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

by Jacqueline Druga

  Frank told himself he was going to stay calm. He had too. He stood at Dean’s door, knocking was out of the question. There was a chance they wouldn’t answer.

  With a sweaty palm Frank turned the knob. He opened the door wide, stepping in and calling her name somberly as he did. “El.”

  Frank stepped inside to an empty room with candles still burning . He saw the coffee table, two glasses perched there, Dean’s shirt lying on the back of the couch. Lowering his head he turned to the door, and stopped. Thinking he still had time and believing that, his head shifted to the stairs and he took the first one. Not much in life scared Frank, but he was scared of what he’d find, and scared he was just going too far. As he reached the middle, he saw Ellen’s shirt. His heart beat stronger as he lifted it up, bringing it to his face, smelling it.

  He moved faster up the staircase. When he reached the top, he felt as if he were looking through tunnel vision. He saw the bedroom door, he heard nothing but silence. Then his eyes caught the whiteness of it as it lay near the semi-closed door, half in the hall. Ellen’s bra. He stepped to it, picking it up and as he did his eyes caught a glimpse through the small openness of the door. He saw legs.

  Standing up, placing his huge hand palm flush against the door, Frank slowly opened it, exposing the room, exposing the bed. His breath literally left him and he let out a silent emotional gasp when he saw them.

  Dean lay on top of Ellen, his half-dressed body moving slowly. His head buried to her neck. Ellen’s eyes closed. Frank was frozen. They didn’t even hear him. They were so engrossed they didn’t know he was there. He watched Dean slide his hand up Ellen’s bent leg pressed so tightly to the side of Dean’s body. His hand ran from her calf, to her thigh. It paused to grip her hip then his fingers extended to the top of the pants she still wore. Lifting his body slightly, he began to pull them off.

  Frank swallowed. He had two choices. Leave or stop them. In a soft hurt voice, a voice that would resonate through them, Frank called out. “Stop.”

  In a startling instinct Dean’s hand released Ellen’s pants. He lifted his head from her neck. “No, he’s not in here.”

  Frank waited. The second since he called to them seemed like an eternity. Calmly, he spoke again. “Dean, get off of my wife.” He turned his back to them. “Please.”

  Ellen closed her eyes as Dean lifted off her. “Frank, you have to leave.”

  “I’m not leaving. I can’t let this happen.” Frank head flung back. His one hand stayed on his hip, the other clutched her clothes that he held.

  “You don’t have a choice.” She argued calmly.

  “Unless you plan on finishing while I stand here, then you don’t have a choice.” He still didn’t face her. “Get out of the bed.”

  “No.” She stated firmly.

  “Get out of the bed and get dressed!” He turned around tossing the clothes to her. “Now!”

  Dean ran his hand through his hair and down his face. “Frank.” He stepped around the bed. “You can’t come into our house like this.”

  “The hell I can’t! She’s still my wife, Dean! She’s still my wife!”

  Ellen placed on her shirt. “Frank, you have no right . . .”

  “I have every right to stop you from doing this.” His finger pointed to the bed. “I need to talk to you. Get out of the bed and come with me. Now El!”

  “No.” Ellen shook her head.

  “Don’t make me come over there and carry your ass out, because I will.” Frank yelled.

  The situation was beginning to heat up and Dean could feel it. The awkwardness was over shadowed by anger. Nervous over being stopped in such a compromising position, Dean tried again to reason with Frank. He felt he could. If Frank was going to do anything violent he would have done so. “Frank. Just leave O.K.? Just leave and I’ll talk to her and see if . . .” Dean’s eyes widened. “Frank! Frank! You can’t just grab her . . . Frank!” He charged forth.

  “Back off, Dean!” Frank’s hand came pummeling down in a pointing motion. “Back off.” With Ellen over his shoulder, kicking, and screaming, Frank carried her out.

  ^^^^

  And Henry thought that juicy ripe apple he munched on was good. It paled in comparison to the entertainment he received in his living room when Frank carried Ellen in and set the wiry woman down. He waved to the couple, but didn’t say anything. It really wasn’t his place.

