Always a Ranger - Part 6
Music
of the Soul
By Jeannine Trevizo
Okay, I’m really
starting to hate getting older.
I don’t know if it
really was easier to go from classes at Angel Grove to battling putties to
morphing and putting the smack down on an overgrown monster with the Megazord, but my memory makes it out that way. I seem to
remember having the energy to go out mountain biking on the weekends, or take
Kim out to the Juice Bar on a date and actually get homework done… When waking
up in the morning wasn’t an exercise in identifying which muscles hurt from the
roundhouse kick and blocking maneuver after being thrown on my ass by a Tyrano-drone.
It really makes me
wonder if the real reason Zordon chose teenagers to
be rangers was for their limitless ability to ignore the aches and keep moving
when older, more settled men and women would just give up under the stress and
pain of it.
After a hot, yet
short shower, I throw on my new clothes: black slacks, tan shirt and a dark
brown sports coat. With my loafers and glasses, I actually look like the
teacher I’m supposed to be. Of course, thinking about my teaching career brings
into sharp reflection the fact that part of the reason I have my PhD and can
teach has appeared out of nowhere. Anton Mercer is alive, and I don’t know how
or why or what it all means.
I’m still trying to
puzzle out his comment about talking in his office next week and the fact I
haven’t heard from him or someone from his company about it at all. Just like I
hadn’t heard from him that he’s survived the explosion. The fact that
Just having Mercer to
worry about would be too easy, of course. Rangers need to multitask
issues, so I’ve also been trying to understand Zeltraxs’
seeming hatred of me. I’m still not sure what that’s all about. Of course, it’s
not like Lord Zedd didn’t hate me with a vengeance,
so maybe it’s a bad guy thing or something. As I climb into my jeep and head
for the high school, I try and put it aside and focus on the day.
No such luck. But
even with all this jumble going on in my head all day, my
classes seem to go well. At least I get the students to have an actual
discussion regarding whether or not we’re descended from cavemen and how close
biologically we are to our ‘predecessors’. Of course, I get a look from Conner,
Ethan and Kira at the use of predecessors. You’d
think that they’d have let it go, with the recent aging monster they defeated
being the more recent topic of conversation, but it seems that my life and
history as a ranger is still captivating.
Maybe the idea that I
was a ranger before they were in grade school is amusing to them. On top of
that, I believe that the subject of Kim and I has just been put on the back
burner for the moment, and will be paraded out just as soon as something
triggers the issue again.
The bell for the end
of the last class of the day sounds and before they can get in a word edgewise
I quickly announce the homework assignment, pack up the week’s quizzes along
with my things and head for my jeep. I have a date to keep.
Without wasting a
minute, I pass the students on their way out, jump in my jeep and head back to
my little rented house. This is becoming the highlight of my day or week,
depending on how things have been, and if Mesogog’s
henchmen have attacked us. Once I get home, I change to some sweats, black of
course, and curl up on my couch so I can call the woman of my dreams, erotic
and otherwise.
I fidget as I wait
for Kim to answer the other end of the line, and have to tamp down on my
burning desire to drop everything, tell the school I have to take a leave of
absence, inform Hayley and the team I’ll be back when
I feel like it and fly to
“Hello.”
“Hey Kim,” I start
off, happy to hear her voice again.
“Hi handsome, so how
are things?” she asks hopefully.
“You know, the same
as you would expect with a resident bad guy in the game. We had an ‘aging’
issue this week – there was a monster sucking the youth out of people. Made me feel a little less old, except when we broke the spell, I
was still older.”
Kim sighed on the
other end, and I tried not to smile.
“Oh, hey, have you
ever heard of a singer by the name of Kylee Styles?”
“Sure, she’s starting
to get big in the pop scene. A few of the girls have been talking about her, a couple of them have her new CD.”
“Well, seems she and Kira know each other. They used to be in a band before Kylee got discovered. She was in town doing some
promotions, and well…” I know I don’t have to finish my sentence, Kim knows how
to put two and two together.
