Author Part 16

(Chapter 69 of "Senses")

RUTHERFORD

Rutherford, California, is a sleepy town about one hour's drive north-east of San Francisco. At least it would be a sleepy little town if it weren't for the fact that it's nestled in the heart of Napa Valley, the premium wine country of Northern California. In fact it's a tourist heaven during the summer months, and even in the winter most wineries offer tours and wine tasting. A train runs through the valley also for the benefit of the tourists, although the wine makers hate it.

Christophé wineries offers no tour. It only prepares 5000 bottles of premium red wines each harvest, and the wines are sold to private parties exclusively. It's not marked on any of the maps, and if you don't know where it is you'll never find it. Ever have someone tell you "you can't get there from here?" Well, there is where here is.

It's a small winery situated between two of the giants; one of the few micro-wineries that refused to sell at any price when the big boys came to town during the past century. It's been run by the same family for six generations, making it one of the oldest wineries in the region. It was currently run by two people, Mac and Lee Christopher.

Jim, Larry and A.J. pulled up to the front driveway in A.J.'s car through the circatious route that very few people knew. All three looked around the place in wonder.

"It hasn't changed a bit," A.J. noted.

For such a small winery it was occupied by a large house. Three stories with six bedrooms and five bathrooms, a living room, den, kitchen, study, and the winemaking process rooms. Underneath and behind the house was a large cavern that was used to store the wines, plus a large number of side chambers used during prohibition.

With the exception of Larry, every member of the Christopher family drinks, and I've seen Larry drink wine from the private reserve.

As the three brothers got out of the car, Jim said, "I haven't been here in almost fifteen years."

"Not even once since you left home?" Larry asked.

"Not once. Oh, I've seen mom and dad from time to time, but not recently and never here."

Larry nodded. "The caves?"

Jim sighed. "Yeah, the caves. I spent a lot of years down there before the social workers got me out. You want us to relocate our operations here?"

"Real quick there Jim," A.J. said. "I had it figured out hours ago."

"Could you handle that?" Larry asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Jim sighed, "although the idea of spending time down there doesn't really appeal to me." He clapped his hands together. "So! We need to talk to the folks. Come on, Larry, you know they'll say yes to us, if for no other reason than to get the three of us under the same roof again. Why did we drive all this way when a phone call could do?"

Larry walked to the front door and turned to face his brothers. "Mom and dad aren't here," he said. "From what I've been able to ascertain, they've been gone over three months."

"What?" A.J. shouted. He ran to the door and shoved it open just as Larry unlocked the door and ran inside. "Mom? Dad?"

Jim and Larry followed. "When did you find that out?" Jim asked.

"When I was last up here," Larry said. "When we were checking the files to find our villain. I made a side trip because it had occurred to some time ago that we might need to move our base of operations once this whole thing was over. I came up here and found the place empty, except for a video tape on the kitchen table."

"What's on the tape?" A.J. asked.

"I don't know. There was a note saying to play it in the presence of all three of us."

"So why not bring it back to L.A.?" Jim asked.

"It's European format videotape," Larry replied. "Do you have a player like that?"

"No," Jim admitted.

"Well mom and dad do, and I couldn't figure out how to get it out of the entertainment console in the den. So here we are."

"And you didn't look at it when you were up here before?" A.J. asked.

"Nope. You weren't here. They want all three of us to watch it."

"You're too ethical for your own damned good," Jim said.

"Enough!" A.J. shouted. "Let's go watch the fucking tape!"

They all three went into the den and Jim put the tape into the player and turned on the television set. After a moment a picture came up on the screen of a man in his mid sixties with silver hair and a slightly younger woman with brown hair.

"Mom, dad," A.J. whispered.

"Hello kids," the image of Mac Christopher said. "You're watching this tape now, so all three of you are in the Christophé house at the vineyard. Good. We have some things to say to you before you move in and take over our former home."

Larry raised an eyebrow and stared at his equally surprised brothers.

Lee Christopher continued, "You're probably wondering where we are right about now. Well we've gone away, probably for good. You won't be seeing us again for a long time. The mess you're in will have to be your own problem, and your own solution."

"We know all about it," Mac said. "Everything from Dr. Hopkins to the group you've put together."

"How the fuck is this possible?" Jim asked.

"If I know you Jim you're probably swearing and asking how we know," Mac continued. "Sorry, we can't tell you."

"All three of you have special gifts that set you apart from most of the people you've known in your lives," Lee said. "Larry has a superior reasoning ability, Jim has his talents and A.J. has his. The one thing none of you have asked us is whether or not either of us have some of these abilities."

"We appreciate that fact," Mac added. "And we can at least tell you that while our own abilities are not like yours, we do have some abilities of our own."

There was a moment of silence while all three brothers looked at each other slackjawed.

"The reason we're gone now is that we can't answer the one question you must by now have," Lee said. "How did we get this way?"

"We'd probably tell you if we were all under the same roof," Mac said, "and that's not allowed. Because you're going to need the house we've decided to move on. I hope you'll forgive us this, but someday when you have kids of your own you'll understand why this was necessary. Please understand that we do love you."

"Also try to understand that we went through the same things you're going through now about where we come from," Lee said. "It's safe to say that we are human, but that one you probably had figured out." Another pause. "If we've guessed right, you don't have much time to save the world, so we'll wrap up. We have messages for each of you."

