Stealing Childhood

by Terry Persun

  While Chuck obliged Dan’s orders, slipping and falling while dragging the guard, then getting back up and putting everything in order, Dan dragged the desk the rest of the way, parked it against the door, and rushed over to check on Jason, who had been quiet for longer than Dan would have liked. He set the gun down but within reach. He gingerly lifted Jason’s hand from the wound, then lifted his son’s T-shirt slowly, the blood sticking the shirt to the wound like velcro.

  Jason took a deep breath. “Doctor Dan? Prognosis?”

  “Well, you’ve got rib trauma, of course, low in the chest, which is good, and I suspect a lung bruise.” Dan touched around the entrance wound then slid his hand around the back and lifted Jason slightly, getting a moan out of his son. “I’m guessing, but it appears to be solid organ only.”

  “What’s that mean, and how the hell do you know it?” Jason asked.

  “Don’t talk, rest,” Dan said. Then he yelled over to Chuck. “Take off your shirt and throw it over here.” When Chuck turned to look at him, Dan picked up the gun and pointed it at him. “Hurry.”

  Chuck removed his shirt. He didn’t wear an undershirt, and Dan noticed how he tried to hold his gut in—vain and egotistical to the last. He threw the shirt toward Dan, but it landed short, so Dan scooted around Jason and grabbed the shirt, wadded it up, and placed it on the wound, then placed Jason’s hand over it. “Slight pressure.”

  Jason smiled crookedly.

  “Now rest.” Dan got up and paced back near the door.

  Chuck was back in position facing the blank wall, hands under his butt. “He’s going to die,” Chuck said with weak confidence.

  “You’re an asshole,” Dan said. “He’s going to be fine. Sore, but fine.”

  “I’ve seen this before,” Chuck said. “I’ve been around doctors my whole life. My dad was a doctor, hated that I became a lawyer, called it a wimpy career. But I remember a lot.”

  Dan cocked his head. So, he was bullied as a child, but by his own father. “Sorry to hear that, but you didn’t see the wound.”

  “I’ve seen enough of them.”

  “What? Did your dear old dad take you to ER with him or something?”

  Chuck stiffened. “How’d you know?”

  Dan didn’t know, but knew to take advantage of his good luck. “It’s my job to see inside of other people, know who they really are, what they’re really afraid of.” He stopped there. Less is more.

  “What are you going to do to me?”

  “I’m already doing it.” He waited a few seconds then added, “How are you feeling?”

  “Sick.” Chuck O lowered his head. “Please…”

  A knock came to the door. The guard leader yelled, “Doc’s here.”

  Dan walked over to the door. He knew he’d be an easy target, but had to believe the guard wouldn’t try anything as long as Chuck and the doctor were in such close proximity to danger. Dan was building his wall of protection. He grabbed the edge of the desk and dragged it away and stood behind the door. “Slowly, easily, and without the door opening more than a sliver. I’ve got it blocked, so don’t try to kick it open or several people die.”

  “Told you you were lying,” the leader said.

  Dan didn’t like that the man was right, but he was right all the same. Dan would do anything to save his son at this point. His fear was that he’d missed something. He needed the doctor. “Let’s do this.”

  The door opened a crack, and a doctor’s bag came through first, then Dr. Dunst squeezed through. When the door was shut again and Dan had the desk pushed back into position, Dr. Dunst said, “This isn’t my expertise…”

  Dan stared without saying a word, and Dr. Dunst went over to Jason and kneeled down. “Let me see… Bullet wound to the lower chest, left side…”

  “I don’t need a commentary,” Dan said, “just take care of him.”

  “He should be moved to a hospital,” Dr. Dunst said.

  “You are the hospital. So you’d better have everything you need in your magic bag or a lot of people are going to get hurt.”

  Jason smiled and shook his head, letting the doctor know that his dad’s threat wasn’t true, and Dan watched the doctor relax. The bag was opened, and he pulled out a hypodermic needle wrapped in plastic, placed it on Jason’s chest, then reached in for a small vial. “This will do nothing more than ease your pain. You’ll still be awake and coherent.” Then he gave a half shrug. “Maybe a little sleepy, but you’ll be able to fight it if you wish.”

