Redemption

Later, wrapping the nightstand in a blanket, they carefully tied it to the sled. Although the night was cold, the little alien kept them warm through creating an envelope of heat. As everyone had opted to come along, the trip bore a festive feel.

“We will bring the table to the school tomorrow,” Grandpa decided as they walked, “I would like to leave the sled there while I check into wood prices. I could then pick it up afterward.”

“In fact, you could get it when the class starts out to your house,” the teacher offered brightly, “That way; I am hoping that you will help me safeguard them. After all, I do not trust Mr. Greesome and his ‘Friends.’”

Upon their reaching the small, well-tended house where Miss Thatcher lived, Click floated the nightstand into her bedroom. Then at the teacher’s request, she carefully moved the older nightstand that had sat next to the bed into a backroom. As the alien did, the beautiful blond took a concerned look in regards to the broken drawer on its face.

“I have been meaning to have the poor old thing repaired, as it belonged to my grandmother,” she explained, “But the carpenters in town want so much to do the work that I have to save for it.”

“I can make a new piece for it,” Click assured her, “And, as you are my friend, I would do so for free.”

“But I could not ask you to do that!” The schoolmarm denied, in a slightly alarmed voice.

“But, you did not have to ask, as it is my gift to you,” the image dismissed gently. Then, sweeping a hand towards the old piece, she explained, “That is important to you, as it belonged to a loved family member. You are my friend, as you have been such a magnificent influence on David and Cathy. As well, in his immense heart, David loves you and loves having you for a teacher. If he loves you, then I love you. As I have told the children, if you love someone, you will try to hold as important that which they hold important. So, repairing it is as important to me as it is to you.” In response, all that the bespectacled blond do is to stare in awe-struck disbelief.

“Don’t fight it, Honey,” Grandma advised frankly, “Just accept the fact that she is an angel-even though, she denies it.”

“I’m not,” Click replied frankly, and then smiling at Mary, she added, “But I appreciate your thinking so kindly of me.”

“The Lord only knows what sort of Christmas we are going to have with this one about,” Dale told Grandpa.

“You said it,” William agreed. Then, taking on a puzzled look, he wondered, “By the way, what sort of gift can we give you, Click? Wood? Metal?”

“Books,” Davey offered thoughtfully.

“A dictionary?” The illusion mused in playful menacing.

“No!” Grandpa denied in mock alarm, “No! I will not allow that!” Pausing to look around at the laughing remainder, he declared, “I’ll go loopy-I will! I’ll wind up burrowing a hole underneath the barn and living there! Then, Mary will have to feed me oatmeal through a funnel! I’ll sit there all day, talking to rocks and using tweezers to pull out what hair I have left!”

After allowing the resulting laughter to fade, the blond looked over at the image, “We have a dictionary at the school.”

“Oh? Do tell!” Click replied brightly.

“As well as a set of encyclopedias.”

“Oh!” The alien approved happily as she turned to smile at The old man.

Heaving a defeated sigh, William shook his head, “Do you see, Dale? These women-folk have formed one of them there conspiracies against us!”

“Yeah,” the old sailor agreed ruefully, “But, what can we do about it?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I am going to pick my spot under the barn and buy Mary a funnel!”

That night, after he had gotten ready to go to sleep, Click’s image sat on the edge of the bed, quietly thinking. Curious, the boy wondered what she was thinking about. In response, his mind was filled with the memory of the time that his dad and uncle had taken apart a sausage grinder to unclog it. In such, his attention was drawn to the exact manner in which they had disassembled the machine.

“Why are you thinking about that?” He asked the image.

“Because I am establishing a base knowledge of machines: how they work and-more importantly,-how they are assembled.” Pausing, she reminded, “I have to completely understand these things, if I am not only going to help Grandpa and Dale with the furniture factory, but also Grandma, Ma and Thelma with the clothing factory.”

“So . . .” the boy predicted thoughtfully, “A trip to the library may be in order soon?”

“Yes,” the image affirmed through a smile, “Which, I am hoping that, one day you can have a library of your own.”

“Why?”

“To read, of course!”

