There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 12

"Anxious little thing aren't you?"

"We will talk about that sentence later."

"What day is your birthday again?"

"I don't care if I kill you in front of your parents, you will still be dead."

Randolph Thyme laughed. "I like her; she doesn't take any shit from you."

"Dad, you have no idea how much fire she has inside."

"We don't have too many choices Delicious; it's either July 25th or August 1st."

"Why don't we do December 26th; I would love the Christmas wedding. I can wait."

"I could wait until your dad is here to kill you, or just do it in front of my parents. I would get the same pleasure out of killing you either way."

"You know you're not allowed to steal my lines. You are supposed to come up with something original."

"Call your father, and make sure that spot next to your mother is still available."

"Very good, that was original."

Randolph Thyme asked, "Are you sure you two want to get married to each other?"

"If we don't do this three times a day, we know something is wrong dad. This is foreplay."

"It's the strangest kind of foreplay I've ever witnessed."

"Mister Thyme, we fool around a little, but we will not consummate our marriage until our wedding night. I am 17 years old. I promised myself and Gray agreed that we would not have sex until I turned 18. If we act a little strange around each other that is the reason why. Your son is a very fine man, and I will love him for the rest of my life."

Freda said, "You are full of shit. You've been sleeping with my son for months. He told me that himself. I thought you were just a tramp he picked up."

"Gray, please?"

"No baby, I have this. Mother, you are a short, fat, ugly, offensive women with a big mouth. Pick up your bag and go home. I never want to see or speak to you ever again. Delicious is the light of my life. She gives me more respect and love in a moment of time, than you have given me in my life. Get out of my home this instant."

"You are an asshole Grayson. You have just given up your inheritance. Come with me Randolph."

"I didn't hear my son kick me out of his home. I heard him kick you out. I could not agree with his assessment of you more. He has described your appearance and attitude to a T. When you get home, pack your things and leave. When I get back I don't want to see hide nor hair of you and your belongings. I don't know what took me so long to realize what Grayson said was correct. You are as offensive as any woman I have ever known. Have your lawyer contact mine, and make sure to bring a copy of our prenuptial agreement. I will bring my check for $700,000 with me, and you can keep all the jewelry I bought you. Goodbye Freda, I can't say it was nice."

"$700,000 is no money at all. I'm going to sue you for every penny you have."

"I knew that before we got married. You should have read the pre-nup before you signed it so eagerly. You can't sue me. You gave up that right when you signed it. Have a nice flight home, leave your credit cards here, and make sure you let the staff know you won't be coming back."

"You sonofabitch, you took the best years of my life, and you're giving me $700,000 in return."

"Freda, it is much more than you were ever worth. Now keep your mouth closed, and leave."

Delicious opened the door for her. If it weren't for the look Gray gave her she would've kicked his mother in the ass. She wanted to do it so badly.

Jayden punched in the code calling for the elevator.

Freda started saying something about his color when Jayden stopped her.

"Ma'am, I would hate for you to fall down the elevator shaft. However, it would be interesting to see if you would bounce."

The elevator doors opened and Freda walk-in. She turned around and started to say something again when she saw Jaden's gun pointing at her. The words were stuck in her throat as the elevator doors closed. She was barely breathing when they opened on the first floor. The concierge had to help her out of the elevator and sit her down in a chair.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

She made a hand signal pointing up and then one that look like someone was pointing a gun at her but could not put it in words. When she regained the power of speech she said, "Could you get me a taxi to the airport please?"

"It will be less than five minutes ma'am."

************

Gray asked, "Is it okay if we still go out to dinner tonight with Delicious' family dad?"

"I would love to meet the man who was sneaky enough to buy B&O stock out from under my fingers."

Arrangements were made to meet at 7:00.

They met at Morton's Steakhouse, and Gray made the introductions, adding a little humor along the way.

"Dad, this is Delicious' father, Doctor Even Luck, the man who stole your stock." Without pausing he turned to Even and said, "Dad, this is my father, Randolph Thyme, the man whose stock you stole."

Both fathers laughed, clasped each other's hands, and said hello to each other.

