The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  “And?” Ellen asked.

  “That’s when I saw what the pollen from the flower did. Elliott’s defenses were down, the white blood count severely low and the flower acted as a viral agent and just destroyed everything and any defense he had.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “Yep. If the levels are normal, the flower isn’t a threat. I don’t know where the dip in white blood count would come in, but at some point it is activated. And the worse part, before I knew it, everything was contaminated. It multiplies. It replicates itself and takes over. It becomes its own entity in the blood and passes easily.”

  “So it’s bacterial, it becomes viral?” Ellen asked.

  “Under the right circumstances, this flower is a weapon. A biological weapon and it can be highly contagious under the right conditions. Frank is healthy he was around Robbie, so his natural defense system thwarted it. Patrick was getting over a bad case of Strep throat …”

  “His count was down.”

  Dean nodded. “The viral agent in Robbie’s blood attacked. My best hope to get answers is in post mortem testing of Robbie ….”

  Both Dean and Ellen looked over their shoulder when they heard the clearing of a throat.

  Roy stood there.

  “If you need post mortem testing, then I need your help,” Roy said. “I am sorry to interrupt. Patrick is worsening. We need to find Hank to try to get some antibodies.”

  “I’ll tell Danny,” Ellen said.

  “We also need to know the course of this thing,” Roy said. “How it effects, how it reacts, why it killed Robbie so we can possible stop it from harming Patrick and anyone else. To do this, I need to do the autopsy now. Time is running short.”

  Dean nodded. “Absolutely. Do it.”

  Roy shook his head. ‘I can’t. Joe won’t let us take the body.”

  Ellen’s eyes widened. “He’s still in there with Robbie?” she asked in shock.

  Roy nodded. “I have tried. And many others. He won’t let anyone in.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Dean said. He took off his gloves, walked to the sink and began to wash his hands. “Ellen, could you get things shut down here for me?”

  Ellen nodded. “Yes. Are you going to talk to Joe?”

  “No. I am going to talk to the one person that can get through to Joe.” Dean dried his hands and tossed the towel. “Frank.”

  <><><><>

  It wasn’t that she was the last person Frank expected to see at the Social Hall, after all, Josephine pretty much lived there. He was shocked at her demeanor. For the first time, she wasn’t mean to him.

  She stood by the table where Frank was seated with Jimmy and Hal, and Frank could see a glimpse of how she was before she lost everything.

  Unlike his brothers who listened to her, ready to reply, buying into it, Frank had more of a dunce look. Head tilted, mouth slightly open, bewildered and waiting for the real Josephine to emerge.

  “I don’t cook much,” she said. “No need to. But since we had a great crop of apples, I made some muffins. Rumor has it you boys are going on a road trip tomorrow. Take them, don’t forget to eat.”

  “Thank you,” Hal said.

  “This is very thoughtful,” Jimmy stood and kissed her on the cheek.

  Immediately, her head dropped and she let out a single sob.

  Frank’s eyes widened.

  “Sorry. Sorry.” She waved her hand and sniffed. “This is your grief. I loved Robbie. He was the nice one. Not that you aren’t nice. I have a name for each of you boys. Robbie was the nice one, Jimmy, you’re the smart one, Hal is the hot one and Frank... well, he has more than one name in my book. But now’s not the time to discuss it. Just know, I’m sorry. We’re all sorry.”

  “Thank you,” Hal said.

  “And you…” she pointed at Frank. “I remember how you got when we all thought Joey died. You weren’t the Frank everyone knew. You changed, stopped swearing, stopped being annoying … and no like you. I won’t let that happen this time.” She exhaled, grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose. “I’m here if you guys need me.”

  She walked away.

  “So sweet,” Jimmy sat down. “And these muffins look great.” He reached for one.

  “Don’t eat them,” Frank said. “She probably fucking poisoned them.”

  “Frank!” Hal scolded.

  “What? No. I don’t buy. Yeah, she liked Robbie. Who didn’t? Well, maybe Henry, but she doesn’t like me and to give me a muffin. Nah, she’s too nasty to be nice.”

