FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #6

Chapter 1

Almost everyone thought the man and the boy were father and son.  It wasn’t the physical resemblance that made this impression; it was the ease with which they interacted, and the obvious comfort the small boy showed in leaning his head against the man’s arm while they sat on the airplane. 

“Wow, do you have any other games on there?  I see Curious George!”  

Tad looked at the five-year old seated next to him and smiled, grateful he’d downloaded the app for his niece.  He booted it and showed Joey the image on the iPhone.

“Do you know how to color on one of these things, Joey?”

“Uh-uh,” the boy shook his head.

“Here, you just pick a picture like this, then choose your colors down here, and when you’re done you can save it like this, or not save it and choose another one like this,” Tad said, demonstrating each action.  “Got it?”

“Yes,” Joey replied.  Tad handed him the iPhone and watched as Joey flawlessly started using the app to color a picture of Curious George skateboarding through a park.

“Can I get you anything else to drink?”

Tad looked up at the young blonde flight attendant, then back at Joey.

“Hey, do you want more juice?” he asked him.

“No, thank you,” Joey replied, his eyes never leaving the device in his hand.

“Guess not,” Tad smiled.

“He’s pretty good with that thing,” she said.

“Yeah, pretty soon half the apps will be for him,” Tad joked, and the young woman laughed and moved down the aisle.

Tad checked his watch.  Half an hour until they landed in Chicago.  He hoped Joey’s father would be there to meet them like Song had promised.   Tad hadn’t wanted to fly with the boy.  If he didn’t get all three of his Chicago clients to renew their contracts, he could kiss his consulting business goodbye.  But when Song had found out he was taking the same flight as Joey out of Kansas City, she didn’t hesitate to ask Tad to keep an eye on him and see he was delivered safely to his father.  Now Tad thought that if he could hand Joey off on schedule, he’d still be able to make his first client meeting downtown.

Chapter 2

Tad held Joey’s hand as they walked through the bustling terminal towards Baggage Claim.   Joey’s dad was supposed to meet them there, even though Tad hadn’t checked any bags for his four-day trip.  As they rode the escalator down to the rotating luggage carriers, Tad looked around but didn’t see anyone that looked like an anxious parent watching for his small son.  

“Do you see your dad anywhere?” he asked Joey.

Joey looked all around the cavernous area once, then twice, then three times.

“No,” he replied, a lot more unconcerned than Tad felt.

They walked over to the carousel assigned to their flight and milled around, looking through the throng of people.  Tad had no idea what Joey’s dad looked like, but was sure the man would recognize Joey when he saw him.  The clock ticking away in Tad’s head didn’t help calm his nerves.  Soon the baggage machine stopped, the passengers were gone, and the only two people standing there were Tad and Joey.

“OK,” Tad said, “don’t worry, I’m sure your dad is just stuck in traffic or something.”

“OK,” Joey replied agreeably, not showing any signs of distress.  Tad pulled out his phone and asked Joey what his mom’s cell phone number was.  Tad punched it in as Joey recited it, and listened to it ring five times before he got Song’s voicemail.

“Song?  Hi, it’s Tad.  We’re safely in Chicago but there is no sign of Joey’s dad.  Can you call me back ASAP?  Thanks.”  He suppressed irritation equal to his growing concern for Joey as he silently cursed Song.  Great job, mom.  What a disaster.

“Do you know your dad’s phone number?”

Joey shook his head.

“You okay?” Tad asked him.  “You look a little pale.”

“I’m okay,” Joey replied, not looking at him.

Tad checked his watch again, fighting a rising anxiety that morphed into anger at Song.  He called his client, who answered almost right away.

“Jeff?  Hi, it’s Tad.  Listen, I’m in Chicago but running late.  Yes, traffic.  Can you give me about half an hour?  Oh.  I understand.  Yeah, we can reschedule, sure.”

Tad glanced at Joey as he hung up.  Maybe he could make it with just two clients, he thought dully.  

“You’re late because my dad isn’t here, right?”

