“What about his state of mind, Henry?” Ellen held on to him, nuzzling more. “I’m worried about that.”
“That will take time too.”
“I have to help him.”
“I know you do. Dean needs you. I saw that tonight. He was lost when you weren’t around.”
“He has so much to learn now. With him being so down, I’m afraid he won’t learn. If he doesn’t learn, we’re in so much trouble if this virus hits.” Ellen closed her eyes. “Was that selfish of me to say that?”
“No.” Henry’s hand ran down her head. “Answer this question. Dean would be traumatically affected by the loss of his sight under normal circumstances; don’t you think with this virus heavy on his mind, things are worse?”
“I do.” Ellen raised her head to look at Henry. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m a part of this too. And we better get some rest. It’s getting late and project Dean ...” Henry looked at his watch. “Starts in four hours.”
CHAPTER TWO
JULY 26
The theme song to Mission Impossible played in Henry’s head as he slithered his way to Dean’s front door. The morning silence filled the street. Henry, back against the archway, leaned his head out first then slipped his body out from the house. Like the big spy, he checked up and down, darted a house forward, looked around the bend then hurriedly returned into Dean’s house. “All clear,” he told Ellen and Dean.
“Thanks, Henry,” Ellen said. “You’re sure no one is around.”
“Positive,” Henry answered. “Keep in mind that it is Sunday, so you shouldn’t run into anyone on your way to the clinic. Just avoid being center town between ten fifteen and ten thirty. Services let out.”
Ellen gave a wink and a thumbs-up. “You’ll stop by and see us at the clinic?”
“Yep.” Henry nodded. “Joe and Andrea are supposed to pick up the kids, so as soon as they do that, I’ll be by. Are you sure you can make it there all right?”
“Oh sure,” Ellen told him with such confidence. “Dean?” She looked to the couch were he sat. “You ready.”
“I don’t know, El.” Dean shook his head with fright. “People are gonna know. We should go straight to the mobile lab.”
“I’d love to,” Ellen told him, walking to the couch. “But unfortunately Andrea says there is a lot of clinic work to do. Annual physicals took place this week, remember?”
Dean nodded. “I do. But what happens if someone walks in? What do I do?”
“What we talked about. You pick up that pen and bury your face into the notebook.” Ellen reached for his arm and helped him to stand. “Ready?”
“I guess.”
Walking with Dean, Ellen waved goodbye to Henry and walked out of the house. So as not to look like she was guiding him, she leaned against him as they walked, like two lovers on a stroll.
Dean felt the openness and the warmness of the air. The sounds and smell of outside immediately hit him and he stopped walking.
“Dean? What is it?”
“It’s just a little frightening, that’s all.” Dean started walking again, only this time a little slower and depending on Ellen more to lead the way. “I guess you never realize how small you really are until you can only feel how big things are around you.”
<><><><>
“Baby exchange.” Frank handed Nick to Joe and took Brian, laying him down on the couch, getting ready to change his diaper. “So what are you exactly doing with the entire brood today?”
“Andrea and I are taking the kids out to the field. We’re gonna spend the day out there with them. We’ll pick up Nick after lunch.”
“Man, are you a glutton,” Frank commented as he changed Brian’s diaper.
“I’ve been a busy man, Frank, and I haven’t had time to spend with my grandkids.”
“But to take all of them in one shot.”
“You do it,” Joe commented, “and you’re putting the diaper too tight on that kid.”
“No-no. Don’t even tell me how to change diapers. I am the master. I fuckin have two of them in diapers right now.” Frank pulled up Brian’s pants and held him. “What is taking Alexandra and Henry so long up there? Henry? What the fuck? Come on!”
“We’re right here, Frank.” Henry came down the steps. “I was fixing Alex’s hair. It was a mess you know.”
Frank rolled his eyes. “What the hell is it with you and your obsession over fixing the kid’s hair?” He stood up and looked at Alex’s perfect braid, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t be able to fix her hair like that, Henry. Something’s just not right about that.”
