BOOK ONE: DECEPTIONS
Chapters One to Twenty Six
Vignettes 1 - 140

BOOK TWO: YESTERDAY ECHOES
Chapters 27 to
Vignettes 141 -

Monday, June 20, 2011

Chapter 45: Lightning Bugs

The actor playing a cameraman put the camera down when the actor playing the director yelled “Cut!”

Jeremy Tyson lay against the tiled wall and sighed, eyes rolling back in his head. He was covered in sweat and barely able to catch his breath. His head rolled to his right glimpsing Trampus Scott, who grinned, licked his lips and trembled as his eyes rolled back in his head.

He was hot. He was thirsty and he couldn’t quite remember where he was or what he was doing.

He looked down at himself; naked, hands and belly covered in semen. The last few moments started coming back to him. He tried to sit up and look at his best friend, now passed out beside him in a similar physical condition.

Tyson trembled. What had he done? Why had he done it? Would he ever be able to remember and then forget?

“Looky what I have!” Saxon Allen stumbled in front of him. “Baby, I got candy!” He shook the little brown bottle in front of him.

That’s what he wanted. That’s what he needed, that white powdery salt in that little bottle. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed before or after that little bottle appeared. He smiled and reached out for it.

Saxon giggled, and stumbled closer being careful not to lose her grip on that precious life blood. Carefully cradling that vile, she hiked up her skirt, revealing she had forgotten again to put on panties and plopped herself on Jeremy’s spent sticky crotch.

“You want some?” She teased.

His tongue went to the corner of his smile as he nodded, trying not to show her just how hungry he was. “Yeah. Yeah, gimme some. Gimme some now.” He could barely hear his voice for the hunger screaming inside his head.

Saxon twisted the lid and stuck in a long chipped but glossy red fingernail until it disappeared into the brown glass. Despite her condition she managed to pull out a nice white pile cupped in that nail and hold it under one nostril. Jeremy pushed his slick finger against one side of his nose and snorted, quickly repeating the process for the other one.

He lost focus on Saxon as she began to enjoy her own turn at the brown glass trough. For a moment all he could do was lean back his head and enjoy the all to brief ride, the few moments of nothing in existence but every emotion in the universe. He felt her plop against his naked chest and heard her giggle when she banged her head against the tile, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered at all.

“Cut and…print.” Came the familiar voice from the dark behind the bright glare. The heat was gone in an instant as lights were shut off and dressers quickly appeared with robes, towels and water.

Jeremy pushed himself to a more comfortable sitting position and waved off the onslaught of crew for a moment. He looked over at his fellow actors, both looking as though they had spent every emotion they had.

Trampus simply nodded his head before stumbling to a stand, allowing a fluffy clean rob to be slipped on him.

“God, I need a cigarette.” Saxon wiped the sweat from her brow.

“You don’t smoke.” Jeremy positioned his robe to cover himself but didn’t put it on.

“That doesn’t mean I couldn’t sail right through a couple of packs about now.” Saxon accepted the bottled water, holding it first against her cheek. “And all I did was watch. You guys…you guys….holy crap.” She shook her head.

“No one said this was gonna be easy.” Jeremy looked at the floor.

“And we did all agree…” Trampus ignored the dirty looks from the nearby crew as he lit up a Marlboro Red. “We knew it would push our limits, borders, buttons and bows.”

Saxon reached a hand down to Jeremy and helped him stand. “I’m used to giggles and little pranks. This is soooo what I’m not used to.” She helped him step into the robe.

“Giggles and pranks…hand jobs and cocaine.” Scott joked and made little hand motions to convey he was trying to weigh the difference.

“I’m used to shooting really big bugs with really big guns.” Jeremy looked at her and then over to Trampus.

“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m used to just standing around and looking pretty.” He took a drag off his smoke and handed it to Jeremy. “There ain’t nothin’ pretty about this movie.”

“One way or another we’ll all three have very different careers once this hits the theatres.”

“And is all this…” a nearby production assistant whirled her hands in the air. “…gonna be worth it?”

The three looked at each other and said simultaneously in their own way, “Oh hell yeah.”



He was sitting on the chaise, Ralphie in his lap, stroking the dog’s mane and staring off into the distance. She watched just a moment. Ian Justyn lost in thought was a sight to behold.

She had known him long enough to pick up little things. Like the way he tilted his head almost undetectably to the right if the thought wasn’t quite connecting. Then there was what she called the stroke. He’d fold his index finger down and rub the second knuckle slowly back and forth across his bottom lip when he couldn’t focus on one thought.