“You’re five?” Tad asked.  Joey just looked back at him, waiting for an answer.  “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure he’ll meet us here soon.  You want a hot chocolate?”

Joey nodded, and Tad sat him on an empty bank of chairs while he walked over to a kiosk selling coffee.  He called Song once more, got the same no answer, and returned with Joey’s drink.

“Careful, it might be hot.”

“OK,” Joey said, raising the cup to his lips tentatively.  Tad checked his watch again and reached for his phone.  He heard the cardboard cup hit the metal arm of the chair before he heard Joey’s body hit the floor.  Then he was staring in horror as Joey started shaking uncontrollably, hot chocolate spilled all over the front of his jacket, feet and arms flailing.  His eyes had rolled back in his head.

“Jesus Christ!” Tad shouted to the empty baggage area.  He frantically pounded 9-1-1 into his phone as he jumped to Joey’s side, trying to keep the boy’s head from bouncing off the floor as his small body shook like he was being electrocuted. 

Chapter 3

Tad stood outside the door to Joey’s room at Children’s Memorial Hospital.  He held a sheaf of paperwork attached to a clipboard in his hand.  The ambulance had taken Joey straight into Emergency, and he had been treated by an ER doctor who then admitted Joey to the hospital.  A nurse had approached Tad with the clipboard and pen, and asked Tad to fill out the admission forms.  Joey was currently unconscious, or maybe just asleep, Tad hoped.  He looked down at the first form and realized he knew almost none of the information about Joey that was required to complete it.  He was saved from making another pointless call to Song by a doctor in a white lab coat who looked younger than he should have.

“I’m Dr. MacLeod.  Are you Joey’s father?” the doctor asked, approaching him.

“No,” Tad replied uncomfortably.  “I’m his … guardian.  We just got here from Kansas City this afternoon.”

“All right,” the doctor replied, apparently satisfied.  “Joey had a seizure.  Has he had any seizures before this?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Tad replied truthfully.  

“You don’t know?” the doctor asked doubtfully.

“Not when he’s been with me,” Tad said.

“What can you tell me about his medical history?”

“Not much, he’s always seemed like a healthy kid to me.”

The doctor looked at Tad closely for a moment.

“Fill out those forms as quickly as possible.  We need to know his history to diagnose why he had the seizure.  I’ll check back with you in half an hour.”

The doctor turned to leave when a shrill, insistent alarm from a monitor in Joey’s room stopped him.  He and Tad bolted into Joey’s room just in time to see the boy’s small body start to convulse in a repeat of the terrifying episode at the airport.

“Nurse!” shouted the doctor.  “Stand back,” he yelled at Tad.  A nurse rushed into the room and the doctor shouted something to her.  She was joined by another nurse and the two of them held Joey down while the doctor plunged a syringe into Joey’s small leg.  Joey quieted almost immediately, returning to his unconscious state as though nothing had happened.

“Oh my God,” Tad whispered.

“Look,” Dr. MacLeod said, turning to Tad, “we need to do an MRI as soon as possible.  Can you sign a consent form for that?”

Tad froze.  He knew he wasn’t legally authorized to do that.  

“The longer we wait, Mr…?” Dr. MacLeod prompted.

“Jacobs.”

“Mr. Jacobs, the longer we wait the more likely it is Joey will seize again.  We have to find out what’s causing it.”

One of the nurses was holding out another clipboard to Tad.  He saw it held one sheet of paper with ‘Medical Consent’ form on the top.  Tad looked at Joey.  He looked at Dr. MacLeod, then the nurse.  Deciding, he grabbed the pen and scrawled an illegible signature across the bottom.

“Get him in for an MRI.  Now!”  Dr. MacLeod barked as he and the nurses left the room.

Chapter 4

Tad fought back a feeling of panic as he tried Song’s number once again.  Nothing.  He went into Joey’s empty room and stood looking out the window.  He didn’t even bother calling his client.

“Who the hell are you?”

Tad whirled to see three men standing in the doorway.  All were impeccably dressed.  Two of them were enormous, and stood behind the obvious leader of the group.

