Nemesis - 6. Chapter 6: Sue the Dinosaur

Sue the Dinosaur

Nemesis

“You’re Garreth,” I said. “Not Gary. At least, that’s what Dike called you.” We were stuck in traffic on the way home. I was still jittery from talking to Dike, and I was impatient. I was babbling.

Gary seemed calm. “It’s Welsh,” he said. He blushed a little. “It means modest and brave. I grew up knowing that. My father never missed a chance to tell me … especially when I didn’t live up to his expectations for modesty or bravery.”

After we got home, while Gary was on a conference call, I looked up the rest of his name on the Internet. Walters was Welsh for “ruling warrior.” I wondered if Gary knew, and bet he did. I bet his daddy told him.

Gary

I’m still not … not quite sure about Nemesis. Sometimes, it’s as if he were far away, lost in a fantasy world of gods and monsters, except I know that this fantasy is real. Nemesis said he’d just found out about himself a month ago, yet sometimes he acts and speaks as if he were years older than I am. He heard the fake US Marshals call me Garreth, but it didn’t register until he heard Dike say it. He told me he was the son of Nemesis and a mortal father. I managed to confuse that, and think he was the son of Dike, and neither of them corrected me. In fact, Dike apologized for Nemesis. I hoped things would get simpler. I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen.

Nemesis

I figured after the meeting with Dike I’d start finding jobs, things to do. She told me I had a mission, she told me I would be doing important work. She told me I would have help. I asked if she meant Gary; she said, maybe, but the way she looked at him, I think that meant yes. Getting to work with Gary—and getting to sleep with him and getting hugs from him—made up for a lot. Like being treated like I was a 12-year-old. No more Taco Hell, and no more liquor. Actually, I discovered that I didn’t want either, and I kind of liked having someone take care of me.

I never did learn to like broccoli, though.

At lunch, after the meeting with Dike, Gary looked at me kind of funny, like his eyes were focused through me, at the dining room wall, or a million miles away. His question startled me.

“Nemesis, what did Dike mean when she said I was special?”

I didn’t know how to answer. I did manage to tell Gary that Dike said he would help me … might help me …

“I sort of figured that,” Gary said. “But what about the special part? She didn’t say, special how. I hope, if we’re going to be partners, it’s something more than just being able to see you … and green monster-marshals ... and superior court judges who are elder gods.”

I thought at first he was making fun of me, but there was no laugh, no smile. In fact, his lips got tight and his eyes, hooded. It was going to be up to me. I stood up. We were less than two steps apart. In the time that it took me to cross that space, Gary stood and held out his arms.

Gary held me, hard. I felt … worry, desperation, maybe.

“We’re partners, aren’t we?” I asked.

Gary had his face buried in my hair … he always did when we hugged. I felt his nod.

“Maybe we need to talk more about that that means,” I said.

I was shaking, and I knew Gary could feel it. “I guess you’d better know a little more … ” I took a deep breath. “ … about me.

“Will you hold me while I tell you, and promise not to hate me, after?” I whispered.

Gary

Nemesis was frightened. I could feel it in the way he shook; I could hear it in his voice. I led him to the couch and pulled him into my lap. I hugged him, and pressed his head to my chest.

“Nemesis, I will never hate you,” I said. “Even before Dike, there was something … something special between us … ” It was hard, very hard, not to think sex thoughts. I tried to push them aside and think only love, but I knew some came through, and that Nemesis heard them.

“That’s what I’ve got to tell you about,” Nemesis said. His voice was husky as if he had to force the words through a reluctant throat. “The before part. I’m not a demi-god, the son of a goddess. You know that. But you don’t know what I am … what I was before. Before I was … what I am, now, I was a man, older than you, 46 years old. I got picked to kind of take the place of another Nemesis … and I turned into a 12-year-old boy.”

Nemesis stopped talking. He stopped breathing, waiting for my reaction.

I hugged him tighter for a second, then lifted his chin. I looked into his eyes. They were filling with tears. I wiped them away with my thumb.

“Um, hum,” I said. “That’s not what has you so upset, though.”

Nemesis ducked his head and buried it in my chest. I could barely hear what he said, next.

“I was like you … I liked little boys … like you … but I did the things you won’t do. I hurt boys … I didn’t help them, like you do. I was … I was evil … I hurt boys … you have to hate me!”

Nemesis was crying, now. Sobs wracked his little body. I held him as tightly as I could and whispered, “No, Nemesis, I don’t hate you.”

I surprised him, and even myself, when I let my heart take over. “I love you. I don’t like what you said you were, but I don’t hate you. I love what you are, now.”

I thought this would cheer him up; it didn’t. He cried even harder.

After Nemesis cried himself out, I urged him to wash his face, and then asked if he’d like to go to Dave and Buster’s for supper. The little boy persona was back in the smile on his clean, bright face. The little boy persona played skee-ball and ate pizza, and called me daddy when the waiter brought our order. Our cuddles that night were the best, ever.

Nemesis

Three days later, nothing had happened. Gary and I had talked more about the partners thing, but other than me confessing my past to him, we’d not figured out where things were going. We’d gone out looking for boys to help. We didn’t find any. I was frustrated, again, but I didn’t let Gary know. Still, he figured out that I was unhappy.

