This is an amateur, non-commercial story, which is not
produced, approved of, or in any way sponsored by the holders of the
trademarks/copyrights from which this work is derived,
nor is it intended to infringe on the rights of these holders. And so it goes.
COMING OF AGE
A
Co-plotted by Mary Morris
t was impressive to witness just
how fast the two vehicles converged simultaneously at the Blake residence. The
sleek BMW shot into the driveway as though gliding on ice, while the Sheriff’s
jeep roared up to the curb in a blaze of light and wailing sirens. Allison
watched Nathan Stark and Jack Carter fly out of their cars and race up to where
she stood.
“Ally, I got here as fast as I could,” Stark declared. “What’s up?”
“God, I’m so glad you’re here,” Allison said. “I…I don’t know what to do.”
Carter for his part was giving the house exterior a quick check-up, searching
for smoke or any sort of damage. “Do I need to call Henry?” he asked. “He can
have the fire truck or ambulance here in a few minutes.”
“No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “Nothing like that.
It…it’s Kevin.”
“What’s wrong with Kevin?” Stark demanded. Carter for his part was glancing
back at the jeep, ready to retrieve the first aid kit at the first hint of
trouble.
“I…” Allison struggled for words, finally raising her hands in exasperation. “I
was finishing the laundry,” she said. “I was taking his clean clothes to his
room. His door was closed. Kevin never closes his door!”
“Allison,” Carter interrupted. “Is Kevin hurt?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she stammered. “Anyway, I opened the door, and he
was…he was…oh God.” Carter and Stark waited for her to finish, but Allison
blushed furiously and shook her head in despair. The two men looked at each
other and realization suddenly dawned.
“He was choking his chicken?” Carter asked.
“Waxing his board?” Stark countered.
“Chopping some wood?”
“Flogging his mule?”
“Pulling his pud?”
“Bopping the bologna?”
“Buffing the banana?”
“Mangling the midget?”
“Draining the dragon?”
“Greasing the gherkin?”
Carter blinked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before.” Stark looked
pleased at yet again on-upping his rival.
“I can’t believe you two!” Allison yelled. “How can you…how
can you?”
“Is that all this is about?” Stark said, rolling his eyes. “For God’s
sake, Ally, I thought this was an emergency!” Carter, having learned the hard
way over the years that discretion was the better part of survival, declined to
comment on the notion that this situation wasn’t exactly suited to a 911 call.
“Nathan!” Allison cried. “Don’t you understand? He…he shouldn’t be doing that!”
“Why not?” Stark shrugged. “I sure did it when I was
his age. A lot.” Carter looked away, because he knew
that if Allison saw his grin Henry would be picking up two bodies later that
afternoon. “Ally, I assure you that it’s perfectly normal for a boy his age to
be whacking off.”
“He isn’t normal!” Allison was almost in tears, though whether it was from
frustration or worry no one could be sure. “You went to the therapist with me!
You know what she said about him getting too much sensory stimulation!”
“Ally,” Stark said placatingly. “We’ve both noticed
how there’s been some improvement in his condition since his exposure to the
Artifact. If anything, this just proves that we were right.”
“He YELLED at me!” Allison cried. “He told me to get out and close the door!
Kevin’s never done that! He’s always been my sweet little boy!”
“Well, can you blame him?” Stark declared. “You interrupted him! Can you think
of anything worse than having your mother walk in, Carter?”
“Actually, I can,” Carter replied. “Try having your house offer to assist.”
Stark nodded slowly. “I see your point.”
“Will you two…this ISN’T FUNNY! DO SOMETHING!” She picked up a rather weathered
magazine from the porch. “When I went back in to put his clothes away, I found
THIS under his mattress!” She thrust the offending periodical in front of the
two men; Carter took it from her rather gingerly.
“Maybe he was reading the articles?” Stark suggested with a smirk.
Carter shook his head. “Not unless you believe that a picture’s worth a
thousand words.” He checked the front of the magazine and winced slightly.
“Stark,” he said quietly.
Nathan edged over, effectively blocking Allison’s line of vision. “What?”
Carter pointed to the address label; Stark’s eyebrows shot up. “Henry, you
dog,” he whispered.
“Should we tell her?” Carter muttered.
“Why not? Misery loves company. Though I’d love to
know how Kevin got hold of it. You know what, Carter?” he said in a louder
voice. “Why don’t I go talk to Kevin, and you stay
here with Allison?”
Carter’s eyes widened. “You son of a bitch,” he whispered. Stark grinned and
trotted inside, leaving the beloved Sheriff of Eureka with one very pissed off
and upset mother.
He sat down on the porch and sighed. “For what it’s worth,” he said to Allison.
“I know what it’s like.”
“Oh?” she said archly. “Do you mean to tell me that you walked in on Zoe?”
Carter nodded weakly. “Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
“She was in the living room. Pilar was…there too.”
Allison blinked several times. “Oh.”
“Yeah. After that I always made sure to check with SARAH before going in.”
That got her to laugh a little bit, and with a deep sigh she sat down beside
him on the porch steps. “I…know he’s growing up,” she said slowly. “And I know
that even with his problems, things are going to change. I just…I wasn’t
expecting this, you know? Maybe I’m still thinking of him as that little boy.”
“That never changes,” Carter said with a sad smile.
“Yeah,” Allison said, nodding. “I try not to smother him, Carter. Nathan
suggested that I get him out in the world a little more, so I asked Henry if
Kevin could help him out at the garage a day or two every week.”
“Ah,” Carter nodded sagely. That explained a few things.
“Nothing big, you know, but Kevin likes Henry and there’s nothing Henry likes
more than a student. Maybe I’m rushing him too hard.”
“Hard to say,” Carter replied. “Does he like going over there?”
“Oh yeah,” Allison said with a smile. “He can’t wait to get there, and I have
to practically drag him back to the car when it’s time to go home.”
“So it’s good for him. You’d better be careful, though.”
“Why’s that?” Allison asked.
“Henry told me the other day that there seem to be a lot of girls congregating
at the station whenever Kevin’s working…Allison? Allison?” He glanced over and
examined the blank, unseeing stare that had overwhelmed her features and
nodded. “Yeah, same thing happened to me the first time Zoe told me a guy asked
her out.”
***
Carter walked into Café Diem the next morning for his minimum daily caffeine
requirement. He was more than a little surprised to see Nathan Stark dining by
himself. “Where’s Allison?” he asked.
“Oh, she’s at home having breakfast,” Stark said very casually.
“And you aren’t?”
Stark paused in his meal and looked up at Carter. “No. I was…told to go home
last night.”
“You’re kidding.” Despite himself, Carter sat down in the chair opposite. “What
happened? Last I saw, you were inside talking to Kevin about…the thing.”
“So I was.” Stark nodded. “We had a long talk about the situation. I have to
admit, Carter, his condition’s better than we thought it would be at this
point. Don’t know how Ally is going to handle that, though.”
“And so…?”
“I made a suggestion, and he thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately,
when Allison came back into the house and found me installing a lock on his
bedroom door…let’s just say she didn’t take it too well.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah.” Stark sipped at his coffee. “Fortunately
Ally’s aim is off when she’s really mad. I’ll give her a day or two to cool
off. And if that doesn’t work…” He shrugged. “I’ll point out the address label
on those magazines and that’ll take the heat off me.”
Carter stared at him. “Yeah, off you, and onto Henry.”
“Better him than me.”
Carter shook his head. “You are a bastard.”
Stark simply smiled and raised his coffee cup in salute.