“She looks pretty.” Henry ran his hand down the back of Alexandra’s hair.
“Yeah, well in about an hour she’ll look dirty. She’s gonna be running around the baseball field.”
“At least she started her day off looking good.” Henry checked out the time. “Joe, should we still be at your house for dinner at the normal time?”
“No,” Joe told him, “make it six tonight. By the time we get back, we won’t have time to get it ready.”
“OK, I’ll see you then. Bye.” Henry hurried to the door.
Frank called out, stopping him, “Wait a second.”
Henry hunched and turned to face him. “Yeah, Frank?”
“Where the hell are you going?”
“To the clinic.” Henry watched Frank shake his head. “No? Why?”
Setting Brian down on the floor, Frank took Nick from Joe’s arms. “Your turn, Henry.”
“But, Frank ...”
“Henry, take your kid.”
“But, Frank, I have things I have to do.”
“So do I.” Frank moved to him, extending the baby. “Take the baby.”
“Frank, I promised El I’d stop by before she went to the mobile. I can’t watch the baby until Joe picks him up. I have to go to the clinic. It’s really important. How about I get him after I stop at the clinic and then I’ll take him to Mechanics with me.” Henry widened his eyes, smiled and nodded his head. “Good?”
Frank grunted and pulled Nick into him. “One hour. You be back here to get him in one hour or I’ll chase your skinny ass down. If I chase your skinny ass down, I’m beating it.”
“Deal.” Before Frank could change his mind, Henry was out the door.
Joe couldn’t believe it. “You really let him get away with pushing off that baby. I thought he’d want to be more a part of that kid’s life.”
“Oh he does. He wants to be a big part of this kid’s life.” Frank kissed Nick. “Just as long as he doesn’t have to feed him, walk him, change him, or bathe him.”
“I’ll pick up Nick from him after we’re done at the field. Is Ellen coming to dinner tonight, her and Dean? Did you talk to her?”
“I talked to her this morning. She says they have a lot of work to catch up on.”
“So Dean is better.”
All Frank did was shrug.
“Something is up.”
Frank raised his head. “You think so too?”
“My gut tells me, Frank, we don’t know something. Both of their demeanors were bad yesterday.”
“How about this? I’m on my way into your house last night, right? I see Ellen book into Henry’s. I go in. She’s crying. Crying, Dad. I held her for at least twenty minutes, just held her. She wouldn’t let me go. All night long I kept on thinking about that. Why was she crying ... And don’t light that up in my house.” Frank saw him pull out a cigarette. “Not in front of Nick.”
Joe grew perturbed as Frank waved his hand about. “Christ, Frank, I haven’t even lit it yet.” Joe put the cigarette back. “I’ll be nice. I won’t smoke.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Joe ran his hand down his own face. “Ellen, our Ellen was crying?”
“Yep.”
“Something’s wrong with Dean. Something is really wrong with him.”
“You mean like sick?”
Joe’s eyes rolled slightly.
“Yes, Frank. What the hell else do you think I mean? Come on, do you honestly think Ellen would be crying over nothing.”
“She said she had a bad day.”
“Ellen’s had a bad life. She still doesn’t cry over it.”
There was a pause of silence then Frank’s big mouth broke it so loudly that it made Nick jolt in his arms. “Oh! This is good. What if he’s dying?”
“Frank!”
“Not that it would be a good thing. But say that’s what’s wrong with Ellen. What if Dean has this horrible disease?”
“You just really want to get rid of the man, don’t you?”
“Not really.” Frank handed Nick over to Joe. “But I’m gonna find out.”
“How? You’re just gonna walk right up to him and ask him.”
“No.” Frank was offended that Joe would think he would be that callous. “No, I’m not gonna just walk up to him and say, ‘Dean are you fuckin dying’. I’ll find out. From Ellen.”
“Frank, if there’s something wrong with Dean, it’s really none of our business.”
