Warning: death of a very bad man in this chapter. Warning? I guess you
should all be deliriously happy. So don't break the floor when you are
jumping up and down with glee in your enthusiasm. Oh and the copyright
warnings still apply.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
An Air force Barracks somewhere in Delaware
Four years had past and Margaret looked with envy at her friends. "I should have a baby by now," she said.
"But other people have children later." Charles sat on the rock, and kicked his feet in the dirt. "Maybe we should be more careful. The lieutenant that I can get in the air-force."
He lived in a family unit on the barracks with the Lieutenant, his wife, and daughter who planned to marry in the spring. No one knew much about her betrothed except his mother took in foster children and her son would only marry a girl who followed his mother's footsteps. So far, he would not be disappointed for the Lieutenant's daughter often spent hours reading newspaper articles on abandoned children and would ask, "Why can't someone help them?"
The house looked like any other, frame construction, utilitarian, a lime- beige exterior, and a green roof. Unless you drove up in front and saw the number or counted that it was the fifth house from the street, you could not tell who lived there. Sure, it had a flower garden with begonias and carnations in front and a statue of one of Snow White's dwarfs, but in winter, the flower garden was no more, and the statue was taken inside, why no one knew.
Like most of the women on the base, the Lieutenant's wife made peanut butter and tollhouse cookies and the best chowder in the state. It appeared that a year ago, the Ladies Auxiliary of the local Church had a cookbook sale and there was a quite copying of each other' recipes. She, however, had a slight limp and took frequent visits to the hospital and if one walked into their living room the first thing they would notice was a and both the Lieutenants had a picture of their son, Donald, who had died in infancy and to whom Charles was in their opinion, a reincarnation of. Had Charles been a vicious boy, they would have been disappointed.
"How?" she asked.
"I told him I'm sixteen, but small for my age." He smiled.
"Do you think he'll believe it?"
Charles shook his head. "He might."
They had left the orphanage because the change to the two children made them a prey for the others and so the nuns arranged for one air-force couple to take Charles and another air-force couple to take Margaret. Both families practically lived next door to each other.
Charles new father and mother were rather pleased with their choice. The boy was quite intelligent and mentioned that 'I want to be a pilot."
However, he still wanted to be a father and when he was not delivering paper, would visit Margaret and her new parents, thinking it all innocent, allowed both children to go together.
It appeared that this was not to be. So, one afternoon, both children sat besides each other, Charles on the rock and Margaret on the grass. "The ancestors have children at eighteen."
"Eighteen?" asked Margaret.
"We can wait a few years. Besides we have to act like them. If we make a mistake, and have children now, it will be trouble. They will kick us out!"
Lieutenant Russell came over. "What's wrong?"
"I miss having a brother or sister," said Margaret, "Like my friends." She did not want to tell her foster father that the brothers and sisters were really sons and daughter. " She also did not want to tell him that before she went to the doctor's, she had been different.
"I don't feel like fighting anymore," said Charles.
"Well you had a hard time at that orphanage, what with all the others picking on you, but at least you're safe with a loving family and you too Margaret," said the Lieutenant.
"Yes I am and I'm thankful for that. Sir, could Margaret come over for supper?"
He gave his new son a hug. "Of course, Charles."
"I'd like to take flying lessons sir."
The lieutenant thought for a moment. "You are rather young, but you do show a great deal of responsibility, but I'm being transferred to a base in Arizona."
"Does that mean that I can't see Charles anymore?" asked Margaret, her face showing her disappointment.
"No. Our whole unit is moving out there, I'm afraid you will miss your home."
Charles and Margaret made a good show at being disappointed.
"I am sure both of you will find friends there."
"I can't run as fast as I used to," said Margaret.
"That's to be expected. You're getting to be a young lady," he said not knowing what she meant that she could no longer see things before they happened, that she could no longer break open a lock, that she no longer had that sense of smell where she knew there were rats about.
Nor could Charles sense that other children were in the area. He could not even jump from the roof of his new house without straining his ankle. He tried to do that once, but luckily the Lieutenant caught him. "You have to be careful, Charlie," he said as he caught the boy.
"Yes sir." Charles could not tell him that both of them could do all this before the doctor stuck that needle in their arms, nor did he have any proof for the doctor gave the same shot to the other children and none of them were affected. They were as slow and dull as they always had been (compared to Charles and Margaret)
It was to be a changing chapter in Charles's and Margaret's life, but if they were free of those horrible men who took their parents away, it would be worth it.
One of the men supplying food to the bases was none other than Nigel. Now the children had never seen him. For one, they were trying to escape from that nun, and another thing, the Centre made sure its employees kept their true calling secret.
Since the drug used by the Centre to control the survivors' children was tasteless and non- detectable by even the highest medical equipment (barring that used by the Centre), The Centre could inject the drug in the food and water of the area. Now unfortunately if Charles and Margaret moved out of the area, the drug remained in their system. Unlike the others who got it by stealing cans from stores, they received their's in one shot. They received an overdose and it would have long lasting effects on them.
