“What?” Sarah asked.
Derek turned to see both of them staring at him, Sarah with a look of anticipation and Mr. Fook with a happy grin.
“A letter from his Sister,” Derek added, continuing to read to himself.
“Oliver,” Mr. Fook spoke.
“Who’s Oliver?” Sarah asked again.
“Jason.”
“What?” Sarah turned back to Derek.
“According to this, Oliver is Jason or at least he will be.”
“I don’t know who’s more confusing to talk to, you or him,” Sarah sighed.
Returning to his seat beside her, “It’s all here. It appears that Jason was adopted by the Nesbits last week. Look, there’s even a picture.” Derek held up a Polaroid taken through the window of a hospital nursery. “That must be Oliver—“
“—Jason.”
“Thank you,” Derek looked up at the old man.
Mr. Fook continued to smile.
“I don’t think Jason’s parents were killed in a car accident,” Derek turned back to Sarah. “I think he was kidnapped by his grandmother.”
“This guy was your best friend for nearly twenty years, but you don’t seem to know anything about him.”
“Not the truth at least.”
“Derek, if that’s true,” she pointed to the letter, “then this family is completely nuts.
Derek’s eyes widened as he looked at Mr. Fook, expecting him at any moment to become aware of what they were talking about, but instead the old man was staring at the blank television screen.
“So what are we going to do?” Sarah returned Derek’s attention to her.
“I need to at least ask him about the time thing.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be much help. Besides we don’t even know if he knows about it.”
“Jason said it skips a generation. If that’s true then Mr. Fook here is very familiar with the concept of time travel. We just have to find a way to get it out of him.”
Turning back to Mr. Fook, both Derek and Sarah jumped back, nearly alerting the nurse with abbreviated screams as Mr. Fook came into view only inches from their faces. His smile was gone and in its place was a look of clarity and seriousness they had not seen since the moment the front door had opened.
“Mr. Fook,” Derek nervously grinned. “I didn’t see—“
“—No time travel. I warned her. Just as I had been warned, but I didn’t listen and now look at me,” he pointed to his head. “I’ll keep telling her until she listens. You should do the same. Ty doesn’t have to worry. He doesn’t have the gift, so he doesn’t even know. But Jason...”
“Mr. Fook?”
Derek and Sarah turned to see the nurse standing in the doorway, a look of surprise on her face. Turning back to Mr. Fook they were met with the same carefree grin they’d seen moments ago, still only inches from their faces.
“Is everything alright?” the nurse questioned as she rushed to Mr. Fook’s side and helped him back down into the chair.
“Yeah, fine,” Derek attempted to compose himself. “Mr. Fook was just telling us about the secret door in the upstairs bedroom.”
“Oh, I didn’t know about that one,” the nurse smiled. “You’ll have to show it to me sometime, Mr. Fook.”
“Is the pie done?”
“Do you want pie? I can check the freezer and see if we have one if you’d like.”
Mr. Fook sneered at the thought.
“I think Mr. Fook’s getting tired kids. Did you get what you needed?”
“I think so,” Derek exchanged a look with Mr. Fook as he and Sarah stood from the couch.
“Good. Maybe you two can come back again and spend some more time with him. Aside from me and the letters he gets from his sister each week, he doesn’t have much contact with the outside world.”
Realizing that he was still holding the letter and photo in his hand, Derek slowly lowered them, hiding them behind his leg.
“But now I think he needs to lay down for a while,” the nurse spoke as she helped Mr. Fook to his feet, sliding the walker in front of him.
“Thank you Mr. Fook for all of your help,” Derek addressed the old man.
“Yes. You have a beautiful old house and I can’t wait to write about it in our report,” Sarah added.
“Do you kids mind letting yourselves out?” the nurse asked.
“Not a problem. Thanks again,” Derek replied.
“Time travel,” Mr. Fook mumbled as he slowly shuffled toward a doorway on the opposite side of the room with the nurse by his side.
Derek and Sarah paused to look at each other nervously before heading for the door.
“Time travel?” the nurse laughed. “That would be pretty neat. Maybe you could go back and see this old house being built, or maybe change something in the past.”
Derek hesitated for a second, listening to the woman's words as her voice faded as she and Mr. Fook exited the room, and Derek and Sarah stepped back out onto the porch.
“I know what to do,” Derek declared as Sarah shut the door.
“What? Other than the truth about Jason’s origins and his crazy father and grandmother, I don’t think Mr. Fook told us anything to help us stop Jason from doing whatever he has planned.
“Not Mr. Fook. The nurse.”
“The nurse?” Sarah asked confused.
“I have to go but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Go? Go where? What about Jason? What about my sister?” Sarah was now completely confused.
“If this works, you, your sister, everyone will be fine. But there isn’t a lot of time. I need a credit card and your car.”
Sarah didn’t know what to think anymore. In the last twenty four hours she’d learned that time travel wasn’t just a concept for the movies, she’d found a dead body in a liquor store, she’d witnessed a poor woman get murdered right in front of her and she’d learned that a psychotic time traveling lunatic was hell bent on slaughtering her pregnant sister. Derek standing before her now claiming to have a solution, but only if he can borrow her credit card and car, was probably the most rational thing she’d heard yet.
