Ten

Bobby

I sat in the work van where I'd pulled over just before I called Cole. His thoughts were a jumble filled with anxiety and confusion when he'd first answered, and I had no clue how I knew that. Before this morning, I had no clue who Cole Ryan even was, now there was a part of me that knew him better than I knew anyone.

With a flash of blue . . . The words continued to repeat in my mind. It wasn't Cole's voice that I heard, and it definitely wasn't mine. But the strange voice continued over and over, only just loud enough for me to hear when I concentrated on it. Turning up the radio, I concentrated on driving, and forced myself not to focus on it.

I was finally focusing on the music when a call came through. "Hey, where are you?" Dad asked.

"I'm just going through Yuba City." I'd decided to go the other way around and avoid all reminders of going to the hospital earlier. So far that hadn't worked at all and had just given me a longer drive back to the shop.

"You were able to make the delivery?"

"Yeah, no problem at all. I was late but they didn't mind. They were just happy to get their order."

"Oh, good thing, Bobby. When you get back, I need your help on a big order for the casino." He was focused on work and not where I'd been earlier, which was fine with me, but I knew he'd be asking for more details once I was at the shop, and we were working.

"Sounds good. Sorry to be so late today," I said, because I knew it needed to be addressed.

"It's alright. I can't fault you for helping someone." Dad was always a good man. He'd stop and help anyone who had broken down on the side of the road no matter what their vehicle looked like or how scary they might have looked to someone else. He always said not to judge anyone by how they looked or what they drove, and I lived the same way. If someone needed help, I helped them.

"I'll fill you in on it all when I get back to the shop. It's been a wild day already."

"It's barely past noon and it sounds like you've had quite the adventure." He chuckled.

"Oh, you just wait until you hear about it," I said and smiled at his words.

"Alright, son, back to work, I'll see you soon."

"See you soon." I turned up the radio to a normal volume and after speaking with Dad I was able to relax more than I had been able to before. I focused on the music and not much else as I drove past the flat fields and pastures that would soon lead me to the small town of Sugarfield. It might have been small, but we were close enough to Sacramento and the airport for that to not really matter.

Sugarfield had started out as a rural area of Woodland where a sugar factory processed the local sugar beets. But eventually as Woodland grew, so had Sugarfield. It was nice here, not too country to be in the middle of nowhere, but country enough to know all your neighbors. I waved to a few familiar faces as I drove to the shop, and finally pulled into the parking lot.

The giant Print 4 You sign with a pointing finger was affixed to the roof and even though we took most orders online or by phone, we were easy enough to find if anyone needed to.

"I'm back," I yelled as I walked into the copy room where all the machinery was located and over to where Dad was standing next to one of the machines getting it set up for a run.

"Oh good, we just got another big order." He handed me the paperwork while I handed him the workorder from earlier. Both of us paused to read before moving off to do what was needed.

I glanced at the order and the proof. "Well, this is different," I said and grinned at Dad.

"Yeah, we don't get many orders for carnival flyers."

"We get none that I've seen." I read the proof announcing the Carnival of Mysteries would soon be coming to Hickory Crossing for one weekend only and listing all the performers and entertainment that would be included in your low admission price. "Do people go to carnivals anymore?"

"Sure, they do," Dad said. "There just aren't as many as there used to be."

"Yeah, I guess." I walked over to the machine I'd be printing from and after downloading the image and setting it all up, I got busy printing off the five hundred flyers they'd ordered.

"So, tell me what happened earlier," Dad said as he walked over to where I stood checking everything was set up right for the print run.

"Well, I was driving to Hickory Crossing—" I continued for the next twenty minutes until I'd told him everything. "It feels like it happened a month ago, but at the same time as if it was a few minutes ago. I can still smell how he smelled like burnt hair and clothes, but it was electrical burns, so it was tinged with a sour smell."

"That guy is lucky to be alive. I can't believe you saw him get hit, or that he survived." Dad's eyes were wide, and I knew the exact emotions he was feeling. I'd felt them over and over today. "He really should have stayed at the hospital. What if he has internal injuries? It's very common for the lightning to do a lot of damage to the internal organs." Dad knew a little bit about everything, and I wasn't surprised he knew something about being struck by lightning. "How did he seem when you left him?"

"He took a shower, shaved his head, and he seemed fine."

Dad stared at me for a full minute before shaking his head. "It's hard to believe he could just get up and go to work without any issues."

"There's more," I said, because there was no way I was going to tell him all the crazy shit I'd seen today, but I had to tell him enough to find out more information if he had it. "When his mum came over to check on him, he told her he'd heard something when he was struck."

"He heard something. Like a noise?"

"More like a voice. With a flash of blue. That's what it said. When he told his mum, she looked like she'd been slapped. It was obvious she knows more, but she left almost as soon as he said it."

He rubbed his chin as he thought about what I'd said. "I've never heard that before. Did you google it to see if you had any luck?"

"No, I hadn't really had time to think about it."

"Let me see what I can find out," he said, and turned back to the job he'd been working on.

"Thanks, I'm meeting Cole later. I really want to make sure he's okay."

"Bobby, be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you either."

"What could happen to me?" I asked, but then I thought about how Cole looked being thrown through the air and my mouth went dry. "I'll be careful."