The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Oh, My God. No.”

  “Yes. And she can take it Henry. She’s trying to bed Joe.”

  “She’s so devious.”

  “She has it in her.” George reached over to the slumping Henry and pulled him with him. “It’s late. Let’s you and me just head on up.”

  “O.K.” He kicked out his foot once and placed his hands in his pockets. “You go on. I have to clean up my stuff.”

  “Henry.” George warned.

  “Seriously, George. I’ll be right up. Can I have my hammer and chisel back.”

  “No.” George walked away.

  Grumbling and complaining in an uninterpretable manner, Henry picked up his stuff and walked slowly from the tunnels.

  ^^^^

  “Uh-oh.” Dean whispered at Ellen. He stopped moving as they entered the living section. “Run.”

  “Dean, I really don’t want to race.”

  “No.” He chuckled. “Henry.” He pointed to Henry who could be seen pacing in circles in front of his home staring at the ground. “Don’t let him see you, he’ll corner you.”

  “Dean, that’s terrible. Something is bothering him. I’ll go talk to him.”

  “Yeah.” Dean grinned. “Occupy him while I make the escape. See ya.” He gave a pat to her back. “Good job. Tonight.”

  Surprised at Dean’s lack of concern for a fellow Beginnings resident, Ellen vowed she wouldn’t be like that. Slowly, she approached Henry. “Hey, Henry.”

  He stopped pacing and looked up. “El.”

  “Did you lose something?”

  “My mind.”

  “Huh?”

  Sadly closing his mouth, Henry shook his head. “Nothing. You’ll think I’m as nuts as everyone else.”

  “Try me, Henry. I’m used to working with insane people.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” Ellen nodded and folded her arms.

  “This is it.” Henry’s voice echoed in the tunnel.

  “So did you tell Joe and George what you told me?” Ellen stared at the wall.

  “Of course I did. They think I’ve gone ballistic. They gave me strict orders to leave the wall alone.”

  “I don’t understand why that is? So what if you want to see what this box thing is. They should believe you; you are way too rational to go overboard on something without good reason.”

  Henry’s shoulders released in relief. “Thank you, Ellen.”

  “Of course I don’t know a damn thing about current boxes or such. But . . . I do know you.” Ellen leaned against Henry’s wall. “So what are you gonna do now?”

  “I haven’t a clue. They won’t let me pound a hole in it. They said if I keep obsessing over it, it’s going to reflect on my council status.”

  “Oh that is such bullshit. Did Joe say this to you?”

  “No, George did.”

  “George probably knows what’s behind this wall. He was the president you know, and the government did build this place.”

  “No, that’s not it.” Henry leaned on the wall next to Ellen. “Andrea’s bidding for my position on Council, and you know her and Joe are close. If she comes off more rational than me . . .”

  “Andrea is always in everyone’s business.” Ellen shook her head. “Anyway I don’t see what the harm would be if you put a little hole in this wall. It’s not like you won’t fix it.”

  “Exactly.” Henry held out his hand.

  “You know what, Henry?” Ellen turned her body, resting her shoulder on the wall as she faced him. “This can’t be the only hidden thing here. Did you check all of the wire connections?”

  “No. That could take forever. I lucked out with this one.” Henry noticed the look on Ellen’s face. “What? What are you thinking?”

  “Well . . . what if . . . what if you were to start searching. The whole place of Beginnings. See if you find anything weird. That way you have secondary proof about this wall and you can investigate it without them thinking you’re a loon.”

  “That would take a lot.”

  Ellen snapped her finger. “I can help you.”

  “We can look in our spare time. Make it a full fledged thing. Will you really?”

  “I’d love to. I always thought I’d make a good detective.” Ellen smiled. “You too, Henry, you have that knack.”

  “Thanks. And we may just find something that will give me the answer to this wall without tearing it down.”

  “Like some secret plans hidden somewhere.” Ellen raised her eyebrows. “Imagine what you could find. Have any of us really searched this place?”

