CHAPTER TWENTY

March 13, 2007

By now, Miss Parker and her company were in the Northern town after having seen San Francisco. Jarod had returned from investigating the Yacht club, showing photographs of Dead Beat, while Miss Parker had come back from doing the social circuit, enjoying being the proud mother, taking the children to this event and that and hearing the "aren't they little darlings," from the blue haired set.

Lambourni and Broots remained in the Foggy City, trying to get on as guests of the Computer show, having already made a sign, which Jarod was certain would hide most of them. He was certain that Antonio, especially, was well known to the Feds and he hoped he would not be hauled before the Justice Committee.

As for Debbie, Mr. MacLean knew some in this town who gave her a tour of their family court, and let her listen in on their cases, that is, after censoring the rougher stuff. They gave her several pamphlets with titles such as Your Family Court in Action, Tough Love in Today's Society, or What It Takes to Be a Judge. He was appalled to learn that Debbie was already pregnant. However, because of the small size of the Dominant babies, she would not show until her seventh month and those long skirts the Dominants favored would hide the pregnancy until delivery. An early teen girl with a pregnancy common in poorer girls, not a well brought up part Catholic, part Jewish girl of middle class parents and she had to marry in a Protestant church!

She told him of the court ship, that she fell madly in love with Antonio, and that he was always there and when he had told her father that he was going to marry her. Broots had objected, but Lambourni had told him that Deborah needed protection and no one even in the Centre would dare to eliminate the wife of a Dominant.

"When did this happen?"

She shrugged. It was a young girl's shrug, the don't care attitude, and her reply showed nonchalance. "We stopped in Kentucky when Antonio was going to Los Angeles before Mr. Parker had his heart attack. I had my wedding dress in the suitcase. He had already called ahead."

"Why didn't anyone notice?"

"Why should they? I was still at school and Antonio was working at home. He'd come after working on that column, pick me up to take me to church, but we didn't tell dad where the church was. We had to get the banns announced three times." She showed a picture of her wedding dress. It was white, had a veil and a train. One of Lambourni's daughters had seen a pattern for a prom dress and adapted it for a wedding. "But the wine tasted strange and we had chocolate cake as well as the wedding cake."

"Did you go to the justice of the peace?"

"Antonio said that was just for poor people. We were married at Hofveister's Dutch Reformed Church in Codney's Grove. I remember that because the town used to be called Hofveister, but they changed it to Codney Grove because the new people could not pronounce it, so they had a vote, but they kept the Church name the same because they would have to spend years getting approval plus they needed a new roof."

Now Codney was a man who owned an orchard and he died in the Civil War, when he ran between the battle lines because one of his brothers was on the Union side and the other was a Reb. Unfortunately, the order to fire the cannon had already come from the Union Side and he was blown to bits. No one knew if his brother had fired the shot, since he later died on Sherman's March of cholera, but because of this tragic event, in the late nineteen forties when the soldiers returned from the war, the townspeople decided to rename the town.

This little bit of history was only mildly interesting to the reporter who learned of Debbie's annoyance that her husband, according to Dominant custom, had asked an

older Dominant girl and her husband to move in with them and teach Debbie how to be a mother, since she was equivalent to a Dominant girl of eight or nine, the ages where they usually started to give birth. Young Dominant mothers wanted to go out stalking with their associates just as much as teenage Sapien mothers wanted to go out partying with their friends. It was natural and I suppose that young Neanderthal mothers would have rather slid down the ice rather than attend to their newborns back in prehistoric times. As for school, Debbie did not have to sit with the unwed mothers. She had a wedding ring and she did act mature for her age.

Once the babies were born, as was also their way, Debbie would learn in house under her husband's supervision, but right now (except for this trip), she was enrolled in the school work program in the legal division. Most of the time, it was minor stuff, but Antonio was giving her a heads up that the talk was of Harvard.

As for Miss Parker, she was becoming more uncomfortable even though she was not showing. It was into the fourth month. Miss Parker would still refuse Jarod taking the initiative in holding her unless she allowed him and since he was a Dominant, he was certainly persistent and that pain shocker did not phrase him.

At this moment, he was showing her the information he gleamed from that yacht club while putting his left arm around her shoulder and she was trying to remove it.

"I asked the manager if they had that type of cruiser," he said wincing slightly at the pain from the controller, "but they said it would be best to go to San Pedro."

She looked at him. "San Pedro? Isn't that—"

"Not that one. This one's San Pedro by the Bay. It's close to Los Angeles but still in San Bernardino County. People assume it's a suburb and no one bothers to correct them."

"So it would be a bedroom community." She put her controller away. Jarod was not bothering her, really. She just wanted to usurp her authority. "I wonder what Blue Cove was assumed to be the bedroom community of."

"The capital of Delaware?"

"Delaware is a very small state." He went on the laptop, trying to find an enlarged map of the town. "I'll have to take an area of the County and increase the zoom rate. I guess it's not important enough for Map Quest."

"And just the type of place Dead Beat would go to."

Jarod copied the enlarged area, filling in where San Pedro by the Bay would be, taking in account its contours. Making plans to capture Dead Beat would be a great undertaking except Jarvis was climbing up on him, Patricia was tugging at his shirt, and the other two were scrapping with Jeremiah. At least Miss Parker did not have her hands where they should not be when little ones were about. MacLean gathered doing so might harm the children.

"Two days from now," said Miss Parker.

"Better make it tomorrow morning. There's a regatta going along the California Coast the next day. I think that's what Dead Beat was waiting for," he said, suddenly getting up, which sent the two flying and Jeremiah and the others standing there with their mouths open. After he sat back down, the kids were quiet. It was sure different when you had your own. Jarod was now seriously considering military school or at least a boot camp.

"There's something that's bothered me."

"Well," said Jarod, "it's obvious that the Dead Beat's accent would be recognizable in his home state. Here with the Okie invasion during the nineteen thirties as well as other immigrants, no one would notice"

"Not that. When Raines trained the clone, Gemini, he wanted him to have no emotions, but your kind is lacking in them anyway, so…"

"The drug makes us like you, with the same physical weaknesses and inability to sense danger imperfectly. When he got tired of them, he could kill them or Lyle would since they were father and son."

"Raines was my father too, Jarod."

"Ah but Mr. Parker raised you and so did your mother. I bet you knew when something was wrong, something evil in you that you wanted to go away."

"Many times. To think I came from a family of cowards." It was as if she just realized it. They could have kept the Pretenders as Dominants. They knew about their sense of honor, but Raines did not want anyone stronger than he. "Jarod, hold me. I feel if you don't; I could kill someone."

He grabbed her in his arms and they lay on the bed. "So could I," he said, glaring at the children who started pouncing on them, playing stalking "Now get to bed all of you."

Jeremiah just smiled and the others giggled. "Father feel affection for mother," said Adrian, using the Dominant term for love.

"That's right," whispered their mother, "now get to sleep."

They did right there on top of the bed. Miss Parker just sighed. It was going to be one of those nights.