Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8

by Jacqueline Druga

  “I haven’t told you in forever.”

  “See, you don’t need to. I know this.” He kissed the top of her head. “But ... I love you too.” He felt Ellen lean back into him and he basked in that, wrapping his arms around her and holding her.

  “Did you ever wonder if we’ve known each other way too long?”

  “Never. We haven’t known each other long enough.”

  “Frank?” Ellen set down her glass. “You’ve known me since I was a teenager. Do you ... do you ever look at me now as old?”

  “What?” Frank laughed. “Never. Do you look at me as old?”

  “You? You’re a Slagel. Like Joe, you’ll never get old.”

  “Where is this coming from?”

  Ellen shrugged and leaned on his leg. “Do I look old to you?”

  “Ellen.”

  “Do I?”

  “No.” Frank answered sharp. “You look great.”

  “What about my body, is it ...”

  “El.” Frank rested his chin on her head. “This body is better now than it ever was.” Frank ran his hand down her arm. “If you offered me that body of twenty years ago for the woman I hold right now, I’d laugh because every day you get better and better in my eyes. And you know what? You always will.”

  “Even when I’m seventy?”

  “Even when you’re seventy.” Frank’s hand slid to hold hers. “You’ll still be my girl.”

  Ellen’s eyes rolled slightly with a calm peacefulness at what Frank said. It was what she needed to hear. Maybe that was why she brought it up to Frank, because he always told her what she needed to hear. Seeing that it was turning out to be an old fashion summer evening, Ellen leaned more into Frank and enjoyed the feeling.

  <><><><>

  Dean was blind, not deaf, and he certainly wasn’t stupid either so why at that moment did Dean feel as if he had been treated as such? Was he a china doll that would break, a guinea pig, or an uneducated mind that wouldn’t possibly comprehend what was happening, let alone be consulted?

  Dean felt outraged as he stood in the storage room leaning against the wall. He went in there for more petri dishes. What he didn’t expect was to discover how much his other senses had started to kick in to compensate for his loss of vision.

  As he felt around for the dishes he knew were there, he heard his name mentioned. Jason’s voice carried from Andrea’s office through the heating vent. His voice not only conveyed Dean’s name, but the fact that he was dictating information that Dean should have been told, information that Dean should have known first. Jason was dictating his latest test findings, dictating the success of them, and finally dictating that his results would soon confirm the go-ahead for the hush-hush procedure that would give Dean back his sight.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  AUGUST 4

  Ellen’s mind flash back to the old days of high school, early morning dew, still damp from the night before rain, and a cloud of cigarette smoke from those who huddled outside. Of course in Beginnings, a cloud of cigarette smoke could easily be referred to as the Slagel smoke signal.

  Jason joined Joe and Robbie outside Joe’s office, smoking. Ellen thought it odd how they were all hanging outside instead of in. In usual Ellen fashion, nothing went unsaid. “Morning.” She walked up to the three men. “Morning, Joe.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Why are you three hanging out here?”

  Joe tossed his cigarette butt. “Enjoying the first cool morning in a while, I suppose.” Joe looked at Jason. “Remind me to ask Henry about this weather when he gets here.”

  Ellen quickly shuffled her head around the men. “Henry’s coming too?”

  “From what he told me,” Joe looked at his watch, “He should be here any minute with Danny.”

  “Danny?” Ellen questioned. “Well what is the big meeting all a ...” Ellen felt the kiss to her cheek. She smiled and turned to familiar feel of his lips. “Morning, Frank.”

  “El,” Frank said with a smile, biting his bottom lip.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I was thinking about last night.”

  Ellen grinned and spoke softly, “I was thinking about that too on the way up here.”

  “I loved it.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yeah,” Frank said. “It was so much like old times.”

  “It was, wasn’t it?’

  “Every single second of ... of ... of.” Frank clenched his mouth and tilted his head. “Robbie, what the fuck?” He palmed his hand over Robbie’s face that had intruded into their conversation and pushed him out. “Go.”

  “What happened last night?” Robbie asked. “Come on tell me. Please. Did you two?”

  “No!” Frank snapped at him. “We talked, Go away. It’s none of your business.” Frank shoved him.

