Page 56 of SEAL'S Baby Surprise
Ark adds a little pressure to his hold, not breaking the skin, just like a warning. The guy stops talking.
“That’s right,” I say. “Opening the camera will ruin the film. Sorry about that.” I frisk him, find the tape recorder, and pop the cartridge out of it, too.
“No one here has given permission for an interview. If you’d gone to the office and asked, this might have gone differently. The other side of that road up there is public property. I’m going to ask my dog to let you go. I’d strongly suggest you get to hiking in that direction and don’t come back!” I look at Ark. “Release!” I say.
Ark let’s go, and the man scrambles up and legs it on out of there. He isn’t running, but he doesn’t let any grass grow under his feet, either. Ark takes it on himself to escort the man to the road, then stops at its edge snarling after him.
With the intruder disposed of, I turn back to Lee. I use water from my bottle and sluice off the worse of the gravel. “We should take you to the emergency room,” I say.
She gets that look in her eyes. “No! No doctors, no hospitals. I need to be nobody.”
“All right,” I say. “But let’s get you home where you can shower and lie down.”
“I’d like that,” she says, trying to smile. It’s a pitiful attempt because the right side of her face is starting to swell. I’m really wishing for some x-rays and a real doctor’s exam, but she’s an adult, and she has not given consent.
So I hide her bike in the bushes, tuck her into my sidecar, and then Julia and I slowly pedal back.
When we get to the van, Lee insists that she doesn’t need help with the shower. I make Julia a snack, keeping one eye on the door of the van.
“Can I use my read-to-me book?” Julia asks.
I’d gotten Julia a Leap Reader for her birthday. The reader has easy stories with sight words and digital pronunciation for words if the child is reading the book. Or it can be used as an audio book reader. Julia has a library of twenty-five books now, six of which she can read mostly by herself.
“Sure,” I say, hearing the shower shut off. I pick up a fluffy towel from the linen cupboard and meet Lee in the hallway. I can hear Julia outside, reading her book out loud to herself.
It could have been worse. She has a nasty road rash on her right side, and the bruising on the right side of her face looks ugly. But she can move her jaw, nothing seemed to be broken, and neither of her eyes have gotten damaged.
I get a bottle of Skin Repair from the kitchen first aid cabinet and spray all the raw places. “Would you like something to drink or eat?” I ask.
“Drink,” she says, “and maybe some crackers to go with some pain pills. Then I’d like to lie down. I don’t think I can stand to get dressed.”
I can certainly see why. Even a loose t-shirt is going to rub. “You can go lie down on my bed,” I say. “I’ll draw the curtain.”
I get her some Tylenol and a big bottle of water, along with a sleeve of saltine crackers. She takes the Tylenol, chasing it withwater, then nibbles two crackers, leaning against the wall in the hallway.
Then she hangs onto me and eases down to lie on her left side. I give her scrapes another spritz with the pain-relieving gel, turn on some soft music I know she likes, and pull the curtain.
“Wanna go hide in your loft?” I ask Julia. “I’ll put the air conditioner on high.”
“Sure,” she says. “Want me to check on Lee?”
“Only if she hollers,” I say. “I’m going to leave Ark on guard duty and go get Lee’s bike. I shouldn’t be gone long.”
“Okay,” she says, like it’s the most natural thing in the world to be left in charge of a grown woman. Given her history, maybe it is.
“I’ll make it quick,” I say.
“Be careful, Daddy,” Julia says. “Come back safe.”
“I will,” I say.
As I walk back toward the bike trail, I see Pops McKinney out in his lawn chair. I stop to talk with him a minute. “Howdy,” I say.
“Howdy,” Pops says back. “You kids okay?”
I shake my head. “I had to run some sort of reporter feller off just a bit ago. You know anything about that?”
“Might could be,” he says. “Ark run someone off early this morning, an’ I thought I heard somebody out by the trash cans. But ya know, that big mama raccoon is hangin’ around with her babies again. Darned tourists think they’re cute an’ keep feedin’ ‘em.”