Like the proverbial vaccine, it kept them free from being what they should have been and they needed a booster shot in a few years. Meanwhile the Centre made sure that milk powder, cans of evaporated milk, cans of pork and beans, and other essentials contained Neogenesis in minute quantities. They wisely did not inform the Food and Drug Act of this new specie- altering drug and even if they did, no test outside the Centre could detect it
But that was in the future and so Charles and Margaret prepared to move to Arizona with their new parents.
And what about Lamech Parker? The day after Charles and Margaret married, he went to the vault to see the Scrolls that made him rich. The place was dusty and he picked up a skull that lay on the floor. Only the skull was near a skeleton. Puzzled, he looked at the skeleton, noting the remnants of clothes, a suit with the high collar of the early nineteen hundreds.
"Daddy," he said as he picked up the scrolls and carried them to his bedroom. He opened the first part, not desiring to read it for he already knew. It was a way to great fame and riches. However, that last part was hard to open. "Nigel, get that monk!"
The man his henchman brought up was a man in his fifties, half starved, but still defiant and still wearing his monk's habits.
"All right Brother Nathaniel open it!"
Nigel pushed his gun into the man's ribs. "We know you have a sister in Edinburgh. We know where she lives."
Carefully Brother Nathaniel assembled the key and at last, the last part of the scroll lay opened.
"Now Nigel, we don't need him anymore. You know what to do." Lamech smiled evilly. A few minutes later, a shot ran out and Nigel came back in, his gun smoking.
Lamech turned to the words, and read them. "The Centre shall rise. The Chosen will be found, a boy named Jarod."
So that's it, thought Mr. Parker, Jarod. We have to find someone from that name. We have to prevent him from accomplishing this. He yelled out. :"The Centre belongs to the Parker's! It is ours, our legacy!" His heart started to beat faster, faster than it had even done in his life. His breath came in shorter and shorter spasms, he clutched his heart and yelled, "Help Nigel! Help Me!" but no words came out of his mouth.
A few minutes later, Nigel having disposed of Brother Nathaniel's body entered the suite and found his master dead, his face contorted with fear. He barely looked at the scrolls as he put them together with the keys. The light shone from the open window revealed the face not of Nigel but of Brother Nathaniel who said to the other man in the gray Centre uniform who helped him. "Do you know before I joined the Order, I was considered a good shot. Could bring down a grouse on the run, five hundred yards. You never lose your touch. I'll put these back in the vault and get in touch with the other Brothers. They'll send someone over soon."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
An Air force Barracks somewhere in Delaware
Four years had past and Margaret looked with envy at her friends. "I should have a baby by now," she said.
"But other people have children later." Charles sat on the rock, and kicked his feet in the dirt. "Maybe we should be more careful. The lieutenant that I can get in the air-force."
He lived in a family unit on the barracks with the Lieutenant, his wife, and daughter who planned to marry in the spring. No one knew much about her betrothed except his mother took in foster children and her son would only marry a girl who followed his mother's footsteps. So far, he would not be disappointed for the Lieutenant's daughter often spent hours reading newspaper articles on abandoned children and would ask, "Why can't someone help them?"
The house looked like any other, frame construction, utilitarian, a lime- beige exterior, and a green roof. Unless you drove up in front and saw the number or counted that it was the fifth house from the street, you could not tell who lived there. Sure, it had a flower garden with begonias and carnations in front and a statue of one of Snow White's dwarfs, but in winter, the flower garden was no more, and the statue was taken inside, why no one knew.
Like most of the women on the base, the Lieutenant's wife made peanut butter and tollhouse cookies and the best chowder in the state. It appeared that a year ago, the Ladies Auxiliary of the local Church had a cookbook sale and there was a quite copying of each other' recipes. She, however, had a slight limp and took frequent visits to the hospital and if one walked into their living room the first thing they would notice was a and both the Lieutenants had a picture of their son, Donald, who had died in infancy and to whom Charles was in their opinion, a reincarnation of. Had Charles been a vicious boy, they would have been disappointed.
"How?" she asked.
"I told him I'm sixteen, but small for my age." He smiled.
"Do you think he'll believe it?"
Charles shook his head. "He might."
They had left the orphanage because the change to the two children made them a prey for the others and so the nuns arranged for one air-force couple to take Charles and another air-force couple to take Margaret. Both families practically lived next door to each other.
Charles new father and mother were rather pleased with their choice. The boy was quite intelligent and mentioned that 'I want to be a pilot."
However, he still wanted to be a father and when he was not delivering paper, would visit Margaret and her new parents, thinking it all innocent, allowed both children to go together.
It appeared that this was not to be. So, one afternoon, both children sat besides each other, Charles on the rock and Margaret on the grass. "The ancestors have children at eighteen."
"Eighteen?" asked Margaret.
