When First We Practice To Deceive

After the required one-year separation, Joe filed for divorce.

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Epilog:

Jennifer tried to stop the divorce but it was hard to fight from her jail cell. It seemed that every time she engaged a lawyer to fight for her, after a few weeks, the lawyer suddenly remembered that they had something else really important to do. Finally, after months and months of trying to delay the inevitable, she signed the papers. She served eight years of her fifteen-year sentence before she was released on parole. Getting out of prison was not that much of an improvement. She had to register as a sexual predator. Her professional reputation had been destroyed by Joe's TV presentation and the trial, so the best she could manage was to get a minor clerical job with the Fulton County Highway Department. Although Izzy sometimes visited her, Robert would never take her calls and steadfastly refused to admit she was even alive. She lived in a small rented apartment in an older part of Albany, where aside from a cat she adopted, she lived a solitary life. She never sold the photographs; instead she had them displayed on the walls of her tiny apartment as a reminder of what she had lost. She died, alone, at the age of 68 and was buried in a cemetery out in suburban Guilderland. The headstone was small and aside from her name, her birth date and date of her death, said nothing other than "Bride, Mother, Lover".

Morgana was also sentenced to five years in US Federal prison for her part in the violation of the Mann Act and another ten for the child pornography charges. During her incarceration, she was repeatedly the subject of beatings and sometimes gang rapes by her fellow female inmates who just could not stand her holier than thou attitude and superior snotty way of dealing with people. It was also proof that the lowest form of scum in any prison system were child molesters and their ilk. When she was finally released, she was deported back to Canada and was forbidden from ever entering the United States. She had to register in Canada as a Sexual Predator. Neither Jennifer nor Izzy ever visited her.

Robert was able to rebuild his relationship with his father. It took a few years but once it was healed, they enjoyed a close Father-Son bonding that extended through the rest of his father's life. His father was there to see Robert get married, have a daughter, then another daughter and then a son. Robert loved his family and was even able to accept Izzy back into his life.

Izzy spent many years in therapy, working through the deceit and sickness that had been her mother's life. She was able to get a job at the Altamont Elementary School as an English teacher. It was there she met and later married another teacher. He taught math and coached the boys' soccer team. He was a partially disabled veteran of Desert Storm II having lost his left leg to enemy action. Izzy found comfort in the man's simple view of right and wrong / black and white. Although they never had children of their own, they loved her nieces and nephew. She was even able to connect with her real father, Joe. Her therapist, but more so her husband, helped her to see who the man in her life had always been and she blossomed with the clarity this brought to her troubled mind.

And Joe... well Joe had his problems. Yes, he had his children back and the sickness that had been his previous life had been resolved. But he never did find another woman he could love as much as he had loved Jennifer. He had woman companions over his remaining years, but not the emotional pairing he had felt with Jen. His boilers and turbines however, were always there. They still talked to him and told him their stories. He was still the "Old Man" when things went to shit on the shop floor and even when he finally retired, they would call him when things were to the head scratching stage.

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The ringing of the private phone was not so unusual but it was also not typical. "Yes," he said.

"Admiral, this is Bill and we have a situation," said the voice on the other end.

"OK. What's going on Bill," sighed Vice Admiral Cohen as he closed the file in front of him and turned his whole attention to the call from his old friend.

"Well, Sir it's like this... I was driving Lt. Commander Davies back to the VA Hospital in Batavia and I stopped for gas outside of Syracuse. After tanking up, I pulled up to the convenience store and went in to get some snacks and use the head. It was hot so I left Davies in the vehicle with the engine on so the AC would work. I told him NOT to leave the vehicle. When I came out, the vehicle and Davies were both gone. I realize now I should have told the Commander to wait for me... he always took direct orders very literally, at least when it severed his purposes."

"So, if I understand you correctly, Bill, you managed to lose a criminally insane genius along with a government car, is that right," Cohen asked.

"Sir, Davies was never actually convicted of a crime at Court Marshal," Capt. Bedford said with a wounded voice, "He was found not responsible due to mental capacity... he kept insisting he was a dragon for God's sake. That is not the same as being insane or a criminal. Legal insanity is a determination that the person does not fundamentally understand the difference between right and wrong. Davies 'Dragon' persona understood perfectly well the concept of right and wrong."

"Ah ha! said Cohen, "and who is being a Sea Lawyer now? Well contact the local authorities and have them pick Lt. Commander Davies up."

"Sir, there is a bit more than that and picking him up won't be so easy," Bedford continued. "The vehicle was not just a car, it was one of the Ford Police Utility Interceptors with the Threat Level Five Package. Also, there were a few items in the back that may be of concern as well."

"Oh," Cohen said as he leaned back into his chair with a smile starting to break out, which he tried to stop but couldn't, "what kind of items, Captain?

Well, Sir, aside from the usual side arms and long rifles carried in the vehicle, along with ammunition, there were several boxes of electronic devices, two militarized laptops, one of which was weaponized, a few pounds of energetics, five 1950 era Aircrew Bailout Kits complete with the original gold coins and a working AN/PRD-13 ECW set."

"Is that ALL?!" chuckled Cohen.

"Um, er, well... there also may or may not have been a W54 device that was MUFed from inventory at Hannaford in '68. It's sort of hard to say."

"Is it functional?" asked Cohen.

"I am not sure of the physics package but the mechanical timer is over fifty years old now," replied Bedford.

"So you are saying the device will not function," said Cohen.

"That is problematic, Sir, there is the fact that Davies is probably the most capable applied engineer I have ever met," sighed Bedford.

"Well, Captain, that was very careless of you. If it ever happens again, I will have to chastise you severely," Cohen said as he tried desperately not to laugh out loud.

"I understand Sir and I am sorry," said Bedford.

"Well, it couldn't be helped I guess," said Cohen, "Who could have anticipated the cunning and deviousness of Davies? So, do you think you have placed the world in danger, Bill?"

"No, Sir," laughed Bedford, "I would say the only people in danger from that dragon would be any sharks out there who hurt a child. More like throwing a piranha into a koi pond. The only thing that scares a predator is a bigger predator."

"OK, Bill, thanks for keeping me informed. Say hi to Mary for me."

"Will do. Good night, Sir."

"Good night."

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"Break, break, break, this is Wyvern Actual, I have overwatch."

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As always, I wish to thank my editor sbrooks103x for the amasing job he does. If you wish to bitch along the "it's the same as another story" line, please refer to the opening remarks and then address your comments to ME! Leave sbrooks out of it... K?