OG Chapter 5
The next morning, Booth got up at dawn, dressed in his running gear and left Brennan sleeping. He set off jogging down N. Shartel Avenue until he hit NW 4th St., turned east and ran 5 blocks to St. Joseph's Old Cathedral where he slipped inside the heavy oak doors and knelt in a pew near the back. He knew this oldest Catholic church had been seriously damaged by the Murrah building explosion. After a few minutes of silent prayer, he left the church and walked over to the marble plaque beside its commemorative Jesus Wept statue to read its inscription. He continued alongside the Bombing Memorial's long reflecting pool and its two massive bronze walls. Then resuming his previous pace, he jogged back to the Grandison Inn and showered before joining his wife for breakfast. While they could have eaten in Antonia's charming dining room, Brennan was busily reviewing her lecture notes, and requested to be served in their room. As Booth sat down at the roccoco mahogany table, toweling his damp hair, his cell phone sounded 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' theme and Parker's voice came through the speaker, as his smiling face appeared on the screen.
"Hey, Bones, Dad, sorry to call so early but I wanted to catch you this morning before your presentation starts. Billy has a show in Dallas next weekend, so I might be able to run up to OKC and see you if your schedule permits. At the very least we could maybe meet for dinner in Ardmore, which is a halfway point. There are several decent restaurants with good steaks and a variety of vegetarian choices for Bones. Whaddya' think?"
"It's so good to hear your voice, Bub! How many nights are you playing in Dallas? Maybe we can get down to hear you," Booth replied.
Brennan spoke next. "Parker, you know we'll take any opportunity to spend some time with you. We're about ready to leave for the first session of this workshop, so we should know more this afternoon. Our presentations are scheduled to conclude by 4 pm. Why don't you call us this evening and we'll see what day works best for all of us. Or if you want to drive here and stay over with us, I'm sure that can be arranged."
"Sounds good to me, I'll check back with you this afternoon," Parker said. "Knock 'em dead, Bones, they'll love you as much as the Bunsen Jude Science Dude kids did!"
Booth and Brennan laughed at the memory of her pigtails, tutu and giant gloved hands, told Parker goodbye, gathered their things, and descended the curving carved oak staircase to the b and b's compact vestibule. A car was waiting to take them to the Bombing Museum. At the wheel was Mike Foster, Jack Hodgins' co-pilot.
"Good morning, Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth, hope you slept well. Dr. Hodgins requested I drive you around Oklahoma City during your stay here. Henderson has gone to Tyler to see his mother, but my parents still live in Edmond, so this arrangement works perfectly for me to see to your needs and spend some time with my folks. Mom fed me so much last night I thought I'd burst. Her fried chicken is legendary around here."
"Thank you, Mike. I think we could find our way around, but Hodgins seems intent on spoiling us rotten," Booth chuckled wryly. "I went out for a run early this morning, and the city is easy to navigate. It's so flat you can spot landmarks with no problem!"
"That's one of central Oklahoma's most endearing qualities, Agent Booth. I visited the northeast once and had claustrophobia in two days. I couldn't live in such a closely-packed place! Washington DC is heavily populated but at least there's room to move around and you can see out a ways!"
Just call me 'Booth', Mike. So 'give you land, lotsa land, huh?"
The sandy-haired pilot grinned. "You got that right!"
The car pulled up alongside the 9:01 Gate on Robinson Avenue. Booth got out and held the door to let Brennan exit the back seat.
"Thanks for all your help, Mike. The flight last night was memorable," she told their guide.
"Just give me a buzz when you folks are ready to head back this evening; have a good day," Mike replied as he signaled to leave the curb.
Brennan stood quietly, gazing at the stark image before her. Two monumental bronze gates, separated by a mirror-flat reflecting pool, inscribed with '9:01' and '9:03' signifying the time McVeigh's bomb exploded the world of Murrah Building workers on that sunny April morning.
"Such a waste of life, Booth, just like the World Trade Center…." she could say no more. He put his arm around her shoulders, and spoke softly.
"Come on, Bones. Let's go help make sure the next generation is better equipped to prevent this from happening again."
Once inside, the couple met Dwight Adams, Director of the University of Central Oklahoma's Forensic Science Institute. An FBI agent from 1983-2006, he developed DNA testing procedures and reliability validation now used in criminal casework across the globe. The first FBI Agent to testify in US Court cases where DNA evidence was admitted, Dr. Adams held advanced degrees in biology, microbiology and botany. Alternately active in field work as well as in the lab, he had headed Violent Crimes programs, undercover operations, and the FBI Laboratory, and created a dual degree Forensic program at UCO. It occurred to Brennan that the man was a composite of herself, Hodgins, and Booth.
The forensic presentation she and Booth had laid out for the Inasmuch Uncover Discover program facilitators attracted the attention of others. Their audience included local crime prevention personnel, middle and high school educators, and college students pursuing Dr. Adams' Forensic degree on the Edmond UCO campus.
Booth and Brennan had chosen a particularly difficult case, took care to anonymize its details to protect the victim and family members, and spent the morning explaining their cooperative partnership process, taking turns speaking to the audience, showing power points that Angela had developed. After lunch they fielded numerous enthusiastic questions their listeners posed. At the close of the first day's sessions, there were so many attendees waiting to speak to them, a full hour elapsed before they were able to proceed from the auditorium to where Mike Foster waited with the car. The week passed in a blur of activity for the pair.
