Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 39: Afterlife sentence
Wake's legacy and the mission continues
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With gratitude, Bill
Last week, in chapter 38, Careen caught up to Luke at the airport
Chapter 39: Afterlife sentence
“Gone? What do you mean gone?” Holly said to Scott, who was staring at nothing.
She reread the message they’d all received:
CATCH YOU CATS ON THE FLIPPITY FLIP.
IT’S BEEN REAL. STAY STRONG AND BE GOOD TO EVERYONE.
WAKE, OUT.
[ NETWORK RESTORE PROTOCOL SEQUENCE INITIATED AT YOUR COMMAND ]
[ TYPE 1 TO BEGIN ]
“I mean gone, Holly. He’s dead. We hoped never to get this message, but he’d talked about it several times over the years.”
“Oh, no…” Takeda said, looking at his phone. “It’s all over the news–an explosion at the Prudential building, the 48th floor.”
Sheila sat back in his chair, ashen-faced, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Diane put a hand on Sheila’s shoulder. “I’m so very sorry, all of you. My god, Holly, this is the man you were telling me about, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Mom.”
Bodhi walked back into the room from the kitchen carrying a large pot with both hands. He put it down carefully on the table. With his head lowered and not making eye contact with anyone, he said, “I apologize. I could hear you from the kitchen. I’m sorry for the loss of your friend.”
All heads turned to face him, most with a blend of sadness and anger. It was Sheila who made the first move. He folded his napkin, got up from his chair, and pushed it in. Without a word, he walked over to Bodhi, grabbed him by the throat, and put him on the ceiling.
“No!” Diane screamed.
Bodhi reached for Sheila’s hands, but he didn’t struggle. He looked down at the group with an expression of fear and sadness.
“Sheila, stop. Put him down.” Scott said quietly.
Sheila looked at Scott while holding Bodhi there. Scott tilted his head and nodded. Sheila put him down on his feet, then helped him to a chair. Bodhi was close to passing out. He coughed a few times, and Diane brought him a glass of water.
“Take a sip,” she said.
The back door slammed as Sheila went outside.
“Thanks,” Bodhi squeaked.
Diane patted his hand. “You understand that everyone is pretty upset. But we won’t let something like that happen again,” she addressed the table. “Still, I need you to be honest. What do you know about this? About Wake, Boston, the explosion, anything about your past. Please, now is the time.”
Holly shot daggers at Bodhi from across the table while Takeda watched Diane with fascination. Scott was staring at Wake’s message.
Bodhi tried to speak but only made a croaking sound; he took a sip of water and tried again. “I’m sorry. But, I don’t know or remember anything about the things you speak of. I really don’t. I can see that you’re suffering, and I wish there were something, anything I could do to help.”
Holly scoffed and shook her head.
Diane stared at Bodhi’s face for a long moment, then turned to the group. “I know you’re all hurting; believe me, I understand the pain of losing someone suddenly. But I trust he’s telling the truth. If he knew something about this, it’s gone.”
“Scott?” Takeda asked.
Scott looked at him.
“What’s that Network restore stuff in the message about?”
Scott tapped the phone on the table and sighed. “It’s another thing that Wake made very clear to Sheila and me. If he were ever caught or killed and had time to hide the Red Foot Network beforehand, we would help to restore it and continue his mission. His life’s work.”
“What was his mission, dear?” Diane asked.
“Protect the truth.”
“I see. Well, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. Perhaps you might find what I’m about to say a little funny coming from an older person like myself but, do you need some programming help?”
Scott’s mouth opened a little, and he smiled with his eyes. “Well damn.”
Diane stammered, “I hope you don’t find my comment insensitive. I feel terrible about what’s happened.”
“Not at all. I’m utterly crushed that I’ve lost one of my best friends and an effin’ genius. Until you offered your help, I’d forgotten two important things. Number one, as we pointed out to Wake many times, it would be hard to carry on his work without someone like him to do it. And two, he recently mentioned you have some pretty deep coding experience.”
“All due respect, but I don’t want my mother involved. I mean, look where it got him; rest his soul.” Holly tapped her fingers on the table, looking back and forth from Scott to Diane.
“Holly, please, I’m just offering to help a little–if needed. I’ve not the desire or the skillset to maintain this network forever.”
Scott rubbed the stubble on his chin. “It would be good to get it back online as soon as possible. Wake may have left other messages there for us in case of emergency. And, if you two still plan on going North, having the network as a resource could be very useful.”
“Useful for what?” Takeda said.
“To document and share what happens to you for one thing. But also, if there’s intel coming from other places around the world that might inform your decisions on the way. That’d be a good thing to have. Like, if someone figures out that a chap like Bodhi here is hot on your trail, they have a tool to communicate that info. I mean the murdering version of him, not the deviled egg one.”
“I see,” Takeda said. “I only wish that kind of information could have saved Wake.”