“Bullshit. It’s all of our business. Like him or not, if Dean is dying or if there is something wrong with him, then we’re screwed. And we all have the right to know because that virus is coming, Dad. It’s already crossed our soil and we were lucky enough to keep it contained. How lucky are we gonna be the next time? Or worse, how lucky will we be if something hinders Dean from stopping it.”
It was at that moment Joe received a slap of reality. If a hundred SUTs came barreling through Beginnings’ back gate, Beginnings had a plan, and if that failed, they had a backup. But if a little, tiny virus crept into Beginnings’ air, Beginnings had Dean. If he went down, so did their first and only line of defense against that virus. That, right there, was the scariest of thoughts. What would they do if something actually happened to Dean?
<><><><>
“And Joe says he’s gonna have them until tonight.” Henry rolled up surgical instruments in a green cloth as he and Ellen sat at the counter. “What time do you think you’ll be done?”
“Most of the experiments, Henry, take hours. We’re almost finished here. I ran the test.” Ellen, who rolled up instruments to prepare for sterilization, looked back to Dean who sat at the computer. “How’s it going, Dean?”
“Good.” Dean typed slowly.
Henry leaned forward to Ellen whispering, “Should he be typing in the results?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I heard that!” Dean yelled.
Ellen waved her hand at Henry. “Oh, he’ll be fine. He does that home-row-key thing. Anyhow, I’ll check it when he’s done for errors.”
“Did you check to see if his hands were on the home row?”
“Um ...” Ellen turned back again to check. “They are, I think. Are they, Dean?”
“Yes, Ellen, now please I’m listening to your tape, I can’t listen to both of you.”
Ellen giggled. “Look at Dean doing dictation, Henry. And did you see his hair? I parted it on the right side today.” She turned when she heard the click of the stopping of the tape player. “What is it, Dean?”
“You parted my hair on the right?”
“Um ...” Ellen hunched. “No, Dean. No I didn’t do that. Left, I meant left.”
Dean’s hands rose to his head and he felt around. “Aw, Ellen. Stop laughing.”
Henry tried not to laugh. “That isn’t very nice. Dean likes his hair parted on the left.” Henry peered at Dean. “I do like it better like that, but he needs to shave. Dean? Dean?” Henry stood up and walked over to Dean. “Dean?” He lifted the headset from his ear. “Dean?”
“What, Henry!” Dean’s hand slammed on the counter. “What?”
“You need to shave. You never go without shaving. If you don’t want people to know that you can’t see, you have to shave.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Dean felt the keyboard to reposition his hands.
“Did you need me to come over tonight and help you shave?”
Dean paused before he answered Henry, his head dropped slightly. “No, Henry. I’ll figure it out.”
“Good boy.” Henry gave him a pat on the back, sending Dean forward some and knocking his positioned hands off the keyboard. “Sorry.” Henry grabbed his hands and put them back. “You’re doing really good, Dean. You can’t even tell you can’t see.”
“Thanks, Henry.”
“Your eyes have stopped bouncing around. They did that yesterday, you know. Bouncing and bouncing.” Henry walked back to Ellen. “They stopped though.” He sat back down next to Ellen. “Kind of reminded me of this woman I knew when I was a kid. She was cock-eyed. I never knew what eye to look at when I talked to her. I always felt I was being rude.”
“Henry, I know exactly what you’re talking about,” Ellen said. “You kept thinking, what if you were looking at the wrong eye. Do you suppose people with crossed eyes know that people have a hard time knowing which eye is the correct eye to look at?”
“I suppose they do.” Henry continued, helping her get the instruments ready. “I mean, they really couldn’t go their whole entire life without someone telling them that. Could they?”
“They could. Because wouldn’t it be impolite to tell a person with crossed eyes, something about their eyes.”
“But people can be rude, El.”
“So true, Henry. I remember when I was in the second grade, I used to walk pigeon-toed. Like this.” Ellen stood up and pointed her toes inward.
“I never knew that.” Henry laughed. “Dean, did you know that?”
“She still walks like that, Henry.”
“No way?” Henry was shocked. “El, walk across the room and let me look, but don’t try to walk normal.”
