Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
The diner was packed. The food smelled terrific and the atmosphere was easy and joyful.
It was in complete juxtaposition to how I felt, but I would take happy over sad whenever I could find it.
The trios of characters were celebrating the success of putting Shitty Ritchie back together again.
Kind of like Humpty Dumpty. The dwarfs were on the right side of the establishment entertaining the Sullys.
The Mike Wazoskis were on the left side playing Rock Paper Scissors with the Fonzies.
And the Als, all three of them, were delivering food to the booths.
It was nuts.
“I’ll take the Sullys and the dwarfs,” Candy Vargo said, grabbing a fry off a tray as an Al Delvecchio walked by.
“I’ll join you,” Tim told her.
“Guess that means we have the Mikes and the Fonzies,” I said to Gideon with a small laugh.
He was still on edge, but smiled back at me. We were all on edge. Right now, we couldn’t be anything else.
Shitty Ritchie had situated himself in the middle of the room where he greeted the crowd like he was royalty.
We’d had to carry him in since he was severely off balance due to his newly acquired arm and leg.
While he looked ridiculous, he was still beautiful to me. He was alive and that mattered most.
“Daisy,” Gideon said, touching my arm as we crossed the diner. “We can learn the most by simply listening. Often times, people share more when not under pressure.”
I nodded. My man was brilliant. I was ready to grill people like they were on the witness stand of a mass murder trial. Easing up was the prudent thing to do.
“Hello!” Mike Wazowski One said, extending his adorable green hand.
“Hi,” I said with a smile, shaking it. “I’m Daisy and this is Gideon.”
“Lovely to make your acquaintance!” Mike One said. “Take a seat and join us.”
“Thank you,” I told him, sliding into the booth next to a Fonzie.
“Aaaaaay!” the Fonzies yelled with their thumbs extended.
“Aaaaaay!” Gideon and I replied.
“So, what shaking?” I asked.
The Mikes roared with laughter. I wasn’t sure what was so funny, but it made me giggle.
“Not much,” Mike Wazowski Two said. “We’re just debating the merits of vengeance versus logic versus compassion.”
I glanced at Gideon who was wedged in between the other two Fonzies across from me. He looked a little uncomfortable, but was being a good sport. The fact that he was dressed identically to the Fonzies made me grin. Heck, I was dressed like the Fonzies too. Candy was crazy.
“Seems like a heavy conversation,” I commented to Mike Two.
“Correct!” he squealed. “But one that bears consideration, Daisy.”
“How so?” Gideon asked. He was laser focused on Mike Two. He clearly believed the conversation was a clue.
I listened. I didn’t want to miss a word.
“Aaaaaay!” Fonzie Three chimed in. “It’s a perfect combination. Whoa! If you’re all vengeance, you lose.”
“And,” Mike One added. “If you’re all compassion, you lose. There is no bark without a bite!”
“Aaaaaay!” Fonzie One said with a double thumbs up. “Can’t forget logic. Vengeance and compassion are fine, but without reason all will fail. You may as well sit on it!”
Again, the Mikes laughed hard. I vaguely recalled that one of Fonzie’s catch phrases was, ‘sit on it’. The Mikes’ laughter was contagious. I couldn’t help but join them.
“Aaaaaay!” Fonize Two dove into the conversation. “That’s what’s wrong with the equation. Vengeance is too strong.”
“Can you clarify that?” I asked, not wanting to grill, but needing more.
He pondered the question as he pulled out a comb and freshened up his pompadour. “Aaaaaay! It’s about balance and we don’t have it. We’ve never had it. Whoa!
“Umm… okay,” I replied, hoping there was more.
There was.
Mike Three had something to say. “Vengeance shall lead to both compassion and logic.”
“Not following,” Gideon said.
Mike chuckled. “That’s because definitions don’t necessarily mean what you believe them to mean.”
It was like we’d fallen into a puzzle where the pieces didn’t snap together. I might be trying to erase the cryptic from the Immortal world, but these dudes were not. They seemed to be all about it.
Fine. I’d done cryptic. If I had to keep deciphering it, I would.
“Are you saying vengeance, compassion and logic mean different things than their actual definitions?” I asked.
Mike winked at me. “I’m saying they mean what they mean, but they also mean more than what they mean.”
Shit. Gideon raised a brow. This chat was either full of bullshit or brilliance. I wasn’t sure which, so I kept going.