  Dan had no idea what was next, but noticed the guard he’d knocked out was moving, waking up, probably with a splitting headache.

  The guard suddenly shook his head and sat up. “What the fuck?” He stared at Dan for a moment, as though trying to recognize him, then rolled to his side, ready to stand.

  Dan waved the gun barrel at the guard, “Right where you are or Chucky gets it.”

  The guard looked at Chuck in question.

  “Stand down,” Chuck said.

  “Stand down?” Dan had to laugh at Chuck acting tough. Like he knew soldier-talk. He addressed the doctor. “You have a stronger sedative in that bag you can give our friend here?”

  Dr. Dunst grunted, “Huh?”

  Dan motioned toward the guard.

  “Oh, yeah, I can take care of him.” He pulled another needle from his bag and another bottle of something then loaded the needle. He walked over to the guard, raised the needle in front of the guard’s widened eyes, flicked the tip, and pushed the needle into his arm. Before he stood up, he motioned toward Chuck. “Him, too?”

  Chuck gave the doctor a disgruntled look. “Not yet. I need his voice. If they think he’s dead, we’re dead.”

  “Gotcha.” He walked back to Jason’s side and began caring for the wound again. He also cut the wrapping off Jason’s earlier wound, cleaned it up, and rewrapped that one. “How did you manage not to get shot?” he asked Dan.

  “Luck. I’ve been where he is often enough. I must know how to get out of the way somehow. Instinct, maybe.”

  “You might want to teach him that trick. So, why don’t you stop?”

  “Why don’t you?” Dan asked in return.

  The doctor looked as if he were about to cry. His change in demeanor exhibited the stress he was under. He suddenly appeared to be on the edge of a complete breakdown. One push…

  “I don’t know,” he squeaked out. “I just wanted to help couples have children they wanted. And I wanted to help people who didn’t want children not to have them.”

  “You performed abortions?” Dan saw the deep wrinkles around Dr. Dunst’s eyes, around his lips, the bags under his eyes. He saw the sorrow resting across the man’s brow and the strain of what he’d been doing weighing against his shoulders. He felt sorry for him. Dr. Dunst was caught between emotion and science, emotion getting the better of him at the moment.

  “I do,” Dr. Dunst said. “But I also help—”

  “Shut up!” Chuck O said.

  Dr. Dunst glanced at the back of Chuck’s head. He quieted and lowered his eyes. “I could lose my license.”

  “So that’s what Chuck holds over you.” Dan shook his head and yelled at the back of Chuck’s head. “You, Chucky, if I hear another word from you, I’ll shoot the back of your head off.” When Chuck didn’t answer, Dan said, “Got that?”

  “Yes, sir,” Chuck said quietly.

  Dan turned back to Dr. Dunst. “Go on.”

  The man swallowed. “I shouldn’t.”

  “But you will,” Dan urged, waving the gun. “And he’s going to listen.”

  His eyes averted. He placed a hand on Jason’s chest, resting it there. “So many abortions. I was beginning to think no one wanted children, that all those children could have happy homes, but were gone.” He looked up with tear-swelled eyes. “I started having nightmares. Night after night. I couldn’t sleep. The children came back to me, to haunt me.”

  “You still can’t sleep?” Dan observed.

&nbs
p; “Better than it was for a while.”

  Dan cocked his head then slowly turned toward Chuck. “Him?”

  Dr. Dunst nodded. “It was only later that I realized he”—the doctor pointed at Chuck—“hired someone to make me have those dreams.” He lowered his head. “That was after I’d completed my initial research.”

  No wonder Chuck didn’t like the word, haunt. “What kind of research,” Dan asked.

  Dr. Dunst straightened, his shoulders eased back. “I’ve discovered a way to mature many eggs at once.” He swallowed, then went on. “I remove all the eggs from the woman’s body, save a good many of them, not all.” He paused while seemingly letting the word form slowing in his head. “And sell them.” He jerked his head toward Chuck. “Eggs have to go through several stages to get anywhere close to being fertilized, and I’ve discovered how to replicate those stages. We can freeze eggs for years. All those potentially unwanted children could have homes.” He began to sob. “And all those worthless whores who were too stupid to use protection wouldn’t be able to destroy those lives anymore.”