  Robbie snickered. “Right, I’m not buying it, this ‘I loved last night’ shit. You two were screwing around, weren’t you? You’re glowing.”

  “Robbie.” Frank grew stern. “For your ...” His words halted when he grunted loudly, feeling the hard nudge to this gut. He looked up as Henry walked between him and Ellen.

  Henry paused by Frank. “Thanks, Frank! Asshole! You’re glowing!”

  “What?” Frank questioned.

  “Deal’s off.” Henry pointed his finger.

  Ellen stepped closer as Henry moved by. “Deal? What deal? Frank, do you have a deal with Henry over something?”

  “No,” Frank answered.

  “Yes,” Henry corrected. “Over you.”

  “Over me?” Ellen asked shocked.

  “Yes,” Henry said.

  “Tattletale.” Frank shoved him lightly.

  “Welcher.” Henry shoved back.

  “Hold it.” Ellen stopped them and spoke slow. “What deal? Is there a deal, Frank?”

  Frank’s mouth moved a little without saying any words. Then he took a second, twitched his head, and glared his angry eyes at Henry before looking back at Ellen, trying to explain his way out of it. “Yes. El, look I ...”

  “Stop.” Ellen held up her hand and faced Henry. “You,” she pointed at him, “have no right what-so-ever to be making deals over me. You hear me?” Angrily she stormed off into Joe’s office.

  Frank snickered at the gasping look on Henry’s face. “Back fired on ya, didn’t it, little boy?” Frank flicked Henry lightly on the nose and walked into the office.

  “Such an asshole,” Henry commented and walked towards Joe’s office. He paused before going in, allowing Frank time to handle that situation.

  Andrea’s cheerful voice caused Robbie to cringe and Joe wishing he had a place to hide. “Look who I found coming up here.” Andrea walked holding onto Danny’s arm. “Seems Mr. Hoi has been invited also.”

  Seeing the good mood and pleasantries on Andrea’s face, Robbie, escaped into Joe’s office before Andrea could say or do anything odd to him. He was still wincing after she asked him just that morning if he’d been brushing three times a day.

  With Robbie watching the slight Ellen and Frank bickering, Henry sulking, Andrea humming, Danny gloating and Jason snickering, Joe walked behind his desk. “If there’s a chair, have a seat. We might as well start this thing.” He watched as Ellen and Andrea took a chair then Frank and Henry tugging on the third, finally losing to Robbie who just sat in it. “All right, if we’re ready, Frank, start.”

  “What?” Frank asked as he took his normal stance by the filing cabinet.

  “Start, you called this thing,” Robbie said.

  “No I didn’t,” Frank said. “I merely told you like I was supposed to. Henry called this.”

  “No I didn’t. I told you, Frank.” Henry pointed at Andrea. “Andrea called it.”

  “Not me, Jason did,” Andrea replied.

  Jason snickered with a shake of his head. “Robbie’s the one.”

  Robbie threw his hands up. “All of you are confused. Ellen called the meeting.”

  “Me?” Ellen smirked. “Now wh
y in the word would I call a meeting? I hate them.”

  Joe had enough. “Christ, each one of us passed the message along. Who in God’s name called this thing?”

  “I did.” Dean stepped into the room. “I called the meeting. I told Ellen and she started the ‘pass it on’. Thank you, El.”

  “Sure, Dean.” Ellen, chipper as she crossed her legs, swinging them.

  Walking by Ellen to Joe’s desk, Dean paused, listened, and stopped Ellen’s swinging leg. He stood before everyone. “May I, Joe?”

  “You called this thing.” Joe rolled his chair out some from his desk to watch Dean.