“How many things do each of the words mean?” I pressed.
“Aaaaaay!” Fonzie One said, offering me his fries. “Three! Each has three meanings.”
It all kept coming back to three. “Is that the reason there are three of each of you?”
“Of course,” Mike Two confirmed. “Many times, people need to be informed multiple times to get it. The mind can be a slow mechanism.”
“Am I slow?” I asked with a laugh.
All the Mikes giggled. “Quicker than most, but slower than us.”
“I see,” I said, munching on a fry. Tim had been correct. The fries were excellent. “Is there something I can do to be faster?”
“Aaaaaay!” the Fonzies said in unison. “Find vengeance. It might help you find your way to compassion and logic.”
“But they already…” Mike One said.
Mikes Two and Three stopped him.
“If all the clues are given, no successful resolution can be found,” Mike Two said. “Please enjoy the fries, we must be off.”
“Aaaaaay!” Fonzie One said with a grin. “Don’t sit on it. Whoa! In your heart you’re correct-amundo! The path will lead you the way you are supposed to walk. What you find will be up to fate.”
“Is it a literally path?” Gideon asked.
Fonzie patted him on the head like he was a child. “The path is never literal, Grim Reaper. You know that as well as I do.”
And on those final words all the Fonzies, Mike Wazowskis, Sullys, dwarfs and Als vanished along with Arnold’s Drive-In. We were in an empty field of wild flowers with bunny rabbits and birdies.
“Shitty Ritchie would like to share that Fonzie Three offered me his pecker!” the small idiot announced, thrilled. “I told him we have some business to do, but we’d come back for it.”
We would not come back for Fonzie Three’s pecker. Ever. Since none of us wanted to see Shitty Ritchie throw a tantrum, no one commented.
“Time for an intel swap,” Candy Vargo said. “All them dwarfs kept yackin’ about was vengeance, compassion and logic. And the freakin’ Grumpys went on and on about offin’ one’s counterpart to get the job done right.”
“Wait. What?” I asked, not following. “Are the dwarfs going to off each other?”
“Hell if I know,” Candy griped.
“The Fonzies and the Mikes spoke of compassion, logic and vengeance as well,” Gideon confirmed. “However, they were adamant that the meanings meant more than the written definitions.”
“Fascinating,” Tim said, pulling a notebook from his leather pants pocket and taking notes. “Did they happen to share the other meanings?”
“No,” I told him. “But they did say there were three. And Mike One seemed to imply that we already knew something.”
“What the fuck do we know?” Candy Vargo snapped.
“A whole lot of nothing,” I muttered, feeling helpless.
“Welp, they sure fuckin’ banged the number three over our heads enough,” Candy commented, still snappish.
Tim touched Candy’s shoulder. She relaxed immediately. “I’m sure there’s a good reason for that. The general rule is five to seven times,” Tim said calmly. “People need to see things five to seven times to remember them.”
“I’m going to say we saw threes way more then seven times today,” I said, helping Shitty Ritchie get comfortable on the grass. His body was so out of whack, he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.
“Three Higher Powers,” Shitty Ritchie reminded us. “That means that Tom Hanks and Cheese Dick are missing a third person.”
“Awesome,” I muttered.
“Not,” Candy Vargo snarled.
“Agreed,” I replied, ready to scream. “So, what the heck are we looking for next? Alana Catherine, Jennifer and Cheese Dick or the mysterious other part of the Higher Power? What happens if we choose the wrong path and everything freaking blows up?”
Gideon growled. The sound was ominous and frightening.
A dark energy crackled in the air and a red haze began to dance angrily though the colorful wild flowers.
The Grim Reaper looked like he was about to go full-on Demon.
His eyes spit red sparks his fury at the situation was barely contained.
Small, searingly hot fires began to pop up on the ground around him.
We were far too close to the subject to be rational about anything.
It was crazy hard to be reasonable with our daughter involved.
However, rationality was what we needed.
It could be the difference between success and failure.
Shitty Ritchie, Tim and even Candy Vargo took a few steps back from Gideon and the flaming grass. The Grim Reaper was living up to his name.
Without a shred of fear, I walked right through the fire and over to the man I loved.
I cupped his cheek in my hand and stared into his blood red eyes.
I felt his tension. It vibrated through my body.
