Sabella & Malcolm Ch. 15

"She's not a threat," Sheriff Jenkins said his voice pleading for his Uncle to listen to him. "Besides, who is she going to tell and who would believe her?"

"You're not listening to me, Carl," Mayor Jones said the tone of his voice letting his nephew know that he was tired of this conversation. "I'm not willing to take the chance that she'll become one."

"Suppose I take her up to your cabin in the mountains?" the Sheriff asked his Uncle. "I could take her up there, tie her to bed or take her up there and leave her with no clothes or shoes to wear. I could take her up there tie her to the bed and take her clothes and shoes. She'd be helpless and nobody would help her, because no one would know she was up there. That would solve everything and she would no longer be a threat to you."

His frustration with his nephew rising and tired of arguing with him Mayor Jones ran a hand through his grey hair and turned away from his nephew.

"What do you think unc?" the Sheriff asked. "Don't you think that would be a good idea.

Mayor Jones turned around and slapped Sheriff Jenkins so hard he crashed down onto the floor.

"Now you listen to me you asshole," Mayor Jones said standing over the Sheriff. "You're going to stop thinking with your dick and do as you're told. The girl, Malcolm and those brats are about to become the victims of a house fire, cause unknown. Now get off your ass and go make sure that everything is prepared for tonight and there will be no more talk of sparing that the colored woman. Have I made myself clear?!"

"Yes sir," Sheriff Jenkins replied as he got up off the floor and headed to the front door of his Uncle's house.

"Carl," Mayor Jones said the coldness in his voice causing the Sheriff to stop dead in his tracks.

"Yeah," Sheriff Jenkins said his back to his Uncle.

"Turn around, I want you facing me when I say what I have to say," Mayor Jones said.

Sheriff Jenkins slowly turned and faced his Uncle.

"The fact that you're family won't keep me from making sure you don't become a problem to me," Mayor Jones said staring unflinchingly at his nephew. "Do you understand what I'm saying to you Carl?"

The coldness filling his Uncle's eyes translated the meaning of his Uncle's words very clearly to Carl. He was letting Carl know that he would deal with him the same way he was about to deal with Malcolm and the other people in his house if he got too big for his britches, and he wouldn't have a problem doing it.

"I understand what you're saying," Sheriff Jenkins assured his Uncle. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm not now nor will I ever become a problem to you."

The Sheriff turned and left his Uncle's house the Mayor watching him as he made his way to the front door.

'I'm going to keep my eye on that fool,' Mayor Jones told himself.

(((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))

At six-thirty in the evening Mabel was gathering her things preparing to go home when Malcolm came into the kitchen.

"You ready to go?" Malcolm asked.

"Yep," Mabel replied picking up her purse and hanging it on her wrist.

"Can you spare a moment before you go?" Malcolm asked. "I would like to talk to you."

"Sure," Mabel replied pulling out a chair from the breakfast table and sitting down. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I've asked Sabella to marry me," Malcolm said a big smile on his face. "She said yes."

"I know," Mabel said smiling back at Malcolm her eye starting to water. "I saw your grandmother's ring on her finger. I'm so happy for the both of you."

"Thank you," Malcolm said his smile disappearing, his eyes turning sad because he was about to do something that made him sick to his stomach. He was about to tell Mabel a lie. "You know that Sabella and I can't legally get married here."

"Yeah, I know," Mabel said a sadness coming over her too.

"Sabella, me and the twins will be leaving here early tomorrow morning," Malcolm said. "We're going to fly to California and get married there."

"You're not flying together are you?" Mabel asked worry and panic filling her voice.

"No," Malcolm replied, "we're taking the same plane, but we'll be sitting in different seats. We're not riding to the airport together either. Frank is going to smuggle Sabella and the twins out of town later tonight avoiding the Sheriff."

"Are you gonna drive yourself to the airport?" Mabel asked.

"Yes," Malcolm replied.

"What about Sabella truck?" Mabel asked calling Sabella's Hummer a truck because she couldn't think of anything else to call it.

"A friend of mine is coming by tonight with an eighteen-wheeler," Malcolm said. "He's going to truck Sabella's baby to California for us."

