There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 15

"I swear that man is going to be the death of me."

"You are a lying sack of shit Callie. You would kill anyone that tried to hurt him. The only one that's allowed to hurt Alan is you."

"So what, he will still be dead."

"You would be miserable without him, and from what I've heard about Callum's sense of humor, you might be worse off."

"Callum is not a little chip off Alan's block, he's a giant redwood. He has Alan's sense of loyalty and cunning. He also has Susan's ability to read the Stock, and Futures markets. He also has a cutting sense of humor He has all that, and he's gorgeous too."

"Has he made a move on Cassie?"

"It's more like the other way around. She has the hots for him, but he won't touch her, because they are like cousins. They have grown up together; gone to the same schools, and to the same universities. I think they would be a perfect match except for one thing; it would make Alan and I in-laws. It might drive both of those nutty."

"You and Alan in-laws, I can see that as a problem only if you want to keep your children from being happy. Do you want them to be unhappy? Have either one of you been sending mixed messages to your children?"

"I certainly haven't. Cassie is a grown woman. She has more suitors than she knows what to do with. She let Callum know she is interested in him, but gets no response. What do you want her to do, rape him?"

"Do you remember one night, a long time ago, when you were supposed to get me drunk? We went dancing and you nearly got laid, willingly, on the dance floor. Maybe those two need to go dancing."

"They have, many times, and I don't believe the magic is there. It's a shame, because their children would be gorgeous."

"I have a plan."

"I am in trouble."

"It's not all that bad."

"If you came up with it, the world is in trouble."

"I need Cassie and Christian to come here to help us with our Stasis problem. Laura and I have a problem with it. We need fresh eyes to look at it. We start killing people because of dehydration, and that's not good.

What if I call Susan and ask her if we can have Callum come east to give us a hand with it also. We have six houses on our property. Each of them can have a house and car of their own, or they can live together, whichever they choose. We will show them the simulations we have run, and hopefully they will find ways to help us with new ways of thinking around our problems. They will be put on the payroll, while they are here. They will get paid just as our scientists do."

"Patti, they need money like Custer needed more Indians."

"I know, but it's our money that's funding the project not theirs. It's only right that they be paid appropriately for the time and effort they put into it. Don't you still get paid when you work at the hospital?"

"Yes I do, but I always donate it back to the children's wing."

"That's not the point Callie; you work, and you get paid. If your children work, they should get paid. They will be paid handsomely."

"I hate when you get logical with me Patricia. Let me ask Cassie if she wants to go to the snooty Northeast for a year or more."

"Cassie, get your ass over here."

"I haven't done anything wrong mom."

"You were born."

"I had nothing to do with that decision."

"Your Aunt Patricia wants to speak to you."

"Hi, she's been especially bitchy today."

"Yes I can tell. When I get off the phone with you I'm going to tear your mother another asshole. She was fine, until she called you to the phone. It's all an act, and she doesn't know how to stop acting around you or your father. I was the same way with my children several years ago. It was a very hard for me to understand it was my fault. Your mother is about to learn that lesson. Trust me it's going to be painful for her to hear it, so be nice to her afterwards okay."

"I'll try."

"I need you and your brother to come east and live with us for a while. I need your brains and your eyes to help us with the problem where having with Stasis. Laura and I have hit a wall we can't surmount. We are going to Canada for a few weeks to study up on Wood Frogs. We will fly down to Cottonwood and pick you two up on our way home if you agree. Ask your brother for me and let me know what your answers are please."

"Aunt Patti, I can give you my answer now. Yes, I would love to come to live and work with you. I believe Christian will give you the same answer. I will call you later today to make it official. I'm thrilled about this, absolutely thrilled. When does Robert get home from Michigan?"

"If he doesn't stay to party after finals, he should be home June 6."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

"Yes he does, BOOKS. He can't get his nose out of books. You would think computers weren't invented. He loves computers and uses them like we do, but he lugs those books around with him wherever he goes."

"Don't let him fool you Aunt Patti, he probably just uses them for exercise."

