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

by Jacqueline Druga

  “It was over the chair. I thought he was in bed.”

  “Why, Frank, why wasn’t the safety on?”

  “I don’t know.” Frank shook his head with emotion filled words. “I just don’t know. It’s all my fault.”

  “Well you’re not getting an argument from me there.”

  Robbie’s strong, warning ‘El’ didn’t even faze her.

  “Answer me this, Frank. Were you drinking?”

  Frank slid his hands down some from his face.

  “Answer me.”

  His eyes only met hers

  “Answer me!” Ellen screamed her loudest.

  “I ... I was getting a drink when ...”

  “No!” Ellen sprang up from her seat on that table so hard it flung the table on its side. “You son of a bitch!” She blasted her angry words at him. And Frank sat quietly listening, taking it all in, without any argument. “Our son is shot all because you found it more important to drink than to worry about your gun lying around? Look at you.” Her hand flung out. “Look at you! You sit here worried, you’re sick about this. You’re apologizing when you have no right. No right! To feel sorry! None! You’re pathetic, Frank. You have been asked to quit drinking. You have been told to quit. You have lied about it. And now you have proved to me where your priorities lie. Our son has been shot.” Ellen placed her face close to him as she nailed him with her sharp words. “Shot! You have just lost every right you ever had to call yourself a father. You are not fit to call yourself a father. From this moment on, the kids are with me. I don’t want you around them. I don’t want you near them.” She stood up and stepped back. “When you go home tonight, you will go home to an empty house then you can leave your gun wherever you like. You can drink your alcohol whenever you like and you don’t have to worry about putting anyone in danger but yourself. You know what, Frank? Right now, I don’t give a fuck if you even do that.”

  Frank’s head began to drop into his hands but he stopped when he heard Dean.

  “El.” Dean stood in the waiting room. His eyes kept shifting back to Frank.

  “Dean.” Ellen stood before him. “Tell me.”

  “It’s not as bad as we thought.” Dean saw her shoulders drop. “He’ll be fine. He has some burns on his fingers, and they’ll be fine. The only thing is he’s lost the top portion of his little finger.” Dean gripped on to Ellen. “This isn’t bad, really since he’s so small. It won’t make a difference to him.”

  “Thank you.” She wrapped her arms tightly around Dean. “Can I see him?”

  “They’ll be bringing him into recovery in a few minutes.” Dean released the embrace. “Andrea agreed that we can take him home tonight. Between you and me, we can keep a pretty good eye on him.”

  “I’m heading down there.” As she moved away from Dean, she saw Frank standing up. “No!” she yelled to him. “I don’t want you anywhere near him. You did this to him. You did this.” With her last words, Ellen spun around and raced from the waiting room.

  It was too quiet in the waiting room for Frank. He looked around at the faces in the room as if waiting for all of them to take their turn at him. With a heavy feeling in his chest he stepped to Dean. “Give Brian a kiss for me.”

  “Frank,” Dean called to him as he started to leave, “he’s your son too. If you want to wait and see him, you wait and see him.”

  “No.” Frank shook his head with closed eyes. “I’m gonna go home and uh ... I’m gonna get Robbie and Henry to help me bring the kids to your house tonight.”

  “Frank.”

  “No, Dean, she’s right. I don’t deserve to be around them. I don’t. What happened tonight was all my fault. I might as well have put the gun in my hand and shot him myself.”

  “Just tell me this, Frank,” Dean spoke without accusation. He spoke calmly. “Were you drinking when it happened?”

  “I hadn’t had a drink all night.” Frank shook his head. “I had just ... just poured one. But still, I guess that’s where my mind was.” He took another step toward Henry and Robbie. “Just know something, Dean, I would never, never do anything deliberately to put any of my kids in danger, never. They’re my life. I’m so sorry that this happened.” Before giving Dean a chance to say more, Frank walked solemnly from the waiting room, leaving behind a strong air of guilt.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  AUGUST 9

  Frank stood outside of Beginnings, thirty or so feet from where the mouth of the tunnels opened up. He stood before a wooden hatch, one of four ‘Pits’ dug by Robbie and him to store supplies in the event of evacuation from Beginnings. The three of them stood close and hidden under the brush that was their camouflage. Frank stared into the fourth, the one Beginnings didn’t fill. With a silent, stony face, he slammed the hatch closed, covered it back up, and headed to the tunnel. “This is Frank. I’m coming back in.”

