The Three Dollar Phoenix by Walt Sautter (rooftoppers .txt) 📖

take sittin’ there watchin’. It eats me up so much that the coach said I could stay home. I think he knows that I’m done anyway.”
“You never know” said Ed in an attempt at consolation.
“You’ve had this problem before and it worked out alright.”
“This time’s different. Another operation won’t do it. It’s gone. I’m just looking to save the leg much less play again” said Charlie in a resigned voice.
“Can you get me into the stadium?” asked Ed in an abrupt change of topic.
“What do you mean, ‘get you in’. I can get you tickets anytime you want” he replied.
“No, I don’t mean for a game, I mean like at a time when I can look around a little on my own.”
“Look around for what?”
“I’m not really sure. I really can’t explain.
You gotta trust me.”
Charlie paused for a moment.
“I guess can. I know the security men won’t bother you if you’re with me. I can’t see where there would be any problem.”
“But I still don’t know why you wanna go” said Charlie with reluctance.
“Just. go along with me. Remember that night you took me down to St. Anne’s Hospital with you to see your friend? I didn’t ask you any questions. I just went along like you asked. Remember?”
Charlie nodded.
“That’s where this all started. Now, I want you to go along with me on this one.”
Charlie hesitated again for a moment.
“When do you want to go?”
“How about tomorrow afternoon? Is that a good time?” replied Ed immediately.
“It will be quiet. Won’t be too many people around then. You said you don’t want anybody botherin’ you.”
He thought for a second.
“Sounds OK. Tomorrow then”
“We’ll meet at the Queen’s Diner and you can drive from there, alright?” asked Ed.
“Sure. Tomorrow at let’s say four o’clock?” Charlie answered.
“Good!”
Melinda picked him up right on time. As they rode homeward, he could hardly contain his exuberance at the prospect of finally bringing all of this to a conclusion. His mind raced back and forth in eager anticipation of tomorrow’s events. Mentally, he had already been at the stadium and back a thousand times. It was going to be hard for him to sleep tonight, of that he was sure.
The early morning sun streamed in through the crack in the drawn shades and gradually illuminated the entire room. Ed’s eyes opened slowly. Melinda’s soft, round buttock pressed firmly against him as she awakened and stretched. His thoughts flashed back as he responsively placed his hand over her large warm breast and kissed the nape of her neck tenderly. His fear of a sleepless night had been unfounded, of that, she had made sure.
As the sun’s rays became more penetrating and his wakefulness more complete, his thoughts moved towards the day’s task.
He’d go down to the school and get what he needed as soon as it opened, about eight o’clock. Doctor Lane would probably be there by then. He was always in his office by then.
“Melinda” he whispered softly.
“I’ve got to go downtown.”
She turned and encircled him with her long, graceful arms and legs pulling herself , close as possible to him in a silent reply. He glanced at the clock on the dresser. Six o’clock. Doc Lane wouldn’t be there until eight. He pressed himself towards her in ardent response.
They pulled into a parking lot in the rear of a drab, aging, brick building at the center of the city. Leaching out from beneath the layers of once colorful spray painted graffiti read the inscription, “Marvin Lane Hall of Science.”
Melinda waited in the car while Ed entered the building. He walked quickly to the second floor, room 208. Through the window in the door of the room he saw Doc Lane seated at his desk, partially obscured by the mountains of papers that grew up from its surface and surrounded him. Nothing had changed. For a moment, Ed felt as if he were viewing one of the physical constants of the universe about which Lane had taught him.
He tapped lightly at the window. Lane looked up, over the tops of his glasses for an instant and simultaneously motioned him in without even noticing the identity of his caller.
“Doctor Lane” Ed announced as he cracked open the door.
“Yes” he replied automatically, without glancing upward.
“It’s Ed Bennett. Do you remember me?”
With that, Lane immediately dropped his pen, slowly removed his glasses and looked at Ed perplexedly.
His gray, green eyes squinted slightly as he looked hard at his visitor and then a broad smile erupted under his white beard. He ran his long, thin fingers back through his thinning gray hair and tilted his chair back on its rear legs.
“Jesus Christ” he exclaimed with obvious surprise.
“Last time I saw you, you were packing for medical school.”
“Now, what brings you here Doctor Bennett. It is doctor, I hope” he added in an interrogatory tone.
“Yes, it is” replied Ed.
“Too bad. I was sorry to see you leave our graduate program here. You could have made a fine physicist” responded Lane, kind of half musing out loud to himself, as he had a habit of doing.
“Now you’re wasting your time burning warts off old ladies’ asses” he added, attempting comic sarcasm.
Ed smiled faintly. The old man’s desk hadn’t changed and neither had he, not one iota. It was a subtle game he played with everyone. Cynical invitations to debate an issue, any issue, just for the hell of it.
Ed knew better than to take the bait and glossed over the remark saying nothing.
Lane, realizing his gauntlet had passed unheeded, smiled and continued the conversation.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he said, in another effort to determine the reason for Ed’s presence.
“I need your help, Doc.”
“I remember you always told me that if science was not for the ultimate good of man, God would never have given him so powerful a tool. I want to use that tool, now.”
“What do you have in mind?” asked Lane.
“I want to borrow a Geiger Counter.”
“What the hell for? Do you plan on going prospecting? I’d say you could get rich a lot easier digging with a scalpel rather than a shovel” goaded Lane.
“Well, I am going prospecting in a way. If everything is as I think it is, I’ll be digging up a lot of valuable ground. It’s probably worth more than a uranium mine.”
The conversation paused for a moment.
“Well, I don’t know what this is all about and I guess I’m not supposed to know. I suppose I can trust you. I don’t remember catching you stealing any test tubes when you were here” he said with a smirk as he arose from his chair and reached into his pocket. He withdrew a large key ring and led Ed down the corridor towards the storage room.

