Dennis Raveley - chapter 10

Dennis is not sitting in the same compartment as the rest of the Wyatts for the duration of the ride, he feels rather alone. The van stops when Dennis is thirty-five away from reaching three thousand, he found the pass-time of counting to himself. After all, he sees only darkness, and hears nothing. he tried only once to take the blindfold and earmuffs off, only to find the knots that ties his blindfold and which also connects to the muffs unsolvable. Suddenly a hand touches his face, he flinches. The earmuffs are removed in so little time with such precision Dennis is absolutely bewildered.
'Hello Dennis, pleasant trip so far?' Raymond's voice speaks.
'I've nearly counted to three thousand.' Dennis replies.
'Ah, I do that too back when I had to wear a fold to every destination by van. Tell you what, I'm going to give you this.' Raymond presses something into his hand. An MP3.
'An MP3?' Dennis feels for confirmation, he is still blindfolded.
'Yes, it's Kenny's, the muffs can come off now, you can thank me for that, and the MP3.'
'Well, thank you.'
'You're more than welcome. Karla insisted she drive so we might arrive at the airport a little later, say ten minutes, and it's an hour's more drive.' Raymond says, he turns the MP3 on.
'I'll set the music to all songs and you can hear all that's on Kenny playlist, but be warned, there's so much John Williams, Alfred Newman, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, Howard Shore and God knows what other movie composers you'll get sick of it after half an hour, give or take. Unless of course, you're as big a film bluff as Kenny.'
'Probably not, but I like movies.'
'Alright, I'll tell Kenny to test your devotion sometime.'
'Okay....why have you stopped by the way?'
'Oh, it's a...bathroom break.' Raymond says. In the background, a noisy truck's engine can he heard starting and romping away.
'Can I go too?'
'Hold it 'till later, the washrooms here are a nasty space, you don't want to walk into one without an eye to see, on the other hand, not seeing is better.'
'Okay.' Dennis plugs the high-definition earphones into his ears, he does not recognize the first song until the one minute mark, when he identifies it as the theme music of Alien. By then, Raymond has exited the compartment and shut the door, the van has started moving again, and Dennis does not want to go to the washroom at all, he simply asked because he finds it odd that at a rest stop - if that's where they were at - he should hear the sound of rifle shots, in the time frame his ears are not muffed.
The music flows on, and several songs are quite good that Dennis fumbles with the buttons to replay them a few times. He reaches the E.T. theme song when the van grinds to a halt, the door to the compartment opens, and Raymond's hand reaches out, he voices announces, 'we've arrived!'
Dennis is lead, still without sight, towards the warm currents emitting from a small ultra-sonic jet, he can tell it is an open airfield and the time is already the early hours of a new day. Dennis feels fatigue creeping upwards from his joints. He yawns.
Raymond carries Dennis up the rest of the way and up the removable stairway to the interior of the plane. Dennis is already asleep, so Raymond puts him on a couch, and drapes a tablecloth over him. The jet has yet to fire up the heaters and the interior of the plane is chilly. Raymond whispers to Kenny, who enters behind him, 'I've always wanted a little brother like him.'
'And you know what Jerry would say to that.' Kenny replies.
'He'll say yeah, but you got me and Kenny instead, feel like carrying one of us up that plane?'
'Ha, good one.' Kenny, 'You know I'll say?'
'What?'
'Why don't you be a gentlebro and carry Addy up here too?'
'Geez! Am I my siblings' foot soldier?' Raymond gives Kenny an incredulous look.
'Quite.'
'Geez! Gotta be a slave on my own private jet! Now that's fair.!'
'It's ours too, and don't forget, Addy purchased it.'
'And I should also not forget, Karla bugged Addy into paying for it.' Raymond leans in a little closer, 'By the way, tell me, what do you find so intriguing in Karla that makes you come out of your cave?' Raymond looks towards the runway pavement, Addy, Karla, and the Driver are saying final goodbyes and making further arrangements.
Kenny is silent, he sighs, 'Ray, you're making a very dangerous guess right now.'
'I don't guess, I know.'
'In that case, you know very little indeed.' Kenny walks in the direction of the cockpit without another word.
'I don't guess, Kenny, I know! I'm your brother, what do I know that you don't about yourself?'
Karla has pushed Addy's chair to the stairway now, and Raymond sighs deeply. He strolls down to the pavement, bows his head, and declares, 'Raymond your servant at your service my dear sister.'
Addy smiles, amused, and Karla crosses her arms, 'Took you long enough!' She says.