  Hoping that he actually was facing everyone, Dean began to talk. “I called all of you here for this early morning meeting because last night, each one of your names were mentioned. I overheard them mentioned by Jason. And ... and that is not all I overheard. Right now I’m pissed and I suppose that’s why I called you all here. It seems you people think so little of me that I’m not even privileged enough to know Henry has come up with a way that I can see.” He heard the merging of voices as they tried to explain. “Stop it!” Dean’s voice rose. “These are my eyes, not yours. I lost my sight. None of you know what that is like. Frank and Robbie, you knew of this because you set up the capturing of SUTs to use as practice on an invention that was spawned when Henry and Danny worked on the chip for me. Henry, you made something that could make me see? You are supposed to be my friend and you didn’t tell me? Joe, you run this community and you let these people run around with this conspiracy of sheltering me from this as if I were a child? Andrea, you gave Jason my notes. He went through my notes, read my stuff, used my equipment, and practiced it, trying to perfect a way to lobotomize me? You people sit back and make plans on cutting into my brain and I’m not allowed to know about it? That program, Jason, that laser program, I know it. I’ve run it. Don’t you think it would have been a little easier for you to come to me for help. El, did you know?”

  “Dean, I ...”

  “You did.” He spun to where her voice came from. “That pisses me off the most.” His voice rose. “You! You of all people knew and you kept this from me! I tell you how much I wish I could see! I slept in bed with you last night. I said goodnight to you and you laid your head down knowing that you were keeping something from me I should know.”

  “Dean ...” Ellen tried to defend herself.

  “No!” He shouted at her. “I don’t want to ...”

  Frank stepped in. “Dean, enough,” he spoke strongly. “Don’t yell at her again. She was the last one to find out. Now settle your little ass down. Calm it. We’re all trying to help.”

  “You’re right.” Dean held his hand up. “But the charade is over. El, I’m sorry I yelled at you.” Dean took a calming breath. “Now I want all of you to fill me in on every aspect of this. I will be the one to help plan the medical procedures. I will help decide how and when and where this chip gets planted. Understand? You guys may have come up with this, but it’s my life you’ve been planning on risking. I’ll be especially damned if I will be involved in a medical procedure that I know more about than all of you.”

  There was silence in that room at first but as Dean leaned back against Joe’s desk, the explanations and planning began.

  <><><><>

  Ellen ran as fast as her feet would carry her from Containment over to the clinic. She nearly tripped several times, especially when slow-moving Josephine got in her way on the steps of the clinic. Grateful that Josephine wasn’t hurt when Ellen bumped into her, she continued on in her race.

  Down the main corridor to the left then to the right into birthing room number two. “Sorry I’m late, Dean, I got here as fast as I could.” She saw Dean washing up at the sink. “Dean?”

  “False.”

  “Aw!” Ellen stomped and whined walking over to Dean and lowering her voice to a whisper. “Where’s Andrea?”

  “Delivering a baby.”

  Ellen giggled. “You didn’t have to feel around too much for the examination now did ...”

  “Ellen.”

  “Sorry.” Ellen covered her mouth.

  “Melissa was in here, anyhow.”

  “Oh. You know, you always did exams with your eyes closed anyhow.” Putting on a fake, perky smile, Ellen skipped to the examining table to where Trish was sitting. “No baby huh?”

  “It was false labor.” Trish covered her body.

  “Well, what were you doing? Maybe you can keep doing it and it will make the labor real.”

  “Running,” Trish told her.

  “Running?” Ellen turned to Dean. “Dean, did you tell her she shouldn’t be running?”

  Dean tossed the towel he dried his hands on into the bin. “I think Trish should tell you why she was running.”

  “Why were you running, Trish?” Ellen asked.

  “I was chasing that Bev,” Trish said with such anger.

  “Though I like that thought, you shouldn’t have done that, but uh ...” Ellen leaned to her. “Why were you chasing her?”

  “She’s doing this testing thing, Ellen. She is testing all of us women. She was flirting with Jeff. He said she wasn’t. I said she was.”

  “Even if she was, Trish, Jeff is good. He’s not Henry.” Ellen patted Trish’s knee and started to walk out. “Oh by the way, what were you going to do if you caught her?”

  “Simple,” Trish explained. “Josephine told me if I caught Bev, she would beat her up for me.”

  “Oh.” Trying to keep serious, Ellen nodded, opened the birthing room door , walked into the hall, and released her laughter.

  <><><><>

  “Perimeter reqs,” Frank’s strong voice preluded the strong hand that slammed down the requisitions in the bin at Mechanics, “for you Henry.”