Chapter XVII

Ed arrived at the diner early, about a quarter to four and sat patiently sipping a cup of black coffee, eyeing each person through the window as they entered. Before long, a new, black Porsche pulled into the parking space adjacent to his window and the driver tooted the horn with two long blasts. He strained to identify him through the reflections from the dark, tinted windshield. The driver blew the horn again and then Charlie’s massive head poked out through the car’s side window.
“When did you get this?” greeted Ed as he opened the passenger’s door.
“I blew the horn because it’s a pain in the ass to get in and out of here with these sticks” Charlie began.
“Monday” he continued.
“I got it Monday. Nice huh?” he said and began backing the car out in jackrabbit fashion.
He slammed it into first gear and shot out into the heavy stream of highway traffic.
“Last week, at this time I was really down. My playing days are done and I knew it. I was on my way to being a has been.”
“All that talk in the paper about knee surgery putting me back on the field was a lot of bullshit and everybody knew it and so did I. I’m just hoping I’m gonna walk OK after it’s over.”
“Man, I was feelin’ pretty down. So I decided to cheer myself up a little and this is it.”
“Now, all of a sudden, things are looking a little better for me. Every cloud has a silver lining.”
“Last night, just when I’m at the bottom, my agent calls me about a possible broadcasting job.
Pregame stuff. It’s beautiful. I find out tomorrow. The money’s great and I don’t have to leave the game. I just move upstairs to the broadcast booth. I don’t know which I like better, the money or the chance to stay.
So now this has changed from an antidepressant to a celebration” he said as he patted the dash.
“That sounds great” replied Ed enthusiastically.
“They couldn’t have picked a better guy.”
“Now, what are we coming down here for and what’s in there?” asked Charlie, pointing to the cardboard box Ed held on the floor, between his feet.
Ed hesitated for a moment and then answered.
“It’s a Geiger Counter. I’ll tell you the whole story just as soon as I’m sure I have something to tell. Give me a little time” he asked.
“Geiger Counter:” repeated Charlie out loud to himself.
They arrived at the stadium gate. Charlie rolled the window down and yelled.
“How ya doin John?”
The guard waved acknowledgingly.
“Just fine Mr. Rhodes” came the reply and Charlie stepped down on the accelerator.
They parked the car and walked the long walk towards the inner recesses of the stadium, Ed with the box under one arm and Charlie swinging himself rhythmically on the crutches. They moved down to the edge of the playing field where Charlie folded down one of the seats.
“Here it is.”
“I’d sure like to know what the hell you’re doing here with a Geiger Counter but I guess I’ll have to just wait and see, won’t I?” he said as he sat down.
“Do whatever you’re going to do. I’m going to sit right here and get some sun” and with that he leaned back in the seat, clasped his large burley hands behind his head and looked skyward, feigning disinterest.
Ed stood motionless for an instant, not exactly sure what to do next. Even though he had been here hundreds of times in his mind, now he was unsure.
Charlie looked over at him.
“Don’t be shy. Nobody’s here. You can poke around anywhere you want. If anybody does come, just send them over to me. I’ll be right here.”
With that, Ed placed the box on one of the seats next to Charlie, removed the instrument from it and walked towards the field.
He switched it on and allowed the probe to hang freely just above the ground where he walked. The sporadic clicking caused by background radiation began. Every ten seconds or so the machine responded with a faint crackle and then fell silent for the intervening time.
Ed walked in measured steps as he proceeded towards the far goal line, covering the area in crisscross fashion. Several times, he