  Frank let out a breath, standing face to face with Ellen. “Calm?”

  “Absolutely not.” She turned to the door to make a mad-dash escape.

  “No!” Frank pulled her back.

  “Quit touching me.” She whacked him hard. “Don’t put your hands on me again!”

  “Fine.” Frank raised them in surrender. “But you will listen to me.”

  “I will not. Who the hell do you think you are coming into Dean’s house, picking me up and dragging me out of there?”

  “Your husband.”

  “You are not my husband anymore. Learn that and the situation that just happened . . .won’t.” Ellen opened the door.

  “You aren’t going back there!” He slammed it shut with such determination, not paying one bit of attention to Henry who stood there like he was watching a movie. “And look at you. You’re not even dressed.” He buttoned her pants and zipped them, ignoring her hits.

  “Frank, you are really pissing me off!” Ellen yelled, face red.

  “You’re pissing me off! What the hell are you doing El? Huh? What!” He started to scream. “You think I slept with Jenny, so I go find my wife, in some bed, with some guy humping on . . .”

  “Aw, gees Frank.” Henry cringed. “Tact. Tact.”

  Ellen’s hands slapped down to her thighs. “I’m not going to listen to this. I know you think so low of me that I would sleep with someone to get back at you” She opened the door. “Let me tell you something Frank, that’s not what I was going to do with Dean.”

  “Let me tell you something Ellen, I did not sleep with Jenny Matoose.” He got her. He had her. She stopped. “I didn’t touch her.” His hand reached out as he watched her head drop. He shut the door. “I couldn’t.” He turned Ellen to face him. “I had no desire to be with her. None.” Frank lifted Ellen’s chin. “So do you see now why I had to stop you? I didn’t want you doing this with Dean thinking I slept with Jenny.”

  “Thank you for telling me.” She removed his hand from her face. “I have to go.”

  “No!” After a brief outburst of panic, Frank pulled her back in the house and led her further in. “No El, don’t go back there.”

  Ellen took a deep breath, turning to face him, holding her arms tightly to herself.

  “I didn’t sleep with Jenny. Not just because I didn’t want to, but because I would never do that to you. I know how you feel about her. You know how I feel about Dean. It’s the same thing. Don’t do this.” His voice and words pleaded. “Please don’t go back and be with him.”

  “I have to go back there, Frank. I’m sorry.” She turned and grabbed the door.

  “If you love me, El!” He watched her stop and drop her head. “If you ever loved me in your life . . .” His hand reached out and laid on the back of her head. “You won’t do this to me. You won’t do this while you are still my wife.”

  Ellen slowly faced him. “Frank . . .”

  His hand slid to her face he pulled her closer. “Please.”

  Ellen pressed her hand to his, closing her eyes briefly, then sliding his hand from her face. She held it. “I’m going back there . . .” She watched his head lower. “I owe Dean an explanation.”

  Frank’s let out a breath of relief.

  “As long as I’m your wife Frank, I won’t. But know this . . .” Ellen opened up the door, this time without resistance. “It’s only for as long as I’m your wife.”

  When the door shut, Henry watched his friend’s head and arms just drop. Frank stood in his living room looking weary from a battle he lost as well as won. Chomping on his appl
e, Henry stepped closer to Frank and laid his hand on his back. “You did good.”

  Frank nodded and lifted his head with a breath. “She may have left, but . . . I stopped her, Henry. That’s one good thing.”

  “Yeah.” Henry said softly. He brought his apple to his mouth and took a slurping bite. “But . . .” He spoke through his loud chewing. “What do you think the chances are she just told you she wouldn’t be with Dean, so she could get out of the house?”

  Wide eyed, Frank spun around to face Henry.

  Henry, still chewing, held up his hands. “Just curious. She meant what she told you . . . I think. Yeah. She did. Probably.”

  Grunting in frustration, Frank snatched the apple from Henry’s hand, shoved it in his own mouth to keep from saying anything, and stormed out.