"Aren't you worried about the questions he's bound to ask when he sees that thing?" Mabel asked.

"He's a very good friend," Malcolm said. "If I ask him to do it and forget about it, he'll do it."

"I'm going to miss all of you," Mabel said wiping away the tears that had begun to fall from her eyes. "But I understand why you're doing it. You love Sabella, and you want her to be your wife and to accomplish that the two of you have to go somewhere where you can legally marry her. I want you to promise me that you're going to take care of Sabella and those precious babies. Because if you don't and I hear about it, I'll come to California, help Sabella leave you and tan your hide before I go."

"I promise," Malcolm said laughing then going over to Mabel, pulling her up from the chair, into his arms giving her a hug. "I have something that I want you to have."

Malcolm reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out to Mabel.

"You've already paid me," Mabel said recognizing the piece of paper Malcolm held out to her as a check.

"I know that, I've already paid you," Malcolm said. "This is something I'm giving you so that you, and Ray can take that vacation you've always wanted to take."

Mabel took the check from Malcolm and unfolded it. When she saw how much the check was made out for she almost fainted. She dropped the check and it fell onto the table.

"I can't accept that from you," she told Malcolm moving away from the table as if the check was going to attack her.

"Yes, you can," Malcolm told her picking the check up from the table and placing it back into her hand. "I want you to have this money.

"But it's too much," Mabel said trying to pull her hand out of Malcolm's grasp.

"It's not too much," Malcolm said refusing to let go of her hand until she took the check.

"Ray and I don't need that much money to take a vacation," Mable told him.

"I know that woman," Malcolm replied. "The rest of the money is so that you and Ray can retire and take it easy."

"That isn't your responsibility," Mabel said.

"No, it isn't," Malcolm said agreeing with the woman he'd come to love like a mother. "This is my gift to you for taking such good care of me over the years, a way for me to show my appreciation and love for you. The way I would've done for my mother if she were still alive."

"Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money," Mabel said taking the check from Malcolm.

"It isn't enough for all the things you've done for me over the years and when my mother died," Malcolm said. "And when I came back to town after my father died. Now stop arguing with me and take the da... take the check."

Mabel took the check, made Malcolm promise to call or write her when he, Sabella and the twins found a place to settle in California, so that she could stay in touch with them. She then gathered her things up once again, gave Malcolm a kiss on the cheek and headed home.

"How did it go?" Sabella asked joining Malcolm in the kitchen after Mabel came into the living room, gave her and the twins kisses on the cheek, said that she would miss her and the twins and then made her way out of the front door.

"Just the way I expected it to," Malcolm replied. "She fought me, but when she realized that I wasn't going to let her leave here without that check she accepted it."

"You're a very generous man," Sabella said putting her arms around Malcolm's waist.

"She deserves it," Malcolm said hugging his future wife.

"You're giving up a lot to marry me," Sabella said tightening her hold on her future husband.

She never dreamed she would meet a man willing to give up the only life; he's known to start a new one with her. Of course if they were in her time it might not have been something he would be required to do. Not because it was illegal for them to be together at least. If they were in her time they would've been able to stay in Texas if they wished to.

"Malcolm are you sure you want to do th..."

"Are the twins ready?" Malcolm asked preventing Sabella from asking the question she'd already asked him at least three times that day. "You promised to show me some of the DVDs you have in that tank in my garage."

"My baby isn't a tank," Sabella said not liking Malcolm calling her Hummer a tank. "It's a Hummer and I've changed my mind, I'm not going to show you anything," Sabella said folding her arms under her breasts.

"Come on," Malcolm said giving Sabella a sad puppy-dog look, "I wasn't intentionally trying to insult your baby. Besides you can't change your mind; you can't call off our first date."

'The sneak,' Sabella said to herself at the way Malcolm was trying to manipulate her. However, she wouldn't give in. "I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in sitting in a tank," Sabella said giving Malcolm her back.

"Are you kidding?" Malcolm replied turning her around so that she was facing him. "Do you really think I would miss the opportunity to see the workings of a car from the future? You have to know me better than that."