  “You are doing nicely, Danny Hoi.” Ellen lowered his shirt over his arrow wound. “I heard they’re letting you out in a few days.”

  “Yes and I can’t wait.” Danny grunted as he lifted himself more to sit. “I can only do so much in here. I started putting the insides together for the video monitor but Andrea said I am not allowed to plug it in.”

  “Andrea is nuts.” Ellen sat on the edge of the bed.

  “How’s Brian?”

  “Acting as if nothing happened. I wish I could say the same thing. I think I’ll have a hard time getting over this one.”

  “Accidents ... accidents happen, El. You know that. You can’t blame yourself.”

  “Oh I don’t.” She shook her head. “I blame Frank.”

  Henry’s soft, “You shouldn’t.” was his announcement into the room.

  Ellen stood straight up from the bed. “I’ll see you, Danny. I have to go relieve Dean so he can get to the lab. I’ll check back.” She started to leave.

  “El.” Henry stopped her. “Frank is blaming himself enough. Please just take a second to think about what you are ...”

  “Don’t.” Ellen pulled from him. “Don’t talk to me. I’m pissed at you, Henry, for jumping to his defense. That was my son who was shot last night.”

  “And it was my son who you took from a man who is a very good father to him. You had time to calm down, now return Nick to Frank.”

  “I will do no such thing,” Ellen snapped back.

  “You will. I’ll fight you on this one, El. He’s my best friend. He’s down, he’s hurting, and I won’t make that worse. He needs Nick with him.”

  “You need to stay out of this.” She stormed into the hall.

  “Me?” Henry followed her. “Nick is my son.” He chased her down, stopping her.

  “You have no rights to Nick. You don’t raise him.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “There’s a fine line, Henry ...” Ellen moved from him, “and you just crossed it. Fight me on it. Go ahead. You’ll lose.”

  Henry stood near Danny’s doorway and watched Ellen leave. He stayed there until Danny called for him. Waiting a moment to calm down, he went inside. “Yes, Danny?”

  “You brought up some very good points.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Wanna know where you went wrong?”

  Henry swayed his head to Danny. “You’re gonna tell me aren’t you.”

  “Oh sure. One word, it’s a simple little word, Henry ... tact.”

  <><><><>

  “Watch Brian around the other kids,” Dean instructed Ellen as he gathered up his folders. “He keeps hitting them with his cast.”

  Holding Brian, Ellen looked around the messy house. “Had a hard day, Dean?”

  “You could say that, El. We now have seven people living in a house for four.”

  “I spoke to Joe about that.”

  “About finally moving me into a bigger house?”

  “Yep, you’re next on the list.”

  “But the houses won’t be ready for a while, especially at the rate they’re building them.”


  “Oh I know.” Ellen followed him around. “I talked to him about kicking Frank out of the three bedroom and giving it to ...”

  “That’s wrong.”

  “That’s what Joe said. I thought he was just being biased towards his son. What do you think?”

  “It was a wrong thing to ask. And ...” Dean kissed her on the cheek. “I have to go.”

  “Dinner?”

  “What about it?”

  “Will you be home?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Dean,” Ellen bitched. “Come on. What the hell? You may be able to see now, but I never see you. Take an hour and come home for dinner. No wait, do what you can only do at the lab and stay home tonight.”

  Dean’s mouth dropped open. “Why are you bitching at me?”

  “You haven’t been home.”

  “I have a virus to beat, El.”

  “You have a family to be with, Dean.”

  “Oh my God.” Dean checked out his folders. “Where is the DNA exchange charts?”

