“I see.” Mike gave a single nod.
“I’d like to see the town too.”
Mike slightly shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s too good of an idea.”
“Chief Owen …” George stepped to him. “May I call you Mike?”
Mike hesitated then answered, “Yes, Mike will be fine.”
“Mike, I pose no threat to you through this visit. My intentions are simple. You and I need to sit down and talk. Negotiate. I don’t need to get into details of what I'm thinking. We both know and they’ll be covered during our meeting.”
“When do you want to have this meeting?”
“Not tonight,” George said. “I had a long trip and a longer day. Tomorrow, if you don’t mind.”
“That will be fine.”
“Had you made provisions for us, Mike? If not, we brought …”
“No, we did.” Mike halted George. “Someone will be by in the morning to get you. We don’t have a mess hall or anything like that. Everyone fends for themselves so the next best thing we have to a restaurant is the clinic. The man who runs that has set up meal service there.”
George gave a nod of acknowledgement. “I appreciate it. Thank you.”
“I’ll let you and … Bertha rest.” Mike moved back. “Mr. Hadley, Bertha.” He turned.
“Mike,” George called out.
Mike paused and turned around.
“Mike, the last thing I want between us is a war. Keep that in mind. The last thing I want is for you to be on the defensive over this meeting. No matter what is decided, no matter what the outcome of this meeting. I came peacefully and I will leave peacefully. Understand?”
Mike was apprehensive, “I understand. Good night.” Mike turned and reached for the door.
“One more thing …” George said.
Mike paused.
“Johnny.”
To show or not to show it was the question Mike wrestled with. With the slightest hesitation he looked over his shoulder. “Excuse me?”
“Johnny Slagel.” George took a step to him. “I know he’s here.”
“I don’t know what …”
“Mike, good communication, good meetings begin with honesty. So let me be honest. Don’t bullshit me, okay? I know he’s here. It’s funny how you have one phone, a Beginnings line, and how that one phone is hooked to a fax machine. Well, the phone can be answered,” George said. “Johnny answered the phone when I called before. I didn’t tell him it was me. I said nothing. I’m going to assume since he has access to a phone that he isn’t being held against his will. He was a confused young man when he left me. I was very, very worried. You can understand that as a father. I just … I just would like to see him and know he’s all right.”
“Mr. Hadley, can you appreciate my position on this?”
“Can you appreciate mine?” George asked.
Silence.
Mike inhaled deeply, “I’ll tell you what. All I can say is, if Johnny is here, which I will not confirm yes or no, but if he is here, I’ll see what I can do”
“Thank you.”
Mike said no more. He gave a nod of his head as he opened the door and stepped into the hall. There were many thoughts that raced through Mike’s mind in that after moment of meeting George but none of them were as strong as his thoughts on kicking Johnny’s ass for answering the phone.
***
In an unlikely comparison, Ellen felt like the Slagel family personal priest, the keeper of the secrets and the fears. She was the one who knew something about every Slagel man that they didn’t want the others to know. Jimmy was the exception, but Ellen guessed it wouldn’t be long before she knew something regarding him as well.
It was sometime after nightfall when everyone should have been winding down, but Frank, Hal, Robbie, and Jimmy decided it would be ultra-cool to check out the dinosaur hole and plan their next day’s dig. Ellen found the prospect of Dinosaur digging semi-fun, but she declined the invitation. One reason was because it was dark and she didn’t feel like getting dirty. The other was Joe.
Joe turned down the offer, stating he was tired. He could have just been tired, but on the outside chance he wasn't feeling well and didn’t want that known, Ellen wanted to be around.
It turned out Joe wasn’t tired, nor was he ill. He just wanted to take a few minutes to write in the journal he had started. He actually got pretty miffed when he found out Ellen stayed behind and instructed her to do something to keep busy. He needed some privacy.