“So do I, Tak. So do I.” Scott rubbed his temples. “Let me tell you all something about Wake. He knew that this type of end was a real possibility for him. He even called it likely. But that didn’t deter him. He loved what he did and did it for the purest of reasons. Wake enjoyed the hell out of life. That much was clear, right?”
Holly and Takeda nodded in agreement.
“He called himself a Discoder, but I always looked at Wake like a modern Samurai. He lived under a descending blade with a relaxed smile. I don’t doubt that he wanted to live a longer life, but the fact that we all received this message,” he held up his phone, “means that at the end, he was still fighting, and he was successful with his very last effort. That floor blew up because he blew it up, and he did that to save the truth. Nothing will be recovered in the wreckage to trace the Red Foot Network anywhere. It’s here now; Wake is here now.” Scott put the phone on the table, presenting it with both hands.
They were transfixed as if it were Wake himself.
“And one more thing, regardless of what you believe, Wake always hoped to reunite with his wife Charly in the next world. He used to say that it wasn’t worth looking for another partner, he’d found Charly, and she was everything he could ever want. ‘One day I’ll find her again,’ he’d say.” Scott choked up on his last words.
Diane came around the table to hug him. Scott stood up and hugged her back.
The sound of Sheila closing the back door turned everyone’s heads.
“Was that spaghetti and meatballs in the pot?” he asked.
He’d woke at the tree’s base as if from a blissful nap. An observer would have imagined him terrified, confused, and scared–but none of those feelings passed through his mind.
He just noticed things. That was all.
He noticed that the people around him seemed pretty upset with something he’d done and noted that he should try to fix that.
He noticed that he didn’t know who he was, or where he was, but that was of lesser or no importance.
He noticed it was a beautiful day to be alive and felt like dancing.
These were the things that he noticed.
They ate in silence. After several minutes the taste of the food gave way to compliments for the cook and conversation. Bodhi politely declined to eat with the group, despite Diane’s pleading. He wanted to start working on dessert and give them some private time to grieve and celebrate their departed friend.
Sheila and Scott shared stories about Wake that had them mixing tears of laughter with sadness.
After a while, Diane and Scott began to rough out an approach to restoring Wake’s network. Holly gave up her protests when Diane told her plainly that it wasn’t her decision to make.
“As long as my Mom is involved in The Red Foot Network, I want you two,” she pointed to Scott and Sheila, “to be here with her, like you would’ve helped Wake. At least until you can find someone else to take it over. She’s had one attempt on her life; I don’t want to depend on the forest or birds or a reformed murderer to save her the next time. Deal?”
Sheila had a mouth full of spaghetti and looked at Scott, then at Diane. He swallowed and wiped the sauce off of his cheek.
Diane smiled. “It would be my honor and pleasure to have you gentleman stay.”
“Really?” Sheila said. “This place is so nice. I mean, you’re very nice too, Mrs. Johnson, er, Diane.”
“Thank you very much,” Scott said, “if there’s anything we can do around the house while we’re here, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Well, to start with–there is one thing,” she said.
“Anything,” Scott said.
Holly looked at her mother, and reading her mind said, “No, Mom, come on.”
“Yes, dear. Bodhi will also be a guest here–unless he proves not to deserve it.”
“Mom, he did that! Remember!” she pointed to the spot where Diane had been bound to the chair.
“I understand, and I’d act the same if I were you. But I’m not. I’m me. And I say that Bodhi stays in my home until he’s ready to leave. It should give you some comfort that I have these two able young men to keep an eye on him.”
Holly groaned loudly.” How can you be so sure about him? Why take the chance? Kick his ass out the door!”
Diane smiled at her daughter. “I love your fire, honey. I feel proud to have raised such a strong and fierce woman.”
“Mom…” Holly trailed off.
“There are things you cannot know until you’ve put enough sunsets behind you. Things you cannot explain because they’re bigger than you. They live in the wrinkles, huddle in grey hair, and relish the slowing down,” Diane said.
It was silent for a moment in the room, except for the clatter of utensils in the kitchen.
Takeda said, “That was beautiful, Diane.”
“Tak…” Holly said.
Diane walked over to Holly. “I’ll be okay, dear.” She hugged her, cradling Holly’s head to her chest.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Is he baking chocolate chip cookies in there?” Takeda said, motioning to the kitchen. “That’s my thing!”
“I love cookies,” Sheila said, “I hope I don’t have to hurt him again.”
Scott folded his hands together. “It sounds like we have a plan for the short term. You two want to continue the mission?”
Holly sighed, “Might as well. I’d like to get it over with, and the sooner, the better. It may turn out to be nothing anyway. We’ve only got a vague direction to go North and a supposition that it has to do with Mount Washington. Unless we run into Tak’s mystery girl on the way, we’ll be back here within the day and none the wiser.”
“Head out in the morning then?” Takeda said.
“Sure, I guess,” Holly said.
Bodhi came into the room with a plate of cookies and a pitcher of milk.
“What the fuck is this guy?” Holly said.
Next week in Chapter 40, “I love that dirty water,” Tom pressures Christo for answers before meeting with the President.