“I’m Tad Jacobs,” Tad automatically replied.

“What the hell are you doing here?” the front man demanded.

“Who are you?” Tad recovered.

The leader glared at Tad, but Tad held his ground.

“I’m Peter Molino.  I’m Joey’s father.”

Tad let out an enormous breath even as he felt a fresh wave of panic approach.  Had the man said ‘Molino’?  The name was not only on the oncology wing of this hospital; it was synonymous with one of the oldest crime families in Chicago.  Could Tad’s neighbor be the ex-wife of a notorious mobster?  Was that even be possible?

“Jesus,” Tad said without thinking.

“Some people think so.  What the hell did you do to my son?”

“Nothing,” Tad said.  

“Then what is he doing here?” Molino thundered.

Before Tad could reply, the two men behind Molino had to retreat into the hall as Joey was wheeled back into the room.  He was still unconscious, and looked impossibly small in the hospital bed.

Molino spun around, and when he saw Joey he brushed off the nurse steering Joey’s bed and took it himself, wheeling it into position in the room.  Tad thought he saw tears in the corners of Molino’s eyes as he leaned over the small boy, stroking his hair.

“Am I correct in assuming you are the boy’s father?”

Tad and Molino both turned to look at Dr. MacLeod, who had entered the room.   Molino nodded once.

“Good.  Joey was brought in after suffering a seizure at O’Hare airport.  When he was here, he suffered another one.  We treated him but needed to know why he was seizing.  Mr. Jacobs authorized us to do an MRI.  We’ve just finished it.”

“And?” Molino asked.

“We’re analyzing the results now.  We’ll know more shortly.”

“Is it going to happen again?” Molino asked testily.

“We don’t know yet.  Probably.  If we can find out what’s causing the seizures we’ll know if we can prevent them in the future.”

Molino stared through the doctor for a moment.  Then he turned his stare to Tad.

“What are you doing here?” he asked him.

“I’m Joey’s neighbor.  I was flying to Chicago on business.  Joey was flying here to meet you.  His mother asked that I look after him on the flight.  No one met us at O’Hare, and while we were waiting Joey had the first seizure.  I had no way to reach you and I was trying to reach Song the whole time.  I still haven’t talked to her, she doesn’t know about any of this.”

Molino turned to Dr. MacLeod.

“Do you know who this is?” Molino asked Dr. MacLeod, indicating Joey.

“Your son,” he replied.

“Joey Mo-li-no,” Molino said, annunciating each syllable of the last name distinctly.

Dr. MacLeod looked at Molino, eyes growing wide.

“And you are … Peter Molino?” he asked tentatively.

“Yes.”

Dr. MacLeod said nothing, but Tad thought his breathing had become shallow.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get downtown…” Tad began.  

“You’re not going anywhere,” Molino’s voice was deadly.  “Anything happens to Joey, I’m holding you responsible.”  He turned to Dr. MacLeod.  “Same goes for you.”

With that, Molino stalked out of the room.  Dr. MacLeod followed.  The two mountains of his henchmen blocked the door behind them, their eyes never leaving Tad.

Chapter 5

An hour later Tad was still standing in Joey’s room staring out the window.  He’d missed his first client meeting, and if he didn’t get out of this hospital soon he’d miss a dinner meeting with the second.  Of course, if Joey didn’t recover he might not leave the hospital at all.  Except in a body bag.  

Molino had returned to Joey’s room half an hour ago and sat at his son’s bedside, holding his hand the entire time and whispering comforting sounds to him.  Time had stopped for all of them as they waited for Dr. MacLeod to return with any news.

Suddenly Molino let out a sharp cry.

“Joey!”

Tad looked over and saw Joey’s eyes were open.  He looked very tired, but when he saw his father’s face he smiled.

“Daddy!” he said softly, and reached up to hug his neck.

“Hey little man, how are you feeling?  You’re giving me a heart attack here.”  

“I’m fine, Daddy.  I’m sorry I’m in the hospital.”

