Hell's Rebel

Chapter 18 - Blaze

I turn onto King's road. Damn. I sure hate to see bums boulevard, since Kings road is the type of street you don't want to be caught alone. Hell, you just don't want to be out as soon as the sun goes down. Streetlights flicker in and out, trash on every curb. Now I know his house is around here somewhere. I slow down and try to read the addresses as I drive by, but that is difficult since its night and all the numbers are either faded or completely gone.  That's when I see his house. Fuck, it looks even worse than the last time I was here. It is a small house, only a single bedroom and there is no basement. Weeds is his yard, not even a single blade of grass exists. I park and make sure to slam my door, letting him know I'm here. I reach the door and am about ready to knock, when I'm suddenly greeted with the barrel of a rifle, pointed straight at my chest. Then a tired, gruffy voice fills my ears,

“Go away before I send your heart out of your chest.”

I smile at his words. He hasn't changed at all.

“General, pardon me, but you couldn't shoot me right now even if you wanted to, see you shake too much so the bullet won't go where you want it, besides with your 89 year old vision, I doubt you can even aim.”

The door flies the rest of the way open revealing General Jackson Carter. He lowers his rifle with so much speed I'm surprised he doesn't have a heart attack. With that same speed, he grabs my arm and with the strength of a bull, pulls me inside.

“Arthur, boy, what brings you here?” The General asks with a grin of true happiness.

As soon as I hear him call me by my middle name I can't help but remember how much it pissed me off back then.

“Don't answer that. Come on, let's sit, then you can answer.”

I walk the 6 steps it takes to get into the living room and take a seat on the couch. General doesn't come and sit right away, instead he keeps going to the kitchen and grabs a 6 pack of Buds. He comes back, places the 6 pack on the small coffee table between us and sits down. I instantly snap of two beers and place one in front of him. After I open mine and take a swig of it I talk,

“General, when are you going to come back home with me? This place is no place for a man like you. Besides you will stop complaining about not seeing Zara and I.”

“Bullshit, Arthur, I may be old, but I'm not senile. And if you say one more word about me being too old to take care of myself, I will whip you so hard you are gonna wish your mamma never opened up her legs.”

I put my hands up in surrender and finish off my beer. I open another one and take a gulp of it before I continue,

“Zara, she has changed since the last time you've seen her.”

“Have you killed Cam yet?”

“No.”

General grunts his disapproval.

“Zara, she is a strong lass. But what has she done to get you like this?”

I look at him in confusion.

“Like what?”

General just smiles and moves on,

“What can I do for you Arthur?”

“I came here for Grandmother's ring. I'm going to propose to Zara.”

“You mean Zara's ring, remember you had it customized specifically for Zara's taste, hell they had to make the band itself smaller because her fingers are so small.”

With that, my Grandpa gets up, I can hear is old bones snap, crackle, and pop like he is a pile of rice krispies. As soon as he is standing straight, he walks out of the room. In a few minutes, he's back with a small, velvet black box. This time he doesn't sit in his chair, instead he plops himself right next to me and hands me the box.

“Thank you.” My tone is hushed.

I open the box and it is even more beautiful than the last time I saw it. The ring is a 1.3 carat heart shaped sapphire with two pear cut diamonds on each side. It has a gold band to remind Zara who she fell in love with, but the setting is platinum.The heart is offset just a little on symmetry, to represent our petty arguments that get us all riled up yet we always work it out. I designed it to be different than all the ones I have seen in the store. Most in the store rings are very elongated where as this one isn't. It has some inclusions because that's what makes it sparkle. It's relatively flawless and absolutely gorgeous. I designed it to where as when Zara is walking down a busy street all the complete strangers crowding around her will be able to notice that the ring is meant only for her, that it suits her and represents everything about her.

“She is going to love it, and you couldn't have picked a finer woman to spend the rest of your life with.” The General’s tone is gentle and sweet. I have only heard this tone when he talks about Grandmother.

In fact, I stare at him in surprise because it is just so rare. Then I quickly recover and reply,

“General, don't tell me you are going soft in you old age. But thank you.” I quickly add my appreciation in order to not get thrown out the window.

Yes, the General can throw me out a window because I would not resist it. I love the old man too much.

He just smiles and places his hand on my shoulder as I close the box. Then I stay for another 30 minutes, finishing off the rest of the beers and talking about the wedding.

“Be careful boy, you know Zara would be pissed knowing you drank  5 beers and now you are going to drive.”

I smile to General as I open my car door,

“She wouldn't just be pissed, she would personally kill me herself.”

Then I wave goodbye and speed away. Now it is time to go find her.