“I did no such thing, Frank.” Hal acted innocent. “If you want to blame anyone for Elliott’s recent impersonating of you, blame Elliott. It was all his idea.”
Elliott’s mouth dropped open.
“Oh, yeah?” Frank took another step to Elliott. “Well, let’s just hope you didn’t mean it when you said you lost my Journey Greatest Hits Volume Two up in the killer baby region.”
Lifting a finger, Elliott calmly nodded. “I am a man of honesty. I am also a man of intelligence. So, utilizing both of those qualities in the same instance, yes . . . I lost your Journey tape and . . . bye.”
After initially thinking, Elliott was trying to convey a solution, Frank figured out Elliott didn’t mean, ‘bye’ as a form of purchase. He meant it as a means of announcing departure because Elliott flew out.
^^^^
“Dean,” Frank grumbled as he got back into bed.
“Frank, I don’t care.” Dean shook his head.
“It’s called the chase.”
“It’s called exertion,” Dean explained, “which you can’t have. Walking about this room is one thing. Chasing Elliott Ryder through the clinic is another. You had to be stopped.”
“But did you have to have Hal trip me?”
“I had to stop you.” Dean held Frank’s wrist and took his pulse.
“I’m fine.”
“Physically.”
“No,” Frank disagreed. “Physically, I’m more than fine. I like to say spectacular.”
“Frank, listen . . .” Dean released his wrist.
“Dean, I’m healed. The gunshot wound looks good.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Dean said.
“You’re talking mentally. Yeah, I have a lot to deal with concerning Johnny and my dad and I will “No.” Dean shook his head. “Your heart, Frank.”
“What about it.”
“For starters, you had a massive coronary.”
“OK.”
“You don’t understand, do you?” Dean asked. “Your heart stopped beating.”
“It’s beating now.”
“Your heart can’t be treated like your wound. I couldn’t give your heart medication to build it back up. Only relaxation and no exertion can do that. I don’t want any strain on your heart.”
“What if someone breaks it?”
“Frank!” Dean snapped, almost too serious. “No exertion. OK? Humor me.”
“How?’
“What?” Dean asked.
“How do you want me to humor you? I know I’m a funny guy. Oh, wait. No. See, Dean? You have me on the spot. Wait. I’ll come up with something. I know a joke from . . .”
“Frank,” Dean stopped him. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. I’ll put you under the Salicain for another week if I have to.”
“Dean,” Frank scoffed. “Please. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m not sick. My heart’s fine. I would think God would have told me that.”
Dean stared for a second. “What do you mean God would have told you?”
“I saw him, you know, when I was in the coma, before the Salicain. I saw the big guy. And Dean . . .” Frank relaxed a ‘whew’ “He’s a big guy. He looks like John Wayne.”
“God looks like John Wayne?”
“In his prime,” Frank said. “I saw my mom too. That’s how I found out about my dad. All kinds of dead people stopped by.”
“You were in heaven?” Dean asked.
“They called it Limbo and they gave me my youth again. Can’t you tell? Can’t you see how young I look?”
After a moment’s stare Dean nodded. “Who else did you see?”
“That guy from Star Wars. The evil leader.”
“Darth Vader.”
“No,” Frank snickered. “Dean, get your movies straight. I saw Captain Kirk.”
“That was Star Trek Frank.”
“Same difference.” Frank shrugged. “And I saw some fraud guy. Singing fraud. A doctor.”
“You mean Sigmund Freud?” Dean asked.
“That’s him. The guy with the dance. Yeah, he came by.” Frank nodded. “Told me some things. Dean?”
Teetering in a suspension of whether to believe Frank or not, Dean nodded. “Yeah?”
“Did your father lick you as a child?”
“What?” Dean laughed.
“Lick you.” Frank lifted his shoulders. “Guess not. Man, we were neglected, weren’t we?” Frank saw the look on Dean’s face. “You don’t believe me, do you? Somehow you have that Farmers from Wizard of Oz Kansas look on your face, like I’m fuckin Dorothy returning from a tornado induced trip.”
