Todd Revisited: Alive (Chapter 5)

He realized he had waited just a little too long before approaching his sister, when a small child, a little girl reminiscent of Sarah, showed up unannounced to tell Vicki that his two nieces were fighting. And of course, being the peacekeeper he remembered her to be (and yes, the older memories were getting clearer), she went off to solve the conflict. His intent was to wait for her and try again. I have a sister, her name is Vicki, she is the one I can trust above all.  If he were to believe his own inner voices, then he must speak to her first. She would know what to do, or better yet, be certain as to who he was.

The interruption of Agent Kent's cell phone that he was still carrying startled him a bit, but he reached for it brazenly, ready to give whoever was at the other end of piece of his mind, if there was any left to give. The conversation wasn't fun, at least not at first. It was when he was asked to give the code to identify himself as Agent Kent, that he found a certain vicious, biting surge.

"Identify yourself." Baker still had that matter-of-fact thing going on.

"I just did," he said, wincing.

"Code, please," and then more urgently, "Code now."

"Ok...what are you wearing?"

"Ok, where's Kent? What have you done with him? Answer me, dammit, what the hell happened to Kent?"

He paused. "I killed him. It was practice. For when I get my hands on you."

"You shouldn't have done that. Kent was one of our best."

"You're right, I should totally have just let him kill me."

"Where are you?"

"Where am I? In this sleepy little town, really nice community. I met this little kid, his name is Sam, and check it out, he's got a sister named Starr, a brother named Jack, and a mother named Blair, and wait, you're never gonna guess what his father's name is. Go 'head, guess. Go 'head! You know what, you're never gonna get it. He says his father is named, 'Todd Manning' and I'm like, no way! His father can't be Todd Manning, because I'm Todd Manning. So you tell me something. How is this guy walking around calling himself Todd Manning, and nobody has figured out he's a fake?"

"Who says he's a fake?"

"So what does that even mean?"

"I'll tell you everything you want to know, just come in."

"No, I come in, you kill me."

"You're paranoid."

"No, I'm alive, and I'm gonna stay that way. But I want answers. So I'll ask Vicki."

"Don't involve Todd Manning's family in this. If you do, I can't guarantee their safety."

"If you hurt them, what I did to Kent, I'll do to you. I promise."

For him, the call was over. He wanted to go to Vicki and talk to her, but heard and saw that she had company. Listening to her talk to him, call him her brother, was more than he could take. So he decided to learn more, and headed for The Sun offices to do some exploring.

He knew, as he made his way across town, that this was not the first time he wasn't sure who he was. At least this time, he had some idea, and was just confused. But in the past, there was a time he did not know his name, for months. He still felt the pain, sometimes, in one of his legs, only certain times, but it might ache, especially when the weather was cooler. He had gone for weeks without knowing a thing about himself. "So," he thought, "I'm way ahead of the game this time."

As he proceeded across town on foot, he ambled as if he had lived there all his life, and while passing trees and buildings and cars and people, things he had not seen or heard for 8 years, his thoughts moved to another time.

He could hear voices. "Oh Aman, what do you make of it?"

Aman, who was dripping wet from the waves against the jon boat as he made his way to the sinking car, shivered in the cold.

"We have to get you home. You'll catch your death of cold."

"Shush woman!" Aman did not seem to really disagree, but hushed her anyway. "Do you have any idea what I just been through?"

"I can't say I do, but if you don't get home and get warm, I'll never be wiser to the tale."

"I don't think it's a happy tale, this one. He's dead!"

Lilly covered her mouth in shock, making the sign of the cross with her other hand. "Lord have mercy.  Throw him back into the sea, Aman!  The poor lad is dead."

He stirred on the sand, an agonizing pain in one leg, that made the other assorted pains seem less potent. He opened his eyes abruptly.

"Aman! That's not a dead one, that lad.  Lovely greenish eyes, eh?  Look!"

Aman peered closer and the eyes had shut. "I saw it. Hmm, well, all right then, let's get him home. We'll take care of him."

Lilly put her hands on her waist, in her typical oh-no-you-don't style. "We're bringing him home? To our cottage? I swear you are touched in the head the storm, Aman."

"Lilly, help me now, woman, no time to lose. Was the Men of 21, that did this. We have to move fast."

Lilly, a brusk russet of a woman, leaned forward, and in reality, she took more of the load than Aman did. The pony cart was small, but did the trick; his arms and legs, one broken completely apart and disjointed, hung along side. The two of them hopped on; it was a wonder there was space.

"This is no good. He'll be seen!" Aman whispered.

"And so will we. We need quite a bit of luck of the clover today." She threw her hands up. "Let's just move along as fast as we can. We can take Old Higganum Road. God and Mary to us!" They started the journey. Along the way, Aman related to Lilly the events; how he came to the spot where the cliffs were, and saw the flying car move toward the ocean, the whole while hearing the banging noises from within the trunk. Aman had paddled the boat directly to where he knew the car might crash, and saw a hand, groping frantically from inside.

"I could see the person inside trying for dear life to push the trunk open, and there was no time to lose, woman. I paddled over to the car, and it was sinking fast. And the Lord was with me, because the next thing I knew, Nár laga Dia do lámh, I took my oar and pried it open." Aman was overcome for a moment. Lilly showed her concern by patting his shoulder. "I don't even know what happened next, I tried to pull him into the jon boat, fearing it would capsize. I ended up pulling him along side the boat by his sleeve. I'd lost my oar back at the car, that was just a memory. Woman, I never saw the likes of God so strong until today. I lost my hold, and he was swept onto shore by the waves. And, the current took my boat away! I thought I was swept out to sea and he was surely dead."

"What happened next, Aman? There, there, céadsearc. Tell me."

"The sea calmed and the boat coasted after him, like it had its own mind. Then we were both on shore. That was when you came up with the pony cart, to take me home. And, here we are."

"Did he speak?"

"He never spoke. I thought he'd lost the battle. But he's alive, isn't he, woman?"

"By the Grace of God," she said, "By the Grace of God."