by Andy Rane
“Dad?” Doug said.
He had sat next to his mother and gently rubbed her back like someone who doesn’t know what else to do. His father and he stared one another down for what seemed to be a long moment, as if one was trying to pass the word silently to the other. His father looked away first and Doug frowned. James felt a wave of embarrassment burn up through his chest. He pulled at his collar, his jacket suddenly feeling extremely constricting.
“Douglas,” he said, after some time, “Son…your mother and I…there’s something…we should have told you this a long time ago. It would have saved us a lot of grief and anxiety. But, ignorance is all the more bright when looked upon with fading eyes.”
“I don’t understand,” Doug said.
“Nor will you,” said Gerard Pederson, and he turned to James, “your name?”
“James, sir,” and James stood to shake the man’s hand. The man offered him a firm handshake and an awkward smile. He turned to Kevin.
“Uhhh…Kevin. Yeah,” he said and offered a quick handshake.
“You must realize that we cannot be your parents,” he said, as James sat down.
“I think I understood that before we walked in the door, sir,” James said, turning to look at Doug.
“I still don’t get it,” Doug said. “Then…”
“Douglas,” said Gerard, “your mother and I were…fools. This should have never been a surprise.”
“Such is life,” James breathed more to himself than the group.
“James,” said Gerard. “What did your adoptive parents tell you of your blood parents?”
“That they were killed in a car accident on the way home from the hospital after having me. I somehow survived,” James said.
Gerard puffed through his nose sardonically.
“Such a tale. We were told to tell Doug the same thing. That it would be easier that way, especially if his brother should arrive to find him.”
“Dad?” Doug said.
“Son,” said Gerard, and he leaned forward in his seat, pressing his fist to his mouth before speaking again. “As much a son to me that I could have ever wished for.”
At that, Gerard Pederson stood up, walked over to his son and knelt by his side, enveloping his wife and child in his tangle of arms. James, Kevin, and Nicole stepped slowly out of the room as one.
“Are you ok?” Nicole said in hushed tones, reaching the hallway past the foyer.
“Am I ok? I feel like I just took a Sharpie to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,” James said.
“Like we just told The Beav that Ward and June weren’t his parents,” Kevin said.
“Look at this place! Look at them. We’ve come in…and ruined it all in one fell swoop. They’re devastated. How am I supposed to the feel? This was selfish. We should have never come,” James said
“James, don’t. You couldn’t have known. Paynter never told us this, any of this,” Nicole said.
“And, now I’ve met him, now what? It was too easy. Something inside me knew it was too good to be true. After all of that crap, I knew it couldn’t be this neatly wrapped package.”
“But, a part of you wanted it to be true,” she said.
She placed a warm hand behind his neck and rubbed gently, but he pulled away.
“That doesn’t make it ok,” he said.
He pulled open the front door and welcomed the crispness of the cold morning air.
Chapter 28
Dr. Paynter sat in a supply closet on the third floor of the cardiovascular ward. As far as he could tell, he was now in the Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in Lewiston, Pennsylvania. He hadn’t moved for over six hours as best as he could tell. The numbness from the cold and the miles of walking had worn out midway through the night and he could only remember one other time being in so much pain. He was sixteen, left wing for the varsity soccer team in Norfolk, Virginia. It had been an unusually cold and rainy November day for a game. He had been a late replacement for one of the regulars and he had played his butt off. With the final minutes of the game ticking down, his team was down a goal when they earned a corner kick. The fullback had lobbed up a high slow one and he positioned himself to make the leap. He hadn’t seen the defender and the goalie heading toward him. The three young men collided in mid-air, the ball glancing off of Paynter’s head and the goalie’s fists, one of which caught Paynter on the temple. He didn’t see the end of the game. They lost and he spent the following days in bed recovering from a concussion, four broken ribs, and a high ankle sprain. If that was the worst, he thought, he’d had it pretty easy. This wasn’t even close.
He’d spotted the blue ‘H’ hospital signs along the road and used them as a guide. He had ducked in and out of places where tracks would be hard to follow, or behind shrubs and bushes where it was possible. It had felt like a journey that wouldn’t end. At times, he had to use the cell phone in his pocket to see in the dark. He had done that sparingly, so as to save the battery life. He didn’t have a chance to tell James what he’d done. His cell phone had just been sitting out in the open on the table. Paynter had slipped it into his pocket when the commotion began. It was instinct and he wasn’t quite sure why he had grabbed it and James hadn’t.
Now, he looked at James’ phone and hoped the young man was safe and that he hadn’t needed it. Given the circumstances, he saw the true dumb-luck brilliance of it. Paynter didn’t know James’ number, but he knew the number of the phone in the glove compartment of his car. At least he should have.
It was only a brilliant plan if he could remember his own number. Several times during his walk, he stood cursing at his luck. He just had to remember ten digits, but between the cold and the pain he was in, nothing he did changed the fact that he couldn’t remember the last four numbers of the phone he’d had for the last seven years. Throwing the phone into the snow seemed like a good idea several times that night, but he decided to keep walking until he could do something for the pain. The hospital would be where they would look for him first, but it was also the only place he could help himself. He’d checked out the wounds. Broken ribs were his best guess, a couple of surface lacerations, and deep tissue bruising to go with it, but he figured it still beat the alternative.
