Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8

by Jacqueline Druga

  “What the hell temperature do you have the air conditioner on? It’s freezing in here.”

  “Sixty-five.”

  “Sixty-five? Christ, Frank.” She began to jump up and down to warm up.

  “Want one of my shirts?” Frank pointed to the steps. “I’ll go get one.”

  “Please.”

  “Be right back down.” Hurrying, Frank charged up the steps and into his room. He took a moment to remove his damp boxers and toss on a pair of shorts. He grabbed a tee shirt from his top drawer for Ellen and ran back down the steps, fully intending on turning down the air. “Here’s the ...” he stopped when Ellen turned to face him, she stood without her top, “... shirt.” He slowly walked to her, extending out the shirt, staring.

  “You really want me to put this on?” Ellen laid her hand on Frank’s.

  “Yeah. No. Yeah ... no.” He moved into her. “What are you doing?”

  “Wanting to warm up.”

  “You know, all I wanted to do was spend some time with you. This is an added bonus.”

  “So I take it you aren’t turning me down?”

  “You are making it very ...” Frank slipped his hands on her waist then brought Ellen close to him. “Very ... difficult.” Just as he lowered his head to kiss her, he heard three banging thumps coming from below, and Frank jolted back. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yes. What was that?”

  “Stay here.” Frank reached for his revolver in the harness over the couch and turned to the kitchen when he heard the basement door open. “Shit.” In one motion, he tossed Ellen her shirt, took a step to the kitchen, raised his revolver, and clicked back the hammer. “Freeze!”

  Henry shrieked and jumped when he saw the gun pointing at him. “Frank!”

  “Henry, what the fuck?” Frank placed back the hammer and lowered the revolver. He set the gun on the dining room table. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’ve been here working. Why is Ellen half dressed? That is wrong, Frank.” Henry looked past Frank to Ellen who tossed on her shirt. “I can’t believe you’re doing this already with her.”

  “I’m not doing anything with her, Henry. We got wet washing jeeps. Now what the hell were you doing in my basement?”

  “Ellen’s leaving.”

  “Answer the question.”

  “Ellen’s gone.”

  “Shit.” Spinning around, Frank saw the open front door, and he took off after Ellen. “El.”

  “I’m going home, Frank.”

  “No wait.” He pulled her back. “We were gonna talk. I was going to make you a sandwich, remember. Not to mention you were standing almost naked in my living room.”

  “I’m sorry about that. I feel embarrassed. I shouldn’t have hit on you.”

  “No!” Frank’s eyes widened. “Hit on me. Hit on me any time. El, I ...”

  “Frank, I’m going home. This isn’t going to work. It was a great night, but it’s not going to work.”

  “What isn’t going to work? Fine, leave your clothes on. Hitting on me isn’t important. Just don’t go, please.”

  “And what? Go back to your house while Henry is there?”

  “I’ll make him leave.”

  “Then what?” Ellen asked.

  “Then he’ll leave.”

  “Then what?” Ellen asked again.

  “He’ll go home?” Frank shrugged and Ellen began to walk away. “Wait. What?”

  “Then he’ll be back. He’ll always be back, because you’ll always hang around him. You get mad, like last night, and then you forget.”

  “Henry’s my friend.”

  “So am I.”

  “What? I can’t be friends with both of you?” Frank questioned with edge.

  “You shouldn’t be.”

  Frank released the grip he had on her. “I can be friends with both of you.”

  “I don’t want you being friends with both of us, Frank. Because if you only knew.”

  “Knew what? What should I know.”

  Ellen shook her head. “Nothing. Forget I said anything. Go back to your friend.”

  “Fine. I will.”

  “Go.”

  “I am.”

  Ellen turned from him, arms folded across her body.

  “El.” Frank tossed out his hand in frustration, then stormed back inside his house. “Henry, you being in my basement better be fuckin good ... what are all these papers?” Frank looked down at his coffee table. “Why are you smiling? You’ve been miserable all day.”

