Chapter Two
New York City
Jacky got up early the next morning, excited about working on the family tree project. He got dressed as soon as he jumped out of bed and hurried to the kitchen down the hall. The apartment they lived in was cheap and not too big. They had moved here after Clark and Dianne had moved out. There was three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One bathroom was in the master bedroom and the other was between the other two rooms at the end of the hall. Jacky's room was off to the left and the "guest room" was serving as a storage closet. Whenever they had a guest, they'd put them on the pull-out couch in the living room. He rounded the corner then came to a screeching stop in the doorway to the kitchen.
Mom was standing at the stove, drinking her coffee and making breakfast like she always did. Except this time, she was wearing her nurse's garb. She had the graveyard shift at the hospital six days a week while Dad worked days at the bank. Seeing the time, Jacky knew she shouldn't be working right now. In fact she had yesterday, today, and tomorrow off. He didn't say or do anything as he stood there and when she turned and noticed him, she immediately looked guilty.
She turned off the stove and grabbed her coffee. "Please don't give me hell for this, Jacky," she said. "I never know when the hospital might call. And this isn't the first time I've been called in." She took a drink of her coffee as she got plates down out of the cabinets. She only got two plates. Dad was already at work. "I know we had plans, but I told you-"
"It's okay," Jacky said as he walked further into the kitchen. He helped her set the table in silence then sat down as she served out the food.
She sat down across from him. "Are you sure it's okay?" she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly as she looked at him. "I know you were excited about it."
"The project's not going anywhere," Jacky said. "And I can always look stuff up while you're gone."
She smiled, looking less guilty, but it was still there. She hated letting him down and vice versa. "And we'll have all night and tomorrow to work on it," she said. She sighed, looking down at her food. "Still would've been better to do it all together, but life's unfair like that."
"Don't beat yourself up about it," Jacky said. He reached across the table and took her hand, getting her attention back on him. "It's fine, really. Okay?" He gave her a smile.
She smiled back and they finished their breakfast. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before she left for work. Jacky stood, taking the plates to the sink and washed the dishes that were there for the next few minutes. Once he was done with that, he went into the living room and sat down in front of the computer.
He opened the Ancestry page and looked over the research Mom had gotten so far. She had been working on this for a while. She had all kinds of details on their family members. Details that weren't needed for the family tree painting in the hallway. She was just curious about their family and that, of course, made him curious also.
He read what she had found, pausing when he came to his great-grandfather, Jack Twist. Had she just stopped with him or had she not been able to find out much about him? Jacky consulted the Ancestry page and found out where Jack Twist had come from: Texas, but he had been born in Wyoming. He came across his great-great-grandparents, seeing that they had lived in Lightning Flat, Wyoming their entire lives. Jacky got bored by then, so went back to Jack Twist.
There wasn't very many details there, which irked Jacky. He wanted to know more about the man he was named after. His great-grandfather's life was a mystery. A mystery Jacky wanted to solve for selfish reasons, but was that a crime? It wasn't a crime to know more about his family. It should be a crime that everyone was making getting those details so difficult. Was the only way to find out anything to be to actually go to Wyoming?
Jacky sat back away from the computer, knowing a trip from New York to Wyoming would be a long one. And he didn't have the money for a flight. Would driving be cheaper? He didn't know. He had never gone anywhere. The only time he and his family went on vacation was to see Niagara Falls. They had camped out for an entire week then.
But this wouldn't be camping. If he went, he'd stay in a hotel. He could always pack his own food to save some money. Even if he had to, he could always sleep out in the car.
Was he actually considering this trip?
Jacky got out of his seat and ran into his room, pulling out the box he kept under his bed. He opened it and counted the money he had stashed there. He had earned the money doing some odds and ends jobs for the people in the building. They mostly hired him to babysit and that paid better than anything else.
Unfortunately, he didn't have enough money for a plane ticket to Wyoming and back. He didn't even know if he had enough for one way. He tried figuring out gas prices between here and there, but that was harder than counting the money. He put the money away, thinking that he would just have to talk to Mom and Dad later tonight over dinner.
Hopefully they'd see things his way.
Wyoming
Steve was working out in the barn that afternoon when he heard footsteps behind him. He glanced over his shoulder once and saw Emily then looked back forward to continue milking the cow. Due to his case of heat stroke, there was usually someone else out here in the afternoons to do these jobs. The doc had told him not to work out in the sun for more than a couple of hours a day. He tried listening to the doctor, but he just couldn't stand being indoors all day long.
"You're not supposed to be out here," Emily said as if reading his mind. She was always trying to take care of him after his visit to the hospital. He was always showing her that he was fine, but she was still cautious about his health. Which was a good thing. He could rely on her if anything ever happened to him. So why should he be worried about working in the sun?