Sabella couldn't contained the laughter that spilled from her mouth as Malcolm pulled her out of the kitchen, into the living room where they gathered up Solomon, Serena to go upstairs and get their baby supplies so that they could head out to the garage.

(((((((((((((((())))))))))))))

Thomas Swain sat in Judge Wheats' den as he stood behind his bar making scotch on the rocks for the both of them. The look the Judge was giving him made Thomas nervous. He began to feel that coming to see the Judge might've been a big mistake.

Thomas flipped, flopped back and forth for two days before finally making up his mind to come and see the Judge. He told himself that he was doing it to save those little babies. To keep them from becoming another victim of the Mayor and the others. He wasn't there to get on the Judge's good side.

Besides covering his butt is what any man in his situation would do. Thomas prided himself on his ability to put himself in other people's shoes to try to figure what they would do. He figured if he was in Malcolm's shoes that he would give a copy of the picture to someone else, giving them instructions to turn the pictures over to the Judge if he died from anything other than disease or natural causes.

So, Thomas decided that going to the Judge and telling him about the information he found after his brother died, and about the pictures, Malcolm's father had taken the night of the fire, that Malcolm now had in his possession would put him in good with the Judge. And if the Judge became grateful to him for providing the information he'd been seeking for so many years and decided that he was entitled to the reward he was offering, that would be a good side-effect and keep him alive.

"Why are you here Thomas?" Judge Wheats asked passing a drink to the nervous man sitting on his couch then taking a seat behind his desk in his den.

"I just found out something I think you should know," Thomas said after taking a sip of his drink. "I think I know the people responsible for the fire that killed your wife, that boy and his family."

Judge Wheats was about to take a sip of his drink when Thomas' words reached his ears. The glass was up to his lips, the liquid inside was almost touching his lips when he froze in mid-step. He slowly removed the rim of the glass from between his lip, then he lowered the hand holding the glass.

"Who are they?" Judge Wheats asked his cold eyes trained on Thomas, his hand squeezing the glass of scotch he was holding.

"It was my brother," Thomas said deciding to get the worst part of the information for him out of the way, "Malcolm's father, Slick, Mayor Jones, Ed and Bart."

The glass Judge Wheats was holding shattered, cutting his hand causing a mixture of scotch and blood to cover his hand, as the pieces of glass fell to the floor.

"How and when did you find out?" Judge Wheats asked Thomas.

"Your hand is bleeding Judge," Thomas said pointing to the Judge's bleeding right hand.

"When did you find out?!" Judge Wheats screamed demanding an answer to his question.

"A month ago," Thomas replied falling back against the couch, too afraid to tell the Judge the truth that he'd known about what his brother did for more than twenty years.

"Why are you just coming to me with this information?" Judge Wheats asked slowly turning his head to face Thomas. "You know I've been desperate to know who was responsible for my wife's death for over thirty years."

"I was shocked to find out my brother was involved in something so terrible," Thomas said still staring at the Judge's bloody hand not realizing that the Judge had opened up the center drawer of his desk and was slowly easing out a forty-five pistol. "I didn't know how I was going to deal with it. I was torn between telling you and protecting my family's name and reputation."

"Your family's name and reputation were more important to you than seeing that the men responsible for Sarah Jane's death were brought to justice and made to pay for what they'd done?" Judge Wheats asked easing the gun further out of the drawer, lowering it down on to his lap as he eased the drawer closed.

"I didn't think about that," Thomas said angry with the Judge for not understanding his situation when he found out what his brother had done, his eyes still trained on the Judge's bleeding hand.

He was concentrating so hard on the hand becoming sick at the sight of scotch and blood that was dripping down on the Judge's desk he didn't realize he'd swayed from the story he was going to tell the Judge. He didn't realize that he was now telling the truth. "I realized I had to tell you when Mayor Jones decided that Malcolm had to die because he was tired of him blackmailing him."

"Malcolm knows what his father did?" Judge Wheats asked placing the gun onto his lap. "How did he find out."

"Malcolm's father was trying to teach him a lesson about disobeying him when the fire happened," Thomas said still staring at the Judge's hand wondering why the man didn't do something about it, at least stop the bleeding. "His father burned the boy's house down because he wouldn't stop sneaking over to play with him."

