The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  But in the years that George was away, Jason had turned into an active member of Beginnings. Not only was he the new judge, he frequented the Social Hall regularly. But since Joe’s death, Jason had withdrawn.

  Everyone mumbled words of shock, and whispered in the Social Hall when Jason walked in.

  George paused in his dart throwing to see what the fuss was about.

  “Take your turn, George,” Dan said, bring it home for us.”

  Barely looking, actually, focusing on Jason, George threw the dart; it sailed and landed with precision on the bull’s eye, causing the bells to go off on the machine.

  “Yes!” Dan called out. “We got this one. Oh, yeah, he wasn’t even looking. Way to go, George.”

  George took the extended hand and shook it with a thanks. “I’m gonna go get a drink.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Straightening his hair with his fingers, George walked to the bar and took a seat by Tim Doyle who was conveniently near Jason.

  “Jason,” George said as he sat down. “Tim.”

  “Mr. Hadley.” Tim nodded. “Good game.”

  “Thanks. How are you and your men? Ready for the trip?”

  “Yes, sir. Leaving first thing in the morning.”

  “I heard from Callahan. She’s back on her feet and eager to work with you on the training regimen.”

  “Frank spoke with her as well. Once I arrive, we’ll have a conference call.”

  “Good. Good.”

  Tim finished his drink. “Well, I have a lot to get ready. Have a great evening.”

  George nodded watched him say goodbye to a few folks, and then Tim walked out as Lars walked in.

  George turned to Jason. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. Thank you. Are you enjoying your trip here?”

  “As a matter of fact.” George inched closer. “I am. It’s not the same though, without Joe.”

  “No, not it’s not,” Jason said.

  “I hear ... you’re not the same without Joe.”

  “Joe was …. Is my best friend. I’m not taking his departure very well. It’s not fun in here without him to help me start trouble.”

  “I hear you.” George chuckled. “Many of nights he and I sat right here, making fun of people.”

  “Laughing at their quirks.”

  “Proclaiming their idiocies.”

  “Their shallow behavior.”

  George laughed. “Joe was the best at getting mad.”

  “Fighting with Frank.” Jason sighed. “It’s not the same “

  “Can I help you, Jason?” George asked. “You’ve got too great of a mind and are far too great of an asset to hide away in the lab.”

  “Yeah, but now, I just don’t seem to have an incentive to get back in touch with things. To try to be one up on comments. It lost its fun.”

  Lars interrupted. “Excuse me, Jason. Have you seen, Dean?”

  “No.” Jason shook his head. “No I haven’t.”

  George replied. “I have. Actually, he was at the bakery getting a recipe. Some sort of get together with Frank, Hal, and that Sgt. Ryder.”

  “A recipe?” Lars asked. “Figures. Now I suppose I’ll have Clinic call.”

  Jason asked. “Do you do Clinic call a lot?”

  “As a matter of fact, I always seem to be on Clinic call. For some reason, Dr. Hayes is above all that,” Lars said. “It irritates me the way he gets away with doing that. His tosses his arrogance …”

  Out of character, louder than he’d ever done before, startling George and silencing everyone in the bar, Jason snapped out an interrupting, “Hey!”

  Lars blinked.

  “I am insulted that you would even speak of Dean Hayes like that. Above Clinic work? He started and built that clinic and he deserves any and all time he gets away from it, What he’s done for this community, no one can top or will ever top. And though I am not a violent man Lars, if you disrespect him again in my presence, I’ll pull a Frank on you.” Jason downed his drink. “It’s too crowded in here.” He stood. “George if you’d like to join me, there’s karaoke and line dancing in Bowman tonight.”

  Partially smiling, George nodded. “I’d love it. Lars.”

  It took for both of them to pass a stunned Lars and hit the door, before the noise resumed in the hall.

  Outside, George grabbed Jason’s arm. “That was surprising. So unlike you.”

  “Well, I’m tired of the Dean digs. It was amusing at first, now it’s downright annoying, and I won’t stand for it.”

