Creepers Chapter 8

Chapter 8
Possible Cross Pollination

Vanessa had agreed to stay at Sheriff Musser’s home overnight, they were going out to assess the growth east of Imokolee early next morning and they lived at opposite ends of the overgrown area. Due to the roads’ obstruction, it made sense for them to be together.
Calvin had been assigned by the state Attorney General to be Vanessa’s guide. Ever since her near fatal encounter with the creepers Vanessa had been reluctant to get involved in anything other than lab work. Being teamed up was fine with both of them, the fact was: they liked each other. Ever since they met a week before, they had either spoken on the phone or seen each other every day.
The governor’s office wanted Vanessa to put together a team to destroy the plant. “Get rid of it.” That’s what the governor said. “Use whatever you have to use, but destroy it. The resources of the state are at your disposal.”
Calvin turned off onto a private road paved with crushed pink stone. He drove a few hundred yards, stopped at a black gate and pushed a button above his visor, the gate slid open.
Vanessa looked over at him puzzled. “Where are we?”
“My place.”
They rounded a bend lined with a bougainvillea covered white fences. There was a green pasture to their right, two horses momentarily raised their heads, then went back to grazing. Calvin saw her looking at the horses. “Do you ride?”
“It’s been years. I think I was twelve and at camp the last time I rode.”
“Well if we have time I’ll take you, I’ve got a little mare named Dara, she’s real gentle and easy to ride.”
“I’d like that.”
A beautiful, white Spanish style mansion appeared around the next curve. It was beautifully landscaped, framed with palm trees and surrounded by a lake of lush lawn splashed with color from beds of flowers and tropical plants. Behind the home a large indoor riding arena was tucked into the corner of a pasture. The estate looked like a movie star’s retreat.
“So when did you win the lottery?”
He gave her his best celebrity smile. “I didn’t, promise to still stay with me if I tell you how I made my fortune?”
She smiled. “You can’t be drug lord, you’re a cop. We’ll see. I guess I do trust you: after all you saved my life. We’ll see if you are a good boy tonight.”
He pulled up in front of the house, parked, opened his door, hopped out and came around to open hers’. Vanessa gave him a mischievous smile and said, “I’m not getting out until you tell me what you did to get so rich.”
“I was a UFC Fighter.”
Vanessa giggled. “No. Really? I didn’t know fighting paid so well.”
“Don’t laugh, I was a famous, for a while.” They walked up to the front door, Calvin opened it and led her in.
In side, Vanessa could not help but gawk. His home was stunning. The furniture was an eclectic collection of handmade masculine pieces, leather sofas and two chairs that looked perfect for tucking up in with a good book. There were both Old World and European antiques, sculptures of bronze and alabaster. It was most definitely a man’s home though. An 1879 gold and silver Winchester Rifle on a gun rack hung below an impressive Peter Max canvas, called The Rain Forest, oddly enough the two complemented each other. The ten by eight foot silk carpets that covered the rococo tiled floor were Turkish, the patterns and colors of which so bold and beautiful that Vanessa was afraid to set foot on them. As they passed through the main lounge, she recognized two stunning woodblock prints by Dali. On another wall was a six-hundred-year-old Albrecht Durer depicting a biblical scene. In the living room, a beautiful Chagall lithograph hung above an ornately carved jade fireplace.
Calvin had Vanessa’s overnight case tucked under his arm, it looked small. Come on I’ll show you to your room. He led her up the sweeping marble staircase and down an airy bright hallway to a lovely guest room that looked like a suite at a five star hotel. “Well here we. Just make yourself at home. When you’re settled in I’ll give you the nickel tour.”
“Thanks, it’s a beautiful room Calvin.” Trying to make it a casual question of it, she asked, “Where’s your room?”
He put her bag on the bed. “At the other end of the hall. I’ll be in the kitchen, it’s to your left at the bottom of the stairs. Would you like some lunch?”
“Yes, I’m famished, I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Soup and toasted cheese sandwiches ok?”
“Sure I’m easy, I mean . . .”
