Chapter 15: All My Children

August 16, 1991 - Friday

The strange color formations had grabbed the attention of Logan, as he and Allison were walking. Ellie was with them, too, but she was farther ahead already.

"Ellie, over here," Logan yelled.

Ellie turned around and hurried over to them. Looking where Logan was pointing, she noticed how much certain rocks were standing out more than others.

"Great catch, Logan. This could be something," she said, as she knelt down to get a closer look.

Allison was placing the final details on the sketch she had been making. She knelt down next to Ellie, touching the rock formation in question.

"The texture is definitely different from the others around it," Allison said.

"Think we should get Dr. Porter?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," Allison said.

After several weeks, they had finally discovered something. They were in good spirits. There had been other things found in the area, that they had been a part of uncovering, but it had been a while since this miniature team of three had discovered something on their own.

Ellie was happy that they may have found something of importance, but she secretly wished the timing could have been a little better. She had planned on going home for lunch, to surprise Alan. She sighed, as she knew that would have to wait now.

Logan stayed behind as Ellie and Allison started the trek back to base camp. It was about noon when they found Dr. Porter near the research trailer. He was outside on the steps, talking on the phone. Actually, yelling on the phone, was more like it.

"No! No way!"

There was a pause, indicating the person on the other end was speaking, and then Porter began his ranting again.

"If you think that I will stand by while she gets everything . . . you are sorely mistaken. I have talked to her and this isn't what she told me!" More silence, and then, "Yes. I've talked to her. She is still my wife. I can talk to her if I want to!"

Ellie and Allison gave him some privacy when they realized he was on the phone. He noticed them right away, instantly lowering his voice and covering the phone with his hand.

"I'll be right with you," he whispered, as he went back inside the trailer.

A few moments later, he walked out of the trailer and greeted them.

"Sorry about that. What can I do for you?"

Allison spoke up first.

"We may have found something, Dr. Porter. West Hill, Horizon 2."

"Excellent. Let's get back over there," he said.

Ellie made a left onto Alan's street a little before 2:00pm. It turned out that the rock they had found . . . was just a rock. She had left quickly, wanted to get back home with Alan. She had tried to call him once, but he didn't answer the phone, which caused warning bells to ring in her head. As she drove closer to his house though, her worries were eased. There was a blue pick-up truck in the driveway. Rob's truck. She smiled, as she got out of her car and approached the front door. From inside, she could hear Alan and Rob yelling quite loudly. She hurried inside, thinking they were arguing about something, since the intensity in their voices was very high.

She opened the door and found them . . . sitting on the couch in front of the television. Just as she stepped inside, Rob threw an empty beer can at the television.

"God damn it!" he yelled at the television.

"What's going on?" she asked, in a motherly tone.

"Erica! She's up to her old tricks again!" Rob answered, not really realizing whom he was talking to.

When he figured it out, he quickly got up, picked the beer can up, and exited into the kitchen, leaving Alan to fend for himself. He looked up at Ellie.

"Nothing," Alan answered quickly, shrugging his shoulders.

Ellie smiled and looked at the television. The program they were watching went to commercial and the announcer could be heard, echoing through the house since the television was so loud.

"Stay tuned for scenes from the next, "All My Children!"

She stared at Alan, and tried very hard to keep a straight face. It didn't work. She burst out laughing.

"Soap operas? That's what you do during the day? Soap operas?"

Alan was about to answer, but then Rob came back into the living room. He was relieved to see him come back. Now he didn't have to be ridiculed alone, since it was Rob who had got him hooked in the first place. After hearing the question in the kitchen, Rob added his two cents.

"We only watch on Friday. Nothing ever happens during the week."

"Yeah, we catch up on Friday," Alan repeated.

Ellie was just staring at them. Rob decided her staring was his cue to vacate. He flew through the living room and grabbed his truck keys on the end table.

"Well, I should be getting back to work," he said.

"You chicken. Stay and face the music," Alan said, smirking.

Rob looked at Ellie and then back at Alan.

"That's the great thing about being single, my friend. You never have to explain your actions to anyone, no matter how stupid and/or childish they might be."

Rob flashed Ellie one of his big and broad smiles and quickly left the house. Ellie just laughed again, as she pulled the curtains in the bay window back, watching Rob get into his truck.

"Is he okay to drive?" she asked, never looking away from Rob.

"Yeah, he only had one beer."

"The one he so eloquently threw at the television?" she questioned, still looking through the window.

"That would be the one."

Rob started his truck, beeped the horn and backed up, disappearing down the street. She released the curtains and directed her attention back to Alan.

"Looks like you're all alone now."

He laughed.

"That traitor."

The thought of Rob and Alan sitting on the couch, being glued to the television, was a very amusing vision to her. She walked across the room and took a seat next to Alan on the couch.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, I guess."

She pointed to the almost empty twelve-pack of Budweiser, sitting on the floor next to the couch.

"I hope you didn't have a lot of those with that pain medication. That would be really stupid," she said.

"I only had two. And I haven't had a pain pill since about ten this morning."

"Well, that's good news and bad news. You should be taking those things regularly, you know."

"Yes, Mother."

"If you knew my mother, you wouldn't say that so easily," she said, lightly tapping his leg.

"What does that mean?"

Ellie realized she may have let something slip out at the wrong time. She couldn't take it back now, though.

"My mother. She's not exactly happy about me being here, that's all."

"Here, as in Montana. Or here, as in . . . here," he said, gesturing around the room.

"Here as in here," she said, as she stood up, disappearing into the kitchen for a second.

Alan waited for her to return, before asking all of his questions.

"So, she knows about us?" he asked, taking water and two pills from Ellie.

"Oh, yes. She knows."

"And?"

"And she's just not happy with the direction my life has taken, I guess. I'm just going to give her some time to think it all over. She'll see that everything is quite all right and stop pestering me then," she said, pretty much lying, trying to keep Alan from stressing out.

He nodded, and it looked as though he was buying the story, so she left it at that.

"So, did you have lunch with your soap opera comrade?" she asked.

"This was it," he said, as he picked up a bag of Doritos from the table next to him.

"Interesting," she said, "Would you like something more substantial maybe?"

"Sure."

She was about to leave the living room, when she remembered something else.

"Why didn't you answer the phone when I called a little while ago?"

He looked confused.

"The phone rang?"

"I would assume that it did, since I called you."

"I didn't hear it ring."

He grabbed the cordless phone, that was on the same table as the Doritos. He smiled as he looked at it.

"Rob must have put it on battery save. It doesn't ring when it's in that mode."

Ellie took the phone from him and examined it for a second, acting like she didn't believe him. When she handed it back to him, he grabbed her unexpectedly and pulled her toward him. She landed in his arms, where he gave her a quick kiss.

"Rob is going to get a good talking to, the next time I see that little instigator," she said, kissing him again.

"So, does that mean I'm off the hook?"

Ellie stared at him.

"Oh, no. It's not that easy, Romeo."