“But, why? I mean if you read-”

“But, I do not want you to depend upon me,” she countered gently, “Remember our talk about how the day may come when I am not around?”

“I don’t like to think about such a thing,” The boy refused tersely.

“Neither do I. But, only God knows the future,” she persisted, “Which, even if I am with you the rest of your days, I want you to be all that you can be without my help.” Pausing, the image looked at him frankly, “You are not just my host,” she explained, “You are my best friend. So, I do not want you to go through life thinking, ‘Click did this for me,’ or ‘Click did that for me.’ Rather, I would want you to be capable of doing things on your own. Also, I would want you to know what it means achieve things on your own.”

“That’s fine,” the boy accepted pointedly, “I just never want to be without you.” Hearing this, the entity laughed slightly.

“Oh! Believe me, there will be times in the future when we will both agree that I need not be present!”

“I can’t think of any,” the boy dismissed challengingly.

“I can. For one: when you get married. There will be times when you might say ‘Click, I would like to be alone with my wife’-which would be perfectly understandable.” Pausing, the boy considered his solution to this dilemma. Yet, as he could not bring himself to formulate the words, she shook her head gently.

“Yes, David, our being married would be nice. But, we have to be honest and admit that that may not be possible.”

“Why not? We love each other,” the boy insisted.

“Yes, but there is an aspect of marriage that involves a different kind of love,” she explained gently, “Which, I don’t see any conceivable way that you and I could enjoy it.”

“What ‘different kind of love?’” The boy asked uncertainly.

“A kind that you do not need to concern yourself with right now,” the image denied gently, “When the time comes someone will explain it to you.”

The next morning, everybody woke up extra-early and Grandma made her special blueberry pancakes. Afterwards, Grandpa carefully loaded the table on the sled, then he, David and Click set out. With their drawing close to the Planchet house, Dale and Cathy came out to join them.

Although not as cold as the preceding days, the air was chilly that morning, so Click established a bubble of warmth about them. Thus, warm and happy, the five of them made their way into town. As they walked, the two men talked about their visits to the cold waters of the north as sailors. Once they reached the warehouse, Dale parted ways. Furthering on to the school the three waited for Miss Thatcher, who arrived fifteen minutes later. Carefully setting the table of honor at the front of the class, William dragged the sled to the rear of the school and headed off for the lumberyard. While they were waiting, David helped the schoolmarm light the small stove in the rear of the classroom and Cathy sat telling Click about how her grandmother loved the jewelry box.

“But now,” the child explained happily, “She is no longer afraid of you. She thinks that you are as wonderful as I do!”

“Thank you,” the image replied. It had no more than said this, when it vanished. “Trouble!” The alien’s voice warned in David’s head as the floating ball zipped over to wrap itself around his left wrist. A split second later, the buildings door opened and a crowd began filing in. To the three’s surprise, these were not students. Rather, they were all serious faced adults.

“Uncle Steven!” The blond demanded in a gasp, “What is all of this?”

“There have been some complaints,” the Sheriff explained uneasily as he removed his hat to expose his snowy blond hair. Even as he said this, Fall saw the sneering older Greesome in the crowd.

“Alright,” a hard-faced man said to the gloating union leader, “I see the teacher. Now, where’s this other skirt that you were talking about?”

“I don’t know,” the fat bully shrugged, “I didn’t see her when I first arrived yesterday, either.”

“Alright-alright!” A short, balding fellow announced, “Let’s take a seat and we will get this underway.”

“You heard the man,” the sheriff added, “Take a seat.” With that, the crowd moved to take a seat, as the short fellow walked up and plopped down in the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. Helpless to this, the blond looked around the room.

“Gentlemen, what is the meaning of this?” She began, her voice bearing open suspicion.

“We’ll ask the questions here, Miss Thatcher,” a black-haired fellow said as he sank into a seat in the front row. As he watched this, the young boy noticed that the man who had taken the desk in front of his had turned and was looking at him.

“Are you David?” The man asked with his looking.

“Yes.”

“Here’s the Fall kid,” the man announced. With that, the men turned to look at the boy. In doing so, one fellow pointed at his arm.

