Rocket Man

The crowd went wild. "My God, I feel so much better," exclaimed Sam. "I feel ..."

"Like you're no longer crushed beneath the weight of your anger and guilt," said Jethro.

"Crushed beneath the weight," chanted the audience.

"Nadine Ledbetter," called out Jethro. The crowd was already into his routine.

"Come on down," they screamed.

"Miss Jane Hathaway," stated Jethro.

"Cahm on Dayown," screamed the crowd. Both women headed for the stage.

The two women were physically polar opposites. Nadine had to weigh close to three hundred pounds. Jane Hathaway was as skinny as a wire. The only thing they had in common was the fact that each of the women wore enough makeup to last a circus clown three or four performances.

"Jane, I feel awful," said Nadine. "Like the preacher said I feel ..."

"Crushed beneath the weight," yelled the crowd.

"Well ah'm willin ta let bygones," began Jane.

"Be bygones," finished Nadine.

"Hug it out," yelled the crowd, over and over until the two women wrapped their arms around each other. I was glad I was wearing a bra under my form-fitting dress. I knew that I was next, and my nipples had popped and my pussy was dripping at the thought of being hugged by Jack.

I knew that things were about to get awkward. Jack tended to avoid the limelight. And I was absolutely right.

"Jack Daniels," screamed Jethro to dead silence. Suddenly, it was so quiet in the tent that you could hear an ant fart. Jethro looked around himself and saw no support in the audience. "Come on down," he said tentatively.

"I don't think so," said Jack quietly.

"Why not," asked Jethro. He was still puzzled why the crowd had just died. As I looked at him, I could see that he was nervous. This wasn't going the way that he had expected.

"Because I don't have anyone in town to forgive," said Jack. "There's one guy in town, he's actually from out of town. He's in jail and there's no way I'd ever forgive him."

"What about people from your past," asked Jethro?

"I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the past," said Jack. "I live in the present, and I'm looking forward to the future. My mind and my feet are firmly planted on the ground. I may occasionally look up to the stars, but my mind and my heart are focused on earth."

"So you're special, huh," asked Jethro. "Unlike everyone else here, you're above forgiveness?"

"I never said that," smiled Jack. "I believe in forgiveness. But I also believe that if you want to take my life apart and look at the people you think I should forgive, whether I want to or not, then you have to be willing to let us look at your life as well. Fair is fair, right?"

"Fair is fair," yelled the crowd.

Jethro was on edge. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. "Okay, I'm an open book," said Jethro. "What do you want to know?"

"Well you came out here to Arizona and into our lives, our town, and our church, talking about a new religion for a new time. That sounds great, but we're basically simple people with simple rules. I need some clarification on some of the things your church believes in ..." began Jack.

"My church believes in forgiveness," said Jethro. "Forgiveness. Say Amen if you believe in forgiveness."

"Amen," yelled the audience. Jethro's smile was back. He looked at Jack the way a wolf looks at a cornered squirrel.

"Most churches believe in forgiveness," said Jack. "But yours also seems to condone adultery." Jack looked out at the audience. "Just the ladies," said Jack. "Say Amen if you think it's okay for your husband to have sex with other women."

No one in the tent said a word. They were all staring at Jethro.

"Who said my church believes in that," yelled Jethro. "Do you have any proof? Who told you that? You're just making it up."

"I do have some proof," said Jack. He pointed to the man controlling the sound mixer. The man pressed some buttons, and a voice was heard. It was clearly Ellie.

"I'm so God damned tired of my husband fuckin' that tall skinny blond whore," she said. "He's always saying that sex doesn't matter, but it hurts me and ..."

"Hmm," said Jack. "So not only do you believe in adultery in your church ... You personally practice it." Jack was on a roll, and a lot of the eyes were on both Jethro and me. I wondered at first why they were looking at me. There were more than a few tall skinny blond women in a variety of ages. Then I noticed that Ellie was pointing at me. There were a lot of angry faces staring at me.

"Just the men," said Jack. "How many of you want a preacher in town who wants to sleep with your wife? Say Amen if it's okay with you."

Out the more than a hundred men in the church only a couple said anything. And as soon as they opened their mouths their wives started beating on them.

"You don't understand," screamed Jethro. "I'm trying to bring religion into the twenty-first century."