Tonight, tonight was the hard one. His hands were methodically repeating a gesture, in this case stroking the dog’s coat hand over hand, his face was totally blank and his focus focused unfocused on something in the darkening sky. She feared that someday he’d get lost in that thought and never, ever come back.

She had to be gentle. More than once she had startled him from his thought trance and he’d broke out into a sweat that seemed painful. She made sure he heard her coming. She’d learned to always make sure he knew that you were coming.

“Baby Doll.” She smiled quietly and rubbed her fingers on his cheek.

It took just a barely noticeable moment, but he came back from where ever he was, not turning his head but moving his eyes to take her in. He smiled. “I thought you’d be in bed by now.”

Tippy made a sound to communicate otherwise. “May I sit with you?”

He nodded his head and smiled down at Ralphie, in heaven at the attention and the human touch. His tail beat quietly on the staccato of the patio. His chin pressed so tightly into Ian’s lap in almost became part of his skin.

She pulled a second armless chaise until it touched the one Ian was sprawled across and sat down putting her feet up after a long, long day. The only sound exchanged between them was silence, but it said absolutely everything that needed to be said. Tippy reached over to touched his cheek. He leaned forward a bit and rubbed his cheek tenderly against her fingers.

She knew that meant good, well almost good. They listened to the loud silence of California nature a moment. It was defining. From the corner of her eye she saw him move. Without ever taking her eye from the point out into space she was looking at, she slipped her arm around him as he leaned over and put his head on her shoulder. She didn’t squeeze. She didn’t rub. She just took him in.

She felt the tension in his body. She could feel the fire in his mind trying to get out, and his heart beating so fast it made the temperature outdoors even muggier. She gently lay her cheek on the top of that black, black hair.

“You know once before I left Mountain City, I sat out on our back porch, or I guess I should say the back part of our wrap around porch about this time of day. It was always my favorite time of day and time of year back home. Just about now, when you suddenly realize the light of that day was done for but the dark hadn’t quite taken over, the mountain would start to twinkle.”

“Twinkle?”

“Mmm hmmm, lighnin’ bugs; just millions of ‘em all over Forge Mountain. It always took my breath away. My Granny used to say it made her sad, but it just made my heart soar. Just think a tiny little bug just bein’ a bug and still getting’ someone to notice him from so far away.”

Tippy felt him smile and cuddle closer into her shoulder. “I always thought that’s how God sees us, us just bein’ one of millions of bugs each with our own special twinkle lightin’ up a tiny little portion of the mountain.”

“I used to cath ‘em and put them in a jar on my window sill. They’d either crawl out of the holes I made in the top or be laying on their back dead as doornails by morning. I always set the ones that lived free.”

“I think we all did that.” Tippy smiled. “Except m’ sister Jeannie. She’d catch ‘em, and rip their little buts off and smear ‘em on her finger until she had this nasty glowy little ring.”

Ian sat up a bit and looked at her. “Are you still close to your sister?”

“I wish.” Tippy sighed. “She really hasn’t spoken to me since I won Miss Johnson County. I beat her.”

“You were both in the same pageant?” Ian smirked. “That wasn’t smart.”

“Well, I knew that, but they only had five girls and for some reason they needed one more or it wouldn’t be official or something. I was barely old enough and Jeannie insisted.”

“Was she at last first runner up?”

“Came in next to last. Still it was my fault. Maybe it was. I always thought she was much prettier than me, and a much better singer but I guess the judges just couldn’t get past the fact that her personality read “Bitch” from fifty paces.”

“Anyone other siblings?”

“Just me and Jeannie. Daddy died when I was in high school and Mama passed away a few years ago.”

“You never hear from her?”

“Only when she wanted money from that day on. You know, I put all five of her kids through college and not one has even bothered to send a thank you note. We offered to fly ‘em all out here for every holiday and several times for just no reason at all, but they don’t want to be tainted I guess. Jeannie’s husband is a Holy Roller Preacher.”

“He’s gonna love “Quarters”.” Ian chuckled quietly.

“Ya know, that doesn’t matter, that movie is gonna shock a lot of people, but I also think it’s gonna open the eyes for a lot of people to a problem not many even know exist.”

“Good to know. Remind me of that when Westboro Baptist Church protests my kid’s birthday parties.”

“By the way, thank you.”

Ian sat up and looked Tippy in the eyes. “For what?”

She smiled and finally caressed his shoulder. “For m’job and for my little role in ‘Quarters’. Baby Doll, I know that sometimes it’s hard for you to understand the reason behind all the awful things that have happened, but for all the nasty you keep just dropping bucket loads of good on people, an’ me and Colton, we’re just two that are oh so greatful.”