“No, no that’s not it.” Dean slowly stood up and ran his hand through his hair. “A part of me does believe you. A lot of people say they have gone to Heaven, or Limbo, when they are comatose. What did it look like?”
“Limbo?” Frank bobbed his head in thought. “An armory.”
“Frank Heaven.”
Frank smiled. “Exactly.”
Joe poked his head once more into Frank’s room unseen, then stepped away from the door into the hall with Jason. “Dean’s in there.”
“Then I’ll wait here,” Jason said, “until Dean leaves.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s important, Joe. I need to test my theory, or rather prove or disprove it.”
“What is the theory?” Joe asked.
“If I’m correct, you’ll see. Go on. Oh, Joe, do me a favor. When I come in, don’t acknowledge my presence. Just ignore me.”
“Whatever.” Joe shrugged and walked into the room. As soon as he did, he watched Frank lay down stiff as a board and stare out. “Asshole. Don’t pull that shit with me. I heard your big mouth.”
Whining, Frank sat back up. “You got me.”
“I’m quick.” Joe walked over and kissed Frank on the forehead.
“You could lick me,” Frank suggested.
“What?” Joe asked surprised and looked at Dean.
Dean lifted his hands. “Don’t ask me. It has something to do with neglect. I’m heading out. No exertion, Frank.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Frank waved then flipped Dean off.
“So how ya feeling?” Joe asked.
“Good. Dad there’s something I . . .” Frank’s eyes widened and then Frank . . . screamed. “Uh!”
“What!” Joe snapped.
“Uh!” Frank pointed.
“What!” Again, Joe asked, turned, and saw Jason. “Frank!”
“Uh!”
“Frank!” Joe yelled at his pointing hysterical son. “What in God’s name is wrong with you?”
“Him!”
“Jason?” Joe asked.
“Aw, Joe,” Jason complained. “You ruined it.”
“Ruined what?” Joe asked confused. “My son is acting out of control. What the hell did I ruin?”
“My theory. Coma means limbo. Limbo means Time machine ripple exempt.”
“Dad! It’s Jason! He’s dead.”
Joe’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, shit.” He stared at Frank who looked as if he were seeing a ghost and to Frank, he was in the form of Jason.
Jason, of course, just chuckled.
^^^^
Sneakily, Ellen darted from her peek into the clinic hall, back into the lab, and picked up the phone. “Just checking.” Ellen exhaled. “Thanks, again.”
“All situated?” Hector asked on the other end of the phone.
“All situated,” Ellen replied. “There wasn’t much loss was there?”
“Two chickens. I can cover two chickens. Anymore than that I would have had to blame it on the killer babies.”
“Which would have been difficult,” Ellen said, “seeing how they have been calm since the deer herd moved into the region.”
“That was smart on Elliott’s part.”
Chuckling, Ellen agreed. “Anyhow, Hector, this means a lot. I’m glad it was you, not someone else. This is a secret, right?”
“Right. Sh
e is there?” Hector asked.
“Right now. She’s waiting on Dean, so you better hurry because I don’t know how long he will . . .” Ellen looked up. “Oh, hi Dean,” she said, almost fake.
“I get it. I’m on my way.” Hector hung up.
Ellen set down the phone and looked at Dean. He stood with one hand on hip holding back his lab coat. The other hand rested on the back of his neck. “Dean? Your patient is not in here.”
“Huh?” Dean looked up. “No, I know. She’s in Two.”
“What’s wrong?”
“El? I was just down at the cryo-lab.”
“Oh!” Ellen smiled “Great place, isn’t it.” She started humming and turned her back.
“Great place?” Dean questioned. “Yeah, it is, I guess. But . . .”
“Misha is waiting.” Ellen picked up a rack of empty tubes.
“It’s suture removal. El . . .” He stepped to her. “Have you seen Majestic?”
Thinking, ‘shit, he saw that scratch’ Ellen shook her head. “Is something wrong?”
“She isn’t there.”
Crash.
“El?”
Ellen turned around. “What . . . what do you mean she isn’t there? I was just there.”
“So was I. I didn’t see her.”
“Oh,” Ellen flung out her hand. “Maybe you missed her.”