  “I don’t blame you. Jason …” George rubbed his chin. “You know, you said you just don’t have the incentive anymore to try to one up people in comments.”

  “Yes, I said that.”

  “Well I think you’re missing the boat.”

  “What do you mean?” Jason asked,

  George pointed back to the hall. “Lars.”

  Jason smiled. “That … that just might be incentive I needed.”

  <><><><>

  Elliott Ryder cocked an eyebrow as he watched Hal pour a shot of whiskey over ice. “Starting awfully early, Captain.”

  “And you are in charge of my alcohol consumption schedule since when?”

  “Ouch.”

  After shaking his head, Hal sipped. “A poker party. God.”

  “I actually think it’s funny.”

  “You think telling me I'm hosting a poker party is funny, First my brother tells me I have to come there, then when I say I can’t, he tells me it’s here. No choice in the matter.”

  “You know why he’s doing this, don’t you?” Elliott asked.

  “The clone?”

  “Precisely,” Elliott said.

  “You don’t think he wants to try to break him this early, do you?”

  “No.” Elliott shook his head “I think Frank wants to see if together we can peg the differences.”

  Hal exhaled. “It might be tough. I mean, this is a clone of Dean who has on occasion substituted and passed for Dean. We may have to work extra hard on this.”

  “More than likely, that’s the reason Frank is having this.”

  Hal agreed. “He probably was confused. I can only imagine, looking at Dean, talking with someone that sounds and acts like Dean, but it isn’t Dean.”

  “Should be interesting,” Elliott said.

  “Do you know if Robbie and John Matoose are coming?”

  “John has plans with Jenny,” Elliott replied. “Which doesn’t make your brother Jimmy happy. He’s not coming, I asked Frank, just in case he didn’t want to leave Jimmy out. He said that Jimmy declined and wanted to throw himself into the AL3s program, because he’s close.”

  “That’s encouraging.”

  “But, Robbie will be stopping by. He said he won’t stay late, he says he has something to do bright and early.”

  “So just the five of us.”

  “Appears that way. I’m a little anxious and excited.”

  “Come to think of it, me too.” Hal glanced at his watch. “It’s so sci fi.” He grinned. “Now to just devise a way so we don’t let on we know.”

  “The way I see it Captain. We’ll probably confuse ourselves because he’s so much like Dean.”

  Hal nodded with a, ‘True.”

  <><><><>

  The weather had chilled and Roy was glad, that allowed for him to wear his Fonz, brown leather jacket. It went even better with the gold plaid shirt.

  Roy just couldn’t figure out why they were in a throw away box. He was grateful when Andrea told him about the extra shirts. Having liked the blue one, she directed him to Clothing, where she heard they had more.

  In a cloth sack, he carried the items he was supposed to take to the poker game. Frank told him it was his turn to bring a sweet treat, and Roy obliged.

  The only thing Roy didn’t oblige was the ride with Frank. He wanted to go to Bowman early, take in the sites. Therefore, he went early. Actually, part of that was also due to the fact he really did
n’t want to run into the children.

  Roy had no idea how to handle children and he was well aware Dean and Ellen had many.

  He just hoped that Dean would return before he had that avenue to face. Unfortunately, Dean was still off the charts.

  He did get a chance to speak to his friend before he went to Bowman. His Beginnings friend kind of laughed and told Roy to have a great time. Roy was so happy that his friend was informative about things. Telling him Dean secrets and Dean personality traits that otherwise Roy wouldn’t know.

  He would use that information to his advantage. Only problem was, Roy didn’t have any experience drinking alcohol, and his friend said that Dean drank right along with the Slagels, even drank them under the table at times.

  He wasn’t exactly sure how that feat was accomplished, but he was certain that drinking someone under the table wouldn’t be too difficult of a task. Especially against the Slagels. Dean was so much smaller than the Slagels no wonder he was the ‘under the table’ champion.

  Plus, there were other little things that Dean did that his friend let him in on. Roy wrote them down, studying the list on his Dan Tram ride to Bowman.

