Biddy and the Silver Man - (2)

Joe said, "Why don't you sit right here, Biddy--on this chair. Then we'll take this wire and fasten it there--so--and this one, here."
    The wires were very shiny and Biddy thought they must be silver or maybe platinum. Joe gave her one to hold in her left hand and she asked, "When does the tickle start?"
    "Right away now." Joe sat down in front of a board covered with switches and dials and studied for a while. Then he said, "Close your eyes, Biddy, and imagine you're far up in the sky--that Buck has wings and he's carrying you clear over the mountains. Just think that and don't open your eyes."
    Biddy closed her eyes tight and imagined Buck with great big wings and she laughed in her mind because the wings were bigger than Buck was and he looked back at them and stamped his feet. But they worked and she felt Buck lift her right off the ground and up into the sky. They were really flying.
    They sailed ever so far over the desert and over the purple mountains Pop said he'd take her to see some day. It was very peaceful and cool so high up in the air and such a funny feeling in her body. As though going up in the sky was really waking up and like all the people down on the ground were really asleep. So much warmth and feeling and tingley happiness came into her legs and arms and body that she could hardly hold it all. Hardly hold it all--hardly hold it....
    "Wake up, Biddy."
    Biddy opened her eyes. She was still sitting in the chair but all the wires were gone and Joe was standing there looking down at her and smiling. Biddy said, "Oh, I must have taken a nap."
    "That's right. It was good for you. And now you'd better get along home or your parents will be worried about you."
    "Why don't you come with me? You can have supper with us."
    "Not tonight, Biddy. Some other time."
    Biddy got up and they walked hand in hand to where Buck was waiting, Joe walking very slow because with her brace Biddy couldn't go very fast. Joe lifted her onto Buck and she waved good-bye as they went down the slope and away from the rocks. She waved again just as Joe and the cave and the wall went out of sight. She was sorry to see him disappear.
    *       *       *       *       *
    She got home a little late--Pop was already home--and Mom was cross. Mom said, "Biddy, if you stay away like this again, I'll just take that burro away from you."
    Biddy knew Mom wouldn't of course, but it scared her just the same and she didn't say anything about Joe. That was just as well, she thought, as she washed up for supper. Mom and Pop didn't believe about the cave so they would not believe about Joe either and the nice ride up in the sky on Buck.
    Pop was already at the table when Biddy came in and Mom was sitting down. Biddy hobbled across the room and Pop looked up and said, "You mustn't be late again, Biddy."
    "I won't Pop."
    Pop had looked back down at his food. Then he jerked his eyes up sharply and back to Biddy as she came to her chair and pulled it out and sat down.
    Mom was putting potatoes on Biddy's plate and Pop just sat there and stared at her, motionless. He didn't say anything or do anything and finally Mom said, "Dan--what on earth's gotten into you? Something wrong with the meat?"
    Pop laid his fork down and said, "Get up, Biddy."
    "What, Pop?"
    "I said, get up."
    "But Pop, I didn't mean to be late. Don't take Buck away from me--please."
    Pop frowned and made an impatient motion with his hand. "Oh, stop it! Just get up and walk around the table and let me look at you."
    Mom was looking at Pop kind of puzzled as Biddy got up and did as she'd been told. Pop bent over and looked at her brace and her leg. He ran his hand over her leg, his frown getting deeper and his face more bewildered.
    Suddenly he picked Biddy up and carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. Without saying a word, he began unbuckling the brace and he was just lifting it away when Mom came in.
    Mom said, "Dan--have you lost your mind?"
    Pop gave her a quick, almost savage look and then turned back to Biddy. He picked Biddy up and put her on her feet and said, "Now I want you to walk over to the dresser."
    Mom said, "Dan! For heaven's sake."
    Pop barked back fiercely. "Can't you see it? Are you blind? Her leg's thicker and bigger. It isn't shorter than the other one anymore!"
    Then Biddy walked straight over to the dresser as though there had never been anything wrong with her leg at any time in her short life. She touched the dresser and then took her hand away and laughed and walked back.
