Page 17 of Stone Blind

“I am a middle son,” he told her. “I have two older brothers and two younger sisters. My eldest brother is a minister inour local church. My other siblings are educators. Walter is the minister, Richard is a science teacher, Beatrice teaches math, and Ida, music. She is also the choir director of the church in Charleston.”

“A Southern gent,” she said. “Did you all go to the same college so on game-day weekends you sported the colors of your Alma Mater with tailgate parties near the campus?”

“Funny,” he replied. “Yes, my family all graduated from South Carolina State, and they do take part in homecoming. My parents met there and married after graduate school.”

“So, are you a science minded person as well? What did you major in at South Carolina State?”

He turned to look at her. “No, I am the Bad Apple. I went to the Naval Academy at Annapolis and I am a trained and certified electrical engineer.”

“Shut up, Big Sexy!” she said, gripping the steering wheel. “Bad ass and smart. Okay, keep surprising me.”

“When I left the Navy, I did so as a Seal Team Commander,” he told her trying not to blush.

It was the pause which made her change her approach to the conversation. A sadness simmered in the atmosphere of things he wanted to share with her but was uncertain if the space was safe to do so. Helen paused as well, processing the information he’d given her to connect the dots. Her mind went to the conversation with Gabriel the Archangel, who had fed her pieces. Slow also did the same thing. Apple was waiting to see her deductive skills.

“I bet your minister of a father took exception to that line of work,” she said as she watched his eyes. His stare drilled into her as they sat the at traffic light. Apple pointed at a coffee shop and Helen hit the turn signal, pulling in. She parked the vehicle, waiting for him to say what was next.

“You’re brighter than you look,” he said.

“I’m deadlier than I look too, so what’s your fucking point?”

“Why are you here, Helen? This is confusing the hell out of me. You have no military training. What are you planning to do with these untrained natural skills of yours,” he said, almost looking angry.

“Skills?”

“Yes, you know how to read people like members of the CIA. You have a natural affinity to knowing what to say and what to do in every situation,” he said. “Honestly, you scare the shit out of me.”

Helen didn’t miss a beat. “If I have all of that and none of it has been trained to help me do anything but survive in this life, imagine how useful I could be if there was a home for my anger.”

She used the terms Gabriel had taught her on their first official meeting. “Tell me Apple, why do you do this? Why are you making your living doing what you do? Of course, I am also wondering, what do you see in me to train?”

He turned his body in the seat. “Not all Technicians are assassins, Helen. There are people who clean up after the work we do, women who solicit information, trackers, researchers, and chemists. Your strength may not require you to pull a trigger or cause the death of another. My job is to assess where you are and hone what is already there. You have a knack for people.”

“And your knack for boys, what is that about?”

This is information she knew he didn’t want to share. This is the information that would tell her exactly who this man was in his mind and in real life. What he shared next would explain more.

“My brother Walter caught me behind the barn at fifteen kissing Willie Baines,” he told her. “I’d hoped he wouldn’t tell our father, but he did, which made life at home hell for me, hence joining the Naval Academy.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be. As a young black male, I learned about men and how they saw me as a human. The main ones, I found out, who publicly ostracized my predilection, were also the ones wanting to exploit it,” he said. “No matter where you go, there are men who will exploit the fear and uncertainty.”

“You make a safe space for the boys,” she said.

“I make a home for them to learn to be men, walk through this world as men. Choices you make behind closed doors are your private choices. I teach them basic life skills, tool usage, and how to live in the world as men. More importantly, I want them to know not all men in the world want to hurt them.”

“Admirable,” she said.

Her words were halted by the ringing of his phone. It was his Technician phone, and she knew because it looked exactly like hers. He answered, “The Bad Apple.”

His face changed incrementally as he listened to the caller. At the end of the minute and thirty seconds, and she knew because she timed it, anger entered the cab of the vehicle. He was mad, and Helen felt at odds with this version of the man.

“We have to go back, now,” he said.

She didn’t question, but got them back to the house as fast as possible. They arrived at the same white van which brought the boys. The same woman was there, but she looked frantic. Helen’s guts felt as if they were boiling. Whatever was in the van wasn't just bad. It was going to be terrible.

The vehicle barely came to a stop before Apple unfolded himself to climb out. He went to the van, hesitating to look at the frazzled woman, who was shaking her head no. Apple opened the van door, and Helen read his body language. Whatever was in that van was about to change the dynamic of the house and potentially all of their lives.

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