Part 29

"Well, little girl, at least you don't have any genes that come from that man," Carly said, looking at Ginny, who sat on her lap. "But what do you know about this David?"

"I met him. He's OK. Not a raving lunatic or criminal or anything. He did say his mother was crazy."

"Crazy, huh?" Carly mused. "Better than mean."

"Mom is so much better, I thought that was out of my family history. Then along comes this, and it's back in again."

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. Here, take her while I go and heat up some baby food."

"OK." Zander sat Ginny down on his lap facing him. She grinned and flailed her arms at him. "No, we're not crazy," he said to her in a silly voice. "Not crazy at all!"

David met Cameron in the coffee shop of the Port Charles Hotel.

They talked about various colleagues and their movements from this or that hospital or university, new pharmaceuticals, new non-invasive procedures, the dreadfulness of insurance companies and the atrociousness of medical malpractice lawyers. David knew as far as Cameron was concerned, they weren't supposed to talk about anything else.

"It's too bad about your divorce," David said, casually. "I can't talk; I've been divorced three times."

"I suppose she told you her side," Cameron said, in a tone that indicated that "her side" was all wrong.

"No. Just that you're divorced. She told me a little bit about how much anti-depressants have helped her. She talked mostly about your son and your new granddaughter. New grandmothers always find their grandchildren to be the most fascinating thing on earth."

"I'm sure," Cameron said, absently.

"Maybe I can help you out a little," David said.

"With what?"

"It just seems a shame I got to see your grandchild, but you can't," he said. "But I seem to be able to talk to your son OK. Maybe I can help you with this breach you seem to have with him."

"You're going to help me get along with my son?"

"I'm just saying you seem so at odds you need a go-between; neutral, a third party. I could be a halfway decent emissary. I know Donna from way back, and I know you."

"Why are you interested?"

"I don't know. It just occurred to me I might be able to do a little good, that's all."

"I don't think so."

"OK. It was just an idea. I guess you've got a better one."

"For what?"

"To repair you relationship with your son. Why else are you in this town?"

"My older son is here and I'd like to see him, and make sure nothing happens to him."

"Why? What could happen to him?"

"Who knows? Anything. His brother shot him once. Now he comes to see his brother, who lives in a town where he is a known drug dealer and a kidnapper. Anything could happen to him, and anybody near him could suffer from the fall-out."

"That's the only reason you're here?"

Cameron didn't answer.

"Come on, Cameron, whatever Alexander has done in the past, right now he's not a danger to anybody, much less his own brother."

"He's done more damage to his brother than to anyone else. But Alexander has decided that he knows best once again."

"Let me ask you for some advice. I don't have any children, but you never know. There's still hope. I'd like to find out as much as I can. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, it seems to me, you raised two basically good kids. But you don't agree. So how did that come about? How could one turn out so well and the other turn out so badly, when they're both your kids?"

"You suffer from the common misconception, Hayward, that they come as a blank slate that you get to fill up. They do not. They come with their own personalities."

"But you have some influence."

"It varies. But you have far less influence than you would probably like to think."

"Then at least to some degree, Alexander was born the way he is. So why blame him? Why give Peter so much credit?"

"I don't blame them or give them credit. But I deal with them the way their personalities call for. See, they are very different. They may come from the same parents, but they come with their own personalities which are not more similar because they are brothers."

"I see. Still, if you'll forgive me for saying so, aren't you dealing with Alexander the wrong way? Maybe his personality calls for a different way than what you've been using. This is your own opinion I'm getting at, Cam. In my opinion, he's alright, even in spite of the hunting accident."

"One, you're not his father. Two, that accident did not hurt him, it hurt Peter."

"But of course it hurt him, Cameron! In a very different way. Some might say in a worse way! Think how hard that would be to live with!"

"I'm sure it's very hard to live with."

"But how do you help?"

"You can't if he refuses to be helped. He left home. Again, he knew best. He does not, all right, if you insist, perhaps cannot, listen. So he deciding dealing drugs was best. That was his opinion of what was best to do."

"I guess if he was of age, you couldn't legally stop him."

"Of course not, but being underage wouldn't have stopped him."

"You could still go after him, though."

"Which I did. After several years I found him. He still found it best to scorn my advice, or the advice of anyone with any longer experience or better wisdom, or any other source of information. He has in the meantime decided on bringing a child into the world, though he had no education and has a menial job."

"Well, there are a lot of people who do that."

"Certainly there are."

"And who takes their parents advice when they are young? Did you?"

"Some of it. Didn't you?"

"I didn't have any. My father died when I was really young. My mother couldn't, not knowing much herself, I suppose, is the way you could put it. I did do whatever I thought best. In the end, we all do."

"In the end, but there are some personalities that refuse to learn anything before deciding what to do."

"Surely there's a great deal of variation on that."

"A great deal. Most of us fall in the middle. We could say Alexander falls on an extreme of the relevant continuum."

"Then it seems to me pointless to try to give advice as to the wiser course. What can you do but try to get him to think he thought up the wiser course himself? To do that you'd have to listen more than talk."

"Well, you can't listen to someone who runs away."

"Maybe they run away because nobody's listening."

"Well, Hayward, I hope you'll find out. And have better luck."

"Well, I hope you have better luck, too. Let me know if I can be of any help."