Ian eased back to his place on her shoulder and Tippy settled back to just enjoy another moment or two with a young man who just needed a mother’s love. “Have you talked to Saxon lately?”

“She’s filming tonight, tougher on Jeremy and Trampus but I can tell it’s putting them all through the ringer. God, they are brilliant. I’ve just seen dailies and rushes, but Tippy I don’t think they even understand how incredible they are. I’ve even caught Mr. Turner sitting in his office in tears.”

“Aw, he’s just an’ old softie.”

“When I ask him if he wants to talk about it, he just pretends like he has something in his eye and says “It’s the way it should be.” And quickly changes the subject.”

“Hmmm….who does he remind me of?” Tippy mused to herself. “Now, I hate to be a grandmother, I cannot believe I’m admitting that out loud, but have you made any headway on setting up the nursery? This isn’t like the old days and you can just clean out a drawer to tuck ‘em in.”

“Actually, we’ve set tomorrow aside to look at the house plans and get started.” Ian stopped her before she could throw her ‘but’ in. “Until then, we’ve set up the cribs and the temporary nursery in the room between Ronnie and Clare. Obviously our boys are going to be born before we have a chance to finish the renovations, so that room seemed like the obvious choice.”

“Are you getting’ a little excited?”

“I’m still trying.” Tippy felt the tension come back into his body. “Just once, I’d like to be happy about becoming a father from the get go.”

“You weren’t happy about Ronnie?”

“To be honest, Taylor hid the fact she was pregnant for so long by the time I had no choice but get past my own stupidity all I could do was be terrified. Tippy, I was working four part time jobs and going to school and still couldn’t afford a place to live. She was living with Jude and I saw her so rarely I’m still shocked were alone long enough to get pregnant.”

“Well, babies aren’t known for always being convenient. Maybe next time, you’ll be a little more prepared.”

“I’m trying so hard, Tippy. I really am. There’s just still so much anger and mistrust with these twins. I’m not pointing fingers here, I’m just as angry at myself as I am at Clare. I think even Clare is apprehensive. Maybe when the little buggers finally pop out, we can all relax and just enjoy it.”

Tippy laughed. “Relaxing, yeah that’s exactly what happens with newborns.”

“Okay, okay…I got one son, and in many, many ways I’m still about to be a first time father, but I hope you understand what I mean.”

“You are going to take a paternity leave, aren’t you? Even just a small one?”

“That hadn’t occurred to me.” Ian started to sit up and then put his head back down on Tippy’s shoulder. “Nah. I can do this. Things won’t really heat up at the office until the end of August. It’ll be fine.”

“I don’know Baby Doll. Once you get a look at those sweet little babies, you may not want to even think about going into work for a while. Have you talked about names yet?”

“Ronnie’s partial to Spot and Fluffy, but that’s about it. I guess where kind of waiting until they’re born to decide…you know, to see which one looks like a Spot and which one looks like a Fluffy.”

“Good plan.” Tippy bit her lip. “Does Clare have any thoughts on that subject?”

“Not sure, but there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Of course not. Realizing she was pregnant and getting to a doctor, getting around to telling the father and deciding on where to put the nursery were all a snap, picking a couple of names after giving birth to twins will be a walk in the park for her.”

“I know this isn’t going to be easy, Tippy, but I think the hard part is behind us, at least the hard part for Clare and I. The movie has about two weeks before we hit post-production. The fall season is solid and we’ve already got back up plans and we’re laying groundwork for next year. All is good.”

“Way to go Superman.”

“Now if we can just figure out that little annoying bit about someone trying to kill me, all will be well.”

“Baby Doll, you know everybody loves Superman, especially me, but I love Ian Justyn most of all. I’m hoping I get to see more of him real soon.”

“Me, too, Mamie Rae. Me, too.” Ian’s eyes darted to that far away place Tippy feared he’ll never come back from. “If I can just figure out who that is.”

“Everybody else knows, Baby Doll. Just trust us, and we’ll show you.”

Tippy rubbed Ian’s hair and he sighed, content and happy, if only for an instant that he was in fact, at this moment in time, where he was needed and where he wanted to be the most.



She stepped back inside, clutching the now opened manila envelopes to what little space was left between her belly and her breasts. She leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. She had to get back in control.

Clare knew that was all she had left. She was in a place, a space and a time that she didn’t care to be. She could fix this. She knew she could. Gathering herself, she waddled with fury to her bedroom amazed at just how far going absolutely nowhere really was.

