Rings of Fire Ch. 03

Megan nodded and led them to the end of the row of hill homes. Turning left, they passed several more rows of the unusual abodes.

"How many homes are there here?" Lauren asked.

"I'm not sure anymore. There were a hundred and twenty this summer. But Dad adds another one every time a container is retired from use by Jacobs Energy. All of these were once used to transport drilling equipment."

Her daughter shook her head, "Grand-dad thinks he is as crazy as you do, but he'll do just about anything to keep him at Jacobs Energy since he came back after..." she trailed off uncertainly.

"After the divorce, you mean. Your grandfather always was disappointed that your dad chose academia over the family business. He said he spent good money on your dad's education to ensure that the company had the best leader at the helm when he was gone. He used to blame me; said it was all a waste. So, I'm sure he indulges your father's whims."

"This isn't some whim, Mum," their daughter defended her father. "Dad is doing something important here. He is helping people to reconnect to our roots. To live in harmony with our world. And whether or not he is right about the volcanoes and another Ice Age, I'm proud of this place and him."

Lauren stopped and looked at her daughter. Megan's blue eyes shone bright with emotion and perhaps unshed tears. "I'm sorry, sweetie. You are right. From the little I have seen already, I can tell this is an impressive experiment in cultural evolution."

Throwing up her hands at her mother's words, Megan grabbed Elise's hand and strode off down the pathway. "No, Mum. This is not one of your experiments. This is a community. A community of people that I care about and that care about us."

Lauren stared after her daughters for a moment. She choked back the distinct feeling of failure. Had she become so caught up in her career, in just surviving day-to-day life with a child on the autistic spectrum, that she had utterly lost touch with her older daughter? Was she following in her own mother's footsteps, choosing one child over another? She could not bear the thought.

But this was not the time to think about such complexities, as she followed after her daughters barely noticing her surroundings. It was just a short walk before they emerged next to a small stand of mesquite trees. A large barn and corral stood next to them.

Always a city girl, Lauren turned up her dainty nose at the smell that hung in the rapidly warming morning air. Urine, feces, and animal sweat greeted her empty stomach. And before her morning cup of tea too.

Megan seemed to notice her discomfort saying, "You can go back to the house if you want. There are no locks around here. I can take Elise to see Doctor Doo-Little."

Lauren shook her head and drew in a deep breath. She regretted it immediately. Choking back a cough, she replied, "No, I really do want to see Elise's pony."

"Alright then," Megan led them into the barn.

Lauren noticed stalls filled with several horses and cows. There were several more that were empty. Towards the back of the barn, Megan stopped in front of a booth. Elise's eyes lit up with joy. She jumped up and down, shouting, "Orsh-ie, orshie."

Lauren followed the girl's delightful squeals, stopping in front of the stall. "A miniature," she exclaimed.

Megan nodded, "Yeah, Dad thought if it was an issue of her being frightened of horses because of their size, this might be better."

Lauren watched Megan open the small paddock door. Elise ran inside and wrapped her arms tightly about the animal's neck. So tightly that for a moment, Lauren worried about her cutting off its breathing, but the horse did not seem to mind. If anything, it seemed to lean into the enthusiastic embrace.

Lauren watched in silence for several minutes as her daughters played and giggled. Then Megan placed a small brush into Elise's hand, and the child immediately began to rub long strokes down the hind flank of the animal.

Megan stood up and walked to join her. "She will do that until someone stops her. Doctor Doo-little loves her tendency towards repetitive motions."

Lauren fought back the moisture that gathered in the corner of her eyes, ashamed that she had given up so quickly on the horse idea. Why had she not considered this obvious solution?

She faced the challenging mirror of truth. All of the therapies they tried were quickly evaluated on their usefulness and on the effort they took. Had her tight work schedule meant that she discarded other treatments that might have proven useful if given more time or effort?

***

Brent stood in the doorway of the barn watching his girls. Once more pride swelled his heart. Not just at the young lady that Megan was becoming, but at the progress, Elise was making too.

Lauren had accused him of burying his head in the sand, refusing to face the fact that their daughter had autism. But she was wrong about that. It was not that he did not accept that fact. It was more that he refused to see it as the 'disability' that society, and even Lauren did.

His gut had told him from the beginning that locked inside the sensory overload of this world was a brain to revile Einstein or Hawking. The problem was finding the key to open those doors. A way of bridging their world and his youngest child's. A new way of communicating. He sighed, they were not there yet, but in moments like this, he was glimmers of hope.

Elise was hyper-focused again. Stroking the horse. Did anyone notice the intricate pattern that she repeated time and time again? It was more than just starting at the head and working towards the tail as she had been taught. No, she paused, stopping the brush for a brief moment over certain spots. Always the same spots too. Even though it had been months since she had been here since she had touched the animal, the spots remained the same.

