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

by Jacqueline Druga

  A welcoming feeling didn’t strike her the closer she drew to the field, but Josh made her smile. Ellen could see him rolling in the grass, five or six children including her own jumping on him. The smile left Ellen the more the children came into focus. Why was Jenny Matoose holding her son? Didn’t she have her own baby to worry about? John was next to her holding their daughter. Ellen needed to hold Brian, she needed to see him. Her time with him was so limited, courtesy of Frank.

  “Jenny.” Ellen approached her, standing so threatening over her. “I’ll take Brian.”

  “I’m sorry, Ellen.” The smile left Jenny. “Frank told me not to let you have him if you show up.”

  “Give me my son.”

  Jenny didn’t budge.

  “John,” Ellen scolded. “Tell your wife to hand over my son now. He’s my son.”

  John turned to Jenny. “I’ll handle Frank, give Ellen her baby.”

  “Thank you.” Ellen snatched Brian up. As soon as his body met her chest, her heart sunk. Ellen’s arms wrapped tightly around the baby and her lips planted firmly on his puffy cheeks. She didn’t want to let him go. She closed her eyes. Holding him tightly, she walked to the area where everyone sat and watched the game. “Let’s watch Daddy play.”

  Frank’s team was playing Henry’s, and Ellen knew what that meant. She was just in time. Frank stepped up to the batter’s box. A long white tee shirt hung over his baggy cut-off sweat shorts. She smiled as she watched him--backwards baseball cap and all--warm up as he moved to the plate.

  She looked to the score board. It was a tie game. Two men were on base and Henry was pitching. Ellen cringed. She knew what was coming. It always happened.

  Henry wound up his pitch and sailed the ball forward. The speed wasn’t there but the aim was. Even though Frank moved, the ball hit its destination. It reamed Frank in the side of the head.

  “Take your base,” Joe told Frank who shook off the stinging of his head.

  “Nope.” Frank moved to the batter’s box.

  “Frank, take your base. You got hit with the ball.”

  “No,” Frank argued, lifting his bat. “Count it as a strike, I don’t care. I’m not taking a base.”

  “Frank! Take your goddamn base! Now!”

  “No!” Frank yelled back.

  “Frank. Rules are rules. Take the goddamn base now or you are out of the game!” Joe’s voice reached the level of Frank’s.

  “No! Then throw me out.”

  “You’re out of here.” Joe pointed his thumb back.

  “Dad no . . .”

  “Out!” Joe pointed and got behind Greg who was catching. “Next batter.”

  “Fuck!” Frank banged the bat once against the plate and stormed past, sitting on the bench on the outside of the field.

  Ellen ran her hand over Brian’s head. “Wanna go cheer up Daddy? Let’s go.” She moved toward the field.

  Dean hadn’t any idea why he looked for Ellen at that moment. Kneeling down with Billy, his eyes rose to see her, Ellen carried Brian and walked toward a very irate Frank. Dean saw what was coming and headed that way.

  “Frank.” Ellen spoke almost happily, sliding on the empty spot next to him. “Look who’s here to make you feel better.”

  Frank’s eyes did not light up when he saw Brian. He couldn’t get past Ellen. “What are you doing?”

  “We came down to . . .”

  “Don’t!” Frank snatched Brian from her arms. “And don’t you ever use my son to get to me.” He harshly stood up and carried Brian away.

  Witnessing from the field, Joe marched toward the bench before Frank could get too far. “Frank!” he blasted. “What the hell are you . . .”

  “Stop!” Frank swung around with a heavy voice and point to his father. “You made it perfectly clear where your priorities lie! Stay out of this!” Continuing in his stride with Brian, Frank stormed off.

  Holding a bag of tiny cookie snacks, George hid his snicker as he offered a treat to Josephine. “Seems there’s a little trouble in the Slagel Family paradise, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yeah.” Josephine reached her fragile elderly hand into the snack bag. “I hate that Frank.”

  Wanting to say ‘me too’, George refrained and opted for enjoying his snack and the show.