"We can wait a few years. Besides we have to act like them. If we make a mistake, and have children now, it will be trouble. They will kick us out!"
Lieutenant Russell came over. "What's wrong?"
"I miss having a brother or sister," said Margaret, "Like my friends." She did not want to tell her foster father that the brothers and sisters were really sons and daughter. " She also did not want to tell him that before she went to the doctor's, she had been different.
"I don't feel like fighting anymore," said Charles.
"Well you had a hard time at that orphanage, what with all the others picking on you, but at least you're safe with a loving family and you too Margaret," said the Lieutenant.
"Yes I am and I'm thankful for that. Sir, could Margaret come over for supper?"
He gave his new son a hug. "Of course, Charles."
"I'd like to take flying lessons sir."
The lieutenant thought for a moment. "You are rather young, but you do show a great deal of responsibility, but I'm being transferred to a base in Arizona."
"Does that mean that I can't see Charles anymore?" asked Margaret, her face showing her disappointment.
"No. Our whole unit is moving out there, I'm afraid you will miss your home."
Charles and Margaret made a good show at being disappointed.
"I am sure both of you will find friends there."
"I can't run as fast as I used to," said Margaret.
"That's to be expected. You're getting to be a young lady," he said not knowing what she meant that she could no longer see things before they happened, that she could no longer break open a lock, that she no longer had that sense of smell where she knew there were rats about.
Nor could Charles sense that other children were in the area. He could not even jump from the roof of his new house without straining his ankle. He tried to do that once, but luckily the Lieutenant caught him. "You have to be careful, Charlie," he said as he caught the boy.
"Yes sir." Charles could not tell him that both of them could do all this before the doctor stuck that needle in their arms, nor did he have any proof for the doctor gave the same shot to the other children and none of them were affected. They were as slow and dull as they always had been (compared to Charles and Margaret)
It was to be a changing chapter in Charles's and Margaret's life, but if they were free of those horrible men who took their parents away, it would be worth it.
One of the men supplying food to the bases was none other than Nigel. Now the children had never seen him. For one, they were trying to escape from that nun, and another thing, the Centre made sure its employees kept their true calling secret.
Since the drug used by the Centre to control the survivors' children was tasteless and non- detectable by even the highest medical equipment (barring that used by the Centre), The Centre could inject the drug in the food and water of the area. Now unfortunately if Charles and Margaret moved out of the area, the drug remained in their system. Unlike the others who got it by stealing cans from stores, they received their's in one shot. They received an overdose and it would have long lasting effects on them.
Like the proverbial vaccine, it kept them free from being what they should have been and they needed a booster shot in a few years. Meanwhile the Centre made sure that milk powder, cans of evaporated milk, cans of pork and beans, and other essentials contained Neogenesis in minute quantities. They wisely did not inform the Food and Drug Act of this new specie- altering drug and even if they did, no test outside the Centre could detect it
But that was in the future and so Charles and Margaret prepared to move to Arizona with their new parents.
And what about Lamech Parker? The day after Charles and Margaret married, he went to the vault to see the Scrolls that made him rich. The place was dusty and he picked up a skull that lay on the floor. Only the skull was near a skeleton. Puzzled, he looked at the skeleton, noting the remnants of clothes, a suit with the high collar of the early nineteen hundreds.
"Daddy," he said as he picked up the scrolls and carried them to his bedroom. He opened the first part, not desiring to read it for he already knew. It was a way to great fame and riches. However, that last part was hard to open. "Nigel, get that monk!"
The man his henchman brought up was a man in his fifties, half starved, but still defiant and still wearing his monk's habits.
"All right Brother Nathaniel open it!"
Nigel pushed his gun into the man's ribs. "We know you have a sister in Edinburgh. We know where she lives."
Carefully Brother Nathaniel assembled the key and at last, the last part of the scroll lay opened.
"Now Nigel, we don't need him anymore. You know what to do." Lamech smiled evilly. A few minutes later, a shot ran out and Nigel came back in, his gun smoking.
Lamech turned to the words, and read them. "The Centre shall rise. The Chosen will be found, a boy named Jarod."
So that's it, thought Mr. Parker, Jarod. We have to find someone from that name. We have to prevent him from accomplishing this. He yelled out. :"The Centre belongs to the Parker's! It is ours, our legacy!" His heart started to beat faster, faster than it had even done in his life. His breath came in shorter and shorter spasms, he clutched his heart and yelled, "Help Nigel! Help Me!" but no words came out of his mouth.
A few minutes later, Nigel having disposed of Brother Nathaniel's body entered the suite and found his master dead, his face contorted with fear. He barely looked at the scrolls as he put them together with the keys. The light shone from the open window revealed the face not of Nigel but of Brother Nathaniel who said to the other man in the gray Centre uniform who helped him. "Do you know before I joined the Order, I was considered a good shot. Could bring down a grouse on the run, five hundred yards. You never lose your touch. I'll put these back in the vault and get in touch with the other Brothers. They'll send someone over soon."