  He glanced at his watch and saw he had fifteen more minutes before he had to go to Hal’s place. He checked out the location first to be sure, and then took a stroll down the business and shop section.

  The most of the retail shops were closed for the night.

  Passing the Unique Boutique, Roy caught his reflection in the window. The new shirt looked spiffy with the jacket and just as he passed, he saw the shirt.

  The shirt on the rack.

  Strangely enough as Roy moved a few inches to the right, and stood on tiptoes, with his facial reflection he could actually get an idea of what he’d look like wearing it.

  “Dean always wore what he wanted to wear,” his friend informed him. “He didn’t care about what others thought.”

  The shirt on the window was what Roy wanted to wear. It was shiny with green checkers. Cowboy stitching on the front. Perfect. He saw the price tag of Ten Danny Dollars.

  He had his Danny Dollar card, and Roy opened the door to the shop. As he did, the bell rang. Roy smiled. He opened the door again, then once more.

  “I’m sorry,” Ben from Fabrics said. “We’re closing.”

  “Oh.” Roy snapped his finger. ‘Darn it. OK. I understand. You’ve put in your work hours. Thank you. I won’t make you work any longer. I’ll come back tomorrow for a purchase.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Ben said. “Would this be for Ellen?”

  “Actually, for me.”

  “You never buy anything in my shop for yourself.”

  Roy blew a silent whistle. “I don’t know why not. Everything is so beautiful in here. I want to buy the cowboy shirt. It’s great.”

  “For you?”

  Roy nodded.

  “To wear?”

  Roy nodded.

  “Is that sarcastic?”

  “No. No. It’s fantastic. Stands out,” Roy said.

  “Fantastic you say.” Ben rubbed his chin. “You realize I want to sell that shirt to someone who is going to wear it in public? It’s mainly for our line dancers and karaoke stars.”

  Roy's eyes widened. “I would love to line dance and Karaoke.”

  “I always thought fashion, dancing, and singing were a secret passion of yours.”

  Roy smiled. When Ben said that, truly he knew Dean, and truly, he was giving Roy another tidbit. “Yes,” Roy said. “A real secret passion. Tell me Ben from Fabrics. Why would Danny Hoi say you disliked me? You’re such a nice man and know your clothes business.”

  Ben placed a hand on his own chest. “Well.” He smiled and tilted his head flirtatiously. “I think Danny exaggerated. He gets a bit jealous when I speak fashion to other men. He does call himself the fashion guy.”

  “Really you? I have to remember that.”

  “If you want to purchase that shirt, I can ring you up.” Ben said.

  “I don’t want to make you work any harder.”

  “No. It’s not a problem.” Ben walked to the window and grabbed the shirt. “Why don’t we try this one first to make sure it fits? If it doesn’t, I can tuck it here and there for you. Will take a minute.”

  “That would be great. I have to be at Hal’s to play poker and drink the Slagels under the table.”

  “Drink a Slagel under the table.” Ben asked. “Wow, you must be good.”

  “I’ve been told.”

  Ben giggled. “And that jacket, it just works for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So Fonzie like.”

  “Uh!” Roy grunted a happy sound. “Thank you. Did you watch Happy Days?”

  “Love it. Loved it. Watched it on disk all the time.”

  “Me, too.”

  “We’re gonna have to hang out more often, seems we have more in common than I thought.”

  “Let’s,” Roy said.

  “Let’s,” Ben smiled. “But first. This shirt.”

  Hand on Roy’s back, shirt in hand, Ben happily led him to the back tailoring area.

  <><><><>

  John Matoose was looking forward to his day off and evening out with Jenny. She was in the new Coffee Shop and he decided to wait for her on the sidewalk before they went to Hoi-Hoi on the Range.

  That was when he spotted him.

  John was privileged to know that Dean was out of population, and the man, identical to Dean, who was walking down the sidewalk, had to be the one and only clone.

  He watched him. He walked like Dean, looked like Dean, but didn’t at all dress like Dean.

  He had to talk to him.

  Was there a difference?

  “Dean,” John called out.

