A Collection of Short Stories
Volume 2
by
Wes Patterson
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Wes Patterson on Smashwords
Cover art/design: Debra Cortese (debracortese.com)
A Collection of Short Stories
Volume 2
Copyright © 2010 by Wes Patterson
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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I dedicate this collection of short stories to four special people.
First, my thanks go to my mother, Margaret Patterson, and my father, Henry M. Patterson, without whom this book would not come into existence. Then, I'd like to thank my wife who shares my passion for good literature, who read the manuscript many times and always gave it to me straight. I am also indebted to Samantha Friedman for countless hours she spent putting the finishing touches on the manuscript. And finally, my sincere thanks to Debra Cortese who designed a beautiful cover for this and many others of my books. Thank you all.
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This volume of short stories follows Cal Rowland through his after-college years when he began to experiment with hypnosis, past life regression, striving to explore and understand the true meaning of life, while breading ferrets and wolves on his Florida wild animal pet ranch.
Intellectually Curious, Spiritually Aware
Cal tooled on home in his silky smooth, black Camaro, with the custom-made leather seats. He never tired of the smell of fresh leather. As he tooled along he started thinking again about all the possibilities. He knew Jack would tell just about everybody at the damn track, how he and Jack had won 80 G’s apiece on Child’s Play. And just about everybody, if they didn’t already know it, would know all about him and what he was doing, and this was, by far, his biggest hit on the track, without even adding Micholson’s bet to it. He figured that between Micholson and Gaylord, they’d tell just about everybody, and it would get around that he was a damn guru on the horses, and that he was winning huge sums, up to 80,000 at a time, by talking to the horses and the jockeys, by giving jockeys instructions and communicating with the horses to see how they were feeling and if they were ready to go or not that day. And this would spread like wildfire at the track, being as the most minor event about a gambler or a horse would spread around the track, this would certainly be everywhere. The fact of him talking to the horses and jockeys would be all over the track the next day.
Anybody who was anybody, or anybody who knew anything, would know about it, and he was hatching all types of bizarre, hilarious plans that he might try. It might even be written up in the papers or be on the radio. They had sports shows going all the time on the radio. It might be on the sports shows. He thought he might call Jack, or more likely Gaylord, and have him call it in to one of the sports shows. Then another idea hit him – heck this is a story, reporters would come and he could give interviews and he could explain how he talked to the horses. This story of the 160,000 dollar hit would be all over the place and reporters certainly might be interested in writing it up. He had never heard of this kind of thing at Calder, and he thought that when he got home, he’d give Gaylord a call. He could maybe make a farce of the whole thing and it would be a damn riot. The more he thought about it, about having Gaylord call in to some sports radio show, the more he thought it would probably lead to some interviews to some reporters, because of course, it wasn’t every day that somebody made an 160 thousand hit at the track. This sounded real good. This sounded real promising for a lot of excitement at the track and for a diversion from the 9 to 5 business-like routine that was starting to set in with him at the track.
He pulled the sweet Camaro up to the mansion and noticed there were a number of other cars there. Mostly Beetle type foreign brands, more of Charlotte’s and Astrid’s friends, he thought. More of those activists. Who knew what group or groups were in the house now. Luckily, he had a room all to himself where he could retreat and do whatever he wanted to. In the living room, he found Charlotte and Astrid and a number of young black people with signs reading ‘Black Panthers’ and other signs of black empowerment. Charlotte ran to him in order to intercept him before he got to his room.
“Hi, Cal,” she said, “how was your day? We’re entertaining some real important visitors. This is the black power group, the black empowerment group we’re working with.”
“Hell, what is it, the Black Panthers? Now it’s the Black Panthers, before it was the Gray Panthers. Why don’t we go to the zoo and get a real panther?”
“Cal, this can be really important. This can be really important for us.”
“Okay. Great. Go with it. Go with it, Charlotte. A lot of things have been happening at the track. A lot of things. You haven’t got time to hear about it now, I guess, you being busy with these Black Panthers and everything, right?”
“I can hear about it later,” she said.
“Okay. I’ll go up to my room with the form and I can eat up there, and you and Astrid can plan your strategies for the black power groups or whatever they are.”
Charlotte said, “Cal, would you like to come down and maybe participate?”
“I don’t think so. I’m tired from the day, I did pretty good today, and I gotta get up early tomorrow because I haven’t looked at the form yet. I really think I ought to rest for a while. You know, it’s too much for me to work all day and in the evening try to contribute something to your projects. Besides, you have a lot of people here, Charlotte. You can all work together. You don’t need my input on this stuff.”
“Okay. You don’t mind if we play a little music? You know they really love their music.”
“Well, I don’t like it. But you can play it. I don’t care. I’ll just play my stuff up in the room. Where’s my wolf?”
“He’s down. He’s down in the kitchen. Everybody loves him. They’re going nuts over your wolf.”
“Well, they always do. You better watch out what they feed him. Don’t let them feed him any candy or cake or anything like that.”
“I know, I know what to feed him. I watch out for him.”
“Well, watch out for him. I can’t be down there watching what you all are doing. If you don’t take care and watch out, you could kill him. I mean if you’re not going to take care and watch, I’ll take him up to the room.”
