Here is the final installment of Joshua and Stewart's story. It's been a long time in coming, I know, and I have appreciated your patience and support as I have written my way through to its end. It is my hope that you have enjoyed the crazy little journey I, they, and we have been on. I welcome your comments, insight, and thoughts about the ending, the story, the proces, etc. For those new to the blog, this story began on 11-24-09 and ends here. Please use the tag cloud to navigate back to the beginning and read from there.
Without further ado...
Chapter 14 - Freedom
Before he knew it Joshua had run right into the heart of the chaos filling the hall. There were people dressed in orange bio-hazard suits carrying black boxes on straps and wielding long black wands over a pile in the middle of the floor. The air was filled with an irritating clicking that grew in intensity the closer a wand was brought to the pile. Near the door, the door he wanted so badly to reach, were police officers and paramedics, several of whom were in the process of putting on orange suits.
On instinct Joshua headed for the nearest doorway and pressed himself into the shallow depression. The door behind him had been shut, but not latched and, as he pushed back to avoid the searching eyes of the men who had been chasing him, the door gave way and he stumbled backwards into an office. The door swung slowly shut, but stopped short of closing, coming instead to rest on the latch and leaving a thin window between the doorframe and the door.
Joshua looked quickly around himself. The office held a desk, a file cabinet, a computer, and a several chairs, all of which were turned this way and that, one was tipped over completely. There were papers on the desk and also on the floor beside it. The handset of the desk phone was dangling off the edge of the desk and making nasty buzzing sounds over and over again. He felt Stewart wrap his body tighter around his neck and patted the salamander on the back.
Shouting out in the hall drew the boy back to the door and he peered out through the crack left by the latch. Across the hall was another doorway, the familiar male stick figure on a black square posted next to it. People in orange suits were walking in and out, some carrying the black boxes and wands, some carrying red bags with white crosses on them. Eventually a silver cart with silver wheels and a mattress on it came into view and was steered into the men’s room.
All around his door Joshua could hear the voices of men and women, all of them speaking fast and a bit too high. Someone in regular clothes walked by and then another person, a woman, stepped up to the door.
“We can talk in here,” the woman said and Joshua watched in horror as the doorknob began to turn. He stepped back but there was no where he could dart to hide.
The woman took a step into the office and caught her breath as her gaze fell on Joshua in the stolen lab coat. “You…” she whispered.
Joshua swallowed. It was the woman who had grabbed him the other day. He decided that he would run right at her and kick her in the shin to get away.
“John,” she said and turned her head to look over her shoulder, “there’s not enough room in here for the officers. Let’s try the conference room instead.”
“Yeah, all right,” a man answered.
The woman turned back and looked at Joshua. “I imagine the emergency crews want us out of their way while they take Mason out to the ambulance,” she continued. “The conference room would be better.” She held Joshua’s gaze and then whispered, “Leave the coat here and wait until they take him out.”
“What did you say?” the man asked.
The woman started to close the door. “I said the coast will be clear once they take him out.” Her voice grew softer as the door came back to rest against the latch.
Joshua let out the breath he had been holding. She hadn’t told on him. She had looked right at him and then left without telling. His knees felt weak.
“Gggggoooo lllloooookkk,” Stewart growled from under Joshua’s chin.
The boy walked back to the door and peeked out the slit once again. The silver cart was sticking out of the men’s room door and two paramedics in orange suits were holding on to it. The one nearest the hall stepped on a pedal near one of the cart’s wheels, then both paramedics disappeared into the bathroom. There was a lot of scuffling and grunting before they reappeared, each one carrying one end of a stiff board with someone lying on it.
“Careful…up and over…” someone said as the board and person on top of it were lifted onto the cart. There was a thump as they set it down followed by a deep groan.
“Mason,” one of the paramedics said, leaning close to the head of the person on the cart. “Mason, can you tell me where you are?”
“Hell,” came the weary reply.
The paramedic looked up. “Let’s get him out of here.”
The other paramedic finished fastening straps across the man lying there and then flipped the pedal near the wheel with his toe. The cart started to roll and the two orange-suited men maneuvered it out into the hall.