    Pop bellowed, "Can't you see? Her leg's healed."
    And Mom let out a kind of strangled cry and fainted dead away on the bed....
    *       *       *       *       *
    Dan Parker sat on a chair facing the lounge where Biddy sat close beside Jane. Dan leaned forward and said, "Now just once more, baby--tell us what the man did."
    Jane said, "Dan! The child's exhausted. She's told us everything she knows."
    "She might have missed something. He had some sort of a diathermy machine in this cave?"
    "What's diathermy, Pop?"
    "Never mind that. He fastened some wires from this machine to your leg and after a while you went to sleep. Can't you remember anything else?"
    *       *       *       *       *
    Biddy yawned. "Nothing except he was very nice and said he came from the sky bloc."
    Jane lifted Biddy in her arms. "I'm going to put her to bed. Nothing can be done until morning anyhow. Poor baby!"
    Dan sat staring at the wall until Jane returned. She came and laid a hand on his shoulder and he looked up and his thoughts were suddenly arrested. It was as though Jane had dropped years from her age. The old glow was in her eyes--a soft wonder--a new happiness.
    The realization impressed him but was lost to the new anxiety that was swiftly rising in his mind. Jane said, "Isn't it wonderful, darling? I can't understand it, but I've seen Biddy's leg and--and I don't care how it happened. I don't care if the man in the hills is true or a part of her imagination. The cure is real--real--and I've never been so happy."
    "I think he's genuine--he has to be--and tomorrow we'll find out about him. But--"
    "But what, Dan?"
    "I was just thinking--"
    Jane sat down on his knee and put an arm around his shoulders. "Dan--you don't seem too happy about it. I don't understand why--"
    Dan Parker looked at his wife and said, "There's another angle to it, Jane."
    "Another angle?"
    "If there is such a man as Biddy describes and he cured her deformity, then he can cure the deformities of others, too."
    Jane was puzzled. "I suppose that's true."
    "He could cure young Davey Taber."
    "Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
    "I suppose so, but then Davey will take over the foreman's job at the Circle-7--my job."
    Jane got up from her husband's knee. There was horror in her look. "Dan, do you mean you'd let so small a thing as that influence you in--?"
    Dan Parker sprang up also. "Small? You know we could not get along on a cow hand's salary. We'd starve to death. And I'm no good for anything but ranch work. It's all I know!"
    "Dan--please!"
    He turned suddenly contrite--somewhat ashamed, but in a way, he stuck to his guns. "Sure--I suppose it's rotten of me to think that way, but I've got you and Biddy to provide for. You two are my responsibility. It may not mean anything to you having people say Dan Parker can't support his family, but it means a lot to me!"
    Jane looked at him quietly for a long moment before she said, "Dan, I--I just haven't any words. What you're thinking is almost evil--the way you feel about this--but I can't think of a logical answer or argument to show you where you're wrong. The thing's just--just beyond words."
    Dan dropped to the lounge and sat staring at the floor. "I guess I'm a pretty rotten individual."
    Jane spoke quietly. "The only thing I can say, darling, is that we'll always get along. We always have."
    "Well, I can't do anything about it anyhow. Let's go to bed."
    "Of course. You'll feel better in the morning, Dan. By that time you'll realize what's actually happened. Biddy's been made whole. There's been a miracle, darling!"
    "That's right--a miracle...."
    *       *       *       *       *
    Biddy awoke very early. There was a funny little fluttery fear inside her and she lay for a while trying to find out what it was. There wasn't anything to be afraid of--nothing she could think of. Nobody had--
    She sat up and moved both her legs off the bed and put her feet on the floor. Then she remembered that her left one was all right again and she forgot all about hunting for where the fear came from. She was too completely happy to worry about it.
    She got out of bed and dressed and tiptoed through the living room, being very quiet. When she got outside there was a faint streak of dawn in the east and she almost laughed aloud at the wonderful feeling that came from the cool, sharp morning air, the dead predawn stillness, and not having to hobble along with the old brace on her leg.