“No,” said Charlotte, “I’ll really be careful and I’ll tell Astrid too. Because these people, they want to see him. He makes a big impression and it helps our movement. The “Save the Wolf” movement easily merges into all the other stuff. He’s like a spirit symbol of all that is wild and free and beautiful, and he can be merged into our campaigns on a lot of other things.”
“Yeah, you better keep him wild and beautiful, and you better really watch out what you feed him and what he gets into and that he doesn’t get run over by some car. I’ll have to talk to Astrid, too. Listen, Charlotte, I’m getting worried about this wolf. I’m getting worried about all these people coming over and messing with my wolf, you know? It doesn’t take much to kill a wolf. He’s a wild animal, you know? You just can’t treat him like a dog. You can’t just feed him anything.”
“I know. I know all about it. I’ll watch out, Cal. Believe me. I’ll watch him. We’ll all watch him. I’ll tell everybody not to feed him anything.”
“I’m going to talk to Astrid, too.”
“Yeah, talk to Astrid, and between the two of us we’ll make sure nobody messes with him. He’s really nice looking now, Cal. We’ve kept him up and everything. We brush him up and wash him every day.”
“Yeah, that isn’t even necessary. Just watch out what he’s eating. And watch that he doesn’t get run over by a car. Or what we’re gonna have is a dead wolf, that’s what. Where is Astrid anyway?”
“I don’t know. Last time I saw her she was out in the back yard with some of the guys.”
“Okay,” said Cal, and he went out the back door. They had a huge back yard and Cal spotted Astrid seated in a circle with a lot of black people, their legs crossed, apparently talking about something. When he approached, Astrid looked over and he motioned for her to come over. When she reached him, he said, “Astrid, what are you doing?”
“We’re holding a meeting,” she said, “We’re holding a meeting and planning various strategies.”
“What kind of strategy?”
“Strategy to effect all our goals. You know, Cal. You know what we do.”
“Yeah, I know all too well. All too well. Listen, Astrid, I want to talk to you about the wolf.”
“What about him?”
“Listen, I’m going to leave it in your hands to take care of him, otherwise I’m going to take him up to my room with me.”
“You can’t do that. He’s like a symbol here. A symbol for all our groups. He was the “Save the Wolf” symbol and now he’s come to symbolize about all that we stand for, the environment and the endangered species. He’s come to represent all that’s wild and free and beautiful and unspoiled nature and the wilderness, and he’s really come to represent a lot of the things we stand for.”
“That’s all great and good but I’m worried about his health. About the fact that you might get careless and feed him some junk food or he might get run over by a car or something, if you don’t watch what you’re doing. I just talked to Charlotte all about it. Somebody here has to be responsible for him. Otherwise, I’ve got to take him up to my room. I can’t let anything happen to him. You’re gonna have to be responsible, Astrid. You’re going to have to put him on a leash and keep him by your side all the time, or some damn idiot is going to run off with him or kill him. Don’t you understand? You know how people are. I want you to get a little chain of some kind with a collar and you hold on to him at all times. Otherwise I’m not gonna allow any of this. I’m not going to lose my wolf over something like this. So, you get yourself a chain and you hang on to that wolf at all times. You be with him at all times to make sure that nothing happens to him.”
“Okay, okay,” said Astrid, “I’ll keep him with me all the time.”
“That’s right. That’s good. You buy a chain and you keep him with you at all times. Even when you’re sleeping. Because I don’t have the time to keep track of him or to watch what he’s doing and to see what’s happening, and someone may be hurting him or whatever. He might even be kidnapped.”
“Okay. Okay. I’ll buy a chain. And I’ll keep him with me all the time. Right by my side. He’s a symbol of the great outdoors, the great wilderness, of the ecology of the earth, and of all the endangered species and the rain forest, and he’s even come to symbolize almost everything we stand for. His nobility and his beauty and his gentleness.”
“That’s just great,” said Cal, “That’s just great. But I want to keep him alive. You know what I mean, Astrid? Alive. So, are you going to give me your word that you’re going to take personal responsibility, because I can’t ask Charlotte to because she’s always running around directing everything over here. How can she keep her eye on the wolf? It will be your job, Astrid. Otherwise I’ll have to take him. You give me your word about what I said?”
“I will, I will.”
“Why don’t you run down and get a chain and a collar right now and take him with you. And start right now. I don’t want to have to think about this. I have enough to think about at the track. So, give me your word, Astrid?” And he looked her straight in the eye.
“Sure, Cal. I promise. We were getting a little careless with him, you’re right. I’m going to get a chain and I’ll keep him with me at all times. I’ll even sleep with him.”
“I don’t care what else you do, but make sure you stay with that wolf at all times. Because he doesn’t know enough to protect himself from man’s devices. He doesn’t know enough. He’ll eat candy or anything that anybody gives him.”
“All right. From now on I’ll stick to him like glue.”
“Yeah,” laughed Cal, “like glue. I didn’t want you to stick to me like glue, but I tell you, I want you to stick to him that way. I really mean it.”
“Okay. I’ll take personal responsibility. I’ll even eat with him and sleep with him and everything. I promise you. I won’t let him out of my sight and I give you my word.”