He smiled. “I know what you mean. See you in a bit.” Calvin left her to unpack and he went down to the kitchen He opened two cans of Campbell’s soup, minestrone and a zesty tomato. He mixed them together in a copper saucepan. Then he hollowed out to round loaves of bread making them into bowels. He made four perfect grilled cheese sandwiches and a spinach salad and when the soup was ready, he ladled it into the bread bowels and set the table in the breakfast nook with a colorful set of country china he’d picked up in Brazil. There were fresh flowers on the table, cut and placed there by the Marina: his maid who came to do laundry and clean twice on Monday’s and Friday’s.
Vanessa came in as he was setting the table. She’d changed into white shorts and a halter-top. “What a beautiful kitchen and it smells even better. Anything I can do?”
“You can get the salad. The dressing’s in the fridge. Hope you like ranch, it’s all I’ve got.”
“It’s my favorite.”
They sat down and began to eat. “What would you like to drink? I have coke, iced tea or juice.”
“I’ll have coke do you have diet?”
“Sorry, do I look like a guy who drinks diet Coke?”
She laughed. “Guess not, regular is fine. This soup is great and I love the bread bowls. Your idea?”
“My Mother’s.” He put a glass of ice and a coke next to her, made himself a huge glass of iced tea and sat down across from her. “So what are you planning to do about our weed problem tomorrow?”
“I don’t know we ran some tests on the samples I collected and it’s hard to kill. We even tried freezing it but as soon as it thawed, it started growing again. The only luck I had in controlling its growth was to starve it.”
Calving finished his soup and began picking the bowl apart and eating it. “What do you mean starve it?”
“We sealed the sample in a glass box, roots exposed, no light, no water, no air. Still it didn’t die, but it did stop growing, but only after it filled the box.”
“Well you sure as hell can’t put that thing out there in a box. What about a chemically engineered herbicide?”
“I tried that, they seem to thrive on poison, poison of any kind. They absorb it then excrete its own toxins from its leaves, vines and thorns. And we can’t find any living creature that will eat the stuff. Even locusts won’t touch it.”
The phone rang. Calvin answered it, “Sheriff Musser. Yes sir, we’re going out there in the morning. Really, that’s incredible. I understand, do you still want us to come? Ok sir, we’ll see you at dawn, yes I’ll tell her. Good bye.”
Vanessa put down her glass. “What was that about?”
“That was the State Attorney General, Phil Weston. He says the governor wants something done now. The Imokolee prison has been cut off. The last thing they heard was from the warden the day before yesterday. He was on his cell. He said they had no phones, power or water. The entire facility was on twenty-four hour lockdown. He claimed the commissary had been over grown and that the inmates were locked in their cells without food or water. The warden, guards and prison staff, were going to attempt to hike out. They’ve not heard from them since.”
“Have they sent out a search party or a helicopter to look for them?”
Calvin sat back down. “Yea, a chopper did fly over but it couldn’t land, every inch of the roof, walls, roads and grounds were covered with vines.”
Kim poured the rest of her Coke into her glass. “So all of those prisoners are going to die of thirst or hunger locked in their cells. How awful. What did he want you to tell me?”
“Oh, the governor has called in the National Guard. They are bringing in three tanks equipped with flame-throwers. Tomorrow morning they are going to try spraying a few acres of it with Agent Orange but they think they can probable get rid of it with a controlled burn.”
“Agent-Orange? I thought that stuff was outlawed in the seventies. We have to stop them Calvin. It won’t work.”
“Why not, everything burns, if you get it hot enough, even rocks.”
“Sure you can burn it, I’m not saying you can’t, it won’t be easy, but it will burn, the problem is toxins. It would be like incinerating a chemical dumpsite, maybe worse. The smoke would be extremely toxic and it could be deadly. Depending on the wind, it could endanger people hundreds of miles away. Burning is a very bad idea.”
“Well I hope you can talk them out of it. We’ll have to leave early: five-thirty, sunrise is around six. You know how these military types are, everything has to be started before the break of dawn. If you have any ideas, tomorrow morning is the time to suggest them but I don’t expect anyone will listen. I’m surprised they even told you what they are planning.”
“I feel sick. I can’t believe this is happening?”
Calvin got up. “Come on let’s take a walk I’ll show you around.”