He frowned, once more trying to put together the pieces that were his child. Next time he would bring a diagram of horses, observe more carefully, marking the spots. Maybe if he took it to Brad, his veterinarian friend, when he arrived, he could make some sense of it.

Or maybe he only saw what he wanted to see — wishing for things that were not there. But he remembered as a small boy finding solace in such matters. Three paces, pause. Four steps, stop. It had been more than just a childish game for him. It had been a ritual. One that he was obligated to complete.

He frowned as he remembered the way that one nanny, in particular, had dragged him along. He had felt the alarm and panic growing with each missed pause. Finally, he had exploded, falling to the ground, kicking and screaming. His father had swooped in then; Brent had trembled in fear. Sure enough, it had resulted in another spanking. But that nanny was gone too, and the one who came after was more tolerant of his idiosyncrasies.

That was what the nice older woman, who had managed to weather five years of outbursts from him and the mighty Jim Jacobs both, had called them. Peculiarities. Eccentricities. She had patiently accommodated many of them. Others she had helped him to overcome with the patience of a saint.

Now, of course, he wondered, as he had for almost nine years since that first doctor spoke the A-word. And the more he read, the more he saw of himself. His chest tightened, and his throat constricted as he watched Elise stroke the pony. He was almost sure he could see the pattern. It was right there if he just had a bit more time.

But that would have to wait for another time, "I thought I would find my girls here."

"Sorry, Daddy, but Elise couldn't wait to see Doctor Doo-little," Megan apologized.

Covering the short distance in only a few strides, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. When you weren't at the house, I figured as much. How's our girl doing this morning?"

"She's fine, Daddy. The moment she saw the house, she knew where we were. Maybe she will even settle down, now that she has the pony."

He kissed the top of his daughter's head, relieved to have them safely here now. "Maybe, sweetie. But if I am right, Elise might be sensing things that we can't. Some of the animals around here have been acting odd lately too."

"Like those snakes, you told me about in China?"

He smiled, pleased that she had remembered something they had talked about years ago. Both his girls were brilliant in their own way. "Exactly, pumpkin." Not that that was surprising considering their mother, he looked at Lauren as she frowned.

"You mean Doctor Weisong's work with the headbanging snakes in Guangxi province?"

"You've heard about it too, Mum?" Megan questioned.

Lauren nodded, "Although I am not certain of its validity, there is ample anecdotal evidence of animal behaviors around the world preceding natural disasters such as earthquakes. When the Greek city of Helice was flattened by a quake in the third century BC, historians reported that rats, mice, and weasels had fled the city before the event. Of course, the weakness of such reports is that there is no clear causal link. There could be any number of other reasons why they left."

Megan and Brent looked at one another and shook their heads. How like Lauren to so easily dismiss anything that she could not immediately prove. But that was the same old argument that had gotten them to this point and one he was not going to make the mistake of repeating.

Brent was the first to speak, "You want to stay here with your sister for a bit, and I'll show your mom around?"

Megan nodded. "Is Sammy around?"

"He's finishing up some homework I gave him before I left. But I told him you were here, so I'm betting the boy will finish pretty quick and be here before you know it."

Megan's face lit up at her father's words. She smiled and went back into the stall with her sister, taking a seat on a pile of hay in the corner.

He was not sure he liked the way that his young 'cousin' and daughter had taken to one another. It struck a bit too close to home for comfort sometimes. But it was something else that would have to wait as he turned to his ex-wife, "Shall we?"

Lauren only nodded her head as he placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her towards the door. Brent tried to ignore the searing heat that seemed to scorch his hand at this familiar touch. He thought that the brief break had managed to get his libido back under control.

But the truth was there never had been any way of controlling his feelings for this woman. Not since that first night when she had given herself to him in his dingy flatshare near the university. While he had not been a virgin the way she was, he had certainly felt like one. Nothing had ever felt like that. And he had somehow known nothing ever would.

"Who is Sam?" she asked.

Brent was thankful for the distraction, "Do you remember my cousin Trent? He and his wife Stephie came to our wedding. Sammy is Stephie's son from her first marriage. She and Trent were killed in a car accident almost a year ago. Sammy was fifteen. The state could not locate his father and was getting ready to put the kid in foster care. I told them I'd take him."

He shook his head as he shared with her his concerns. It was something else that had just always been so natural with her. "I think Megan has her first crush. She spent all of last summer trailing after the poor kid. But then he didn't seem to mind," stopping he reached down and placed his fingers beneath her chin. Lifting her face to meet his gaze, he added, "Reminds me of another young boy and his tag-along girl. I hope that theirs is a happier ending."