<><><><>
Henry made a crinkling face as his lips swished from one side of his face to the other. He looked at Ellen while he did this face, over and over.
“You don’t like it?” she asked, sitting in the chair next to his bed.
Henry held up one finger and placed another spoon full of the red substance into his mouth. Again he made the swishing face. “No.” He handed the bowl back. “It tastes like hot ketchup.”
“It’s supposed to be tomato soup,” Ellen stated. “Trish made it.”
“There you have it, El. Ever since they recreated ketchup, everything she makes is based with ketchup. Ask Jeff. All he does is complain.”
“Well, what should I tell her, Henry? She wants to contribute that as the soup for the wedding.”
“Let her. Don’t hurt her feelings.”
“Oh, O.K.” Ellen set the bowl on the night stand. “It was a fun meeting tonight, Henry. The women went on and on about what they are going to do. In fact, Trish and Jenny said that Cole can stop by Miles City after his run and pick up the tuxes.”
Henry coughed. “Tuxes?”
“Oh sure. I have to wear a dress. You guys have to wear tuxes. I picked the wedding party since you kept changing the subject on me before the meeting.”
“El, stop. Okay? This is all fun, but it’s fun and games. Each day that goes by this thing gets real. It’s real to them. How are they gonna feel when all their work is for naught?’
“I told you, Henry, if it’s not us, it’ll be someone else. And … and I was thinking. I ran this by Frank. What if I spoke to Reverend Bob about secretly making it a mock ceremony.”
“Sort of like what happened before only not an accident?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Henry shook his head. “Plan the wedding then we’ll have Frank run interference. The planning seems fun and you are getting close to Jenny.”
“I am. It feels nice to be a part.”
“Ok, back to the wedding. I’m afraid to ask. Who are your bridesmaids?” Henry asked.
“Only two. I thought we’d go with an ‘original’ scheme. Jenny liked that. So, Andrea is one of them, and . . .” Ellen snickered. “Jenny is my, get this Frank will love it, my matron of honor.”
“What?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ellen nodded with a smile. “Wait, it gets better. Frank is her partner because he’s best man. Joe is the other guy in your wedding party.”
“Frank, the best man? No El, you can’t do that,” Henry said with concern. “That is so wrong.”
“Why is that wrong? Is he not your best friend?”
“Well sure he is but . . .”
“Then he should be your best man,” Ellen spoke quickly. “Ben told Jenny that he’ll measure you guys and, as long as Cole picks sizes in the vicinity, he can tailor them to fit. I hope you’re not mad about Joe being in the wedding party.”
“I’m still stuck on Frank.” Henry closed his eyes tightly. “It’s wrong to have him be the best man in our wedding. That is so wrong to do to him. It’s like rubbing it in his face even if it doesn’t happen.”
The smile dropped from Ellen’s face. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” She was quiet for a second. “Oh well, I’ll talk to him. Getting back,” she smiled again.
Henry raised his hand and let it drop with a slap. “I give up. Next thing you know you’re going to tell me Dean is in the wedding.”
“I don’t want Dean anywhere near the wedding whether it be mock for us or real for someone else.” Ellen was very serious.
“Another fight?”
“The last fight,” Ellen stated. “In fact, I’m not even working with him anymore. I’ve been replaced with Jason.”
“No. That is so wrong, El.”
“I know and he’s so mad at me for no really good reason. I’ve done worse to him. Believe me, I’ve done worse.” She shrugged. “But he shut me out and now I’m shutting him out as well.”
“Until he needs you when his sight goes.”
“Not even then, Henry.”
“El.” Henry turned on his side to look closer at her. “You two have been working on this so you can help him. Work with him. Be his eyes.”
“He’s gonna have to find another Seeing Eye dog because I won’t do it. I won’t. In my book Dean Hayes means as much to me, no, less than any survivor we pick up.”
This made Henry feel badly. With all that was going on, he didn’t know who to feel worse for. As far as he was concerned, they were acting like babies and both Dean and Ellen were feeding off of each other in some sort of competition to see who could make who feel worse. At that moment, if Dean was winning in his score card, Ellen’s words just evened it up, because neither Henry or Ellen realized that Dean was standing right outside of Henry’s door when she said that
Dean turned away. He stopped by to see Henry after helping Andrea with an emergency at the clinic because he needed little help. But he didn’t get his help, because Dean never went into that room. He had suddenly needed Henry’s eyes for a chart, but he merely took it to his lab and hoped the next day his eyes wouldn’t be so tired and he’d be able to focus in more on the spaces he couldn’t see to fill in.
<><><><>
Frank’s loud ‘uh!’ startled Ellen to scream just as loudly as him the second she turned on the light in the bedroom.
“El!” Frank raised up his body some, rubbing his eyes. “The light!”
“God you scared me.” She held her chest. “What are you doing in bed?”
“Fuckin trying to sleep. What else would I be doing in bed?”
“But I thought that was you sleeping on the couch.”
“No, that was Johnny. His air conditioner is broken.”
“Johnny?” Ellen giggled. “I thought that was you. He looks just like you. Wow.” The smiled slightly dropped from her face. “I did see you ended up with all the kids. How did that happen?”