  Ellen watched Joe pretend to blow off the whole argument, and Frank just walk away holding her son. Her head instinctively dropped. She took a second to regain herself and sadly she stood up. She just wanted to leave. She didn’t want to be there. She just wanted to run and hide. Hide from the scene that everyone witnessed. Quickly she made it through the staring faces.

  “El.” Dean called to her.

  Ellen kept walking.

  “Ellen, please stop.” Dean caught up to her. “Please.” He grabbed her arm.

  “Dean. Frank is going to see you . . .”

  “Screw Frank.” Dean turned her to face him. “I want to talk to you. I need to talk to you.”

  “I can’t talk to you, Dean.” She started walking again, this time faster. “Ever again.”

  Dean ran behind her, it didn’t take long for her to be far from the field. “El. Don’t do this. Come on.” He stopped trying to catch her. “I miss you.”

  Something nice. Ellen heard something nice. She stopped cold in her tracks.

  “I miss you.” Dean walked up behind her placing his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t do this.” He whispered in her ear. “Don’t shut me out anymore.”

  Ellen turned to face him. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to shut you out.”

  “Then don’t. If you’re worried about Frank, don’t. I don’t care. I need my friend. I think my friend needs me.”

  Ellen finally let her eyes meet his. “She does.”

  “Then let me help you.” Dean reached out to her pulling Ellen closer. “Please.”

  “I’ll get upset. I don’t want to get upset.”

  “Then let’s just walk.” His hand slid down and it gripped hers. “Thank you for this.” He held up his hand that held hers.

  “I need it.”

  “And I think you need to stop running and hiding from everyone. Actually, I think you need to work with me again.”

  Ellen slowed down in her walking. “Dean, I can’t.”

  “You have to. I’m going crazy without your mouth running in the lab constantly. I’m beside myself.”

  “You just miss all that bullshit work I do for you,” Ellen spoke sarcastically.

  “No, El.” Dean turned serious. “I just miss seeing you.”

  ^^^^

  George watched Andrea for a moment before interrupting. She scurried about the lab seemingly trying to clean it up. He tapped on the archway to get her attention. “I’m gonna guess you aren’t ready?” he asked.

  Andrea stopped cold, released the papers she held, and turned around with a smile. “Would you be angry if I said I wasn’t?”

  “Andrea.” He stepped inside. “You promised me you and Katie would be my guests for dinner.”

  “And we will,” Andrea said. “I’m trying to catch up. I knew I shouldn’t have stopped at the game.”

  “You weren’t there very long. In fact, you missed it. Frank, Ellen, Joe, big confrontation.”

  Andrea closed her eyes. “Sweet Jesus, like the man needs this now.”

  “What are you talking about?” George asked.

  “Joe. His blood pressure is through the roof. In fact . . .” She hurried across the lab. “He never stopped by for his medication.” She lifted a blue bottle.

  “He went back to his office,” George told her.

  “It figures. He needs this.”

  “Tell you what.” George walked over to her and took the bottle from her hand. “You finish here. I’ll take this on up to Joe.”

  “Would you? I don’t want to make you go out of your way.”

  “Nonsense. It’s for Joe.”

  “You are too sweet.” Andrea smiled.

  “And hungry.” George wa
lked to the door. “See you at dinner.” Leaving that lab, George looked down to the medication in his hand and . . . smiled.

  ^^^^

  The Indian summer humidity didn’t help the headache that pounded from Joe’s temples to the back of his head. The headache felt like fingers, gripping into his skull and pulling at his neck muscles. He dug the palm of his hand tightly into his eye socket wishing his could make a suction that could remove all the pain. He dropped the pencil on his paperwork, concentrating becoming a task. He was barely able to think of anything, but the pain and his recent confrontation with Frank.

  “Joe?”

  An angry jolt shot through Joe when he heard the voice call to him. Joe raised his eyes from the hands that covered them. “George?”

  “Are you all right?” George stepped further into the office, closing the door behind him. “You look bad.”

