Barret was dog tired and that third cup of coffee wasn’t helping at all. After almost six years of cleaning up the Senator William’s crap he just about had it. All last night he had been running around to deal with the senator’s 22 year old son. Bad enough the little a-hole got drunk in public but did he have to start bragging about all the underage girls he and his buddies had drugged and raped? It took some threats and a large bribe but all the witnesses and audio recording had been dealt with. With that taken care of Barret didn’t manage to get home until dawn. As he headed to bed the senator’s accountant, a dweeb named Malcolm wakes him up banging on his door.
Rubbing his eyes Barret looked down at the folder Malcolm pushed into his chest while yelling about some kind of land deal issue. Looking through it he could see it was that EPA issue Barret worked on last month. Just a typical money scam the kind the senator and his financial supporters liked to do. The Senator had arranged for the cheap purchase of an old chemical dump site through his blind trust. An “affordable” housing project funded by the taxpayers would then buy the land with a heavily overinflated price. It was just another quick and easy profit maker for the senator and his friends. They’ve done similar things dozens of times before. The only unusual thing about this one was getting the EPA inspection buried.
Looking at the page Malcolm had clipped to the file Barret saw it was a page from the annual EMA report showing the EPA inspection status of the land. This was supposed to be buried, how did it resurface? The status showed the site was identified as needing “immediate Emergency Response cleanup” and was followed with a highlighted comment that it was worse than the Love Canal disaster. Barret eventually managed to get Malcolm calmed down and pushed out the door by promising he could get the EMA entry marked as a typo. He would just need to make some calls and call in a couple of favors. Later Barret had the morning news on as he went through his EPA contacts wondering why none of them were returning his calls. Looking up at the TV he saw a clip playing of him and the Senator in his office talking about the bribes needed to get rid of the EPA investigation. How, he knew there were no cameras in the office? At that moment a loud knocking came from his door with a sick feeling Barret somehow knew it was the FBI.
* * * * *
Sammy’s senior prom was this week and I was having a major issue with what to do. She had been hinting that she was ready to go further with me with comments like Granma not expecting her back till morning. For some reason I didn’t feel right sleeping with her while still keeping a big secret from her. My brain was telling me to keep it a secret from her. That somehow my telling her would let the secret get out. She might let it slip to a friend she meets in college or ask a professor a question that would give it away. My heart though was telling me I had to tell her. That not telling her would drive us apart and I wanted us to be together forever. All I could feel sure about was that not telling her and sleeping with her would not be right. Struggling with the decision I finally decided to tell Grandma first. It might seem an odd thing to do but I respected her and knew she always look out for Sammy’s best interest. Also I heard her complain more than once about people butting in to other people’s business. A sentiment that made her a good prospect for keeping a big secret like this.
I went to see Grandma the next morning as soon as Sammy went to school. She looked surprised to see me show up at her door when Sammy wasn’t there. She got even more shocked when I handed her a bag of warm chocolate croissants I had just picked up in Paris. Inviting me in she sat at the table while she made us tea. After stirring her tea for a minute she took a sip then looking at me straight in the eyes said:
“Well, get on with it young man.”
After a bit of hesitation I said “Grandma I haven’t been truthful for why I came out here”
She narrowed her eyes a bit but continued to stare at me without saying anything else. Not knowing exactly how to proceed I decided to start with the story of the cliff climb. I could tell in the beginning she didn’t understand why I was telling her this but after I got to the pinholes on my equipment she started to get more interested. By the time I got to the weird breeze I could tell she was about to jump in with questions. I decided to just skip the rest of it and go right to when Hawk spoke and I found out what he was. Granma snorted at me when I told her about Hawk’s voice and what Hawk was. I could tell she thought I was pulling a prank on her or something. Thinking about how I could prove it to her I tried to think of a good spot to show her a portal of. Remembering that Grandma had once mentioned she would like to have visit Paris I decided that would make a good choice..
“Hawk” I said “please open a window size portal to yesterday afternoon from the Eiffel Tower observation deck.”
A second later a foot and a half square portal opened above the table between Grandma and I. Seeing it suddenly appear she spilled her tea as she jumped back and up from the table. Standing there half crouched over from sitting she just stared at the scene floating above the table. I was worried about the shock to Grandma and could have kicked myself for springing it on her this way. I was also impressed that a woman her age could move like that getting up from the table. Looking at the portal between us I realized it was double sided. I probably should have realized it sooner but being the only one looking through them up till now I had never thought about going around to the backside to look. After Granma recovered I explained all that Hawk could do and some of the things I had been working on. I also told her how I was trying to keep the government from finding out about Hawk.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After I finished Granma sat there and thought about it for a while. She did ask me why I didn’t trust the government with Hawk. I kind of got the feeling she agreed with me not telling them but wanted to hear my reasons. I told her that Hawk could show what actually happened at religious events, something that made her eyes open wide as she thought about it. I then explained the ability to spy on anyone, anywhere and at anytime.
