Fook (31 page)

“Son of a bitch,” Dustin huffed at the
missing bell.

“You ready to go pumpkin,” Britney ignored
her delusional ex as she made her way over to the VCR, bringing an
end to the alphabet song.

“Yup,” Abby responded, grabbing the pink,
stuffed dog that she’d sat down next to the T.V..

“You’ve still got Saturday, right?” Britney
paused beside a still baffled Dustin.

“What?”

“Saturday. You can still take your daughter
that night, right? Damn it Dustin. You know that Charlie and I have
a dinner to go to and—”

“—Yeah, yeah. I’ve got her. Not a problem,”
he cut her off before she could go into one of her typical,
berating rants. “I wouldn’t want you and
Charlie
to miss
your precious dinner.”

“I’ll drop her off around five if that’s
okay with you,” she chose to ignore his disdain for her boyfriend
of nearly two years as she made her way back to the front door.
“Come-on Abby.”

“Bye kiddo,” Dustin knelt down to give his
daughter a hug.

“Bye Daddy. Love you.”

“I love you too. I’ll see you on Saturday.
We can get pizza.”

“And watch Elmo,” Abby added.

Reluctantly, “And watch Elmo,” Dustin
resisted the urge to moan in agony.

“It’s a date then,” the little girl
assertively nodded before running after her mother and out of the
store.

Even though he and his ex didn’t get along,
he couldn’t help but be grateful for the amazing little girl she’d
given him.

Making his way to the back of the store, he
grabbed the mop from the bucket and began pushing the larger bits
of glass to the side while soaking up as much of the vodka as
possible.

“Why the hell would they steal the bell?”
Dustin contemplated the disappearance of the simplistic alarm
system. “And how didn't I notice them taking it?”

“Eh hem.”

Startled by the sudden sound of someone
clearing their throat to his back, Dustin turned just in time to
catch a glimpse of a grey goose in flight.

THIRTY-THREE

“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?”
Sarah demanded the explanation she’d been seeking ever since Derek
had forced her to leave the game and catch a cab over to Mass
General Hospital. Approaching the doors to the E.R., she’d finally
decided that she’d had enough of his question dodging. Stopping in
her tracks, she grabbed hold of his arm and brought him to a halt
as well.

“What are you doing? We don’t have time for
this,” Derek protested.

“Time. Ever since you showed up it's been
all about time. You know what I don’t have time for? Bullshit.”

Derek was a bit taken aback by the sudden
departure of the playful, carefree girl he’d just gotten to know.
Now he sort of knew how Jason must have felt when she’d used the
same scolding tone on him back at the restaurant.

“I want some answers, Derek, if that really
is your name. Who are you? What are you doing here, really?”

“My name really is Derek and I already told
you—”

“—Yeah the future thing. That was cute at
first but I’m not eight. Time travel isn’t possible, so what are
you really doing here?

Deciding to leave the time travel portion
out of it, he figured that she might at least go for what he
suspected Jason was up to. “Alright. You see this?” he withdrew the
hospital I.D. tag from his pocket. "This belongs to a patient by
the name of Tillmore, Tabitha Tillmore.”

As if that name was supposed to mean
something to her.

“I think Jason put this on the bottle back
at the game.”

“Jason? Your crazy, homicidal friend from
the future, Jason?” Sarah tried to figure out where this
explanation was going and just how long she should listen before
walking away.

“I think he’s figured out a way to bend time
beyond what we’d originally thought possible.”

“The time thing again,” Sarah turned to
begin waving down another taxi.

“Yes,” Derek grabbed her shoulder, spinning
her back around to face him.

Surprised, she wore an expression of shock
with a hint of fear.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I know how it
sounds but you have to believe me. It’s true. When we used the
machine the first time we had very specific points in time that we
could travel to. You see, the earth has to be aligned in exactly
the same location as the time from which you're traveling. We had
the ability to bend the trajectory of the jump a bit, but no more
than twelve hours.”

“That’s the twelve hours you were mumbling
about last night. That’s why you said I was safe and that’s why you
thought you were stuck here,” Sarah finally seemed to be catching
on to what he was saying.

