Free King of the Dark Mountain by Galili Black Page B

sat down at the wooden desk and stared at the man. “Can you please tell me what this is all about?”
    “We’ve had some reports of a person matching your description and driving a vehicle with out of state tags holding up a liquor store in Quentin late last night.”
    “It wasn’t me.” Hez said simply.
    “What has brought you to our neck of the woods, Mr. McCane? You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?”
    Hez nodded, “I’ve come to find my sister.” The detective nodded for him to continue. “It’s hard to explain. She came up here to see an old colleague of hers and I want to find her and make sure she’s alright.”
    The detective regarded him over his reading glasses. He took them off and rubbed his eyes. He replaced the glasses and looked at Hez with deep sincerity, “We will have to check you out. This will take a little time. In the meantime, I have some paperwork I need for you to fill out.” He slid papers toward him and a pen. “Just fill it all out to the best of your knowledge.” The cop and the stenographer got up and left the room.
    Hez did as he was told, realizing that he was in no position to argue. The world ran on paper work and when an official slid some your way, you just filled it out. Even as a farmer whose job was ostensibly hands on and practical, he had spent hours filling out papers to satisfy some bureaucrat or other. He heartily hoped that in some unforeseeable future paradise he would never have to fill in little boxes with his social security number again, but that paradise was not today. Ellie was out there on a mountain top, probably getting probed by aliens or God knew what else and some paper pushing cop wanted him to fill out forms and he was doing it because there wasn’t anything else he could do. The entire weight of western civilization rested on such actions. It reminded him again of the story they told of how it was the paper in all those offices that actually provided the fuel to bring down the twin towers. He had often thought that there was a terrible metaphor in that fact. 
    After completing the paperwork, Hez got up and paced, his mind filled with foreboding. He thought of all those wacko videos on YouTube about government conspiracies that he sometimes clicked on when he just wanted a diversion after a long day outside mending fences or other necessary tasks. Usually they just made him laugh, but one of them stuck with him. It wasn’t particularly well made or even believable, but at the end it posed the question, “Who is really running the show?” And he admitted that he didn’t know and he doubted anybody else did either.
    As a boy he had loved stories about King Arthur, read them out loud to Ellie who seemed mainly interested in the descriptions of horses. He even made drawings for her of different colored horses that the knights rode on. He thought of how what was great about those stories was that you knew who was in charge. Whatever strange adventures the knights had to pursue, they knew who ran the show. What a gift that was, and he bet they didn’t even appreciate it one bit. The last thought brought a faint smile to his lips. The detective burst into the room. He picked up the papers and looked at Hez with a startled expression. “You’re free to go. We think we have the right guy. We apologize for the trouble,” he said looking much younger than he had during the previous encounter.
    “That’s it?” Hez asked, astonished. The cop nodded. “I’ll have one of the officers drive you back to your vehicle.” Hez nodded.
    “I’d appreciate that,” Hez said and followed him out of the little room. He didn’t say anything to the cop who drove him the few miles out of town to his truck. He felt exasperated at the senseless waste of an afternoon. He looked for the sun and saw it was nearing the western horizon. He got in the truck and decided to go back to town. It was no good driving around in the dark trying to find some mountain