  “Right where you left them.”

  “And where’s that?” Dean asked.

  “On the counter in the kitchen. You were looking at them this morning when you were making your toast. Of course, if you would have cleaned up the kitchen, you would have seen them.”

  “Ellen.” Dean held up his hand. “Stop.” He moved to the kitchen when he heard the knock at the door. “Please get that.”

  “Order me around, why don’t you.” Adjusting Brian in her arms, she walked to the door and opened it. “Frank.”

  “Don’t.” Frank saw the door ready to shut. He kept looking at Brian. “I didn’t come here to see the kids. I just wanted to check on Brian. How is he?”

  “Da-da!” Brian squealed with excitement, reaching out his arms to Frank.

  Ellen said nothing. She lowered Brian’s arms, stepped away from the door, and shut it.

  <><><><>

  Robbie’s voice was not the one Henry wanted to hear coming from the security training area. He wanted to hear Frank’s. When he found out that Frank wasn’t pulling the extra training, Henry left the area and went on his search for Frank.

  He followed the many ‘I saw him over there’ as if he were searching for Elvis. His search led him nowhere except from one spot to another then finally back to Frank’s home. All Henry kept hearing in his head was the last thing Frank said to him. ‘I screwed up everything, Henry. Everything.’ and that was right before Henry got the brilliant idea to get Nick from Ellen. Not only did he not help Frank at all, but he made matters worse for himself. Henry’s luck had been so bad, that if seclusion from everyone was possible, Henry would consider it. When Henry got to Frank’s house, he found out Frank must have been considering the same thing. Frank wasn’t there, but a small duffle bag and a knapsack, both packed tightly were, lying on the floor by this bed as if waiting for the moment to be taken.

  <><><><>

  “You’re mistaken,” Dean spoke to Henry as he powered down the computer program.

  “No, Dean, I’m not. I saw the bags myself.”

  “Henry, this is ridiculous. Frank would not leave Beginnings.”

  “How can you say that? You have his kids. You have the woman he loves.”

  “They’re still his family and I hardly think he would up and leave them.”

  “Do you really want to take that chance?” Henry asked.

  Dean took a slow deep breath. “When would he leave Henry? How can he get out without anyone knowing?”

  “At twelve-fifteen a.m., one at a time, all perimeters are shut down and started up. He watches the sequence from the tunnels, waits for that time, and goes. Mark in Monitoring told me that he was out at the hatches three times today. Three. That’s where the supplies are. He’s going, Dean, I feel it. If he goes, we’re screwed. Just like this community cannot beat the plague without you, this community cannot beat The Society without Frank. I don’t feel safe if he’s not here. Do you?”

  Dean took a second to think. “What can we do, short of following him around?”

  “Give him a reason to stay.”

  “He won’t stay for me, Henry.”

  “But he’ll stay for his kids and he’ll stay for ... Ellen.”

  Dean spun to Henry. “What are you saying?”

  “I can’t talk to her, Dean. She won’t listen to me, but she’ll listen to you.”

  “What do you want me to tell her, Henry? You want me to tell her to forgive Frank? I tried that.”

  “I want you to tell her to go to Frank.”

  “No,” Dean said strongly. “No.”

  “She went to you when you needed her.”

  “She stays with me, Henry. No.” Dean shook his head. “I will not give her up willingly to Frank. If I do that, she’s gone.”

  “Listen to you.” Henry moved closer to him. “You have her. Why? Who stepped back when you were at your lowest point? Frank. He said nothing to you about being with her because he knew you needed Ellen. He saw she was the key to a part of your recovery. Ellen is a key to Frank’s recovery. He’s not going to beat this drinking if she abandons him. He’ll beat it with her by his side. We’ve said this all along. We also said it would take a dramatic turn to make him face it. Frank had his dramatic turn. He’s facing it, but he can’t do it alone. He needs Ellen. You have to get her to help him, Dean.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  Slowly Dean closed his eyes and sat down. “You want me to convince her to be his support? I can try to do that. To get her to get to the point where she will give him reason to stay ... I don’t know if I can do that. I don’t know if Ellen will do that.”