  “I think she’s very sweet,” Jimmy said. “Probably people treat her badly and she’s misunderstood.”

  “You can buy it. I’m not.”

  “What are we gonna do with all this food?” Hal asked. “There’s a lot.”

  “We’ll pack it up for our road trip.” Jimmy suggested.

  Frank stood. “I’m a little hungry, I’ll grab some casserole. I think we should take some for Jess. I’m worried about him and …” As Frank stepped away, he saw the door open and Dean walked in. A huge breath of relief escaped him. “Dean.”

  “Frank.” Dean pouted some as he walked to Frank and extended his hand. “I’m so sorry. I left you and …”

  “No. No. It’s fine, Dean. I understand. We all went different ways. I’m glad you’re here now.”

  “I went looking for you earlier. I went to your office. I found the bag you had from the future trip. Hal had suggested Robbie may have gotten ill from some flower and I took it from the bag. I have been working on it.”

  “Anything?”

  Dean nodded. “Yeah, I’ll share later. And I would like very much to get a blood sample from you.”

  “Sure, no …” Frank snapped his finger. “Speaking of which. You didn’t see your surprise did you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I brought you a gift from the future?”

  “You brought me a souvenir?” Dean asked.

  “Yeah, and you’re gonna love it. As soon as I saw it I thought, whoa, Dean has to have it. Bet me Danny Hoi gets credit for inventing it in the future.” Frank winked. “Glad you’re here, Dean.”

  “Me, too. If you want, we can hang out. But I need you to do something?”

  “What’s that?”

  “We need to start that autopsy on Robbie. For Patrick’s sake we cannot wait. Has anyone talked to your father?”

  Hal interjected. “I tried. He asked me not to come in.”

  “Me, too,” Jimmy said. “He said the same thing. I even sent a text, but he didn’t reply.”

  Dean looked at Frank. “You haven’t?”

  Frank shook his head. “I know what it’s like to lose a child. I was giving him his space. But I can go over there. He’ll listen to me.” He grabbed his drink, finished it and set down the glass. “I’ll be back. Hopefully with my dad.”

  Confident, Frank walked from the Social Hall. The temperature had dropped a few degrees and it was starting to get dark. It was dinner time in Beginnings and no one was on the streets.

  He walked down and across to the clinic and straight inside.

  Frank thought about what he would say, how he would have to explain to his father it was time to leave Robbie. What he would say when his father told him, like everyone else, to leave.

  Frank had his mind made up he wouldn’t give his dad that chance.

  Robbie’s door was open and immediately upon arriving there, Frank’s heart took a dive to his stomach. All confidence left him, and he realized he wasn’t ready to see his brother again, lifeless.

  Knowing that he had to go in there, Frank took a moment, gathered his courage, knocked once on the door and stepped in.

  His throat closed up the second he saw Joe holding Robbie on the bed.

  “Dad,” the word squeaked out.

  No reply.

  “Dad.”

  Joe turned his head and looked away.

  “I hate to do this. If it was up to me … I wouldn’t do it. But they need … they need to get
Robbie now.” A pause. “Dad? Do you understand?”

  “Go away.”

  “I will. I’m telling them it’s alright to get Robbie. They have to. We’re over at the Social Hall…”

  Joe huffed.

  His reaction caused Frank to stammer. “We … you ... we, me, Hal, Jimmy, want and need you to join us. Be with us. Dad, will you?”

  No reply again.

  “This is hard, Dad. I know. This sucks more than anything. Right now we need each other. Need to be together. Sometimes, things happen and we can’t control them.”

  Again, Joe huffed. It sounded angry.

  “Dad.”

  Soft, graveling, Joe nearly whispered. “No.”

  “Dad?”

  “You did this.”

  “What?”

  Joe finally turned his head to face Frank. “You! You did this. I am holding your brother. My youngest son. My dead son and he wouldn’t be like this if it wasn’t for you.”

