The Crocker Chronicles

Chapter 3

"You Can't Go Home Again

(But Sometimes Home Comes To You)"

14 November

So here I am, all set for my first charter at the new job. I get to captain a boat, I'm living on an island in the tropics, made new friends in Jake and Shelley, my afterlife couldn't be going better, right?

I couldn't have been more wrong if I'd tried.

Let me put it to you this way: Thomas Wolfe once said you can't go home again. Well, sometimes, home comes to you.

Duke emerged from his bungalow, his hair still damp from the shower, and shut the door behind him.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Shelley and Susie come from their own bungalow.

"Morning, Duke!" Shelley waved to him. She was dressed in her housekeeper's uniform, and was walking Susie to where the bus picked up the local children.

"Hi Duke!" Susie waved wearily. She looked tired, and he worried that Susie's Trouble was about to rear its ugly head.

"Good morning, Shelley. Hi, Suzie-Q," he greeted, picking her up.

So far, Susie's Trouble is still idling in neutral, he noted. My worry is for how much longer? He could sense it was taking hold in her small form, and he tested it gently by placing his hand against the mark on her back, feeling its resistance, and Susie grimaced.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"My tummy hurts again," Susie whimpered.

"Oh, honey," Shelley said, taking her in her arms, her face worried, her hand checking Susie's forehead. "She is a little warm," she murmured.

"Is she sick?" Duke asked.

"She had a tummy ache last night, said it kept hurting off and on," Shelley replied. "It might be a bug that's going around school."

"Maybe you should stay home with her, huh?" Duke suggested.

"I would but I can't," Shelley protested. "I can get Mrs. Sanchez to come watch her, but she lives clear over on the other side of the island. Frannie's out of town so it's just Nancy and I working today. And we have that group of guys checking in today at the hotel. Bachelor party," she rolled her eyes. "We have to get their rooms ready; they're due to check in at noon."

"Oh, boy," Duke grinned. "I think Jake said something yesterday about they wanted to go fishing too. Look, why don't I watch Susie for a bit until you can get Mrs. Sanchez to come over? I don't imagine my charter is going to want to go fishing the minute they get here."

"If you're sure you don't mind," Shelley hedged.

"Not at all," Duke replied cheerfully. "Don't make her go to school if she doesn't feel well. Would you like that?" he asked Susie. "I stay with you till Mrs. Sanchez comes over?"

"Yes," Susie answered, her little face pained. "My tummy really hurts, Mommy."

"All right," Shelley exhaled. She walked back to her bungalow, and unlocked the door, ushering Duke inside. The bungalow was simply decorated, but was homey, and Duke noticed the wedding portrait of Shelley and a young man in a military uniform that hung on the wall over the entertainment unit.

"That's Danny, Susie's daddy," Shelley said, seeing Duke looking at the picture. "He died."

"I'm sorry," Duke answered sincerely. "My wife died. I know how it is."

Shelley nodded, and set Susie down on the couch and went to fetch a thermometer, placing it in Susie's ear. After a moment, it beeped, and Shelley peered at it.

Ninety-nine-point-seven," she said. "Yep, you're staying home today, young lady."

Duke made Susie a pallet on the couch with a blanket and two stuffed animals while Shelley got her into her nightie, and turned on cartoons.

Susie grimaced as Shelley got out the children's fever medicine, but she took it, and smiled when Shelley gave her a chocolate to take away the taste of the medicine.

"I want you to be a good girl for Mr. Duke, okay?" Shelley ordered, and kissed her forehead. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Kay, Mommy," Susie answered.

"Duke, you have my number. If she gets worse, call me," Shelley told him, gathering her purse. "And thanks again. Mrs. Sanchez should be here in a couple of hours."

"It's no trouble," Duke said, wincing inwardly at his own choice of words. "If her fever goes up, I will call you on the double."

"Please do. And Duke-thanks," she finished, and pecked his cheek gently, her hand on his.

Duke covered her hand with his.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "She'll be as right as rain in no time."

Shelley departed, and Duke settled into a chair, watching Suzie closely. Her fever was increasing, and he feared her Trouble was about to activate.

"Susie," Duke asked cautiously, thinking back on all the times he'd seen Audrey talk someone down from their Trouble, "did anything happen with you or Mommy last night?"