“I can’t do that, Henry. Even if I try to walk normal, I’m gonna subconsciously walk straight. Understand?”
“Yeah,” Henry said, disappointed. “I’ll wait until you don’t know I’m looking. How about that? I learned something new. See, Dean ... whoops sorry ... you taught me something new about Ellen.”
Dean mumbled as he worked, trying to listen to Ellen’s rambling dictation and key in the results. “Why do I torture myself being around you two?”
Henry thought he heard Dean talk. “Did you say something, Dean?”
“No, Henry.” Dean shook his head. “And aren’t you supposed to be back to get the baby. You said one hour.”
Henry leaned into Ellen. “How does he know how long I’ve been here?”
Dean grumbled. “My watch beeps every hour. It has beeped twice since you’ve been here, Henry. Go.”
“I’d rather wait until Frank seeks me out. You don’t mind me staying do you, El?”
“No,” Ellen told him, “but you may want to leave.” She lifted her head to the door.
Dean heard Henry moan. He wanted to turn around. He wanted to ask who was there, but by the moan it could only be one of two people. Frank with the baby, or ...
“Hi, Ellen.” Jenny Matoose walked into the clinic. “Henry.” She shuffled to the counter. “Hello, Dean. I heard you were sick yesterday. Feeling better?”
“Yes,” Dean answered curtly and continued to work. He suddenly felt nervous when Jenny walked in, like he was being watched. Dean knew he was just being paranoid.
“I won’t keep you long,” Jenny said. She grunted at Henry’s ‘good’. “We’re all going out to the field with the kids today. Ellen, I need to know where you’ll be later. Ben is dropping off the swatches of colors for the bridesmaid dresses and you have to pick. He’s going to dye them this week. And ...” Jenny smiled widely. “He finished with your flats,” she spoke with excitement. “I’d like to drop them off as well but he won’t have them until later.”
“I’ll be at the mobile,” Ellen told her.
“Oh.” Jenny folded her arms. “John hates when I go up there. How long will you be up there?”
Ellen lifted her shoulders and dropped them. “I don’t know. Hours, maybe. Why?�
�
“Well, Patrick has the baby tonight and John and I are going to the Social Hall. Can I drop them off with Hen ...” Jenny shook her head. “Scratch that. Can I drop them off at Fra ... Nah. Call me when you get home. I’ll leave John to drop them off to you.”
“When do you need the color answer by?” Ellen asked.
“Tomorrow.”
“You know what. Just drop them off at Dean’s,” Ellen told her. “If I’m not there, I will be there and I’ll get them. Make sure you bring my shoes.”
“I will. The door will be open then?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Jenny smiled and stepped back. “As soon as I get them I’ll bring them over. That way I don’t have to listen to John bitch about me leaving him on our date.” She moved to the door. “Let me know about the color, first thing.”
“I will.” Ellen raised her hand, noticing how red Henry’s face was getting.
“Bye, Dean ... Henry.” Jenny giggled and left.
It rumbled. It was loud and Henry’s color returned when he exhaled loudly. “God! I thought she’d never leave. How long can one person hold their breath?”
Ellen laughed at him. “You held your breath the whole time she was here?”
“Oh sure, El. I didn’t want her to drop off your stuff with me. I’m looking forward to having the house alone for an hour or so tonight. She would just ...” Henry hunched when he heard his name being called. “Shit. Frank.” He jumped up. “I gotta go. Talk to you later. Bye, Dean.”
Dean listened as Henry ran out. He chuckled when he heard Henry ramble off excuses from the hall to Frank on what took him so long. He only wished he could make out the words better.
<><><><>
“No, El.” Dean resisted her forceful pull. “What, are you crazy?”
“Dean, you have to.”
“I cannot.”
“Dean, when have I ever driven to the mobile lab? Hmm?”
“When have I ever driven blind? How am I supposed to drive, El?” Dean tossed his hands in the air. “I can’t see!”
“Shh.” Ellen covered his mouth. “You never know who’s around. Just get in. I’ll direct you from the passenger’s seat.”
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 283
