Jane had exactly the right bait, and she set her hook with extreme finesse. All her fly-fishing friends would have been right proud of her.
Even though she was female, the reporter was eating it up. Probably because she saw a good chance of getting some air time. Usually Salem just has stringers for the TV stations in Portland, so air time was a rarity for them. If she was lucky and did a good job with the interviews, she might get called up to the main office. It wasn't too long until she managed to suggest that Jane go to the hospital to thank her savior. We didn't even have to plant the idea.
So they bustled off, after promising Jane a ride home afterwards. She gushed at them. The reporter gushed back. She got the exclusive and the other, latecomer reporters were left behind, gnawing on their livers. Now there was an even better chance of air time for our lucky girl. If she got it done fast, it would be over before one of the regular reporters could get to town, and once done, nobody was going to be crass enough to invade the hospital a second time.
Once it was ascertained that Mr. Baird was both conscious and not in any danger, the hospital gave permission for a brief interview.
Yes, hospital administrators like publicity too. They know that the news story always starts with a shot showing the hospital entrance, with the name on it. So why bother asking the patient if he wants to talk to anyone before they let the news crew in?
The reporter hurried Jane into the room and the cameras followed. Said reporter turned to the camera and started with: "We're about to interview the hero who stopped the terrorist attack at Schirle Elementary earlier today."
Mr. Baird did a double take, but nobody was looking at him at the moment. Jane turned to him, winked, and put on her special "please help me out here" face.
That Mr. Baird was a veteran became obvious, as he winked back at her and played to the camera. He mostly mumbled. He said it was because: "That scum hit me on the side of the face and my jaw hurts a lot. I can barely open my mouth."
Jane noticed that he'd stuffed a mostly eaten sandwich under the covers just before the cameraman turned to him. She managed to hide her grin before they turned back to her for the wrap-up questions.
From that point on, our hero pretty much agreed with whatever the reporter suggested. Finally he pled a severe headache from hitting his head so hard and asked to be left alone.
Since the reporter had more footage than the station would ever use, she exited fairly gracefully and left him alone with Jane. So much for giving her a ride home.
Now that the performance was over, Mr. Baird looked at Jane with a frantic expression. "Is Kimiko OK?"
"Yes Mr. Baird. Everyone is fine. It's the truth you know. You really did save us all. If you hadn't yelled when you did, thing's wouldn't have turned out so well.
"Oh, I'm Jane, Kimiko's oldest sister."
"Yes I know. She's told me all about all of you. Even showed me pictures. She's awfully proud of all of you. I owe her a debt. A great debt as a matter of fact. I guess I'd do pretty much anything for her."
Jane was puzzled. "Whatever are you talking about Mr. Baird?"
"I hate to admit it, but I'd turned into a shriveled up old man. I was about to retire you know. I'm not really old enough, but they wanted to get rid of me. And I can't really blame them. I wasn't very nice to the kids. I was just so angry all the time. I call it the Ghosts of Vietnam. It was like being in Hell. Hot and scary. Blood everywhere all the time. And we didn't even know why we were there. Heck, out of all the guys that I still talk to, none of us ever knew why we were there.
"And look at it now. Vietnam is a friendly country -- almost anyway. It seems that they don't hold it against us all that much. To tell you the truth, that confuses me more than anything else."
Jane cleared her throat. "You said that you owed Kimiko a debt. Why?"
He smiled up at her faintly. "I guess I do need to tell someone. Will you listen?"
Jane took a seat and smiled back at him, with the usual effect. He was stunned for a moment, then he started talking.
"One day I was feeling really bad. I'd been pretty cross with my kids and I hate that. They're really pretty good children, at least most of the time. You know what I mean?"
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Oh yes. I still remember. And we have the twins getting into mischief at home too."
They both chuckled, then he started talking again.
"I was sitting at my desk, just staring at the top when suddenly there was this electronic thingie shoved in front of my face. You call them 'tablet computers' don't you?"
Jane nodded.
"Well, anyway, it had a message on it. 'Why do you look so sad?'
"I looked up and there was a lovely child smiling at me. She was so small. Most kids like her run away from me. But she came right up to me and tried to help me. Who wouldn't be touched by that?
