There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 23

They told you it couldn't possibly work in a vacuum. Then they put it in their large vacuum chamber. The engine they said couldn't possibly work, nearly blew their chamber apart because of the power it produced.

They looked at you as they did at women during the 17th century. They wanted to put a red X on your head and burn you at the stake, because you are a witch when it comes to science.

For that woman, the woman I love, I would have moved heaven, earth, and the stars to keep our marriage together, but more importantly, I wanted to keep her happy.

Then tonight that woman reminded me of what she has turned into over the last few years. I saw what she was capable of doing to the man who had given her everything. From the day he picked her up in that whore's dress she was wearing, until the day he put your hand in mine, his only thought was to make you better than you were the day before. He pushed you, and pushed you to make you better than you ever thought you could be, and you became even better than you or he thought you were capable of becoming.

Now, he has had a knockdown drag-out bout, with one of the toughest cancers there is, and by the grace of God, he won.

On the happiest day of his new life, the first day he is able to return to work, his daughter has a meltdown in front of him. He is forced to throw his own flesh and blood out of the building in front of everyone.

He tries to help you by asking your mom to find out what is going on in that thick skull of yours, but Teddy decides to make her entrance instead.

So I am talking to the woman who wants to become my ex-wife, because she is what she always has been, a bitch. Unfortunately, at this moment, she is a bitch that is out of control, and I want to know why? Not only do I want to know, I think I deserve to know why."

"I don't like me. I don't like what I have become. Maybe I wasn't supposed to be a scientist, and that is what's depressing me. I think I want to go to Africa and teach. I like teaching. I think I'd be good at it. Yes that's what I'm going to do. We'll get a divorce, and I will go to Africa and teach."

"Do you really think..."

"I'm sorry sir, you're going to have to leave. I have to wash Mrs. Thyme down and it's time for her medication. She'll be asleep for three or four hours. You can see her again in the morning."

"In the morning..."

"Sir, you can leave now or I'll get security and they will help you leave."

"I will be here, you better be too."

****************

Delicious asked, "Can I forgo the bath now?"

"You're not getting a bath. Things are getting a little heated in here, and before anything started hitting the walls, I decided to separate you two. Before I put you to sleep is there anything you'd like to talk about mother to mother?"

"Are you working later tonight?"

"I'm here until midnight, sometimes even later."

"Can we talk after I wake up?"

"I'll put you down on my schedule for around 10 PM. I'll have the kitchen send up something cold for your dinner."

"Thank you Sheila."

"You're welcome Delicious. This will only sting for a second."

**************

The medication did not keep her asleep as long as everyone thought it would. Delicious called the nurse's station and asked if she could use the walker to get some exercise in the hallway.

Sheila and an aide went to her room to assist her.

As she took her first few steps she felt the pulling of the stitches in her stomach.

Delicious said, "I thought they use staples now?"

"Not when Doctor Finch operates on you. He is a plastic surgeon by specialty. When you heal, you won't know where the incision was. He is a magician with the needle and thread."

As she walked slowly, she spoke with Sheila about the way she noticed she changed over the last few years, and even though the people around her were always nice, and kind to her, she was always on edge, and had a biting remark on the tip of her tongue for anything that was not perfect.

Sheila asked if she had money problems.

Delicious laughed. "Sheila, you should have my money problems."

"What do you mean?"

Delicious went through the litany of salaries, money from patents, and the income from the railroad.

"So Sheila, after taxes, endowments to colleges, our foundation, and 15 lesser known charities around the nation, we left ourselves with $10 million last year. That's about what we leave ourselves every year."

"Please tell me you live in a mansion."

"No we live in a four bedroom house on the other side of Hill Boulevard. We bought it in a down market and the cost is $57,000."

"You know I'm going to say I hate you."

"I'll ask Gray to give it to you as a gift, when he leaves."

"You're out of your mind. That's three quarters of my yearly salary."

"Yes, but it's not a ripple in ours. Gray will be leaving December 25. If he agrees to it, you can move in on the 26th."

"I'll kiss his ass if he does."

"You won't have to, he's a very good man."

"Let's get back to that, why are you leaving him?"

"I've turned into a shrew, and I can't control it. I've always been a bitch, but it was always on my terms. I could turn it on and off anytime I wanted to, but now the off switch is broken. I can get angry, and miserable at the drop of a hat and I can stay that way until hell freezes over. I'm surprised my child still talks to me."

"Have you spoken to an electrician about the off switch?"

"There is no electrician for this off switch Sheila."

