The Truth Shall Set Us Free
"Good Lord, girl. You were that hook...?" He stopped
himself.
"Oh, it's awright. Yeah, I was that hooker. My God, sir, you
were so brave to take on those men. They really were gonna kill me, if
that makes you feel any better. I had scammed them for the last time.
Did they...did they hurt you real bad? God, I just know they did.
I always knew they hurt you bad, and I just hated myself for that. I
am so sorry." Chloe's eyes moistened, but she had more to say and
composed herself quickly.
"Mr. Mason, you saved my life, and I have thought of your courage everyday,
and that night changed my life. I got off the street, got my high school
diploma, then got my beautician's license. I'm married to a real nice
fella, and we got two little girls. I didn't go on to do anything noble or
be like Mother Theresa or anything like that, but..." She paused.
Garrett looked her in the eye and said, "Sure you did. Look at
how many lives you didn't screw up by getting off the street." Straight
up, no rocks.
She laughed weakly. "Good point. I never looked at it like that
before. Listen, there's something else I gotta tell ya. First off,
Tommy, my husband, he don't know nothin' about this or my life before when,
well, you know. Anyways, that's not what I have to tell you." Another
breath. "Mr. Mason, you're an angel. I mean, a real angel, from
God and all, and y'all are down here, you and your wife, I mean. Go on
down to Sedona or somewhere where you can plant vegetables and flowers, and she
can be warm. Your jobs are finished, and now you're just in the way, if
you'll pardon my saying so."
"What the hell you talking about girl?" Garrett was floored.
"Look, I know this is a shock. Lemme ask you something. Do you
remember that night when you were knocked out? You weren't cold and
thought you should be cold. Your eyes were swollen shut, but it wasn't
dark. You were asked whether or not you wanted to come back to your life
or go on, right? You started thinking about what a struggle it all was,
and maybe this was the way to go out, a hero, finally, after all your
daydreaming about such things. You thought about your kids and how they
needed their daddy, and then you thought about your wife. You were told if
you stayed for her, she had to come to the truth herself, and that you musn't
tell her. That's what did it for you. That's how you decided. You
stayed because she needed you."
Chloe stopped talking for a moment
and averted her eyes to look down at her shoes. His eyes were wet as his
body, heart and soul went back in time to that night, lying on the cold, hard
pavement with only his vision of her to keep him connected to a life he never
understood, but being with her was enough to forget the other questions.
"What are you, a witch or something? How do you know all this?"
He asked.
"It don't...doesn't, matter how I know it, what's important is that it's
true. You're an angel and so is your wife --"
"I beg your pardon, young lady. I don't know who you think you are
barging in here like this, with all this wild talk. Isn't it enough that
my husband saved your life by nearly getting himself killed, and us having to
leave our home and move up to this God forsaken place and -" Claire had
been listening outside the door and finally had heard enough.
"Ma'am, I know this must sound crazy, and I don't mean to upset you."
Chloe's nervousness accentuated her drawl, and now she was really frantic
they were going to ask her to leave. She took a deep breath.
"Well you are upsetting me and I want you to -- "
"No! I mean, please, wait. Please, just listen to me. Mrs.
Mason, you are both angels, and so are your kids. Y'all have something to
accomplish, but your part is done, er, I mean, finished. It seemed like
the truth was never gonna come out about that night, and it needed to in order
for y'all to move along. When we free the truth, it frees us. Until
then, our hearts are just prisoners of the ego, and the ego is a tyrant."
She spoke to them as if this sort of conversation were commonplace.
"Move along to where!?" Claire was acting offended, but deep
down she knew everything this girl was saying was true. The part about
leaving had her stumped, though.
Chloe looked a bit puzzled, as if not knowing about being an angel was one
thing, but the bus might be pulling up any second, and they weren't even packed.
"Well, I don't know that part. Go on down to Sedona or somewhere,
like I was telling your husband. It's warm, and that's where a lot of
angels are retiring these days." As though she got this tip from the
latest issue of a travel magazine.
"I can tell by the looks on your faces that you think I'm nuts, and that's
awright. I been thought a lot of things in my life, and it don't bother me
anymore. I know what I know. Your children, well, your daughters,
anyway, I keep seeing them come here in their sleep, so they aren't listening to
their guides. It's time for them to be here. Thanks to Mr. Mason
here, I let this gift I have come back into my life, and it has turned it around.
My daddy told me when I was a little girl that I had the gift of seeing
inside folks. Called me his little angel."
The two people
in front of her were so baffled she may as well be telling them they'd turn into
purple penguins at midnight.
"You remember that night, Mrs. Mason, don't you? Do you remember what
you thought while you had to sit on your hands to keep from rushing to find
him?" Claire remembered it like it was yesterday, and the memory of
it sent shivers down her spine. Don't let anything happen to him. Don't
let anything happen to him. If he dies, I'll kill him. He was her
entire universe. The sun rose and set with him, and she would die without
him. He didn't know this, of course; that would ruin the mystery. But
that night she was worried out of her mind, and it took everything to keep from
going out to look for him. She knew he was in trouble. But the kids
were sick, it was raining, and the car had acted funny that afternoon when they
went to the market. After the phone call, she didn't know who she was more
mad at, him for being in the wrong place or herself for not trusting her
intuition.
"Mr. Mason, you deserve to have the record set straight. You were a
hero that night. Maybe only to a sorry ol' hooker, but it had to happen so
that everything else could happen. Isn't it a great system?"
She could see they weren't as convinced, but they would be. Her job was just
to hold the light. The three of them were silent for several moments, then
Garrett said, "So, I got beat up because you needed a ride to Bakersfield
to turn your life around, and now we're supposed to leave so my kids can get
their halos?" Garrett chuckled and shook his head, glad for it to be
over. Chloe laughed tensely and said, "Something like that,
yeah."
Claire was still resisting. "Well, I think this is a load of crap.
You expect me to believe that my husband saved your life so you could get
off the street, marry and have kids. I find it hard to believe that if the
system, as you call it, is so great, it couldn't have found an easier
way."
Chloe shook her head, smiling, "I don't disagree with you, ma'am.
But I don't make the news. I just report it. Look, I best be
going now. Seems I've done enough for one day. We're staying at the
place out on the highway for a couple more days." She looked
sincerely at Garrett and said, "I'm glad I got a chance to meet you and
thank you." He returned her look and saw those same brown eyes asking
once again for mercy.
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