“Dean had to go to the clinic with Andrea. One of Cole’s kids, I don’t know which one, broke their leg. Andrea had to do surgery.”
“Dean was at the clinic? Funny, I didn’t see the prick.”
Frank grinned. “Little people are often hard to spot.”
“We have a house full then.”
“That we do.” Frank reached back, adjusted his pillows then plopped backwards onto the backboard pile. “You getting ready for bed?”
“Yeah, I’m tired.” She opened her drawer and pulled out a shirt and shorts. “It’s later than I thought. I stopped by to talk to Henry at the clinic then, on my way here, I saw Joe and we talked for a little. Joe was doing that lecture thing to me, you know. Then he changed the subject to the meeting, because he knew he was getting nowhere with me talking about Dean. I nominated him for king of the dartboard next month” She yawned. “Oh, man. I’m more tired than I thought. We should sleep.” She walked over to the bed and pulled down the other side of the covers.
Frank sat straight up. “What are you doing?”
“Getting in. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. Why are you sleeping in bed with me?”
“Where else am I going to sleep?” Ellen started to lift her leg into bed but stopped. “I’m sorry. I’ll go sleep with Alex.”
“No, you can sleep here.” Frank moved over more.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” He laid back then rolled on his side to face her as she climbed in. He watched as her leg crept out further from that shirt she wore as she slid in. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Was that Nick?” Frank sat up again. “I think that was Nick.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“No, that was Nick.”
“Frank.” Ellen adjusted the covers over herself. “It wasn’t Nick. Lay down and go to sleep.”
“All right.” He swallowed and looked at her, then lay back down. “Night El.”
“Night Frank.” She laid on her side. “Turn out the light.”
“Sh
it.”
“What’s wrong now?”
“My radio is next to you.”
“I’ll get it.”
“No, I can get it.” Reaching for the radio, he extended his long reach across her body to the night stand. “Night, El.”
“Night, Frank.” In the darkness there was silence, and then she felt him shuffling, the covers moved about, the bed bounced and then Ellen heard him snicker. “What?”
“I can’t sleep.” He sat up and turned on her light. “Can you?”
“Yes.”
“Come on El.”
“What do you have in mind? And don’t say sex.”
“Scrabble?”
“Frank,” she whined his name.
“No, I know I can beat you.”
“You’re not going to cheat?”
“Nope.” He flung the covers from him. “Maybe we can talk. You can tell me all about your meeting.” He moved to the door.
“Really? You really want to hear?”
“No not really, but if Henry can listen, why can’t I?” He opened the door.
“Gee Frank thanks.” She fluffed her pillow. “Bring me something to drink.”
Frank popped his head back in the door. “I will.” In his boxer shorts, he headed to his steps. He kept his arms folded closely to him to block out the coldness in his home. Of course that was the way Frank liked it. He was quiet as he made it through the first floor and to the kitchen, being careful not to wake up Johnny. He turned on the kitchen light and grabbed the board game that had fast become Ellen and Frank’s new nightly routine while she stayed there. He set it on the counter and opened up the cupboard for glasses. He took them out then opened the fridge to get Ellen and him some of that tea she had made. Pouring the glass near full, he put back the tea, tucked the game under his arm, and grabbed the two glasses. As he reached to flick off the light with his elbow, he stopped. He stood for a few seconds in the doorway and then he turned back in. Setting the glasses down along with the game, he went back to the cupboard. Without a second thought, like it was something so natural, he pulled out his bottle and added a shots worth of moonshine to his glass of tea.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
JULY 15
Robbie could barely lift his arms another inch. He had carried the last body he could outside to the graves he had taken all night to dig. Eight men total were now gone and seven more remained, himself included. As the days moved on, all had gone out of remission and relapsed. Robbie was bombarded. He was encircled with illness in every direction he looked. He tried to keep up appearances when the helicopter lowered the supplies and picked up the crate Robbie had waiting. He thought he did well. Perhaps Frank didn’t see it on his face as he kept a further distance than usual. He had to. He didn’t want them to see his weakness, his longing to be out of the situation he was in. He was a Slagel and he had to be strong, no matter what. But the truth was Robbie Slagel’s dreams of going home became like that helicopter that flew away. They faded more and more with each passing minute.
<><><><>
His fingers rapped with enthusiasm and excitement on the yellowing paper he held. Impressed was the smiling look George gave the doctor who sat at the table before him, a radio in one hand, a pen in the other. “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”
“It’s only Morse code.”
“Yes, but it is a way to communicate with all of our men in the field.” George read the message again. “This seems like it’s missing something,”
“It is,” Dr. Philips told him. “We came in mid message, but according to what we planned, they’ll repeat the message every fifteen minutes for an hour. I’ll just monitor the radio until then.”
“What about my other guards?”
“Only two have CME’s that can transmit Morse code. They’re due in three hours with their transmission.”
“This makes me very happy.” George laid the paper down, grinning ear to ear. “Totally barbaric and less the technology we have, but smart. Now we can communicate with our men without Beginnings being able to pick it up, or be any the wiser that it is happening.”