The hospital was barely stirring when Paynter first saw it from a distance. Set out at the edge of the small town, it had looked like a beacon in the dark when he came across it. At the same time, he knew it could also be a hub of activity. Someone might be there, waiting for him already. He had relied on his knowledge of general hospital protocol. There were certain areas more heavily monitored than others. And, hospitals out in The Sticks sometimes had more lax rules regarding visitors. He couldn’t simply walk in the front door, but with a straight face, he might make it in through a service entrance and find what he needed.
Paynter watched for about a half hour from the rear parking lot. There was little activity back there and he thought that he had timed it perfectly to go in before the shift change. He saw a particular service entrance door close ever so slowly. He timed it. It took all of forty-five seconds to close after being opened wide. Moving as quickly as he had all day across the parking lot, his chest fighting the cracked ribs, his cold fingers caught the edge of the door before it shut. From there, he was able to avoid major hallways, doorways that required a pass, and what few security cameras he spotted. The first utility closet he came to was locked. The second was ajar. Another security violation laid bare. Should do this for a living, he thought.
The closet contained the typical cleaning and sanitation supplies, but had been expanded to store unused or possibly broken beds and gurneys. It gave Paynter some space to conceal himself. Even if someone came in to get something, they’d have to be looking for him. He hoped that he didn’t smell as bad as he thought he might and that maybe someone would mistake it for mop mildew if they noticed.
When he settled onto the floor in a corner furthest from the door, he thought it might have been the most comfortable block of tile he’d ever
rested on. He would try and sleep first, then make his way to find something to dull the pain, and maybe some athletic tape for the ribs. He just hoped his self-diagnosis had been accurate enough to not get him killed. During his walk, he had half-expected to just drop dead from some major internal injury he had not felt. Now, as the desire to sleep overwhelmed his sense of pain, he remembered that he still needed to call James…if only he could remember that number. Sleep would do the trick. Maybe the numbers would come to him in a dream.
Chapter 29
It was nearly thirty minutes before any of the Pederson family was ready to talk again. Nicole leaned outside and beckoned James back inside. His cheeks and nose were red and he sniffed loudly as the warmth hit him upon reentering the house. He rubbed his hands together. Mrs. Pederson motioned them into the kitchen, her eyes still a bit red. Coffee was offered and poured and they sat without speaking so long that Kevin turned toward the wall as if to assess the quaint village scenes on the wallpaper. James shifted uneasily in his chair before speaking.
“I need Doug to come with me…us,” James said, dabbing the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “I need him to help us figure out just what exactly is going on.”
The three Pederson’s all seemed to stop what they were doing to look at James. James stared resolutely back at Doug.
“You’re all the family I’ve got, and I’ll be damned if I came all this way to still be left hanging. Something…screwy…has happened here, and many lives have been tossed into the fire.”
“I can’t just leave, James,” Doug said after a moment.
“I understand that, and I’m not talking about something permanent, but, what I need for you to understand is that I can’t just leave you now. You’re my brother, Doug. That much should be very clear. My brother,” James said.
He laughed a little and said the word again.
“Brother. I spent all my life wondering what it would be like to have one and in a matter of twenty-four hours I have two. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
“Douglas needs to keep his job if he’s to finish school,” said Mrs. Pederson, walking over now and placing her hands on her son’s shoulders.
“I don’t want to get in the way of your life, Doug, but please try and see this from my…our…point of view,” James said.
Doug tapped his mug on the kitchen table. The kitchen, like much of the rest of the house was country décor to a fault. The curtains in the windows were as white as the snow outside. The border around the top of the ceiling had a boy and girl figure holding hands amongst cows, sheep, and barns. It was all so pristine; the kind of immaculate that made tidy look filthy.
“I can’t get into something like this,” Doug said.
“I hate to tell you, but it might be too late to decide whether you want to be involved or not,” Kevin said.
“My parents still don’t know where I am. Gone two days and no word, they’ve probably called out the air national guard,” Nicole said.
“Sweetie,” said Mrs. Pederson, “You can use our phone if you need to call.”
James shot her a look, before shaking his head.
“I’m sorry…we just can’t take that kind of chance. I don’t want them to be able to trace us back to you,” James said.
She made a dismissive wave of her hand.
“These people are serious, Mrs. Pederson. They’ve already killed a man who was traveling with us.”
He had done it on purpose of course. James had considered the odds and decided that dropping that bomb on Doug’s parents was possibly the only way to get Doug to change his mind. He allowed the words to sink in. James had never seen someone’s jaw drop, until he watched Mrs. Pederson’s slowly yawn open and stay that way in a frozen look of utmost awe. Nicole shifted uncomfortably at his side.
“K…killed?” she stammered.
“The man who led us to Doug was killed last night by men who were out to stop us from finding you. They killed him without regard, and I’m afraid that the same fate may await all of us,” James said.
