Chapter 14

Alan stared with no appetite at the lasagna. G-d knew, he didn't want to do anything to set Rosa off.

"You're not eating." It was a statement, an accusation.

He looked at her guiltily. "I'm sure this is delicious, and I appreciate your effort, Rosa…it's just…I'm allergic to tomatoes."

"Oh, dear." She stood from her chair and looked frantically around. "Now I really feel like an idiot…that's all I put in the greenhouse this year."

"It's all right, you couldn't know." Her hands were clutching at her hair, he could see her nearing the edge of her precipitous mind, over his allergy to tomatoes. How in the world was he going to keep her on this side of the gorge long enough for Don's team to find them? He didn't doubt that they would. He just had to give them time.

"The boys both like them," he offered, and she stopped her headlong pace of the kitchen.

"Really?"

He was encouraged. "A great deal, I think. Probably because they're never around the house, so it's always been a treat, of sorts, anything with tomato sauce."

She smiled. "You see, that's another thing I can do for them. And later," she was growing excited now, "later they can help in the greenhouse. The bags of fertilizer are very heavy."

"I'm sure they would like to help you, Rosa." Alan tried to keep any inflection of sarcasm out of his voice. "They can help a lot around here…but you have to let them out for them to help."

The smile became a frown again. "Not yet. It's not time yet." She walked to the refrigerator, opened the door. "I could make you a nice salad?"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Later that afternoon, she let him sit in the room with the monitors, and watch the boys for a while. She stood near him while he watched. Charlie was sleeping, but he was restless. Alan imagined smoothing the curls away from his forehead, sitting with him and rubbing his back until his sleep became more peaceful. He envisioned Charlie sitting out by the koi pond, notebook in hand, counting the number of times the koi swam north to south versus east to west, and developing an algorithim to show a pattern to the change of direction. He had been nine when he had done that, and Alan had been both fascinated and terrified.

He saw Don lying on his back on the other mattress, but he wasn't asleep. He was tossing an imaginary ball up to the ceiling, catching it, glancing every now and then at his brother. Maybe he could hear soft moans of distress that weren't being picked up by the microphone. He stood and walked to the west wall, trying to figure a way to make it disappear from his side. He squatted and ran his fingers along the bottom of the wall. How many times had he done that? With Charlie sick, Don was often virtually alone in that room, and while he'd always been independent, it made Alan's heart ache to think of the frustration of inactivity Don must be feeling, the agony of not being able to help his brother, get them both out of there.

Finally Don walked toward the camera, stopped and looked directly at the lens. He cleared his throat. "Dad," he said, and Alan jumped. "Dad…" Don's eyes wandered but he brought them back to the camera. "Charlie and I were talking, and we think David Granger is a great idea." Alan's heart leapt. Don had understood his message. Don continued. "You'll like him, Rosa. We all went to a wedding he did last year, and it was a beautiful ceremony."

Rosa's hand touched Alan's shoulder. "That's sweet…", she murmured.

"We'd like to help get things ready," Don went on. "If you need us, Rosa, we'll help you. I promise."

Alan and Rosa were both tearing up now, for different reasons. Abruptly, she stepped back from Alan. "I need to think now. I can lock this room from the outside, if you would like to stay here. Or, there's a guest room." Alan looked at her, and she was rubbing her head again. "I need to feed the cat."

"All right," he said gently. "That's fine, Rosa. You take care of your chores. I'll stay here, with the boys."

She stepped out the room, gave him a smile as she was closing the door. "That's why I fell in love with you, you know," she said somewhat shyly. "I could tell you were a good father." Then the door shut, and he heard a key turn in the lock.