"Why does he have his light on in the middle of the night with them open in his hands."

"He stretching the tendons his fingers."

"Okay, I give up. Call me when you have Christians answer. Let me speak to the wicked witch of the Southwest. Bring her a towel she can cry into, and a handheld phone she can carry into her bedroom. She will be there for a while. Goodbye Cassie."

"Goodbye Aunt Patti, it'll take me a second, but she will have the phone shortly."

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

(BACK TO Ch. 61 - THE NEXT DAY)

Monty and I had spoken the evening before, and I asked her not to leave. I told her Gordon's ego was too fragile at this moment, and if she left him it might shatter. She could be harder on him if she thought it would help, but most of all he was to be out of the office at 6PM every day. If she had to grab him by the scruff of the neck to accomplish this, she had my blessing. If she wanted to train him on his three days off that was fine with me."

Monty smiled at me evilly, and nodded her head. "Thank you."

I had a feeling Monty had something in store for Gordon he was not going to like.

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

That evening Gordon did not come to dinner. I asked Monty to check on him. When she returned she said he was asleep in the same clothes he was wearing this afternoon. He was not feverish or sweating, and he was breathing fine.

I thanked her and told her she could leave for the evening. She was due to get off in an hour anyhow, and there was no sense in her staying.

When dinner was over I helped Jennifer with the dishes, and played with Richard and Holden. They were getting to be a handful, especially Richard. He was strong, and smart. He was not in the league with Gordon, but I was very pleased with his progress. Holden on the other hand was a real pisser. Nothing was sacred to him. If it was within his reach, it belonged to him. He could climb anything. We had a 7-foot tall pole lamp in the den. To turn it on you had to pull a string, which we intentionally kept very short. Jennifer took pictures of that little bugger 4 feet off the floor climbing up that pole. Finally, he was able to get high enough to pull the string to turn on the light. His weight offset the balance of the lamp. Both he and the lamp came crashing down.

Jennifer screamed when she heard the crash, knowing what had happened. When she arrived in the den Holden was sitting there pulling the string, making the light go on and off.

He said, "Mommy, the light fell, but it still works."

She was so relieved he wasn't hurt she let him sit there and play with it, while she took pictures of him. We put the light into the garage that evening, and never found a way to replace it. If I wanted to read it had to be in the kitchen or in the bedroom.

I was about to leave for work Saturday morning, when Gordon walked down the hall and asked me if we could talk.

"No, you had your opportunities all week at the dinner table, and you never said one word to any of us. You thought you were punishing us by being quiet. You're finding out you only punished yourself. I should be home by 7 o'clock this evening, and if I am in a good mood, and not too tired from doing my work, and your work, I'll think about talking to you."

"Dad please, I'm sorry, can I have a few minutes of your time. I will give you all the money I have saved, for just a few minutes of your time."

"I have more money than I will ever use. Why would I need your money?"

"It's the only thing I have to offer you."

"No it's not, I want your respect, and you have not been giving it to me. I have been giving you all the respect and love I have in me, and what have I been getting back from you; lies and disrespect. I am your father. Anytime you want to break those bonds between us just say the word. I will have Rod have the adoption canceled. You will still be your mother's child, nothing will ever change that. However, I will have no further claim on you. You will no longer have to answer to me, only to your mother.

The spaceship becomes my project, not yours. You will stay on earth, with your grandmother until you reach the age of majority. Your mother will leave you her estate, and you will be set for life. You will have the plans for it, and if you can find investors of your own, you can build another spacecraft and follow us into the future. I am so angry with you, and upset because of your behavior I wanted to hit you. I have never hit anyone in my life, and if I didn't hit Delicious, I wasn't going to hit you."

"The last time I was this bad dad, was when I was two years old. Mom beat the crap out of me. I mean that, she actually beat me so hard I shit in my training pants. I talked back to her rudely, and I got what I deserved. It was also the last time I was hit. I realized that my behavior was a reflection on who I was. I knew I was not the kind of person that talked back to his mother.