Pulling her keys and credit card from her pocket, she placed them in his hand.
Jogging toward the car, “I’ll drive you back to the house first. Don’t tell your father until you hear from me.”
“You’d better come back,” Sarah asserted, staring over the roof of the car at him.
“I promise. I’ll come back.”
With that, they both got in the car and with a squeal, sped away.
FORTY-ONE
“Oh my god! Is everything alright?” Sarah slipped through the gap in the curtain to see her sister lying on the hospital bed.
“I’m fine,” Katie replied.
“But dad’s message on the answering machine. He said that you were in the hospital with some sort of pains. Is the baby alright?”
Not used to seeing a panicked and emotional side of her sister, Katie couldn’t help but let a little smile slip out.
“What?” Sarah noticed the growing grin on her sister’s face.
“You,” Katie replied.
“Me, what about me? I was asking about you.”
“I’m fine,” Katie reassured her. “Just some minor pains. That’s all.”
“Minor pains don’t usually land you in the E.R..”
“Okay, a little more than minor, but they’re gone and I feel fine.”
“What did the doctors say?”
“They mentioned something about Braxton Chicks or something.”
“Braxton Hicks,” Sarah corrected.
“That’s it. They think it’s just false labor pains. They said it was completely normal. Mine were apparently just a little more severe than usual. They’re running tests now. Sit down. Relax. You look stressed. You’ve looked stressed since you got home this morning.”
“You have no idea,” Sarah thought as she took a seat beside the bed. She told Derek tha
t she wouldn't say a thing about Jason until he contacted her, but how could she wait? Seeing her baby sister in the hospital, even though she seemed fine, was far more upsetting than she could have ever guessed it could be, and this was only a false alarm. What if the next time is for something far more serious, and she didn’t do anything to prevent it? She had to tell her what she knew, no matter how crazy it sounded. She had to convince her father and sister that the threat was real and that they needed to pack up their things and leave town for a little while. Even though Derek swore that such a reaction wouldn’t do any good, she at least had to try.
“Katie, I—“
“—So, Miss Bishop, we have your results back and everything looks fine.”
“Do you know what it was?” Sarah stood from her chair, forgetting all about the Jason situation for the moment.
“This is my sister, Sarah.”
“Nice to meet you,” the doctor extended her hand.
More interested in knowing the cause of her sister’s pain than meeting the doctor, Sarah shook the woman’s hand while repeating her question. “Do you know what it was?”
“Is your father back yet?” the doctor turned to Katie.
Having not even noticed his absence, “Where is dad?”
There was a little incident out in the waiting room about ten minutes ago,” the doctor explained. “He went out to deal with it until help could arrive. Do you want me to wait until he gets back?”
“No,” Sarah answered before her sister even had a chance to.
“No, it's alright,” Katie agreed.
“Like I said, everything looks fine. Your blood pressure was normal and the ketone test came back negative so like I’d suspected, we have nothing here but a perfectly normal case of Braxton Hicks.”
“Is it normally so painful?” Katie asked, obviously relieved, but worried that it might happen again.
“False labor pains are very normal in the third trimester. It’s simply your body’s way of preparing for the real thing and while it is possible to have some pain, it’s typically no worse than menstrual cramps. I think what you felt was a rare anomaly and I wouldn’t expect it to happen again, but if it does, please don’t hesitate to contact your OB-GYN. I’d rather you be seen than just assume everything’s all hunky-dory, okay?”
Relieved, Katie nodded with a smile.
“What’d I miss?” Phil slipped through the curtain. “Oh good, you got my message,” he greeted his oldest before turning his focus back to Katie. “So what is it? Is everything alright? How’s the baby?”
Watching her father, Sarah now understood Katie’s smile when she had first arrived and started the game of twenty questions.
“I was just telling your daughters that everything seems perfectly normal. All tests came back fine. I think it was just pre-labor pains.”
“So what do we do? Does she need to be on bed rest?” Phil continued his worried questioning.
“I don’t know that strict bed rest is in order, but given the severity of the pains that you described,” the doctor turned back to Katie, “I don’t think it would hurt to take it easy and stay off your feet for the next few days.”
Instantly Katie’s look of relief returned to that of concern. “What about the dance tomorrow night?
“I don’t think—,” The doctor began what she intended to be a statement of reassurance, telling her young patient that it would be perfectly fine for her to attend the dance if she just took it easy, but was instantly cut off by Mr. Bishop.
“—I don’t think that would be a good idea, sweetheart.”
The doctor turned to Mr. Bishop as if she wanted to disagree.
“I mean. We don’t want anything to happen to the baby,” he defended his stance. Is a dance really worth it?”
“But Dad, I can’t not go. What about Mark?”
“I’m sure Mark will understand. If he cares at all, he wouldn’t want you putting yourself or the baby at risk.”