There wasn’t anything private about the cabin. It was pretty much one large open room with three basic dividing walls, but none of the divided-off areas were all that private. No matter where Ellen was in the cabin, she could see Joe and he could see her. Ellen took a seat by the window off of the kitchen and decided to do something that had become a habit.
Write Elliott Ryder a letter.
In a way, it was a diary, her way of telling him the events of the day. She was about a paragraph into it when she heard something outside her window. Not wanting to disturb Joe, she crept up an inch and peered out.
Robbie?
The sound she heard was the things he set on the porch and then Robbie just sat down. She watched him with his head lowered. Worried, Ellen decided to go and check on him.
She put down her pen and walked toward the door.
“Where you going?” Joe asked, sounding occupied. His eyes were still on his notebook.
“I want to get some air.”
“Open a window. It’s cold out.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“There’s one in the cabin,” Joe said, still staring down.
“There is? Wow, how do you like that? Well, I have to …”
“It’s dark.”
“But Joe …”
Without looking up, Joe said, “Why do you want to go out there, Ellen? There could still be Society solders.”
“Okay. Well, I have gas and I’m afraid …” Ellen halted when Joe only raised his eyes. “Robbie’s out there, Joe. He’s just sitting. I don’t know. Something’s not right.”
Like a military leader giving permission, Joe returned to his work and gave a ‘go ahead’ motion of his head.
Ellen realized her attempt at being quiet was in vain when she tripped over the throw rug right outside the door.
“Fuck,” she whispered as she tripped forward and with a thump-thump spin of her body, she caught herself facing Robbie and smiled.
Robbie just stared. “Are you okay?”
“Um, sure, why do you ask?” Ellen folded her arms, wiped the chill, and neared him.
“You tripped, maybe?”
“Oh, that.” She giggled. “Damn throw rug. Can I sit with you?”
“Sure.” Robbie scooted over. “How come you’re out here?”
“I needed fresh air,” Ellen answered.
“Is it stale in there?”
“Bad.”
“Bad?”
“Joe has gas.” Ellen nodded.
Robbie fluttered a laugh and then reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a cigarette. “Sorry to hear that.”
“Wait until you go in there.”
Still laughing, Robbie lit up. He stared outward with a smirk and then turned his head slightly, more so shifting his eyes.
“Oh my God,”
“What?”
“When you make that face … You look like Joe.”
“As long as I don’t smell like him.” Robbie snickered.
“Robbie …” Ellen dropped her voice to whisper. “You okay?”
“Oh, sure,” He nodded, exhaling his smoke. “I’m good.”
“Why aren’t you dino digging, then?”
Robbie was silent.
“You were so excited about it,” Ellen said.
The air of his sadness exuded and Robbie’s head lowered.
“The younger brother thing, huh?” she asked, knowing full well the reason was something different. “They won�
�t let you play with them because you’re the youngest. The ‘go home, Robbie’ thing.”
“No,” he chuckled.
“You hate that Jimmy’s back.” Ellen sighed. “He is a bit different.”
“It’s not that,” Robbie said. “You know it. I love the fact that my brother’s back.”
“So why aren’t you digging with them?”
Robbie slowly lifted his right arm. “I can’t.”
Ellen’s attention was caught. “What do you mean?”
“Watch.” Robbie turned his hand palm up.
“Okay.”
“You’re watching, right?”
“What exactly am I looking for?” Ellen asked. “Because it’s dark out here and if there’s a cut or …”
“Watch,” Robbie said. “Don’t move your eyes off of my palm.” He waited until he knew Ellen watched. “There, did you see it?”
“No. No I didn’t.”
“Exactly,” Robbie said.
Ellen just stared at him curiously.
“I was making a fist.”
Ellen slowly gasped out, “Your fingers.”
Robbie finished the sentence, “Didn’t move. No. I can’t dig if I can’t grab.”
“When did this start?” she asked.
“I lost movement in the pinky this morning. Slowly, they went one at a time until…” He lifted the hand. “Nothing.”
“Okay,” Ellen said nonchalantly. “Not a problem.”
