Hope from the Ocean: 63

"Timothy, it's almost dawn.  Ya got me out of slumber," Jimmy said.

"I can't help it.  I have to pick your brain, Paddy."

"I can't say it's even awake yet."

"Can ya try?"

"Only because it's ya."  Timothy walked into Jimmy's flat and sat down at the table in the small, modest kitchen.  Jimmy stumbled into the nook as well, and sat across from Timothy.  "What is ailing ya?"

"Aiden.  What can you tell me about him?"

"O'Farrell?  He's just a lad, like the others, interested in serving the Men of 21 and their heads on silver platters."

"Aiden O'Farrell?  Is that his given name?"

"I don't know," he yawned.

"Who would know?"

"What?"

"Who would know more about Aiden?"

"I don't know, Timothy.  Calm ya'self.  I can think on this.  Perhaps Colin.  He's been around for many years."

"Can ya call him, get him over here?"

"Now?"

"Ya know as well as I do, these men are on call all night."

"For emergencies, Matey."  Jimmy waited and Timothy said nothing.  "Ah, this is an emergency, at least to you at this point.  Tell me what this is about?"

"Aiden has gone, with my son, to return to the place he grew up.  I . . . just need more information.  Something about him . . . "

"All right, I'll call Colin.  Ya mustn't worry y'arself over it.  I am certain Aiden's a good man."

***

"Todd, would we be able to take the copter, or shall we go this a different way?"  Aiden asked, over his plate.  He was eating the traditional Irish breakfast he'd talked about often.

"I don't know.  Where would I land the copter?"  Todd's coffee was steaming and fresh.

"In the field, at the base of the hills.  We may scare the sheep away."

"Hmf.  Sounds . . . familiar.  Ireland is just one big, green place."

"There's not much variety here, Pal.  Most of the countryside appears the same."

"You think I can land it there without any damage?"

"Pretty sure."

"Then why not?  We can fly over, if you want to.  I'm having trouble believing you're asking, though."

Aiden laughed, "Yes, I've gotten used to it already, and it did not take long.  So quick and painless a way of traveling.  Once I got over the heights, I understood the freedom of being a bird, so to speak."

"I've converted you."

"Perhaps."  He ate, heartily.  Todd watched, and drank his coffee, slowly picking at a sweet roll.  After a few bites, Aiden said, "Are ya all right leaving Blair and Tina here?"

"Yeah, I'm all right with it."  He had to be.  He'd had a strange feeling in his gut about Aiden all morning, and in his mind, though he would not tell Blair, he felt it was better to assure some distance between the enigmatic Irishman and his woman, as well as his sister.  He wasn't sure what it was, but he wanted Aiden away from his wife and unborn baby, at least until this something else festering in his memory was jogged.

"Good.  So, when do we go?"  Aiden prompted.

"When you finish shoveling half of Ireland into your gut."

"Ah, then I suppose I am ready."  He pushed back his chair from the table.  "Ready and willing, Mate."

"All right, let's go."  Todd said, having left Blair close to sobs earlier, she and Tina had opted to rest more, as the two men went to breakfast to ready for the journey.  Promising her his speedy and safe return, he had kissed her lips and tasted the saltiness of tears.  

As they walked the street back to the helipad, he thought, the whole way, of her:  her hair and how it smelled; her face, in the throes of passion with him; the roundness of her middle, that contained their child; his own voice, calling to her as he was shot in the back and left for dead, years back.  He shook the last image from his mind, and led the way to the helicopter to bring Aiden to his home.  

Aiden hopped up into the passenger seat.  "I am going to be the co-pilot today," he said, playfully.  To Todd, he seemed like an innocent child, embarking on an adventure.

"There's really not a co-pilot in these.  Just a passenger seat.  You sure you want to be in the front?"

"Certain.  I'm going to lick this heights fear today, if it kills me."

Todd turned his attention forward, and began the engine.  "Where to?"

"Ya have to go over the cliffs, yonder," he pointed.  "Along the ocean, there's a small village of fishermen, and beyond it, is my childhood home."

Todd squinted for a moment, puzzled.  "A village of fishermen?"

"Ay.  That's the way of life.  Fresh fish, hope from the ocean."

Hope from the ocean.

Why was that repeating in his mind?

***

It was quite a while before Colin stumbled in, looking scruffy and morning-worn.  He sat at the table with the two older men, and said, "Hope there's a good reason for all this."

"There is."  Timothy said.

