Ch 18 Birthday Surprises

The next morning, Phineas was discharged. Tom drove them to the entrance of the lodge in a personal shuttle and walked them to the elevator before returning it.

Once in the room, Phineas sat down to rest.

"Just tell me what I need to do, okay?" Jeff said immediately.

Bogg smiled, "there's a rucksack in the closet, can you get it for me?"

Jeff immediately did as instructed. He held the sack steady as Bogg unzipped the top with his left hand and reached in. He took out a rectangular object, wrapped in brown paper. "Happy Birthday," Phineas said handing it to Jeffrey. "I'm sorry your birthday isn't as much fun as last year, there's another part too, but open this one first."

Jeff smiled excitedly as he put the sack down and took the package. When he realized it was a book however, he tried to hide his disappointment. He knew Bogg meant well, but there was no way Bogg could pick out a book he'd really enjoy. Bogg didn't know the first thing about books. But he kept smiling as he unwrapped the gift.

He read the title aloud, "The Call of The Wild, I don't think I've ever heard of it," he said, being careful to keep the smile on his face.

"It's an adventure story about a dog," Bogg explained, "I hope you like it."

Jeff stared at the book, his heart sinking. Dog stories were for little kids, he thought to himself. Doesn't he know I'm too old for those? But, instead of complaining, he said, "I can read it while you're resting." He still felt so thankful that Bogg was okay, that he didn't really care about the book anyway. And even if the book wasn't a good one, it still felt good to know that someone had cared enough to give him a gift. Besides, he'd never want to hurt Bogg's feelings.

"Hand me up that sack again and I'll give you part 2 and 3."

Jeff handed him the pack worriedly, hoping another book wasn't in there. But, as he watched, Bogg pulled out a Polaroid picture and handed it to him. He looked at it and saw a small boy and a dog, and caught his breath, "who is this?"

"I wanted to make sure Ralph was okay, and I thought you'd want to know how he was doing."

"When was this taken?" Jeff asked, his voice cracked and he cleared his throat.

"Two weeks after you fell out the window."

"It's a nice yard."

"Yeah, lots of room to run. He's been with this family for a week, and here's another picture," and Bogg handed him another Polaroid of two children playing with Ralph. "This was a year later."

"He looks happy," Jeff observed, this time his voice was normal and he smiled.

"He's got a good family," Bogg confirmed.

Jeff swallowed, "so you voyaged to 1982 to find out?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

"There's one more thing, so hand me that sack again," Bogg said and Jeff again lifted the sack so Bogg could reach into it. He wondered what else could be in there.

"I thought you might want something to remember him by," Bogg said and handed him a dog's collar. "They bought him a new one, so I took this."

Jeff reached out for it solemnly, it was Ralph's collar. He turned the metal nametag over in his hand and ran his fingers over the back where he had scratched out BF with his pocketknife. "Thanks," he whispered and moved toward Bogg to give him a gentle hug, being careful not to touch his shoulder.

Jeff picked up the collar and the book and moved to an upholstered chair in a corner of the room beside a floor lamp. He held the collar as he opened the book and stared at the title page. In familiar block printing he could read the inscription:

Happy Birthday Jeff,
I hope you like the book.
Bogg
105/10/3

Then he turned to the first page and started to read.

Phineas smiled and stretched out on the bed to rest.

An hour later, Jeff shivered when he felt a sudden draft. He looked up from the book and noticed an open window. It was hard to pull himself away from the story, but he got up and glanced at Bogg as he closed the sill. He was surprised to see that Bogg was again asleep. Getting back here must have taken more out of him than Jeff realized. He pulled the blanket farther up over Bogg's shoulders, then moved back to the chair and picked up the collar and book again. This was the best story he'd read in a very long time. He was amazed that Bogg could have chosen a book he would enjoy so much when there were so many thousands, maybe millions of books to choose from. And that Bogg had thought to go and find Ralph, and even take pictures? He took a deep breath and suddenly felt at peace. It was true that there had been a terrible tragedy in his life, and on some level he guessed he would probably never get over that, but it was also true that he had someone who loved him now and that they were a family.

Bogg opened his eyes and looked around a half-hour later. His shoulder hurt quite a lot, but he smiled when he noticed Jeffrey immersed so deeply in the book, "hey."

Jeff put down the book immediately and went to sit on a stool beside the bed. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Can you get me some water?" Bogg asked as he reached in his pocket for the medicine.

Jeff brought the water quickly and then took the small container out of Bogg's left hand.

"Let me do this," he said as he opened it and gave him one of the tablets.

"Thanks," Phineas whispered, glad for the help. Even moving his left hand hurt his shoulder.

"What else can I do?"

"Right now, I just want to lay very still for a few minutes," Bogg answered and Jeff could tell his shoulder was hurting a lot.

A knock at the door brought Jeff to life and he went to answer it. When he saw it was Tom, he stepped into the hall so they could talk.

"How's it going?" Tom asked in a quiet voice.

"It hurts him a lot, but he has medicine," Jeff paused, "he's okay."

"I'm going to eat, I'll bring you both supper, what time do you want it?"

Jeff paused, he'd been worried about leaving Bogg to get supper, how had Tom known? "He just took a pill, maybe in an hour or more?"

Tom nodded, "all right, oh yeah, Happy Birthday, sorry it's not much fun."

"Are you kidding? Being here with Bogg is the best! And he got me this great book called The Call of the Wild," Jeff paused, "you wouldn't know how Bogg picked it out, would you?"

"Well I know he sure spent a lot of time talking to Leslie, the librarian. You know Phineas doesn't know a lot about books."

Jeff's smile faded, it figured that Bogg would find a way to be with a girl while he looked for a book. "Bet she was pretty," he said under his breath.

"Who?"

"Leslie, who else?" Suddenly the gift of the book didn't seem quite so special. Then again, Bogg HAD managed to pick out a great book for him, and that had to count for something, didn't it? Jeff stared at the floor, his brain quickly processing this new information. As he thought it through, he realized it counted for everything. Bogg had just done what he always did when he had a problem, he used his seemingly endless charm with women to get the job done. Suddenly Jeff felt better and looked up at Tom, "thanks for thinking of us for supper."

Tom paused, with a wise expression while he watched the emotions cascade over Jeffrey's face as he thought it through. He decided to let the truth slip out so Jeff would know. "Well I doubt anyone thinks he's pretty, but to each his own I guess."

"He?"

"Leslie is the guy who specializes in Young Adult Literature in the Library Archives. Phineas figured if anyone here knew about books, it would be him," Tom explained. "It took Phin a long time to explain all about you and what you liked so Les could give him some suggestions. Then he read the first few pages of each book until he found the one he thought you'd like best. He said he wanted it to be about a dog." Tom paused, "he must really like you, I've never seen him read so much in my life."

Jeffrey's jaw dropped open, Leslie was a guy. "Thanks for telling me," he said, and Tom finally left for supper.