They were granted special nighttime access to the museum. Hearing the recorded Water Resources Board meeting in progress as the explosion occurred, they wondered who among the speakers had perished or survived. They walked slowly through the galleries commemorating each victim, and explored the exhibits which documented the horrific aftermath of Timothy McVeigh's revenge for Waco, Texas and Ruby Ridge. His plot injured 600 people, killed 168, including 11 young children and was the deadliest domestic terrorist act ever committed within the United States. Booth stood in silent salute at the empty chairs of the FBI agents killed in the attack, and felt honored to meet the agents who'd investigated afterwards.
Parker had called amid their impromptu farewell reception, and the pilot headed down I-35 for a dinner rendezvous with their favorite guitarist. Café Alley offered a broad range of seafood and vegetarian choices, but Parker and Booth were hungry for steaks and voted for Fireside Dining. Mike Foster had anticipated this conundrum, and called ahead. Upon hearing that Temperance Brennan was coming to town, the two restaurants readily agreed to collaborate on a satisfying meal while safeguarding her privacy.
Since Café Alley was situated in an historic downtown district which piqued Brennan's interest, Fireside Dining catered three of their finest steaks to their picturesque competitor, which prepared grilled ahi tuna, coconut shrimp and a superb salad for the proprietress' favorite author.
The tall blond eldest Booth son was waiting outside the restaurant, seated on a bench, softly strumming as he devised a new melody, his characteristically-tousled head bent over his guitar.
There he is; I'd know the top of that head anywhere, Bones," Booth said softly.
"He looks a bit taller and leaner than when he was home last. I think he's lost some weight on tour, but then, he usually does," Brennan answered.
As they pulled into a parking space, Parker looked up, broke into a broad grin. "Dad! Bones! Welcome to Ardmore!"
"Is that your elder son, Agent Booth?" Mike Foster asked.
"Mike, please just call me 'Booth' and yes, that's Parker. He's on tour with Angela's dad's band at the moment and doesn't get home often, so it's really good to see him for even a little while."
"Well, I'll pick you up here in a few hours, just call or text me. I'm going to pay a visit to a college friend of mine who directs the Samuel Robert Noble Foundation for agricultural productivity research. Lloyd Noble was a successful oil drilling contractor from this area who said,
"While at times we have felt the overshadowing presence of oil, we are living in an area that is essentially agricultural. … The land must continue to provide for our food, clothing and shelter long after the oil is gone."
Noble's 1945 endowment continues to safeguard Oklahoma soil and advance land stewardship to prevent another Dust Bowl. My friend has a Ph.D. in Soil Science from OSU in Stillwater."
Booth smiled at Foster's explanation. "We have got to get your friend acquainted with Jack Hodgins. I bet they could talk all day," he declared.
"You're so right, Booth, they already have, Booth, when Dr. Hodgins came down to do his presentations at the OKC Memorial," Mike chuckled. "You folks go enjoy your dinner and I'll see you in a while."
The evening passed quickly and Café Alley was closing. Since Parker's next concert wasn't til Saturday afternoon, he turned in his rental car and drove back to the City with Booth and Brennan to spend the night. Mike was flying down to Tyler to pick up Joe Henderson the next day, and would drop Parker back in Dallas during his flight.
In a fond replay from when he was little, Booth and Brennan walked through the Oklahoma City Zoo with Parker. He had never lost his fascination with primates and talked animatedly with Brennan as they wandered through the Great EscAPE exhibit where chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas swung and frolicked in a 6 acre tropical rainforest environment. plantings.
Antonia happily accomodated Parker with a folding bed in the sitting room. The couple toned down their nocturnal romancing, giggling like teenagers all the while. After listening through the closed mahogany door for an hour to their antics, Parker made a theatrical request, "Okay, you two, knock if off in there. Your attempts to hold down the noise are obviously not working, and I have a gig to play tomorrow night with Billy. I need some solid shut-eye, Dad, so put a sock in it, and go to sleep. Bones will still be there tomorrow night, when I'm back in Dallas."
"Okay, Bub, now you know what it'll be like when you have a kid of your own!" retorted his father.
Early the next morning, filled with Antonia's delicious scones and fragrant coffee, the trio headed for the Museum of Osteology. Parker had delighted in learning skeletal parts from Brennan early in their friendship, and today was no different. Booth watched the two of them fondly as they studied each skeleton carefully, commenting and discussing each segment in detail. He marveled, not for the first time, at how much Brennan had brought to their partnership; on the job, as a friend, as a mentor for his son, and ultimately as a lover, a mate, a wife. Time sped too fast, and Booth's cell phone buzzed with Dr. Mallard's old theme song as Mike Foster was ready for takeoff to pick up Joe Henderson. After repeated bear hugs and watery eyes, Parker climbed into the co-pilot's car and headed to the airport.
Once they returned to OKC, Booth and Brennan would fly to Fort Sill near Lawton to see its historic artillery, Geronimo's grave, and witness several practice bombardments.