“That’s probably what the kids were talking about,” he decided aloud.

“Gentlemen, please,” the beautiful schoolmarm protested, “I have to start class soon.”

“No you don’t,” the balding fellow at her desk denied.

“And just why not?” Mabel demanded, her voice betraying indignation.

“Because, we may have to shut this school down.”

“No they won’t,” Click dismissed in David’s mind.

“Shut-But why?” The blond demanded.

“We will ask the questions here!” The balding fellow snapped curtly. At this, the sheriff stepped forward from the left side of the room.

“Mr. Mayor,” he said in an edged voice, “I agreed to allow this meeting on the grounds that it is civil! Now, I am going to remind you, Sir, that she is an employee of the county school board. Take that tone with her one more time and I will declare this function over and arrest you for disturbing the peace!” At this, the smaller fellow took on a stunned look.

“Family protects family-Right Sheriff?” Greesome mused from his seat. This led the lawman’s icy blue eyes to be shifted his way.

“Keep talking,” Steve replied in a pointed tone, “Because I have got some questions for you after this is over.”

“Just remember that there is going to be an election soon,” a fellow near the fat union boss countered.

“And you just remember that threatening an officer of the law can get you a week’s stay in the can at the very least,” the sheriff countered, shooting the fellow a challenging look.

“Alright-alright!” The dark-haired, heavily tanned man in the front row dismissed as he climbed from his seat, “This bickering is getting us nowhere.”

“I quite agree,” Thatcher applauded.

“Alright. We’ll get under way,” the mayor decided. Turning to the teacher, he explained, “Miss Thatcher, as you know I am Michael Bell, mayor of Piedmont Bluff. Present with us are members of the city council, as well as Sheriff Atkins and several deputies.”

“Like always, you overlook the labor movement!” One of the rough-dressed men in the back shouted.

“Oh yes,” the mayor added, “As well as the representation of several labor unions.”

“Who had better pipe down and maintain order in this hearing,” The cold-eyed lawman warned, glaring back at the union representative.

“Now, the reason for this inquiry is that we have had several complaints lodged yesterday evening by both concerned parents as well as Mr. Edward Greesome; who, as you know, is present.” Pausing, he folded his thin hands before him, “Which, I must sincerely apologize for my addressing you so earlier. I can only say that I was swept away by the hysteria that pervaded much of the walk over here.”

“Please, do not mention it,” The pretty blond dismissed graciously.

“Thank you,” the balding fellow nodded, “So, in addition to that, I would like to explain that this is an informal hearing. No one is going to lose their jobs at this point, nor is there to be any legal action taken-.”

“Says you!” A coarsely dressed, bearded man shouted from the back room, “We want that witch arrested!”

“Paul!” The sheriff said, pointing at the bearded protester, “Eject that gentleman.” As the deputy was closing in to give the bearded miscreant the “Shirt-collar-shuffle” out the door, the sheriff looked around. “As I told you on the way over, guys: don’t push me!” With his turning to look back to the front of the room, the mayor continued.

“So, as I was saying, at this point, we are conducting an informal inquiry into a couple of alleged events that have been said to have occurred here. Now, I am going to take the overseeing role in this, with City Council President Sedgwick performing the inquiries. Do you have any questions about this?”

“No.”

“Very well. Mr. Sedgwick?”

“Miss Thatcher,” the fellow explained, “I am George Sedgwick, President of the city council. Now, the foremost point of concern to all of this is that this fellow, Mr. Greesome, has alleged that you threatened him and his son.”

“Just like the working man always gets dumped on in this capitalist rat-race!” A fat, bald man roared from the back of the room. At this, the sheriff stepped forward.

“One more time and you are out of here!” He snapped.

“See? He is just-!”

“Greesome! Shut up!” Sedgwick snapped. With the fat bully’s stunned compliance, he looked back at the beautiful blond. “Would you care to tell us what you know to have happened here?” Heaving a sigh, she began.

“Ricky Greesome has been a disruptive element in this school since I took control of it, last year-.”

“That’s a lie!” The slovenly union boss roared.