Standing very tall and erect, Randolph looked down and said to Gordon, "Are you short or are you five?"

"I'm five, my sister told you that, didn't she?"

"Yes she did. She also told me you love to be tickled, can I start now?"

"Can you wait one moment?"

"May I ask why?"

"Yes, I'm going to jump on my sister's toes."

Randolph said, "Go right ahead, I'll wait for you here."

Gordon ran straight at Delicious, who was wearing her open toed sandals. She screamed, "No, leave my feet alone Gordon!"

Gray reached out his arm and picked Gordon up.

"Little man, I don't want to see blood while I'm eating dinner. Can you step on her toes tomorrow, while I'm teaching her how to play baseball?"

"She can't play baseball, she's a girl."

"Girls play baseball, and they play softball too."

"Delicious is probably better at softball, because she's soft between her ears. She tells people to tickle me and she knows I don't like to be tickled."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"I bet I can get you to laugh."

"You can't get me to laugh, unless I want to."

"If you don't laugh, you can jump on my toes. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes we have a deal. How many times can I jump on your toes?"

"Is five alright, or do you want 10."

"No, five is fine. I don't want to ruin your shoes."

"I'm going to put you down and let you get ready not to laugh. Tell me when you're ready."

Gordon put a frown on his face, while Gray flexed the muscles of his mouth and cheeks and made funny faces.

Gordon finally said, "I'm ready."

Gray moved his face very close to Gordon's and asked him one more time. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

Gray moved until he was 6 inches from Gordon's face, smiled, and began tickling him.

Gordon went crazy. Gordon would have been screaming and kicking the floor, if Gray wasn't holding him.

The tickling stopped after 10 seconds, to give him a chance to breathe.

Gray said to him, "You said you weren't going to laugh, and you did, what happened?"

"You cheated, you tickled me."

"You certainly looked like you are having fun. You said you didn't like getting tickled. Did you tell a fib? Remember your dad is here. He can tell if anyone is lying, including me and you."

"I like it when it short, like you did it. I don't like it when it's long because it hurts my chest."

"Okay, so we both win. I'm hungry, are you hungry?"

"My mom says I'm always hungry."

"You're a growing boy. You're supposed to be hungry. Do you see that bump in your mother's belly. There is another young boy in there, and he's hungry all the time. He's growing that's why your mommy's belly is growing.."

"Gray can we talk about sex some other time."

"Grayson, I think that little boy just told you to shut up."

"Dad, everyone here tells me to shut up, without fear of retribution. I am low man on the totem pole."

"There is another way to look at that son; without you there would be no pole."

I said to everyone, "Our table is ready, as long as we are."

As we were following the maître d', Delicious yelled.

A split second later Gordon was a step behind the maître d', looking back over his shoulder, smiling at his sister. She was not smiling at him.

Randolph and I were getting along very well, and he asked me how I manipulated everything so perfectly with the stock. I told him I didn't do it personally. I had a friend, an investor, do it for me. His name is William Zabo.

"You know William Zabo personally!"

"Yes I do. He's also a business partner of mine. He is heavily involved in my venture to take a spacecraft to another part of our universe."

"He believes this is going to work?"

"It is going to work Randolph. Do you ever listen to your son? He is a brilliant young man. Do you believe he would have left NASA on a lark to join a company that is going nowhere? In less than 10 years, 60 or more people will get on a spacecraft of our design, fly towards another part of our universe, at close to light speed, and arrive there 20 light years later. This is not a guess, this is not pie in the sky that is a statement of fact.

Do you see this five-year-old boy in sitting next to me? Gordon has picked out Gliese 581g as our initial target for our new home. If we get there and it's not suitable, we will go somewhere else. We are not building a ship, like NASA does, where you shoot it into the sky and only a capsule returns. This ship will be able to travel all over our universe. It's only limiting factor will be the humans inside it. We don't know how well we will do in stasis. That's why we are taking children along with us. As the older people die off, the younger ones will take over. As long as the cycle of life continues, the ship can continue to fly. When the youngest human dies off, that's where the ship will stop. Hopefully, one day in the future, another culture, or maybe our own, will find our ship floating in the darkness of space. They will read our logs, transfer the memories from our computers to theirs, and pick up where we left off. If they are from another part of our galaxy, and they are curious about us, they may follow our breadcrumbs back from whence we came."