  “Killer headache.” Joe put his hands on the desk. “We don’t have a meeting or something, do we?”

  “No-no. Just here as a favor.” With a soft thump, George set the medication in front of Joe. “Andrea sent that for you. It’s for your blood pressure.”

  “Thanks.” Joe took the bottle.

  “I’ll let you be.” With a wave, George left the office.

  Joe’s hand gripped tighter the bottle in his hand. It was medication he needed. But it was medication George had handled. Opening his desk drawer, Joe threw the bottle inside. It had became medication he was never going to touch.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The two a.m. October moon illuminated everything so brightly that it caused Joe to have to bribe Frank’s front gate tower guard. “Ignore what you see,” Joe told him. “Dean’s playing doctor Frankenstein with a dead body."

  Animal sounds, howling and chirping, covered up the grunts and groans that came from Joe and Dean as they tugged on the rope that dangled down into the hole they had just dug.

  “Joe.” Dean pulled. “I don’t remember him being this big.”

  “Dead weight, so to speak. Hold the rope.”

  “Hold the rope? You aren’t letting go, are you?”

  “Yeah. Plant your feet.” Joe released his end and walked to the hole. He watched as the weight of Chester’s body--slipping back down into his grave--pulled Dean right along with him.

  “Joe.” Dean struggled. “I can’t hold him.”

  “Christ.” Joe jumped down in the grave. “Pull.” He began to lift Chester’s body as Dean pulled on the rope that was secured around the black sack. Once Joe knew the body was safely above, he jumped out of the hole.

  “Let’s make sure this is him before we lug him to the truck.” Dean took out his pen flashlight. He undid the top buttons of the homemade black bag and turned down the flap. Immediately, at the same time, he and Joe gasped and turned their heads from the smell. Dean blew out of his mouth and wiped the back of his nose with his hand. He shined the flashlight on the face. “Yeah, it’s him.” He looked at the corpse. Its decomposing face was seemingly a feast for anything that could crawl. “Let’s take him to the lab.” He dropped the flap over the head.

  “Now you’re sure you’ll allow us enough time to get him back here before sun up?”

  “Yes. Positive. The exam shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes,” Dean replied.

  Both men stood to their feet, each grabbing an opposite end of Chester’s body and carried him to the awaiting jeep just a few feet from the graves site.

  ^^^^

  “Henry!” Joe’s scold echoed in the tunnels. “Will you please quit holding your nose and use two hands to help us.”

  “I can’t,” Henry answered nasally. “He smells really bad.”

  “He’s dead for crying out loud. What did you think? He’d smell like roses? Now help us.”

  “All right.” Henry lifted his shirt over his nose and used two hands to help carry Chester the rest of the to the cryo-lab. “I’m dying here.”

  “Ignore it.” Dean struggled with the weight of the man, backing with him into the lab. “We’ll take him into the old cryo room. I have a table there.”

  Slowly they moved the body through the lab. Once into the back, with a loud one, two, three and grunt, they lifted Chester with a thump on the table.

  Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead smearing the dirt into mud. “I do not look forward to carrying his ass back.”

  Bending over and grasping his knees, Dean caught his breath. “Me either. God that killed me. You wanna take five minutes and grabbed something to drink?”

  Joe sniffed. “Sounds good. Social hall is right above. It’ll be empty, let’s go.”

  Henry watched as they just started to leave. “Wait. You mean we’re just going to stop, leave this smelly body here and go have an alcoholic beverage?”

  Joe rolled his eyes. “Ten minutes tops Henry. We need a break. We, not you, dug him up. Now, come on.” He walked behind Dean. “And shut the door.”

  “But, Joe.” Henry followed. “What if someone comes?”

  “Henry.” Joe said his name annoyed. “Who the hell is gonna be down here at this hour?”

  ^^^^

  Ellen walked, almost in a skip down the tunnel to the lab. She carried in her left hand the little cassette player, in her other, a jam sandwich wrapped in a towel.

