Chapter 13: Road to New york

March 1999

"Oliver, do you know what you're going to do?"

I jumped up. I had dozed off while the counsellor, Mr. Flint was helping me. He was helping me choose a school that I'd be going to after high school.

"Do you have any idea of what you want to do?" He asked again.

I sighed. "My dad has this plan set out for me. He wants me to go to Wall Street to collect the money that my grandfather lost in the Great Depression. He sees me as a great investor in the stock market."

Mr. Flint leaned back in his chair. "And what do you think?" He asked.

I thought for a second. "I'm not really sure. I've spent my life thinking that I'd be lucky enough to have a plan set out for me. But all I am is drifting aimlessly. I don't know what I am to do."

"Don't worry. Everyone does at one point in their life or another." He said, gesturing to the brochures. There were over a dozen scattered on his desk. "I'd like to see you here next week at the same time. We'll find something that you will enjoy."

I got up, said goodbye to Mr. Flint, and left his office.

Graduation was approaching fast, and I knew I had to choose something quick. Should I do what my dad had planned for me? To go to New York and become one of those fat cats? Hell, I never really liked suits.

My phone rang. It was the stupid Nokia ringtone that was on everyone's phones these days. People asked me that if I hated it, why I didn't bother to change it. I tried to, but all the other ones were even more annoying.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Oliver, you there?"

"Oh, hey, Dad! Yeah, I'm at the school. Why?"

"Stay there. I'm picking you up." He said.

"Why?"

"We're going to the hospital. We're seeing your cousin, Lucy."

"What? Why?"

"No more questions. We can discuss this at the hospital."

I hung up. Why was Lucy in the hospital?

My dad was soon pulling up to the school. I got into the truck, and we drove off.

"What's this about?" I asked.

My dad struggled with his speaking. "Lucy's, um, been having some trouble."

I didn't like how Dad was talking like he was saying she was dead.

"She's been having a lot of headaches recently. Some too hard that she's not feeling fit to get out of bed in the morning."

"So? What does that all mean? People get headaches all the time."

"This is different. She's been fainting a few times, forgetting names, all kinds of things. Alex has gotten worried. He's had her taken to the hospital."

I didn't like the sound of this. I stayed silent along with my dad as we headed off to the hospital.

Soon I was in the waiting room in the pediatric wing. A doctor with a clip board came up to me and my Dad.

"Are you Shawn and Oliver Blake?" She asked.

"Yes." My Dad replied. "We're here to see my niece, Lucy."

"She actually asked that she see him first." She gestured to me.

"Me?" I asked.

The doctor led me into Lucy's room. I saw her lying down on her bed, watching one of her favorite Disney movies on the hospital tv.

"Hey, cuz." I said.

She looked up and smiled. "Ollie! You're here!"

I sighed. Some things never changed. I sat down on the bed beside her.

"So what's going on, Lucy?" I asked, seriously.

Lucy sighed. "The doctor is saying a lot of big words that I have trouble understanding. I think my Dad knows what's going on."

I gave her a hug. "Whatever it is, I'll be here for you."

I sat down, watching the movie with Lucy. I can't really remember anything that happened in it, because I only focused on her and what was going on with her. After almost a half hour, Uncle Alex came in.

"Hey, Oliver. Can I see you for a second?"

I headed out of the room to talk with him.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on with her?" I asked.

Uncle Alex looked grim. "I've been worried about her for a long time now. She hasn't been feeling well for a while, now. I don't know what will happen."

"Enough with this cryptic crap, Alex. I want to know what has happened."

Uncle Alex breathed. "The doctors have found a tumor. It's cancerous, and could have spread to something important. I don't know how bad, though."

"Holy shit." I muttered.

"Language." He replied.

"Sorry. How long has she been here?"

"We took her to the doctor about 2 weeks ago. She's been here for about a week. We just didn't want to tell the rest of the family until we knew what was going on."

"She wanted to see me first?" I asked.