“Greesome!” The mayor screeched, rising to his feet, “I am telling you! Shut up!” With the fat man’s returning to silence, he heaved a sigh and looked at her, “Continue, please.”

“Well, he has committed numerous infractions-.”

“Can you site any in specific?” Sedgwick pressed.

“Well, for start, he is an insufferable bully-.”

“He isn’t here to defend himself!” Another fellow protested from the back of the room.

“No,” the sheriff replied coldly, “But I have taken the testimony of several students who say the same thing.” Turning his icy gaze to the front of the room, he reminded “I have already provided those to you, Mayor Bell.” In response, the balding man silently nodded.

“Can you recall anything more serious?” Sedgwick asked. In response, Mabel recalled her catching the boy attempting to steal money from her purse, as well as the massive, rabid dog and how Greesome had pushed Cathy down.

“You have no proof of any of that! My son-!”

“Again!” Sheriff Atkins snapped, stepping forward threateningly, “I have sworn testimony!”

“So, in the case of the dog, you firmly believe that he was of the clear intent to endanger Miss Planchet’s life?”

“I hold no doubt.”

“She has a gun,” Greesome suddenly accused, “If you look at the pocket of her dress, you can see the bulge!”

“I told her to keep it with her, with the full blessing of the county commission,” Steve dismissed.

“So, you are comfortable with a teacher teaching classes armed to the teeth?” A roughly dressed fellow demanded from the rear of the room.

“You walked out here with us,” Sedgwick turned and challenged, “You saw the area that the school is in. Are you saying that you would rather the children come here with no form of protection-given the fact that there has been a recent outbreak of Rabies among local dogs?”

“Besides,” Atkins scoffed in counter, “I would hardly call six shots of thirty-two caliber ‘Armed to the teeth!’”

“So, okay,” the tanned fellow allowed, “Let’s move forward to yesterday. What happened?” At this, the schoolmarm recalled that she had suspended the boy due to his verbal cruelty.

“And this was directed towards this child, um, Miss Planchet?” The mayor stipulated.

“Yes.”

“Oh! Come on!” The fat bully protested, leaping to his feet, “Her whole family is white-trash!”

“That’s one!” Click’s voice announced angrily in David’s mind.

“Mr. Greesome!” Sedgwick snapped in stunned shock.

“They are a bunch of hobos that live over on Slaughter Run Road, for crying out loud!”

“That’s two!” The entity snapped, her voice growing scary in its anger.

“That child happens to be sitting right there!” Miss Thatcher bellowed, her blue eyes ablaze with anger as she pointed at Cathy. At this, a pin’s drop could be heard.

“Greesome, I am going to give you three seconds to apologize to Miss Planchet!” Atkins declared in a cold rage, “If you do not, I am going to take off this badge and proceed to beat you to death right here and now!”

“And I will swear to its being justifiable homicide,” Mayor Bell agreed in an icy voice of his own. Hearing this, the union thug looked around sheepishly.

“I am sorry for saying those things,” he grumbled before slumping to his seat. For a moment in the wake of this, there was a stunned silence. During this time, David turned to pat Cathy on her small back, as she had begun to silently cry.

“Well, as far as I am concerned, this is all window dressing,” the fellow next to Fall said indifferently, “After all, none of this has anything to do with the mysterious woman that was seen here yesterday, or this supposed alien.”

“We are getting to that,” Sedgwick promised, “But, for now, let’s hear what happened.” Turning to the teacher, he clarified, “So-like his ignoramus of a father-the boy was insulting to Miss Planchet.

“Entirely,” the pretty blond affirmed, dabbing at her own eyes.

“Okay and you expelled him-.”

“I suspended him pending a talk with his father.”

“Oh! Okay,” the tanned fellow accepted, then in an afterthought, he scoffed, “Which, given what we have seen here today, such a talk would probably be a wasted effort. So, anyway, you suspended him.”

“I did.”

“Witch!” Somebody in the back accused in a hiss.

“Sheriff,” the mayor decided in a frank voice, “The next person to call someone a derogatory name is to be arrested for interfering with the official conducting of city business. Am I clear?”