  “I got it, Frank.”

  “Got what?”

  “I think I can do it.”

  “Do what?”

  Henry picked up all of his notes. “I think I can make Dean see again.”

  “Re ... repeat that?”

  “All of this,” Henry showed Frank the papers, “my notes from the SUT program. I have created a program for the microchip for optical enhancement.”

  “Explain that.”

  “Dean’s eyes are fine. It’s his brain that is failing to send signals to his optic nerves. If we implant Dean with a microchip, that microchip will replace the signal the brain is failing to send, therefore, Dean will be able to see again.”

  “Holy shit.” Frank plopped in shock to the couch. “Will this work?”

  “I think so. In fact, I will make it work. I have to. Day and night if need be. There’s only one problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We can’t take a chance on lobotomizing Dean, and lobotomy is normally done to make room for the chip.”

  “So we can’t implant it then.”

  “Oh we could, if the chip was smaller.”

  “Make a smaller one.”

  Henry slowly sat down next to Frank. “I’ve been trying. I can’t. I don’t even know where to begin, to make one that small that will take the program without overloading it.”

  “It has to be able to be done,” Frank stated.

  “Oh sure. But right now, I can’t do it. I’ll figure it out though.”

  “Henry, you know who can probably do this?”

  “No, Frank.” Henry shook his head. “No, I won’t ask him.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to do this alone.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want him to help. No. This has to be mine,” Henry said defensively. “This has to be all my doing.”

  “That is stupid. You came up with the idea, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it is all yours only he’ll help you achieve it faster, if he can. Ask him.”

  “Aw, Frank,” Henry whined.

  “Ask him. If you can get Dean back his sight, then you do it. That is what is most important.”

  “I guess you’re right.” Henry stood up. “I’ll talk to him in the morning. He’s probably sleeping now. It’s almost two.”

  “No he’s not.”

  “How do you know?” Henry asked.

  “He lost a bet. He’s at the Social Hall now. Go.”

  “Against my better judgment, I’ll go.” Henry pouted and walked to the door. “But ... if it works, it’ll really be great huh?”

  “Yeah it will be.” Frank stood from the couch.

  “Don’t say anything to Dean until we know it works.”

  “No problem.”

  Henry opened the door. “Do you think Ellen will think it’s great that I can make Dean see again?”

  “I think she’ll be very happy, Henry.”

  “Good.” Henry grinned. “I’ll be back, I think. Night, Frank.” He shut the door.

  “Happy but still pissed,” Frank said to the closed door. He turned around to see Ellen’s wet shirt on his floor. “At you ... and now me. Shit.” He picked it up and clenched it.

  <><><><>

  Not much ever surprised Danny Hoi. Not the amount of glasses he had to wash, not the number of tables still left to wipe off. Not even the fact that Robbie Slagel, while taking down some of his equipment, kept
getting thirsty and grabbing a clean glass. None of that surprised him. Henry walking into the Social Hall, still dressed like he was at the softball game, did. Danny looked up from behind the bar then returned to doing his glasses. He figured Henry had to speak to Robbie. Why else would he be there? He realized what Henry wanted when a stack of papers hit the bar.

  “Danny.” Henry sat on a stool. “I need to speak to you.”

  “Are you going to be all mean to me because I’m in a good mood, Henry. I’m not in the mood to have you being mean.”

  “No. I have to ... I have to ask for your help. I need to know if you can help me.”

  “I don’t know. With what?”

  “Recognize this?” Henry stood slightly, and pulled something from his pocket, and laid it on the bar.

  “A microchip, but it’s blue.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s not from a SUT.” Danny examined it.

  “No. I made that.”

  “Does it work?” Danny asked.

  “I guess. It’s accepts the data.”

  “The data?” Danny asked. “You know how to program these things.”

  “I used to use the prefab programs on the disk that Robbie found, but I also learned how to create new programs.”