  “What? No, Dad …”

  “Don’t you ‘No Dad’ me. Don’t do it.” Joe waved out his hand in an angry manner. “You wanted to go to the future. You were all about it. You had to be the big shot. I told you not to. And if that wasn’t good enough, Dean and Henry sent a goddamn note warning you that something was going to happen to Robbie. What happened? You ignored the note…”

  “No. We didn’t. We were going to …”

  “I don’t want to hear it! You are the oldest. You were supposed to watch him. He was your baby brother. He looked up to you and you let him down. You let me down. My son is dead. Dead because of you, Frank. You are responsible for this. I blame you and I will never … ever forgive you for this.” Joe turned his head. “Now get out of my sight. Leave.”

  It was not the exchange Frank wanted, nor did it go anywhere like he thought it would.

  His father’s words not only took him by surprise they slammed him hard.

  Hurt words he didn’t expect to hear, yet, somehow, deep within him, Frank felt a truth to them.

  His father ordered him to get out his sight and leave.

  With his entire being and soul crushed and broken, Frank did just that.

  He left.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Johnny had been invited to spend the evening with his father and uncles, as much as he wanted to, he declined. Not that he didn’t want to, it was just that he was afraid, the mistakes he made would be a painful reminder of the bad times and they didn’t need those.

  Instead, Johnny tried to speak to his grandfather, but was asked to leave.

  He respected that.

  He was going to head back to Bowman but somehow became the casserole wrangler. Everyone was giving him food.

  “I am so sorry about Robbie,” they’d say. “Here, eat.”

  He didn’t recall ever seeing that happen in Beginnings. Then again, there wasn’t much death there.

  So he took food where he thought it was needed.

  The clinic for those working on Patrick, containment for Richie and Jess, and then some to Ellen.

  That was where he ended up.

  When Billy invited him to the back room for a chess game, it was the perfect diversion that Johnny needed.

  “You don’t have to play with him,” Ellen told him.

  “No, El … I need to play with him. Are you okay with me hanging out here?”

  “Absolutely, I’m glad you’re here.”

  She was also glad Andrea was there.

  Andrea sat in the reclining chair, although it wasn’t reclined. Alex was on her lap, she stared out calmly as she stroked the little girl’s hair.

  Ellen handed her some water. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better.” Andrea sniffled. “Thank you.”

  “If you need another, I have more,” Ellen said.

  “I appreciate that. You and I both know, the pill is not going to make it go away.”

  “Nope. But it will make it easier to face right now.”

  Andrea nodded, then looked beyond Ellen to Elliott who placed food on the table. “All that food.”

  “We’ll make use of it,” Ellen said.

  “Is Elliott really telling the truth?”

  Before Ellen could answer, Elliott did. “I am,” Elliott said. “That’s where Frank was. He was arranging the funeral and viewing.”

  “We need that,” Andrea said. “I need that. The whole funeral home, memorial, viewing, It’s all part of a process we forgot about, stopped doing.” She glanced up at Ellen. “We need to do this now. For Robbie, for anyone else that passes.”

  “What’s a funeral home?” Alex asked.

  “See?” Andrea said. “She doesn’t know. She should.”

  “Alex, honey, before we moved here, before Beginnings, in the old way of things…” Ellen paused when she saw the lost look on Alex’s face. “Before the … before the ….”

  “Before what?” Alex asked. “Before we were born?”

  “Yes. When people died, so it was easier to say goodbye there was an entire ritual about things. One of which was a funeral home. Where people gathered to talk about the person that died, and share sadness and stories.”

  “Like they’re doing at the Social Hall. Is that a funeral home?”

  Ellen gently smiled. “No, sweetie. It isn’t.”

  “Why did you guys stop doing it?”

  Elliott stepped forward. “It was to continue because at one time, so many people died, it was difficult to do that for everyone.”

  “When?” Alex asked. “When did so many people die? World War two?”

  “Alex? Do you know about the great sickness?” Elliott quizzed. “The one that took millions of lives?”

  “Yeah, the Spanish Flu,” Alex answered. “But that was way before World War Two silly.”