Sarah and the doctor exchanged looks. She knew what the doctor wanted to say, but it was obvious that she didn’t want to interfere with their father’s parenting. She herself, under normal circumstances, would have gotten all over her father for such an overprotective stance, but this was perfect. With Katie forced to stay home, Jason’s dance plans would be ruined. Aware that it wasn’t an absolute solution to the situation, it might at least buy her and Derek more time to figure things out. Besides, if Katie’s pregnancy was in any kind of danger, she didn’t need the stress of hearing that someone out there wanted her dead. That sort of news alone could throw her into labor and potentially cause her to lose the pregnancy. No, for now she would remain quiet like Derek wanted.
“Sarah, will you talk some sense into him,” Katie turned to her sister for help.
“I think Dad’s right.”
“What!”
“It’s not worth the risk,” Sarah and the doctor this time shared disagreeing glances.
“I have other patients to tend to,” the doctor excused herself from the escalating family squabble. “I’ll have the nurse bring your discharge papers,” she added before disappearing through the curtain.
“I can’t believe you’re taking his side,” Katie stared at her sister in disbelief.
“There aren’t any sides here,” Phil interjected.
“You know, I shouldn’t be surprised. I know you think you’re better than me.”
“I’m not better than you,” Sarah respond in shock.
“Yes you do. Ever since mom died you’ve had a problem with me.”
“I haven’t had a problem with you. I’ve had a problem with some of the decisions you’ve made.”
“Girls,” Phil attempted to gain control of the escalating tone of the situation.
“Like getting pregnant?” Katie asked.
“Yes, I guess so, but that doesn’t matter now because here we are and all I’m trying to do is keep you and the baby out of danger.”
“Danger? What danger?”
“Shit,” Sarah thought. “Safe from getting hurt,” she poorly recovered.
“No one’s going to get hurt here. The doctor said I was fine.”
“She also said that you should take it easy for a few days,” Phil added.
“This is ridiculous,” Katie huffed as she slid off of the bed. I’ll be in the car. You can wait for the papers,” she announced as she slipped past her father and disappeared through the curtains.
Turning back to his oldest, Phil offered a, “Thank you.”
She wanted to tell him that they were wrong, but given the benefits of the situation, she simply responded with, “You’re welcome.”
His look of appreciation suddenly turned to confused as he did a quick look around before asking, “Where’s Derek?”
FORTY-TWO
For a second time in the last couple of days he’d found himself in a hospital trying to obtain information he had no right knowing.
After a three hour flight from Springfield, Massachusetts to Tampa, Florida, Derek, using the limited information he’d gleaned from Mr. Fook’s letter, had made his way to St. Joseph Hospital’s maternity ward, where he’d told the nurses that his sister had just given birth to his first nephew. Thankfully, the flawed security had him passing right in front of the nursery before reaching the nurse’s station where he had to sign in, so he’d had plenty of time to pick a name from one of the plastic bassinets before greeting the nurse behind the counter. Luckily, this time around, she’d been closer to his age and reasonably attractive to boot, so starting a friendly conversation had been easy. It was clear that she was relatively new to the job and obviously drawn to the work by her love of babies, so striking up a flirtatious conversation had been relatively easy. Hell, he had all the ammo he needed crying in the next room.
Within five minutes he’d earned the nurse’s number and more importantly, her trust as she was temporarily pulled away from her station to assist one of the other nurses in moving one of their…lar
ger mothers who, based on the second nurse’s loudly whispered explanation, refused to get up and move herself because, she quoted, “I just had my hoo-ha split in two and it’s swollen like a mother-fucker.”
“Obviously one of the hospital’s more classy patients,” Derek had thought as he’d added, “lucky kid,” to the conversation, also a bit too loudly as both girls had turned and grinned before disappearing into the eloquent woman’s room.
The yelling and complaining from the room down the hall had assured him that he had some time, so instead of hunting through piles of papers, he’d gone right for the computer. Within minutes he’d found everything he needed: Jason’s birth name, to which he’d mumbled, “poor kid,” forgetting who he was talking about; his birth mother’s information; which room she’d been in; which bassinet had been his and most importantly, the names of the adopting parents and their address.
With the woman down the hall screaming that her vagina was stuck, whatever that meant, he’d confidently taken the time to print out a copy of the stolen records as well as written a quick thank you note with the cartoon image of a baby with a curly-Q strand of hair on top of its otherwise bald head. She’d deserved some sort of thank you he’d thought, given that this unlawful act hadn’t ended in a brief chase through the hospital, nor had he found himself hydroplaning across a sea of urine this time.
Now, standing outside of the Nesbit’s house and more importantly, Oliver…Jason’s nursery window, he was left to wonder if he’d actually be able to follow through with what he’d just traveled fifteen hundred miles to do.
*****
“Oh my god. Come on already,” Derek mouthed as he continued to peer through a gap in the nursery’s curtained window, at the man sitting across the room in a rocking chair with baby Jason cradled in his arms.
Crash!
The lightening had been increasing ever since he’d slipped through the neighbor’s yard and clumsily climbed and fallen over the Nesbit’s back fence. Thankfully, it was only that though…lightening, and the normally accompanying rain hadn’t yet arrived. Removing his gaze from the window, Derek slid back into the shadows of the narrow walkway between the house and property dividing fence.
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