Chapter 34 : Let's Make a Deal
Mar. 29th, 2010 03:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pascal_curious
I felt like there was a hunk of burning hot lead in the pit of my belly. It was almost too much for me to comprehend; my brother-in-law was responsible for my father’s abduction. I had always thought that John was a trifle strange, but it never occurred to me that he could be such a creep. Not only had he impregnated my father (I wasn’t even going to consider how it might have been done), he had also felt the need to spawn with my sister as well. This meant that Chloe and Lola were not only our half-sisters, but our nieces as well (and Jenny’s step-daughters!). It reminded me of that old Ray Stevens song, “I’m my own Grandpa”. The only difference was that the song was mildly amusing, while this whole situation was anything but.
I sincerely hoped that John wasn’t in any way responsible for my, Lazlo, and Vidcund’s abductions. I didn’t need things to become any more convoluted than they already were.
I needed to tell somebody. It was simply too much for me to deal with without someone to talk to. It was too soon for me to tell Vidcund and Lazlo; I hadn’t been able to find Chloe and Lola yet. Besides, there was no telling how they might react, especially with this new information. Now, I wasn’t sure if I should tell them anything at all. There was still the possibility that it would be best if they knew nothing about Chloe and Lola, especially if I wasn’t able to track them down. I could confide in Nervous, if it weren’t for the fact that he would certainly let it slip to Lazlo. It had only taken one day for him to leak the information about Vidcund and Lacey to Circe, and the consequences of that little slip of the tongue could have been epic. I thought, for a while, about going right to John and demanding to know everything. The problem was that I wasn’t sure if I was ready to know everything. Amber had been the first person I had thought of after I had read the letter. She was the only one who knew about Chloe and Lola, and I knew I could trust her to keep it to herself. I knew if there was anyone who could help me make sense of all of this it would be Amber. I had almost handed the letter off to her that morning before I left for work. It had been my intention to ask her to read it to see what she thought. For some reason I hadn’t been able to do it. I just stood in the doorway, saying goodbye, while I fiddled with the letter in my pocket.
I re-folded the letter, slipped it into the envelope and tucked the whole thing away in my desk drawer. I reached for the telephone receiver and picked it up. I was immediately halted by second, third, and fourth thoughts and put the receiver back in its cradle. I drummed my fingers anxiously on the phone for a few seconds before I finally picked it up again and dialed the number to the bunker. I resisted any further impulses to hang the phone up while it rang on the other end.
One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy…
“Hello?”
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey Pascal,” she said. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing really,” I lied. “I just wanted to see how Andy was doing.”
“She’s fine,” Amber told me. “I have her in that bouncy thing you got her. She just can’t get enough of the button that makes the piggy noise. It sounds like a barnyard in here.”
Sure enough, I could hear Andy in the background, giggling and pounding on the various buttons on the Bouncinator. Chickens, and pigs, and cows, oh my.
“I thought she’d like that,” I said.
For whatever reason, I couldn’t think how to bring up the subject of Dad’s letter. Before, I would have called her up the instant I had finished reading the thing. Lately I found myself avoiding engaging Amber in conversation. I couldn’t really explain why. Ever since I had jumped down her throat about her asking for an evening off, things had been strained between us.
“Is everything okay, Pascal?” she asked. “You seemed really distracted this morning.”
I cleared my throat. “Actually,” I began. I stood up from my chair and stretched. I walked to my office window and looked out into the lab. “You know that box of stuff of my dad’s?”
“How could I forget?” she asked. “Were you able to find your sisters?” She sounded excited at the idea I might have located Chloe and Lola.
“No,” I told her, unable to mask the disappointment in my voice. “I’m still working on it, but I did find something else.”
“That sounds ominous,” she remarked.
“One of the letters I was reading last night was about Jenny and…” I stopped mid-sentence as I spotted Lazlo climbing the steps that led to my office.
“What about Jenny?” she asked impatiently.