"I heard your husband say that you were the smartest person he ever knew. If you have broken off switch on the wall, you call an electrician. If you have broken switch in your head, you see a psychiatrist."

"I'm not crazy."

"I didn't say you were. We are standing here talking. That's what you do with a psychiatrist. They are better qualified to tell you what is going on between your ears than I am. There are no really good ones here. You're going to have to travel to see a good one."

As they were passing the nurse's station, on the way back to her room, she asked Sheila to check on her father's condition, but not say who was asking.

Sheila called the front desk and asked how the patient in 233 was doing.

"Thanks, if there's any radical change would you let me know please."

"Your dad is fine. He will be going home in the morning."

"Thank you Sheila, I think I'll go to sleep now. I feel like I've run a marathon."

"Before you do anything, I want to take a look at that bandage."

*********************

As she reached the bottom of the stairwell, Delicious began to think this was not one of her brightest ideas. She was perspiring; her head was spinning, and she wasn't sure if he could make it, without being seen. She looked at the stairwell, and the thought of walking back up to the third floor was not appetizing. Oh well here I go.

She opened the heavy fire door, and peeked down the hallway. All the lights were dim, except for the area around the nurse's station. She stayed by the wall, using it to hold herself up, and hide herself at the same time.

'Where the hell is room 233?' Shit, it's diagonally across from the nurse's station. If anyone is there, they will see me as clear as day.

She slid silently, along the wall, towards the door. She pushed the handle, and pushed the door inward to gain access to the room. She moved in as quickly as she could, closed the door, and stayed in the darkness.

She could see his form lying in the bed. He seemed to be comfortable and breathing easily. She was trying to decide what to do from here.

Suddenly:

"Are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to talk to me? You are over an hour late." He turned on the soft light in the room but she still covered her eyes because of it.

"What do you mean I'm an hour late?"

"We had a pool going. I had 1:15, so you're an hour late. I think Jennifer won, or maybe it was Newton. One of them had it. Gray said you'd be here at 1 o'clock."

"Before I start killing people, please tell me that you actually fainted in the hospital."

"Who me, I've never felt better in my life."

"I'm going to kill him. He's getting very good at lying to me."

"So what, you're leaving him. You are leaving your children. You have no say in anything he or the children do from this time forward. You are going to Africa to teach water coloring. When Gray told me that I nearly peed my pants."

"I never said I was teaching water coloring. I just said I was going to teach."

"What are you qualified to teach: Physics, calculus, aeronautical engineering, electrical circuitry, linear algebra. I understand there is a great need for teachers in those areas in Botswana and Namibia."

"Don't make fun of me dad."

"I don't have to make fun of you baby, you're doing a great job of it by yourself. The only thing I don't know is why. If you know why please tell me, and all of us will help you get through it. Please talk to me, staying silent isn't helping it's hurting all of us."

"You're not going to yell at me, because you are going to think it's stupid. It's been eating me alive and nothing anyone can do can help me."

"I can't promise you anything except help. That I can promise you in a full measure from each of us and from anywhere we can get it."

"You had a taste of it three months ago when you got home from Houston, and went straight to the ship. Do you remember what happened to you?"

"Yes, I went up to the command level I looked around and realized that my work was done. There was no seat there for me. I was just an engineer and all the engineering was finished. My body went into shut down mode, and they brought me home."

"That's right, and a little more than 2 ½ years ago, I finished installing and checking the Ion H2 engines. It was the proudest moment of my life, when all of those engines were installed, and checked out perfectly. For the next few months, everyone was congratulating me on the smoothness of the installation process, and the way everything performed afterwards.

Then everyone moved on to the next phase of the work, everyone but me. My work was done. My next project won't start until April of next year, if the nuclear engine gets here on time. I have been going crazy, because I have nothing to do. Everyone is working, except me. I am useless. I felt as useless as you did, when you stood on the command level, and it is driving me out of my mind every day."

I said into the tiny microphone on my pajama's lapel, "Did everyone get that okay?"

The two speakers in the room came alive with, "Came through loud and clear dad. Yes honey, she almost sounded believable."

Delicious' mouth was wide open." You've recorded our conversation?"

"Audio and video dear, just in case we needed it for court."

"Why would you need for court, I am giving him everything."

"No Delicious, not that kind of court. We may need this to put you away until December, or until you get your head on straight."

"You guys are five hours late. Sheila talked me into that at 9 o'clock. I can't believe you went through all this to trap me."

"Think back to what your husband said to you this afternoon. ' I will move the earth, the sun, and the stars to get you help.' If he is willing to do that for a little bitch like you, this is nothing."

