“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 wit
h 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.”
“Thanks, Danny.” Ellen extended her hand to him. “I needed to just chat with someone and you helped me there. And here I was the one who was supposed to help you.”
“Yeah, but as you so often point out,” before Danny released her hand, he kissed it, “we’re in Beginnings now. Isn’t that what people in Beginnings do, help each other out? Of course now since I’ve stepped in, we can add—help people to appreciate the fact that the business world can still exist in a plague ravaged society.”
Ellen laughed at Danny. “You’re funny.”
“I try.”
“No you don’t. It’s natural to you.”
“Yeah it is. But I do it well.”
“I’ll give you that.”
“Thanks.” Danny took one more look out below him. “Ready to go back down?”
“Making you bored already?” Ellen asked.
“No.” Danny smiled. “Anxious.” Danny gave a slight shiver of a breath. “Very anxious.”
<><><><>
Dean’s finger felt for small raised dot on the ‘J’ key of his keyboard so he could place his hands on the home row. Just as he prepared to lay his foot on the pedal to start his tape to do his dictation of Ellen notes, he paused and lifted his hands. He felt all the keys again, just to be sure, and so as not to get ahead of himself. He remembered doing the day before notes, getting comfortable on the home keys, only to start and realize that he felt more than one raised dot. There was an explanation for it, one word. Frank.
So he felt around, felt only the one dot, and replaced his hands on the home-row keys. He took a second to shake his head at the thought of all that Frank had done to him lately, a sick series of blind jokes on him that Dean found far from amusing. He moved his computer to a totally different location, making Dean feel around for it. And placed Johnny’s lab coat where Dean usually found his; so when he placed it on, the sleeves would dangle way past his hands. Anything Frank could do to make it more annoying for Dean, he did. He still could hear the hysterical laughter of Frank when he came up and told Dean that he put him on the roster for the next day’s softball game. Dean was scheduled to be the pitcher. How funny Frank thought himself, how childish Dean thought he was. Of course, Dean hated to admit that Frank’s little practical jokes kept him on his toes and taught him more than anything else.
After dwelling in the ‘Frank world of dementia’, Dean returned to his own world and to the tiny tape of dictation that awaited him. He couldn’t figure out how Ellen had done all that she did to warrant two tapes. She didn’t say she had done that much work. But she had to have, so Dean had the first tape, one of the two he found in her lab coat pocket. Ellen couldn’t leave them on the counter or in the dictation machine. She had to make it complicated for him every day by making it a hide-and-go-seek game, radioing her and asking where the tape was. And hearing every day, Ellen say the same thing. ‘Uh ... I uh ... I think it’s in the drawer, no wait, the special ... no ... check my lab coat.’ Shuddering at Ellen-conversation flashbacks, Dean’s foot depressed down on the Dictaphone.
He listened to the usual clearing of her throat, her good mornings or afternoons, her stupid thought for the day, and then, after two minutes of nonsense rambling, he placed his hands on the keyboard and prepared himself.
“July 28th,” Ellen spoke.
“What?” Dean said out loud. “El, this is three days ago. Why am I finding this tape now?” He grunted and waited, listening to her talk about how she was waiting, and still waiting. Dean wanted to fast-forward but was afraid he’d miss something so he listened some more.
“So what are we going to do about the two doses of antiserum?”
Dean lifted his foot from the pedal and rewound the tape a second, listening to Ellen’s comment again. He stopped the tape completely and froze. “Shit, Ellen. Good point.” He backed it up and listened one more time. Making a mental note to put some thought into that, a bright smile hit Dean’s face when he heard her tell him she loved him. After letting the nice moment pass, Dean immediately went to thinking about what she could possibly want or was trying to cover up.
Then it hit him. It made Dean jump up. It made him shudder and pull the earphone from his head. Ellen’s shriek. Dean stomped and placed his finger to his ringing ear. “Aw God, Ellen.” He pressed harder to his ear. “You’re gonna make me deaf as well. What the hell are you screaming about?”
Apprehensively, he placed the headset back on and tapped the fast forward pedal, listening as he did to what sounded like the end of the screaming. Then he heard her ramble off her excited explanation. “You did what?” he asked the tape, rewound it—too far—jumped at the shrieks again and heard her again. “No way.” Again, he played it. “Oh my God.” He breathed heavily. “It has to be an error.” He commented on Ellen’s break through on the host virus. “Ellen, you couldn’t have done this. This is too big, you had to find a mistake in here or why else didn’t you mention this to me.” Dean moved the tape ahead hoping she explained more, but the tape was blank. “What is going on?” He took off the headphones and reached outward to his right for the phone he had placed there. He pressed the number three button for the speed dial to Containment.
Danny answered. “Containment, this is Danny.”
“Danny? Why are you answering the phone?” Dean asked.
“It was ringing.”
“Yeah, but you’re a Survivor.”
“And a mighty good one too, Dean.”
“You’re not allowed to answer the phone.”
“Why?” Danny asked.
“Because it’s the rules.”
“Kind of a dumb rule, don’t you think? I mean, especially when in less than twenty-four hours, I will be an official Beginnings-ite. Right?”
“Yes, but we have to follow rules.”
“Even about answering the phone?” Danny quizzed.
“Danny ...”
“Dean, you have to admit, it’s really funny that you’re asking me about this,” Danny laughed, “this rule thing and you getting upset about me answering the phone. Does it have anything to do with those anal-retentive qualities that Frank has been telling me annoys him, or are you just going off about rules because I answered the phone and I wasn’t the person you wanted to talk to.”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“Which one what?”
“Which one are you saying �
��yes’ to?”
“Danny,” Dean spoke his name so annoyed, “are you related to Henry?”
“No, not really. It would have been brought up, don’t you think? I mean, he’s Japanese and I’m Chinese and unless we are Manchurian then that’s out of the question. Actually, remember in the old world there was a clash of interest between the Japanese and Chinese? Do you suppose that has anything to do with Henry not liking me much? It would be kind of dumb if it did. After all the world did ...”
“Danny.”
“Yes?”
“May I speak to Ellen?”
“No.”
“Why?” Dean asked.
“She’s not here,” Danny stated.
“Then why didn’t you tell me that earlier.”
“You didn’t ask about Ellen earlier, Dean. Hey, Jason is here, do you want to talk to him instead?”
“No. I needed to speak to ...” Dean stopped talking when he heard the door to the lab open and Ellen’s cheerful greeting. “Never mind, she’s here.”
“So does this mean were done with our telephone conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Danny asked him.
“Goodbye, Danny.” Just as Dean pressed the button to end the call, he felt the kiss to his cheek. “Just the person I wanted to see.”
Ellen smiled. “Ah, Dean, that is so sweet. With everything there is that you could want to look at if you still had your vision, you still wish it were me.” She kissed him again.
“No, El, that’s not what meant.”
“That’s what you said.”
“God.” Dean cringed. “I was ...”
“Don’t you want to see me, if you could see?”
“Yes, but I wanted to talk to you now.”
“I’m here.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s up?”
Dean let out a short breath. “Did you ... were you ... damn it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Between yours and Danny’s rambling. I forgot.”
“Well think about it ... oh shit.”
“What?”
“Um ... nothing.” Ellen closed one eye and looked at the computer screen to what Dean started to type. “Dean, this July 28th.”
Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8 Page 25
