Wishes

“My dude… No one comes out here! Quit with the worry.” Ann smiled and was giddy with excitement as she pulled on Rod’s hand. “I’ll start calling you Rodger if you don’t.” she said with a laugh.

“God. You know I hate that.” He sighed in resignation. “Fine, lead on girl.”

“It’s the best view of the stars. Trust me.”

They started walking through the trees from the gravel area that passed for a parking lot that deep in the woods. There was still a whole lot of light from the city, so while it was a good view, that people that don’t stray far from the city ever see, it was still washing out much of the sky. Their flashlights lit the thin trail as they walked.

“You given much more thought to that?” Rod asked.

Ann laughed, as she does, “to what? I keep telling you, I’m not a psychic, just psycho.”

“To you moving in,” he said stumbling over a lose rock. “Shit. Didn’t see that one. You sure it’s safe to go up here?”

“Yes,” she laughed as she spun around as she kept moving forward. She spent much more time outside the city than he ever had. “I don’t know still. I mean, I have my roommates, and I don’t want to stick them with the short of me not paying what I said I would on the lease. You know?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He stepped over a log following her as she kept along the path that he couldn’t even find any more.

“Here we are!”

Rod looked up from the ground to see that they had just stepped in to what looked like an expanse of black. He couldn’t see the other end of the field, but he could see that the tops of the trees on the other side were silhouetted against more stars than he had ever seen in his life. He started slowly walking forward as he looked up at a sea of light specks that he thought was movie fakery in sci-fi before.

“Wow… there really is more stars to see when you are out here.”

“I told you,” Ann said as she grabbed him before he tripped over a car axel that had been abandoned who knows how many years before. “You still got to watch out for stuff though, dude.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess, huh.” He watched as she pulled out a cloth tarp that she brought with her and folded it out for them to sit out.

They sat quiet with their flashlight off for a while.

“Is it any wonder why ancient people were making up stories about the stars?” Ann asked finally.

“Yeah. Hey, that one is really low. I thought that was trees over there.”

Ann looked down from the sky to see what he was looking at. “That’s not a star. That’s a light.”

“I thought you said no one ever comes out here.” Rod nudged her with his shoulder.

Ann wasn’t laughing any more. “They don’t.” She turned on her flashlight and pointed it in that direction.

About fifty yards away, there was a small wagon. It looked wooden, as she moved her light, she saw a horse standing by it too. Rather the back of a horse, the front was on the other side. There was a thin line of smoke trailing up from the other side of the wagon as well.

“Let’s check it out.”

“I don’t know.” Ann whispered. “I’ve never seen anyone up here, and there’s no roads that could have fit through between the trees.

Rod stood up. “Sounds like some adventure than. Let’s go.” He started walking and Ann shook her head but got up to follow anyway.

“Wait for me. I just hope whoever it is doesn’t just shoot us.”

As they got closer, they slowed down and looked around the edge of the wagon. On the other side it had a tent attached. The flaps on both ends were open, and inside was a person sitting with their back to the pair eating something with the plate in one hand. The figure sat the metal plate on top of a small stove that was the source of the smoke.

“Y’all want some coffee?” the figure said and froze them in their tracks. “And, nah. I ain’t gonna shot ya. Human ain’t no good for eatin’ and if’n ya ain’t not hurtin’ me, they ain’t no call fer it.”

They stood where they were. “Umm… Who are you buddy?”

The figure turned to face them and took his hat off holding it to his chest. “Name’s Billy. So, how ‘bout that coffee?” They started walking toward him, and he placed his hat roughly back on his head. “There’s a couple’a chairs, and cups in that wagon side. Help yer selves.”

“Thank you, sir.” Rod said as he set up a pair of folding chairs.

“Ow. No need to be insultin’ now.” The man laughed. They gave him a confused look. “I ain’t no ‘sir’. Just Billy. Hadn’t been one them for many a year. Since I left the Army that is.”

“Oh, ok.” They sat with their cups. “Thanks for the drink. What are you doing out here anyway?” Ann was now curious.

“Truth be told, waitin’ on y’uns. Not in a bad way, mind ya.” Billy laughed at the started face of Ann. “Had ya worrid I’d recon. Nope. You see, I get… well, guess you’d call ‘em visions. They tell me where I’m a goin’, an’ I folla what tha spirt tell me.”

“Si-… Billy” Rod caught himself. “I don’t mean any offence. I have to say that sounds… You know?”

“Like I done lost my marbles.” He smiled at them a crooked smile and picked up his plate with a few bites of food left on it. “Yeah, I understand. I thought I had got meself way ‘round the bend when they done started, but I help people like y’all out I recon.” He took another bite of his food.

Ann took a sip of her coffee, and then had to ask. “How?”