"She adores you, Oliver. She may be stuck here for God knows how long. All you need to be is there for your cousin. Can you handle that?"

I nodded.

"Good. I hope you'll be here for her again?"

I nodded again. It was a lot to take in, all the responsibility. My little cousin had cancer, and I would have to do my best to make sure she was okay.

"C'mon, Ollie. You gotta at least try to play!" Said Lucy.

"Sorry." I said. I had been staring out the window of her hospital room.

"Here." I set down a card on the pile.

Lucy laughed. "Have you ever played Crazy 8s?" She said.

"No, not really." I replied. "I told you I'm a hunter. Not really someone to sit around at home."

Lucy smiled. "That's a spade you out down. You're supposed to put down either a club or a 5 in order for that to be a real move."

I picked up the spade I put down, and set a club down.

"There you go." She said.

Despite being only 10, Lucy was quite mature for her age. Even though her father never took her hunting, she knew a lot of what went on on the trips that I took with my dad and uncle. These past four years had let her understand that bunnies aren't just cute. They're good protein

"So Ollie, you given any thought on the future?"

I looked up. I wasn't expecting someone like Lucy to ask me that. Anyone in my class or older, yes, but not her.

"Not really sure, cuz. I'm thinking about going into Economics."

"Even though you don't want to?" She asked.

"Do you even know what Economics is?" I said, confused that I was having this conversation with a 10-year-old.

"No. And I don't have to. I can tell that that's not what you want to do."

I shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. I've been much more preoccupied with you than my own future."

So far in the past 2 weeks of knowing Lucy was at the hospital, I had been there 12 times, once per day. I had missed seeing her those 2 other times because of my job working at the family's hunting store.

"Why are you so worried? I'm gonna be fine." Her optimism really upset me. It's not that I didn't like seeing her happy. I just didn't feel like this should be a situation with a bright side.

"Ollie, I honestly can tell something about you: You don't want to be someone that Uncle Shawn is making you become. You should do what you like to do."

I sighed. "Maybe. But I don't know what the hell that is."

It had been several months since that day. Lucy had been well enough to have her 11th birthday, and I, my 18th in those months. A few weeks after my birthday, I had graduated with an economics scholarship to Columbia University in New York City.

My family threw a big going away party at our house, but Lucy was unable to visit. Aunt Terri, Lucy's mom, did though.

"She would give almost anything to be here, Oliver." She said. "She thinks the world of you."

"I know." I murmured. "She's always been my favorite cousin."

"Hey, Oliver!" My dad had suddenly walked up to me. "C'mere! I got something to show you."

I got up from my seat, following Dad through the house. Soon he was standing at one of the doors I couldn't believe we were at.

The house we lived in my dad had built with his friends. He had purposely put in a trophy room in the house, and I was never allowed in there. This meant something big to me to be able to go into his "Fortress of Solitude" as some might say. He unlocked the door, and we stepped inside. I was blown away at the sight.

I knew my dad had made many kills, but I never knew that he was so nostalgic. There were over thirty trophies littering the walls of the room. I saw a cougar, a few bucks, hell, even a grizzly's head. But he wasn't paying attention to them. He pointed at one in the middle of them all.

"Take a look, sport." He said, proudly.

I looked over, and saw a buck's head. It had just any normal set of antlers, and it was just as big. Why was Dad showing this to me?

Then he pointed at the head again, and I looked closer. I saw a hole right in the deer's temple. Clearly someone had tried to stitch it up while stuffing it, but then gave up: only half of the wound was sewn shut.

"Remember that, Oliver? That was the venison we had for Christmas 4 years ago. You made me proud that day. And I know you'll make me proud in New York. You go out there, and you make the name 'Blake' appear as a great Wall Street investor."

I felt horrible. Lucy was right: I didn't want to be an investor in the market. But I didn't see any other option coming around the corner. Unless there was some stroke of luck to help me find what I should be doing with my life, I'd do what my dad wanted me to do.

"Thanks, Dad. When I get to New York, I'll make you proud."