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

by Jacqueline Druga

  “This is silly. You’ll match, that’s all that matters.” Ellen walked to the closet. “God, he has these things pinned to them, shapes, circles, triangles ...”

  “Are the circles on black?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  “Dean?” Ellen watched him get out of bed and easily walk to the dresser. “We had a good first night living together again, didn’t we?”

  “Oh sure, El, you kept me up half the night talking.”

  “Oh please, Dean. You were out by one. I fell asleep early, two a.m.”

  “Two a.m. is not early, El. Not by my standards. Ten o’clock is a good bedtime.” Dean proceeded to pull out clothing from his dresser.

  “I’d die if I missed as much of my life as you, Dean, sleeping. However, I was very glad you got up to talk to me last night when I came home from Frank’s.”

  “What happened with that? I thought when you left here that you said you were going over to talk to him for a few hours.”

  “It’s sounds almost as if you’re disappointed I came home,” Ellen sighed, “anyhow, Frank asked me to leave. He said I was rambling too much. He wanted to go to bed.”

  “So I got the honors?”

  “Dean, I wanted to talk.”

  “I told you today is my first day back at the lab after Andrea’s little flu,” Dean huffed and shook his head. “I wanted to go to bed early. You said fine and you went to talk to Frank.”

  “Frank didn’t want to talk. He wanted to sleep.”

  “So did I.”

  “But I live with you, Dean. You have to talk to me at night. I love talking at night.”

  “I love sleeping at night, El.” Dean grabbed his clothes. “Staying up to midnight is one thing, hearing you still telling Jenny Matoose stories as it pushes one is another. I don’t even want to hear about what you go into around three.” He walked backwards to his door.

  “Should you be walking blindly like that, Dean?”

  “What other way is there to walk for me, El?” Dean stopped walking.

  “Forwards, perhaps?”

  “I know this room, El, and I’m going to take a shower.”

  “OK, I’ll wait down ... Dean? Watch out for that ...” Ellen cringed at the soft ‘thump’ that sounded off when Dean rammed into the archway. “Wall.”

  Dean grumbled in disgust then rubbed his head. “I have to stop doing that.”

  “You know you can’t blame Frank on that one. That wall has always been there. Frank couldn’t have come ...”

  “El.” Dean held up his hand as he slowly felt his way from the room. “I’m taking a shower now. I can’t talk.”

  “OK.”

  Dean mumbled to himself as he walked from his bedroom, holding his clothes, and heading to the bathroom. If Ellen kept up talking all the time, he wasn’t going to survive her living with him.

  <><><><>

  Joe couldn’t figure out exactly why everyone was saying it to him. Perhaps it was because he had been shot in the rear-end, or maybe because he tried to run to Mechanics. Whatever the reason, he didn’t think it one bit amusing when everyone would yell, ‘Run Forrest Run’.

  Joe was trying to help Henry out since he undertook the large task of getting the two new helicopters back in order. They were sort-of fine, but they needed a good Beginnings once-over and cleanup. With Henry engrossed in that portion, Joe headed off to Mechanics. He slowed his pace down, because his fast, bouncy stride kept hurting the injury site that didn’t want to heal.

  Separate the requisitions, write up work orders, and then move about to his own work in Beginnings. The last thing Joe wanted to do was run into anyone. He thought he was safe from that, seeing how it was in the middle of the work morning. Just as he lifted the requisitions from the ‘in’ bin, the door to Mechanics opened and in walked Trish.

  “Joe,” she spoke as if she was just so perplexed, “I have a problem.”

  “What is it, Trish? I’m a busy man.”

  “But I have something that needs fixed.”

  “Fill out a requisition.”

  “Joe, I really need this fixed now.”

  “Christ, Trish, do I look like Henry? No. What is it?”

  “Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Joe?” Trish asked with a tilted head.

  “Trish. No. Now what is it?”

  “My phone, Joe. Look.” She held up her cellular phone. “It won’t work.”

  “Is it charged?”

  “Oh very much so, Joe,” Trish stated. “Did you honestly think I would let it go? It just won’t work.”

