by D A Carey
“Ms. Pendleton, is there anything else we can do for you? Do you know when you’ll be coming back?”
“I’m only here to check on a friend. I appreciate all you’re doing for him. Anything to make his recovery go smoothly would mean a great deal to me. As for my next visit, I don’t know my schedule that far in advance yet. However, my agent will be in touch.” Liz flashed an award-winning smile. “I promise you that the children’s hospital will always have my support.”
After last year’s chaos in Chicago, her bodyguard, Bill, almost never left her side. It only took a slight nod from Liz and he moved between her and the administrators. “Ms. Pendleton, I have your car ready in the lower level parking garage. I assume we are going to your family’s place in the country?”
Bill was built like a brick wall. When he first started working for Liz, he kept his emotions in check and had a stern and reticent nature. He was a man who, while not so tall, seemed large. Standing close to five nine, his eyes were dark, as was his hair that was cut short in a military style. He was also thick through the neck and shoulders.
“Yes, Bill.”
“Junior, we are coming out,” Bill said into his walkie talkie.
A year ago, Liz would have scoffed at the security as overkill. Last year had rocked her confidence, and she was glad to have these men. She had grown closer to Junior last year during her ordeal in Chicago, and she not only owed him her life, she counted him as a friend.
The plan was to spend some time at Grandma Jean’s and probably at Chartertown Carrollton. She’d made some close friends there and liked the homey feel. Additionally, a couple of her nieces were going to school there. While the public schools had long since reopened, the Pendleton family had chosen not to disrupt the children’s studies and would rather keep them in the private school at Chartertown Carrollton. Liz had been more than happy to pay the fee for the home in the community that her cousin and occasionally her grandmother stayed in while the kids were in school.
<
Luke had visited Vince in the hospital as much as he could and spoke with him often after he’d been released. Since everything got back on track, Luke was busier than ever at work. He respected Vince and was devastated when he was diagnosed with cancer because Vince had always been larger than life. While they worked together and were friends, there was always a distance between them that was more than the age difference. It was Vince’s military background and his bearing. The only way to describe it was “an aura of command.”
That aura set Vince a bit apart from people around him. While Luke couldn’t know that Vince didn’t realize he had a lot of friends, he did know that people liked Vince even though it was hard for some people to relax in his presence because he expected so much of himself and people around him. Vince was one of those strong men that were a constant. Seeing him weakened and pale in the hospital bed was not an image that fit with the man Luke had known.
He recalled how Vince had told him about finding the tumor a few days later. “I was warming up to play golf at the company league night, and during a swing, it felt like something popped in my stomach,” Vince had explained.
Vince hadn’t appeared dejected or defeated. It didn’t fit his persona. “The pain was bad but not unbearable. I stopped warming up, and the pain went away, so I decided to go ahead and play my round.”
“Why didn’t you just stop and tell them you were injured?”
“I don’t know. They were depending on me. I was the lead player, and we were close to first in the league.”
“It’s just a for fun work league. No one would have cared.”
“I guess I should have dropped out. I ended up losing the match anyway.”
“Dude, no one cares about the match when you’re fighting cancer.”
“Maybe not. I didn’t know I had cancer that day, though. I only thought I pulled a muscle in my stomach.”
“So you went ahead and played a silly work league golf thing with a torn stomach muscle?” Luke asked incredulously.
“Yeah.” Vince grinned. “Every time I tried to tee off or hit a fairway wood, I would double over in pain. I was good with my irons that day, though. I didn’t lose until the last hole.”
“You’re nuts.” Some people had to win at everything. Vince was one of those who didn’t know when to quit. “So how’d you find out it was cancer?”
“I went home after the match and googled torn stomach muscles. I found a website that said there were different grades of hernias. Generally speaking, it said if it was a lower grade, it would heal in about three weeks, and if it was a higher grade, it would need outpatient surgery to put in a few stitches. It didn’t hurt aside from when I did severe twisting motions, so I waited three weeks then went to the driving range.”
“I guess it still hurt.”
“Not at first. The first few drives were straight and true and going out about 280 yards. I was happy. Then around the sixth or eighth swing, I experienced the same pop from a few weeks earlier, so I scheduled a doctor’s appointment and got in about a week later. She is a great doctor, and I’ve known her a long time. I told her I didn’t want to be a hypochondriac but I thought I had a hernia. She asked a lot of questions and did her exam. Then she did something that probably saved my life.”
“What’s that?”
“She said, ‘Vince, I’ve known you a long time, and you’re definitely not a hypochondriac. You’re in tune with your body. Normally the protocol is to advise you to rest the muscle for another month or so and check back. However, in your case something about this doesn’t feel right to me. I am going to order a CT scan.’”
“That must have worried you.”
“Nah. I was sure it was a hernia. I figured the CT would give them good pictures of the tear to do the outpatient hernia surgery. It was another few days before I got the CT scan results. I was at home when she called. It sounded liked she was choked up when she told me it was cancer, and a fairly large tumor at that.”