She stopped a moment and peered into the nursery. Two cribs, two mobiles, two of absolutely everything; why wasn’t it enough? She had overheard their conversation, and Ian was right, there was so much anger still and what she held in her hands burned her to the core.

Quietly, she shut to door to her room, locked it and eased herself to sit down on the bed. The envelopes splayed across the expensive spread. She tapped her fingers on the manila.

It was all there. There were a few loose ends, but putting this information along with what she’d found and added could very well end this in less than a couple of hours. She was smart enough to know that it was enough to bring it all to an abrupt end, but just as much would be left dangling in the wind with answers to questions never to be found.

Her cell phone rang. Swinging her legs to the floor she reached to the desktop and grabbed it.

“Unknown. Blocked number.”

Clare took a deep breath. “Timing, Clare. It’s all in the timing.” Before she flipped the lid she murmured to herself, “Let’s get this done.”

“Hello, Bruno.”

“Clare?” He seemed shocked. “How did you know it was me?”

“You’re the only one who ever calls me.”

“Awww and I’m so sorry it’s been such a long since we talked, but I thought you might need a little privacy.”

“Of course.”

“But you know I thought about you every day.”

“That’s sweet.”

“And?” He seemed to wait for her to jump right in. “How are things going?”

“What? Haven’t you heard the news?”

“Well, I did catch a few things on the tube and heard a few tidbits around the office, but you know me, I never believe anything until I hear it from you.”

“It’s twins, boys, two little boys. Due any day now.”

“Good for you.” Clare could almost see the glee on the man’s face she had never seen, and could almost write down word for word what he was going to say next. “With twins, you’ll have absolutely no problem milking that bastard for every penny he’s got and then some.”

“I’m sure…” Clare looked down at the swollen ankles swinging surprisingly relaxed but not quite touching the floor. “Bruno, I should tell you, a few things have changed.”

“I’m sure.” His voice became very reassuring. “I know you’ve been working hard to make everyone think you’ve made amends, but I know it’s all an act. Now, what’s changed, dear, and how can I help?”

She smiled. “Good. I knew you’d be on board. First of all, stop treating me like I’m an idiot.”

“Oh, Clare, the last thing I’ve ever thought was that you were an…”

“Bruno…” She cut him off. “Shut up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Which word didn’t you understand? Shut or up?”

“Now see here young lady...”

“No, Bruno, you see here. Let’s just cut to the chase, shall we?” Clare looked to make sure she’d locked the door to her room.

“By all means.” The civil tone had all but drained from his voice.

“I know what you’ve been doing, I know how you’ve been doing it and most important of all I know exactly who you are.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“I’m sure you don’t.” Clare dumped the contents of all three enveloped on her bed on spread them out. “Let me fill you in for a change.”

“By all means.”

“Do the names Blue, Peyton and Ella mean anything to you?”

Clare heard Bruno suppress a gulp. “No, but I suppose you are going to tell me why they should.”

“Ya screwed up Bruno, or do you want me to use your real name? I know what that is, too. The guys were dumb, but even you should know by now never ever mess with a woman.”

“I did not…”

“By the way, loved your DVD. I’d never seen a gay sex tape before. Interesting, and you really should have that mole on your butt removed. It looks like the ones that cause cancer.”

“DVD?”

“Oh come on, Bruno. You knew Blue was filming your little sessions, at least eventually. That’s why you killed him and thanks to Balouche they’re still only guessing the bullet that killed him came from your gun and not Kellen’s. Or did Peyton switch guns that night and hide in the bushes. I’m still guessing at that one.”

“You little…”

“Ah ah ah…temper. We’re just getting started. I haven’t even told you how you really screwed up yet.”

“I did not screw up.”

“Ella…you should have gotten to her first, Bruno. She’s the one who put it all together. Never mess with a woman. Guess why? She was undercover F.B.I.”

There was dead silence on the phone.

“Cat got your tongue?”

Laughing, the son of a bitch was laughing. “Okay, Clare. I admit that’s news, but Clare dear. I got it all. She’d stuffed it in her purse. I beat her senseless then went back and got it, just before I stomped her brains in. Gee, I wonder whose next…bitch.”

“Got it all, did’ja?” Clare knew this next reminder would wipe the grin right off his face. “Then how did I see your little DVD? Why do I have a handful of various IDs with different names but the same three faces? And just how did I have in my hot little bitch hands a copy of Ella’s hard drive?”

“Hard drive?”

“Recordings of conversations, copies of documents, handwriting samples….oooh she was thorough.”