“How can you say that?” Robbie questioned with passion.
“May I?” She reached for his arm.
“Sure.” Robbie shrugged.
Taking his forearm, Ellen lowered his hand palm up again. Then she reached to Robbie’s mouth and took his cigarette.
“El? What are you … ow!” Robbie retracted his hand. “You burned me.”
“You felt that. Open.” She waited for his lips to part and put the cigarette back. “This means it’s not nerve damage and the color would have gone first. It’s mechanical.”
“You don’t think it’s the chip?”
“Not if you’re moving your arm up and down. No, it’s not the chip,” Ellen stated. “How about when I do this?” She reached for his fingers again.
“You aren’t gonna do some sort of pain therapy on me again, are you?”
“No,” She snickered then curled his fingers. “What do you feel?”
“You touching me, but there’s no movement.”
“It’s probably a logistics of mechanics. Danny and Henry can fix it. They built the mechanics of it.”
“They aren’t gonna have to take off the arm, are they?” Robbie asked.
Ellen fluttered her lips in sarcasm. “You think after that day long operation, Dean is gonna take off the arm just to fix the fingers? No. It’s sort of like taking a car apart just to get to the transmission.”
“But getting to the transmission is a bitch,” Robbie said.
“True and so will getting to the mechanics of those fingers, but we aren’t taking the arm off or apart to do it.” Ellen’s eyes widened and then she smiled. “Oh, can you see those two? They’ll have to actually go into the operating room. I’ll have to video tape it.”
“How long do you think?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Ellen shrugged. “Probably right away then you’ll have to rest the hand like with any surgery.”
Pouty, Robbie tossed his cigarette. “Swell.”
“Robbie, it’s just a few days. Do you want to go home tomorrow to take care of it? We’ll tell your dad …”
“No.” Robbie shook his head then stared at Ellen. “This is my Dad’s big getaway with us. I don’t want to put a damper on it. I just have …”
“Robbie …”
“No, El,” he halted her. “I just have to figure out how to go two more days without anyone noticing my hand doesn’t work …”
“Robbie.”
Robbie continued, “… or without anyone but you finding out.”
“Meaning your brothers?” Ellen asked.
“Of course I mean them.” Robbie snickered. “Why would you ask?”
Ellen cringed. “Because it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?” Robbie asked then watched Ellen point outward. Slowly he turned his head to see a wall of brothers. Frank, Hal, and Jimmy stood right there.
“Fuck,” Robbie whispered. “I have a big mouth.”
Frank shook his head, “Nah, I have rabbit hearing.” He gave an upward motion of his head. “What’s going on?”
Hal asked as well, “Did we hear correctly? Your arm won’t work.”
“Something like that,” Robbie tilted his head.
“It’s mechanical, right?” Jimmy questioned seriously. “Can we fix it?”
Ellen shirked a surprise ‘uh!’ when they looked at her. She smiled. “Um, no, we’ll let the experts handle that.”
Robbie lifted his hand. “Actually, it’s just my fingers. I can’t even make a fist.”
Frank nodded knowingly, “Can you wiggled your fingers?”
“No,” Robbie said. “They won’t move.”
“Can you bend them?” Frank asked.
“Frank!” Hal barked. “You idiot. His fingers won’t work.” Hal looked at Robbie. “Forgive me, but I don’t understand why this has you so down.”
Robbie’s mouth went agape.
Jimmy added, “It’s not like it can’t be fixed, right?”
Ellen answered, “Right but it’s his hand. How would you guys feel?”
Frank fluttered his lips. “Happy that I at least had more than a stump.”
Hal backhanded Frank.
Frank grunted. “What? He has an arm. So what his fingers won’t work. We’ll fix it. Robbie, don’t worry about it. We’ll pack up tomorrow …”
“No,” Robbie interrupted. “No, that’s the reason. I don’t want to pack up and go anywhere. Dad wants this. I … I want this with Dad and you guys. Jimmy’s back and this is gonna be the greatest three days.”