    Buck flopped his ears and seemed a little annoyed at having to get up so early but he finally agreed to come out of the corral and take Biddy up to the ridges. Even without any breakfast, so Biddy knew that regardless of his seeming sullenness he felt pretty good too.
    Biddy didn't quite get out of town unseen. There was someone else up early too. Cecil Bates came slowly up the main street and as Buck approached him it was light enough for him to look at Biddy and say, "Wait a minute, honey. You forgot something."
    "Good morning, Mr. Bates. No, I don't think so."
    "Your brace, Biddy. How in hades did you get on that burro without it?"
    "Oh, I don't need it any more. A man fixed my leg yesterday."
    "A who--did what?"
    "A very nice man up in the hills. He has a shiny box and he had me hold some wires and now my leg is all healed up again."
    "What man are you talking about?"
    "He has a cave up there. At first I thought he was from the Eastern Bloc and was one of our enemies. But he's from space or somewhere and he's very good."
    Cecil Bates stared at Biddy's leg and then came close and put his hands on it. Biddy didn't like that very much and she kicked a heel into Buck's ribs and said, "I've got to go now, Mr. Bates. It's going to be a very nice day isn't it? Good-bye."
    She rode away leaving the sheriff standing wide-eyed in the middle of the street with his mouth open. As she moved out of town she looked back uneasily, the nameless fear nagging at her again. She had the feeling of having done or said something wrong but she wasn't sure what.
    *       *       *       *       *
    The east brightened into fresh dawn as Buck pattered along toward the ridges. Biddy had never been up so early before and she thought it was wonderful but her happiness was dampened a little by the fact that she'd gone off without asking Mom. That was wrong, she thought, and maybe Mom would be angry. But Biddy's thoughts were mainly occupied with wondering why she had done it. She hadn't consciously wanted to deceive Mom, but something she could not really understand had made her sneak off so quietly.
    *       *       *       *       *
    The same thing that made her uneasy about telling Mr. Bates what had happened. Then the ridges were close and she could see the rocks and the place the doorway should be. The door was closed and Biddy guessed that Joe didn't get up very early either.
    She rode as close as she could and was just about to call out his name when a pair of hands lifted her and swung her off Buck and set her on her feet. And Joe was saying, "Hello there, youngster. Up pretty early aren't you?"
    Biddy wasn't even frightened at his appearing that way from nowhere. At least that was how he had seemed to appear. She said, "I woke up and I wanted to come out and thank you for fixing my leg."
    "That wasn't necessary."
    "Have you had breakfast?"
    "Not yet. I was up early too and I was just sitting out here doing some thinking."
    "Are you expecting to eat breakfast soon?"
    "Right now as a matter of fact. You wait. I'll bring it out."
    Joe touched the small thing on his shirt. The cave door opened and he went inside and came out very shortly with a tray that he set down on a rock.
    Biddy looked at the tray and said, "That's awfully funny food."
    "Funny?"
    "Uh-huh. It doesn't look like any kind I ever saw before."
    "Well you just try it and see if you don't like it."
    Biddy picked up one of the little white sticks and bit off an end. She chewed it warily, then with relish. "It's very good. Where did you get it?"
    "I brought it with me."
    They ate in silence for a while, then Joe said, "Biddy, what do your mother and father think of the Eastern Bloc?"
    Biddy looked up in surprise. "Why they hate it of course. Everybody hates the Eastern Bloc because they're mean and cruel."
    "What do the people of your town expect to happen?"
    "With the Eastern Bloc?"
    "Yes."
    "Everybody knows we'll have to fight them someday. We built a space station and so they had to go and build one too and they want to wreck our station so they'll have the only one. And when they do the big war will start."
    "And I suppose the Eastern Bloc knows you want to wreck their space station?"
    "Why they can't think that because we had one first and we could have stopped them from building one but we didn't because we aren't mean like they are."
    "I see." Joe thought that over very carefully for a long time and then all the food on the tray was gone and Biddy said, "What's the sky bloc like, Joe?"
    "The sky bloc?"
    "That's where you said you came from."