"I'm not a little, I'm 5' foot 7."

The door to Even's room opened, and Gray walked in. "You were a 5'7" bitch when I met you, and I handled you then. Do you want to throw it away, or would you like to try to keep it going?"

"I never wanted to throw it away. I wanted your lives to be better than it would have been with me in it. I was only thinking of you."

"The next time you want to throw my life away; ask me first, don't tell me what to do. You have Newton confused. We are going to have to work with him to bring him back to normal."

"I'm going to have to find a psychiatrist in Austin. I'll be going there quite often in the beginning. I don't want to be the first crazy person to go into space."

"Babe, your dad took that into consideration when he was making out the manifest."

"Grayson, I still owe you for the hospital this afternoon, be careful."

"Why, what did I say this afternoon?"

"They were talking about Teddy screaming, and you said, "Close, but not as big as her mother's."

"It's amazing what women can do. You stomach is cut into open for all to see. You are under sedation, a newborn is screaming her head off, and a Doctor and a nurse are having a jovial conversation. I make a quick statement about a baby and her mother's mouth, and you remember it all. Why do we need computers?"

"Gray when you look to the left and right of you at work who do you see working on the computers?"

"Men."

"Now you know why we need computers."

Gray leaned down and picked her up. If you say one word Mrs. Thyme I going to report you to the nurse's station."

"Gray, I already did. I didn't want anyone to think she'd been kidnapped. They would've started a party up there."

Delicious yelled, "Dad, be nice."

"If I wasn't nice, you would be living in Maine as an unwed mother, living on food stamps."

"Gray put me down. I'm going to kill him."

"Go ahead Gray, put her down. Let's see if her bite is as big as her bark."

Delicious stopped inches short of my bed, and she started reminding me of the moral values her mother drilled into her head, when a nurse burst into the room.

"I'm sorry to break this up, but Mrs. Thyme we need you back in your room."

"Why, what is going on?"

"It's Teddy, she's causing a riot in the nursery."

"How can she be causing a riot in the nursery, she isn't one day old."

"We know, but every time she does something, the other babies do it also. If she gets hungry, she cries. Seconds later, all the other babies start crying, because they want to be fed also. If Teddy gets wet, seconds later all the other babies are wet. On a whim, we moved her into the pediatric ICU, away from all the other babies. They all calmed down, and went into a normal routine. When we brought Teddy back into the room, it started all over again.

We don't have enough nurses to staff both units during the night. You are going to have to watch Teddy for us."

Delicious looked at us, and shook her head. "You people wonder why I need a psychiatrist. I think I'll buy one, and have him live at home with me."

Gray picked her up again, and said, "Madame, your girl child calls."

"That's what I'm worried about. If she starts talking to me, I'm giving her to you. I'm not ready for her mouth yet."

"I'm staying in your room with you tonight."

"It's almost 3 o'clock in the morning, you've got to go home and get some rest if you are going to work today."

"My wife just had a baby. I think they'll know why I'm not at work today."

"Gray, I'm so sorry."

"When we get you better, I'm going to beat the shit out of you."

"Okay."

"That's it, okay, no fighting, no arguing, and no getting pissed off at me?"

"No, I'll just poison your food, and little by little I'll kill you."

"Now there's the girl I married."

As he laid her down in her bed, a nurse rolled Teddy in. She looked so cute in her little incubator.

Gray said, "She has red hair. You called it right, she is going to be 'Tiny Terror Teddy.' Look at that little diaper, I didn't realize they made them that small."

Teddy slipped into her father's mind, "They're not comfortable either."

Gray's eyes opened wide, the color drained from his face, and he took a step back from the incubator.

"What's the matter Gray, you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"It's worse than that babe. Teddy just told me her diaper is uncomfortable."

Delicious became hysterical. Teddy was communicating with the two men in her life, and Gray was blown over like a feather.

"This is not funny Delicious."

"You can always join me at the psychiatrist, and explain to him that your one day old baby is talking to you. We can see which one of us he puts in the rubber room first."

Teddy said to Gray, "Dad, will you mom go to sleep, you're bothering me."

Gray threw his hands over his ears, and Delicious laughed at him again.

"What did your daughter have to say this time?"

"We are bothering her. She wants us to go to sleep."

************

Note: Dear readers, my schedule will become quite erratic for the next few months. I will be flying back and forth to Houston for chemotherapy for different lengths of time. The publication of the next chapter will depending on how long I am gone, and how I feel when I get back. I hope you understand my difficulty in giving you even an approximate time, and will bear with me, if there is a prolonged absence.

Bob/PD10