“Yes, but I don’t think that’s true anymore.
Jason must have figured out a way to expand the window.”

“In one day,” Sarah was trying to comprehend
the insanity that was coming from Derek’s mouth.

“One day for us but it could have been
weeks, months, hell, years for him. All that matters is that I
think he did it and now I think he’s come back.”

“For this Tillmore chick.”

“Yes...no...I mean, for her daughter.”

“Her daughter? How do you know she has a
daughter?”

“Because, in about fifteen years Jason is
going to go out with her and she’s going to ditch him at the
amusement park.”

Now she
knew
he was making this whole
thing up. “Really? He’s so unstable that he’s going to come all the
way back in time for the mother of a girl who ditched him in high
school?”

“I know it sounds crazy—”

“—No, we’re way past crazy,” Sarah turned
again to flag down a ride.

“It is crazy. There’s a very dark side to
Jason that I didn’t even know existed until last night. I think you
saw a hint of it in the restaurant the other day. That wasn’t the
Jason I knew who said those things to you.”

“I thought you pressured him to be more
outgoing.”

“Yes, but you have to admit, there’s
outgoing and then there’s offering sex for food…to put it
politely,” Derek softened Jason’s words.

“Why, now?” Sarah moved closer to the curb,
still searching for a cab as Derek followed.

“Well, I suspect that he hasn’t figured out
how to bend the trip enough to go after the actual girl yet.”

“Yeah, but why not just hunt her down in
his...your time? Why come all the way back here?”

“Because I’m here,” Derek realized just how
sick this situation was. Jason wasn’t just back here for the girl.
He was back for him as well. He obviously wanted him to know what
he was up to, but why? Was he going to try and frame him for
another murder or was this some sort of sick cat and mouse game
that he was trying to get going. All he did know was that he had to
get to Mrs. Tillmore and warn her before Jason could go through
with whatever he had planned.

“Taxi!” Sarah shouted at a passing cab,
snapping Derek out of his introspective trance.

“We don’t have time for this. We have to get
inside. According to this...” he held up the bracelet again,
“...Mrs. Tillmore was checked in earlier today. We at least have to
go in and see if she’s still here.”

“No. I don’t have to go anywhere. Listen,
you seem like a real nice guy...you might be a bit unhinged...but a
nice guy nonetheless. I just don’t have time for stories of time
travel and psychotic best friends and revenge on the mother of a
scorned lover,” Sarah clarified to herself just how crazy this
whole thing was as a cab finally pulled to the curb beside them.
“You go ahead and alert Mrs. Tillmore, but let me warn you…,” she
added as she opened the door and took a seat in the back of the
cab, “...if you go in there and tell her even half of what you’ve
told me, you’re going to end up in the psych ward instead of that
E.R..” And with that final warning, the cab pulled away with Sarah
in it.

Standing on the curb, watching the cab as it
turned the corner and disappeared from view, Derek contemplated
Sarah’s advice. She was right. No one was going to believe him and
he probably
was
going to end up in some psychiatric
hospital, but he had helped to create the device that had brought
about these events and it was his responsibility to do everything
in his power to stop Jason, no matter what.

His determination rejuvenated, he sprinted
for the E.R. doors.

*****

“I can’t be pregnant and you can stop doing that.
I’m knocked up, not crippled,” Tabitha complained, freeing herself
of her husband’s over coddling grasp. Ever since they’d left the
hospital he’d been carefully guiding her around with one hand on
her arm and the other on the small of her back as if he expected
her to collapse again at any moment.

Richard released his grip and ceased his
escort as his wife entered the master bath alone, closing the door
behind her. He wasn’t offended by her harsh tone or short temper.
She’d been through a lot already and the news of an unexpected
pregnancy was something she’d have to get used to. He, on the other
hand, was doing everything he could to contain his excitement.

“Can I get you anything?” he called through
the door, his question going unanswered as his words were cut off
by the sound of water coming from the bathtub faucet.

“I mean, how are we going to make this
work!?” Tabitha continued to vocalize her nerves, shouting over the
running water.