  “No. We just assumed what we saw is what we got.”

  “Obviously not.” She knocked on the wall. “This proves it. And . . . we’ll have fun. Kinda break the monotony of this boring place.”

  “What if we don’t find anything?”

  “Oh, come on Henry, this place was designed and built by the United States Government. You can’t honestly believe they’d only put one really cool invention in this place that we don’t know about. Do you? No way. Beginnings will be calling us, Christopher and Christina Columbus. Because, we, Henry, are gonna make the biggest discovery yet.”

  “Yeah.” Henry smiled. Though they sounded like something from a bad detective movie, Ellen was someone that believed in him, and that was all Henry ever wanted.

  CHAPTER SIX

  February 8

  Dean sort of heard the light tapping at the lab window. The steady noise sounding like spraying pebbles against the pane of glass. He heard it yet it stayed deep in his mind as he leaned slumped over the counter holding up the top of his hair with his hand. He was alone in the quiet clinic. In fact he probably was the only one in the entire community of Beginnings that wasn’t tucked safely in their house for the night.

  The high pitch of the wind that blew furiously outside was muffled by the cassette player, playing. He did hear the second back-up being completed in his files, after removing the disks, he returned to the huge journal before him. Flipping each page slowly, Dean seemed to move within his own world inside that laboratory. Nothing, absolutely nothing else mattered.

  Lifting a section of shell bread to his mouth, he’d bite, read, swallow, read. A pattern he had done for hours. “It has to be somewhere.” Dean flipped the page, speaking to himself, biting his bread. “Where is it? You are on one of these eight pages.” He looked up to the agents awaiting him on the counter then lowered them back to the pages under him. He turned back three and brushed the crumbs from his mouth with the back of his hand. “God, why am I eating such dry bread.” He tried to clear his throat. “I’m out of drinking water . . .” He slowly looked back up to the counter. “No . . . . It can’t be that simple.” He peered down to the page he was on then back to the counter. “No.” Excitedly he jumped from his stool catching his foot in the metal bar on the bottom, and tripping over it crashing the stool to the hard floor. Dean ran to the counter and began to add the formula together in the beaker he had waiting. He grabbed the beaker in his hand and swished the contents around several times. Nervous, and hoping, Dean filled a dropper of his newest mixture and added it to the lined up test tubes. He chose only one, the first one and added a few drops. It wasn’t the number of drops, at that point it had to be the solution.

  Tapping his foot, he looked down at his watch. Five minutes he had to wait. How long that would seem. As he waited on the time he finally looked to the window of the lab that faced outside. “Wow, is it snowing?” Thinking about going to see how really bad it was getting out, Dean stopped and walked back over to his counter and waited. The snow would still be there. The moment at hand was one he had waited on for years.

  The five minutes was up. Carefully, so he didn’t break it in his excitement, he lifted the test tube. Grabbing a clean dropper, he added a few drops of the thick solution to a prepared slide. The slide with the sticker on it that read--‘Eb-2V’. Covering that slide with another, he slowly lifted it and set it under the microscope connected
to his computer. He brought the image to the screen.

  Watching it for only thirty seconds, Dean’s head dropped, and his eyes closed. “Thank you.” He lifted up, standing tall, his arms and voice raised up. “Yes! Thank you!”

  His body turned back and forth in his joy, but there was no one to turn to. He was alone. “El.” Overcome with emotions he grabbed his coat, put it on as he ran out the lab, down the hall and to the double glass doors of the clinic. As Dean’s small body flung into the doors, he bounced right back when the doors didn’t open. Knowing that they weren’t locked, he picked himself up off the floor. Any pain he should have felt was numb and lost in his enthusiasms. He stared at the doors. They weren’t locked. They just wouldn’t open. The snow had come down so hard while he worked, that a four foot snow drift had blown against the clinic doors, barricading him in. The ice that formed around the edges added to any impossible chance he would have had to push his way out. “Shit.” Dean rubbed his head as he leaned against the cold glass.