When I told her that she gave me a sharp look and said “Sammy”
“No, no I would never do something like that to Sammy” I said
Luckily she didn’t ask me about other women I might have “accidently” watched. I then spent some time telling her about the efforts I had made for missing kids and the environment. I mentioned some of the things I thought the government could use Hawk’s portals for and the one thing I knew they wouldn’t use it for which was the environment. After I said that Grandma looked at me for a moment and then smiled.
“You’re probably right” she said “but do you really think you can do it all by yourself?”
“That is a problem but who do I trust to help? I don’t really know everything Hawk can do but I’m sure it’s a lot more than what he’s currently helping me with.”
After a few minutes of thought Grandma suddenly said “What about Sammy?”
“I want to be with her” I said “and I want her to follow her dreams and go to college and become a vet but I also don’t want to lose her. If I keep this secret from her I feel I will lose her someday”.
Grandma patted the back of my hand and said “Then tell her silly.” She then got up and made herself another cup of tea.
She then said “People who love each other shouldn’t keep secrets from each other”.
“At least the big secrets” she said with a grin.
We spend the rest of the morning having Hawk show us the different places Grandma had always wanted to see. After we finished the chocolate croissants I even convinced her to step through a portal onto a deserted area near Bourbon Street. It was so we could buy some beignets she always wanted to try. After a surprisingly fun day with Grandma I left right before Sammy was due back from school. I didn’t want to meet her yet; I still needed to come up with a good way to tell Sammy.
I came back right after dinner and invited Sammy to sit on the porch swing with me. Something we had done many times before but usually we just wandered to it. My asking her like that gave her a puzzled look on her face. As we sat and looked at the stars Sammy started talking about the senior prom and then switched to college. We talked about when and how often I should come up and see her. I assured her it wasn’t a problem to do it every weekend but would probably depend on her classes if she would have time for me.
“Always” she said with a hug.
I could tell she was still unhappy and worried at the thought of leaving grandma living alone at home while she was away at college.
Thinking about what I could do to get her to stop worrying about leaving I suddenly said “What if you could do both”
She thought about what I said for a moment then said “You mean have her move there with me”
“No, not that, what if you could come see her whenever you wanted or even live here at night but still go to college?”
“Daniel” she said quietly “they don’t have an online vet program”
I decided I had better start from the beginning and began with talking about the cliff climbing again. I didn’t see any disbelief on her face when I got to the pitting and later the breeze. Sammy was a lot more trusting and accepted what I was saying. When it came time to let her see a portal I asked Hawk to show her the castle at Disney World. Something I knew Sammy loved and wanted to go see someday. Every time we went to the cinema to see a Disney movie she would give a happy laugh at the castle in the intro.
Sammy had asked me if the real one looked like that so I showed her pictures from the web of it. After that we would sometimes talk about going to Disney World. Thinking the castle would be perfect I had Hawk make a portal to it right in front of us at a time the fireworks show “Fantasy in the Sky” was performing. Expecting her to be shocked like Grandma instead she smiled and leaned closer to get a better look. Sammy was so fascinated by what she was seeing she forgot to ask any questions and just watched until the end of the performance. I noticed Grandma looking out the window at us when the fireworks explode but then she smiled at us and closed the drapes.
After the show ended Hawk left the portal to the castle up for Sammy while we talked about them and what I was actually doing with them for the environment. I was happy Sammy didn’t get angry with me for lying to her and Grandma but she did let me know I should have told her.
I talked to her about using the portal to live at home for school.
“I don’t understand” Sammy said, “How can a portal let me go to college from home?”
I stood up, grabbed her hand and pulled her through a portal unto her future campus.
Looking around she turned and hugged me declaring “Now we can keep seeing each other all the time”.
Walking around the campus in the cool evening I talked about why I didn’t think the government should know about Hawk and what he could do. I thought she would disagree with me. I always considered her to be very open and honest person and would want to tell people including the government but all she said was she trusted me and would keep it a secret.
As we passed the dorms I said pointing “You can get a single room in the dorm and visit grandma at home whenever you feel like. You can even just sleep at home and come and go from campus using your dorm room.”
While Sammy was thinking about that I looked around and not seeing anyone pulled her back through a portal to her porch. It was getting late so I decided to let her sleep on it and said goodnight with a kiss. Tomorrow was a Saturday so no school; I expected I would see her at my door first thing in the morning with all the questions she forgot to ask tonight. Thinking about all those questions I thought maybe I could distract her with a trip to Disney tomorrow instead.