Scars Of Defiance (27 page)

Sean remembered something Chandra had said when he first
brought her home to meet his family, “You
still
live with your parents?”
Her rebuke had insulted him. He worked here. This was not only his home, it was
his place of employment, whether she liked it or not. However, once they
married, he’d have to figure something else out. She had said, in no uncertain
terms, that she would not live under his parent’s roof.

Sean turned his truck off and with graceful efficiency
gathered all of the bags and sacks from the errand run. He bumped the door of
his truck with his hip to close it and inhaled another deep breath of the clean
air. This time the air had a slight taste of moisture from Slater Lake.

Sean’s muscular build and tall frame easily carried the load
to the kitchen. After he put everything down, he proceeded up to his room to
begin the standard cleaning performed every time a crosser left. James had
stayed in Sean’s room like all the other males. The female crossers stayed in
his sister Lyndee’s room.

The cleaning process was the same; change the bed, clean the
bathroom, vacuum and air out the room. The thorough cleaning had therapeutic
benefits for Sean. It gave him time to reflect on the life of the crosser who’d
moved on. He would ponder on their futures and find himself hoping they would
be able to throw off the heavy weight of their past life.

As Sean flipped open the fresh sheet on his king sized bed,
he felt like he was opening up a fresh page in the ever-continuing saga of defectors
from Rendier. Who would be the next visitor to their home? What kind of life
would they be fleeing? What kind of effect would the next one have on him?

Sean had at least four to seven days off before he would
become responsible for another crosser. Sean’s father, Paul, understood the
emotional toll this job had on the psyche and the importance of unwinding after
sending off a crosser. Paul was born into this lifestyle and continued with it
his whole life. He knew more about it than just about anyone else in Sean’s
opinion. His compassion was matched only by Sean’s mother, Sara, as she had
been a crosser too.

A knock on his bedroom door brought him back to the present.

“Sean,” his mother stood in the doorway. “Your father needs
to speak to you, in his office, now.” She wasn’t usually that direct and it
struck Sean as odd.

Sara was close to the same age as her husband Paul and in
equally good physical condition, if not better for a forty-five year old. She
had beautiful long gentle waves in her dark brown hair and her brown eyes had
gentle smile lines around them indicating a happy life. Her skin was like
beautiful porcelain and her facial features were small and delicate. It was
obvious that Sean’s parents still loved each other very much.

Sean walked downstairs to the basement where his father’s
office was located. He and his father looked so much alike, it was amazing.
They were the same height, had dark brown hooded eyes, muscular body type and
deep brown hair, except Paul had some gray wisdom hairs over his ears where
Sean did not. Many people have said that when he reaches his father’s age of
forty-six, he’ll look exactly like Paul does now. Sean wasn’t bothered by
statements like these because his father looked great.

Paul’s job held the greatest importance as he dealt with the
most dangerous situations of everyone. He talked with the actual ‘sources’ that
helped the defectors flee across the border. His intuitive senses had to be at
their fullest when dealing with these potentially crooked individuals. One
wrong assumption could mean disaster.

The ‘sources’ had their own methods of getting crossers past
border control; each different, yet effective. Paul didn’t know how they
succeeded in fooling the border guards, only that they did. The crosser would
be at the drop off point every time without fail.

The border between the two countries was heavily patrolled
by Rendierian soldiers who performed meticulous vehicle searches. Outsiders
could go to Rendier to visit, but Rendierians couldn’t leave their country
without a passport. As a result, passports were next to impossible to attain,
and it was common knowledge around these parts that Rendierians only left their
country on their way to heaven or hell. So, it increased Paul’s curiosity as to
how his source was always able to cruise through security unchecked.

As Sean approached the slightly opened door, he heard his
father speaking on the phone. “My requirements must be met all the way, or we
won’t make the pick-up. Are you sure you can’t wait three more days? What is
his current health status? OK... Alright, we will be prepared for that.... No,
we’ve got that under control. Alright, give me two hours and we’ll meet at the
rendezvous point.” Paul finished his phone conversation and hung up the phone.

Sean’s stomach dropped; a new crosser would be arriving
tonight. Tonight! No break, no unwind time and no dinner date with Chandra. She
wasn’t going to be happy about that.

“Come in, Sean. We have an injured crosser in critical
condition I’ll be picking up tonight.”

“Are you serious?” Sean asked in a whining tone.

“Serious about what?”

“Usually I get at least a few days break before I get
another crosser.”

“Apparently, this one has been in hiding for over a week
already and cannot receive medical help without being discovered. There’s no
option on this one, Sean. This crosser has an extreme amount of heat on his
head. In fact, he may be the ‘hottest’ one we’ve ever housed. You will need to
exercise tremendous caution,” Paul warned. “Now go get your room ready with
level one medical supplies and I’ll be back around seven o’clock.”

Sean walked back up the stairs begrudgingly. His night with
Chandra was ruined and he probably wouldn’t get any sleep either because of the
medical condition of his new crosser, and what did his father mean when he said
this one had a lot of heat? All crossers were
‘hot’
!

Sean worked hard to get everything ready by six o’clock so when
Chandra stopped by they could at least spend an hour together. He set out all
manner of bandages, ointments, gauze, antibiotic injections, medications (some
of which he had just picked up at the pharmacy), scissors, medical tape and a
few other odds and ends. He didn’t know what kind of injuries this crosser
would be arriving with, but his father had referred to them as critical, so
Sean planned as such.

Six o’clock came and went and Chandra didn’t arrive. Sean
paced the living room in anticipation of his fiancée and her reaction to their
evening plans being squashed. She’s going to blow a gasket
,
Sean thought
to himself.

Chandra finally arrived at six thirty.