Hal interjected, “Then we don’t go. You’ll just be without use of your fingers. Surely Robbie adjustments can be made, like digging. You didn’t need to leave the hole. You can dig with your left hand.”
Jimmy nodded. “Is there anything you can’t do left handed that you do with your right hand?”
Frank snickered, “He can’t jerk off.”
“Good God, Frank!” Hal snapped.
“Well.” Robbie tilted his head, “I was without an arm for …”
“Good God, Robbie.” Hal cringed. “Masturbation aside …” He cringed again. “Things will be fine. You’ll take care of it when we get back.”
“Hal,” Robbie said, “If I don’t use my right hand, Dad will know. I don’t want Dad to have anything on his mind but this time away with us.”
Jimmy scoffed, “Robbie, come on, please. Dad doesn’t need to know.”
Brightly Hal peered up, “Really, think about it. We’ll cover for you.”
“Cover?” Robbie asked.
Ellen snapped her fingers. “Yeah, if you need to use your right arm, one of us won’t be that far. We can cover it up.”
Hal added, “We’ll be that right hand. There’s nothing we can’t cover or do for you inconspicuously.”
“And without Dad knowing.” Frank winked. “Except jerk you …”
“Frank!” Hal and Jimmy yelled.
“What!” Frank lifted his hand. “I’m not jerking …”
“Frank!” Hal snapped. “Enough.”
Robbie smiled slightly, “This sounds good, but what if I’m alone with Dad.”
Ellen had the answer. “We won’t leave you alone with Joe. If you need us to do something and we aren’t paying attention, just … just …”
Jimmy sneezed. “Excuse me.”
Frank swung a point at Jimmy. “Sneeze. Sneeze real loud. One of us we’ll take that as a sign and help you.”
“Sneeze.” Hal nodded, pleased. “Good call. If you have to get som
ething for Dad, sneeze. We’ll get it.”
Robbie smiled brightly, “Can we do this?”
Hal chuckled arrogantly. “Robbie, when in the past have we not been able to keep something from Dad? Good Lord, we hid the fact his wife left him for a week.” Hal smiled. “We’ve done it before. We can do it again. It will be a piece of cake.”
Jimmy added, “What is it we always said? All for one …” He extended out his hand.
Hal smiled and laid his hand over Jimmy’s. “This is so great. All for one.”
Ellen’s hand covered. “How long have we been wishing for this moment? All for one.”
With a dramatic swing and grateful smack, Robbie laid his hand over Hal’s, Jimmy’s and Ellen’s. “All for one.”
Frank’s huge hand came down last. “One for all.” He grinned. “Finally.” He gripped everyone’s hand. “Dad will never know.”
In the cabin, Joe’s hand rested on his journal. He was almost finished with his latest entry. He thought a lot about his boys and how strong and close they were. They were men, but they were also men with loud mouths who lacked the knowledge that in the middle of the night, voices carry. Shaking his head, Joe closed his notebook. “Assholes. I’ll never know, huh?” He chuckled. “We’ll just see how well they do.” Taking a second to enjoy and listen to his sons talk outside and plot, Joe smiled genuinely and did some counter thinking himself.
CHAPTER FIVE
February 12th
Admittedly Mike made up excuses for delaying the morning meeting with George simply because he didn’t want to deal with it. He didn’t want to deal with telling George, ‘sorry, we aren’t budging and we aren’t dealing with your Society rules,’ and he didn’t fell like facing an outraged Society leader informing him, ‘get out now or say goodbye to Lodi’.
Mike was a lot of things but he was mostly a realist. He knew, despite how diligently his men would fight to keep Lodi intact and alive, they were no match whatsoever for the huge force of the Society army. Even if they were limitedly skilled—like Robbie said—they still outnumbered Lodi something like a hundred to one.
There was a lot to keep straight in his head, including exactly what he was going to tell George and how exactly he would phrase it. Buzz let Mike know that George handled the delay well and didn’t question. That was good.
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 387