“Implicitly, Mr. Mayor.”

“So, could you tell us your recollections of Mr. Greesome’s actions yesterday?” At this, the blond beauty recalled the day prior. When she quoted the fat bully’s threatening the children, the room exploded with angry protests.

“That’s a lie!” The bald, fat man in the rooms’ rear screamed.

“Gree did not say that!”

“Come to order!” The mayor screamed, leaping to his feet.

“She is making that up!” An unshaven fellow in a green coat snarled, “Gree would never threaten a child!”

“She’s lying to save her job!” Another angry fellow roared.

“Come to order this instant!” Suddenly angered by their calling his teacher a liar, David leapt to his feet.

“He did threaten us!” The boy shrieked, “I heard him!” Suddenly, the room fell silent once more.

“And, who are you?” Sedgwick asked.

“He’s the Fall boy,” someone replied.

“My name is David Fall.”

“Oh!” The tanned fellow realized, “The one with the special friend.”

“The friend who tried to kill me,” Greesome agreed.

“Well, um, could you call your friend up?” The mayor asked, trying to sound serious while obviously holding uncertainty of what he was requesting.

“Before we get too deep in the weeds with that, Mr. Mayor,” Steve interrupted, “I would like to make it known to Mr. Greesome that I intend to interview the children present yesterday. And, that if I find any testimony to corroborate Mabel’s words, I will be seeking a warrant for his arrest for attempted intimidation.”

“Not if we get to them first,” a voice scoffed from the room’s rear.

“Three!” Click’s angry voice snapped in his mind.

“Really friend?” Sheriff Atkins demanded incredulously, “Right in front of me?” Heaving a sigh, he shook his head, “Deputy Myers!”

“Yes, Sheriff?” A deep voice replied.

“Arrest that fellow in the green coat for attempted witness intimidation. List my name as the plaintive.”

“Mine as well,” Mayor Bell agreed.

“Mine too,” Counsel President Sedgwick added.

“Mine as well,” a familiar female voice from to the right side of the room. When everyone turned, the beautiful image of Click was standing by the wall.

“That’s her!” Greesome squealed in sudden terror, “That’s the witch!”

“And, who exactly are you?” Sedgwick asked, staring at her in disbelief.

“Hold that thought,” she replied, holding up a finger. Looking at the fat bully, she smiled, “You think that I am a witch? Well, let’s try some magic!” With that, the halting finger turned to point at Greesome, who sharply rose-desk and all-into the air, slamming his head on the room’s ceiling. By the time that he had repeated this twice, many in the room’s rear had fled. “That’s for saying those awful things about Cathy,” she purred coldly as the half-conscious fellow was lowered back into place. Once he was settled, she looked over at Atkins.

“Thank you for arresting that fellow, Sheriff,” she declared frankly, “As I told this lout yesterday, anyone who threatens my friends faces grave peril.”

“Who . . .?” Steve asked, his icy eyes now wide with disbelief.

“I should think that that would be obvious,” she replied as she walked forward, completely ignoring the desks that she walked through, “I am the mystery woman-the alien.” Pausing to gently smile down at Cathy, she added, “My name is Click.”

“Click?” The mayor echoed, his voice raised a pitch or two by disbelief.

“Yes. At least, that is as close as you humans are capable of coming to the actual sound,” she explained as she started toward the front of the room once more, “And, if I may, I was a witness to much of the trouble that has happened around here.”

“Trouble?” The man echoed, “What . . . Oh! You mean-.”

“Precisely. The trouble caused by this buffoon and his brat son.”

“Who . . . Where did you come from?” Atkins asked, fighting to comprehend what he was seeing.

“I have been here the whole time,” she replied, “It is just that you did not see me.”

“Why didn’t we see you?” Sedgwick demanded thickly.

“Because I chose not to cast this illusion.”

“Wait,” Atkins pleaded uncertainly, “You cast illusions?”

“Yes,” the alien explained as she lifted off David’s wrist, “the woman that you see is an illusion. It is not me. The metallic ball floating next to her is.”

