The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  And of course, he was a boy, why wouldn’t he want to hear the story of Cowboys and Indians, especially with Elliott Ryder coming into the class to give a speech on the differences and similarities between Indians and Savages.

  Ellen told Jenny to not be taken aback when she saw how Billy was dressed.

  Jenny had a visual in her mind. Billy showing up in a little cowboy hat, wearing jeans made by Ben.

  It was time to open the doors, and Jenny wrapped up her breakfast sandwich, straightened herself, and walked to the door.

  As she expected Billy was the only one there, first in line. But not dressed as she expected.

  “You locked me out,” Billy said.

  “I never open the doors until eight,” Jenny replied.

  “But today is special.”

  “Yes, it is.” Jenny smiled.

  “I’m very excited about this.”

  “You don’t know how glad I am Billy that you have this attitude today.”

  “Good. Good.” He nodded. “You’re gonna have a great day, Jenny, filled with excitement and learning.”

  Jenny, giddy, clapped.

  Billy paused. “I’m not a two year old who just used the potty.”

  “Sorry.” She held back her smirk.

  Billy walked to her desk.

  “What … what are you doing?”

  Setting his briefcase on the desk, Billy popped open the lid. “Will you be sitting in my seat? You’ll have a better view.”

  “Why would I sit in your seat?” Jenny asked.

  “To learn.”

  “To learn what?”

  “What I’m teaching.”

  “What you’re teaching?”

  “Why are you repeating me?” Billy asked.

  Jenny huffed. “Billy get away from my desk.”

  “My desk.”

  “My desk!” Jenny blasted. “I am the teacher, you are the student.”

  “Not today.”

  Jenny marched to the desk. “Every day. Why would you think you would teach the class?”

  “My father told me.”

  “Oh, really?” Jenny placed her hand on her hip. “I am the teacher. You are not teaching the class.”

  “I am. My father said. And ...” Billy straightened his tie. “He also said if you don’t like it, go see him.”

  “I think that might be an option,” Jenny said sternly, then after making sure his little fingers were free and clear, she slammed his briefcase closed.

  <><><><>

  Roy stumbled as he entered the clinic lab, bumping into things on his way to his computer.

  “You’re late,” Frank said.

  Roy shrieked. Frank startled him.

  “You OK?” Frank asked.

  “Yes. Yes. I’m just rushing. I want to get everything done up here and get back to the cryo lab to finish the project before Ellen arrives.”

  “Just do what you did before.” Frank shrugged. “Blow off the clinic.”

  Roy gasped. “It is my duty and obligation. I can’t do that. I don’t know what I was thinking. I probably was late all the time before, too.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I hate being late. Look at the time.”

  Frank did. “You’re not late. I was joking.”

  “I’m to be here at eight. It is one minute after.”

  “That’s not late. Technically, yeah, it’s late, but in the scheme of things, it’s not late. Why are you late?”

  “I thought you said I wasn’t late.”

  “Ok. Why are you rushing from and back to the cryo lab?”

  Roy answered. “I have nearly completed something special. Something that will surely aid Beginnings.”

  “What is it?” Frank asked.

  “I can’t tell you. I have to tell Ellen first. But it has to do with DNA.”

  “Yes!” Frank clenched his fist. “Perfect. That is exactly why I’m here.”

  “About DNA.”

  “Problem solving.”

  “With DNA?”

  “Dean. I can’t problem solve DNA, only you can,” Frank said. “Which is why I’m here. You can solve a problem.”

  Roy smiled. “Yes, I can. I can solve many.”

  “Check this out. Remember when you went to the future with Ellen through the Aragon Window. You said everything was rosy except one thing. The killer babies had grown up and they had been out of control.”

  “LEPS.”

  “Yeah, that’s right. That’s what you said they were called. They were out of control.”

  Roy whistled. “And deadly. Killer. They were massive and couldn’t be stopped.”

  “Wouldn’t it be fuckin sweet to remove the problem now so we don’t have that problem in the future?”