"Over the next few weeks she came by to 'talk' to me quite a bit. Her personality is as lovely as her smile, you know? It made me feel ashamed of myself. Here I'd been talking about 'defective' children and them needing to be locked away from the rest of us who were normal. Turns out that I was the defective one. It was a pretty humbling experience."
He reached to the bedside table and grabbed a kleenex and dabbed at his eyes.
"Much have gotten some dust in my eyes in all the excitement."
Jane gave him an encouraging smile.
"About a week or so ago the principal called me into her office. I thought that they were going to ask me to resign immediately instead of in 3 months. But I was completely wrong about that. She asked me to stay on, finish out my last 4 years with them. She said that I'd changed, and for the good. Several children in my class had come to her and asked for me to stay. They didn't want me to leave! Can you believe that?
"Well, if I'd changed, there was only one possible reason, and that was Kimiko. That's why I owe her. When I saw that trash open the door to the storage room and lift that knife to stab her in the back -- I though it was Kimiko, I'd never met her twin -- I snapped.
"I'd do anything to protect her or die trying. Maybe it would make up, at least a little, for what we did in Nam.
"You probably know more of what happened after than than I do. I was taking a nap during most of it."
He took a deep breath, more of a sigh than anything else. "I don't know why anyone would want to harm that girl, but I do know this. I believe in God, and I believe that some people are evil and don't want people believing in God and in good works. And I believe that something evil sent that man to harm her because of what she is.
"As far as I'm concerned, she's an Angel come to earth to help souls who are in trouble. And that's the kind of person that the evil ones can't allow to live."
After letting that out, he looked mightily embarrassed, so he and Jane made small talk for a while. They both had a lot to digest. Then she excused herself, saying that he probably needed to rest. Both of them knew that she was leaving because she needed to think about what he'd just said. And so did he, but for an entirely different reason. An idea had suddenly come to him.
It was really odd, but it was compelling. He rang for the nurse and asked for a pen and a notebook or some paper. Then he started writing.
<
His books are intended to help children who are troubled by things that they don't feel that they can discuss with anyone. He found a way of letting his characters experience all the things that make kids uneasy, and then he showed some ways that they can be solved or at least made better.
The main character is a young girl who travels around the world talking to other children about their problems. She's quite small and she's mute. She communicates with everyone using a tablet.
Of course he had permission to use her! Kimiko's permission. I wasn't exactly asked.
He called the little girl Angelica. Fairly appropriate, considering how he feels about her, don't you think?
Oh, I'm impressed! You've read the books too.
What did she say to persuade me to let him use her in the books? Something like this: "I have decided that this is a good idea. Much of benefit to many will result from it. Therefore it will be done."
And that was that. Once the Empress makes up her mind, there's no dissuading her. Sometimes you can persuade her if you catch her ahead of time, but otherwise -- forget it.
Kimiko truly adores that man. She has an uncanny ability to see the good in people, even, no, maybe especially when they can't see it themselves. Every once in a while I think that she has a touch of foresight herself.
Yeah. We all call her "Empress" when she's acting arrogant. That's when she needs deflating the most. Usually she takes it with good humor. Sometimes though, well, let's just say that children can be trying at times.
Getting back to Mr. Baird. He healed up quite well and surprisingly quickly. Before he finally did retire, he'd been chosen Teacher of The Year for the Salem-Keizer school district, and then for the State of Oregon. He's done quite a bit of good for this world.
His books have been translated into 37 languages so far. He was even awarded the Presidental Medal of Freedom for his work in encouraging understanding and peace among different cultures.
But that's several years after the story I'm telling you. Gods above, but this having to deal with "time" is a pain! Keeping things straight can be extraordinarily messy.
So let's forget all that. It's just an interesting sidelight anyway. Instead let's get back to the "present" so to speak and pick up where I left off, with Jane heading home.>>
Jane had plenty of time to think on the way back home. For once the taxi driver was a woman, so she didn't have to keep telling the driver to watch the road instead of her. After all the time and effort she and Ian had put into the pendants, they hadn't been of any use at all in this latest attack. Obviously this attacker had been fully human.
However, short of making the girls wear body armor, there really wasn't anything else that she could think of that would be helpful. Probably.
She decided to put that on the back burner of her mind and let it sort of simmer. Something might boil out of that particular pot eventually, and if it did, she'd pick that idea up and see where it led her.