“What?” Bell gasped, completely perplexed.

“The woman you see is not really who is talking to you,” Mabel explained, “The ball is.”

“You . . . You are aware of this?” Atkins demanded uncertainly, turning to stare at his niece in disbelief.

“Yes!”

“Gentlemen,” Click decided, “I am of the mind that you should take a few minutes to collect yourselves. After all, I perfectly understand that my sudden appearance was a complete shock to you.” This, at first, was met by silence, as the men were distractedly staring at the gleaming ball.

“She is saying that you should take a break and calm down!” Mabel explained in an exasperated voice. Even as she did, David felt a slight alarm come over him.

“Don’t do it!” The image warned suddenly over her shoulder, “You will be sorry!” Looking around, he saw a roughly dressed fellow in the front row, rising from his seat, a predatory glint in his eyes as he cautiously crept his hand toward the hovering sphere. “I’m warning you!” Suddenly, the fellow snatched the orb from the air.

“Got you!” The hard-faced man crowed as he clamped his hands together, holding the alien.

“One,” Click said, her voice holding a warning tone, although softly calm.

“Get it out of here!” Someone in the back shouted.

“Kill it!” Another voice added.

“Let her go!” Cathy shrieked, coming out of her chair.

“Two.”

“I’ve got to find something to put it in,” the fellow decided, his hands still clamped around the small entity.

“There’s a mason jar outside!” Someone offered as the fellow turned and started towards the exit at a run.

“Three.” With that, a high pitch whine rose into the air, quickly added to by the man’s sudden screaming. A red cloud filled the air around his hands, as he jerked his blood spewing hands apart and dropped to his knees. At this, there was a second explosion of movement as more men started towards the exit. In the middle of it all, the small orb drifted calmly back towards the front of the classroom, as if defying another such attack.

“Listen to me! I have had enough!” The illusion shrieked. At this, a panicked silence fell over the room, broken only by the grabby man’s painful sobs. “Now, either we can be calm and rational about this, or I can see to it that the only ones who walk out of here alive are my friends and I!” Hearing this, Fall felt a pang of fear shoot through him. This lasted a second before a clam reassurance swept over him.

“My God!” Someone gasped, “Look at his hands!”

“’At’s what it did to Ricky,” the half-conscious Greesome recalled from his seat.

“His hands will need medical attention,” Click affirmed in a slight growl, “In that, take a warning: the next one who grabs me will lose his hands-if not his life!”

“Sheriff! Can’t you do something?” Bell demanded uncertainly.

“What do you want me to do about it?” The blond lawman asked in protesting disbelief.

“Shoot it-or . . . Or something!” In response, the cold eyes regarded the image uncertainly. As he did, the illusion snickered at him.

“I’ll tell you what,” Steve countered, “Why don’t I give you my gun and you can shoot it? Because, I ain’t going to mess with it!”

“The sheriff is right,” the image affirmed as the small alien came to hover over David’s right shoulder, “Even if I did allow his bullet to hit me, it would do little more than annoy me further.”

“So . . . W-W-Wha-what do you want?” The mayor stammered the image nearing lapsing into shock.

“What I want is to put this matter to rest,” the image explained frankly, “But, in order to do that, I need for you men to calm down. Further hysteria will get us nowhere at this point.”

“I think that she’s right,” Steve agreed, eying the small ball floating by the boy’s head, “Let’s all take a break and come back in fifteen minutes.”

“Charlie is going to need medical attention,” someone at the rear of the room added.

“Yeah, and probably Greesome as well,” the sheriff agreed.

“Very . . . Well,” Bell decided, “We’ll take five-.”

“Fifteen,” the lawman corrected.

“Fifteen! We’ll take fifteen minutes a-a-and then come back to . . . Wrap the matter up.”

“No smoking in the building!” The teacher warned upon noticing men pulling out pipes and cigarettes.

“If you are going to smoke, come outside,” Atkins agreed as he started towards the door.

“Come on,” Sedgwick said to the mayor.

“I don’t smoke,” the balding fellow dismissed.

“Neither do I, but I’m going to in this instance!”