Daring Devotion (5 page)

“S
tep right up, folks and try your luck!” The heckler moved back and forth across the grassy area before his exhibit, trying desperately to coerce patrons. It was already past 8:00 p.m. and he'd only had about thirty percent of his typical turnout. The light drizzle of rain that had been falling all day kept a large number of carnival attendees away and in a few very short hours he would have to pack up for the night.

Just then, his eyes fell on the large man and petite woman moving in his direction. He saw his opportunity. So desperate for this score, he stepped outside of his safety zone to cross into the man's path. “How about you, sir? You look like a veritable Hercules. Surely, a mammoth of a man such as yourself can quickly win a prize for your lady.”

Cal looked down into the greedy little face of the man who'd practically jumped into his path, and then looked at Andrea, who was presently cradling the four stuffed animals he'd won for her already. “No, thanks.” He went to step around the man.

The man gasped in false alarm. “Afraid of a challenge, my good man?” The heckler turned to the crowd of people beginning to gather. “What do you say, folks? Do you think our little exhibit can present a challenge to this friendly giant?”

Cal looked around at the curious faces, and felt his jaw flex. The little man was becoming a nuisance, not to mention drawing unwanted attention. He could've easily swatted him out of his way and kept walking. But now, Andrea was looking up at him with that pleading expression that always got to him.

“What?”

Her eyes twinkled as she gingerly pointed to something on the wall of the booth.

Cal's eyes followed her finger. “Aww, hell,” Cal sighed in defeat when his eyes fell on the big, pink elephant tacked against the back booth wall.

“Fine.” He threw up his hands in surrender. “What do I have to do?”

The heckler gave a greasy smile, sensing victory. “Well, just step up to the red dot and I'll tell you!” he continued in a loud manner. Hoping the big man would draw enough interest to hook other suckers.

He handed Cal a large, oversized mallet. “At the sound of the bell, just hammer the ball as hard as you can, and send the red light zooming to the top!” Cal looked over his shoulder at Andrea who, so sure of his success, was eyeing the stuffed trophy as if it were already hers.

The heckler stepped back and discreetly eyed the crowd. There were several people gathered around now. Soon, they would see the big man fail in his attempt to send the light all the way to the top, and curiosity and ego would force many of them to take their own swing at it. This little distraction worked nine out of ten times.

Cal lifted the mallet over his head and swung, hitting the target dead center which created a loud thump. The heckler winced, realizing the man could easily break his contraption. Everyone watched as the red light quickly moved up the narrow tube, only to stop four notches from the top.

Cal frowned in confusion, knowing his own strength too well to believe the meter. “What the…?” He turned his anger on the little man.

The heckler swallowed hard as he looked up into the face of an angry giant. He suddenly remembered why he'd stopped using this tactic. There was always the chance that his bait would turn on him.

“Sorry, sir, but apparently you don't have what it takes.” He quickly moved away from Cal's side toward the crowd. “Is there anyone else who thinks he can beat the meter?”

A thin, lanky, white teenager was studying Cal with calculating eyes. “I'll try it.”

He stepped forward and Cal handed over the mallet. “The game's rigged, man.”

The young man's mouth twisted in sarcasm. “Sure it is.”

Cal just shook his head and stepped back. He watched as the guy lifted the mallet and swung with a portion of the force Cal had used.

Everyone's attention was riveted on the red light as it floated up the narrow tube, no one noticed the small device in the hand of the heckler, or saw when he pushed a button on the device. All they saw was the red light sail right up to the top of the meter.

“What?” Cal turned on the little man once more. “No way! This thing is rigged!”

The teen just smirked at Cal, before going to collect his prize.

Cal grabbed Andrea's hand and quickly moved away. His long legs taking well-spaced strides, forcing her to run along to keep up. “Cal, slow down!”

He continued to charge across the open field, passing by exhibit after exhibit. “We're leaving.”

“Why? I was having a good time.”

“That stupid game was rigged, Andrea. I don't care what he says! It was rigged.”

She pulled back and dug in her heels, and was more surprised than Cal to realize it worked. He'd lost his grip on her hand. Realizing her fingers were slipping through his, he turned in surprise.

“Well, of course it's rigged! But I don't see why we have to leave because of it.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Cal realized he was overreacting, but on top of everything else that had been happening lately, getting beat by a rigged game was just too much.

Ever since the fire in that Hadley building, Cal had felt as if his world was spinning out of control and it was taking everything in him to hold it all together.

His team members, who had once thought he was indestructible, now gave him strange, questioning looks when they thought he wasn't watching. Not the least of which, the new guy Jeff, who seemed determined to challenge him at every turn.

And Andrea…he had no idea how Andrea saw him anymore. Being that she was the one who had to wake him up out of his cold sweats whenever they spent the night together, he could only imagine how many notches he'd gone down in her opinion.

Knowing that, how was he supposed to tell her about the
daymares.
He didn't know what else to call a nightmare that could occur at any time. The hallucinations that came out of nowhere, the dizziness he'd recently begun to experience whenever he went up high; his new fear of loose hoses, defective hoses, defective equipment, the fire-house alarm and anything else that went along with being a firefighter.

He felt as if some invisible monster was slowly stealing his manhood, a monster that he could not see, or stop. And the worst fear of all was that if anyone ever realized what was really going on, he could lose everything he'd worked for his whole life. Not only his recent promotion, but his whole career, and…Andrea, as well.