    "Oh, yes. Well, it's a little hard to describe. It's very big and I think probably you'd like it if you ever went there."
    "Did they send you away?"
    "Not exactly. They sent me down here to do something."
    "What do you have to do?"
    "I have to talk to some people."
    "What people do you have to talk to?"
    "I'm not quite sure yet. I haven't made up my mind."
    "When will you make up your mind?"
    *       *       *       *       *
    Joe considered Biddy's questions gravely as though each one was very important. "I'm not quite sure. That machine in the cave isn't just to make little girl's legs well. It does other things. It tunes in on thought waves just the way your television set tunes in on pictures."
    "You mean it tells you what people are thinking about?"
    "In a way, it does. And after a while I'll look at the things the machine has recorded and then I'll decide what I have to do or say."
    There was silence while Biddy's mind went off on another track. Pretty soon she said, "Joe, there's a boy named Davey--well, he isn't a boy, really, he's almost a man--and his leg is like mine was. He can't walk on it either."
    "Does he live in Sage Bend?"
    "No. He lives on the ranch where my Pop works. I think it would be awfully nice if you fixed his leg too."
    "Perhaps I can."
    Biddy clapped her hands and looked at Joe through bright eyes. "I think you're wonderful, Joe--just wonderful--and there's old Mr. Haney. He's blind, so maybe you could--"
    Joe laughed. "Now wait a minute, Biddy. I'm no miracle man. I can't reconstruct people's minds."
    "But Mr. Haney's mind is fine. It's just his eyes that are no good."
    "I'm afraid you're wrong about that."
    "Do you know Mr. Haney?"
    "Not exactly. I've wandered around a little and I met him while he was taking a walk."
    "Then you know how bad it is to be blind."
    "Yes, but you don't understand, Biddy. I wouldn't be helping Mr. Haney. I'd be hurting him."
    "Hurting him?"
    "Yes. Mr. Haney is far happier the way he is than if he had his sight back. With his eyes functioning he'd be just like anyone else."
    "That's what he wants."
    "No he doesn't. Being blind makes him different and he's grown to depend on that difference as a staff of comfort. He lives on the sympathy he gets from people who can see. Mr. Haney doesn't know it himself but he would be very miserable if we gave him back his sight. As I said, Biddy, I can't change people's minds. I'm no miracle man."
    "That's what Mom and Pop said happened to me. A miracle. Was that right, Joe?"
    "No Biddy. You see where I come from we're a little further ahead in some scientific developments than the people down here. The expansion and reconstruction of bone and tissue isn't very difficult when you know how and have the right sonic frequencies to work with."
    "I see," Biddy answered gravely although she didn't see at all. "But what about Davey Taber? He doesn't really want to be crippled does he?"
    "I doubt it. Maybe we'll have a chance to see...."
    *       *       *       *       *
    The town of Sage Bend was in an uproar. The crowd--if the few dozen persons who resided there could be called a crowd--were milling in front of Dan Parker's house. They had seen some excitement and wanted to see more.
    It had started before dawn with Cecil Bates standing alone in the street, watching Biddy ride off. When she had gone beyond his sight, his confusion and consternation fused into a clear-cut thought. He'd be triply damned if that heel Dan Parker hadn't been playing on the sympathy of the town all this time.
    Ever since Biddy had been brought back from the hospital in Phoenix. Could you beat it? Putting a brace on a kid's leg and making her wear it around town so people around town would be sorry for him. But why? What end did it serve?
    Then Cecil knew. Not the townspeople. Of course not. Sam Taber was the target of Dan's rotten plan. Who'd ever think a man would be so scared of his job he'd make his own daughter act a cripple in order to keep it?
    Well, he wouldn't get away with it any longer. Cecil fairly vibrated with the importance he felt within himself at having come upon this secret. He'd show this town. So they thought he was just a slob who sat in front of the jailhouse all day, did they? Just a bouncer to take drunks out of the tavern and sober them up behind bars. He'd show them they had to get up pretty early to get the wool over Cecil Bates' eyes and keep it there.