  “Then just leave it here. Scott has been the phone guy. I’ll make him look at it.”

  “Thanks, Joe,” Trish spoke with such relief. “The sooner the better too. You never know when you are going to get bombarded with calls. I’d hate to miss any of them.”

  “Trish, who is going to call you?”

  “Just about anyone.”

  “Just give me the phone.” Joe all but snatched the phone from Trish’s hand. “Go.”

  “Thanks.” Trish moved back to the door. “And, Joe? Just so you know, I wasn’t any of those people who were making Forrest Gump references to you, even if you were shot in the buttocks.”

  “Go.”

  As Trish left Mechanics, she felt so lost, so lonely without her phone. She put high hopes in Joe that he would see to it that her phone got fixed, even if he did remind her of Forrest Gump, and she absolutely hated that movie.

  <><><><>

  The hard clanking of the tool was a sure signal that Henry was getting frustrated. Frank couldn’t help but snicker at him. He dropped the tool like something was extremely wrong with the helicopter, and Henry couldn’t do anything about it. “Henry, what the fuck? You keep throwing things. I know the helicopter cannot possibly be that bad if they flew all the way here from Minot.”

  “I’m having a bad day, Frank. I’m backed-up in Mechanics. The last thing I wanted to do today is fix these helicopters. They almost crashed on us two times, and then your asshole brother made matters worse by screaming and nose-diving the thing.”

  “Henry. If you could sound any more like a woman, I’m gonna suggest you marry yourself.”

  Henry bent down to pick up his wrench. He saw the boots as he lifted his tool. He tried to ignore them hoping that they would go away, but if he knew Henry was in a bad mood then Robbie Slagel definitely would egg him on. So Henry pretended. He placed on a big smile and stood up, giving it to Robbie. “How are you, Robbie?”

  Robbie returned the grin. “Hey, Henry. I hear you’re in a bad mood.”

  “You heard wrong.” Henry lifted his tool to the helicopter’s engine. “I’m in great mood.”

  “Oh yeah? Even with Ellen living with Dean again.”

  “What is up with that?” Henry asked, slamming the tool down.

  “You’re not helping matters, Robbie,” Frank stated.

  “Speaking of not helping matters.” Robbie smiled arrogantly. “How about that Bentley guy getting out of Containment before Danny? Hey, Henry, wanna hear a rumor.”

  “No!” Henry snapped.

  “Come on.”

  “No.”

  “Just a little bit,” Robbie begged.

  “I said no.”

  “Come on,” Robbie put it all on the line, “come on. Please?”

  “All right, what is the rumor?” Henry gave in.

  Like a little kid, Robbie rubbed his hands together. “All right. Rumor has it that Danny doesn’t want to leave.”

  “Why wouldn’t Danny want to leave Containment?”

  “One word.” With his hands on his hips, Robbie looked as if he was waiting to release the biggest news of the century. “Ellen.”

  “What? Because he has a thing for her, he’s gonna stay in there?”

  Robbie fluttered his lips. “Thing for her? Henry, I busted them having ... well let’s just say they were quite intimate at the moment that I walked into
the women’s ... shower.”

  Even though he intended on handling it with the highest amount of maturity, Henry still held the slight look of disbelief. “Liar-liar.”

  “I am not. Frank, am I lying?”

  “Yes,” Frank answered. “Henry, he’s lying. And, Robbie, no more, you suck at it.”

  “I suck? You suck.”

  “At what?” Frank quipped back with sarcasm.

  “A lot.”

  “Name something.” Frank folded his arms, moving an irritated Henry aside as he met up face-to-face with his brother, in what was building to be an intelligent verbal challenge. “Anything.”

  “OK, I’ll name something. You ... you suck at softball.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “You do. Your old ass can’t even hit the ball.”

  “You wanna put a wager on that, pal?” Frank stepped to his little brother. “Prepared to backup that statement? We’re playing softball tomorrow.”

  “No, Frank. I’m not going to bet. Gambling is a man’s weak addiction to achievement of power.”

