Gary lay dying, feeling a rush of blood exiting his body. He wanted to stop it, but he felt numb, paralyzed. Then Dr. Rosen told Gary about his father, and he began to feel a warm feeling inside him. He felt comfortable, almost like he could accept the death in front of him. He was taken back, back to a time he couldn't remember. He smelled his mother's peanut butter and chocolate-chip cookies, the ones she made him when he had a bad day at school. When he came home crying because of the kids at school calling him "freak".
They would never understand.
No one would ever understand, except for the father he was being told about. He glimpsed the face of the angel hovering over him, felt the warmth of his voice, the feel of his hands as he tended to his wounds. He felt life coming back into his body, felt death loosening his grip. He felt a burst of fiery heat enter his body. It wouldn't stop. It burned. He almost screamed out, but he had more control than that. Eventually it stopped, and he felt great. He came back into his senses hearing Dr. Rosen's words.
"I am a transducer. And your father."
That night, though he didn't know if it was because of the peace of finding his father or the fact that he wasn't being assaulted by the signals, he slept soundly that night, filled with anticipation for the morning.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T H R E E D A Y S L A T E R
When Gary woke up in the morning, he went immediately downstairs. He half-expected Dr. Rosen to be sitting on the sofa, waiting to take Gary to the office. Instead, he found his mother. He sat down next to her.
"Mom?"
She looked in his direction.
"Gary, I'm sorry for not telling you about Dr. Rosen being your father. I just didn't want to risk him rejecting you. You don't need any more problems in your life."
She leaned in close, wrapping her arms around him. She was sobbing. Gary patted her on the back reassuringly.
"Speaking of which, where is Dr. Rosen?"
"He went home late last night. He said to tell you he'll be here at the same time that he usually is. You better go get ready."
Gary did so. It took him a while to get used to not having the signals "up in his grill", but he didn't care. Dr. Rosen had told him that when they came back he would teach him how to turn them on and off at will. He was looking forward to it. He embraced the idea of not being constantly shown all of the signals that had troubled him for his whole life. He didn't care what it took, what he'd have to sacrifice, he wanted some peace.
From outside, a car horn beeped. It was Dr. Rosen, probably with Rachel.
He gave his mother a quick kiss. Then he ran out to the van, heaving open the door and jumping inside. Rachel was sitting in the front seat. She looked him over with curiosity. "You got your jacket from Cameron?" she asked. Gary looked down. He forgot he had put on the leather jacket with the big G he had gotten from Cameron two days ago. He reached out the sleeve to Rachel.
"It's new. Touch it."
Rachel ran her hand over the jacket, no doubt feeling all of the little individual fibers, smelling the musky leather smell. She held her hand on it for a moment. She closed her eyes, going into what looked like some sort of meditative state. Then she removed her hand, saying, "That is a very fine jacket. You are a lucky guy." Gary couldn't think of anything to say, so he just smiled. In the front seat, Dr. Rosen leaned out the window, giving Gary's mom a quick kiss. Gary wasn't sure if it was a goodbye kiss or a love kiss. Probably a bit of both.
Gary's mom went back inside the house, and Dr. Rosen peeled the van away from the sidewalk, speeding the van away from the neighborhood.
The ride was quiet. Nobody said a word for half the ride. Then Dr. Rosen got a phone call.
Gary couldn't pick up the call's signal, but it sounded important. Dr. Rosen was saying a lot of "are you sure?" and "how?". Eventually he hung up the phone and turned down a road that they didn't normally take.
Rachel eyed Rosen suspiciously. "Where are we going?" Rachel interrogated.
Rosen hesitated a bit before answering. "Binghamton."
Now Gary asked the question. "Why on earth are we going to Binghamton?"
Dr. Rosen didn't answer. He focused on nothing but the road, and began gradually began speeding up a little. He ignored Gary and Rachel's questions, shrugging them off with a mild tinge of annoyance.
Eventually, Rachel got fed up. She grabbed the gear shift between the two front seats, throwing the van into park. Dr. Rosen heaved a sigh, taking his hands off the wheel and turning to look at Rachel.
"Why are we going to Binghamton, Dr. Rosen? Tell us now!" Rachel demanded.
Dr. Rosen sighed again. Then he grabbed the gear shift, throwing it into drive and turning back to the road, saying "Anna escaped."