“That must have floored you.”
“I gotta admit, man, I couldn’t speak for a while. I called Ellie, and she was great. I couldn’t say the word ‘cancer’ when I first called her. I called my family and Morgan too, and Levi.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, the doctors said all the positive things. At the same time, they got me involved in some end of life planning and discouraged me from researching mortality rates and stats on line. It was depressing.”
“I bet.”
“Then I went to work and told people I’d be out for a while. I had to tell them I wasn’t sure I’d make it through this. I mean, I never thought I’d die tomorrow. To me, it always felt like a lot of people you know of who get cancer, who keep going through shorter and shorter cycles of good and bad health before the end.”
“Yeah.”
“I thought I was going into that cycle and not sure how I would want to spend the last healthy months of my life. That was a hard week or two. You get a lot of thoughts rolling through your head. Surprisingly, it was a lot of the same thoughts a soldier has when you go out on a risky mission. The only difference is that on a mission I was always confident I could tip the odds in my favor. With cancer, I was totally out of control. I am not used to feeling like a victim.”
“That’s hard, man. How’d you handle it?”
“Honestly, it made me get some stuff right in my head that I’ll tell you more about later, though mostly it made life speed up to a blur. About ten days later, I got some miracle news. Despite having a huge tumor, it hadn’t spread to my brain, bones, and lungs. The doctors were as surprised as anyone.”
“I remember.” Luke snorted a laugh. “It was me that left the picture of your brain scan taped to your monitor in your office.”
“Haha. Homer Simpson’s head with a pea-sized brain in it. It made me laugh, though, and I appreciated it. I was both scared and happy that week. I wanted the operation right away. I wanted it out of me.”
“Well, it’s out now, so you can focus on getting better.”
“My goal is to get out of this hospital and go deer hunting. That will prove I’m back on my feet. This stuff could come back, and I want to live life to the fullest. I’m not a quitter, and I plan to be hard to kill.”
“When is deer season?”
“Five weeks from Friday.”
“I don’t know, man. I heard the doctor talking to Liz and Kate. He said you need a week or more on a walker and then a month or more with a cane. Even after that, you need to take it easy. You’re stitched up all over outside and in. He said the tumor completely enveloped your kidney and went up the renal vein to your heart.”
“We’ll see.”
Luke shuddered to think what would have happened if Vince had those same stomach pains during the chaos and they didn’t have the luxury of time and technology to do a CT scan. While Luke’s mind was on Vince, his heart was with his wife and children. He didn’t ever want them to go through anything like Vince was. And if they ever did have to, he desperately wanted them to have instant access to any medicine or technology they might need. Thinking about his children in need and having no way to provide medicine or medical equipment would have to be the most hopeless feeling Luke could imagine.
In Vince’s case, he was lucky the country recovered from the chaos and CT scans were available to find his tumor. He was also lucky that surgery was an option and they removed the huge tumor. If the grid went down, surgery or detection wouldn’t be an option, and countless people would die. Vince had shared that his cancer had inspired his uncle to spend a lot more on trained medical staff and equipment at the Chartertowns. The Colorado location would be the most well stocked; however, Carrollton would get more equipment. Louis was stockpiling spares for the Texas and Georgia locations. Dave was trying to persuade Matt’s parents, who were both physicians, into joining the Carrollton location on a more permanent basis. They had only agreed to take turns staffing the small C-town clinic a few days a week.
While Luke understood their urgency to get these locations equipped, supplied, and staffed, part of him thought they were overreacting. While last year’s chaos had convinced everyone how bad things could possibly go, Luke was strongly convinced that now that the government was aware and on guard for those issues, they would not allow history to repeat itself, at least in his lifetime.
As a young leader in the company, the chaos had been a boon to his career. Some people had died during the chaos, and even more had taken early retirement or were unwilling to come in to the downtown office to work. That left openings for Luke that he was glad to take advantage of. The promotion and extra money had allowed him to buy a newer home off of Shelbyville Road near the Christian Academy in East Louisville.
Rebirth and Recovery
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
- George Eliot
<< Dave >>
Dave was at the corporate office in Denver. Business was back to operating as usual. The demand for construction work was high. The schedules were a mess after all the missed work of the last year. The Chartertown community’s project was always foremost in his thoughts. At the same time, Dave owed it to his workers and shareholders to continue to deliver on the projects and commitments they had and keep the company growing and earning a healthy profit.
Dave Cavanaugh was a thinker and a planner. In a different era, he might have been called a philosopher. To a casual observer, Dave resembled a weatherworn hiker in his fifties. Few would guess he was closer to seventy. Tanned from years in the sun and a shade over six feet tall, he retained a full head of hair that was silvery gray now with a hint of the sandy blond it had once been. He was lean and trim, with the wiry muscles of a hiker and outdoorsman, not the bulk of a body built in the gym. At his age, he was proud he still had the strength to climb mountains. Because of his Midas touch in business, Time Magazine called him “the Richard Branson of the Rockies.”
