Chapter 5: Mistle Faces A Fork In The Road

Chapter V

Ivey paused for a moment to glance across the aisle and around the plane to see if anyone was paying attention. Leaning in closer to Mistle, he said with more than a hint of sarcasm, “I thought you’d never ask.”

He then lifted a portion of his shirt to reveal what Mistle recognized as a slightly more modern, higher-tech version of a standard-issue U.S. Marines olive-drab belt with rectangular pouches above the man’s waist.

Mistle knew those pouches typically contained ammunition and he began to shift in his seat.

What the hell are we dealing with here, Mistle thought. Ivey leaned in close so Mistle could hear him at a whisper.

“I don’t have any rounds, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Ivey said, dropping the hem of his shirt to cover the belt. “There’s something far more powerful inside.”

Mistle raised an eyebrow. He started wondering about how well he knew Ivey, after all.

While the two had forged a solid bond during their days in uniform, they hadn’t talked in 20 years. Mistle wracked his brain trying to figure out if he had heard through the grapevine about Ivey’s hand. He half-thought he remembered a fellow Marine’s email asking for donations on Ivey’s behalf? He meant to send something—at least a note with a $50 bill. But he never got around to it.

Mistle's thoughts turned to his estranged wife, Holly, who had told him time and again that this was why they weren’t currently together: There were too many cases of good intentions with no follow-through.

Mistle turned his attention back to Ivey.

“Cut the crap," Mistle said in a whisper through clenched teeth. "You might as well tell me what’s going on.”

The pilot announced the plane’s final descent into Minneapolis/St. Paul.

“Not here, but we need to talk," Ivey said. "I’m not really going to visit my daughter. You know I wouldn’t raise her to leave the great Buckeye state.”

Mistle drew in a deep breath and straightened himself back into his seat. It was starting to dawn on him that maybe Ivey sitting next to him on this flight wasn’t entirely coincidental. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Just then, the wheels of the plane touched down with little fanfare, prompting most of the passengers to switch on their cell phones.

Mistle grabbed his phone and turned it on. His phone flashed with a voicemail, from Holly.

“I wouldn’t call anyone just yet if I were you,” Ivey said. "Don't let anyone know you've landed yet."

Mistle's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention from the phone to Ivey.

"Listen, Ivey, I don't know what kinda stunt you're working here, but I've got a daughter to get to," Mistle said. "It was nice seeing you, but—"

Ivey lifted his lone hand and grabbed onto Mistle's forearm.  

“We have a situation here,” Ivey said. “And you’re the only one I trust.”

Situation? I'm the only one he trusts? Mistle's head was in whirl.

"Ivey, it's my girl's Christmas," Mistle said, clutching the wrapped present he brought with him onto the plane. "If I don't show up today, Holly will make sure I never see her again."  

“Don’t worry about your ex and your girl,” Ivey said. “They'll forgive you when they hear what you had to do, how you helped me today, how brave you were."

Mistle and Ivey were standing in the causeway between the plane and the terminal. The last of their fellow passengers whisked past them, on his way to baggage claim.

"Anyway," Ivey said. "You won’t want to see them before you get that haircut fixed.”

* * *

EDITOR’S NOTE: November is National Novel Writing Month, and we need you to help Minnesota Patch write a holiday novella. Here's how it will go: We’ll post a new chapter every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next four weeks, each written by one of the Local Editors from a Patch in the Southwest Metro.

Our Patch writers will incorporate your ideas into the next chapter. Take our poll or contribute your thoughts below for plot twists, character names or settings for scenes. Through a lot of fun, improvisation and unpredictability, by Dec. 16, we’ll end up with a finished holiday novella.

Our next chapter will appear Monday, Nov. 28.