I am also not type of person who does not show gratitude for what is given to me, whether it is on the dirt floor, or a silver platter. You have given me everything any boy could dream of. You have given me every opportunity to grow and become my own person, but I don't think I ever said thank you. I love you dad and if you give me another chance I will never disappoint you again."

I didn't say a word. I picked up my briefcase, opened the front door, and walked out. I waited a few seconds and stuck my head back into the house.

"Would you hurry up and get changed, you're late for work."

Gordon didn't know what to do with himself. He screamed for joy, did a back flip that nearly knocked over his mother, who was walking down the hall.

Jennifer asked, "Why are you so happy this morning?"

He kissed his mother. "Dad is taking me to work. I have to change and get ready to go."

"You stink, a shower would be good."

"Mom I don't have time right now."

"Take a shower Gordon."

"Yes mom."

It may have been the quickest shower on record, but he did get wet.

"Goodbye mom, I'll see you later."

"Put your shirt on Gordon."

"I will mom, when I get in the car."

Not only did he have to put on his shirt, but also his shoes and socks.

I asked him what took him so long. He told me his mother told him to take a shower, and he didn't want to get into trouble with her.

I told him it was a good choice.

"What did you do all week?"

"Dad, I am very close to getting the fusion reaction figured out. If we have not finished the fission chambers we may be able to exchange them without notifying the NRC. We will not be using them in their jurisdiction. If I'm able to do it, and we use the reactor as I planned at our first meeting, there is a possibility we can get up to eight times the speed of light. That's what I was working on when they handcuffed me and threw me in the back of the SUV. When I put the figures into Big Blue it hesitated before it spit out the speed. Even that big computer thought the speeds were unattainable. Dad it is possible, I know it is. We can go planet hopping if I'm right. If Kepler 289D is not habitable, we can hop over to Gliese 422B in less than a few days.

We won't have to go back into stasis to make the trip. We can orbit either one of these two planets, and with our telescopes and other instrumentation. We may be able to find other Mesoplanets, like Earth, in the Goldilocks zones that have not been seen by any earthbound or space bound telescopes. We will be the first to know what's out there."

"How did you do all this without a computer?"

"How much paint do you think it will take to do my room?"

"What did you do Gordon?

"You took away all my paper, but you left me with all my pens and pencils. The only thing I could think of was to write on my walls. If mom calls you, and you hear her scream, tell her I will paint my room tomorrow, after I take pictures of all my calculations."

"Have you ever heard the term the best defense is a great offense."

"No, what does that mean?"

"Call your mother, and tell her not to go into your room under any circumstances. You have stripper magazines all over your floor."

"You want me to lie to mom?"

"Do you want to be alive tomorrow?"

"I think I'd rather tell her the truth. I will tell her I'm painting the room tomorrow."

"Good boy Gordon; the more lies you tell; the easier it is to get caught."

"I remember this building. Let's go to work."

He was about to open the door, when I grabbed him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I've been away from here for five days, and I forgot protocol. I am an idiot. It won't happen again."

"It better not happen again. Otherwise your back in your room, and this time I will make sure there are no pens, pencils, crayons, markers, or anything else capable of writing on your walls, ceilings, doors, or floors. "

"I screwed up twice in one week dad, and I got punished. I got your message, and I promise to try harder not to do it again."

"That's good enough for me son."

Our agents surrounded the car, took up their positions, and opened the door. Gordon and I moved swiftly from the car into the main entrance, and disappeared into the bowels of the building. It took a total of four seconds from portal to portal. We were getting very proficient at this transfer.

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

"Hello Susan, this is Patti how are you?"

"What the hell did you say to her? We had to run over to Harold's place to get Callie to stop crying."

"I told her it was time to grow up."

"You told Callie to grow up? Are you out of your fucking mind? That's like putting dynamite in a child's hand, and having her play with a pyromaniac."

"I know, but it had to be done. She was driving everyone in her house crazy, just like I was doing with my family. It wasn't any good for them, and I had to put an end to it. I tried the easy way first, but that didn't work. So I did it the hard way, and from what you just told me I guess it worked."