The Demon was wound tight and about to erupt.
I needed him to rein it in. “Not now,” I whispered calmly.
“Not yet, Gideon. You have to tamp it back. Immediately. Hold that anger until we need it. Alana Catherine is counting on us. She needs us to keep our heads on straight.”
The Grim Reaper inhaled deeply then shuddered violently as he released his rage. The fires disappeared as quickly as they’d started and his eyes slowly lost their bloody hue. It wasn’t his norm to back down. However, love was so much stronger than hate.
After his breathing regulated, Gideon took my hand in his and kissed my palm. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” I told him. “Stay with me. Stay present. Don’t let anything—especially emotions—cloud your judgement. We have too much to lose.”
“It won’t happen again,” he promised. “You have my word. My apologies, love.”
“No. No apologies,” I said, melting a little as I leaned into his body. “Just stay with me.”
“Always,” he replied, wrapping his arms around me. “Always.”
After a second, we let go of each other, and I turned to the others and nodded. Tim stepped forward.
“Let’s go over what we can define, in the literal sense,” Tim suggested. “While we’re aware that there is most likely a third part of the former Higher Power, it’s somewhat abstract at the moment. I’d suggest sticking to what we’ve seen and experienced thus far.”
“Shitty Ritchie agrees!” he announced. “BUT I would like to point out that my new arm and leg are getting smaller. This is BULLSHIT.” He turned to Candy Vargo in a tizzy. “Do you think that if I get Fonzie’s pecker put on that it would shrink as well?”
Candy Vargo’s eyes narrowed to slits. Shitty Ritchie took about ten steps back.
“Maybe we should discuss the enlargement of my junk later?” Shitty Ritchie squeaked.
“Absolutely,” I said in my outdoor voice. “Or never.” I pointed at Tim. “Please keep going.”
“Of course, friend,” he said. “The dictionary defines vengeance as a punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or a perceived wrong.”
“Keep talkin’ Timmy,” Candy said, still giving a very quiet Shitty Ritchie the evil eye. “Define compassion.”
“Will do,” he replied. “Compassion is sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.”
“And logic?” Gideon pressed.
Tim nodded. “Logic is the reasoning conducted according to the strict principles of validity or you could also say that logic is the quality of being justifiable by reason.”
“The other point that the Fonzies and Mikes belabored was the fact that all of them—vengeance, compassion and logic—will lose on their own,” I said.
“Cryptic motherfuckers,” Candy Vargo hissed.
I didn’t bother to point out that all of the Immortals were like that, including her.
It would not help the situation at all. All of the Fonzies, Sullys, Mikes and dwarfs had been fixated on the trio of vengeance, compassion and logic.
They basically beat us over the head with it.
It obviously meant something—something important.
“I’m lost,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s a puzzle and I don’t get it.”
Candy Vargo removed the toothpicks from her mouth and didn’t replace them.
Highly unusual. “It’s the way it rolls for us,” she said flatly in a tired voice.
“I don’t like it. Never have. But that don’t matter.
Here’s what I do know, I’m too fuckin’ old to pretend I understand somethin’ when I don’t.
That’ll fuck you up, people. I don’t know what the threes mean yet, other than that the Higher Power is supposed to be three people.
I don’t know what logic, vengeance and compassion have to do with the number three yet, but I’ll tell you this… I’ll fuckin’ figure it out.”
Tim examined his notes. “Hang on,” he said, rereading what he’d written. “I have a thought.”
“Speak,” Gideon said tersely.
He was still on the edge, but a few feet back from where he was only minutes ago.
“I believe all of this information is directly related to the Higher Power,” Tim said.
“Ya think?” Candy Vargo grunted with an enormous eye roll.
He ignored her rudeness and continued. “It might be a map of sorts. I think it’s time for Daisy to mind dive. I do have a few hypotheses, but guessing at this point could be fatal.”
I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was unclear if that was good or bad. “Do you have any specific questions for Tom Hanks?”
Tim tore the sheet of paper from his pad and handed it to me. I looked it over. My body began to tingle.
I glanced up at him. “Will this piece of paper stay in my pocket when I dive into Shitty Ritchie?”
Tim shrugged. “Possibly, but I’d suggest you memorize it just in case.”
“On it.”
I memorized the questions like the grade for the test I was about to take would result in life or death.
Because it might…