  ^^^^

  “And then he . . .” George paused in his taunting laughter to catch his breath. “Joe, he carried her over his shoulder down the street.” With a hard swat he slapped into Joe’s leg. “Yeah. Quite the show for the community. That Ellen . . .now back to what we were talking about.” George exhaled the remaining laughter out. “I’m making what I would call low profile changes. Well, at least until my troops arrive for the first hit, which should be soon. It’s gonna be exciting! I’m sure you’ll hear all about it afterwards. It’s not like I expect this to be the final raid. More will be on the way. I spoke to the scientists . . . Hey, you’ll get a kick out of this . . . the fiber optics thing we talked Henry into getting up and running is working for me. I have phone communication with New Mexico. Our secret Joe.”

  God, we played right into his hands. Every advance we made was right into his hands. Joe cringed inside.

  “They are programming them to wait for my call. Enough of them” George crossed his legs. “Let’s get back to Ellen. She’s always a fun topic and a soft spot for you. Did I tell you, I think I did, she has been in that cryo-lab working on those passwords? Guess what?” George leaned into him. “I have this program . . . I loaded it in the computer already. It causes a pre-wired explosion to go off as soon as the key password is unlocked. Pre-wired, separate explosions, the first mild, the second as insurance. And the key password? I changed it before I loaded the program. Yep. Adding a bit of Hitchcock to our reality. Ellen’s going through the dictionary word by word, so guess what I did? Come on Joe… guess? Gosh you’re not in the mood for this guessing stuff are you?”

  You didn’t. Please dear God, he didn’t set up my daughter.

  “I picked a word I know she’ll type in. Key password, she’ll get excited about the information then . . . BOOM!” George laughed as he brought his voice to a startling level. “Shh. I have to be quiet. Bye-bye Ellen.”

  Joe’s whole body filled with fear, with anger. And at that moment--with his will to jump from that chair to get George--it went unnoticed by his tormentor that Joe’s little finger moved.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ah, the feeling of power. George smoothed his hand across Joe’s desk. He sat back enjoying doing nothing. He actually hadn’t done anything for the community’s well-being that was. He did what he thought Joe always did--hid. He shuffled the names around the work orders, saying he was one place when he actually wasn’t anywhere important.

  George’s private gloating party of one was interrupted by a loud slam at the office door. He raised his head to the intruder. “Frank.”

  “What the fuck’s going on!?” Frank stormed his words at him.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “This!” He threw the clipboard at George and it slammed on the desk.

  “Oh.” George pushed it back.

  “You’re blowing me off.”

  “Frank, I am not.”

  “George!” Frank’s hand came pummeling down on the desk. “Two days ago you changed my scheduling for training. Taking three of my crew off to put them in useless places. Yesterday you blew me off . . . again about setting up a raid on the New Mexico lab. And today, today Herb refused to release the fuel for the chopper. I need that fuel! I need Johnny or John Matoose to make that flight!”

  “It’s an unnecessary flight.”

  “Bullshit!” Frank argued--loudly. “We haven’t seen a SUT in five days. Five days? They’re gathering somewhere. I can’t afford to send my men out to see. I have to fly reconnaissance of the region to look for them.”

  “Instead of being so pessimistic Frank, why don’t you just be grateful that their little attacks have stopped?”

  “Pessimistic?” A frustrated laugh emanated from him. “How about realistic, George? We know how many there are. You really want to take a chance with this community that they are gathering?”

  “They aren’t gathering.” George opened the desk drawer and began to pull out papers. “You’re emotional. Things are happening in your personal life. When you get emotional you don’t think straight. Everyone knows that.”

  Reaching downward, Frank snatched the papers that had George so engrossed. “Listen to me George. I have to get to New Mexico to take out the SUT factory. I can’t chance taking one of the few men I have from this community to do that. So I have to make sure the area is free and clear of those things. You will sign the fuel release. I will have Johnny make a flight. And you will never change another one of my training schedules again. Clear?”

  Still remaining an annoying calm, George reached back for his papers, grabbing them from the strong wrinkling grip Frank held them with. “You are just overreacting.”