“Okay. Now I’m going up to my room. I have work to do. You all have fun. While you’re at it, take a lot of pictures of the wolf. Get him in the paper. I’d like to see him in the paper.”
“We will,” said Astrid, “he’s already been in the paper.”
Cal was really thinking of something else in the back of his mind, concerning the paper. Back in his room, Cal stretched out on the bed and relaxed, thinking of all that had happened that afternoon and all the new possibilities that had now somehow opened up. Cal had his own room in the house where he could study and have sessions with his patients, where he kept his files, all his work, his track work. This was his refuge where he could go into trance and meditate. And he even had it locked so that nobody could get into the room. Charlotte and Astrid were always entertaining people of all variety and descriptions, and he didn’t want anybody going into his things. He had a lot of things that were extremely valuable to him, and he, and only he, had the key to that room. Charlotte and him shared the master bedroom, of course, but this room was his and only his. He had prevailed on Charlotte that he needed a room all for himself because of the work he was doing and the privacy that he needed and because of the fact that he couldn’t take the chance of something being stolen while they were entertaining all these people in the house. How could she watch everybody? So, he kept the key, the only key, and his things were safe, unless somebody broke the door down.
First thing he did was to dial Gaylord’s number. When Gaylord picked up the phone, Cal said, “Gaylord, are you going to call up those talk shows like you usually do and discuss racing and sports?”
“Yeah,” said Gaylord, “I was thinking of doing it like I always do. I was thinking of even telling them what happened today.”
“Good,” said Cal, “that’s a great idea. Call up all those damn sport shows that are so popular in the evenings and tell them all what happened today. Tell them everything and tell them the truth. Tell them all about the big hit that was made at the track of 160,000. How Micholson and I made 80,000 apiece, and tell them exactly how it’s done, how I do it. Tell them exactly how I communicate with the horses and the jocks and how they then come right in. I don’t mind, you can tell any show you want. You got it, Gaylord?”
“Sure,” said Gaylord, “you want me to tell them everything. How you talk to the horses and the jocks and then the horse comes in and we clean up.”
“Sure, tell them all about it. You can even describe how I dress and, remember, Gaylord, this is probably the biggest hit on the track this whole year, as far as we know. I think they’d really be interested in hearing all about it. And tell them about Jack being with us, and even you could be a celebrity, Gaylord, who knows. Maybe you could even get on radio or TV and tell the whole story, just as it happened. Tell everything just as it happened.”
“I never even thought of that. You think I could get on radio or TV?”
“Well, at least radio for sure, and maybe TV. So feel free to have a lot of fun and call them up all night if you want to, and have your wife call in too if she wants to. Just tell them the truth. You going to do that, Gaylord?”
“Sure. I want to tell everybody. I told my wife and she practically fell off her chair. She’s downstairs counting the money right now.”
“She is?”
“Yeah,” said Gaylord, “we’ve got enough for the kids now and for about the first time in our life, we can actually relax and it’s all due to you, Cal.”
“Well, great. Great. You just call up those shows and tell them all that happened. Tell them that a real big hit was made on the track today and tell them all about how I do it, all the horse communication and everything. Make sure you get everything just the way it happened. Take your time and start from the beginning.”
“Sure, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll tell them everything. Everybody would want to know.”
“Right,” said Cal, “you ought to at least be able to get on a radio show, or even possibly a TV show if you handle it right. You and your wife both. And you could tell the whole story, firsthand, because you were actually there when everything happened. And I give you the official permission to tell everything, about me and Micholson and you, about all three of us. I know your wife would really love TV or radio and if you handled it right you could really do it. You deserve it, Gaylord. You’ve been a good friend of mine. I officially give you the permission to tell everything. I’m letting you take the limelight a little bit, instead of Jack and me always being up front. All the time you’ve sort of been in my shadow, and now you can strike out on your own and make something for yourself. If anybody ever invites you or your wife or both of you on a radio or TV show, go right ahead. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about getting nervous. There’s nothing to it. All they do is ask you questions. You don’t have to get nervous, they put you at ease.”
“I will,” said Gaylord, “you sure you don’t mind if I tell them everything, about how you talk to the horses and all, and how that’s your secret and everything? You don’t mind at all?”
“Hell, no. I don’t mind at all. Why would I mind? They can’t talk to the horses themselves. So what if they know.”
“That’s right. They can’t talk to them. They can’t talk to them anyway, so how could it hurt you, right?”
“Right,” said Cal, “I don’t care. Tell them all you want. Just make sure you call in tonight.”
“Sure.”
“And listen, you can have your wife call in too. Even though she wasn’t there, she can still call in because you can tell her everything that happened. She can call in too.”
“Sure, we’ll both call in, Cal, if that’s what you want us to do.”
“Sure that’s what I want. Both of you call in all you want. Remember, Gaylord, to tell them this might have been the biggest hit ever at Calder. You might become a sensation in your own right.”
“Yeah, that would be nice. That would be real nice. And my wife is all excited too. Maybe she’d like it too.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “so go right ahead then. Now I gotta do some work for tomorrow and I’ll see you at the same place we always meet in the morning.”
“Okay,” said Gaylord and he hung up.