<><><><>
“Yes! I fuckin’ knew it!” Frank slammed his hand on his father’s desk with a wide smile and such excitement. “Yes!”
“That’s what it is?” Joe asked, putting out the cigarette he puffed on frantically.
“Yep. I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with my headset. I kept hearing that beeping in my ear when I made my rounds. Beep, beep-beep.” Frank rocked back and forth as he sat in Joe’s chair.
“So who’s sending it?” Joe asked.
“Obviously it’s George. It has to be right? Who else would know the communications room wasn’t picking up that signal… him. Only the dumb mother fucker didn’t think my radio would pick it up. Ha! I got it. We got it, and as long as we’re smart and not say a word to anyone about this, we can find out exactly what they’re up to, not just where they are.”
“An upper hand.”
“Finally! Since the little fuckin virus set up they tossed at our men, we haven’t had a signal. The longer we go without finding them, the more I feel they’re getting closer.”
“Speaking of which,” Joe pulled up a chair and sat down, “how are we set up for that?”
“Them arriving here?” Frank shrugged. “Getting there. We need a first response system, something besides our reconnaissance that will see them coming. If we do that, I don’t care how big they are. We’ll kick their asses.”
“But, this could be a first response, right, this Morse code they’re sending?”
“Could be. Only . . .”
“Only what?”
“Only, it doesn’t make sense.” Frank picked up the paper he had written his translation on. “I think they’re speaking in code.”
“Yeah, Morse code.”
“No code. Or German, something like that.”
“German?” Joe questioned and held his hand out. “Let me see that.” He took the paper from Frank. “What is this? You have written here, ‘Ta esa yluzogt og ta toll na baes nazobbobtz’ what the hell is this shit?” Joe jumped to his feet.
“I told you, it’s written in code.”
“Written in code my ass, Frank. You don’t remember Morse code, do you?”
“Yeah I do.” Frank stood up.
“No, you don’t you moron.”
“Hey!”
“Don’t hey me. You don’t remember it, do you?”
“Give me a fuckin break. It’s been forever since I decoded it. All right, so I’m a little rusty.”
“Rusty.” Joe viewed the paper. “Now are you sure these dashes and dots are what they’re supposed to be.”
“I’m sure about that.”
“O.K., then I’ll get someone to decode this.”
“Who?” Frank asked. “You have to be careful on who you get to do this.”
“Well I think I know who I can give this to. Cole. We trust him and he won’t say anything to Matoose about it.”
“Does he know how to decode?”
“Well I’m sure he’ll do a lot better than you. Besides, we’ll find him something that will help him. Where, I don’t know.”
Before Frank could make any more comments, there was a light knock at the door. “Must be Dean. Watch, I’ll ask him how he and Ellen are.” Frank motioned his head to the door. “Yeah!”
The door opened and as predicted by Frank, it was Dean. “Joe, Frank, glad you’re both here.”
Joe saw it, the look on Dean’s face, it was fright. And Joe knew Frank saw it too, because his son didn’t say anything snide. “What’s wrong Dean? Did something happen at the lab, you were there.”
“You could say that.” Dean shut the door and took a deep breath, his one hand held back his growing hair. “I have to tell you something, both of you. Sit down.” He motioned his hand to the chairs. “Please, because this isn’t going to be good.”
<><><><>
Henry walked as if he we
re never ill. The bandages on his hand had been removed and the purple healing burn was the only remnant of his accident. He wanted to be home in his own bed, his own house, his own room. He thought they’d be going back to Frank’s to be with the baby, but instead he got his wish when he was released from the clinic. He went home.
“Hap is dropping off Nick in a few minutes, Henry.” Ellen set his bag down by the front door as she shut it. “Are you tired? Did you want to lie down?”
“No.” He shook his head with a smile. “This is great. I feel really good, El. Thank you for staying here with me.” He turned to face her as she stepped near where he stood behind the couch.
“I don’t want you being alone.”
“How was staying with Frank?”
“Weird.” Ellen took hold of his arm and led him to the couch. “It was so much like . . . never mind.” She sat down at the same time as him.
“What?”
“Forget I said anything.”
“It was like when you were married huh?” Henry’s head lowered and his eyes rose.
“No!” Ellen waved her hand at him. “That’s not what I was going to say. It was like when he and I were more buddies than anything else. No pressure, just friends. Except for the other night when there was nowhere to sleep and I had to sleep in bed with him, of course I told you about that little incident.”
“Hey at least you kicked his ass in Scrabble.”
“I did.”
“El, is Nick staying here tonight with us?”
“No.” She shook her head. “We’ll take care of him for most of the evening. But let’s face it, Henry, I’m not a get up and get the baby person in the middle of the night, and neither are you. Frank doesn’t mind. He loves Nick.”
“That’s good. With me getting hurt the day after Nick got came home, I’m not in good practice. I need to practice, El.”
“And you shall, when Hap brings him over. Personally Henry, I saw the look in Hap’s eye when he was staring at our tiny baby. You know what he was thinking of?”
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 261