  “And you are being way too lax with this.”

  “Are you forgetting I’m the leader of this community now?”

  “You are not the leader of this community! You are filling in for the leader of this community and you are doing a piss poor job. If my father were sitting there, this conversation would not be happening. My father trusts the way I protect this community and I have never let this community down.”

  Taking a tone of offense George began to rise up. “Well you’re father isn’t sitting here right now. I am!”

  “Then be a goddamn leader and sign the order!” Frank shouted, yet his loudest.

  “Don’t you scream at me. Don’t you take that tone with me!” George stood straight up.

  “And don’t you dick around with me!” Frank screamed back at him. “My wife, my children, my family, live in this community. It is my job to protect them. And if you screw around once with their lives because of your pansy outlook on things, then you’ll have to answer to me.” Frank charged forth. “Let one thing happen George, one thing, and this . . .” Frank picked up the clipboard. “Will be the last order you rescind.” He slammed it back down. “Sign it. Sign it now!” He stepped back and raged to the door.

  “Frank!” George called to him with such anger, that it actually made Frank stop. “Threaten me again and I’ll move to have you ousted.”

  “Try it.” Frank glared at him, opening the door. “You won’t get past the first laugh.”

  George sat back down with the slamming of the door. He ran his fingers through his grey hair. “God . . . I hate that man.”

  ^^^^

  To Joe, it was a normal Frank entrance. The huffing into the room. The stopping directly before Joe. The hand . . . the hand that Frank waved about as his mouth opened and words failed to come out. Mind searching for the right words to tell Joe. Contemplating everyday if he should. Starting out every bitch session to Joe with the same line. ‘Dad, I hope you don’t think I’m silly talking to you like this . . .’ Every day it was the same thing. He saw the look on Frank’s face. Red, angry, and why hadn’t his son shaved?

  Joe prepared himself to hear it. A long repetitive talk about Ellen. The Frank and Ellen soap opera saga. Wasn’t there anything else of importance in the community to discuss? At least when Frank talked about Ellen he wasn’t reading. Frank reading was more of a nerve bending event than a stimulating one. It was especially bad when Frank opted for Hemingway. Joe, who was a great reader, had a hard time reading H
emingway himself. But Frank? Frank made the famous author sound like a basement wanna be writer who could barely finish writing a business letter. Joe did enjoy Frank’s explanation of why he chose Hemingway. Telling Joe moments before he blundered through the opening paragraph, that he was going to read a book by some old guy, and since Joe was old he probably would like that.

  On Frank’s third pacing cycle his hand was over his head scratching it then slapping his hand downward on to his leg. Then . . . the squat in front of Joe. It was the beginning to the Frank daily routine. O.K. Frank, fire away. Joe was ready.

  “Dad, I hope you don’t think I’m silly talking to you like this. I have a major problem. God I wish you could talk to me.”

  All right Frank, tell me about Ellen.

  “Fuckin’ George Dad.”

  George? Frank, what did you find out? What happened? Joe perked with interest.

  “You have to get better or that man is going to drive this community into the ground! He’s pissing around with the safety of the community. He won’t release the fuel I need to go to New Mexico to take out those scientist.”

  This is really good. If Joe could show Frank his smile, he would.

  “I threatened him today. And he threatened to oust me. Can he do that?” Frank stood up and started to pace again. “He probably can’t. Am I wrong? I just have a bad feeling. Like, why is he always hiding? Why won’t he sign anything? Distribution closes at three. Three? Eighty percent of the people in this community don’t walk off their shifts until six.”

  You have to think about this one Frank. Why? What does he have to gain? If you think, you’ll get your answers.

  “You know I realized now why I didn’t vote for him in the first place, aside from the fact he’s a Democrat. Hey Dad, you don’t think that has anything to do with it, do you? You know how them Democrats hate confrontations.”

  No, Christ, his political party has nothing to do with it. I’m done. I’m stuck. I’m never getting out of this shell. Lord knows Dean and Henry aren’t doing anything about it.