Diversion

By Roy E. Bean, Jr

Diversion is as much a love story as anything. Life may not be perfect but it goes on and we try to stay on the good side as much as possible. Sometimes fate has a way of mixing things up and you don’t have much say in the matter. When a man loses his wife and baby daughter he withdraws away from people. Only a little girl with her own problems helps him heal. She becomes whole then herself. This is a story of hope and ultimate happiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roy E. Bean, Jr
• Release date: Sep 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301251391

Roy E. Bean, Jr

Started writing at 16 years old. Didn't finish first book 'Strange Dayz' until I was 26. Served in the Army and went to college in the mean time. Graduated with a degree in Business. Worked in that capacity as a civilian. Joined the National Guard and rose to the rank of SGM. Retired after over twenty years of service. Served in Military Intelligence, Cavalry, Infantry and as a Chem Specialist.

Book preview

SAVINGS

Roy E Bean Jr

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places. and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2010 by Roy E Bean Jr

Smashwords Edition

Chapter 1

Greenvalley, Nev. (AP) -- Neighbors say they smelled natural gas several hours before the explosion. It is an incredible site to see. The garage blew off a woman's condo and pieces of that garage flew to her neighbor's house across the street. Authorities think a natural gas leak may be responsible for an explosion and fire that destroyed a Henderson home this morning. Fire officials say the gas was ignited by a hot water heater pilot light.

The explosion and fire occurred just before 6 a.m. Monday. The resident, identified by neighbors as Sally Bensen, was sleeping at the time. She was found dead at the scene. Bensen's home was completely destroyed in this blaze. Fire and gas officials say that is a shame because neighbors had smelled gas earlier in the evening and didn't call anyone to report the suspicious smell. Rob Garuney, with the Henderson Fire Department, said, Neighbors smelled gas three hours before, they didn't' call anybody. But they did notice the odor.

Ronald Gruhrer, with Southern Gas, said, There was an odor of gas before the owner went to bed. Another resident smelled it at 3 a.m. before they went to work. But no one called us. And then we have what you see before you today.

It is a shame that a woman had to lose her life when this tragic incident could've been avoided. Southern Gas officials say that any time you smell that rotten egg smell, you should call them or 911 because it means there could be a gas leak in the area. The total loss is $350,000, but firefighters did prevent this blaze from spreading and no one else was seriously injured.

Neighbors had reported smelling a natural gas odor about 3 a.m. Monday morning. That was about three hours before the explosion occurred. Natural gas has a sulfuric, rotten egg smell to it and for a very good reason.

The top causes of unintentional home injury deaths are:

Falls

Poisoning

Fire/Burns

Suffocation/Inhalation

Drowning/Submersion

Natural/Environmental

Struck By/Against

Unknown

Other

Machinery

Cut/Pierce/Stab

Overexertion (Neilsen & Jerry)

The call came in the early morning hours. Not quite light, but not dark either. It had been overcast the night before, but most of the clouds had dissipated during the night. Tom answered the phone on the second ring.

Hello

Is this Tom Vanse?

Yes

Yours mothers name is Ethel Vanse?

Yes, what is this about?

I’m sorry to inform you, but your mother was discovered last night in her living room on the couch passed out. Attempts to revive her were not successful. The cause is under investigation, but you were listed as next of kin to contact.

Is she, where is she now?

She is at the morgue, pending autopsy and your direction.

Ok, thank you.

With that the line went dead. Mom was dead, passed out, what did that mean? She didn’t drink, nor was she on any medication. She had never done anything that would lead to her passing out. A stroke or heart attack was always a possibility with seniors, but mom was really strong. It was a five-hour drive from Paradise to Phoenix and the earlier he started the cooler it would be. Tom got up and did his morning business. He went over and woke his wife up, and told her the news. His mom had never really accepted Maria but that didn’t stop her from calling her mom. Tom and his mom hadn’t been close for some time, but she was still his mom. He then sat down at the phone and called his brothers. One lived in Utah, the other in New Mexico. He would be the first one to arrive in Phoenix, and would start the arrangements. Maria was waking their two girls. Summer break had just started, and they had been sleeping in, enjoying the extra rest. Getting up at this hour was not a happy time, and finding out why was even worse. They had not been the favorite grandchildren either.