  He gave himself a moment there, staring out into the barren streets of Beginnings. He knew he had to get out. It was a time in his life that he wanted to share with someone. But how? Dean walked back to the lab to think of a solution. He always did his best thinking there.

  ^^^^

  “Frank.” Ellen walked in to her bedroom. “Will you please get away from that window?”

  “El, this is so great.” He peered out, having the curtain pulled all the way out. “That blizzard was bad. There must be three feet of snow out there.”

  “Swell.” Ellen moved to the bed and began to turn it down. “The twins are finally asleep.”

  “Good.” His attention stayed at the winter wonderland just outside. “Hey El, let me take them out in this tomorrow.”

  “Now way, if there’s three feet of snow they’ll get lost. They’re only three feet tall.”

  Frank began to laugh. “Yeah, it’ll be funny watching them try to move.”

  “You’re sadistic.” Ellen climbed into bed. “Are you coming? It’s late. What time are you doing the snow removal?”

  “I told my guys about four a.m.”

  “Then come to bed.”

  “This is so great out there. I bet I can climb from this window and hang jump without breaking anything.” Frank was like a little kid watching the snow.

  “You do that, Frank.” She shook her head. “But right now come to bed. You have to be tired.”

  “Nah, I’m full of energy.” Frank walked to bed and fluffed his pillow before laying down with a plop on the bed.

  “Well . . .” Ellen said seductively, lying on her side. “If you’re full of energy . . .” She trailed her fingers up his chest. “I have a . . .”

  “I was thinking.”

  Groaning, Ellen dropped backwards. “God.”

  “No, I can think. Check this out. I came up for a name for our baby. Ready.” He nodded with excitement. “Brian. Brian Slagel. What do you think? I can hear it now. Ladies and Gentlemen. Quarterback, Brain Slagel.”

  At first Ellen just looked at him. “Who exactly is he going to play football for? And what if this kid hates playing sports, and guns, and macho shit. What if he’s not big . . .”

  “El, Please!” Frank stopped her train of thought. “He’s my kid, look at Johnny. Brian will be huge. He’s gonna be just like me.”

  “Frank!”

  “What? God, yell at me why don’t you.”

  “Can we just fool around please? Please.” She reached up pulling him down with her. “Because.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “It won’t be long before you can’t put your body on mine. You won’t be able to feel me under you. Or . . .” Her hands began to roam his body. “Feel my hands slide across your . . .” Her words were halted with Frank’s lips and he began to kiss her.

  A hiss of static from the radio, then came a voice. “Frank. Frank come in please.”

  Frank slightly lifted his lips from Ellen. His face crinkled in a cringe. “Why am I hearing Dean’s voice in our bedroom?”

  “Frank, come in.” Dean called out. “I know you’re listening.”

  Frank pulled himself up from Ellen. “This better be important.” He grabbed his radio from the night stand. “What!”

  “Frank, I’m stuck. I’m at the clinic.”

  “Can’t help you Dean. I know I’m great at everything, but that’s your field.”

  “Oh, you’re so funny. Ha, ha, ha.” Dean’s voice was agitated. “No, Frank. I’m stuck. There’s a drift at the doors and I can’t get out. I need you to come and get me right now.”

  “Sorry, Dean.” Frank chuckled arrogantly. “Gonna have to wait. We’re digging out the snow at four.”

  “No, Frank. I need you to come right now.”

  Frank scoffed. “Tough. Right now is out of the question. I’m making love to my wife.”

  “I can wait a few minutes.”

  “Oh, just for that. Find a bed in the clinic and I’ll see you in about five hours.” Frank put the radio on the night stand.

  Dean’s voice continued. “I’m not in the mood for this shit. It’s your job, Frank. You have to now. Quit playing around and come get me out!”

  “Dean!” Frank snatched up the radio again. “It’s not my job to get out of bed from a very intimate moment with my wife to save your ass. Didn’t I tell you to leave the clinic early? Didn’t I tell you it was gonna be bad? I told you not to hang around because it looked like a blizzard. But no, you stayed anyway and now you’re stuck. Well guess what? Tough. See you at four.” Frank put the radio down and began to kiss Ellen again.