  “Excellent.”

  “In fact, Danny, I know quite a bit about the chips.”

  “So what do you need me for?”

  “See the chip? To implant that in the brain, a portion of the brain has to be removed to make room.”

  “That explains the zombie look.”

  “Exactly,” Henry stated. “I want to be able to implant a chip without having to perform a lobotomy on the patient.”

  “Make a smaller chip.” Danny handed it back. “That should work. One about a quarter of the size of this one and the base has to be plastic.”

  “I know, the electronic portion mainly has to be encased in plastic.”

  “Yep.”

  “So here’s the problem. Can it hold the data if it’s that small?” Henry leaned closer.

  “Yeah. I saw one time at a convention, a microchip so small it was nearly the size of pencil point. They said it could hold enough data to store all the social security numbers in the state of California.”

  “I need a small chip, Danny, and I need one soon. I can make one this size,” Henry held his chip, “but I’m lost making one smaller. Can you ... do you think you could do it?”

  “I can’t have it done tonight.”

  “Can you have it done this year?”

  “Hell, I can have it done this week. What’s the rush? You guys creating a new SUT?”

  “No.” Henry shook his head. “I created a program for optical enhancement. I did this today. I think I have it.”

  “Optical enhancement?” Danny stood up straight. “Enhancement enough to correct imperfect vision?”

  “Or to make ... to make a bind man see.”

  “Whoa.” Danny grabbed back the chip. “Dean.”

  “Exactly. When can you start working on it?”

  “Leave me your notes and your chip, and I’ll start working on it as soon as I finish with these glasses.”

  “Thank you.” Henry closed his eyes in gratitude. “Get back to me as soon as you make any progress.”

  “I will.” Danny set the things aside. “Henry? Thanks for coming to me with this.”

  “You’re really my only option, Danny.”

  “I see.” Danny gave a slight smile. “I hope I can help you out.”

  “For Dean’s sake and the sake of the community, let’s hope you can make this work.”

  “No, Henry, let’s hope we can make this work.”

  Henry gave a slight smile as he moved slowly to the door. “Danny, keep this under wraps, OK, at least until we get this going.”

  Danny held up his right hand, still holding the chip. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  Just as Henry began to nod he heard another voice call out ‘me too’. Surprised that someone else was there, Henry looked. “Robbie.”

  Robbie walked out from behind the amps, a shitty grin on his face. He was glad to know something that he wasn’t supposed to know, but most of all, he was glad to know what it was.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  AUGUST 2

  Ellen fussed with Brian. He was so hard to control. He wouldn’t just sit there, he’d kick his legs outward wanting so badly to get off Ellen’s lap. “Dean,” she whispered to him, “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

  “Shh.” He tilted his head into her. “Want me to take the baby?”

  “I want you to tell me I can go home.”

  “Ellen, please, quiet.”

  “No, Dean, you drag my ass out of bed, make me ...”

  “El.”

  “Not just me, mind you, but all the children, except for little Nick. You know this is something I just don’t do.”

  “Ellen.” Dean gritted his teeth and spoke through them, “Quiet.”

  “And everyone keeps fuckin ...”

  “El,” his voice rose to a louder whisper, “will you knock it off. We’re in church.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Well, I’m not letting you leave.” Cringing one more time at the thumping of Brian’s struggles, Dean gave up. “Give me Brian.”

  “No.”

  “Give him to me, El. You can’t control him.”

  “I’ll just take him out.”

  “No. I bring these kids to church all the time. Give him up.” Dean reached out and lifted Brian. He made a slight grunt as he transferred the rowdy one-year-old from Ellen’s lap to his. “Shh, Brian, be good,” Dean spoke soothingly. “That’s it.” He felt Brian start to settle and brought his lips to the baby’s head to kiss him. Sharp! Dean’s head sprung up immediately at the pain he felt to his lips. It was a sharp, prickling pain. He brought his hands up and felt the baby’s head. Upon doing so, Dean let out a shrill-sounding gasp of shock.