  “It would be a grand idea.”

  “Like the one Iffy said. He said he came in the invisible suit to eliminate the problem. Good in theory.”

  Roy shook his head. “But that didn’t work.”

  “No.”

  “I wouldn’t think it would.”

  “Fuck no. You can’t fuckin invade Beginnings, attack me, and meet your mission.”

  “Perhaps they should have found you first and said what they wanted.”

  “Perhaps.” Frank nodded. “But if they did I wouldn’t see them. Anyhow … I got a solution.”

  “Go on.”

  “What if we stop it now?”

  “How?”

  “We start here.” Frank reached to the sack on his hip. “Ow.” He reached. ‘Little fucker.” He pulled out another subject. “This one was a bitch to get. I got the leash around him, though.”

  Immediately upon seeing it, Roy screamed and jumped back. “What? What is that!”

  “You know what it is. What does it look like?”

  “A fetus!” Roy peered closer. “Whose uterus did you extract it from?”

  “I didn’t,” Frank said. “It’s a fetus. A Killer Fetus.”

  “Oh my God! Did it tear its way out?”

  “No. You fuckin know this, Dean. They nest.”

  “They nest?”

  “Dean. Stick with the program.” Frank flung the fetus about as he spoke. “Killer Fetus turns into Killer Baby, then it turns into a Killer Toddler, and finally a killer adult.”

  “This is a fetal LEP?”

  “Yes.”

  “Holy cow.”

  “So I was thinking. He looks pretty normal huh?”

  “As normal as a fetus can look,” Roy said.

  “Except for this prickly teeth. But … listen to what I’m thinking. They are DNA enhanced. What if we get them right now, at this stage and do something with their DNA to either stop the mutation right here, or try to mutate it to normalcy. What do you think?”

  Roy stared.

  “Dean?”

  “Frank. That is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant theoretical thinking. The notion alone is plausible and exciting. You are a genius. Pure genius. I do not care what the history books say.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Can I have him to start working?” Roy reached.

  “He bites.”

  Roy retracted his hand. “Can we cage him?”

  “I’ll take him to the cryo lab for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Just as Frank started to leave, he stopped when Jenny stormed in. She tugged Billy along with her by his ear and boomed her voice with a hard point to Roy,

  “You!” she blasted.

  “You!” Roy pointed back.

  Frank laughed.

  Roy walked to her. “Why do you have him by his ear? Is there something on his hands that you can’t touch him that way?”

  “Oh, you arrogant dick!” Jenny shouted.

  Frank’s eyes widened.

  “You son of a bitch!”

  “Actually …” Roy said. “I am not the son of …”

  “I don’t care!” she screamed.

  Roy jumped back. “That is a scary voice.”

  “You haven’t
heard the half of it.”

  Roy hunched. “Not sure I want to know the rest.”

  Frank held up his hand. “What happened, Jenny? Calm down.”

  “I can’t. I can’t.” She took a deep breath” Frank. He told Billy to teach my class. No, wait; he helped Billy with the lesson plan.”

  “How do you know he helped Billy?” Frank asked.

  “Because he prepared a lesson plan on nucleated red blood cells.”

  Billy rolled his eyes. “If you knew me, you’d know I don’t need his help to learn that stuff.”

  Jenny tugged his ear.

  “Ow!”

  “Jenny,” Frank said. “Stop that. My dad used to do that to me it took until I was fourteen for me to stop looking like Dumbo.”

  “Fine.” Jenny folded her arms.

  “Now, why exactly are you mad? What can I do?” Frank asked.

  “First,” Jenny said. “You can tell Billy that he is the child. I am the teacher He can’t just march in, tell me to take a seat and teach the class. Second, he...” He pointed to Roy. “Can’t encourage. I’m doing the best I can, Frank. I am.”

  “I know you are.” He turned to Roy. “Dean, you can’t tell your kid it’s Ok to take over the class.”

