The Shasta Caper, Chapters 15 and 16 are now posted.

Chapter Fifteen

Samuel slumped down beside the outhouse, his head hurting and tears swelling up his eyes. He wept a long time. He had felt all the pain of poor Jebediah and the family. He had felt everything they had went through.

The outhouse was quiet.

Jacob and Jimbo gave him wary looks, then hefted him to his feet.

Samuel nodded. "It's done. I feel suddenly, very, very tired."

Even as they helped him, he collapsed into their arms and went to sleep. An oblivion free of pain and suffering that our world is so deeply immersed in. For a few brief moments he floated in a mist of white light and he saw the family again, but this time he could see Jebediah clearly. They smiled at him. They were at peace. He was at peace.

Then everything faded into darkness.

Chapter Sixteen

Samuel felt this gentle pressing against his forehead, cool, soothing, reassuring and gentle. Like the hand of an Angel gentling his soul. He wanted it to go on forever, but like most good things, it came to an end.

"Open your eyes, handsome." Sherelle encouraged him.

Samuel's eyelids fluttered open. He felt like he had just been put through a meat grinder and spit out as a hotdog, which for him, was not so bad at all. Her eyes were staring into his, when he looked up. Indeed an Angel had found him. 

All that shattered when Jimbo pressed his face into view,  hogging the space that Sherelle had just inhabited. His face was thick with whiskers. 

"Don't you ever shave?" Samuel asked a bit grumbily.

Jimbo's lips curled into a smirk. "Sis, I think we got a launch."

He stepped back out of view, and Samuel felt his back being eleveated. Soon he realized he was laying on a lawn chair inside the living room of their home. Jimbo came back around and smiled at him. "Closest thing to a hospital bed we have here."

"I'll take it." Samuel quipped back.

Sherelle stood up next to Samuel and let go of his right hand, which he hadn't realized she had been holding, until she let go. It was like a light switch had been turned off. He felt totally at a loss for several seconds. She smiled. "I do that to guys,  you know. Light them up."

Jimbo almost broke into rib splitting laughter. After he recovered he looked at Samuel, who was blushing a deep red. "Sis sure knows how to pour on the pig poo, Sammie."

Sherelle punched him on his right arm, but he shrugged it off. He patted her on her butt and scooted her towards the kitchen. "Now go be a good little annoyance and scramble us some eggs and bacon for breakfast."

She went into the kitchen and a moment later a frying pan came flying out at Jimbo's head. He caught it expertly, then winked at Samuel. "It's a little game we play. Big brother, little sister." He went into the kitchen and Samuel heard Sherelle shriek angrily, then burst into giggles.

He smiled. He sure had missed being with his family. Though not his physical family, he was closer to them than his own, who were...well gone.

He threw his legs off the lawn chair, then noticed he had a thick Serape over his legs. He lifted it off and folded it up. It was Jimbo's. He never shared it with anyone. That made  Samuel realize that  his condition must have frightened his friend. And he could understand why. He had been having these pastlife experiences a lot lately and it was taxing his system.

"Breakfast is served." Came Jimbo and Sherelle's voice in unison.

Samuel got up the rest of the way. He hadn't realized he had been dozing off again. He wiped at his eyes and went into the large kitchen. It was the pride of their home. All hand burnished wood brought in from the Redwoods of California. Cabinets, floor, walls, ceiling, even the kitchen table and chairs. All hand crafted by Jacob and put together.

Samuel sat down at the far end of the table, and Jimbo slapped down a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, with a heap of toast slathered with butter and fresh raspberry jam and a plate of whole wheat pancakes and sausage, and a large glass of orange juice and a mug of coffee.

Sherelle brought in a plate of rolls she had baked, along with some doughnuts that Jacob had made. Jacob rolled in a few minutes later wiping at his face with a towel. He had just finished shaving.

"Where's Twain?" Samuel asked between bites. He was mostly a vegetarian, but at times like this, when he was so weak he knew his body need more protein and nourishment than simple grains and nuts could provide.

Jacob sat down and began heaping his empty plate with pancakes from the center of the table where they were stacked on a clay platter with Sioux Indian bird symbols. He slid half a dozen sausage off the plate next to that, snatched a handful of crisp bacon and dumped it unceremoniously into his mouth and began crunching it.

Sherelle punched him. "Mind your manners, little brother."

Jacob snorted. "I'm at least a foot taller than you, sis."

"And big guys fall further." She snapped back with flashing eyes.

He snorted again. "That'll be the day."

So their conversation went through most of the breakfast, with Samuel loving all the fancy play on words and silliness they played out for him and themselves. There was no mistaking the love these people had for each other. He still wondered where Twain was though.

Jimbo recognized that and finally finished shoveling sausage into his mouth between gulps of orange juice, wiped his beard and lips, then leaned on his elbows and looked at Samuel. "Your color is coming back. Twain is in Tibet."

Samuel's eyes widen.

Sherelle finished her coffee, got up and poured some more from a sparkly pot on the antique stove that sat in the back of the kitchen.  "He's got this notion of becoming a Buddhist Monk or something."

Jimbo tittered. "Yeah and last year, he went to stay with those meditation hoppers so he could learn how to fly."

Samuel smiled. He knew that group. He had taught them how, then their Master had acted as if he had known all along and began selling the technique for money. No one flew after that, just hopped. You had to have pure motives to fly.

Samuel never flew. He knew better. He had no radar, and his intuition told him that he had better stay on the ground. Also...

He turned to his right and Al and M were seated on the kitchen counter watching, their eyes dancing with approval. Also his friends in the Light disapproved. Al told him that Angels flew to help humans learn to believe in God, but man flew only when he had to save himself or another. And Samuel had to be careful to use his powers wisely, or they would be taken away, like it is from many psychics who misuse God's gift.

Samuel didn't miss flying. He did plenty of it in his sleep, and that sufficed.

"You never know, it might happen." He commented.

Sherelle laughed. "Always the optimist, Sammie."

"So now what?" Jacob asked. "Your job's done here."

He looked at Jimbo. "Still hot for a little cave exploring?"

"You bet. Long as I can bring my Mickey Mouse flashlight and..." He unholstered his huge Texas Colt Special..."This!"