“How did…?”

“Not sure, but somehow dear sweet stomped to death Ella managed to slip a few things in the mail and get a message to her partner in the F.B.I. that it was coming. Fortunately for you, all he got was the message. I managed to get the mail.”

“I see…and?”

“And?” Clare kicked her feet with nervous glee. “Oh and, did you by any chance see that weird cryptic message she scrawled on the wall in her own blood? Did she do that before or after you got all the evidence she gathered and stomped her brains out?”

“Before, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“It doesn’t unless you read everything the postman delivered, oh…and a few things I managed to find myself.”

“You found?”

“Bruno, dear, sweet idiot Bruno. I’ve been doing a little digging on my own...during my private time It seems that Elizabeth Elysian has been playing her own games. When she sold Ian this house, it’s fabulous by the way, she also used a codicil, a perfectly legal one, that people use to side step inheritance taxes, and sold Ian everything.”

“Everything?”

“And I mean everything; stocks, bonds, rental properties, businesses. Ian will rake in around a million or so alone this year just off the businesses. It’s the rental properties I’m helping him with. I used to work with my Daddy. He was a banker. I know a little about that stuff. Hell, Bruno, I know a lot about that stuff.”

“Why the hell would she…?”

“Who the hell cares? Anyway, I’m also helping Kellen with his business. He sleeps during the day and misses a lot of phone calls. So I keep things straight for him. Actually I could care less, but it gives me an excuse to be in his house, so I can prowl around and see what kind of info they have…on you.”

“On me?”

“Oh yeah. They’re closing in, Bruno boy. Almost got’cha, lucky for me, maybe even you, that I’m always there when that little fax machine of his spits out cases that may be connected. Imagine my surprise when a couple of names and places made even my jaw drop.” She fingered a few faxes on her bedspread.

“Of course, without those, they’ll never be able to make any kind of connection. Talk about screwing up, but then you were just getting started. You never should have used Ian’s mother’s name and social security number.”

“Lylah?” Clare could hear Bruno sputtering. “I…uh…”

“All this time, we wondered why all this vengeful shit focused on Ian. They have their theory, and it’s a good one but it’s not possible. Then again, they don’t know the real reason, even I’m not sure of that but I know the connection.”

“You do, do you?”

“Oh it took me a day or two wondering, how the hell did he get Ian’s mother’s social security number. In fact that’s exactly what I was thinking when that last fax came in, and bingo…you would have to have gotten it at a bank, a bank where she had an account…my Daddy’s bank. You remember my Daddy?”

“No comment.”

Clare laughed quietly. “Already proven guilty. No need to plead the fifth.” She slipped out of the pile a copy she’d made from a yearbook with one finger. “Then I just got Jude in one of his ‘let’s tell stories about Ian’s horrendous childhood’ moods and it all fell into place.”

“It did, did it?” She could almost hear the man’s brain trying to plan a way out.

“You know I never would have recognized you. When the time comes, I need the name of your plastic surgeon. Or are they all dead, too?”

“What do you want Clare?”

She smiled, now he was talking. “Let me make something very clear, Bruno, right now I’m the only one with any of this information, and no one can get at it but me.”

“What if I don’t believe you?”

“I don’t see that you have much of a choice. Do you?” There was a silent huff on the phone line. “I know this is so bad HRT mystery cliché, but I’ve seen to it that if anything happens to me or my children, or I even think something’s going to happen to me or my children all this info gets put directly into the right hands before you have time to run, and I’m talking the guy sitting in the desk right beside you.”

“And what if something happens to your precious Ian, dear?”

“Anything happens to Ian, I get control of two thirds of everything for at least eighteen years or so. You think I really give a shit any more?”

“Let me repeat myself, what do you want?”

“Six million dollars, for starters. In my bank account by 9 A.M. tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t possibly do that.”

“Yes you can, or…I can do it myself. My Daddy and I were close, real close. He taught me how to do things like that, just like he taught you.”

“You’d have to have account numbers and…” He fell silent.

Clare smiled. She had him. That last part was a lie, but he didn’t know that and she was finally in total control again. “Did I tell you my babies are going to be little boys? I was thinking Howard was a good name. What do you think…bitch?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Six million; 9 sharp and then you disappear, but not to far I’m sure I’ll need more money before too long. Raising twins is expensive, and so am I.”

“You’re gonna let me just disappear?”

“Oh you can’t disappear from me, Bruno. Remember, my Daddy taught me everything he taught you, and I was his precious little girl. I’m sure I know even more. You can run, but you can’t ever hide…not from me anyway.”

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