We spent the next couple of days preparing for a Christmas/New Year’s party. Helen and Scotty have been in communication with Joan, George and Blake. We invited them and they accepted as well as the Catalina folks. “We should invite Henry and Jackie as well.” Jillian said talking with Susan and Helen.

  “THE CHICKEN MAN!” Reese boomed in the background.

  “We can stop on our way back from fishing.” I said coming in from the nursery with a paint roller.

  “I have a huge box of stuff for him and Jackie!” Helen said.

  “Meet you a two o’clock?” I asked Helen and Scotty.

  Jillian and I pulled into the Marina and both of us immediately noticed bicycle tracks in the fresh dirt.

  “These look fresh, today or yesterday would be my guess.” Jillian said as Ginger and Pete sniffed the tracks.

  “Thirty or forty pounds of gear, maybe more. Look at the width and the profile of the tires and the turns.” I said observing the tracks closely.

  Silent laughter that grew increasingly sinister, reverberating around the Marina. It was difficult to locate the source as Ginger and Pete focused and started to growl. I drew my weapon.

  “YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO SHOW YOURSELF!” I said loudly as the laughter continued as a man emerged from the overgrown bushes walking a bicycle loaded with gear. He leaned the bike against a pole and stood with arms raised as tears streamed down his cheeks, still laughing.

  “He’s nuts.” Jillian whispered to me. The man was in his mid-twenties, healthy, his white teeth contrasted with his dirty sunburned face.

  “You are EXACTLY as I anticipated!” The man said as Ginger and Pete were closing in on either side as he faced us as we approached him. His voice was oddly familiar. “Trevor?” I asked as Jillian just smiled.

  “YOU MADE IT TREVOR!” I said lowering my weapon as Trevor dropped to his knees with arms outstretched, overcome by emotion. He sat down and cried. Ginger and Pete approached him, noses on full alert. Trevor held out broken pieces of a dog treat in his hands as Ginger and Pete’s tails began to wag a little.

  “I’ve been carrying these for almost two months with the hopes of giving them to you two.” Trevor said to Ginger and Pete.

  “It’s okay.” I said to Ginger and Pete as they cautiously sniffed then accepted the tiny fragment of a once large dog treat as I held out my hand for Trevor. Trevor grabbed it and looked at the scars on my hand and arm.

  (Trevor’s mental state was familiar to me; depression, anxiety, loneliness, isolation. Joy and happiness are feelings so far removed from daily life; once experienced they are amplified, a pleasure overload. Even though Trevor is temporarily unbalanced he is someone that can be trusted. Trevor has many dark secrets.)

  “This is from when you saved…the bear…Sam.” Trevor said pulling me in close and hugging me. His body odor made my eyes water as he reached for Jillian. “Doctor J!” He said very excited, pulling her in close for a group hug. Just then, Helen and Scotty rounded the corner and then accelerated toward us. I held up my hands and smiled as the truck came to a screeching halt.

  “LADY DI AND GOOD OLE BOY! SCOTTY!” Trevor yelled as Helen said “Trevor?!” “Son of a bitch!” Scotty said smiling as they both exited the truck followed by the wolf pack and greeted Trevor.

  “Lady Di!” Trevor said emotionally hugging both of them as the wolf pack was inspecting his bicycle. Helen and Scotty overwhelmed by Trevor’s pungent odor looked at us over his broad shoulders.

  “Sweetie, we are just so happy to see you but you smell really bad.” Helen said reluctantly.

  “My eyes can smell you.!” Scotty said laughing.

  “Forty-six days of travel, couple of setbacks, but I made it!” Trevor said walking over to his bicycle and pulling a camera from one of his packs and started taking pictures of us and the dogs.

  “I have gifts for everyone!” Trevor said excited as he searched in one of his packs, the wolf pack approached him. Trevor stopped and stood still.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “What do I do?” Trevor asked out of the side of his mouth, reality coming into focus.

  “Don’t make eye contact, don’t smile and no sudden movements.” Scotty said as Rosie, Becky and Jeff approached Trevor. They gave him a slow sniff down then backed away. They were apprehensive and kept their distance, Trevor remained in their line of sight at all times.

  “Mark? James?!” Trevor asked, looking at all of us.

  “Sorry Trevor.” Jillian said with a heavy heart walking up, and placing her hand on his shoulder.

  “I’m the only one left.” Trevor said staring blankly forward then closing his eyes and his posture deflating. A wave of emotion engulfed him.

  “I, I… tried to bury everyone, but it was just too difficult! So, So I decided to burn them. I could not live with myself knowing they would stay where they all just…fell… and something might eat them! It all happened so fast! So fast. All of them bleeding, crying and looking toward me for help. I. I… I can’t get the image out of my head.” Trevor said as his voice shuttered as he closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “I did what I thought was best! It was the right thing to do… RIGHT?” Trevor pleaded, looking toward each of us, searching for confirmation and support for his decision that he obviously has been struggling with.