After hanging up the phone, Cal just sat there and figured Micholson would do the rest. Micholson would tell everyone he knew and he knew a hell of a lot of important people in a lot of high places, and Jack would certainly go around telling everybody about this big hit, so it should really spread like wildfire. And as he relaxed on the bed, he began slowly to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and try to figure which of the many possibilities he might try first and how he was going to handle this whole situation. There were just so many possibilities of what he could do from here on, that it was almost impossible to think of them all, let alone think of any real course of action at this point. And then, while thinking of all this, he stretched out his legs and started playing music softly, and as the music played on he automatically recalled just about everything that had happened starting from the very beginning regarding this whole incident.
He even started with the beginning of the year, when everything was getting more and more routine, and he was reading major sections of Jane Roberts’ works at the track because there was nothing else to do, and how his percentage had risen to 9.5 percent, and his workload had gone down so dramatically. He thought of all the really routine and tedious days in the one or two years prior to this incident when he had been so busy just reading Roberts’ ‘Seth’ material and other volumes on hypnosis, trance states, out of body experiences, etc. Jane Roberts had written all these books while she was in a so-called trance state. She would just sit down in the evening around 8 o’clock, smoke a cigarette, drink a couple of glasses of wine, and somehow slip into a trance state where she was able to talk to this entity called ‘Seth’, who lived thousands of years ago, and they would have conversations back and forth where she would ask many questions, and her husband would faithfully copy everything down in longhand. And the books, essentially, were a verbatim account of whatever she said and whatever ‘Seth’ answered in reply as she held these deeply philosophical discussions with ‘Seth’. Each chapter would start off with listing the date and time, such as February 23, 1981, 7:33 p.m., and then the chapter would go on for 10 to 20 pages of the actual conversation, recorded verbatim by her husband. And that’s all there was to it. That’s all that actually happened. But the material that she received, and the philosophical conversations that ensued, were so interesting to Cal that he found himself reading it almost constantly.
And there were 12 or 13 books out already, some of them as long as 1,000 pages, and it took him a long time to go through all of it. It wasn’t something that you could read quickly at all. You had to spend a lot of time thinking about it. Apparently, Jane Roberts was somehow gifted with the ability to almost go into the trance state at will and somehow obtain this great philosophical wisdom from this ‘entity’ named ‘Seth’, who claimed to have lived thousands of years ago. The material absolutely engrossed Cal at the beginning of the year, and he devoted only 15 minutes to a half-hour to the business at the track and spent most of the rest of the time slowly poring through her volumes.
Because he had mastered his system so thoroughly and usually did not have to write anything down, he had practically the whole afternoon to lie in the sun, or when that got too hot, to curl up in the stands, totally engrossed in her works. Gaylord, of course, tried to thumb through these books to find a clue as to how these books might relate to how and why Cal was continuing to win at the track. He could never figure out, even when he asked Cal all about these books, how they related in any way to the racetrack or betting. As he continually would thumb through the books that Cal brought, try as he might, he found most of it incomprehensible and even the little bit that he could understand, didn’t seem in any way to be related to horses or the racetrack. Actually, during that fifth year, Cal was experiencing more or less the same type of repetitiousness and boredom that he had experienced in the latter stages of the animal business when he had exhausted all the crossbreeding possibilities. He considered the possibility of livening the day up in just about any way so that he would be able to continue to come and gain something from the track other than money. As he lay on the bed thinking now, he couldn’t help but look back and realize how perfectly things had developed.
For some reason, in the last month or so, he had taken to going to the walking ring before every big bet and talking to the jockey right in front of Gaylord, and then going ahead with the bet. And, of course, he was usually successful. But the thing was, he had no particular reason for going down to the walking ring at all. He just felt a vague urge to go down to where the horses were and sort of hold a casual conversation with the jock. Most people were either cursing or yelling at the jocks, or even throwing things. And then, in the course of events, he had met Micholson months ago, and they would get together time after time and had really hit it off. Of course, Cal had given him some good hits. And then, as a climax, there was what had happened today, when they lifted the track out of 160 G’s. And now he could see before him, in the future, the endless possibilities, outside of just betting on the horses. Now his interest level went way up as all these possibilities could result in an almost infinite number of activities, outcomes, and conclusions. Of course, all this could result in something really bizarre, truly bizarre, truly different, something that maybe had never even been done before, something completely new. And, of course, the possibility of something like this actually happening fascinated him more than just about anything else. He certainly decided to leave the huge Jane Roberts’ volumes at home for the time being.
As he lay there, he noticed that Aristotle, the 12-foot python, and his cage were no longer in his room. He stood up and went to the balcony and saw this mass of people gathered in the dining room, black people, and he hollered, “Astrid, Astrid.” And he saw Astrid look up from the far corner of the room. He motioned to her to come on up as it was almost impossible to be heard. Then he returned to his room, closed the door, and lay back down on the bed where the music was still playing, and soon Astrid appeared at the door.
“Did you want me to come up, Cal?” she asked.
“Yeah. Come on in and sit down.”
Astrid took a seat on the couch, in about the only place she could sit in the small room.
“Astrid, what happened to Aristotle?”