They went outside, where the beauty of the tropical plants and redolent flowers evaporated Vanessa’s cloud of pessimism. “How long have you lived here?”
Calvin leaned against a fence and scratched the ear of a chestnut mare as she nuzzled his chest. “Let’s see, I think it will be three years in March. I have a place in Utah too, Park City. When the heat and humidity get too much for me, I fly out there. But since I became Sheriff I don’t get to go as often as I’d like. I could use a deputy, but the county can’t even afford me. I’d hire and pay for one myself but it’s not legal.”
Vanessa smiled and hooked her arm through his. “I’ll be your deputy for free.”
“You’re hired. I’ll swear you in later. Is a private candle lit ceremony okay with you?”
She laughed. “Sounds more like a date.”
“If it was would you go out with a big lug like me?”
“I don’t see why not. Would you put on your wrestling tights for me?”
“Come on, that was a long time a go.”
“Ok, so we were talking about making me a deputy.”
“Can you handle a gun?”
She pinched his side. “What kind of gun?”
“The killing kind.” He took her hand. “Come on I’ll show you the indoor riding arena.” They walked across a pasture of three-inch grass and entered a building that was big enough to house an ice rink. There was an aroma of sawdust, leather and horses.
There was one black horse was in a stall, the other, fifteen were empty. “Vanessa walked over to the stallion. It whineed and stomped its hoof. “Hello. Aren’t you gorgeous, what are you in jail for?”
“This is Scrap Iron, he’s blue ribbon Tennessee walker, and he’s as ornery as he beautiful. He’s got to stay in here for a while because those mares are in his field. If we let him out . . . well, he will, ah, have his way with all of them. And sometimes he’s bit rough, like to bite their rumps. I’m moving them back to their own pasture tonight. The grass was getting a little over grown so I let the girls graze there for a few days. You want to ride him? He needs some exercise.”
“Will he let me?”
“Yes, but he may fall in love with you.” Calvin went over to a tack room and took out an English saddle and bridle. “Of course, he was a show horse before I bought him.”
Calvin went into the stall, slipped the bridle onto Scrap Iron and led him out. He tied him up to the hitching rail and went to fetch a groom kit. He returned and began brushing the stallion’s back and mane. “He could still be a show stopper if I let him compete.”
Vanessa stroked his neck as Calvin picked out his hooves. “You are a gorgeous.” Selected a comb and started working on his mane. “So, why don’t you?”
“What, show him?”
“Yea?”
“Because that’s not why I bought him, I bought him to take him away from all that. In order to train a Walker, they put weights on their fore hooves, some trainers put chains and mustard paste to make their hooves tender, make em step lightly and it gets them to pick their feet up. The higher they pick up their hooves the higher your score. His previous owner was not a nice guy. I bought Scrap Iron to save him. And he’s also the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen.” Calvin gave the stallion a friendly pay and cinched up the saddle. “Ok, hop on.”
He gave her a leg up and Vanessa sat there for a moment, not quite knowing what to do.
“He takes a light reign. Touch his shoulder with the tip of your boot and it’s like shifting gears. He’s a three speed.
Vanessa led the horse into the ring and tapped his shoulder. Scrap Iron began a smooth prancing cantor and a grin spread across Vanessa’s lips. She touched his shoulder again and the stallion sped up as smoothly as an automatic transmission. One more tap and Vanessa was flying around the track her red hair streaming behind her.
Calvin could help thinking how absolutely magnificent the two of the looked flying around the arena. He realized at that moment she was the most beautiful, enchanting, intelligent woman he had ever met.
“How do I down shift?”
“Just give him another tap.”
She did and the horse slowed, another tap and she was walking back to where Calvin stood. He was grinning and if Scrape Iron had lips, he would be grinning too.
She hopped off like a pro and bent down to un-cinch the saddle. “Oh my!”
Calvin laughed, “Guess he likes you”
Kim blushed beat red at the horses’ enormous erection. “Well I’ve sure never seen anything like that before.
“Sorry, I should have warned you. It happens with Stallions sometimes, especially if women who are . . . well. As far as I know, you’re the first woman to ride him.”
“Well I hope it was as good for him as it was for me.”
They walked back to the house arm in arm, teasing each other and laughing like teenagers.