"A.J.," Mac said. "You've probably had a tough life, from your own point of view. Your eyesight was an unexpected addition to your abilities, and we realize that there are some things that you've had to adjust to, including the fact that Jim has been more successful in his career than you, even though you have more money due to your investments. Understand that none what's happened in your life was intended. You were never intended to be Jim part two."

A.J. frowned at the screen but said nothing.

"Jim," Lee added. "We do love you. Please understand that your time in the caverns below were because we thought we were doing the best thing for you. We had wanted you to become the next caretaker of the vineyard but that's not possible now. Larry's sense of ethics got us in trouble with the state and you became a public figure."

Jim looked at his brother with a sudden recognition of facts that he hadn't placed together before. How had the social workers found out about him in the first place? Jim had always assumed that someone had looked up the birth records and added it all up, but now he knew differently. He shook his head in wonder at his own naivete.

"I must say that you've adjusted to it better than we thought you would," Mac continued, "even during that unpleasantness in San Francisco a few years back. What's about to happen, if you survive it, will make that seem like a walk in the park. I hope your experiences in the caves will still allow you to be able to hide again. If not, we apologize now."

Jim nodded at the screen.

"Larry," Lee said. "There's nothing we can say to help you get over the shock you must be experiencing about how you've misjudged us."

"So we won't try," Mac added. "Please tend the grapes and make the harvest for us. You'll find that the winery makes a decent profit, and there will be enough to live off of for all of you. Take care of those grapes."

"I will," Larry said.

There was one last pause, then Mac and Lee spoke together. "We love you boys," they said. "Please be well. And remember us. You'll need to someday."

The tape ended and rewound.

For several minutes all three men sat staring at the screen. Jim finally broke the silence saying, "I need a whole lot of fucking drinks."

"Second," A.J. added.

"Larry, what the fuck was all that about?"

Larry shook his head. "I have no idea," he slowly said. "I honestly thought that we'd get some answers here."

"You were wrong," A.J. said. "It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's memorable." A.J. shook his head. "I'm not about to forget this."

Jim walked out of the room to the kitchen, and returned momentarily with a bottle of Bushmill's. "I wasn't even drinking this shit when I left home," he said, opening the bottle and draining it. "Who are these people we call our parents?"

Larry just sat there stunned, as he had since the start of the tape. Then he began to laugh. He laughed long enough for A.J. to lean towards Jim and say, "He's finally cracked."

"No, I haven't," Larry said in response. "We've just had the ultimate joke played on us."

"How so?" Jim asked.

"Don't you get it? Mom and dad know! They know everything! And obviously other people know about it too."

"So what's the joke?" A.J. demanded.

"The joke is that not one of us ever thought to ask! As good a group of scientists as we claim ourselves to be, we never thought to ask the one group of people who would most likely know what's going on with the three of us. Our own fucking family!"

Jim and A.J. stared at their older brother for a moment, but neither laughed. "I did ask," Jim said. "Not about mom and dad having abilities, but why we do. They told me they didn't know."

"I got the same story," A.J. said.

Larry slowly stopped laughing and went into his fast thinking mode. "Oh lord," he said when he came out of his trance. "Of course you asked. I'm the only one of us not in a position to ask directly, and they knew it. We've been manipulated every step of the way into becoming the people we currently are."

"You lost me," Jim said.

"Our parents know all about what's going on. Don't you think they know about everything we've done in the past as well?"

"Logical," A.J. noted.

"And how do they know about Hopkins? Are they like Morgana and Rand and can see into the future? Add it all up! We're supposed to be the ones in this mess! We're the only ones who can solve it!"

Jim thought about it for a moment. "I still don't see how you're making that leap of logic," he said, "but I'll take your word for it based upon past experience. You're making out our parents to be no better than green thing."

"Hell, maybe they're friends of green thing," A.J. added.

"I wish I knew," Larry admitted. "My guess is that we're the result of some kind of breeding program. Say you're part of a group of people who have figured out on what day the world is going to end, and how it's going to happen. Suppose you know that there are certain talents needed to pull of stopping the end of the world. Suppose you've got the time to get those talents established. Would you do it?"

"Secret society," A.J. whispered.

Jim started with a chuckle. "Good lord, we're Freemasons!"

"Not Freemasons, but the analogy is good," came a rumbling basso voice from above them.

All three men looked looked up in surprise. "Dad?" A.J. asked.

"That's right."

"Where the fuck are you?" Jim demanded. "Explain that tape!"

"No time," Mac Christopher's voice said. "I can't maintain this link for very long without being caught. The punishment would be severe, so be quiet and listen.

"Larry's right, you three have been bred to become what you are, although we told the truth about A.J.'s eyes. The program has been in place for well over ten generations and you're the result."

"But why the secrecy?" A.J. asked.

"How many people can you trust? You know as well as I that your secrets must be closely guarded. There are too many others like you in this world for us to risk exposure when you go public in the next few days. If people survive what's about to happen it could almost become a jihad against either us or the normals of the world, and neither alternative is acceptable.

"There are no lies on that tape. When this is all over review it more. The important thing to remember is that right now is your turn. Someday the rest of the answers will come. Good luck my boys, we're counting on you."

After a moment's silence, Larry called out his father's name but got no response.

"Fuck!" Jim yelled at his loudest voice. He faced his brothers. "Larry? A.J.? Just who the fuck are we?"

Continued...