Chapter Eleven
They stayed in Peoria for two months. By the time they left Peoria Etty had made quite a few friends and was reluctant to go. Matt was soon to find that Etty made friends no matter where she was, and was always reluctant to leave them behind. When they left Peoria, they were almost a quarter of a million dollars richer.
He and Etty were now Richard and Sarah Moore. Sarah’s maiden name was Preston. John was John Martin. He liked it that he was able to keep the same first name. Rick, as he liked to be called, looked up his college records before the left Peoria. He had four semesters at Peoria community college with a 3.0 grade point average. He thought he might do better than that if he went to school in Tallahassee, which is where he had decided on. He was thinking that although he wouldn’t have to work, he’d rather do something to keep busy. He couldn’t see being a gambler for the rest of his life. The fact that Tallahassee had a university had factored into his choice of locating there.
Although Etty would have liked to stay in Peoria, Matt was reluctant to stay in the place that their identities originated. He felt that there was always a chance of meeting someone that had known the people whose identities had been usurped. There was always a chance, albeit slim that suspicions would be raised and Matt didn’t want anyone poking around their past.
He also had John’s scholastic records copied before leaving Peoria. He didn’t want the school in Tallahassee contacting the one in Peoria. They might wonder why a dead kid was going back to high school.
When they were settled in Tallahassee, they registered John in high school. He was a month late registering and due to his new age, he skipped ahead a grade and was already a month behind in this semester. Rick had him handle the ball. He figured that if it worked anything like it had for him and Sarah, he wouldn’t have any problem catching up. They explained to him that his fillings were going to fall out and he would lose all his scars. Sarah said he might even lose his birthmark. He did.
John’s new birth date was the day before he was to start school. Rick bought him a bright red 65 Mustang convertible to celebrate. John thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was sure he would have the best set of wheels in his school and could hardly wait to show them off. John was thinking like a kid from Cholla. When he pulled into the parking lot at school, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The lot was full of Mercedes, BMW’s, Hummers and high-end cars of every kind. There wasn’t a beat up pickup in the whole lot. When he approached the front entry, he couldn’t believe the crowd. Never in his life had he been in a crowd of this size and at first, he found it frightening. It seemed to him that everyone was jostling for position and were all talking at the same time. He finally found his way to the office and was assigned classes. The counselor gave him a map with the layout of the school and said, “Don’t lose that. You are going to need it for a while. Do you play sports?”
“I was quarterback of my football team at my last school.”
“Well, I’ll put you down for football, but I wouldn’t expect to make quarterback real soon. We have one of the best in the state, you will be lucky to make the team. I’m not trying to discourage you, but we have a very good football team.”
The next day, when John showed up for practice, the coach’s first question was if he had played before. When he said he had the coach said, “What position?”
“Quarterback.”
“Yeah sure, everyone’s a quarterback.”
He handed him a football and asked him if he could hit the goal post. John looked down field at the goal post and thought that has to be fifty yards. He didn’t think anyone could throw a ball that far and hit an object as small as a goal post. He figured the coach didn’t expect him to hit it he probably just wanted to see how good he could throw. He thought what the hell, I’ll do my best. He set and threw a spiraling pass that to his surprise, hit the goal post at about head high.
“Holy shit!” I was just kidding, I didn’t think you could throw a ball that far let alone hit anything. Where did you say you played?”
“I didn’t, but it was in Illinois, Peoria Illinois.”
He handed John another ball and told him to try again. John hit the post with three out of five throws, grazed it with one and was only off by inches with fifth. The current quarterback was watching and was afraid he was finished as quarterback. He had never seen anyone throw like that. As it turned out John not only could throw the ball and hit a target from a set position, but also running, off balance and even while falling. He could also run like the wind and catch anything that came close to him. The coach started setting up plays to determine just how talented this kid was.
By the end of practice, he was convinced that they were going to win the state championship this year. He had never seen a kid like this; he didn’t think anyone had ever seen a kid like this. The coach’s only regret was that he got him in his senior year. He was certain that this kid could have made the varsity team in the eighth grade.
John was just as surprised as the coach was. Back in Cholla he had been good, maybe even the best on his team, but he hadn’t fooled himself. That was a small school, and he hadn’t been even close to this good. As it turned out the quarterback had nothing to fear. The coach considered John way to good at running and catching to be wasted as a quarterback. It seemed that John had the ability to be going full speed in one direction and without hesitation be going just as fast in the opposite direction, making him nearly impossible to tackle.
Rick bought bought a two thousand square foot pastel green, stucco house with a two-car garage in a very nice neighborhood with a stream running through the back yard. He made a security deposit contingent on Sarah’s okay and got the keys. He drove her to the house and when he pulled into the drive, Sarah said, “What a beautiful house. Who lives here?”
Rick said, “You do if you want to.”
Sarah let out a squeal, jumped from the car, ran up on the porch and tried to open the door.
“Rick, the door is locked.”
“You live in the city now kid.”
He unlocked the door and pushed it open. Sarah ran inside and ran from room to room like a kid in a candy store.
“Is it really ours Rick?!”
“Well we have to sign the papers but if you want it, it’s yours.”