“Hey hey, don’t talk like that.  You’re going to be fine.”  Molino shot a sideways glance at Tad, and Tad felt a cold finger touch his spine.

Joey looked over and saw Tad.

“Hi Tad,” he said simply.  Tad smiled.

“So Joey, Mr. Jacobs flew on the airplane with you, that right?” Molino asked.

“Yes,” Joey nodded.  “Mom found out he was flying to Chicago on the same flight as me and asked him to take care of me until I got here.”

“Is that right?  Your Mom and Mr. Jacobs here are real friendly, are they?”  Molino glared hard at Tad as he said it.  Tad closed his eyes and tried to remember the words to ‘Our Father’.  Before Joey could answer, Dr. MacLeod burst into the room with images from the MRI in his hand.

“We know the cause of the seizures.”  There was relief in his voice.  “Joey’s epileptic.  It’s treatable with regular medication. Without it, though, he’ll keep having them.  Any of them can be fatal.”

Molino turned to Dr. MacLeod.

“You say Joey is going to be all right?”

“With regular medication, yes.”

Molino said nothing for a moment.  But Tad saw some of the tension leave his body.

“You said Mr. Jacobs authorized a medical test for my son.  There any problem with him doing that?” 

“Yes.”  Dr. MacLeod looked uncomfortable.  “He didn’t have the authority to do it.”

Molino nodded slowly.  Then he looked at Tad.

“Come with me,” he said.  The two men left the room.

Chapter 6

“I married Song six years ago.  Joey was born a year after that.  We divorced shortly thereafter.”  Molino was talking softly as he and Tad walked down the hospital corridor.   The two bodyguards had stayed at the doorway to Joey’s room like stone sentinels.  Tad had no idea what to say.  Molino stopped and turned to him.

“Song is a mess.  But she gave me a son.  My only son.  He’s the world to me.  I’m going to check out your story, but Joey would have told me if it wasn’t true.”

Tad nodded.  Molino regarded him for a moment.

“You see Joey a lot?” he asked.

“I guess so,” Tad said.  “He’s a good kid.  We toss a football around sometimes in summer.”

Molino nodded, looking pensive.

“You, uh, seeing Song?”  He sounded as uncomfortable as Tad felt.

“No, nothing like that.  Although she’s very nice.  I’ve got a girlfriend I’ve been with for a long time,” he added lamely, then told himself to shut up. 

Molino just nodded like he was used to men being anxious around him.

“Thank you for what you did for Joey,” he said finally.  “Don’t worry about the MRI.”

“Okay,” Tad said.

Molino didn’t offer his hand, just turned around and walked back to Joey’s room.  Tad stood there for a full minute before he realized he was free to go.

Chapter 7

Tad was reading the newspaper over late morning coffee when his doorbell rang.   He looked out and saw the familiar FedEx uniform.

“Hi,” Tad said, opening the door.

“Are you Tad Jacobs?”

“Yes,” Tad replied, thinking that the gray-haired FedEx man was the oldest messenger he’d ever seen.  The man handed Tad a thick rectangular box.

“Have a nice day,” he said, retreating to his truck.

“You too,” Tad called out after him.

He ripped the box open as he walked back into the kitchen, and uttered an exclamation as several wrapped bundles of currency fell onto the table.

A quick count totaled $25,000.  All in hundreds.  

There was a note.

“You put yourself on the line for me.  I am grateful.  If you are ever in a jam, call this number.  Be smart.  Do it.”  A phone number was handwritten below the text.

Tad shook his head, staring at the pile of notes.  He logged onto his computer and looked up the tracking number on the FedEx envelope.  It came back ‘Not Found’.

Chapter 8

“Hello?”

“Hi babe, it’s me.”

“How was Chicago?”

“Remarkable.  Say, how about we ditch the movie tonight?  I feel like taking you somewhere fancy.”

“A fancy dinner with Tad Jacobs?  Hmm!  I’ll have to wear something sexy.”

“Please do,” Tad smiled into the phone, savoring the image of his girlfriend.

“Where are we going?”

“Someplace Italian.”

THE END

back to Contest #6