  “You’re scared.” Frank nearly laughed at him. “Henry, he’s scared.”

  “No, Frank,” Henry snapped. “He’s not scared. He’s trying to piss you off and Robbie does that well with everyone, including me. But this time it isn’t entirely Robbie. It’s you too. Now could you both get out of this hangar so I can work? I have you, Frank, looking over my shoulder like the ‘big helicopter engine teacher’ trying to catch my mistakes. I have you, Robbie, trying to piss me of by making shit up that isn’t true.”

  Robbie laughed. “It worked, didn’t it?”

  Laughing at Henry’s grunt, Frank pulled Robbie out of the way. “There he goes again, bitching like a woman. Come on, Robbie, let him go. And you and I can work on ways together to get him at tomorrow’s game.”

  “You mean like every time I pitch to him, I hit him?” Robbie suggested.

  “Um ... yeah, that’ll work ... again. But, Robbie ...” Frank walked with him from the hangar. “Not too hard. We don’t need him whining about anything else.”

  To Henry there was definitely something about those Slagel brothers. They talked loud and rough and, for some reason, they failed to comprehend that the loudness and roughness of their voices carried. The best part of it, to Henry as he worked again on that helicopter, was Frank and Robbie actually believed that as they boasted their plan to get Henry back. They actually believed, as they stood four feet away from him, that Henry would not hear them. What irked Henry even more was he really wanted to have a conversation with someone. Unfortunately, his choices seemed to be minimal and only included the Slagels.

  <><><><>

  Ellen laughed at their tales, but she especially enjoyed the laughter rush she got from Os-Oscar as he proceeded to tell his story to everyone on how he came to Beginnings. She enjoyed it immensely because it seemed the more upbeat Os-Oscar became, the more his stutter wanted to return. So she egged him on, straining the enthusiasm to her voice to get him going, all the while snickering to herself at his perfectly done hair. She knew it would be a sight she wouldn’t see for much longer. Os-Oscar had already made himself an appointment with Bentley to get that stylish new-do. As the thought of the stylish new-do popped into Ellen’s mind, so did Danny. Her smiled left her. Danny hadn’t returned to the meeting.

  Standing up, she handed her clipboard to Tony, a Survivor who was quite versed at the observers report, and she headed back to where she knew she’d find Danny. It was one or two places. Either Danny was eating—something Danny liked to do—or he was in the men’s quarters. Her instincts told her he was there and she was right. She peeked in the door first. Danny was quietly packing his things into the duffle bag. He looked as if he had just showered because his hair was still wet. “Hey,” she called out, knocking once on the door. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting ready.” Danny slipped a shirt in the bag.

  “You aren’t upset with me that Bentley left first, are you?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “It was out of my hands, Danny. They had today filled with appointments for his barbershop.

  “Ellen.” Danny smiled at her. “I understand.”

  “You don’t seem like yourself though. Almost down.”

  “I guess you can say that.”

  “Wanna talk?” Ellen sat on the bed next to his bag.

  “If you don’t mind.”

  “Really?” Ellen smiled. “You really want to talk?”

  “You asked.”

  “Oh sure but no one ever takes me up on that.”

  Danny snickered. “Why? Are you boring, El?”

  “I could very well be,” Ellen answered him, “but let me just tell you I know for a fact that I wasn’t boring in the old world.”

  Danny sat next to her on the bed. “I bet you weren’t. You aren’t boring now, El. Well, OK, maybe during your skills class.”

  Ellen gasped, “I’m boring during skills class? That’s an awful thing to say to me. I work very hard on these skills classes. I try to be creative, funny. Say I’m boring in bed, yeah, I might have to agree. But say I’m boring in my skills class and you’re gonna get an argument.”

  “I’m kidding, Ellen.” Danny tried not to laugh, and he laid his hand on hers. “Want me to be honest with you?”