“Oh
no! She’s alright
though?”
“Yeah, once the spell
was broken, she went back to normal just like everyone else.”
“So
how are you?” she questions, her voice taking on a quieter, more intimate
quality.
I stop for a moment
to consider what to tell her: that everything’s fine, or just start pouring out issues like being a ranger again, Mercer
and Zeltraxs…
“It’s hard Kim.”
There’s a pause at
the other end, and I can just imagine her trying to identify just what I mean
by that. Before I decide to cut to the chase, her voice comes back over the
line again.
“It’s been six years
Tommy. You can’t tell me you expected it to be the same, did you?”
“I don’t know,” I
reply shyly, feeling silly now. “I mean, I was a ranger for over three years.
It should be like riding a bike.”
“Except
the bike is a lot older now, and a bit rusty. You can’t just haul it out of the garage
and expect it not to squeak a little,” she says teasingly.
“There’s more to it
than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anton’s alive,” I
start, then find I can’t stop, “he just showed up out
of the blue, and pretended like nothing ever happened. He’s different Kim. Like he just doesn’t care. Cold almost.
And I found out that one of my students, nice kid by the name of
“You and I both know
that bad guys end up fixating on you. Why, I can’t say for sure, but you always
beat them. As for
“I don’t know. I mean
our research is what Mesogog has in hand that he’s
attacking Reefside with. We’re responsible. But I
don’t think Mercer cares.”
“Tommy, you can’t
worry about that. You have in your hands what you need to keep Reefside, the Earth safe. You have power, just like your
new team. Just do what you’ve always done – fight the good fight.”
I smile at her words.
I don’t know how I could get through this without her support. There are times
like now that I realize just how lucky I am to have Kim in my life, however I
can have her.
“I miss you,” I blurt
out, and once the words escape me, I realize just how true they are.
“I miss you too
handsome, but we were apart for years before now. A lot of that time we didn’t
even talk.”
“But I didn’t need
you then like I need you now.”
Again there’s
silence, and I’m scared I’ve really said something I shouldn’t have. I’m
pushing again, and its’ not like Kim doesn’t want to be here. She made a
commitment that she just can’t leave. I know that she feels like she betrayed
her commitment to the rangers by going to Florida. She mentioned that in a
recent phone call. But I’m finding that as I try to transition into the ranger
world again that Kim has always been a vital part of my being at peace. Being comfortable in my role as a leader and as a ranger.
And I could really
use that now.
“I know that,” she
finally says, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “I know this
isn’t the same, that things are more complicated now
than they used to be in the old days. But you can get though it. If anyone can
it’s ‘the greatest ranger ever’.”
I groan out loud as
she says it, a light, joking tone in her voice.
“Who told you that?”
“Jase
sent me a letter after you went to scrap Serpentera.
He made a comment that you were in the middle of some heavy hero worship by the
other red rangers during your little stint back in uniform.”
“Did he mention his
crack about me kissing on you while he was off saving the world?” I remark
bitterly. Jason may be my best, oldest friend, but it really upset me off when
he insinuated that I hadn’t been there when he needed me. Luckily, neither of
us holds a grudge. Would be pretty silly at this point in our
lives.
“No. He didn’t,” she
replied with mock outrage. “I’ll have to flame him by e-mail about it.”
“Do I really have to
wait until the fall before you can come out here?”
“The Olympics aren’t
over until August. The earliest I could pack up my life, make the move cross
country and find a new job there would be a month after that.”
“Hey, I’d be more
than happy to move all your stuff while you’re in Greece and you could look for
a job once you’ve moved in,” I suggest with a leer in my voice. Hell, if it
would help, I’d break Zordon’s rules of using my
powers for personal gain and have the black ranger promote the attributes of
hiring a former Olympic champion at Reefside’s
athletic department.
“Tommy…”
I recognize that tone
of voice. I’ve overstepped the bounds. Right now we’re planning, slowly putting
things together like a jigsaw puzzle. Me though, I’m just trying to take a
hammer to the pieces and force them to fit.