She threw her arms around his neck and said, “I love it. I love you. It’s perfect.”
She ran back through the house opening cupboards and closets and then looked out the back sliders on to the lanai.
“Oh Matt, I mean Rick it’s got a pool.
“I know and when John’s in school, guess what were going to do in there?”
“I can hardly wait. Oh my God, look there are oranges in the back yard!”
“How about that?”
They were living in a rented apartment at the time and Rick said they could move in as soon as she picked out the furniture. Sarah said she wanted to move in immediately and worry about furniture later. Rick said they should at least have a bed. She pulled him to the master bedroom and made love to him on the light cream plush carpet. Afterward she said, “What do we need a bed for?”
“Sleeping.”
Awhile later Rick said, “I think it’s about time to eat.”
“Order us a pizza please. I want to keep you naked.”
“Have you no shame? We don’t even own the place yet. Besides that, I couldn‘t get the pizza without opening the door and I draw the line at answering the door naked. I think I will just take you out.”
Rick and Sarah were both the happiest they had ever been. The only fly-in-the-ointment was that Rick missed the ranch terribly and that he didn’t much care for living in the city.
Rick was taking a few classes at The University of Florida and he occasionally went to a casino. Sarah had kept busy decorating the house and fixing the yard the way they wanted it. Sarah had asked if they could afford a yard man to help her with the heavy stuff and of course Rick told her they could afford anything she wanted.
She just looked in the want ads and called the first one she came to. He showed up in the worst pickup truck either one of them had ever seen. It had a sign hand painted on the door that said Best Lawn Care. Rick had his doubts. The little guy that got out of the truck wasn’t much over five feet tall and skinny as a rail. Rick wondered if he could push an empty wheel barrow let alone a loaded one. He walked up to Sarah and asked, “You are to be señora Moore maybe yes? I am going to be José. I can do for you the work maybe yes.”
“Yes.”
Luckily, Rick, like a lot of people from the western states spoke some Spanish. Rick determined that he could start today and that his price was five dollars an hour plus material, but Sara insisted that they pay him ten dollars an hour. Rick said, “Uno memento por favor señor.” and took Sarah aside.
He tried to explain that you usually had a person work for a while before you gave them a raise, but she was adamant.
“Rick he can’t even eat on five dollars an hour just look at him.”
“I just thought that maybe we should find out if he’s even worth the five he’s asking, before we doubled his wage.”
Of course, Sarah won out and as it turned out he was a very hard worker and more adept than he appeared. Within a week, Sarah tried to raise his wage to fifteen per hour, but this time he refused.
“Señora es muy generoso, pero tú ya paga y tanto dinero.”
Sarah gave him a blank stare and he said, “Yo try again. Senora paga… pay José much money…too more, much.
Sarah went and got Rick to translate. She argued for some time but this time José couldn’t be swayed. Rick at last, told her that she was causing José a great deal of stress, and she finally gave up the argument. Sarah was very fond of José and she was still sure that he was barely scraping by. She figured that if he wouldn’t take more per hour she would just give him more hours. She kept him busy doing the essential and non-essential alike. Their house was soon the showplace of the neighborhood.
Sarah and Rick were early risers. They both enjoyed the cool mornings and soon were in the habit of walking around the neighborhood every morning with their coffee. Sometimes if they awoke extra early, they would jump in the car and drive to the gulf, about twenty-five miles away, and walk on the beach. Sarah would gather shells, and small pieces of driftwood, that she later scattered in her flowerbeds. Sometimes Sarah got the idea that things were too good to be true. She had trouble believing any one could be this happy for long.
One morning on the way back from their walk, she said, “I was born in Waco Texas.” but immediately regretted saying it.
“That’s nice.”
“No it’s not. It’s really not.”
After about ten minutes had passed, and they were almost back to the house Rick said, “Would you like to tell me about Waco?”
“No.” she replied to quickly and to harshly. She immediately regretted her response but said nothing
When she walked in the house, she had tears in her eyes. She turned her face from Rick and disappeared into the bathroom. Rick felt sorry for her, he knew she was hurting and like most men his first inclination was to fix it, but he had no idea what to do. That night in bed, just as Sarah was about to doze off she heard him whisper. “If you ever want to talk about your life before us I promise to be understanding.” She pretended to be asleep.
Sarah had lain awake for a very long time. She kept replaying the tape of her life repeatedly, like a broken record. Even after the rhythmic breathing beside her signaled Rick’s ascension into sleep, she continued to dredge up memories. Memories that she truly wanted to forget, but insured the exact opposite by constant review.
In the wee hours, she finally fell into a troubled sleep. She whimpered, muttered and at times, her extremities trembled as if she feared for her very life. She suddenly screamed and flailed her arm. Rick awoke as much from the blow to his chest as from the scream. He laid his hand on her stomach, and said, “It’s okay Sarah, it’s just a dream.”
He left his hand on her stomach and after a time she stopped trembling and returned to an uneasy sleep. Rick lay awake for some time wondering what sort of demons haunted his wife. Sarah awoke in the morning at her normal time. She was not refreshed and was nagged by thoughts of unpleasant things and unhappy places.