Why do we have to go, she didn’t even like us! Samantha complained.

Yeah, mom, she was always terrible to us, and you, why do we have to go replied Dawn.

Your father would like us to all go down as a family. Most of the arrangements have been made, and we should only be there a couple of days.

What are we going to do while were there, this is just going to be a big bore!

You’ll get to see you uncles, aunts, and cousins. I’m sure there will be something to do.

Well, it might be entertaining at that, none of them really get along either. I’ll take a book, or two.

As this conversation was going on Tom was on the phone to his boss. The boss wasn’t very happy, this was a busy time. Tom really wished this hadn’t happened now. He knew that wasn’t a very good thought, you mom dying shouldn’t be an inconvenience, but it was. You couldn’t plan death, because it then became murder. The old senator from Massachusetts believed in euthanasia, and that is just preplanned dying. He had already had a hand in murder, so this probably didn’t sound like a big thing. He had even introduced legislation to make it legal, but only in extreme cases. Who would decide what ‘extreme’ meant, and would it change as society got used to it. They packed for three days, and for the heat that was a trademark of Phoenix at this time of year.

The drive down was uneventful. While the girls were awake they counted the little white crosses on the side of the road. This was a testimony to the lethality of the old road. A lot had been done over the years to improve the road but the crosses were left to mark the point of departure for previous drivers. Tom had seen many of these on Ft Irwin road when he used to be in the Army. That thirty-mile stretch of road was one of the worst he had ever driven. There were too many soldiers in a hurry to get home in Barstow, or late for formation. Two lanes and no solid shoulder made passing a real problem.

They stopped at Wikieup for a quick pit stop. He would wait for Wickenburg to refuel the car, but this was good to refuel people. After each of them had use the facilities they were back on the road. The girls went back to sleep, Maria stared ahead, tortured thoughts of a mother-in-law going through her head.

* * *

Steve Allen had always been a little different. He had made it to the rank of Staff Sergeant, E6 based on his performance. The problem was that he really hadn’t performed all that well, it was just that no one wanted to say on paper that he was wacked out, and put their name on it. He had a couple IG complaints lodged against him and he was given the choice of facing disciplinary action or getting out. He got out. He knew he had done much worse than what they had written down and this was as good as time to get out as any. So he would never make Sergeant Major of the Army, big deal, he would do something more fun. Shortly after he got his ‘Honorary Discharge’ a guy in a suit approached him. The suit looked a little out of place on him, but what he had to say made the suit a non-issue. He was told that there were openings in a unit, that was very black, and he would fit right in. The suit had him take a personality test. After it was scored Steve was told that he had passed and was given a little more information. It sounded right up his alley, so he signed on. He gladly went through more training which was little more than stealthy ways to conduct a break an entry with out leaving a lot of evidence. The next training was a little more technical, but it also was right up his alley. This new job would involve a lot of travel but that didn’t really matter because he had no close friends or family.

JD, so named because of the contents of the flask he carried with him, was the same, only different. He honestly thought he knew everything. If something was being done one way, he could do it better his way. Not always going by the regulations was what had gotten him into trouble and why he was no longer the smartest warrant officer in the Army. He and Steve didn’t get along real well together, but they worked out ok. Steve didn’t care how they got the job done, just the end result. Like with JD, to Steve regulations were only guidelines. He had seen that attitude way too often in his short career and figured if it was good enough for the higher-ups, it was good enough for him!