"You're damn right it worked, but Alan may kill you. She was nice to him last night. Regardless of what he tried to do to her he could not get her pissed off. Every time he tried something outrageous, she would giggle. He came home infuriated. It was like he lost his only playmate."

"I didn't see that coming Susan. I only wanted Callie's family to get along better. I didn't think it would interfere with anything else."

"I guess we will wait to see how long this new Callie lasts. If it is permanent, I would put bulletproof windows on your house."

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry Patti, I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay Susan; it was a long time ago, and I've finally learned to live with it."

"It was still insensitive of me to say. I really am sorry I said it."

"If you really want to make amends, send me Callum for a few years."

"No, you can't have him. Why do you want him?"

"We have a problem with our part of the spacecraft program. If we don't fix it the whole thing will go bust. Callie said Callum is an excellent problem solver. We need one of those desperately. Christian and Cassie are coming to give us fresh eyes with the technical portion. If Callum can look at it from a different perspective just maybe we can crack this open. We need at least one year for a human trial, and we have to find a volunteer for that. The possibilities of brain, spinal, and organ damage are enormous. The volunteer could be dead before we know what killed him or her. The clock is ticking down, and we don't have that much time left. He can have his own house and a car while he is here. He will be paid just like Christian and Cassie, but we really could use his help."

"He's in Los Angeles. Let me give him a call, and I'll have him call you back."

"What is he doing in Los Angeles?"

"They were filming a movie here, and they needed my horses. Callum helped bring them out to the site. He was helping teach this young actress how to ride. One thing led to another, and she wound up riding him more often than the horse. Turns out she's a very well known actress. One night he went there all dressed up in his cowboy duds to take Emma to a dance, and the director took a liking to his looks.

What's not to like: 6'4" tall, reddish blonde hair, real good looking, built like a brick shit house, and his brain works. So they flew him out to LA to take some pictures and do a screen test. I don't know if he's really interested or not. I just know he's going to be with Emma for a week. I think she liked him from the beginning. She's from Scottsdale, and everyone in Arizona knows how to ride a horse"

"It sounds like a real love story."

"I don't think so Patti. I think she just wants to parade him around on her arm. He's not bothered by it. He's his father's son, and he's no one's fool."

"That's great to hear. I will wait for his phone call, and I hope he accepts my offer. I will talk to you again Susan. Tell Alan I hope Callie returns to her old self with him as her measuring stick. Actually, I hope she comes after him with that stick. He would love it. Goodbye Susan, I will talk to you again soon."

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

62. Dust or Texas

"I am not going to Texas. I've been to Texas and there's nothing there but sand. It gets in my shorts and it's uncomfortable as hell. I don't like Texas."

"Rod, the car service is going to be here in a few moments. Say goodbye to your children or say goodbye to your $5 million a year job. It's a simple choice: Do what Even asked you to do, or call him, and tell him you quit. I will stick by you either way. I will hold the phone to your ear so you won't drop it while you're talking to him."

"You don't think I'll do it, do you?"

"If you stop working for Even, you can have your vasectomy reversed, and I will have all the children I am capable of having with you."

"I wouldn't do that to you Rosalynn."

"Do not make me an issue Rod. This is between Even and you. I am just the icing on the cake."

"I have no idea what he wants me to do, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I have a feeling you should look for a house for us. We are not selling this one, I love it too much, and it's paid for."

"Daddy, the car is here for you."

"Okay, tell him I'll be right there."

"Start packing summer clothes into shipping boxes for yourself and the kids. As soon as I find something big enough for all of us, all of you will be coming down to be with me.

"Where else would we want to be?"

"I should ask the driver to take the kids for a ride for an hour or so. I want to take you back to bed."

"Take your time looking for a house, you just reminded me of how much extra rest I'm going to get."

"You will make it up to me when you get to Tempe."

"I'm not the one that's leaving, you are. You will have to make it up to me. It gets awful hot down there at this time of year. I will have to buy new nightgowns, or possibly sleep naked. What terrible choices."