    Nick Sanford was just coming down to open his lunch counter in case any late drinkers wanted an early cup of coffee. Cecil hurried in that direction. Nick unlocked the door and said, "Hi, Ceec. Up early ain't you?"
    "Early enough to find out what's been going on around here."
    "Something happen?"
    "Your damn tootin' something's been happening. Met the little Parker girl riding out on her burro."
    "So early? Where was she going?"
    "Not important. The important thing was she didn't have her leg brace on."
    "Come on in while I make coffee."
    Bates followed Nick inside and said, "Didn't you hear me? I said she didn't have her leg brace on."
    "Why not?"
    "Because she didn't need it. She's never needed it. Her leg's as good as yours or mine."
    "You must be joking."
    "Did I ever joke, Nick?" Cecil asked tonelessly.
    *       *       *       *       *
    Nick had to concede that one. In all the time he'd owned the lunch room, he'd never seen Cecil Bates smile or say a light word. "What did Biddy have to say about it?"
    "Oh, she had some gobberish about a man up in the hills making her leg well. Something Dan probably told her to say if she ever got caught."
    "That doesn't seem logical. About Dan I mean. I can see why--"
    Cecil laid out his ideas on the subject and Nick shook his head. "Can't hardly go along with you on that. Don't figure it makes sense somehow."
    "Gimme a cup of that coffee, will you?"
    "Okay. So you think it's just been a masquerade all the time?"
    "What other answer is there? A spindly, pipe-stem little leg doesn't grow normal overnight."
    "But we saw Biddy's deformed leg. All of us."
    "I got that figured out too."
    "Then tell me."
    "Illusion," Cecil said wisely. "A kind of optical illusion. We see a girl limping with a big brace on her leg. We really don't look any further than that. We take it for granted the leg's bad. That's human nature, Nick."
    Sanford didn't seem entirely convinced but he didn't argue the point. "Well, now that you know, what are you going to do about it?"
    "Do about it? I'm going down there and expose that rat. After pulling a slimy trick like that he should be held up for everybody to take a look at."
    "I don't know. I'd go a little easy if I were you."
    Cecil's native caution perked up at the warning but he found a virtue with which to defend his position. "I'd just be doing my duty--the duty of any citizen. And I'm not going down there to accuse him. I'm just going to ask him about it. I'll keep a completely open mind and listen to what he has to say, the damned rat."
    *       *       *       *       *
    Two men entered the lunchroom after coffee and when they'd heard Cecil's story they didn't think much of the "man in the hills" yarn either. In fact, they didn't think at all. As one whispered to the other, "I don't know what the hell this is all about but Ceec is on his horse and there might be some excitement so let's stick around."
    The other one yawned. "This stinking town could certainly use some."
    Another hour went by before the town really started gathering. Then, with what amounted to a holiday spirit, heightened by the aura of mystery involved, the crowd followed Cecil Bates up the street to Dan Parker's bungalow. And the closer they came, the greater was Cecil Bates' sense of self-importance. Without analyzing, he knew he was happier than he'd been in many years. This was the way a sheriff should act--how the job should be. Walking up the street to investigate rascality with the town coming respectfully along behind. They were depending on him and he wouldn't let them down....
    *       *       *       *       *
    Dan Parker was finishing his breakfast. He scowled into his coffee and said, "What did she have to pull a trick like this for? If she doesn't get back I'll have to go look for her. I'll be late to work."
    "Why should you have to do that?" Jane asked. "She knows the country. There's nothing to hurt her. She has Buck with her."
    "Jane, sometimes I don't understand you. Your own kid wandering around in the desert and it doesn't bother you."
    "I don't think it bothers you either. You're more worried about being inconvenienced--being late to work."
    "Now listen here--!"
    "Oh, Dan! Let's not fight. It makes me a little sick to fight now. Don't you realize that last night something wonderful happened? Something we don't understand but wonderful all the same. Biddy was healed--and here we are the next morning growling at each other like a cat and a dog." Jane ignored the fact that Dan was doing all the growling and added, "Besides, I'm sure she's all right. I--I feel it somehow."