Chapter
14- Family Crisis
The mosquito bit is written because up
here in Western New York it is once again dawning upon mosquito season, and I
think I got bit the other day while picking up the leaves left over from last
fall. Um. What else? Oh yeah. The Christine is also from Strange Frequency
and so she looks exactly the same as she does in the Disco Inferno skit. No I am not obsessed with it, but I did
watch it this morning and almost fell out of the chair when I saw the part
where they show Buck's Tattoo. I like
the character Dom, so I am putting a little more of him into the story. It won't be too long after this that I finally
get done with the end. Oh and thanks to
Mr. W for the joke on bed load. See? I
am actually learning from you in class. I also didn't know what to call
the chapter because of it's mixed topic, so…
Deep in the heart of the
jungle there was a large hut made of overgrown tree leaves, wooden planks cut
from the monster trees. There were bugs
everywhere; the kind of bugs that were twice the size of your hand. Of course
there were the mosquitoes that were often the size of your head. Dave couldn't help but smile whenever he saw
these beasts because he had often had dreams where these creatures chased
Romano down the hallway of County and attatched themselves to his body and
draining him just enough that he'd live, but still have those nasty sores. And it happened over and over and over again
until. Oops. I'm getting off topic. Anyway, Life had been good since Dave and Kerry quit their jobs and took
their kids to the African Jungles to live there in a emote area, where they
wouldn't have to deal with Robert, or Carter, or Jing-Mei ever again. Toby and Jade were 8 months old now, and
were the cutest little babies anyone had ever seen, and so Dave was overprotective. Kerry had left a while back to go to the
river and get some water for the babies to drink. Dave was too engrossed in a book he'd brought along to notice the
long winding creature with it's deadly fangs and evil intentions. The creature slithered its way from the
trees outside of the hut, down the doorway, across the earthen floor, and up
the side of the crib. It's evil yellow
eyes scanned its prey and moved in for the kill. It opened its jaws to their full capacity and lurched forward to
its unsuspecting prey. Dave jumped a
mile into the air when he heard the wail coming from his little girl. She was screaming bloody murder as the snake
took her into it's belly alive. Dave
screamed louder than she as the snake swallowed her and moved in for Toby. "NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" He hollered.
Dave jumped up startled
and sweaty from his nightmare. He heard
one of the twins crying from the monitor in the room and drug himself up to
take care of it. He looked at Kerry who
was unbothered by the yelling through her years of sleeping through the noises
of the ER. He shook his head and crept
out, knowing very well that if the largest noise couldn't wake her, the
smallest noise could. He ran into the old guest room that was now a nursery
and saw that it was Jada who was crying. He knew that she had messed her diaper and so he grabbed the necessary
supplies. "Whoooo. Bedload." He whispered, remembering a long-past science class on rivers and
bedload. "You are almost as bad as your
brother." He said to her, making her
giggle as he cleaned her off and tossed the toxic diaper into the
wastebasket. "Jeez, Jade, You're a
girl! You should be beating your
brother, and you know it, don't you?" He said softly, trying to lull her to sleep. He applied a rash cream and put her into a new diaper. He washed his hands in the bathroom, and
then came back and picked her up again. "Ok. Now I'll be back in here in
a few minutes because the minute I put my head on that pillow is the minute
Toby starts his bellowing. Yes he
will. Yes he will." He said, tickling her with his nose to her
belly. She squealed and giggled as he
did this and he smiled. "Goodnight
sweetheart." He whispered, kissing
her.
His prediction was right
on target, because the minute he drifted off, Toby did indeed start to
cry. "Never fails." This time Kerry did wake. "I'll get it. Since you got the last one, I'll get this one." She said to him. Dave thought this over. Wait a minute! If she was asleep
through the last baby's crying, how did she know that a baby was crying? The realization hit him like a ton of bricks
to Roger Rabbit's head. She was
faking! Ohhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! He thought angrily as he turned back over to
get a little rest before they were both awake and crying.