“Oh. Aristotle. I took him a couple of days ago. He’s in my room. I thought I’d take care of him because you’re always so busy, Cal. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure. He’s in your room right now? He’s okay and everything?”
“Yeah,” said Astrid, “he’s just fine.”
“So, you’ve decided to take care of him, Astrid? You’ve decided to take care of him for me?”
“Sure. I really like that snake.”
“How do you feed him? Are you going to get the newspaper and look for some puppies or kittens free to good homes?”
Astrid paused briefly, “No, Cal. I don’t think I could do that.”
“Well, what are you going to do, Astrid? How are you going to feed Aristotle?”
“I’ve been going to a chicken farm that I found outside of Miami, and the guy sells me live full-grown chickens cheap because they don’t lay anymore. So I’ve decided to feed him as many chickens as he wants to eat every week. Aren’t chickens just as good as anything else?”
“Yeah,” said Cal, “it doesn’t make any difference. When did you feed him last?”
“Last week.”
“So you’re gonna feed him chickens every week, full-grown chickens?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve decided on. I think that’s best.”
“Okay. But he’s growing all the time, you know. And he’s going to need maybe three or four a week, maybe more in the summertime, and of course, less in the wintertime when his metabolism slows down.”
“Okay,” said Astrid, “I’ll make sure he’s full. You can always tell by looking at him when he’s being fed well. It’s not necessary that we feed him kittens and puppies, is it?”
“No we don’t. Not at this time anyway. You can feed him those live chickens as long as they’re big ones and you’ve got to remember to feed him weekly because he’s getting bigger all the time and I don’t know what we’re going to do when he gets to be 18 or 20 feet. You know you have to keep an eye on him to make sure he’s always well fed. Because when he’s well fed, you can always tell, because his skin glistens, it glistens like a rainbow in the sun, and it’s real smooth, and he has a real full look to him, and there’s no wrinkles or curves which would indicate that he’s not getting enough food. If you want to take care of him, Astrid, you can but then I’m gonna trust you to take care of him and I don’t want to have to be worrying about him because I’m not even going to see him because he’s not in my room.”
“Sure,” said Astrid, “you know that I know all about snakes. I even take him out all the time because I like to. I like to play with him and if I bring him downstairs and there are guests, a lot of them go absolutely nuts over him. He’s over 12 foot now and weighs about 40 pounds, I think.”
“Okay. I’ll put him in your charge and you’ll be responsible for him from now on.”
“Sure. That’s why I took him out of your room. I figured you wouldn’t have time as you’re so engrossed with the races and with your hypnosis work with patients. I figured you wouldn’t have time to go around looking for puppies or kittens or chickens.”
“Well, you’re right, I really don’t have the time. I’m really busy now and I’ll be glad to give him over to you, if I can trust you and know that he’s going to be well taken care of.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that at all. How are you doing at the track?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. But it’s a lot of work, you know, and when I looked up and didn’t see Aristotle, I thought maybe someone had stolen him. But I didn’t see how that was possible, seeing as the door is always locked.”
“Well, I should have told you I carted him out while you were busy with your figures. I guess I should have told you.”
“That’s okay. But he’s yours now and he’s your responsibility.”
“Right. I’ll keep him fat as a pig.”
“Okay. Who are all those people downstairs now anyway?”
“It’s the Black Panthers and all.”
“So what’s up? What are you all doing?”
“The same old thing. We’re trying to help them, to return all the power that was taken from them and restore their rights as citizens, that kind of thing. You know what Charlotte is doing all the time.”
“Yeah, I know. I know. Most of the time I have to come up to my room, close the door and listen to music. There’s usually so many people here.”
“Well, you know, Cal, Charlotte’s got all her activities and she’s real busy with her life and, of course, many times there will be a lot of groups over here for a lot of reasons. You know, she was unhappy for a long time and now she’s sort of gotten into the swing of things and I think she’s a lot happier now.”
“She is?” asked Cal.
“Yeah. She’s getting more into these groups now.”
“Any other groups besides this one?”
“Well, of course she’s into a lot of others too. Just about any kind of group related to the betterment of human kind, equality, civil rights, Feminism. You know all that stuff, Cal.”
“Yeah, I know. I know only too well. I guess you want to go downstairs to join your friends. Okay, go down and have your fun and I hope you succeed in whatever you’re trying to do.”
“We are. We’re making really big strides lately. We’re organizing and everything.”
“Organizing what?”
“We’re all organizing so we can accomplish our goals. So we can accomplish basic equality for everybody. So everybody will be able to have equal rights and opportunities. You know all that stuff, Cal.”
“Yeah,” said Cal again, “only too well. Well, go ahead then, Astrid. Go ahead and have your fun. I’m going to lie down here for awhile. I got some thinking to do. And close the door.”
After Astrid left, Cal’s hand mechanically descended to the button and he drifted off, imagining all the possibilities that were so rapidly opening up. And he thought how fortunate it was that it all started when he had felt this urge within him to liven things up and to go down to the walking ring whenever he made a big bet. And how fortunate it was that Gaylord had been with him each time. And how fortunate it was that he had become friends with Micholson, and this sort of precluded him from being charged with some trumped up misbehavior of some kind like bookmaking, as everyone knew Micholson and that he was a straight arrow and wouldn’t associate with such a person. And if he was with Micholson, they couldn’t bring up any phony, trumped up charges to bar him from the track. He and Micholson and Gaylord were almost always together now. He marveled at how everything had seemed to develop so fortuitously, and now he could just about go through with any plan he decided upon, in almost complete safety.