"N-no," Susie mumbled, and Duke's Lie antennae went up. He'd told enough lies as a kid to put off CPS to know when one was fibbing to an adult, and Susie was most definitely fibbing.

"Susie, does somebody hurt Mommy?" he asked softly. He'd heard that Shelley had a boyfriend, Mark Mathis, one of the lawn maintenance guys; and that he had a jealous streak a mile long.

"Mark yelled at Mommy last night," she quavered. "It makes my tummy start hurting when he yells at Mommy."

If that goon's hurting Shelley or this kid, I'll break both his hands, Duke thought, and then glanced at Susie. Her hair was soaked with sweat, and he scooped her up, taking her into the bathroom.

"Sure be nice if I had the family journal right about now," he muttered as he ran the cold water in the tub. "So we can figure out what's going on with you, Cupcake."

"I'm so hot, Duke," Susie whimpered.

"I know you are, honey. I'm going to try to make it better, okay?" he assured her. She was burning hot, and he put her into the tub.

To his horror, when the little girl made contact with the water, it actually steamed, bubbling and hissing as it covered over her skin.

"Vince? Howard? I could really use you guys right now!" he called out to no one.

He fumbled with the thermometer, taking Susie's temperature once more, horrified that it read ERROR, because it could no longer record her temperature. If Duke had to guess, Susie's body temperature was probably within 300-400 degrees.

"Duke?" he heard Howard's voice from the door.

"In here!" he called.

Howard knelt down alongside the tub.

"Who're you?" Susie groaned.

"This is Dr. Howard," Duke fibbed. "He's gonna help me make you all better," he went on. "Right?" he said, looking at Howard.

"Yes," Howard answered.

"What is this?" Duke questioned.

"It's a Supernova Trouble," Howard said grimly. "She'll continue to get hotter and hotter—"

"Until she blows," Duke finished. "Not happening on my watch," he finished, and placed his hand against her head. She was so hot he felt his fingers burning, but he persevered, focusing on drawing the aether out of her body, using his own to help cool Susie's body back down.

"Hurry, Duke," Howard urged. Susie had lost consciousness by now, and the water was steaming hot from the heat her small body was giving off. Howard cradled Susie, keeping her head out of the water.

"I'm trying…it's resisting me," Duke gasped. He pushed harder, and finally felt the aether leaving Susie, rushing back towards him as Howard sprayed Susie down with the shower hose.

Duke opened his eyes, revealing they were solid black.

"That will happen; you're reacting to the unfamiliar aether in your body," Howard instructed. "It will pass in a few moments."

True to his word, Duke's eyes returned to normal, and Susie blinked her eyes, looking up at him and then down at herself.

"I takeded a bath with my nightie on!" she scolded him. "You're silly, Mr. Duke!"

"Yes, I'm silly," Duke sighed with relief. "How do you feel?"

"My tummy stopped hurting," Susie smiled. "Can I watch Kung Fu Panda again?"

"Sure," Duke smiled, and helped her out of the tub, wrapping her up in a big towel.

"I'm glad to see that you're better, Susie," Howard told her.

"Thank you for helping me, Doctor Howard," she piped.

"You're very welcome," Howard replied, and smiled. "Now go get on some dry clothes, and Duke and I will make you some soup."

"I like Spaghetti-O's," Susie called as she dripped into her room.

"Spaghetti-O's it is," Duke answered brightly, and then sagged against the tub.

"That was closer than I ever want to get again," he said in a low voice. "She was right there on the edge."

"But you beat it," Howard told him. "Susan will be fine now. You eliminated her Trouble."

"Now I have to fix Shelley's trouble with her boyfriend," Duke grumbled.

"We are not here to meddle in domestic affairs," Howard told him, and Duke whirled on him.

"That 'domestic affair' is what set that kid's Trouble off in the first place!" Duke argued his voice low. "I might have been something of a cad in my previous existence, but I drew the line at hitting women."

There was a knock at the door, and an older Hispanic woman put her head inside as Duke appeared in the hallway.

"Are you Duke?" she asked. "I'm Maricella Sanchez. How is Susie doing?"

"Yes, I'm Duke. This is Dr. Howard," he introduced.