“We’ll make it work."

“I know we’ll make it work. We always make
things work. This just isn’t how I planned it. I don’t have time to
take care of a baby
and
run a failing company.”

“Melody can pick up the slack for you.”

“Melody is a brilliant Creative Director but
she’s no salesman. You can have the greatest idea in the world but
it doesn’t do any good if there’s no one to sell it.”

Leaning against the doorjamb, “I’m sure
she’d do fine. Besides, you just landed that big deal today,” he
reminded her.

“
One
deal.”

“Well it’s one more than you had yesterday.
You’re going to be fine. The company is going to be fine and we are
going to be fine,” Richard leaned closer to the door as the water
stopped.

She didn’t answer.

“If we have to we...” Realizing that he was
still yelling, even though he no longer had to compete with the
roar of the running faucet, he turned the knob and slowly cracked
the door. His wife’s head came into view in the large mirror over
the sink, though the rest of her body remained concealed by the
porcelain walls of the oval, garden tub nestled in the corner. “If
we have to...” he continued in a softer tone to announce his
presence, “...we’ll hire a nanny.”

Pulling the washcloth from her eyes, she
slowly tilted her head to the side to face her husband, who was now
standing in the middle of the room, looking down at her. “And how
are we going to afford that? We can barely afford this house right
now.”

“Well...you’re not the only one who got a
bit of news today,” he hinted at the news he’d been keeping since
he’d received the call from Melody that Tabitha was in the
hospital.

Tabitha just stared.

“You know how I told you about that big job
in Texas that my company was bidding on?” He took her continued
interest as a “yes”. “Well…we got it and they asked me to be the
lead engineer on the project.”

The worried frown, which had plagued
Tabitha’s face since the doctor had uttered those two life changing
words, finally began to melt as a smile fought it way through.
“That’s great! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“The whole hospital thing and then the baby
news. The timing didn’t seem right.”

“That’s amazing,” the frown began to
return.

“What’s wrong?” Richard watched as his
wife’s brief happiness slowly faded away.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” he asked, taking a seat on the
edge of the tub and placing a hand on her head, careful to avoid
the large, stapled gash just above her forehead and partially
concealed beneath her hairline.

“For being such a bitch.”

“What?”

“You’ve had that news all day. It’s probably
been killing you to hold it in and all I’ve been doing is going on
and on about how screwed we are and woe is me.”

“I was wondering if it would ever end,” he
smiled.

“Ass,” Tabitha’s smile returned as she
playfully swatted a spray of water in his direction.

Laughing, “It does mean a bit more travel
but it also means a fairly significant raise,” he continued.

“How much travel?” Tabitha questioned,
concerned that she was now going to be left to raise a baby on her
own.

“One week a month, tops,” he assured.

Okay with that number, “how much more
money?”

“Ten percent and this puts me one step
closer to making associate with the firm and only five to ten years
from partner.”

She could tell that he was excited by the
news. Ambition was what she’d always found most attractive about
Richard. He was a go getter, incapable of failure, which is why,
deep down, even though she truly was worried about being a mother,
she really did believe that everything was going to be alright.
“Congratulations, Mr. Tillmore,” she smiled, looking into his
eyes.

“Why thank you Mrs. Tillmore,” he smiled
back as he leaned in for a kiss. “Is there possibly room in there
for another?” he scanned he tub, eyeing his wife’s naked body
beneath the ripples of steaming water.

“I don’t know. There’s two of us in here
already. It’s getting kind of crowded.”

“Maybe I can join you and we can try for
twins.”

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that,”
Tabitha grinned.

“But it could be fun to try,” he smiled as
he slid over the edge and splashed down beside her.

*****

Staggering through the E.R. doors holding his left
arm, his original plan had been to fake a heart attack in hopes
that such a serious ailment would allow him to bypass the cuts and
broken arms and miscellaneous ailments filling the busy waiting
room. As soon as he’d set foot on the white tile floor however,
he’d instantly changed his mind, and, fearing drawing too much
attention to himself, he’d quickly ducked into the sea of patient
filled, blue plastic chairs.