“Sorry. I just really
don’t want to be alone though this,” I admit, feeling somewhat embarrassed by
it.
“I know, and you’re
not, really,” she implies with care. “I may not be there in person, but my
heart and soul are with you through this. Always have been,
to be honest.”
I smile at that,
remembering dark days when I didn’t know why Kim had dumped me. I’d gone along
for another year after that where I gained new ranger powers, flirted with Kat
and generally make a mess of things. It wasn’t until Trini’s
funeral when Kim and I met again that we worked all those things out, and I
came to realize that no matter what had happened between us, Kim had always
been with me in the place that mattered most.
My
soul.
And once we’d admitted
our love for each other again, my soul resonated with her presence more than it
had since the last time she’d left for Florida. Just thinking of that reminds
me that I have more in my life than I thought I’d ever have again.
“I remember,” I
inform her simply, profoundly, and then decide to move on to lighter subjects.
“So, did you get the pictures I sent?”
“Yeah. Nice house. So, you think there will be
enough closet space?”
“Hmm,
maybe, maybe not. If
you still shop like you used to, we might need to add a dresser and a
wardrobe…”
She laughs, and I
know that if she were here, she’d smack me good. But her laughter is the next
best thing. I don’t know how we’re going to survive until the fall at this
rate.
“If there isn’t
enough space, I’ll just have to find somewhere else to sleep,” she insinuates,
her tone seductive enough to make parts of me stir with the thought of sharing
my bed with her, and have to shift in my seat to get myself under control.
“No
way. If you’re coming
here, you’re coming to stay with me, remember?”
“I still haven’t said
yes Tommy,” she reminds me with a reprimanding tone.
“You will,” I say
confidently. “I have a long time to convince you.”
The issue effectively
put to bed for the time being, I think on my briefcase sitting on the kitchen
table with the student’s quizzes in them. Shit, I need to get them done for
tomorrow and there’s 90 of them. If I don’t start now, I’ll be up until
“I have papers to
grade Beautiful,” I start regretfully, not wanting to end the conversation yet.
“It’s okay. I’ll talk
to you later in the week,” she replies, and then quickly adds, “I love you.”
“Love you too Kim.”
With that we hang up,
and I get up slowly and trudge into the kitchen. Sitting down, I open up the
briefcase and pull out the papers along with my glasses. As I do, something
falls out along with them. It’s a dubbed cassette tape. I look at the blue
sticky note on the case and find it’s from Kira.
She’s put in bold script a note.
“Dr. O, thought you might appreciate this. Even being an old guy
and all. Kira.”
Shrugging, I flip the
cassette over in my hands and wonder if I actually will, or if my ranger is
taking pity on me. But if the songs are anything like what Kira’s
been performing at the café, I don’t see why I won’t. Of course, when she
sings, she reminds me of Kim.
Figuring I might as
well give it a shot, I pop the cassette out of the plastic case and walk over
to my stereo. A few minutes later, I have it running and I walk back to the
table to start grading quizzes. I slide my glasses on and pick up my pen when Kira and Kylee’s voices start to
announce the contents of the tape. I realize suddenly that all that is on the
tape is just one song. I wonder if it is new, maybe something they did while Kylee was in town, or if it is from their days as band
mates. But all my questions about when the song was performed and why Kira gave it to me fly out of my head as the music starts
and they begin to sing.
The lyrics are
wrenching and emotionally deep. The song is about lovers separated, longing to
be together, but kept apart by circumstances. It’s all I can do not to go over
and turn it off. Instead, I let it run and let the story that is so close to me
wash over me. I think I understand why Kira gave this
to me, but I won’t tell her that. It will only fuel the fire with regards to
the new ranger’s fascination with Kim and I.
So I just sit and
listen to the lyrics and melody, and inside my soul, I can hear the music
resonate in the place where Kim resides.
-End-
tbc
next week….
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