Mrs. Pederson gave a little cry. Mr. Pederson sat stoic, glancing between the three boys. Doug looked nonplussed.
“And, you think they’ll eventually seek Douglas out?” Gerard said.
James laughed harshly.
“I have no idea. I don’t know what they want, or why they would be willing to kill, but yes…they are definitely after us…all of us. There’s something they want kept secret, and they’re willing to kill us to keep it that way. None of it makes sense to me, and the one man who could have made some sense out of it…well, he’s dead.”
“Then maybe your problem’s gone away,” Gerard said.
“I wish I could believe that,” James said.
They all sat, dwelling on their own thoughts. The ring of the phone startled James out of his chair, and everyone else jumped.
“Who knows you’re at home?” James said.
“Everyone, James,” Gerard said, striding out of the room, “we’re retired.”
James sat back down, Nicole patting his arm. He felt a bit of the fool and at the same time an anger welled up inside. He had never lived like this. Never had he been so on edge. Would he ever get a decent night’s sleep again? As if in response, Nicole yawned into her hand. Gerard stepped back in the doorway.
“That was Leo at the shop. He was wondering where the hell you’d got to.”
“I’ll drive you back,” James said, “it’s the least I can do.”
Doug looked across the table at him. They were really quite alike in the most bizarre ways. They even had the same funny little ridge of cartilage at the top of their left ear.
“I have to go back,” Doug said.
“I understand. I just…hope that you understand I’m not being entirely selfish here. I’m concerned for you…for your family. At least if we’re together…well, I don’t know…maybe I am being selfish,” James said.
“No, James,” Mrs. Pederson said. “It’s we who’ve been selfish. None of this is your fault, son.”
James smiled. He hoped she couldn’t see the hollowness he felt inside.
They stood and said their goodbyes. Mrs. Pederson hugged Nicole and Kevin without hesitation, as if they were family. Kevin blushed and said nothing, moving quickly toward the door. She held James at arm’s length and looked him up and down.
“You could do with a few more pounds on you,” she said. The anger in her eyes was gone.
“My mother used to say the same thing,” James said.
“Used to?” she said.
“She passed…recently,” James said, and though he didn’t want to, he felt the emotion well in his chest. She saw this and pulled him back into a hug. He hugged her back without saying anything.
“You’re always welcome here, sweetie. When the trouble passes, and it will, you’ll have to come and stay for a while. And Kevin too.”
He thanked her and gave her one last hug. She shuddered back a sob as they broke away. Gerard gave him a firm handshake, but said nothing. His eyes said it all. Take care.
The rest were waiting outside for him. He looked at Doug as they walked toward the car.
“They’re good people. I hope you can…forgive them,” James said.
“Forgive them…yeah. She’s my mom…he’s my dad…no matter what…y’know? I’m sure it hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I don’t know how much I’ll have to forgive. They did what they thought was best. Maybe they were right,” Doug said.
“Two days later and I still keep waiting to wake up, but so far…” James shrugged.
James made his way to the driver’s side door, but Doug caught his arm with his cane.
“Mind if I drive?” Doug said.
“Uh, sure…I guess. It’s not that far back, though. I think I remember.”
“I know…” Doug said and he smiled sheepishly, “I just…don’t get to drive too often.” He waved the cane as if that might explain things.
“You don’t have a c
ar?” Nicole said.
“Had one…a while back now, though. Wrecked it.”
“And that’s the reason for the cane?” Kevin said.
“Yeah…pretty much ruined my life,” Doug said.
“If you don’t mind my asking…” Nicole said, her question fading in the cold air.
“Oh, well, I used to be a pretty good footballer. I…uh…don’t like to toot my own horn, but I was really pretty good, I guess. Had the scouts looking at me. Division 1-A. Free ride pretty much anywhere I wanted to go. Then there was the accident and they had to replace my hip and put pins in my leg to keep it from falling off. That pretty much shot my football career. I rehabbed, but nobody was looking at me anymore. I couldn’t pass a metal detector, let alone a physical.”
They stood looking at him for a moment. Doug just shrugged and tapped his cane in the snow.
“You know…you could’ve just said you really like driving. You didn’t have to come up with a bullshit story like that,” Kevin said, having a hard time not smiling.
He laughed and jumped in the back seat.
“How the hell can I say no to a story like that?” James said, a smirk on his face. He tossed Doug the keys, which Doug caught deftly.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Doug said.
He climbed in, somewhat awkwardly, to the driver’s seat. He placed his cane on the floor of the back seat.
“I walk to work, normally. Saves money. Helps me pay for college. Anyway, driving is sorta like a treat now. When you don’t do it every day, you don’t take it for granted.”
They were all piled into the car now, Nicole sitting in the back with Kevin, rummaging through her stash of junk food and handing out sandwiches from the full lunch bag Doug’s mom had packed them. Doug settled in behind the wheel, adjusting the mirrors and the seat, frowning at the automatic transmission shifter.
“Yours?” he asked.
James shook his head slowly.
“Dead guy’s,” he said.
“Oh…then I guess it would be pretty inappropriate to comment on his choice of wheels,” Doug said.