"I ain't in direct sunlight," Steve said, grabbing his bucket as he got to his feet. He gestured around the barn. "I can work fine in here."
"It's hotter in here than out there," Emily said, nodding toward the yard outside. She grabbed the rope that was tied to the cow and led the animal outside to the trough then came back. "I don't want you endin' up back in the hospital."
Steve set the bucket down where some fellas would pick it up later along with the box of eggs sitting there. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants then turned to her. "I know what I'm doin'," he said, walking past her. "You don't have to baby me."
"Someone's gotta," Emily said, following him out of the barn. "Sure, you have a lot of friends, but you still keep to yourself. And you always run off somewhere without tellin' people where you're goin'. What if something happens and no one can find you?"
Steve stopped and turned to her. "Everybody keeps forgetting that I only had a touch of heat stroke," he said. "Nothin' dangerous. In fact, me not workin' in direct sunlight for more than a couple of hours wasn't really a demand from the doctor. Just a suggestion."
"Because he don't want it to get worse," Emily said then crossed her arms. "He wants ya to stay healthy and so does everyone else here on the ranch. Is that so bad?"
"If you keep babying me."
Emily smiled with a slight sigh. "All right, we'll quit babyin' you," she said, uncrossing her arms as she stepped toward him. She laid her hand on his arm. "Why don't we go get somethin' to eat? It's bout nigh supper time." She gave his arm a gentle squeeze then walked past him and headed toward the house.
Steve followed.
New York City
Jacky sat at the table, picking at his food. Mom was still at the hospital and Dad had brought home pizza for supper. He had wanted to tell them about his possible trip, but that was hard to do with only one parent present. He could always tell his dad and bring in Mom later, but he honestly wanted to tell Mom first. After all, she was the one that had started the family tree project. Dad was interested, but he was always too busy to deal with it.
"Are you feeling all right, Jack?" Dad asked after a few minutes of silence. "You've hardly ate anything."
"I'm feeling all right," Jacky said, his eyes never leaving his slice of pizza. He had only taken a couple of bites. "Just don't have an appetite, that's all."
"Disappointed about Mom?" Dad asked. "She said she'd be back in time for supper-"
"She does a good thing with her job," Jacky said then finally looked over at his dad. "It's just...I had something important to tell both of you and I really wanted to bring it up tonight. But Mom's not home, so..." He trailed off, looking back down at his food.
"How important is it?" Dad asked. "You can tell me, you know that."
Jacky sighed then looked back at his dad. "Well, I've been planning a trip all day," he said, shifting a bit nervously in his seat. "I was thinking that maybe if I do a few more extra jobs this week, I'd be able to go. I haven't yet decided to take a plane or drive over there."
"Where exactly do you wanna go?"
"Wyoming."
"What for?"
"It's where my great-grandfather came from," Jacky said. "I know I can get a bit obsessive over things, but this is different. This is part of my past and I wanna know more about the man I was named after."
"I can't argue with that," Dad said. "But, your mom and I probably won't be able to get the time off to go."
"Oh, that's fine," Jacky said. "I was mostly thinking that I'd make the trip on my own."
Dad was silent for a moment. "On your own?" he asked. Jacky understood why he was hesitant about this. Jacky never liked going anywhere by himself. He had been fine during his job interview because he knew the person and it was only about a block or two from the apartment. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
Jacky nodded. "I don't think I've ever been more sure of anything in my life," he said.
"Why don't we wait until your mother gets home to decide, officially, on anything?"
Jacky nodded once more. 'Yes, sir," he said then went back to eating, pretty sure Mom would be on his side when she got home.
"Wyoming?" Mom asked when Jacky had told her everything. "I really don't mind, but you want to go alone? And so far?" She had entirely different reasons than Dad as to why she didn't want Jacky to go. After all, Jacky was her baby.
"It'd only be for a few days, maybe," Jacky said. "I can always call you if I decide to stay longer. And you'd be fine with that, right?" He was an adult, but since he still lived with his parents, he wanted their approval for anything he did. He wasn't the rebellious type. He got nervous just thinking about the idea of doing something wrong.
"I want to be fine with it," Mom said then walked over to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I guess this is something you have to do, huh?" He nodded. She cupped his cheeks in her hands. "My boy is growing up so fast." She pulled him in for a hug. "But you don't have to worry about getting extra jobs. Your father and I will give you whatever money you need." She pulled back and looked at him with a smile. "The only thing I need you to do while your gone is call often. You know how worried I get."
"Don't I need a phone?"
"We'll go out and get you one tonight," Mom said. Jacky smiled and looked at Dad, who nodded his agreement. "You better start packing."
Jacky hugged his mom then ran over to dad and hugged him also then turned and hurried off down the hall to his room, excited.
to be continued...