  Everyone looked back at him.

  “Dean!” Ellen scolded quietly. She slid down in the pew, knowing what had happened. He’d found out what she had been trying to avoid him finding out, the reason, pure and simple, that she withheld Brian from him all the night before and this morning.

  “El,” Dean spoke in a grunt, “what the hell happened to his hair!”

  <><><><>

  It the corner of Frank’s basement, Henry had his things set up. Since his portion of the cryo-lab accidently caught fire, it was secretive and safe at Frank’s. Originally only a corner, a small petition wall he had made blocked his computer equipment from anyone’s view. Set on a long workbench, a simple stool always sat in front of it. Henry’s logbooks were in a neat stack, and never was there much of a mess left around while, or after, Henry worked.

  That was less than twenty-four hours ago. Now the partition had been moved outward from the wall to make more working room and to add the second workbench. Henry’s little work-corner of the world in Frank’s basement now extended pretty close to mid basement.

  The neat workbench was scattered with papers, wires, tools, cups, plates, and remnants of food. The computer was running, and a cassette player played songs to fill the air along with the conversation. Henry and Danny stood at the longer workbench. Though the basement was well lit, Henry utilized the bendable table spotlights. A single one was arched in, causing a small golden circle over the area he and Danny huddled. Jason sat in a chair against the partition wall, an old metal folding table next to him held his ashtray and coffee. With his legs crossed, he read from notes printed from the computer, ones brought from Dean’s work at the clinic, and notes he added himself. He’d read, drop them, and read some more.

  As his hands worked with Danny’s, Henry lifted his eyes slightly when he heard Jason yawn. “I’m still waiting for an answer, Jason.”

  “I’m still working on one for you, Henry,” Jason said back.

  Henry shook his head slightly, eyes peering through the magni
fying glass he shared with Danny. “This looks good, Danny.”

  Danny adjusted his glasses and maneuvered a wire. “I think we should have a successful test after this adjustment.”

  “Let’s hope. We’ve been at it how long now?”

  “Too long,” Danny said. “Do you think I can sleep soon, Henry? I have this bed Beginnings gave me in this nice little house, and I haven’t been in it yet.”

  “I thought you wanted to work on this with me.”

  “I do... hold that still ... but I thought when I brought the chip design over to you, you’d at least wait.”

  “Wait until when ... no you’re missing the connection, right ... there, you got it.” Henry watched Danny work.

  “My eyes are losing their focus, Henry.”

  “Try harder. If you didn’t want to work on it right away, you shouldn’t have brought over the design two hours after I talked to you.”

  “You seemed restless. I thought you wanted to have it.”

  “I was restless, and I did. Thank you.”

  “Yeah, who would have thought that making this tiny chip would have been the easiest of details,” Danny stated. “Of course, I don’t think that William guy from Plastics was pleased with us when we woke him up at four thirty in the ... shit.” Danny pulled his hand out from the magnifying glass, bent his fingers a few times and returned them to the wires they worked on. “My hands are cramping.”

  “Almost there. Damn it, it’s not staying connected.” Henry grunted.

  “We’ll get it. As soon as we do and we encase this bad boy in its plastic shield, it should never lose connection again.”

  “Good. William did well on that, didn’t he?” Henry asked Danny.

  “Superb job, but you, Henry, you shaped it.” Danny looked up at him. “Just about ... hand me the chip portion. Any chance I can get some more coffee?”

  “Sure.” Using tweezers, Henry removed the chip from a case. “Don’t touch it with your fingers, remember.” Henry turned his head back to Jason. “Jason, can you get Danny some coffee?”

  “When?” Jason asked.

  “Now.”

  “No.” Jason flipped page. “Ten more minutes.”

  Shrugging and unable to move his hands, Henry returned to looking under the magnifying glass. “Once we get this thing together, what are the odds that the sterilization process will affect it?”