And he also thought that probably, due to Micholson, that Arkaro would soon join the group and, of course, track management would never bother him if he were with Arkaro and Micholson all the time. And he could, if he wanted to, do what Clarence Darrow seemed to have done so many years ago, that is, do just about anything he wanted to or effectuate anything he wanted to happen. He remembered long ago, when he was 10 or 12 and first reading stimulating material, that he had told Astrid that Clarence Darrow was like a ‘god unto men’, far above other men. At this point he really didn’t have any idea about what he would do next, what course of action, if any, he would take at this time. He would, as he had done the previous couple of months, just ‘feel’ his way for a while and let events take their course and see what developed and take advantage of whatever situation actually developed.
The next morning, he left a little early in the Camaro because he wanted to go to the bank and deposit about 70,000 dollars out of the $94,000 that he had won, and he didn’t tell Charlotte or Astrid anything, because as soon as he made a lot of cash on a hit here or there, Charlotte and Astrid would want most of the money for their various activities and groups in order to finance whatever it was they were trying to do. And he wanted to keep some of this so-called hard-earned money for himself, so that he would have it available in case he needed to make a large bet, such as the one of the previous day, and he could also easily withstand a longer losing streak. So, consequently, during the last three or four months he had opened up a separate account at another bank and was steadily funneling money into it so that he would have a little cushion for hard times and be able to further increase his bets if need be.
As he entered the bank, he started to calculate about how much he wanted to deposit and, glancing at his bankbook, he saw that it had already grown to 223,000 dollars.
When he got to the window, he started counting out 1,000-dollar bills and said to the clerk, “I’d like to deposit 80 G’s.”
“What?” she said, “What’s a ‘G’?”
“A thousand,” said Cal, and he continued to count out all the money.
The young woman at the window said, “You’ll have to fill out this form. This special IRS form. Whenever anyone deposits over 10,000 dollars at one time in a bank, they have to fill out this form.”
“Okay. Give me the form and I’ll fill it out.” He went back, sat down on one of the plush chairs, filled out the form, then brought the money and the form back to the window. The clerk counted the money, stamped his bankbook, and as he turned to leave, he said, “If you see the IRS man, just tell him it came from the horses.”
“What?” she said.
“Just tell him that the money came from the track. That’s all.”
She just had a puzzled look on her face as Cal walked out the door.
Once at the track, as he was walking towards his favorite area on the ground floor, he saw an amazing sight – there was Gaylord quite obviously in a crowd of what looked like reporters. He saw cameras, and Gaylord appeared to be answering questions in the middle of this crowd of reporters. Cal hesitated for a second, not knowing what to do, and then decided to just go ahead and do what he always did, which was to go to his favorite area and stretch out on one of the lawn chairs.
As he approached closer to Gaylord, Gaylord saw him and hollered out, “There he is, there he is. There’s Cal. It’s that guy in black I’ve been telling you about.”
The whole group of men with cameras rushed Cal, followed by Gaylord. They all encircled him as Gaylord came up to him.
“This is the guy,” said Gaylord to everyone, “this is the guy I’ve been telling you about. This is Cal. This is the guy in black.”
There were a lot of questions and flashbulbs were going off all over, and Cal asked Gaylord, “What’s going on anyway?”
“There was a crowd of reporters and they were all waiting for you and Micholson,” said Gaylord. “Did you see the article in the paper?”
“No,” said Cal, “I didn’t even look at the paper. What paper?”
“In the sports section of The Herald,” said Gaylord.
“What article?” Asked Cal.
“There was an article in the middle of the sports pages. It said, ‘Micholson and two others clean Calder for 160,000’.”
“Really?” Said Cal. “There was a write-up in the paper on it?”
“Yeah, there was a big write-up that you and me and Micholson cleaned the track out of 160,000.”
“How did it get in there?” asked Cal.
“I don’t know. It might have come from me talking last night on all those radio shows. Or maybe Jack told someone. Anyway it was right in the sports section. They described Micholson and that he was with a tall man, all in black, and also with another guy. All these reporters were waiting and I was the first one to come here and I started talking to them and told them that I was the other guy, and that I knew you and Micholson, and that I was with both of you when you both won all that money. And they gathered all around me and started asking me questions, and that’s about when you showed up, right now.”
“So that’s what this is all about?” Cal tried to make himself heard above all the noise and questions and flashbulbs and asked, “So that’s what this crowd is all about? It’s all a bunch of reporters wanting this story?”
“Yeah,” said Gaylord, “and now they’re all waiting for Micholson to show up. I told them that you and Micholson come here all the time and me too, and that you’d all be here soon. So they just decided to wait and I told them the whole story, the whole story about yesterday.”
“You told them everything?” asked Cal.
“Sure. You told me to tell anybody, right?”
“Yeah. Sure. Why not? It’s the truth, ain’t it?”