  “Yikes,” Dan said.

  Dr. Dunst wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. His shoulders were slumped again, his body folded over in grief. “We’re doing the right thing.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Dan said. “But I do know you’re doing it without permission.”

  Dr. Dunst pointed toward Chuck. “It’s all legal. He gets their signatures.”

  “They’re minors,” Dan said.

  “No.” Dr. Dunst shakes his head. “They’re not, are they?” He addressed the back of Chuck’s head.

  “Tell him,” Dan said to Chuck.

  “Some might have fake IDs, I don’t know,” Chuck said in a matter of fact way. He even gave a half shrug.

  “You’re lying,” Dan said.

  “You can’t prove anything,” Chuck said. “So, once this is over, you’re out of luck.” He snorted, which angered Dan.

  “I can’t believe it,” Dr. Dunst said. Then he pulled himself together and straightened his back. “It doesn’t matter. What I’m doing is right. Those girls don’t deserve to have children. And do what, raise them in drug-filled shacks somewhere? No. They can have their lives, but they don’t need to give birth.”

  He either believed what he said or was still trying to convince himself. Dan couldn’t decide. But he also knew differently. The man was weak, easily manipulated, even if he was brilliant. “Did you know they sold the girls off as sex slaves after you sterilized them? All the sex, none of the worry?”

  The doctor shook his head violently.

  “It’s true,” Dan said. “You tell him Chucky.”

  Chuck took a deep breath. His hands twitched under his ass. In the quietest voice, he said, “It’s true.”

  Dunst jumped up from the floor. “How could you do that?”

  “Extra payments,” Chuck said as though it was nothing more than a business deal. “We have more than one product. You’re only involved in part of that cycle.”

  “Product? Cycle?” Dr. Dunst screamed.

  A knock came to the door. “Everything okay in there?”

  “It’s fine,” Dan yelled.

  Chuck whispered, “It’s none of anyone’s business what we do unless you were hired to perform a specific duty. You do your work, we pay you for it.”

  Chuck looked sleazier to Dan every time he opened his mouth. He was taking “pleasing daddy” much too far for Dan’s taste. “That part of the business, my friend, is illegal.” Dan stood and motioned for the doctor to sit on the floor beside Chuck’s chair. “I need everyone in the same place.” After Dr. Dunst moved, his bag beside him, his face down, Dan kneeled near Jason.

  “Let him rest,” the doctor said, calm and assured, as though his wits were back with him. “But we do need to get him out of here soon. He really needs to be in a hospital. We should do a few tests, get someone in who has seen wounds like that before.”

  “I know,” Dan said.

  “I can’t guarantee he’ll be okay,” the doctor finally whispered.

  Chuck turned slightly in his seat. “I feel a little sick.”

  Dan smiled. The art of suggestion still works. “It will only get worse until you get us out of here alive.”

  “I can’t do that. I’m not the only one in charge.”

  Just what Dan thought, Chuck was nothing but the front man. For whom, though? Cora? She had blocked him at every turn.”

  Dan looked up, then back down into his son’s face. He wanted to journey, see where things were with Moose and Whale, the place underwater where he’d seen Jason before. He started to close his eyes, then opened them quickly, sensing danger. Dr. Dunst stared at him from across the room, perhaps waiting for him to be vulnerable. Dan pointed the gun at Dunst, who cringed and turned his head. “I’m going to pace, and you’re going to be quiet. Both of you. One peep and I’ll shoot automatically. No questions asked. I only need one of you as a hostage. So, if you feel a sneeze coming on, or a cough, you’d better hold it in. Especially you, sick boy.”

  Dr. Dunst nodded. Chuck stayed silent.

