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Part One: Bloodletting
Installment 2
I took a closer look at the guy in the barn door. He could be carrying a concealed weapon easily enough. I moved in front of Uncle Archie. “Can we help you?”
He grinned. Nice smile, nice teeth. “Sorry. I just joined the local fire station and they mentioned this place. I just got off-duty and figured I’d take a look, since the rest of the guys sort of insinuated we come out here a lot.”
“True.”
Uncle Archie cleared his throat. “We’re fine, thanks for stopping by.”
“I’m Mitch, Mitch Ryder,” he said, putting out his hand.
There was nothing for it. I either shook the handsome guy’s hand or we looked like the rudest people on the planet. I took one for our team. Nice handshake. Firm, not trying to crush my hand. “Kelly Tate. This is my uncle, Archie Tate.”
“Nice to meet you, Kelly.” Mitch gave me another smile. “I’m not here to hurt your uncle.”
Clearly I’d been overly obvious. I stepped aside unwillingly. Uncle Archie and Mitch shook hands. “Nice to meet you, son. Nice handshake.”
“Thanks.” Mitch looked around and whistled. “Quite a set-up you have here.”
“You interested in science and inventions?” Uncle Archie asked eagerly. I managed not to groan.
“Actually, yes. Would it be okay for me to look around?”
“Sure. Kelly, why don’t you show Mitch the lab while I finish cleaning up?”
I did my best not to blush. Uncle Archie was worried about my social life, mainly the fact that I didn’t have one. This was an obvious ‘throw the kids together’ move and I was pretty sure Mitch couldn’t have missed it.
He hadn’t. His eyes twinkled. “I’d love the tour from the pretty lady.”
“Happy to oblige,” I lied. Well, only sort of lied. Mitch was the epitome of hot guy in uniform. Only, I wasn’t buying his story. No one’s dedicated to the job enough to drive twenty-five miles out of their way in order to check out the crazy cowboy scientist’s lab unless they were coming to mock or to spy. Not that I could come up with what the fire department might want to ascertain, other than just what it was that caused every first try of Uncle Archie’s to explode.
“It’s not everyone who combines horse ranching with scientific experiments,” Mitch said as I started the tour of the hangar.
“We call it Rancho Creation.”
“Fitting.”
“Pretty much. This is the solar car.”
“Great design.” “It’s a slug. You’ll get somewhere faster on an old nag, a bicycle or a skateboard.” I pointed up above the car. “Those are a variety of personal satellites. They can follow you around. Some of them don’t explode.”
“Your uncle blows things up a lot?”
“Yeah. He likes to start big and work down.”
“Dreamers usually do.”
We were far enough away from Uncle Archie. I turned and faced Mitch. “Yeah. They’re also real trusting. But those of us who aren’t dreamers? We’re not so gullible. Who are you and why are you here?”
(Go to www.ginikoch.com, select Expanded Universes from the nav bar, and read the rest!)
Gini Koch