"You are very emotional about your upcoming journey Doctor Luck."

"Please, call me Even, and to answer your question, emotional does not come close to the way I feel about this journey. Of the six of us sitting here, five of us can't talk to you about what we're doing, because we are all intricately involved with it. If you want a little knowledge of what we are doing, you have to sign a nondisclosure agreement that, as William Zabo said, God could not get out of. Delicious is doing things that Gray does not understand, and that is not a slur on Gray's intellect.

Gray is now working in an area that he knew nothing about six weeks ago. I taught him what he knows now, and he has progressed so quickly that he has taken it over from me. I have been able to move to another area of work because he is such a brilliant scientist;

Gray looked at me. But before he could say anything, I said, "NO, you cannot have a raise."

He said, "Dammit, I thought I had you."

Everyone laughed.

I continued telling Randolph about the crew of the spacecraft. "My wife, Jennifer, is going to be the mission commander. She will sit at the central console panel keeping an eye on every function of the ship. She will make sure nothing critical goes wrong from the time we take off, until we reach .9 or higher light speed.

No one who gets on our spacecraft will be sitting on their hands, doing nothing, except the young children, of course, from the time we take off, until we pass through the Heliopause. Then we can relax, and look at the stars, as no one has ever seen them before."

"I know I'm doing this backwards, because I have not told you about building our spacecraft. I can't do that until you sign the nondisclosure agreement. Everything we are doing to build that craft is so secret, that only eight people know what we are doing, what materials we intend to use, and our propulsion systems. We have filed two patents already for the propulsion units, and the third one is with the NRC for review."

"How soon can I sign the nondisclosure agreement? If one of your engines is before the NRC, it is nuclear. I want to know how you are going to 'Shield' the people inside the spacecraft, from the harmful radiation it is going to emit, on a ship that has to be smaller in length than a Navy cruiser."

"Why not you bring your dad to the house tomorrow Gray. I'll have a Rod bring over three NDA's instead of two."

"Who else is coming?"

"Doctors Allerton and Roswell are coming to see the designs of the nuclear engine also. According to Doctor Allerton, Doctor Roswell nearly went through the roof when he realized we perfected the nuclear engine."

Delicious said, "What do you mean we?"

"Baby, be quiet."

When she realized what she had done, she nodded her head, and said, "I'm sorry dad, it won't happen again."

I said to everyone, "We all must remember not to let something like that slip out of our mouths. The people who destroyed our armored trucks are still out there. There is no telling what mischief they are going to try next."

Let's finish up, and go home. We will meet back at the house tomorrow."

************

52. A TALE OF TWO MEETINGS

Since Jennifer's due date was June 16, and Even couldn't miss the meeting that was being held in South Carolina, June 9th, 10^th and 11^th, she had taken up residence with Delicious and Gray in their apartment, along with Gordon.

When Gray left for work in the morning, so did Gordon. He looked so handsome in his little white laboratory coat, with his name sewn on it. It was one of the plethora of gifts he received on Christmas, but it was the one he treasured the most. It made him look like everyone else who worked in the lab.

Jennifer was glowing. She was one of those women whom pregnancy made radiant, rather than run down. With less than one week to her due date, she was still helping Delicious with the apartment, and the cooking.

Even was a pest. He called her every time there was a break at their meetings. He became so annoying, she finally told him to leave her alone. If there was any news, she would call him. When she heard his hurt voice on the other end of the phone she nearly cried.

"Even, I know you love me. I know you want the best for me. Delicious is hovering over me like a mama bear. Nothing can go wrong here. Logan is by the front door. If I go into labor, I will be at the hospital in 20 minutes. Everyone knows the drill, but this baby is going to wait until his daddy is home so he can be the first one to hold him in his arms."

"Have you decided on a name for him yet?"