  “Fine, Frank.” Dean spoke calmly. “I have all night. And you know what? You have to leave your radio on. I’ll just keep on talking. You can’t tune me out.”

  Frank did. He removed his Ellen’s shirt as he pressed bare chest to bare chest, continuing in his lovemaking.

  “Frank . . . Frank . . . Frank . . . I’ll sing.” Dean kept pestering. “Or better yet, maybe I’ll just start talking about some of the moments Ellen and I shared. Let’s see there was our first time. I still remember as if it happened yesterday. Let me share with you the details. First the camp fire . . .”

  “Dean!” Frank shouted into the radio. “Shut up. I’m on my way.”

  ^^^^

  Frank loved driving the snow plow and he had it waiting outside his house so he could just jump in it. The plow could have been quieter but Frank did everything in his power to make sure it wasn’t.

  Dean was so mesmerized with his results on his computer screen that he didn’t even hear the loud rumbling of Frank’s arrival. What he did hear was the loud thump on the lab window. He turned his head to the noise and saw a smashed snowball run down the glass leaving a wet trail. That vision was immediately followed by Frank who pressed his cheek tight against the window, lifted back, then ‘huffed’ against the glass to fog it. After Frank’s hand wiped the fog away he waved to Dean to come to the window.

  “How immature.” Dean stood from his stool. “What?”

  “Open up.” Frank mimed opening a window.

  Dean did as instructed and opened the window part way. “What?”

  Frank lifted it all the way up. “Step back.”

  “You aren’t climbing in here, are you?”

  “Move.” Frank’s top portion of his body emerged through.

  “You can’t climb in here, Frank. You’ll get everything . . .”

  Frank slid and crashed to the floor, bringing in a ton of snow.

  “ . . . wet.” Dean threw his hands up and shut the window. “Why did you do that? Now we’re both stuck.”

  “Hardly.” Frank brushed himself off throwing even more moisture around. He started to walk across the lab, he slowed at the computer. “Weird picture. Grab your coat.” He shook his head and walked out.

  “Frank.” Dean followed, snatching up his coat and putting it on as he chased Frank down the clinic hall. “It’s useless, those doors . . . Hey, you cleared
away the snow. Good job.”

  “Thanks.” Frank stood hands on hips, his back faced Dean.

  “But it’s still no good. Those doors are frozen shut.” He watched Frank’s head look up and down at the doors. “I tried but I couldn’t budge them.”

  With a quiet ‘ha’. Frank faced Dean. He took off his gloves and handed them to him. “Here, hold these.” Frank clenched his fist and lifted it to the door. He began to pound his hand once in various places on the metal. He rubbed his hands together and pulled on the door, with bits of flying ice, it opened. He held it and looked at Dean. “You are so weak.” He grabbed his gloves from Dean.

  “What in the world did your father feed you as a child? Incredible Hulk vitamins?” Dean zippered up his coat. “Thanks Frank. See ya.” He ran out.

  “Hey!” Frank yelled out to Dean who was running down the just plowed path. “Where are you going? Your lab stuff is still on.”

  “I’ll be back.” He answered from a distance. “I’m going to your house.”

  “Oh.” Frank shut the clinic doors. “My house?”

  ^^^^

  “Ellen.” Dean flew through the front door to her home. “Ellen!” His voice was excited as he called out.

  “Dean?” Ellen came down the steps. “What are you doing here?”

  Dean smiled, probably the biggest smile he could ever have. He ran to Ellen as she stepped down the last step and picked her up and hugged her.

  “Hey!” Frank shouted from the open front door, then he slammed it. “Put her down, she’s pregnant!”

  “Sorry.” Dean set Ellen gently down. “El.” He placed his cold hands on her cheeks and moved his face close to hers. “I . . . no, we . . . we did it.”