So much pressure had been building up over the past month, and it had all come together in the moment he swung that mallet. Somehow, a small carnival game had come to represent his life, and according to that game, he was weak in both mind and body.

Andrea could see the conflicting emotions swirling in the depths of his eyes. “Don't you get it? He needed for someone like you to lose—not just anyone, someone just like you. What did he call you? A
mammoth
of a man. Then he needed someone like that skinny kid to win. After all, everyone would
expect
you to win, not the other guy. When you didn't, it gave them the impression that maybe they could. It was a scam.” Her mouth twisted. “And not a very good one. But people believe what they want to believe.”

I knew that,
Cal thought looking at her.
I just didn't realize you did.
His heart was filling up with all the things he felt for this woman. All those feelings that still occasionally caught him by surprise.

“I love you.” Until that moment, Cal had not realized how much he needed her unwavering faith.

“I love you, too,” she said, offhandedly, looking over her shoulder at the concession stand. “Now, can we stay? I'm starving, and there's a foot-long hot dog over there with my name on it.”

Cal chuckled and put his arm around her shoulder as they started moving in the direction of the concession stand.
Everything is going to work out okay—the dizziness, the nightmares, all just a thing. It will pass, and everything will be back to normal soon…soon.

 

A few weeks later, Cal stood leaning against the side of his desk receiving a token for his heroism. Although Marco had come home from the hospital shortly after he did, Cal had not seen the boy in over a month.

Marco was explaining how his protective mother refused to let him leave the house until now, and how he'd wanted to come sooner. Looking at the strangely light-colored patch of skin on Marco's brown arm, he understood. It was an instant reminder of how close she'd come to losing him.

“I just wanted you to have this.” Marco moved forward and handed over the small object. “You know, for rescuing me.”

Cal accepted the decoratively colored rock, flipping it this way and that in earnest examination. “Wow, thanks, man.” He hesitated, but then decided it was better to be safe than sorry. “Um, what is it?”

“It's rock art.” He pointed to the drawing of a bird. “It's a Thunderbird. It's my favorite rock.”

“And you're giving it to me?” Cal couldn't help being touched by the selfless gesture. “I can't accept this, little man. And besides, I could never take as good care of it as you do.”

Marco's eyebrows came together in a thin, crinkled line over his eyes. “You don't want it?”

“No! No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm honored—” He waved his hand, realizing the more he talked the more crinkled that line got. “You know what, never mind. I will cherish it. Thanks, little man.”

The crinkled line disappeared as a full grin came across his face. “No problem. I can always make more.”

“Listen, I'm glad you came by here today. I've been meaning to talk to you.” Cal gently placed the rock on the desk behind him. “I know what you were doing in that old building downtown and it's not cool.”

Marco dropped his head in shame. “But I had to, Cal. I couldn't let them think I was chicken.”

“What's more important? Being a dead tough guy, or a living chicken?”

Marco smiled, as Cal had hoped. “Look man, no one's asking you to be a coward. But there is no reason to take unnecessary risks.”

“You take risks every day.” The twelve-year-old argued like a lawyer.

“Yeah, but I don't take stupid risk. When I take risks something important is at stake.”

The boy's smile widened. “Like me?” he asked, remembering Cal's heroic rescue.

Cal smiled and lightly punched his arm. “Yeah, like you.” He glanced back at his new trophy sitting still on the desk. Up until this afternoon, he'd considered the rescue in that building to be a failure and he was pretty sure everyone else felt that way, as well.

The building had been destroyed, Marco had gotten burned, not to mention whatever craziness was now going on in his head.

But when Marco had walked in with the small package and eyes still filled with hero worship, Cal suddenly realized he'd let his ego get in the way of what was really important. The boy was alive, no one had been seriously injured, they were alive to tell the tale, and at the end of the day that was all that really mattered.

A soft knock on his door, and they both turned to greet the visitor. Andrea came around the edge of the door and stopped short, surprised to see that Cal already had a visitor.

“Andrea, you remember Marco.” He stood and put his hands on the boy's shoulders.

The boy smiled. “Hi.”

“Nice to see you again, Marco.” Her eyes darted around him to the rock on the desk. “Wow, what's this?”

Once again, Marco explained the significance of the stone and Andrea listened with appropriate awe. “How wonderful! Thank you so much, Marco. When we get our new house, I'll make sure this has a special place.”

Cal just stood listening. Of course, Andrea would know how to handle the whole rock thing, he thought. She didn't even try to give it back.

Marco glanced at his watch. “My mom said I had to be back before seven.”

“Better get going—don't want to get you in trouble.”

The boy threw up a hand, already in motion. “See you later, Cal.”

“Thanks for the gift!” Andrea called after him.

“Uh yeah, thanks!” Cal added far too late.

He walked across the room and closed the door, before wrapping Andrea up in a bear hug. “I tell you what, after we're married, I'll let you handle all the diplomatic stuff, okay?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the feeling of floating she experienced whenever he held her off the ground this way. “I think that goes without saying.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“You tried to give the rock back, didn't you?”

“Well, it just seem like he worked so hard on it, and it meant so much to him, I felt bad.”

She laughed and kissed him.

“What brings you here?” he asked. Pulling away from her soft mouth, he settled her back on her feet.