"I don't know why you will give me any input on that. You are not as stupid as your parents were, but since you won't help me, I think I have made a wonderful on his name."

"What is it?"

"Gno."

"I thought you were going to tell me?"

"I just did."

"Say his name again?"

"Gno."

"Jen stop teasing me; and tell me our son's name?"

"I said it twice already, did you change your hearing aid batteries?"

"Tell me his name one more time slowly."

"Gno."

"Why not for the love of God, tell me his name?"

"Even I did tell you his name, it's Gno. This spelling is G N O. It's Lithuanian for strong."

"You want our son to go through life with the name Gno Luck. Are you out of your mind?"

"Are you going to call me anymore today? If you do that is going to be his name."

"You are a mean woman Jennifer will. I nearly had a heart attack."

"You can call me tomorrow morning at a reasonable hour. I love you Even."

"Being with my daughter is rubbing off on you. I'm going to have to take a steel brush to your body when I get home."

"You can touch, but there will be no fooling around for a few weeks to a month afterwards. It all depends on what the Doctor says."

"I am going to give him a very big tip, and have him leave you in the stirrups. Then I'm going to give you a very big tip, just to say hello to someone you've missed for a while."

"I've always wanted to try that position, it should be fun."

"I'll buy one of those devices, and set it up in our bedroom."

"How will we explain it to Gordon?"

"We will give him a medical manual about pelvic exams."

"Good night Even."

"Good night my love. I will speak with will you in the morning."

*********

(The next afternoon)

"Did you calm the worrywart down?"

"Gray will be the same way with you little one."

"Hey, I'm taller than you are."

"You still haven't learned yet, have you?"

"No I haven't, sorry about that Jen."

"It's okay, but you have to let me make dinner."

"No, it's my turn to make dinner."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but we are having pasta tonight? Tell me what's so hard about boiling a pot of water, opening two boxes of spaghetti, and three jars of sauce."

"It's all in the timing, Jennifer. If you don't open the third box of spaghetti within 30 seconds of the first box, they get penis envy."

"I thought that only happened when you put them in the box."

"If I told your jokes to Gray I would never be able to sit down."

"Good for him, at least he has a little control over you. Believe me, you need to be controlled for a little while longer."

"You can tell I'm getting better?"

"Everyone can tell you are growing up. You're not there yet, but making friends, and meeting people your own age, has helped you get over many of the fears you carried with you most of your young life. Your father is so proud of you, he smiles at the mention of your name."

"So who's opening the spaghetti?"

"I...oooowww."

"Jen, what's the matter?

"I think I just had my first labor pain. My water hasn't broken yet, so we have a long time to go. Call your dad and tell him to get his ass home, or he will miss the birth of his son."

"Should I start boiling the water?"

"Why, are you going to deliver the baby in the apartment?"

"No, I meant for the spaghetti."

**********

"Tell her to cross her legs, she better not have our baby before I get home."

The men and women at the meeting laughed at him.

Stephano said, "At least you won't have to watch them cut open your wife's stomach, and take three tiny residents out of her."

William Zabo chimed in saying, "Jemma and I were lucky they did a Cesarean Section on her. After they removed my son, the obstetrician noticed something he didn't like, and called in a cancer specialist. They did a biopsy, and it was cancerous. The specialist operated on her, through the incision, and sent that section to the lab for testing. He caught it at such an early stage, he was able to remove it all. He told us if Doctor Stephanopoulos had not noticed it, and called him, Jemma would have died within two years."

"Dycke would you have your secretary call one of the jet rental services and book me one to take me home please."

"Why would I do that, when I can call Payne, and have her fly you home?"

"This is very short notice; I didn't want to burden you."

"Payne would jump off our balcony to get away from the kids, and jump into her pink airplane. I'll put the phone on speaker and let you listen to her response."

She picked up the phone on the third ring and said, "Hello twerp, what's up?"

"I know how busy you are darling, and I realize how tired you must be. No, let me call someone else, you're probably too tired and stressed out to do what I need. I'm sorry I called babe."

"If you don't tell me what is going on, when you walk through the door, I'm going to have the big paddle in my hand."