  “Always, I ask that of everyone. Not that I always give it back to everyone, mind you.” She saw the oddity of seriousness on Danny’s face. “Honesty, please”

  “I have to say, I’m a little bit frightened of Beginnings. I don’t have doubts that I’ll get along. I will. Civilization doesn’t scare me but Beginnings does. I remember what civilization was before the world ended, and I have this feeling that Beginnings is the next best thing. It’s a feeling I have, but I’m not so sure. The question is ringing through my mind, what is Beginnings, Montana? What does it consist of? I know what you tell me when I am in here, but a part of me doesn’t believe it’s all true. Maybe that’s the fear of wanting back that world so badly that if you aren’t all that you tell me you are, then I won’t be so disappointed. I rambled. I tend to ramble.”

  “No, not at all. I’m not really a good judge of that, am I? I’m the rambling queen and ... I can answer that question for you if you’d like.”

  “I’d like.”

  “Follow me.” Ellen stood from the bed and walked to the door. “Now, I’m only doing this because you’re getting out and I like you, Danny Hoi.” Ellen walked from the men’s quarters with Danny following closely behind. Ellen surprised him when she buzzed them out and stopped at the guard desk. “Dan, I’ll be back. I’m taking Danny out back with me.

  Danny had to snicker as they walked out. “Back? Wow, that sounds so seedy.”

  Ellen shook her head, leading Danny to the back of the building and to the ladder that awaited there. She grabbed the rung. “Come on up.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To get that answer to your question.” Ellen began to climb. Danny trudged up with a smile on his face, behind her. Slightly out of breath, Ellen hit the roof and climbed over the small ledge. “This way.” She stood up facing north.

  Danny’s breath was taken away when he viewed the fields. “Wow. All I hear right now is ‘America the Beautiful’.”

  “Well substitute ‘Beginnings the Beautiful’ because this is your new home.” She turned his body to the east. “This is where you’ll live.” She pointed to the houses then turned him again. “This is where you’ll work.” She made him view the center town and the part of Mechanics that was seen. “All of this, Danny, is Beginnings, and all of this is your new home.”

  “This is unbelievable.” Danny held back his well-styled hair and moved even closer next to Ellen. “I’m really glad I told you what was bothering me.”

  “I am too, Danny. It was nice having someone talk to me.”

  “Well, since you helped me out so much,” Danny said, “any time you want to talk, you come see me. I�
��m nocturnal by nature, you know. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What happened with you and Henry? It was really sudden.”

  Ellen shrugged then sighed. “It’s a long story and it was a long time coming. Unfortunately, I didn’t know some things. When I found out ... that was it.”

  “I’m sorry. But I got a way for you to take your mind off of things. An idea.”

  “What’s that?” Ellen asked as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

  “Blake Steward.”

  Ellen snickered. “Blake? Oh, he’s dumb. He would irritate me. Why? Do you think I should be with him?”

  “No.” Danny waved his hand. “OK, what is as good as money in Beginnings? What do you guys ever bet?”

  “Work hours and such, but what does the have to do with me being with Blake. I really don’t like him.”

  “Yeah, but every woman in this town loves him and wants him. He is what their men aren’t physically and you have him.”

  “Where are you going with this?” she asked him.

  “Sell him off to the highest bidder. Imagine what these women in Beginnings will put out for him.”

  “They’d never go for it. They have enough men.”

  “Trust me. I’m never wrong,” Danny stated with certainty. “Never when it comes to making money, or in this case, money equivalent. I won’t be wrong. They’ll bite.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” Danny nodded. “And massively too.”

  “No way.”

  “Ellen, you are the envy of all you’re near-friends. They want him. They’ll buy him and at a really high price too.”

  Ellen smiled brightly. “What happens if Joe finds out? He could get mad. We never auctioned off a person before.”

  “Don’t tell Joe. Just keep it between the women. Like at that meeting tonight.”

  Ellen tapped her finger on her chin. “Maybe ... what happens if they start beating me up, over an obscure idea?” She watched Danny shake his head. “No?”

  “Nope.”

  Another, wider grin hit Ellen. “You know what I think? I think I might actually mention it tonight.”

  “Then stand back and watch what happens.”