“I’m sorry,” I told her hastily. “I’ve gotta go. Lazlo is coming. I’ll talk to you later.” I didn’t even give her a chance to say goodbye before I hung up the phone. I was half annoyed and half relieved.
I sat back down in my chair and pretended to be working on the report I had to have finished by the end of the day. I knew that the chances were slim that Lazlo hadn’t seen me hurridley hang up the phone. I just hoped he wouldn’t start asking a bunch of questions.
“Hey, big brother,” he greeted me as he climbed on to one of the chairs opposite my desk He sat on the back of the chair with his feet on the seat and looked down at me.
“Hey, Lazlo,” I said, not taking my eyes away from the computer screen.
“Guess what?” he asked me.
“What?”
“Bernie told me that Amber’s birthday is next month.”
“That’s nice,” I said as I tapped away at the keyboard.
“So… whaddarya gonna do about it?”
“Do about what?” I asked. I had spotted a grammatical error and was navigating back through the document to fix it.
“Amber’s birthday!”
“Oh.” I finally looked up at him. I had a feeling I knew where this conversation was headed, and I didn’t like it. “I suppose I’ll get her a card or something.” I suspected that this would not be a satisfactory answer.
“Come on, big bro, you’ve gotta do better than that!”
I sighed. “Maybe a bottle of perfume or something, then.”
“Lame.” He said, shaking his head. “That is just so very lame.”
“Why?” I asked. “What are you going to do?”
“I haven’t decided yet, But I though that you could, y’know, take her out for dinner or something.”
There it was.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” I said snarkily, “she’s dating your friend Bernie. I don’t think he’d be thrilled with the idea.”
“Oh, he won’t care.” Lazlo said dismissively. “I was just thinking that you could take her out for dinner as a way to say thanks for, y’know, everything. Face it, big bro, she’s really helped you out a lot.”
I hated to admit it, but Lazlo was right. Amber really was a big help to me, and a good friend. She deserved better than a cheesy hallmark card and a cheap bottle of scent. I just wasn’t sure that a dinner date was the right way to go about saying thanks.
“I’ll think about it,” I said and went back to my report.
Lazlo, it seemed, was still not satisfied. He crossed his legs and glared down at me.
“You have become such a disappointment to me,” he said. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was intentionally goading me. The smirk on his face made it quite clear his intent.
I groaned audibly.
“For Christ’s sake, Lazlo, give it a rest already.”
“Nope. Not gonna happen,” he said, still grinning smugly.
There was only one way to get Lazlo off of my back, and that would be to do as he suggested. It was possible, however, that I could make it work to my advantage.
“Allright, Lazlo. If I do this, if I take her out to dinner and buy her some kind of amazing birthday gift, will you stop bugging the hell out of me about her?”
Lazlo thought for a minute and put his foot back down on the seat of the chair.
“Sure, Pascal,” he said as he climbed down from the chair. “You’ve got a deal.”
“Good, “I said and returned to editing my document.
“My work here is done,” he said as he opened the door and left my office.
I exhaled a great sigh of relief. Finally I had found a way to get him off my back. Where he had gotten his silly notion about Amber and me I had no idea, but it would be good to not have to hear about it any longer.
I tapped my fingers on the computer keyboard, wondering if it would be worth while to call Amber back up and finish our conversation. I had just reached for the phone when Lazlo opened my office door and stuck his head in.
“Hey, I almost forgot,” he said. “Jerry says he found something you should see. I told him I’d come up to get you.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 09:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 09:30 am (UTC)I hope I am conveying the right emotions with Pascal. It's hard for me to know if he seems the same to other people as he does to me. I know him so well that I 'm not sure if I am conveying his emotions clearly.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 05:52 pm (UTC)I'm really looking forward to seeing where this whole Chloe and Lola thing will go too. I probably won't know until I sit down in front of the computer to write it up. Other parts of the story I have an outline, but that part is kinda open ended. The possibilities are endless ;-)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 07:12 pm (UTC)Any story that name drops Ray Stevens is quality.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-04 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-18 05:27 am (UTC)