Gary

Nemesis had enjoyed our museum trips. I asked him if he’d like to go to the Field Museum. He perked up a little bit and agreed to wear regular clothes and be visible.

“You’ll have to pay my admission,” Nemesis said. “I could get in free … ”

I laughed. “Not to worry. I have a membership, and I won’t even have to worry about trying to sneak in a 46-year-old adult at a child’s rate … What’s the matter?”

Nemesis had been giggling, animated, smiling. Suddenly, his face froze, and it wasn’t a smile. He flushed, and then got white.

“I didn’t even think about that,” he whispered. “I am. Forty-six years old, that is. I’d … I’d forgotten.” His face … flickered. In one instant, I thought I saw lines of age and worry; in the next, I saw the clear, innocent, smooth face of the 12-year-old that I’d found behind an abandoned shopping center. His face settled into the 12-year-old, but it had tears in its eyes. He held out his arms.

I picked him up, thankful that I was still strong enough to do so without hurting my titanium leg. He put his cheek against mine, wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist. I felt a few tears run down my cheek, but couldn’t tell if they were his or mine.

“I love you,” I whispered. “Remember?”

Nemesis nodded his head. He kissed my cheek. I love you, I thought.

I love you, I think I heard.

Nemesis

I thought I love you, even though I knew Gary couldn’t hear me. I was still afraid to say it.

We saw a lot at the museum, but my favorite thing was a Tyrannosaurus Rex named “Sue.” She was huge, and ferocious looking. I held Gary’s hand. His grip was strong. If I’d been a real little boy, seeing Sue for the first time, with his daddy, I’d have felt safe. Actually, I did feel safe, and like a real little boy. It was a good feeling.

There was a group of boys looking at Sue while one of the docents lectured them. The boys were from one of the private schools—they were all wearing white shirts, shorts, and knee socks. There were a lot of cute ones. My eyes wandered from Sue to the group of boys.

Gary squeezed my hand to get my attention, and whispered, “What’s wrong? You’re miles away.”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Distracted, I guess.” Then my eyes locked onto the group of boys, again.

“Something,” I said. “Do you see anything … unusual?”

“You mean like the marshals who weren’t?” Gary asked.

“No … something mundane,” I said. I turned my head, and looked around.

“There!” I said, perhaps too loudly. There was a man on the outskirts of the group of schoolboys. He was looking at a brochure … no, he was looking over the top of the brochure. I followed line of sight. He was staring at the boys.

“That man … ” I said to Gary. “The one by the column? He’s staring at the boys. It’s a … wait … ”

One boy had broken ranks, spoken briefly to one of the chaperones, and was walking away from the group. Potty break, I thought. The man looked at Sue, and then turned to follow the little boy.

Oh. “Gary, I need to go to the restroom … not to piss, but I need to go the restroom where that boy’s headed … and the man, too.”

Gary nodded, and released my hand. “I’ll follow,” he said.

The boy entered the restroom. The man looked around before pushing open the door and following the boy. I made myself invisible, and followed close behind the man.

The boy stood at a urinal. The man went to a sink. He waved his hands under the faucet and triggered a sensor. The water started. The boy zipped up his shorts, and walked toward a sink. The man turned, grabbed the boy. Damn! He had one hand over the boy’s mouth and an arm around the boy’s waist. I couldn’t figure out his plan … all that needed to happen was for someone else to come in.

Son of a bitch! I thought. The man walked toward a door. Janitor’s closet? I thought, before I saw the bright FIRE EXIT sign. He’s going to take the kid outside.

Before he could push open the door, I stepped in front of him and made myself visible.

I’d forgotten that I was wearing school clothes: khakis and a pullover shirt. Not as impressive as a half-naked kid with a great honking sword. Still, appearing out of thin air had to count for something.

“That’s enough,” I said. The man released the kid. That was easy, I thought, and then saw that the reason the man had turned loose of the kid. It was so he could grab one of those telescoping spring batons. He pulled it from his pocket and snapped it open.

Uh, oh! I thought, and ducked. My sword banged on the wall. Sword? Sword! I drew it, and raised it to block the man’s next swing with the baton.

The sword sparked when it hit the baton. The spark traveled down the baton, down the man’s arm, and seemed to settle in his chest. He gasped, and collapsed.

I looked down at the man … he was twitching, a little. The kid was still there. He looked at me kinda funny.

Gary came in.

“Is everything okay?” he asked. The kid scampered back to the museum.

Then I shrugged. “He tried to hit me with this … ”

I showed Gary the baton. Gary whistled. “He didn’t, though?”

“No. But when I blocked with my sword … it shocked him or something.”

Gary knelt and felt the man’s pulse. “He’s dead. I think we should leave … ”

Garreth

I lifted the man onto a toilet seat in one of the stalls. Nemesis locked the door from the inside, and then crawled under the door. We left the museum as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. I was nervous for the rest of the day. The police hadn’t contacted me, again, about the dead man behind the shopping center. Now, there was another dead man. Would my luck hold out?