“Sure. I even told them I made 4 G’s and I ain’t never seen so much money in my life. Anyway, they seemed all excited about it and it seems like nobody ever made a hit like this before. Seems like nobody ever made such a big hit.”
“Yeah. And what did you tell them, Gaylord? What did you tell them before I got here?”
“Everything. Just the way it happened. I told them that you, they call you the man in black, that you go down to the walking ring, and you talk to the horse and the jockey, and as the horses are walking around the walking ring, you communicate with the horses and you find out if the horse is ready to go today, if he’s really going to run that day, and then you give instructions to the jockey on how the horse wants to run. So the jockey knows what to do too. And every time the jockey comes around the walking ring, you tell him what to do. And then we all get together, Jack and you and me, and we make our bet. And we bet on Child’s Play yesterday. I told them that Jack and you bet 10,000 apiece and cleared 80,000 each, and I bet 500 and I cleared 4,000. And I told them the whole story just how it happened. And they all started writing it all down and taking pictures of me while they were waiting for you and Jack to show up.”
All the while, all the reporters were constantly taking pictures with their flash cameras and asking questions simultaneously, but Cal ignored them, having to shout over them to get the information from Gaylord on what he had already told them.
Gaylord was extremely excited himself, for once being the center of attention, and then he said, “I told them all that you and Jack would verify my story and would tell them the same thing because that’s the way it happened. And they all copied it down and were taking pictures of me because you and Jack hadn’t arrived yet.”
“You did good, Gaylord. You did all right,” said Cal, and he started to move off to where the lawn chairs were, but he couldn’t get through the crowd of shouting reporters.
“Cal,” said Gaylord, “I told these guys that you would answer some of their questions, too, when you got here.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. I’ll answer some of their questions.”
“Okay,” shouted Gaylord, taking charge of something for one of the few times in his life. “This is the guy I was telling you about. This is the guy that was with Jack. This is the guy that talks to the horses and the horses tell him if they’re going to go that day or not. And then we all go and bet. And he’ll answer some of your questions now.”
All the reporters started shouting questions simultaneously and it was almost impossible to hear anyone, so Cal just shouted in his booming, deep voice, “All of you, shutup, for Christ’s sake. And only one question at a time. Only one question at a time or I’ll just walk off and you all can forget about the whole thing. Quiet down.”
And, as the crowd would part as Cal would approach the ‘G’ window, likewise, the crowd of reporters stopped talking as he and Gaylord stood alone in the center of all these reporters with cameras.
As the cameras continued to flash, Cal shouted again, “No more pictures. No more pictures and quiet down and I’ll answer your questions.”
And the reporters dropped their cameras and all the shouting ceased, just like that.
Cal calmly reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and as he put one to his mouth, five or six hands with lighters rushed forward. He calmly took a puff and exhaled as he didn’t ever inhale anyway.
After another couple of seconds, he said, “Okay. One at a time.”
A reporter right up front, with slicked down hair and a brown sportcoat with a camera on each shoulder said, “Okay. Okay. One question. You’re the guy in black? You’re the guy in black who talks to the horses?”
“One at a time,” shouted Cal, even though no one else was speaking. Then he looked at the guy who was right up front and said, “What did you say?”
The reporter looked up at Cal and repeated, “You’re the guy, you’re the guy that Gaylord has been talking about? You’re the guy who goes down to the walking ring and talks to the horses? Communicates with the horses and finds out who’s going to win? Is that the truth?”
“That’s the truth,” said Cal, “Just what Gaylord said. Next question. Just one, just one at a time.”
A reporter in the back raised his hand and said, “I got a question. I got a question.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. You. You in the back. Go ahead.”
“My question is, how do you talk to the horses and how do they communicate back with you? How do you do that?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. I’ve been doing that since I was six years old. I used to sleep with the horses on my aunt’s farm and I used to whisper in their ear, all night, and we used to communicate, and that’s how it all started. I’ve been talking to horses ever since. That’s all there is to it. Next question.”
Another reporter in the back hollered, “I got a question. I got a question.”
And Cal hollered, “One at a time. One at a time.”
Again, no one else had even spoken.
“I got a question,” hollered the reporter in the back again.
“You. You in the back,” said Cal.
“How much money did you win anyway yesterday? How much money did you and Micholson and this guy Gaylord win yesterday?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. We made a big hit yesterday. Jack cleared 80 G’s and I cleared 80 G’s and Gaylord here, he cleared 4 G’s. That’s how much it was. Ain’t that right, Gaylord?”
“Yeah,” said Gaylord, “that’s what I told them. That’s exactly what I told them.”
“That’s it,” said Cal. “Next question.”
A guy in front hollered, “I got a question.”
““Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. You. What is it?”
“How do we know, how do we know you’re telling the truth?”
“Heck. You can just go and ask the clerk. Go and ask the clerk at the ‘G’ window. And Jack will be here soon and he’ll tell you the same thing.”
The crowd was growing steadily including all the patrons in the immediate area. Cal and Gaylord were still in the middle of all these reporters, Cal towering over everyone, and shouting unnecessarily loudly and repeating, “One question at a time,” although nobody else was even asking any questions.
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. Only a couple of more questions.”