Louis Clark, Dave’s assistant, was now living and working full time at the South Park location. His directive was to focus on stockpiling anything they might need for the future tenfold over. The old mines under the community were expanded and shored up, the systems were all inspected, and spare parts by the dozens were purchased. Buildings were built, and trucks, firearms, and ammunition were purchased in quantity.
Dave called Louis at the mountain retreat in South Park, Colorado. “Louis, how are things up there at South Park?”
“Great, sir. Couldn’t be better. You’re finally turning me into a country gentleman.” Louis chuckled.
“Say it ain’t so!” Dave teased. “I never thought I’d hear that from you. I’m pleased. Tell me more.”
“Only that staying up here permanently stressed me out at first. I’ve been by your side for so many years, it worried me to be so far away. You have to admit things are normally a whirlwind of activity around you. I loved the pace and frenetic energy around you and all the technology at my fingertips.”
“And now?”
“I’m loving the high mountain air and the walk from the cabin to the administration buildings on main street SOP town where I do a lot of my work.”
“SOP-Town?”
“Some of the people began calling it that for fun because it was easier than South Park Chartertown, and it caught on. I’m sorry if you don’t like it. I’ll try to get them to stop.”
“It’s charming. I like it. It tells me they are settling in and thinking of it as home. So tell me more about you and this mountain air.”
“Nothing special other than I’m enjoying the slower pace of the people in the mountains and this community. The work-life balance was always more of a buzzword to me before than the reality it is now. I’m not even sure you’ll totally appreciate what you’ve accomplished here until you stay for an extended period and can disconnect to a certain degree from that monster of an empire you built.”
“I couldn’t be happier for you and this whole project. That’s some of the best news I’ve had.”
“Yes, I like walking down Main Street and people greet me by name. I stop in at the diner there and Ms. Sue knows what I like for breakfast and we talk a while, then I go to work or help in the gardens. The mines have been greatly expanded, and we have a wealth of provisions stored.”
“Louis, do you have a lady friend?” Dave asked in a lightly teasing tone, careful not to cross a line and embarrass Louis.
“I never thought about it like that, though I guess I do. She’s a widow, and we’ve gone to the movies a couple times, as friends. I’m not good with women and have always been too focused on business to worry that much. I do enjoy her company and would miss it if I came back to Denver, although I would at a moment’s notice if you needed me.”
“No, no.” Dave chuckled. “I much prefer having you there getting things settled, not only for SOP-Town but the others as well. You’re incredibly efficient. I want you getting to know the people and location, and not being distracted by other things will be best for you.”
“Thank you. You can count on me, sir.”
“One more thing, though, Louis. It’s an awkward request that isn’t normally your strong suit. I hope I can count on you.”
“What’s that, sir? I’ll do anything you ask that’s in my power.”
“You should buy Ms. Sue some flowers and tell her what you told me about enjoying her company and missing her if you came back to Denver.”
“I, uh...” Louis stammered, and Dave chuckled before turning serious.
“Louis, one thing I’ve learned in life the hard way is that nothing is more important in life than the family and friends we cherish. I learned to never lose a moment telling people how you feel or appreciating their company. Even if nothing more comes of this than a friendship, you’ll never be sorry for saying it, and you’ll have no idea how much it means to her.”
“You’ve never steered me wrong or given bad advice. I’ll have to work my courage up to
say it. Are you sure she won’t think I’m silly or coming on too strong?”
“It will all be fine. Trust me on this one, Louis.”
“Yes, sir,” Louis sighed nervously.
<
While most people in the country were happy with getting things back to normal, Levi was aware that Dave didn’t think it was permanent. He didn’t feel that the country had suddenly fixed the foundational issues that had driven the recent failure. He was more determined than ever to push the chartertown project ahead full steam, and to that end, he announced Levi as the national security director for the Chartertown Corporation.
While Levi missed his days guarding Dave, he had assigned the competent trio of Sally McKinney, recently separated from the Army, Karen Mills, a former Secret Service agent, and Carl Mathews, a retired Navy SEAL, to keep him safe.
Levi had been skeptical at first about how he would like the new leadership position but found he enjoyed it and got a great deal of satisfaction from the work. He spent a great deal of time on airplanes. Whether he was getting security people ensconced at Carrollton and reviewing their training program, flying to Georgia to advise the construction team on site location and walls, or sending equipment and supplies to Texas, he was on the go and vitally needed. It felt good to make a difference on a large scale.
Levi called Vince from the jet, not sure whether he’d be awake and able to answer his cell phone.
“Hello?” Vince sounded alert.
“Vince, I’m on my way back to Kentucky tomorrow. I’ll stop in the hospital to see you.”