  Henry shook his head. “See how it is around here, Danny? They keep coming in.” He saw Robbie peeking in the bin. “Robbie, are you staying to help?”

  “I have a few more things to take care of and I’ll be back.”

  Henry picked up the requisitions Frank laid down. “Security and clinic are always the first repairs,” he explained to Danny.

  “Yeah,” Frank added just to irritate Henry, “and don’t forget that.” He started to leave. “Oh, Henry, I fixed that little problem this afternoon. Deal is on. And ... a little womanly advice to you right now from me. Right now with Ellen your luck is bad. You’re drowning in it, pal, so before you drown, think ... think real hard before you say anything.” Frank pointed his finger to his own temple and backed up through Mechanics door. “Coming, Robbie?”

  “In a sec,” Robbie answered.

  Leaving, Frank could hear Henry bitch about him to Robbie, but he didn’t mind. He actually enjoyed seeing Henry so upset.

  Frank moved toward his office, the place he went to everyday at that time. He was fully planning on catching up on stupid reports, rehashing reconnaissance flights with Robbie, and then hitting the perimeters again, if Robbie would only catch up. Frank looked back and saw him nearing.

  With his eyes glued to his clipboard, he opened his office door, lifted his head, saw a smiling, naked Bev on his desk. He turned immediately around and walked back out, shutting the door behind him. “Robbie,” he called to his brother.

  “Yeah, Frank?” Robbie trotted up to him.

  Frank motioned his head backwards. “Use my jeep and take care of that problem in there.”

  “Problem?”

  “Yes.”

  “Uh ...” Robbie, clueless, shrugged. “Sure.” He walked into Frank’s office.

  Frank moved over a foot to the little bench that leaned against his outer office wall, He sat down, breathing out as he did. He listened to Robbie take care of the problem and Frank only lifted his head when he heard the jeep turn over then, drive away. Calmly, with just a hint of snicker, Frank looked at his watch and pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

  He’d smoke some then look at his watch again. He sat there like he was waiting on a bus. Wi
th his final puff of his cigarette, he glanced one more time at his watch, drew a smirk upon his face, and lowered the microphone of his headset closer to his mouth. “El.”

  <><><><>

  It was evident at that very moment in time why Ellen earned the title ‘The Little Mouse That Roared’. Still wearing her clinic lab coat, she stormed with a vengeance, hair flying out and coat flying back, across the street of Beginnings. She was a woman on a mission and it was seen in her face. Those who saw her, those who stood in her way, parted from her path as if she was Moses and they were the Red Sea.

  Her eyes held determination along with anger. Her face was stone cold as she moved quickly down to the second line of buildings. She didn’t stop, not once, she couldn’t. Flinging the door to the bakery open with a ‘bang’ Ellen flew by Cindy, who stood up from counting supplies, passed Josephine who quickly jumped from her way, and into the back of the bakery where the kitchen was located.

  Ellen saw her as soon as she stepped in the kitchen. Bev. With her eyes glued upon Bev’s, Ellen with straight-ahead bulldozer determination, moved across that kitchen toward her. In her furious stride, never slowing down, never pausing, Ellen reached out and snatched Bev up by the throat. Using her anger as her strength, she pulled Bev with her across that room as if she weighed nothing, and she slammed her back-first against the huge vat of grease.

  Bev let out a blood curdling scream as her hands fought to free Ellen’s from her throat. Her legs slid upon the floor in a struggle.

  Ellen gripped so tightly to Bev’s throat, her fingers could have punctured through the skin. She leaned close to Bev, feeling the heat of the hot oil that boiled less than a foot from Bev’s head, which dangled in toward it over the side of the vat. Over her, in a choke grip, pressing the back of Bev’s neck hard to the vat, Ellen placed her face. She ignored Bev’s cries. “I will take a lot.” Ellen’s deep graveled voice spat at her. “I will put up with a lot. I will not put up with you when it comes to Frank.” She rammed her hard again. “Go near him again, speak to him, look at him, and I swear to God, the next time, I will drown you in this oil.” Pulling her from the vat, Ellen tossed Bev harshly to the floor, stepped over her crying, shaking body as she stormed back out of the bakery nearly as fast as she stormed in.