  Ellen looked at Andrea and then to Elliott. “He forgot. It was World War Two that caused it.”

  “I figured,” Alex said. “Pap calls it the Apocalypse. I’m not sure what that means, but World War Two must have been bad.”

  “It was. It was the Apocalypse. But we’re starting to do the funeral thing again. It’s time.” She reached down and tapped Alex on the cheek, then walked toward the dining room.

  “Ellen?” Elliott followed her with a question. “Why does the child not know about the virus?”

  “It didn’t hit me until I started to explain that no one ever told them about it,” Ellen said in a whisper. “Well, Alex. Some kids do. It’s like the Santa Claus thing. We don’t tell unless they ask. Jenny doesn’t teach it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because why would we? Why let these children know there is a dying and dead world out there.”

  “Because there isn’t,” Elliott said. “There’s a beautiful world out there. One we hope to give back to the next generation. One we are fighting with our lives for. And if they don’t know how bad it was, they will never appreciate how great it is to have it back.”

  “You’re right.” Ellen looked back at Alex. “But look at her Elliott. She’s so innocent. There has never been another way of life for her. Beginnings is it. If I can protect her from seeing or knowing the ugly stuff, I will, for as long as I can. I just …” She sighed out, her mind heavily returning to Robbie. “Wish I could protect her from all ugly things. Sadly, right now, I can’t.”

  <><><><>

  Jimmy looked down at his watch. “Two hours.”

  “That long?” Hal asked.

  “Yeah. Dean, do you think they’re alright?”

  Dean nodded. “More than likely Joe wouldn’t leave and Frank is just sitting there with him. You want me to go over.”

  Hal set down his glass on the bar. “No. Jimmy and I will go.”

  As soon as he turned to go, the door opened and Danny Hoi walked in.

  “Just the men I’m looking for,” Danny said.

  “Danny,” Hal said. “Everything okay?”

  Danny nodded. “I wanted to tell you that Roy started the … the um autopsy. He sai
d he will work through the night if need be.”

  “Patrick?” Dean asked.

  “Same.”

  “Okay,” Hal said. “Where is Frank? Where is my father? Are they off somewhere together?”

  Again, the door to the Social Hall opened and Joe walked in.

  Hal watched his father walk to the bar and sit down. He then looked at the door, waiting for it to open again, to see Frank. It didn’t happen.

  “Dad?” Hal walked to him. “Where’s Frank?”

  Jimmy walked to Joe’s other side. “Are you alright?”

  Joe nodded and grabbed a bottle.

  “Did you see Frank?” Hal asked again.

  Joe slammed the bottle. “I did. I don’t want to discuss or talk about him. Alright?”

  “No, it’s not alright,” Hal said. “What happened?”

  “Hal.”

  “Did you argue, have words …”

  “Hal,” Joe snapped. “Drop it. I told your brother I don’t want to talk to him.”

  “Why?” Hal asked.

  “Because he did this.” Joe picked up the bottle and poured.

  “Excuse me?” Hal asked “He did … what?”

  “He caused this. Robbie is dead because of him.”

  Quickly, Dean jumped forward. “Joe, that is …”

  Jimmy held up his hand, stopping. “Dad, tell me you didn’t say that to Frank.”

  “I did.”

  “That’s bullshit. That’s wrong. Frank did not cause Robbie’s death. How can you even say that?”

  “How can you?” Joe asked with edge. “You can’t. You weren’t there.”

  “I was!” Hal blasted. “I was there. I know you are grieving, I know you are hurt, my brother did not cause this. He … we did everything we could to stop it. You’re wrong on this one. In more ways than one. I will not discuss this with you now. But we will have words later.” He shook his head. “Jimmy, Danny, Dean … let’s go.” He grabbed his bandana and walked to the door. “It’s been two hours. We need to find Frank.” Hal barreled out the Social Hall door with the others behind him.

  <><><><>

  It was dark enough to enjoy the sights and sounds, Journey played softly on his phone as Frank leaned against the hood of the jeep, smoking a cigarette while staring out into the Killer Baby region.