This had been going on
since they were born. First one was
up. Then the other was up. Then they'd both be up. It was good at first, but now it was
downright annoying. Dave and Kerry
loved their kids, but they couldn't wait until they could do this for
themselves. They hadn't once had a
night where the kids were quiet, but knew that there would eventually be a day
of quiet. Dave had gotten a little
weaker but he knew the chemo was to stop as the cancer had been under control. He was glad he was okay now, so he could be
with his own children. Dave had been
allowed more time off than normal because of an unusually sympathetic
Romano. Dave had almost kissed Romano,
but remembered that even if he was gay, Romano was one of the least of his
picks. He'd rather kiss Mark and risk
being torn to shreds by Elizabeth for crying out loud.
He was bouncing Toby up
and down on his knees when a knock on the door brought him out of his
happiness. "Who is it?" He asked. "Your lovable, intelligent brother. Let me in." Dom replied. "No. You
aren't worth it!" He said. "Open the Damn Door!" Dom yelled. Luckily the twins couldn't speak yet, so they couldn't grasp the swear
words. Dave put Toby down on the floor
and opened the door for Dom. "Hey,
Daddy." Dom said. Dave smiled. "Hey, Dorkbrain." "Spoothead." "Fop." "Ruffian." "Loser." "Idiot." "Moron." "….Disco Skeeze." Dom said. "Uh, Dude? I'm a guy." Dave said. "Yeah I know but The author likes the name Disco Skeeze, because she
just finished getting an Erik Palladino fix on Strange Frequency. Damn ER won't show any with Dave for a
while." He said. (Weird, I know, but
hey, it's me!) Toby gurgled in
surprise as he crawled over to Dom's leg and bumped into it. "Hey you little bugger! Why did you do that?" He asked, squatting down to get closer to
his nephew's face. "Boooghgpuuugha." Toby replied. Dom smiled. "That's
right!" Dom said. Dave smiled seeing his brother and his son
interacting. Dom picked Toby up off the
floor. "You've got beautiful kids,
Dave." Dom said. "You've told me that a million times
already!" Dave said, picking Jada up
off the floor. "Well, You do. If Christine had ever woken up, I would have
married her, but she's still in a coma, and her family is ready to take her
off. It's been almost two years now." Dom said, sadly. Dave looked down. "I'm
sure that Chrissie will wake up. You
should go to San Francisco and see her, while she's alive." Dave said. "Yeah. Maybe." Dom said, feeling bad about his lost love. Dave cradled Jada in his arms. "Maybe it'll be like something out of a
sci-fi romance. Y'know? You'll walk in and just the grasp of her
true love's hand will bring her back out of the coma." Dave said. "I wish. I live her so
much. I got slammed so hard when I heard
about the accident that I couldn't bear to even go see her. Her mom is pissed at me because I won't go
out there to see her." He said
sadly. "Then go. She'll forgive you. It couldn't hurt to go out there and say
goodbye to her while she's still breathing." Dave told him. "I don't want to
see her like that! Chris was always
beautiful and vibrant. She loved to
dance and could groove to any rock song, no matter how weird the beat was. She even got me ME of all people to
dance in a crowd. There wasn't a moment
that she wasn't active, not even after sex. She'd be asleep, but her body still moved around a little. I don't want to see her so still and
lifeless." He said, beginning to
cry. "Shhh. I'll go out there with you if you want. I could get Luka to stay with Kerry and take care of my
kids. IT would be extremely hard for
me, but then again I might get more sleep than usual. I will go and drag your ass out there with me, whether you like
it or not!" Dave said. He set Jada and Toby in their playpen. Dom looked away. "You'll have to drag me kicking and screaming." "Fine. Start kicking." Dave said. Dom looked up at his brother. There ain't no way! He can't be serious! " What is this a
joke?" He asked. "No joke. I am going to book us a flight for tomorrow morning." Dave said, picking up the phone. He slapped Dom away and managed to take the
cordless into the bathroom and order two tickets to Frisco the following
morning. He knew he'd have to deal with
the consequences later, but he had to help his brother before he crashed into a
total depression as so many of his past friends had.