"No you don't understand," spat Jack. "No one authorized you to rewrite the bible or make up new rules."

"You're just pissed because I was fucking your wife," yelled Jethro.

"You and every other man she ran into that had a bottle of liquor or a couple of smooth lines," said Jack. "But I already told you, I've moved beyond the past. I live in the present, and my present is so much better than the past ever was. I stopped being crushed beneath the weight when I first met Cassie."

I felt my blood pressure go into meltdown then. I felt a very large vein in my temple begin to pulse, and it felt as if it had just snapped. I had the worst headache of my life and everything I saw was tinged with red.

"So just because you met another woman that gives you the right just to throw your wife away like garbage" screamed Jethro.

"Nope," said Jack calmly. "I loved Elizabeth very much. But, she cheated on me and more than once. So basically SHE threw ME away. It broke my heart. I divorced her, so she is no longer my wife. I never thought I would love anyone again, until I met Cassie."

I jumped up then and took my shoes off. One way or another, I was going to kick that little redhead's ass. If she hadn't come along, Jack would still be mine. She had to pay for that.

"You took vows," said Jethro. "You promised to love and honor her for better or for worse."

"You took the same God damned vows," said Jack. "But maybe yours don't mean as much since you married your sister."

The church got really quiet then, until a copy of Jethro's driver's license and his high-school graduation picture appeared on the giant screen. Then right next to it appeared his and Ellie's wedding pictures and her high-school graduation pictures. Then pictures of the two of them growing up together. The crowd gasped all at the same time and they all stared at Jethro who for the first time in his life had nothing to say. I noticed then that Jack had wisely moved to the side of the room away from Jethro.

It was like the calm before the storm. That one perfect instance of absolute calm before all hell breaks out. That perfect yet tenuous moment was shattered when someone said, "String 'im up." Then nearly every person in the room went after Jethro. Besides his gift of gab, Jethro apparently had speed because he was screaming bloody murder but still outrunning the crowd. The tent had emptied until there were only a few people left.

There were a few women who'd gone over to Ellie to help stop her from crying. Among them was Cassie, who was hovering protectively over her.

"It's gonna be okay," they told her. "If they catch him, they're gonna stretch that bastard's neck."

"But I love him," she whined. "I've always loved him. I just wanted him to stop sleeping with that whore."

The women all turned and looked at the spot where I'd been standing. But I had taken advantage of the confusion to slip out of the tent. I realized that I had lost. I was going to walk back to the hotel or get a ride with someone from the TV crew.

But my plans went out the window when someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around and found myself standing in front of the redhead. My anger boiled over. I could at least kick her little ass before I left town.

If I beat her badly enough maybe she'd be too embarrassed to stay here. Or at least, Jack would see the lengths that I was willing to go to for him.

"I'm gonna ..." I began.

But before I could say anything, she punched me in the stomach so hard that I doubled over. I tried to back away from her, but she grabbed my hair and used it to yank my face down and then slammed my face into her swiftly rising knee. The pain was so bad that I almost blacked out.

Everything was spinning, and I found myself on the ground. And then the pain got worse. I felt a sharp blow to my side and felt something snap. I opened my eyes, but only one of them would respond. The other was swelling rapidly.

My height no longer mattered since I was on the ground. I've heard that redheads have fiery tempers, but the little bitch was insane.

"Haven't you fucked enough husbands?" she screamed. "Stay away from mine." Then she kicked me again. The women, including Ellie, were just standing there watching her. She went berserk. I tried my best to crawl away from her, but she was moving in for another kick when suddenly she was lifted off her feet.

"Cassie, this isn't like you," said a voice that I knew only too well.

"That bitch deserves it," she screamed. "This whole dog and pony show was set up, just so she could take you from me. If Ellie hadn't told us what was going on, and the senator hadn't got us the background info on her and Ellie's scumbag husband ..."

"It still wouldn't have worked, Cassie," he said. "I love you. She's the past. You're my present and my future. Didn't you listen to any of the things I said? You're too smart to be fighting in alleys. This isn't like you."

She twisted around in his grip, so she was facing him. She started yelling at him then. I tried to get up. I was going to go after her for yelling at my husband, until I realized what she was saying.

"This is your fault Jack," she hissed. "I'm only acting this way because my hormones are all out of whack."