  Chapter 30

  Dan paced in short, heartbeat steps. He shuffled in a wide clockwise spiral, starting out then going in, heading down. Even though his eyes were open, he quickly saw nothing in the room, was able to keep his pace, his pattern, without faltering. His mind fell into a trance, his subconscious took over operating his body. His first act was to check on Jason. He stood at the end of a long pier, nothing but water in front of him. He turned slightly and saw Turtle sitting behind him. “What?” he asked.

  The turtle didn’t respond but walked closer.

  “Your shell,” Dan said in his journey, in his altered state, “is the symbol for heaven. What’s that mean today?” He worried for Jason’s life and felt that worry climb deeper inside him then pushed it away.

  Turtle lengthened its neck, circled it around and against the boardwalk, and flipped over, exposing his underside.

  “The symbol for Earth,” Dan said. “Uniting heaven and Earth? I don’t need riddles. Just tell me, will he be okay?” Dan felt a slight sense of urgency and had to control it. He turned completely around and bent down toward Turtle. At first, he had thought that he was going to have to jump and swim down through the dark water to see his son, but things change quickly in a journey. It’s about following, not about leading, and he came in wishing to lead. It was time to follow. “You don’t have to speak. I’m ready now,” Dan said.

  Turtle flipped himself back upright. “I am the keeper of the door.”

  “To the fairy realm,” Dan said. “The power of the female, lunar cycles.” He wanted to offer all he knew, but stopped short, feeling that he’d said enough. “Which door?”

  “There are a lot of entities living in two worlds at the moment, even you. You are hardly ever in the real world.”

  “I’ve always been that way,” Dan said, “but I wasn’t shot.”

  Turtle took a few steps toward Dan then passed him slightly. Dan thought he was headed for the water, but when he turned toward Turtle again, he witnessed thousands of tiny fairy-like orbs lifting from the water. “Eggs,” he said. “Thousands of them. The door to life?” He watched them float into the air. Some got to a certain height and popped, like balloons, and fell toward the ground. Not all of them, but most. A few kept rising. Dan stood and walked to the end of the pier. Turtle followed.

  “I thought they were between heaven and Earth.” Dan stared, waiting to see what would happen next. There was a buzzing sound in the air from all the eggs leaving the water. Wind passed through and around them. So many fell back into the water after popping, leaving a filmy residue. He stood transfixed. They all stopped moving. He turned to look at Turtle.

  “Stop this from happening,” Turtle said. It was as simple as that.

  At that moment, all the eggs fell noisily back into the water. They sounded like crying voices, small sounds, wispy sounds like all the cockro
ach’s children talking at once, all the languages of crows. In a moment, the floating eggs were gone from the sky completely, and there was nothing but silence. A divine silence. Dan said, “Natural selection can’t happen when we interfere.”

  Turtle turned and walked back down the pier toward land.

  Dan watched for a moment then followed. He still hadn’t found out about Jason, perhaps he wasn’t supposed to, perhaps Jason, too, was part of natural selection. Dan followed Turtle onto land and allowed his vision to go dark. He knew when the journey was over, but before he let go, he conjured up Chuck’s image and walked to his side. He picked up a handful of sand, sand fleas jumping in and around his hand and the sand. He pushed his hand through Chuck’s stomach and let go of the sand and fleas, then pulled his hand out clean. In a moment, the room came back into view.

  Chapter 31

  No one had moved. No one had made a noise. He took a deep breath and lowered the pistol. Dr. Dunst relaxed. “Okay,” Dan said. “You have to stop this.”

  Dr. Dunst shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your research, your extractions. You have to stop.”

  Dr. Dunst turned and looked at Chuck.

  “He can’t help you or make you do anything any longer,” Dan said. “You get to choose. What you’re doing is wrong. Imagine how many lives you’re ending by extracting all the eggs.”

  “But look how many I’ve saved.”

  “You don’t get to choose,” Dan said. “Each person gets to choose on their own. Not you. And definitely not Chuck.”

  Chuck said, “We haven’t done anything illegal.” He swallowed as though trying to keep something down. “Listen.” He swallowed again, fighting what was churning and jumping inside him.

  Dan could see it happening and pushed Chuck. “Everything you’re doing is illegal once proved.”

  “You can’t. You won’t get out of here.”