"Well, spill it.  I lost some good sleep this morning, and I do want to help, as long as it's worth my time."  Colin said, taking the cup of coffee from Jimmy.

"What can ya tell me about Aiden?"

Swallowing his first gulp of coffee, Colin said, "A good man, committed.  Came from a hard past, he did."

"Hard past.  As in?"

"Childhood.  Was taken in by a family, locals.  The O'Farrells.  A fine couple, never had children.  He was raised by them, since he was a boy."

For a reason he was not sure he could understand, the hair on the back of Timothy's neck stood up.  He said, "Took him in?"

"Yes.  Seems he was the victim of violence, at a very young age.  I believe he may have been five or six.  He's never been sure.  Much of it is wiped away."

"Five or six?" Timothy asked.  His mouth was dry.

"Yes.  Poor thing.  He became involved in the RA21 as a young adult.  He may have just been twenty or even nineteen.  Whatever it was, he came to us motivated and anxious to have a part in it."

Jimmy said, "I remember that.  To to say the boy was enthusiastic is weak at best.  He was very interested, from day one.  Over time, he became a leader."

"That's true.  He was a go-getter, that one.  Against The Men of 21.  He believed they had ruined his life."

Timothy felt as if his ears were ringing, and his face must have shown something noticeable, because Jimmy said, "Timothy, Mate, are ya all right?"

"I'm . . . yes, I'm fine.  Colin, how did Aiden believe the Men of 21 ruined his life?"

"What they did.  Reported to him by others as he investigated it among the men.  He believes The Men of 21 murdered his mother."

***

"There, there are the cliffs, Man."  Aiden said.  Todd swallowed.  Never having seen the cliff that he was tossed off in the trunk of a car in 1995, he couldn't be sure, but all the same, the idea sent cold up his back.  Aiden noticed.  "You look sick, Matey."

"I'm all right.  Just that, well,  I was thrown over a cliff, in a car trunk.  Into the ocean."

"Ah, so that might be the cliff, but ya must know, there are hundreds of cliffs along Innishcreg."

"I suppose there are, huh?"

"Yes.  They did that to ya, those scoundrels?"

Todd looked at Aiden briefly.  It wasn't really doubt that he was experiencing about the man.  It was something else, haunting, that drew him to have this gnawing feeling in the depths of his soul.  "Yeah.  They did.  Shot me in the back, threw me in a car trunk.  Tossed the car off the cliff. Let me die.  But they were wrong."

"Ah, they tend to underestimate people, they do.  The Men of 21."  Aiden sighed.  "They're gone, but what they have done . . . it's eternal."

Todd gulped.  Clearing his throat, he said, "I survived.  They weren't counting on that."

"And me.  The same."

Before Todd had a chance to ask him to qualify what he meant, Aiden perked up in his seat.  "Around there, see that little village?  Just cross those hills, and my home is on the other side."

Todd listened, taking in a small amount of the scenery; the houses and buildings were, for some reason, painted in brightly-colored reds, yellows, oranges and greens.  Boats in their slips were like white ovals against the deep indigo ocean.  In the distance were grassy, lush hills, various shades of green, spotted with clusters of off-white sheep, and a cottage here and there.  

Aiden continued, "Since almost everything in the countryside looks the same, sometimes it's hard to spot your own.  I know, however, that I can definitely find it, no matter what.  It's part of me."

A strange and faraway recognition was building in Todd's chest, having been to Ireland now on three previous occasions, and having spent time there that remained cloudy in his mind's eye, Todd swallowed it away.

"It's just over these next hills.  Not much farther," Aiden said.

Todd steered carefully above the last section of bluff, adjusting his mirror and goggles to ready for the landing.  There was such a great deal of green that the doubtful familiarity was all too puzzling to him.  Aiden was right; all of it did look the same, and though it was somewhat beautiful, he felt nauseous just looking at it.

"Let down any time, now.  I cannot wait to see them again."

"It was hard, right?  Not being able to visit?"  Todd said, setting the copter down on a rich, callow stretch of grasses.

"Now that they are safe, there'll be no more troubles for old Aman and Lily."  Aiden said.

Todd, looking over to Aiden, said, "What?"

"I said, no more troubles for old Aman and Lily.  Aman and Lily O'Farrell.  My Mam and Dad, the ones that took me in," he repeated.

Todd's heart was racing, and this gave way to a slight snickering, which broke into laughter.

"Is there something wrong, Paddy?"

"Wrong, no.  Everything's right in the world, Aiden."

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