After the cart came clear of the bathroom and they pushed it down the hall toward the outside door. Joshua caught a glimpse of the man lying on it as it passed. His face was white with red patches on it and his mouth was hanging open. The sight of him sent a shiver all the way through the boy, one so deep that it made his stomach turn. More people in orange suits came out of the bathroom. The ones that didn’t have the clicking black boxes were carrying other things: pieces of clothing, a pair of shoes, one had a clear plastic bag that had a wallet and some loose change in it.
All of these people turned and headed for the outside door as well and the hall grew quiet. Joshua opened the door a bit wider and looked out. The only people left were near the door at the end of the hall. He could see the flashing red and blue lights on the police cars and the ambulance just feet beyond it. He took a tentative step out when Stewart hissed in his ear.
“Lllleeeevvvv tthhhhhe ccccoooooattttttt.”
Joshua pulled his foot back into the office and let the lab coat fall from his shoulders. He put his hand over Stewart’s back to make sure the salamander didn’t fall and then he peeked out the door again. Now the hall was silent and empty. He stepped out and started walking fast for the outside door.
“Hey!” a gruff voice rang out behind him. “What the hell are you doing in here?”
He took another step.
“Hey you! Who the hell said you could come in here?”
Joshua peeked over his shoulder. A policeman was just coming out of a room at the far end of the hall, his face stern and angry. “This isn’t a playground!” the cop shouted.
Joshua swallowed hard and started to take another step.
“Rrrrrruuuuuunnnnnnnn,” Stewart growled in his ear and the step became a leap and the leap turned into pumping legs.
In less than twenty feet Joshua was out the door and dodging through orange-suited bodies and surprised cops. The summer air hit him like a wave, filled his nose with the scent of fresh grass and car exhaust. Adults shouted at him as he ran, but he didn’t stop. With his hand firmly over Stewart he ran flat out until he could no longer hear the angry voices, until he could no longer see the flashing red and blue lights, until he could hardly breathe for the stitch in his side. He ducked between two dumpy houses and skittered across the alleyway behind them, rounded a corner and slipped through a thin copse of trees. In front of him was a pond that he nearly fell into. He slid to a stop and sat down hard on the bank and breathed in great gulps of air.
Stewart uncurled himself from around Joshua’s neck and looked out at the lake from the boy’s shoulder. He lifted his glossy black head and smelled the warm air. Satisfied, he crawled down Joshua’s arm and stood on the boy’s knee.
“This might be a better place to live, Stewart,” Joshua said as he regained his ability to speak.
“Yyyyeeeeesssssss,” Stewart hissed.
“I don’t think they’ll be able to find you here.”
“Ssssaaaaaffffeee.”
Stewart climbed down off Joshua’s leg and made his way through the grass to the waterline. He stepped into the pond, felt the cool, soothing water as it caressed each of his six legs and then turned and looked at the child, his child.
“Ttthhhhiiissssssss iiiiisssss gggggooooooodddddd. Ggggggoooooo hhhhhooooommmmmme. Ccccccoooooommmmmmeeee bbbbbaaaaacccccckkkk.” He turned and faced Joshua, rearing up on his hind pair of legs, his tail curved in the water behind him for support. “Ppppplllleeeeeeesssssseeee ccccoooooommmmmeeee bbbbaaaccccckkkkk.”
Joshua smiled and nodded at the salamander. “K. Don’t get eaten before I can get back here.” Stewart stared at Joshua for several moments, his bright red eyes unblinking and clear.
“Iiiiiii wwwiiiilllllll bbbbbeee ssssaaaafffeee. Ccccoooommmmmeeee bbbbbaaaccccckkkkk.” Then he lowered himself into the water and swam off.
Joshua watched the expanding wake as the salamander slipped away. After ten minutes or so he tossed a few handfuls of ripped up grass and twigs into the water, then he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, the dust on them mingling with tears and leaving brown smudges on his cheeks. He stood up and looked out over the pond.
“Bye, Stewart,” he whispered and walked back the way he had come.
~ Peace and completion