Juan made up the third team member. His dark eyes always had a sparkle in them, a mischievous sparkle. He was always looking to get something started between two soldiers and then would ‘stir the pot’ to cause trouble. This usually happened just prior to him getting caught doing, or not doing something. It would take the focus off of him and give him time to fix things. He was a poor worker, but had climbed up the ranks by intimidation and sucking up to the right people. No, there was no ‘good old boy system’ in place there! All three of them were a product of a society gone wrong. If you don’t get caught you didn’t do anything wrong. And if you get caught blame someone else. These were the cream of the pond.

Chapter 2

At Wickenburg they got some fast food, used the facilities, and stretched their legs some. Tom realized that He only had to claim the body and approve of the cremation. He and his brothers had previously decided that there would be no burial. They made it to Sun City in good time, and first went to his moms’ house to drop off the girls, and the luggage. The spare key was right where it always was and they went in to check out the home. Nothing looked disturbed or out of place in any way. The spare room had been made up, but didn’t look like it had been used lately. There were some things out that could be considered personal effects, but the place looked more like a museum than a room where someone lived. Who had found her? Why was she found so early in the morning? Dawn sat down on the couch and turned on the television. The house was small, and Sam finished her inspection and sat down also. There was no cable service here and there wasn’t much to watch, but TV is TV. Sam got up and looked through the movie collection. Nothing looked very interesting now but when real boredom kicked in they might change their minds. Tom picked up the phone to verify the service still worked. Next he called the funeral home that they had made arrangements with to see if the transfer had been made. All was going as planned and they just needed to go and sign some papers. When Tom was confident it was safe to leave the girls there, he and Maria went on to the funeral home.

At the funeral home he was told that she had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. There hadn’t been any signs of foul play, and they had releases the body with out any hassle. The attendant said they get a lot of CO related deaths in the winter due to the use of unauthorized heaters that aren’t vented properly. The heater uses up all the oxygen and then goes out. One of two things happen then, one is that the person dies, and the gas dissipates over a period of time. The second is that the room fills up with gas and enough oxygen gets back into the room to allow an electrical spark set the mixture off and the place explodes. Either way the resident is deceased. Quite often they will close off and heat only one room. These new heaters are great, but without the proper ventilation they are deadly.

How would this happen this time of year?

I don’t know, but it happens.

Ok, we will be back once my brothers show up. They want to view the body before cremation.

With that, they went back to the house to await the arrival of the others. Once at the house they found the girls asleep on the couch. The TV was tuned into a show they wouldn’t get caught watching at home, but with the few options they had, choices must be made. Tom started poking around the house to look for a portable heater. He didn’t find one. Then he went out to the garage to look around. Nothing caught his attention, and after further inspection he went back into the house. The girls were semi awake at this point, and asked what time it was. Before either mom or dad could answer they said that they were hungry and asked where they were going to go for dinner. Tom told them that they had to wait for everyone else to show up, and they would go together. Maria pointed out that ‘the rest of them’ usually showed up late, and would have already eaten. Tom had to agree that is what would probably happen so asked where they wanted to eat. Not the right thing to do with these three. Each had their own favorite place, and type of food. He finally said that they were going to Furr’s cafeteria. They usually had a choice of different cultural dishes. I wasn’t like the buffets in Las Vegas, but you must settle with what you can get. They all took their time, they were in no hurry to get back to the house, or be confronted by the rest of the relatives. The room was full when they got up to leave. They had started getting looks from the bussers because they were sitting and not eating. Had they been able to sustain a consistent intake of food they could have stayed all night he supposed.

The drive back to the house was quiet. Both the fullness of their bellies, and the expected reception had left them with little reason to talk. When they arrived they were amazed to find that no one had shown up yet. They went inside, and sat down. A short time later there was a knock at the door. Tom got up and went to the door. Standing there was an lady about his moms age. She introduced herself as Nadine. She said that she stayed here with Ethel, but wasn’t here last night due to an engagement. She had a cute little smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye as she said that. But just as quick as she said that a look of concern came over her face.

Your Tom, I recognize you from the photos your mom had of you. She stepped through the door and said And your Maria. "Your mother took me in when