"I love you Cassie," he said. "But I don't see how your hormones are my fault."

"Well smartass," she hissed. "You're the one who got me pregnant, so if I'm acting str ..."

I crawled away, unable to watch my husband passionately kissing another woman. I went back to the hotel. I crawled into my bed and cried myself to sleep. I stayed out of sight until the next morning. I packed my clothes and was about to check out of the hotel when my cell phone rang.

A mysterious voice on the phone told me that I should stop by the local hospital and visit with the man in room 515 before I left town.

I was pretty sure that it was Jethro that I was going to visit. I decided to go and see him, just so I could talk to him about getting my money back. I put on a scarf to cover my hair and the bruises on my face and went to the hospital. No one bothered me. I just went up to the fifth floor. There was a deputy stationed outside of the room. He looked me over and nodded as I went inside. The first thing I noticed was the handcuff locking the wrist to the bed.

He looked up, just as I looked down at him. It wasn't Jethro.

"Brett," I said in shock. "What the hell happened to your face?"

"Your Fucking ex," he moaned as if he was in great pain. "Whah happened to yours?"

"You deserved it," I spat. We glared at each other. Each thinking the same thing. Then we both yelled at each other at exactly the same moment.

"You ruined my Life," we both screamed. I left the hospital and the town. I went back to the life I had built. I was a bitter and beaten woman. I dated for a while but my dates all had one thing in common. None of them was Jack. It's hard to replace the man who was the first and only person you have ever loved. Especially when he's the only man you want. So after a few years I just gave up.

Jethro was chased out into the desert and then abandoned. From what I've heard he wandered around in the desert for years, like Moses but without the Israelites. There were several stories over the years about a crazy man who came out of nowhere to steal clothing from farms and homes on the edges of the desert. He was always described as quoting passages from the bible that no one had ever heard before.

"Thou shalt not suffer a redhead to live," he said once.

"Woe be to all that fuck with an astronaut, for he has been to the fringes of heaven," was another one. Finally, I heard that he had been killed by being run over by one of those tour buses that take visitors out to see the beauty of the desert.

From the way he looked, I never would have recognized him. I saw the picture on the Internet. Even on my high def monitor, it took a long time of me staring at the picture. His hair had turned all white, and he had a long thick beard. He wore only a loincloth with a long robe over it that had been made from stolen sheets. I just shook my head and clicked on to the next weird story.

Ellie stayed in town. She and the redhead stayed friends and the redhead and Jack had gotten her into therapy. It took a few years but with the love and support of a whole town she recovered. She eventually married one of the young farmers in town. I've often wondered why she ended up happy and I didn't. I guess it was just the roll of Fate's dice.

* * * * * *

Jack

"Sing me a song Daddy," the tiny voice is accompanied by a tugging on my pants leg as I work on yet another Mustang. The sun has just gone down and the Arizona skies beckon.

I scoop up the tiny figure of my daughter Uhura, and she responds by laughing hysterically.

"Rocket man ... burning out his fuse out here alone," I sing at the top of my lungs.

Uhura covers her ears and screams in delight, as I carry her into the house. "Uhura Leia Daniels. Are you torturing an animal," laughs Cassie.

I swat her on the butt and she screams with laughter too. "You better stop that," she croons, every word filled with lust. She turns around and wraps her arms around me.

"What'll happen if I don't?" I ask.

"You'll end up with another one of those," she laughs pointing at Uhura. "What are we going to watch tonight?"

"The same thing we watch every night," I said.

Ten minutes later, we're on a blanket on the deck behind our house staring up at the sky. We're far enough away from all of the major cities that our sky is dark enough to see literally thousands of stars.

I lie between my two best girls, happier than I've even been in life.

"Stars," giggles Uhura. "What's that one, Daddy?"

She's pointing to a particularly fast moving, object that's also very bright.

"That's what's left of the international space station," I laugh.

"That's where your mommy discovered that she loved your daddy," said Cassie. "Just to show you how slow boys are; it took him five more years to realize that he loves me too."

"I wanna go there too," said Uhura. "When I'm big. I'm gonna be a astronaut. I'm gonna go to the Inter ... Internet space station too!"

"Honey, you're gonna go much farther than that," I said proudly. "You're going to Mars and beyond. You're going to boldly go where no one has gone before."

The End

LLAP Spock.