  “Why?” Roy asked. “If he is smarter than she is …”

  Jenny screamed.

  Roy closed off one ear. “Why does she do that?”

  “She’s female. She’s allowed. Bill,” Frank looked down at him. “No one likes school. No one likes to go. It’s what we do. You’re nine. So drop the briefcase, get rid of the tie, lose the pocket protector, put on a tee shirt, show Miss Jenny some fucking respect, and get to school.”

  “But, Uncle Frank, I don’t want to.”

  “I don’t care Billy, it’s the rules. You go to school.”

  “But…”

  “Now!”

  “Fine.” Billy dropped the briefcase, whipped off his tie and pocket protector, folded his arms and spun on his heels. “But I won’t like it.” He stormed away.

  “Dean.” Frank turned to Dean. “Everyone has a job to do. Jenny is teaching. Don’t interfere and don’t tell Billy he’s smarter.”

  “He is.”

  Frank cringed. “You don’t tell a kid that. He needs to respect her and he’s not doing it. How would you like it if Lars came in here, said he was smarter …?”

  “But he’s not.”

  “But say he was. Say he came in here and said he was smarter and was doing your job.”

  Roy scoffed. “He could not. He’s not smarter.”

  “Dean! Fuck!” Frank blasted. “Pretend he is and could.”

  “Fine!” Like Billy, Roy responded. “I wouldn’t like it.” He huffed. “I will not interfere again.” He extended his hand to Jenny. “I’m sorry.”

  Weakly, Jenny shook his head. Then with a changed attitude faced Frank. “Thank you Frank. You really are a good leader.”

  Frank smiled.

  “What’s that in your hand?” she asked.

  Frank whipped it forward. It snarled and snapped its jaws at Jenny. “Killer Fetus.”

  Jenny screamed at the top of her lungs and ran out.

  Frank chuckled and exhaled. “Oh, yeah. Once and a while I gotta have those old Frank moments. See ya’ later, Dean.” Killer Fetus in hand, Frank left the lab.

  <><><><>

  “An important speaking engagement?” Hal asked Elliott.

  “In Beginnings, yes.”

  “Let me get this straight. You cannot meet with me until after twelve because you have a prior, important, speaking engagement in Beginnings.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Good God, Elliott where? This isn’t the old world.”

  Elliott gave no more details, in fact was secretive about it, which led Hal to believe he wasn’t being honest. Actually, Hal was starting to get a complex, considering one of the topics he needed to talk to Elliott about was avoidance.

  Situating things in Bowman, Hal took off for Beginnings.

  He asked around and was surprised when he received an answer that Elliott was at the school.

  Hal slipped in the back of the school and the only one who seemed to notice was Billy. He sulked in a corner while he wore a ‘Life Bites’ tee shirt.

  Sure as he was told, Elliott stood before the class.

  He listened to his right hand man discuss the Savages and how they committed crimes out of survival because they were too lazy to do anything productive, and American Indians and how they displayed violence striving to protect their homes. This land was theirs and they fought for it.

  Much like what Beginnings and the UWA strived to do.

  Which was an error on Elliott’s part. Soon the children began asking if the UWA soldier’s scalped people, if they did a war call.

  He was literally saved by the bell, and Hal like the children applauded thunderously.

  “Wonderful speech, Elliott, I only wish now I had caught the entire thing,” Hal escorted Elliott outdoors.

  “It wasn’t that great.”

  “Care to tell me why you didn’t want to share?” Hal asked. “Embarrassed?”

  “No.”

  “What is it?”

  “You would want to do it.”

  “Absolutely, in fact I am a bit hurt that Jenny asked you and not me.”

  “You broke her heart.”

  “Hmm.” Hal stopped walking. “Good Lord, Elliott, look at the people flocking to the Joe Park. It’s amusing how they think it’s a big deal.”

  “It is. It is a return to normalcy.”

  “When exactly do you think people will stop wanting a return to normalcy and realize this is normalcy? It’s been eight years.”

