for his travel from her savings.

A new notification popped up at the bottom of the screen. It was a vid chat request from his mom, “Awake birthday boy?” the message said.

“She’s getting slick with that tablet. Must have noticed me come online,” Takeda said over his shoulder to Triscuit, who lifted her head.

He clicked the button to answer the call. The screen went black, added the word ‘Connecting,’ and then he was looking at his mother’s back porch. He heard, “Mrs. Hill, you have to click that button to flip the camera, so it faces you.”

“Oh!” his mother said and laughed with joy. He’d never known her to be embarrassed for even a moment.

“TAKYYYY! THERE YOU ARE!” she yelled and clapped.

“Hi, Mom!” he said, waving with a smile. 

“Happy Birthday Taky! My gosh, you’re up so late! Stacy, this is my son Takeda.”

“Hello, Takeda, very nice to meet you, and happy birthday!” Stacy said as she fumbled with a medical bag.

“Thank you, Stacy. Very nice to meet you as well. Thank you for helping my mother.”

“You mean by keeping the men here from constantly hitting on her? It’s not easy. She’s the only smokin’ hot Congressional Medal of Honor winner in the building.” She said, smiling at his mother.

“Just stop it! You’re dismissed,” she said with fake seriousness.

Stacy gave her best approximation of a salute and said over her shoulder, “Goodnight, Mrs. Hill. See you soon.”

“Goodnight, dear,” she said while waving. “Now then, son, how are you? You look thin. Are you eating?”

“Yes, Mom, I’m eating,” he said, rolling his eyes. She always asked him this and said she always would. It became a standing joke between them.

“And how is Tris?” at the sound of her name, the dog’s head popped up.

“See for yourself.” “Say hi to your grandma!” he positioned the camera to center Triscuit on the screen.

“Hi Tris!” his mother said.

Triscuit jumped off the couch with a snort and ambled over to Takeda, searching for the other voice. Then she gave up the five-second hunt and flopped at his feet with a sigh.

“She certainly looks like she’s eating,” his mother laughed. “And how is, oh, darn memory, how is that girl, the tree girl? Are you still seeing her?”

He visibly pulled back when she said, tree girl. Then he remembered that she knew Holly worked as a trail hand and smoke jumper. She’d come up with this nickname before; it only meant that she was outdoorsy.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that she’s asleep in the next room. Holly, her name is Holly.”

“Oh yes, of course. I’m sorry, honey, Holly, yes, I’m a bit forgetful from time to time. I actually misplaced this tablet thing today, which is why I’m calling you so late. It turns out it was exactly where I left it, in the refrigerator! How silly is that!”

“You left it in the fridge, Mom? You’re lucky that it still works. Uh, should I be worried about you?”

“Oh please, I’m fine. It’s part of getting older and nothing more than that. I’m glad you’re still seeing Holly; she seems very nice. Smart and tough, too. Please tell her I said hello.”

“I will. I like her too. We’re, I don’t know, not like a real couple or anything but…,” his mother interrupted, “I know, you don’t have to explain more. You like her, and that’s all that matters. Well, that and that she’s good to you.”

“She is, Mom,” he said, smiling. His mother smiled back and put a hand on her chest as if hearing something unspoken. More than satisfied, she changed the subject. “How’s work going?”

“Meh, it’s okay. It’s a job. This B.U. English degree isn’t impressing anyone yet.”

“It’s a tough job market. Is it okay to ask if you’ve been doing any writing? I do love to read your work, and I haven’t for a little while, I think.” She teased him, knowing he didn’t mind.

“A little, couple of short stories. I’ll share one soon. I thought about getting an MFA in creative writing… I don’t know. I’ve been out of school for a while now. Not sure if I could do it.”

“You could do it. I know you could. Of course, my opinion is biased, but you know that I’m always honest with you.”

He winced. “Mom… I’m sorry, I wasn’t completely straight with you. I kind of did get a job offer writing for a newspaper…” he trailed off.

“You did! Taky, that’s wonderful! But, uh, it’s not…?” She noticed him avoiding eye contact.

“I thought it was what I wanted. I thought that right up to the moment that they offered me an entry-level job. I was so happy; I’d finally done it. I was going to put my degree to use and stop running pizza.” He paused for a moment, searching for the right words.

“You caught the car,” his mother said.

“I what?”

“It’s an old saying, the dog that caught the car, means that once you’ve reached your goal, you don’t know what to do.”

“Yeah. Well, kind of. It’s just that I don’t want to write about the news. It’s too sad and depressing. Wars, famine, mass suicides, crazed politicians, rampant disease, that’s what there is to write about. Sure, I’d start off writing about rescued kittens and feel-good stories, but it all leads to real writing. Mom, I saw myself doing that in a flash, and it just wasn’t me. Are you disappointed?” He made eye contact with her again.

There were tears in her eyes, and her hand partially covered her mouth.

“Takeda…” her voice cracked, “I’ve never been prouder of you.”

“For that?” he said, surprised.

“A mother’s job is to raise her children so that they can take care of themselves. You did something that took strength of character and showed me that I’ve raised a man. I’m so proud, and your father would be too.” Now they were both crying.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Taky,” she said, dabbing her tears with a tissue.

“I still want to be a writer, Mom, just not that kind of writer.” 

“I know. You’ve got stories to tell, I’ve read some, but you’ve got more. I can’t wait to read them; I can’t wait to read what comes next.”

He smiled, then wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Triscuit was pulling at his pant leg with concern on her face. Takeda turned the camera so that his mother could see her.

“Looks like good ol’ Tris agrees,” she said.

“Well, maybe. Also, a strong possibility that she needs to use the ladies’ room.” He made air quotes.

“Ah! I should be going. And it’s so late! You should be getting rest. Hopefully, you will after you take her outside. Maybe skip playing Chula Vista?” she said with a knowing grin.

His face dropped. “How could you possibly know that…?”

“It’s a mother thing; I can’t explain it. Goodnight and happy birthday, love. I’m so glad we talked tonight. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mom,” he waved, she blew a kiss, and the screen went dark.

He looked down at Tris. “I’m not a mom, but I know what you’re thinking. Let’s go, pup.”

Next week in Chapter 20, “Fallout,” Arthur and Christo get down to it