“Okay,” said a reporter up front, “I got a question. I got a question.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. You. What’s your question?”
“How does it feel, how does it feel to go to the window and pick up 80,000 big ones? Eighty thousand G’s just like that? How does it feel?”
“Don’t feel like nothing,” said Cal. “Don’t feel like nothing at all. Feels like damn play money, that’s what it feels like. Feels like a game of Monopoly. Something like that, play houses, play money, play cards, you know what I mean?”
Just then two reporters started shouting at once and Cal boomed out, “I told you, one at a time. Only one at a time.”
Then both of them stopped talking. Finally another reporter said, “I got a question. I got a question.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. You. Go ahead.”
“How exactly do you talk to the horse? How exactly do you communicate with the horse so that you know if he’s going to win, whether he’s going to win or not?
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. It’s a communication between me and the horse. Between the horse and me. It’s in a language that no one else would understand. It’s a communication between the horse and me and between the ‘Big Horse’ in the sky and me.”
“Who,” said the reporter, “who is the ‘Big Horse’ in the sky?”
And Cal said, “If you don’t know the ‘Big Horse’ in the sky, you’ll never know nothing about the horses on the ground. You’ll never know nothing about racing. Okay. Next question.”
And some little reporter in the back piped up, “I got one. I got one.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. You, the little guy in the back.”
“How long you been talking to horses? How long?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. All my life. All my life I’ve been talking to horses.”
“But,” said the reporter, “how long you been talking to horses at the track here? How long you been talking to them and getting the winner from them?”
“Ever since I got here. Ever since I got here. I’ve been doing it all along.”
“About how long is that?” said the reporter.
“Time is relative,” said Cal, “it’s all relative. It just so happens that I made a big score yesterday and somehow it got out. This has been going on all along. I don’t know how long. Time is all relative.”
“Relative to what?” asked the reporter.
“One at a time,” shouted Cal again, even though no one was speaking.
“Relative to what?” said the reporter again.
“Time is relative. That’s it. That’s all you gotta know.”
Just then a reporter piped up from in front, “I got one, I got one.”
“Okay, you. You, right in front. Go ahead.”
“I see you got a racing form in your hand. Why you got a racing form in your hand if you talk to the horses?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. I got a form in my hand cause I like to read. I like to read the papers, to read about horses. And it feels right under my arm. I like to walk around with a racing form under my arm because it feels right, that’s why. Okay, you, in the back.”
“I got a question,” said the reporter.
“Go ahead. Go ahead,” said Cal.
“I see you’re all dressed in black and you dress in black all the time. What is the reason for that?”
“Okay. Okay,” said Cal, “Black is the color. Black is my color. And I always dressed in black and I always will dress in black. And that’s the way it is. And that’s the way it’s always been. And that’s the way it’s always gonna be.”
Just then, the little reporter in front piped up again, “I got another question. I got another question.”
“You again?” said Cal, “Didn’t you have a question before?”
“Yeah,” said the reporter, “but now I got another one. I got another one.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. What is it?”
“Can you actually read the form? Can you actually read the past performances? Do you read the past performances to come up with the winner? Or do you just talk to the horse?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. I can read anything. Of course I can read the past performances. But the past performances don’ t mean anything. The past performances belong in the past. And the present belongs in the present. And the future is the future. And when you’re at the track, you’re not interested in the past. You’re interested in the future. That’s why I’ve got to talk to the horse. Because the horse knows. The horse knows the future.”
“So,” said the reporter, continuing, “so, you don’t use the paper. You don’t use it at all?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. I use it. I use it to read it. I like to read the articles. I like to know when the big stakes races are coming up. I want to know when the real big races are coming up. I want to know when the Kentucky Derby will be held, and the Preakness, and the Belmont. The big races are what makes horse racing. And I like to read the stories. That’s why I bring the paper. And also I like to feel it under my arm, I like the feel of the paper. Everybody at the track ought to have a racing paper. That’s what the racing paper is for. When you come to the track you buy a program, don’t you? Then you go and buy a racing paper. Then you go around and look for a nice place in the sun. Ain’t that what racing is all about? This is the sport of kings. This used to be the sport of kings. Okay. Okay. Soon I gotta get ready for the races. We can’t just stand around here talking all day about things that are perfectly obvious to anyone who can write a column in a newspaper. Are there any more questions? You, you in the back again. You got another question? Go ahead.”
“I got a question,” the reporter said, “I got a question.”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. Go ahead.”
“What’s your relationship with Jack Micholson?” said the reporter. “Are you a friend of his, or what?”
“Okay. Okay,” said Cal, “Jack and I are good friends. That’s all I have to say about that. Jack and I have been friends for a long time.”
“When is Jack coming? Will he be coming soon?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. He’ll be here any minute.”
“Another question. Another question,” asked a reporter up front.
“Okay. Okay,” said Cal, “What is it now? What’s your question?”
“How much money you won before? You win like this every day? How much money you won all together?”
“Okay,” said Cal, “Okay. Sure I win money. Cause the horses tell me. But how much, is my business. That’s my business. Because we had a big hit yesterday, you all know about it. But this has been going on for a long time. You have all seen me here for a long time, if you are horse reporters, if you are racing reporters.”