  “True.”

  “Can I give you a ride back to Bowman?”

  “Yes, I took the Dan Tram.”

  Hal led him to the truck.

  “So, why exactly did you seek me?” Elliott asked. “I told you I’d be back.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t believe you. How many speaking engagements are there in Beginnings,” Hal embarked into the truck, as did Elliott. He turned over the ignition and just sat there, hand on the wheel.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I need to speak to you. Get some advice.”

  “On?”

  “Robbie.”

  “What about him?” Elliott asked.

  “He has been avoiding me since yesterday. I mean, every chance he gets he avoids me. First he runs from me, then when I approach him at the brother bonding, he argues with me.”

  “Did you bring this up to Frank?”

  “Absolutely,” Hal said. “And Frank said I could be imagining it. But how? How do I imagine him not returning my calls? Running down the street from me saying he’ll be back. And when I did have him cornered, he changed the subject. Several times.”

  “He is busy today.”

  “How nice of you to jump to his defense,” Hal said. “But you saw how he tried to lose us yesterday. Hell, he thinks he did. Little does he know I just gave up.”

  “And you are trying to speak to him regarding.”

  Hal huffed. “Elliott, he is in charge of the investigation. Someone was breaking into our father’s tomb. As a son and as the investigator he needs to know this. He seems to want to avoid the entire conversation as if it isn’t important, when it is.”

  “Did … did it dawn on you maybe, Captain, that he wasn’t surprised, and was avoiding it because he knew. Robbie can’t lie.”

  “You mean someone already told him?” Hal asked. “Perhaps. And maybe he was avoiding me because he didn’t want me to know that he was aware and didn’t …” He saw Elliott shake his head. “No? Where am I wrong?”

  “Two tracks of footprints in the tomb. One boot. One Chuck Taylor’s.”

  “Clone and someone else.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” Elliott paused. “What if the Chuck Tailors belonged to the real only person that wears them?”

 
“Dean? Why would Dean dig up my father’s tomb?”

  “That’s not where I was going. I’m thinking about the other print. Where had your brother been every night?”

  In defeat, Hal exhaled. “God, am I being a Frank. He’s been with Dean. He knew about it, because maybe he was there.”

  “Just a theory.”

  “It makes sense up until the part of why.”

  “One way to find out,” Elliott said. “Ask him right out.”

  “Yes, Robbie would tell the truth, but the problem is …” Hal put the truck in gear and sped off. “I have to catch him first.”

  <><><><>

  He felt better about it, less anxious, since he could touch it. Dean knew one thing for sure. He wasn’t going to touch the green button. He kept telling himself, green meant go, and if by some chance he found himself zapped elsewhere, that green button returned him.

  He hoped.

  The box told him a lot. The existence of it confirmed that his clone was indeed intelligent, and by how Robbie and Frank described him, he was pretty much a social recluse. Perhaps locked away. Dean knew with no outside pressures his mind was free to work, he could only imagine being given the tools. Who knows what he could create.

  The alphanumeric keyboard and shift buttons were easy,

  The Blue button with the circle and ax meant power. When he turned that on the twisted vision of Princess Leah made him laugh.

  The LCD display walked him through the process, but it also stopped him. He just had to figure out what destination meant. It seemed to be five digit codes of either letters or numbers or both. When Dean tried to enter a destination, it stopped.

  That took some figuring. He never got passed that destination screen.

  The ‘set time’ definitely meant year, he was able to move to the next screen by pressing the blue button again. Almost as if it were not only a power button but an enter key. The peach one, he couldn’t understand, it changed the numbers, and it was a scrolling button, up and down of some kind.

  It was all confusing, and Dean lifted the box often.

  But he contemplated something else.

  The body information.

  The body was Joe. But Joe was also eating a sandwich a few days earlier with the clone.

  Eating with the clone told Dean, they were not enemies. Maybe even friends. They were somehow in the entire thing together.