Billy talked though chewing. “Well, that there depends on what’cha needin’.”

“If my band was famous that would be, cool. Don’t think a guy in a wagon can do that though.” Rod chuckled.

“Done.”

“Wait, what?”

“Done.” Billy took off his hat and put it on his knee. Rod watched the acorns on the end of the yellow braid dangle off the front of the hat by the man’s boot. “Wait ‘till mornin’ ta’ see it, but it’s done.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup. Now, what you be wantin’ young lady?”

Ann scoffed at just the general situation. “I’ll take a million dollars. Sure, why not.”

“Done.” Billy put the last off his plate in his mouth. “Y’all should be all set up now I’m guessin’.”

Rod and Ann laughed. “Sure, thanks, Billy,” said Ann.

“Hey, thanks for the coffee, buddy.” Rod said standing up. “I think we should get back. Need to get to sleep for our big days tomorrow, right?”

“Not a bad idear,” Billy said beaming at them. “Y’all have safe travels now, ya hear?”

“You too, Billy.”

They went back down the barely visible trail and drove back laughing about the experience the whole way. Rod dropped off Ann and went home himself. As he pulled up, he saw someone down the street with a camera. It was not a normal thing that he would see, but who knows with the way people act.

He had only been sleeping for a few hours when Ann was calling and waking him up. That was odd as they generally just texted unless it was an emergency.

“What’s going on?” He asked trying to wake himself a bit.

“You are at the top!”

Rod blinked a few more times trying to work out what she just said. “Huh?” was about all he could muster.

“You are number one on the music charts!”

He chuckled sort of. “Ok. Sure. I’m going back to sleep. Talk to you later babe,” and he dropped his phone as he went back to sleep.

Ann went back to looking around her house. Her roommates were not there. None of their stuff was there. The whole place was redecorated, and one of the bedrooms was set up as an office. She found a computer set up with a few monitors on it and started it up. After working out the password, she found that she had her money. Apparently, she was a stock trader, and doing well at it.

‘I have a whole lot of money’ she sent to Rod in a text message. It was then that she noticed that she had voice-mail. A few were sales calls, but one was from her mom.

‘Hi. I know you said that I needed to stop asking for money, but your dad got fired from another place, and we could use the help. Just call back. Even if it’s only to talk. Bye, Honey.’

She was close with her parents. Why would she not be willing to give them help when they needed it? Ann started looking at emails to try and catch up with her own life. It seemed that she was a completely different person. She saw emails demanding payment for things she bought on credit, and threats back to sue them if they kept trying to get their money. Her parents sent an update note every few weeks, and she rarely responded. Mostly, in a dismissive way when she did. It turns out, that for her to make that much money, she stood on everyone and was thankless. This was not someone she wanted to be.

Across town Rod’s phone was ringing again. He tried to ignore it, but it just started ringing again when it stopped from the last ignored call. Finally, he answered it. He didn’t say anything, he just hit the answer button, and waited.

“Rod? Where the hell are you, mate?” Came a voice finally.

He mumbled at it half a sleep, “who is this?”

“Funny. Look, mate, you are supposed to be at this presser now. You are the only one still not here. Your driver is outside to get you here. I don’t fuck’n care what you are wearing so long as you get your drunkard arse out the door now. Whoever the skirt is that kept you up late, get her out, and you following. Got it, mate?”

He was awake now. “Who are you?”

“Jesus! You on a bender again? We don’t have time for this shite. It's Harvey. Your agent that is getting tired of babysitting your bloody arse every bleadin’ day. Get moving.” The line hung up as a punctuation.

“What the hell?” he went to the window, and sure enough, there was a man in a suit standing outside a back, limo tinted SUV. Around there were people milling about with cameras. A few pointed them at the window and started taking pictures as he closed the shades again and started to panic. “What the hell?!”

He got a shirt on, grabbed some sunglasses and his phone before running to the door. Outside there was another guy in a suit.

“The parasites are thick today, Sir. Let’s get you in the car.” With that he grabbed Rod by the arm and cleared a hole through people taking photos and yelling his name. Within seconds he was shoved in to the back of the SUV. The two men got in the front, and they were moving before the doors were all closed.

“We are going to get you there as quick as we can” the driver calmly intoned. There is a drop off point close to the conference room you are set up for. That means once we are there, we just have to get you in the building basically.”

The guy that pushed Rod in to the car turned in his seat. “Good news is that they are keeping the press buzzards in the press conference rather than out on that door.”

“What’s going on? Why are we having a press... thing... at all?”

The driver glanced over at the guard in the passenger seat. “Harvey was right.” He mumbled.

“Sir.” said the guard in a concerned voice. “We are just tasked to get you there. Ok?”

They pulled up shortly after that. As promised, Rod was ushered quickly into a room with two people he knew. The people he had a band with, Tracy and David. Phil was not there though.