“No. I don’t think.”
“Did you overlook her?”
“Ellen, she has three legs and one eye. How does one overlook her?”
“Like this.” Ellen stood on tip toes.
Dean stared at her for a moment in her bad humor.
“Dean, she’s there. I’m positive.”
“I’m just worried. You know she had that huge growth spurt last week. Those jaws . . .” He whistled. “I mean, what? She bit the killer baby we have, El.”
Ellen nodded. “At least Lester healed after that.”
“But a normal person wouldn’t. Joe would have a fit if he saw her. You transferred her to the steel cage, right.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course I did. You told me right?”
“Right.”
“She’s there,” Ellen assured calmly. “Don’t be silly. You didn’t notice.”
“OK. You’re probably right. I wasn’t looking for the steel cage.” Dean walked to the lab door. “I have to do those sutures. Could you check on her just ease my mind?”
Ellen smiled and gave a thumps up.
“Thanks.” Dean walked out.
After waiting calmly for Dean to leave, Ellen allowed the instantaneous panic to hit her and with an ‘oh, shit’, she flew from the lab.
Dean’s signature knock preluded his opening the door of Exam Room Two. He smiled on his entrance but lost the smile when he saw Jenny sitting smugly in the chair. “Hi, Misha. I see you brought Jenny again.”
“She makes me feel confident,” Misha replied.
Jenny gave a smug look.
“This shouldn’t take long.” Dean walked to the table and took her hand. “This looks good.” He pulled the tray closer and picked up the scissors. “You know, I was thinking of you.”
Jenny let out a ‘hmpf’ and shook her head. “Doesn’t that figure?”
Dean quickly looked at her. “What’s that supposed to mean.”
“Well, she’s young. Pretty. Of course you’re thinking of her. We don’t have to worry about that mid-life crisis again, now do we, Dean?”
“What?”
“One word,” Jenny whispered. “Bev.”
Dean rolled his eyes then returned to Misha. “That wasn’t what I meant. I meant, Misha, that I was thinking about what you said the last time you were here.” Dean proceeded to remove the sutures. “About my wife’s temporary ousting.”
“Ah, yes. You mean about escorting her?” Misha asked.
“That’s it.” Dean removed the last suture. “And, after thinking about it, I made a decision. If circumstances prohibit me from being the one to escort Ellen, I spoke to Sgt. Ryder.”
Misha smiled. “That is a wise choice.”
Jenny snickered. “Frank’s gonna get mad. He’ll want to be the one.”
“Frank can’t do anything for a few weeks aside from taking it easy,” Dean told her. “You’re finished, Misha.”
Before she slid from the table there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.” Dean called out.
Slowly the door opened and Hector slid in. “Dr. Hayes, sorry to interrupt. I couldn’t find Ellen. I brought her the squash she picked out.”
“Squash?” Dean asked surprised when he saw Hector hold up the long thin object.
“Yes.” Hector stepped in and flashed a shy smile to Misha. “She picked it out and I didn’t want someone else to get it so I brought it.”
“You’re delivering produce now?” Dean questioned.
Jenny scoffed, “Of course he is. He always does. I’ll give that to Ellen, Hector. Thank you.” She held out her hand, and let out a ‘hmm’ when Hector set the elongated vegetable in her palm. “Ellen picked this?” She raised an eyebrow to Dean. “They say there’s a lot to learn about a woman’s depravity when you look at the produce she chooses. And you aren’t worried about her and Sgt. Ryder, Dean?” Jenny held up the squash.
“Give me that.” Dean snatched up the vegetable. “What is up with your attitude with me? Have you been hanging around Henry lately?”
After a quick shift from Hector to Misha, Jenny smiled brightly. “Yes, yes, I have. Thank you. Speaking of Henry. Hector . . . Misha. Henry and I are having a lovely dinner at my house tonight. A sort of date.”
Dean laughed. “A date? You’re married.”
“And your point,” Jenny snapped.
“You’re married.”
“Again.” Jenny bobbed her head. “Your point?”
Dean gave an upward arrogant motion of his head. “What about . . . Hal?”