"My wife was killed because Malcolm's father wanted to teach him a lesson!" Judge Wheats said his voice tense, tight and filled with anger.

"He found the pictures taken by his father of the Mayor, my brother, Ed, Bart and Slick, standing in front of the burning house when he cleaned out his father's safety deposit box," Thomas said.

"You said that the Mayor plans on killing Malcolm," Judge Wheats said slowly bringing the gun up as he spoke. "When does he plan on doing it?"

"Tonight," Malcolm replied.

(((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))

It was about eight thirty after giving the twins a bath and packing a bag of baby supplies and bottles when Malcolm, Sabella and the twins made their way out to the garage.

Malcolm was anxious to see these DVDs that Sabella spoke of. He found just the thought of DVDs to be amazing. A digital video disc. Sabella said that it meant that the movies were digitally place on the small round discs.

Unable to clearly explain how DVDs were created or how they did what they did Sabella went on to the internet and found a video that explained it a lot better than she could and let it tell Malcolm all about DVDs.

"Amazing," Malcolm said after watching the video.

The Internet also amazed Malcolm. Sabella told him it was called the information highway because it could be used to find out about almost anything a person could think of. Sabella explained to him that the Internet was actually a network of millions of Web sites that could be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection any time of the day or night. She told him that almost every business no matter how large or small it was found that having a Web site was a necessity if they wanted to stay in business, because it allowed their customers to make purchases or conduct business twenty-four hours a day without having to have actual personnel. She also told Malcolm that although she didn't think it was suppose to cross time eras the internet was the reason she and Mark were still able to communicate with each other.

Malcolm was amazed as he listened to Sabella tell him all the things that could be done on the internet. He couldn't believe that everything he was telling her would be created over the next fifty years or less.

"Are you ready?" Sabella asked bringing him out of his thoughts.

"I'm ready," Malcolm replied. "Lets go see these so-called marvels of technology you've been going on about."

"Follow me," Sabella told him, carrying Solomon in her arms, she headed out to the garage.

With Serena in his arms, Malcolm followed Sabella. He watched her point the fob on her keychain at the huge tank like vehicle she called her baby. The small bird-like chirp he heard signaling that the car had been unlocked almost made him laugh out loud. The small sound coming from something so huge just didn't seem to fit.

Sabella opened the front passenger door, she then flipped a switch that opened the back passenger door so that Malcolm could place Serena in the passenger-side back seat, while she placed Solomon on the driver's side passenger seat. Both she and Malcolm place blankets on the backseats before putting their little charges on the seats.

After making sure the twins were comfortable and safely in the car, Sabella and Malcolm climbed into the front seats of the Hummer.

"This is where I keep my favorite DVDs," she told Malcolm opening up the front console where there was a rack for about four or five DVDs or CDs "I keep them in here in case I get the urge to see on of them."

Sabella held up her copy of Disney's Snow White; she opened up the case and held the DVD up for Malcolm to see.

"You've got to be kidding me," Malcolm said as he took the DVD from Sabella's hand marveling at how small the disc was. "This little thing has a whole movie on it?"

"Yes, it does," Sabella replied laughing at his reaction.

"I don't believe you," Malcolm said looking at the graphics on the DVD running his hand over the picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. "It's so small, too small to hold an almost ninety minute movie."

"That small disc can hold a two movie plus more," Sabella told him.

"What does digitally remastered mean?" Malcolm asked.

"It means that the picture and sound qualities have been improved and brought up to 2010 quality using modern technology," Sabella told him.

"I remember when this movie came out," Malcolm said a smile appearing on his face as he relived the memory. "I remember sitting in the theatre with my mother, as the movie started and thinking that it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. My mother told me I could have as much popcorn as I wanted that day, I ate so much it made me sick."

Then a look a sadness appeared on Malcolm's face.

"My friend went with my mother and me that day," he said his eyes tearing up a little. "We wanted to sit together, but the owner of the theatre wouldn't allow it. He said his white customer wouldn't be comfortable sitting next to a colored boy, and colored people had their own place to sit in the balcony."