  “You can talk to her. You can try.” Henry leaned toward Dean. “Frank is at a low point. He has to have reason to stay. He has his reason to not drink. I believe he doesn’t want to drink anymore. We can be all the support he can get, but we aren’t the support he needs. Ellen is that support. Talk to her, just talk to her.”

  The single beep of computer reminding him to shut down completely was the only sound in the silent lab. Dean sat in deep thought with Henry by his side. Not in thought of what to do, but in thought of how to do it.

  <><><><>

  Not a hello. Not a simple kiss to Dean’s cheek. Not even a wave greeted him when he walked into his home. Ellen did greet him but not like he expected.

  “Oh look who decided to come home.” Ellen walked with haste from the kitchen. “Geez, Dean, a half hour, that’s all it would have taken and you could have made dinner. Did you see your twins outside? Did you wave to them? Did they recognize you?”

  Dean didn’t argue. Calmly he glanced down at his left hand and to the ring finger. He then grabbed Ellen’s left hand and looked at that.

  “What are you doing?” She asked.

  “Just checking to see if I missed something.” He walked by her. “Did you save me dinner?”

  “Unfortunately, I did”

  “Good. I’ll eat after we talk.”

  “Why?” Ellen asked with curiosity, her demeanor changing slightly. “Did something happen at the lab today?”

  “You could say that.” Dean led her to the couch. “Henry stopped by.”

  “We’re not talking about him, are we?”

  “No.”

  “Good. He was mean to me today.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Ellen tossed her hands up. “What is it with the men in this community? Is there a secret society bond thing happening?”

  “I’m beginning to wonder that myself.” Dean grabbed her hand. “I need to talk to you about Frank.”

  “Nope.”

  “Ellen.”

  “No, Dean.”

  “Yes Ellen. I need you to listen to what I am going to say to you.”

  Ellen plopped back on the couch. “Go on.”

  “Go on?” Dean’s head spun. “You’re kidding? No more argument?”

  “I can argue. You want me to argu
e.”

  “No.” Dean held up his hand. “Hold back the bitching for a second please.” He turned his body to face her. “Brian is doing great, isn’t he?”

  “Yes.”

  “This morning at services, I thanked God, really thanked God that nothing worse happened.”

  “It could have.”

  “Yes, it could have. Because ...because, El, accidents happen.”

  “Great, just great.”

  “What?”

  “You’re defending Frank.”

  “In a part, yes, you can say that.”

  Ellen started to stand up. “I am not going to listen to you defend Frank.” She felt Dean’s hand pull at hers. “Stop it.” She snatched her hand away. “He left his gun lying around. He left the safety off. He was drinking. He has a drinking problem.”

  “You knew about it and you pretended it didn’t exist.” Dean stood up following her.

  “Are you blaming this on me?”

  “No! No one is to blame. It was an accident. Frank wasn’t drunk last night. He hadn’t even had a drink.”

  “He was getting one.”

  “So are you saying that was why it happened, because he was getting a drink?”

  “Yes.” Ellen folded her arms to her.

  “What if it was water?”

  “It wouldn’t be water, because Frank has a drinking problem.”

  “You think taking the kids from him, screaming at him at the clinic, and making him feel like the worst parent in the world is gonna get him to stop?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well it won’t,” Dean yelled at her. “Frank has to stop and he is going to need help, your help.”

  “I refuse to help him. He started drinking on his own and he can quit drinking on his own, especially if he wants anything to do with these kids.”

  “Listen to you.” Dean walked to her. “Two nights ago, he was drinking just the same and where were the kids? They were with him. You’re taking a holier than thou position here, El, and it’s wrong. Frank made a mistake. An accident occurred to one of the children while they were in his care. You cannot condemn the man for that. If you want to bring his drinking problem to light then you do it. But don’t you put this accident on his drinking when he wasn’t even drinking. Bad instances happen to good parents.”