“Where’s Phil?”

“What do you mean?” Tracy asked. “He got tired of this crap and left last week. What? Too drunk to remember again?” She shook her head and went over to a couch in the room.

David followed saying, “Yeah. It’s not fun anymore. Not with you drunk and screwing everyone that comes around. In all ways, man.”

The door opened and a bald guy with a Hawaiian tourist shirt came in stopping Rod from saying anything. “Ok, chaps. We ready to announce your final tour dates?”

“What do you mean final?” Rod was still lost but catching up.

“For fucks sake... We talked about this already. Me and David are done in three months. That’s it!”

Harvey looked Rod over with a grim expression. “You look sober, for once, mate. Your contract is finished. After this, I don’t have to keep track of your surly arse anymore. Hope you didn’t drink all that money you made.”

“He probably did.” scoffed David. “JD ain’t cheap when you buy it by the bucketload.”

He didn’t know what to say. This was not who he was. “I need to go,” was all he could muster before he walked out and back to where the car dropped him off.

The driver was still there. He was leaning on the hood of the black SUV smoking a cigarette and looking at stuff on his phone. Rod walked up to him, and he only noticed when he was about next to him.

“Christ!” the driver exclaimed. “You scared the hell out of me.” The driver looked around. “The thing over?”

“Something like that.” Rod was really trying to work out what he had become to get fame. “You have driven me before a whole lot it sounds like.”

“Yeah. To be honest, this is the most sober I have ever seen you.” The driver realized what he was saying, and who he was talking to suddenly. “Not that, it’s, you know?”

Rod waved sort of dismissing the comment. “No. You are ok, dude. I don’t think I am exactly the same person, and I don’t like who that was now that I am seeing him.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Can you bring me to Ann’s place?”

“Who?” The driver had no idea who Rod was talking about.

“My girlfriend, Anna.”

“I never knew you had a girlfriend. You were always with different women every few hours that I saw.” The driver watched Rod’s expression turn even darker than it was. “I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, if that’s what you want to do it’s not my place to say anything.”

“Can you bring me home to my car.”

“Sure. I can do that.”

They got in and started the drive back. This time he was driving slower and being more careful. Rod got out his phone and called Ann.

“Rod? I don’t like this.” Ann was crying on the phone at him. “I am a terrible person. That’s what made me rich was treating everyone like shit and pushing everyone away.”

“Me too. Apparently, I am a drunk that lost the band because of not respecting anyone.”

“What are we going to do? I don’t want this anymore!”

“Shhh. Me either. I am going to come get you. We need to see if he can take it back. I can’t live like this.”

They drove back out to where they were the night before, and walked the same trail. This time with a desperation that Billy hadn’t left. They found his wagon with the horse hitched up, and everything packed, and rushed to the cart.

“Stop! Wait!”

Billy came around from the other side of the wagon. “Ain’t that kind o’ ya ta see me off. I had a mind that y’uns would be busy enjoyin’ the rich and famous lives.”

Ann blurted out “No! I can’t live treating everyone like trash, Billy. Who could? Can you take it back? Please?”

“Yeah, I didn’t live in a bottle of alcohol before. Why did that become my life?”

“Ah... Yesirie. They would be side effects of a sorts. Ya see? Ya can’t havin’ thin’s without the vices of livin’ it.” He looked at the desperate faces of the two of them. “Y’all sure ya wanna return thems gifts?”

“Yes.”

“Definitely.” Ann started crying again.

Billy nodded his head, and solemnly said “’tis done.” He then started walking to the front of the wagon, and started climbing to the driving seat. “’fore I go. Stay right there.” He started digging around in a box on the side by the driver seat and pulled out a small bag. “I wantcha to know that y’uns passed.”

“What do you mean?” Ann wiped more tears from her face.

“Ya see, there be themuns that would not care. Themuns that would take that there money and keep it, in spite of hurtin’ thems ‘round ‘em. y’uns good people.” He tossed the small bag toward them, and Rod grabbed for it, but missed and it fell on the ground with a dull thud. “Y’all take that. Keep being the good in this here world. God knows we needin’ more of that right there. Now, I need be headdin’ out to the next whistle stop.”

Ann picked up the bag, as they listened to the wagon start clanging acrost the field toward a stand of trees. They looked inside and found a collection of gold coins. The sound stopped suddenly. As they looked up, the wagon was gone. The tracks from the wheels only covered a few yards before they were just gone.

They were hesitant heading back home. There was no press at Rod’s place anymore. There was a note on the door however. It was from Tracy reminding him that they had a gig at a local bar tonight. Ann found her roommates were not home, but their stuff was. It was back the way it was. Back to when they were happy. With the bonus of having some gold to help them out.