"Senora," Howard bowed, and Mrs. Sanchez looked worried.

"Is Susie all right?" she questioned, her face fearful, her hand against her mouth.

"Susie is just fine," Howard assured her. "We gave her some medicine, and a cool bath, and it's brought her fever down. She should be able to go back to school tomorrow."

"Oh, Thank God," Mrs. Sanchez crossed herself. "I was so worried about her."

"Mrs. Sanchez," Duke began cautiously. "Do you know anything about this Mark character Shelley's been seeing?"

"Enough to know that I don't like him," she answered swiftly. "Jake does not like him either." She smiled at him. "She should see someone like you, Mr. Duke."

Just what I needed, another Gloria, Duke thought, and felt a pang thinking on the older woman who'd been more of a mother to him than his own had ever been.

"Well, we'll see," Duke hedged. "I really have to get going," he told her, rolling down his shirt sleeves. "The bathroom's kind of a mess."

Mrs. Sanchez waved him off. "I got it—I used to be a housekeeper at the hotel too," she chuckled. "Don't keep Jake's customer waiting, that's his biggest pet peeve."

"Was mine too," Duke mumbled, thinking of when he would scold the staff at The Grey Gull for leaving guests hanging in the doorway waiting for a table.

"Beg pardon?" Mrs. Sanchez said.

"I was just saying I need to get going," Duke answered. "Thank you again for coming."

Mrs. Sanchez waved off the praise. "She's such an angel, I don't mind watching her. Go take your people fishing. And thank you again, Doctor."

"My pleasure," Howard answered, and he and Duke showed themselves out.

Once out of view of the windows, Duke balled up his hand, focusing intently. Black goo began to ooze between his fingers, growing thicker and larger until it formed itself into a silver-dollar-sized ball. He gave it to Howard, who pocketed it.

"I can't keep that in my body," Duke told him, panting slightly.

Howard nodded agreement.

"This isn't like your aether, is it?" he questioned, and Duke shook his head.

"No, it isn't," he replied. "That stuff," he pointed to the orb. "That stuff is—toxic. It's designed to make people ill." He looked to Howard. "Who wants to inflict this kind of potential damage?"

"That is for you to find out, Duke," Howard told him.

Duke felt his phone buzz, and saw it was Jake.

"Hey, Duke, where are ya?" he bellowed over the phone. "Did Maricella arrive at Shelley's house yet? Shelley's on her way home now."

"Yes, she just got here," Duke answered.

"Well, yer charter's waiting," Jake scolded.

"Oh, yeah, the bachelor party," Duke answered. "Is it a bunch of drunken frat boys?"

"Not hardly—these guys don't look the type, and two of them are cops anyhow," Jake chuckled.

Duke could hear voices in the background, and for a moment, one of them sounded familiar.

"All right, tell them I'm on the way," Duke told him.

"Cap'n says he's coming," Jake called out.

"Well, tell him to hurry up!" Duke heard a voice bellow near the phone, and felt all the blood drain to his feet. "I'm dying to hook a bluegill!"

"You heard the man, hurry it up," Jake finished and hung up.

Duke looked aghast at Howard. No, it can't be, he thought. Not here.

"Anything the matter?" Howard questioned, but before Duke could answer, Shelley pulled up in her car, and got out.

"How's Susie? And who is this?" she asked, looking Howard over.

"Dr. Byron Howard," Howard introduced himself. "I'm an old acquaintance of Duke's, and he asked me to stop by and look her over."

"Is anything wrong?" Shelley asked.

"No, no. She just has a mild stomach bug. The fever's gone, and she's feeling much better."

"I'm going to go see," Shelley said, and laid her housekeeper's clipboard down on the chair that was on the porch.

Duke glanced at it, and a series of names written on it caught his eye; Hendrickson, D., Room 230. Bannerman, S., Room 233. McHugh, L., Room 231. And one final name: Wuornos, N., Room 234.

"We are 2600 miles from Maine," Duke said weakly. "There's over 7,000 islands in the Caribbean—and the four people in the world who least need to know I still exist pick this island for a vacation—and my boat for a fishing charter!"

Howard stood quiet for a moment.

"It would seem you have a situation," he remarked.

Situation, he says. More like a four-alarm fire.