  As soon as she stepped into the lab, it hit her. “Oh.” She placed her hand to her nose. “What is that smell?” She laid the cassette player and her sandwich on the counter and powered up the computer. Crinkling her face, she walked over to the sink, opened the cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of perfume. Spraying it around, she grew irked wondering how she would eat her dinner with that smell. She walked over to the computer. As she watched it run through its boot-up sequence, the overbearing perfume disappeared and the smell came pummeling back. “Dean.” She spoke his name as a curse out loud. “Where is it coming from?” Sniffing like a dog, arms folded, Ellen searched, nose first. Following the scent from weak spot to strong, it led her to the old cryo room door. She turned the handle and the smell belted her more. She saw the black cloth covered body on the table. “No.” Was it a body? Had Dean finally snapped? Holding her nose she walked to center of the table and lifted the loosened cover from the mid-section of the corpse. Immediately a grey arm plopped out and a worm crawled from a hole in the skin.

  Bellowing a blood curdling scream, Ellen backed up, hands shaking and ran from the room. She ran right into Dean.

  “El.” Dean held her face. “What happened?”

  Joe shut the door to the back room, motioning his head to Dean that Ellen was in there.

  “El . . .” Dean tried to soothe her. “What did you see?”

  Overly dramatic her body shuddered, intermittently letting out sounds of disgust. “The world’s biggest worm.” She shuddered again, the snapped quickly out of it and tilted head. “Dean, why do you have a dead body?”

  “It’s a SUT, El. We wanted to take a private look at one.”

  Joe moved to in front of Ellen. “And what the hell are you doing down here? It’s two-thirty in the morning?”

  Ellen, still holding her nose, answered. “I come down here every day at this time to work.”

  Joe immediately turned to Dean. “You knew this and you didn’t tell me?”

  “How would I know, Joe?” Dean asked.

  “She lives with you,” Joe stated.

  “No she doesn’t. She lives with Henry.”

  Henry shook his head. “No, she lives with Joe.”

  Joe’s attention snapped to Henry. “She doesn’t live with me.”

  At that instant all three of them turned their views to Ellen.

  “O.K. All right.” Ellen sat down before her computer. “I’m homeless. I didn’t want to bother anyone. I thought Frank would take me back in a day. I was wrong.” She pulled out a book. “So, after I leave Joe’s house, I take the kids to Dean’s. I sleep at containment for a few hours and then work here until Henry leaves his house. Then I go there.”

&nb
sp; “That was you leaving things around?” Henry backed up to the counter and leaned, almost in relief. “Oh thank God. I thought I had a ghost.”

  Dean laughed at Henry, then switched to concern for Ellen. “Where are your things? At containment.”

  “No, actually in Henry’s spare bedroom closet.” She gave a sorry look to Henry.

  “El.” Dean walked to her. “Stop this. I want you to get your things and take them to my house.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Yes you can. This isn’t for romantic purposes. Your kids live there. Stay with us.”

  Henry moved into the conversation, but not before spraying the perfume. “If you don’t want to stay with Dean, stay with me. I have the extra bedroom.

  “No.” Ellen shook her head. “I couldn’t do that Henry. I’d end up sleeping with you.” She saw his mouth drop open. “I’m kidding.” She saw Joe getting ready to make a suggestion. “And no Joe, tension between you and Frank is high enough. I can’t stay with you.”

  “Then it’s settled.” Joe lifted his hands. “You stay with Dean. No argument. Like he said your kids are there. It’s for the best. And don’t worry about what my son thinks. He’ll deal with it. He kicked you out.”

  After a moment’s debate, Ellen smiled. “You’re right. I’ll take my stuff over when I’m done.” Ellen didn’t notice the expressions on the three men’s faces that screamed they wanted her out. “I’m getting quite good at this password stuff, though. I broke two already.” She opened her dictionary.

  All three yelled. “What?”

  Ellen raised her eyebrows. “That’s what Dean wanted. God, get excited why don’t you.”

  “El.” Dean turned her to face him. “You really broke two of them?” He smiled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”