“I’m so angry!” She announced as she stormed past Sean. Her
long golden hair flew past Sean’s face. Her delicious perfume trailed behind
her in an invisible presence making Sean lose focus. “The stupid girl who was
supposed to take the shift at six didn’t show up on time. When she showed up
she was all like, ‘I’m sorry, I had to drive my brother to the hospital to get
stitches.’ Like that’s
my
problem or something. Some people don’t have
any consideration for others! It’s like, hey, I have a life
too
, you
know.” She took a calming deep breath and her voice softened and turned
sickeningly sweet, “But I’m here now so let’s go.”

It never ceased to amaze Sean how Chandra’s personality
would titter back and forth with a Jekyll/Hyde kind of intensity. He chose his
words carefully, “Chandra, we can’t go anywhere tonight. I’m sorry.”

“What?” Her smile faded from her face.

“I have a new crosser arriving tonight,” Sean hesitantly
informed her.

“So soon? It’s too soon... It’s not right... This isn’t
fair!”

“I know.”

“This is our night! Doesn’t anyone ever think about us?
About me?”

“I’m sorry,” Sean apologized further.

“You will just have to say no. You tell your father no this
time.”

“I’m sorry. My father is picking him up right now. Look, I’m
not any happier about this than you are,” Sean tried to convince her.

“You always get a week long break. Why not this time?”

“I don’t know it’s apparently an emergency.”

“An emergency, huh? Can it be any more important than our
relationship?”

“Chandra,”

“How can we even pretend to be engaged if we never get any
time together?”

“I know and I’m sorry, Chandra.”

She pouted as she realized there was no way to win this,
“Well, can we at least go grab a bite to eat?”

“No, there isn’t enough time. My father will be back any
minute.”

“Your job stinks,” she sulked with her bottom lip jutting
out, “like mine.”

Sean didn’t say anything.

“So, that’s it for tonight?”

“I’m sorry Chandra. I’ll make it up to you.” Sean tried to
smooth it over.

“Yes, you will.” She whirled around and left the house.

Sean’s mood turned sour with his fiancée storming out like
she did. Or perhaps it was only the fact he wouldn’t be getting a break between
crossers.

Shortly after seven, Sean saw his father’s car pull in the
driveway with Dr. Randall in the passenger seat. The relationship between Dr.
Randall and Paul went way back. He was the only doctor Paul trusted to work
with their crossers within their home. Dr. Randall kept the Cutler family well
stocked with medical supplies and he trained both Sean and Lyndee often on
first-aid and basic medical procedures. Sean thought of him as a nice enough
man, but not very talkative about his relationship with his parents. Dr.
Randall never married and Sean supposed him to be about fifty-five to sixty
years old. His white hair and horn rimmed glasses completed his medical
professional persona.

Sean went out the back door to offer help to his father.

“Go back in the house, Sean!” Paul nearly yelled.

Sean turned around and went back inside feeling more than a
little slighted. He sat in the living room in a chair facing the open
staircase, waiting for everyone to come in. After about ten minutes of waiting,
the doctor and Paul carried the injured crosser up the stairs and into Sean’s
room. Sara went up with them too. Even from the ideal vantage point Sean had,
he couldn’t see the new crosser’s face.

As the night hours ticked by, Sean grew more irritated. He
and Chandra could have gone somewhere and been back by now. They hadn’t needed
him at the house all this time. It aggravated him to no end.

“What are you doing down here?” Sean’s younger brother,
Ryan, asked as he came in the front door.

Sean rolled his eyes in abject frustration. “I’ve been
kicked out.” Ryan was the last person he wanted to talk to right now. It
wouldn’t matter what Sean said, Ryan would find a way to tick him off. Sean
seemed to always be frustrated with Ryan these days, due to the fact that Ryan
constantly shirked his responsibilities, forcing their mother and father to
pick up the slack. And for a twenty year old young man, it was simply
unacceptable behavior.

“Why have you been kicked out?” Ryan was intrigued and a
half smile lit up his face.

“Not sure. Dr. Randall is helping Mom and Dad with a new
crosser. They don’t want me up there.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! Weren’t you listening?”

“I’m asking ‘why they don’t’, but you’re saying ‘they just
don’t’. What is the reason, Sean?”

Ryan’s idiotic way of thinking was what irritated Sean the
most. “Why don’t you go ask them, Ryan?” Sean hoped his brother would feel
egotistical enough to actually do it. Then Sean could enjoy a good laugh when
Ryan was reprimanded.

“Well, if I were you, I would. But since I’m not you, and
the crosser isn’t
my
responsibility, I have no reason to go ask, do I?”
Ryan seemed to love this trite conversation with his brother.

“Don’t you have anything else to do instead of sitting here
pissing me off?”

“I already did and I must say, she was fine,” Ryan was
already exiting the room as he gloated in his conquest.

That was Ryan in a nutshell; conceited, irresponsible,
annoying and rebellious. Ryan’s very DNA seemed to be dissenting. His
appearance was nothing like the rest of the family. His dirty dishwater blond
hair and light hazel eyes stuck out wildly in the family portraits and he was
short; he only stood five foot five inches. There were enough familial traits
such as his facial bone structure and hooded eyes to confirm he was a Cutler,
he just caught all the other recessive genes.

Ryan’s good looks made it easy for him to find girls, but
his over confidence and arrogance pushed them away. Paul often joked that
neither of his sons could keep a girl; Sean was always too concerned with other
people, and Ryan was always too concerned with himself.

Dr. Randall left at ten o’clock p.m. and Sean was finally
allowed to enter his room. His attitude preceded him as he sauntered in, but
when he saw the new crosser on the bed, Sean became speechless. All prior
frustrations melted away as he examined the badly beaten young teenage boy not
more than fifteen or sixteen years old.

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The Dictator’s Daughter

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