  “Give me your hand.” Helen said quietly as she approached him. Trevor held out both of his hands. If he had more, he would have offered them as well.

  “There was no right decision, there was no wrong decision that you could have made, that would affect anyone but you. It either makes you stronger or it burns you from the inside out. You ARE stronger because of it. You just need to realize that.” Helen said in a convincing tone.

  “You rode a bicycle from Oklahoma to California. That takes a big set of balls.” I said with admiration.

  “How many people were destined for California?” Jillian asked Trevor.

  “Everyone! Except Ron.” Trevor responded. Trevor did not like Ron, he had a stereotypical view of him. ‘Dumb hillbilly’ stands out in his thoughts of Ron. He could trust Ron but did not agree with him on many occasions. “You represent that pilgrimage. To think of this as anything other than a miracle, you are wrong.” Jillian concluded with a smile.

  “How many people did you come across along the way?” Scotty asked.

  “No one.” Trevor said. Scotty continued; “How many times did you realize you were no longer at the top of the food chain?”

  “Never thought about that. I only saw a couple of small birds, one squirrel… I think it was, and a few small tracks in the dirt. I have a small nine-millimeter, but never needed to use it.” Trevor said.

  Jillian pulled her laptop from the Escalade and showed Trevor the video and pictures of the mountain lion Paul shot.

  “Shit.” Trevor exclaimed.

  “This happened not too far from here.” Jillian said as Trevor looked at each of us and took a deep breath and exhaled.

  “So, So… I’m a bad ass?” Trevor asked.

  “Luckiest bad ass I know of!” Scotty said as we all shook our heads in agreement. Trevor smiled broadly as tears trickled down his face. He stretched his arms out wide looking for another group hug.

  “If I have to hug you one more time, I’m gonna puke.” Jillian said as I pushed her against Trevor and we all hugged as Jillian’s muffled curses were stifled by all of our laughter.

  We headed north in the Wolf-Pack II to check on the Lobster traps. About two miles out Scotty stopped the boat in a calm area. Helen handed him a wash cloth and soap. “Bath time!” Scotty said as he dropped anchor.

  “Don’t make us tear those clothes off you.” Jillian said as she stripped down to her bra and panties and lowered herself in the water as I followed her. Scotty built a retractable ramp to allow easy access for the dogs. Ginger swam near Jillian as Pete swam near me. Pete was nervous and did not like the open ocean, so he and I returned to the boat after a couple of minutes. Mostly because I was cold. Pete barked until Jillian and Ginger returned. Trevor swam around the boat in Olympic form as his lily-white ass blinded everyone. Jillian took a number of pictures of Trevor as I just laughed.

  “Rebecca is going to want copies.” Jillian said.

  “Who is Rebecca?” Trevor asked as he returned to the ramp and Scotty threw him a towel and said “The Seductress.” In a radio announcer voice.

  “Oh really!?” Trevor said smiling and his eyebrows raised.

  “She is in her mid-twenties, most of her hair is growing back. Three of her remaining teeth are kind of white and her lazy eye is almost, not noticeable at all!” I said. “… and that cold sore on her mouth is almost healed!” Helen added.

  “You're full of shit!” Trevor said, then changing his expression. “Please tell me you're full of shit.” Trevor pleaded as Scotty resumed his course north.

  Scotty gave Trevor an outline on his boat, engines and the vehicles power source. Trevor was finally relaxing and not paying too much attention to the information. He was just enjoying hearing Scotty talk and petting Ginger, who took a particular liking to him as he watched us fish. We picked up five pretty good-sized lobsters and the live wells and coolers were all full as we headed back to the marina. As soon as we were within range, we called the Catalina folks.

  “Come in Lightening.” I repeated a couple of times. Susan finally answered.

  “We got some good news, and we got some bad news.” I said.

  “Bad news first.” Susan said in a low disappointed tone.

  “You, are going to start losing a lot more baseball games. We have a new recruit.” I said.

  “NO WAY!” Sammy yelled in the background causing Elaine to cry.

  “Does he bat lefty or righty?” Sammy asked talking loud over the radio.

  “I’m a lefty young man.” Trevor said loudly with authority.

  “What’s your name?” Rebecca asked. We all pointed silently to the radio and made juvenile gestures from our earlier description of Rebecca; Helen pointing to her lip.

  “Trevor.” He said.

  “Oh my GOD!” Rebecca said.

  “Is this … the Seductress?” Trevor asked in a low voice.

  “Maybe.” Rebecca responded. Trevor launched into a flurry of romantic French that actually turned me on a little.

  “REESE! WE NEED TO GET TO MALIBU!” Rebecca yelled.