  Roy looked up and waved. A friend? He thought so. Just in case he called out, “Hello, Bright and Shiny Day.”

  John approached him. “Thinking of playing?” he asked Roy.

  He had been staring at the musical instruments. “These?” Roy answered and pointed to the window. “Oh yeah, I love to play.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No,” John said. Acting coy. “Which do you play?”

  “All of them.”

  John looked at the window. Three guitars, a base, drums, and several varieties of horns were displayed. “All of them?” John asked.

  “Yes. I think. Yes.” Roy nodded.

  “What uh, brings you to Bowman?”

  “Poker and drinking. It’s poker night.”

  “Ah, that’s right. Say Dean, that’s a spiffy shirt you’re wearing.”

  “Thank you.” He ran his hand down the front. “I just purchased a new one. A cowboy one.”

  John was stunned. Speechless. He expected the clone to be exactly like Dean. But he wasn’t. He didn’t even feel as if he were talking to Dean at all. How was he getting away with being Dean?

  Yet, no one noticed the difference.

  Or did they? Maybe John saw the difference only because he knew about the clone.

  “John?” Jenny sang out pleasantly.

  ‘Jenny’, John thought. She would be able to tell. If she said something, then John would have to go to Frank and tell him the plan wasn’t going to work. Something was up with the clone.

  “Jenny,” John waved her over.

  “Hi, Dean!” Jenny said upbeat.

  Roy matched Jenny’s enthusiasm. He looked at her. Her vibrant red hair. Big and full. “Hello, heat wave!”

  John shifted his eyes from Roy to Jenny. “Stop.” He said with a chuckle. “Why did you call me Bright and sunny day, and call my wife Heat wave?”

  Roy snorted a laugh. “John.” Roy nudged him. “I’m doing the customary weather greeting.”

  “Excuse me?” John asked.

  “Yeah, when you greet a friend you call them by a weather pattern.”

  John was about to slip up, but recalled, they couldn’t let the clone know they knew he was
a clone. “Yes. Yes.” John shook his head. “I forgot about that one. It’s been a while since we said we’d do it.”

  Jenny interjected. “Greet a friend by calling them a weather pattern? Who started that?”

  Roy answered. “It has to be Andrea; she is very free with it.”

  John nodded. “Yes. Andrea. She started it. Seemed to be the only one doing it.”

  “Oh my God.” Jenny placed her hand on her chest. “That is an amazing, refreshing idea! Well, I for one am gonna start doing it.” She cleared her throat and looked at Roy. “Hello, to you, too, Shifting winds.”

  Roy smiled.

  John rolled his eyes.

  Jenny sighed. “Now all we need is a way to greet those who aren’t your friend.”

  “I agree,” Roy said. “Then they’ll know right away they aren’t your friend.”

  “Or you’re mad at them.”

  “We could find one word that we could use to say hello and goodbye.”

  “Yes!” Jenny said with excitement.

  “It would eliminate that useless calling of body parts when leaving an enemy.”

  “W ... what?” Jenny stated.

  “It lacks creativity,” Roy said. “Henry uses the same one all the time. One would think with over 350 bones alone in the human body, he would use one more creative and less vulgar than asshole.”

  “True.” Jenny agreed.

  John’s eyes shifted. Did his wife even comprehend what he was saying?

  “I got it,” Jenny said. “An old enemy of the past. Someone who has a weird name that no one else has.” She tapped her lips in thought.

  Roy thought, too. He remembered his enemy. Mr. Balzoff. He worked for the Department of Agriculture and was always yelling at Roy for not generating a power growth formula that didn’t affect animals. “Balzoff.”

  “Excuse me?” Jenny asked.

  “He worked for the Department of Agriculture. Used to bother me all the time. Ezekiel Balzoff.”

  Jenny laughed loudly, “I love it. Balls off. Now I can say, Balls off to you to Ben from Fabrics.”

  “Ben is your enemy?” Roy asked.

  “Oh, sometimes, Just sometimes.”

  “He makes wonderful clothing.”

  “Doesn’t he though?”

  “I just bought something.” Roy said.