Closing her eyes, Jenny gasped and grabbed her chest. “Please. Hal is a painful, heartbreaking experience. I have to rid him from my soul. He’s poison.” She glanced at Misha. “Poison. How we wanted each other.” Jenny exhaled. “But since John has joined the UWA, we can’t have that. That’s where John is this weekend, his UWA reserve training. So Henry and I are, uh having an evening and I thought since Henry and Hector are close . . .”
Dean snickered.
Jenny nearly growled in her quick view. “Since they are friends, why don’t you, Misha, and you, Hector, not you, Dean. Why don’t you two join us?”
Misha slid from the table. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on your private time with Henry.”
Dean laughed.
“Dean,” Jenny snapped, then smiled quickly. “It’s no intrusion.”
“I would like that.” Misha raised her eyes to Hector. “Would you like to join us as well?”
Hector contained the smile. “Yes, I would. I’m sure Henry wouldn’t mind at all.”
“Good.” Jenny clapped her hands together. “It’s a double date, sort of. Let’s go plan.” She opened the door. “Bye, Dean.”
Hector waved as he left.
Misha paused. “Thank you and I am glad that you listened to what I said.”
Dean nodded and as he lifted his hand to wave good-bye, he realized he waved the squash. Laughing at himself, he set it down. “Not that I was any good at the dating scene,” Dean spoke to himself. “But could Hector and Jenny be more obvious?” He stared at the squash and in looking at it, he remembered Ellen. After snapping his fingers in revelation, he took the phone from his belt and dialed.
“Cryo,” Ellen answered.
“You sound out of breath,” Dean said.
“Who me?. No.”
“Hey, El, you wanna have sex tonight?”
“Sure. That was out of the blue though.”
Dean lifted the squash then set it down. “Just dawned on me that it’s been a awhile. Anyhow, the reason for the call. Majestic.”
“She’s right here.”
<
br /> “Are you sure?” Dean asked.
“Positive. She’s gnawing on a squirrel.” Ellen raised her voice to a singing one. “Is that good, girl. Huh? Yep, Dean you just overlooked her.”
“Oh, good. Just checking to make sure she’s there.”
“I’m looking right at her,” Ellen said with certainty.
“See you at home.”
“Yep.” Hanging up the phone was Ellen’s sign that she could breathe and she did, heavily. With the small antenna pressed to her lips, Ellen stared with worry at the rabbit cage, the empty rabbit cage. She should have listened to Dean and transferred Majestic to the steel cage but she didn’t. Thinking, ‘oh God how am I getting out of this one,’ Ellen just stared at the chewed up metal where the one eyed, three legged, carnivorous rabbit ate through for her freedom.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The cigarette smoke was a thick, lingering cloud above Joe and Jason’s head, but they didn’t seem to notice or even mind. Both sat there Jason in his usual position with one leg crossed and his arm draped over his waist as he held his cigarette.
Joe sat behind his desk, rocking in his chair. “How was that possible?”
Jason gave a slight shrug then took a drag from his cigarette. “I theorized that, Joe. I had a feeling.”
“How though?”
“The mind.” Jason pointed to the temple. “Is in the soul, not here. Understand? At least that’s what I believe. The spirit remains intact. Frank’s spirit drifted off into some sort of limbo. Therefore that spirit, that . . .” He snickered. “Mind was not in the body that experienced the ripple. For an example, if when you brought me back, Frank got slashed across the face, the body would show it. The mind wouldn’t remember it.”
“And you were right.”
“I was right,” Jason said smugly. “To Frank, I’m dead.”
“And this caused him to get confused, scream, and act an idiot . . .” Joe paused when he saw Jason lift his eyes. “OK, perhaps this incident didn’t cause him to do that, but he’s doing it worse right now.”
“So, the question is, what do we do?”
“Do we tell him?” Joe questioned. “Explain I went back or hope he forgets and for the time being, let him look like a babbling goof.”
“In all seriousness, not only so we don’t cause an uprising if it gets out, but for entertainment purposes alone, I say we let him look like the babbling goof.”
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 238