Chapter
13
A Serialized Story of the
Not So Distant Future
March 26, 2005
Part Six
Sam was thrilled to have lasanga for dinner that night. He could only eat a few bites, his stomach had shrunk during his coma, but it was the most delicious meal he'd had since he awoke. He insisted on sitting at the dining room table, and not just be confined to his wheelchair.
Robbie had come in while Sam napped, and was eating enough lasanga for three.
"It's so nice to have both my boys together again." Martha Quinn said happily.
"It's great to be home again." Sam said. "So Robbie, you live on your own now?"
"Yeah, I've got a condo in Seagate, its beautiful there."
Seagate was an enclosed community, an oasis for yuppies in the middle of one of Brooklyn's worst neighborhoods. "Wow, you must be getting some good pay. Seagate's expensive." Sam said.
"Yeah, I get a lot of bonuses and do a lot of OT. There's a lot of Camel Jockeys in Brooklyn now, and they keep us busy."
"Camel Jockeys?" Sam said with irritation.
"Yeah, fuck'm they declared war, not us." Robbie said.
"I'm surprised you haven't rounded them up and put them in
concentration camps." Sam quipped.
"Enough." Martha said, "I want Sam's first dinner back home to be a pleasant one. No more politics at the dinner table, or for that matter, the rest of the night."
"Sorry Mom." Sam said. This homecoming was more for his Mom's benefit than his own. In Sam's mind, he had been gone only a few days, and actually there had been very few changes in the house while he was gone.
The appliances in the kitchen were all still the same, despite them now being about fifteen years old. The living room furniture and carpeting was the same. It looked a bit more worn, but otherwise there was no difference. It seemed like the house was in suspended animation while Sam was gone.
"Dinner was great Mom." Sam said, "I wish I could've eaten more."
"Maybe you'll have some later. The doctor said it would be better
for you to eat six small meals a day for now."
"Sure."
"We also have some cake for later, but we're saving it until our prayer group comes over."
Sam groaned inward again, but kept his silence.
"I haven't been upstairs yet," said Sam. "I'd like to find out if my
computer still works."
"That old thing." Robbie said. "We'll have to get you a Zanthium
system, they're a million times faster."
"Sounds great," said Sam. "But there's some files I'd like to retrieve from my computer. I have emails and pictures of Gaby in there."
"Ok, we can do that, but let's not try it until I can bring something over to back up your files on." Robbie said. "Your system may not work for very long."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sam said. There was something odd in
Robbie's voice, but Sam couldn't put his finger on it.
The prayer group began arriving several minutes later. There was Dean Weltz, who was two years older than Sam and had been a schoolyard bully years ago. Mindy Mulligan (now Mulligan-Weltz) who was Sam's age, she was a tal red head and had been one of the prettiest girls in the neighborhood. She was still beautiful, but there was a tired look to her eyes, as if she had been asleep as long as Sam.
Clara Martin came in next, also Sam's age and Sam remembered her as an incurable busy-body She was dark haired but with incredible blue eyes. She had been pretty as a girl, but became a total knockout as a woman.
"Oh Sa-am it's so good to see you alive again!" Clara said.
"CLARA!" Martha snapped.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I meant to say awake!" She had taken Sam's hand, and
was stroking it gently."
"That's alright." Sam said. One thing that hadn't changed was Clara's thick Brooklyn accent, she sounded like a telephone operator from 1940's movie.
"Um, Clara, I need my hand back," Sam said. "I'm still in a lot of
pain."
"Oh of course, I'm sorry Sam. If there's anything I can do for you,
you just ask."
"Thanks, I just needed to shift the weight off my back." Actually, he wasn't all that comfortable with Clara's attention.
Next to arrive was Danny Smythe, the next door neighbor's son. He was younger than all of them, probably in his early twenties. He had a very quiet demeanor and seemed to hang out on the fringe. He introduced himself to Sam, and asked a few quesitons about how Sam was feeling.
"Well let's get started everyone." Robbie said. "Now that my brother is awake I want to officially welcome him to Chapter 443 of the American Religious Fellowship."
"Everyone applauded, except for Danny who brought his hands together silently and said "ARF ARF!"
"Daannny!" Clara said, "he's soo baad."
"Uh, thanks." Sam said, catching a quick look from his Mom.
Dean cleared his throat. "I'd like to read a passage from Mattew, and then we can all pray for Sam's continued recovery." Dean began reading the quote, it was obvious that he knew it well, he barely glanced at the bible in his hands. Dean's voice was rough and throaty, actually so was Robbie's. Sam supposed that they were both smokers, but judging by their voices they must be smoking five packs a day.
They all bowed their heads, Sam brought his down slighly and glanced around the room. Dean and Robbie both had their eyes on him; Sam didn't particularly care. As soon as he was on his feet again he was getting himself out of this bullshit.
After the prayers were over, Martha brought out cake for everyone. It had "Welcome Home Sam" written on it, and it came complete with candles as if it were his birthday.
Sam blew out the candles and tried to engage Danny in conversation, but Danny had a way of fading into the background, while Dean and Clara were constantly vying for Sam's attention.
"So Sammy, I'll bet you can't wait to see the Yankees." Dean said.
"I was always more of a Mets fan myself, is Willy Mays still
playing?"
"Willy who? The Mets are losers, they haven't won a world series since the 1980's. The team might get sold to Tacoma and I say good riddance."
Sam smiled, the first joke he cracks in ten years and it flew right over Dean's head. Of course, that didn't take much altitude.
"Oh Sa-am, I'll bet you want to catch up on all our classmates?" Clara said.
"Some of them, at least. Whatever happened to Bernie Weiss, he was
in Brooklyn College with me."
"Oh, he moved out west and became some sort of bigshot computer guy.
We haven't heard much from him."
"How about Charlie and Eddie?" They were Sam's best friends in high school, but after graduation Sam had gone to college and they just wanted to hang out and drink, so they had drifted apart.
"They're both in the army, Charlie's stationed in Iraq and Eddie is in Afghanistan."
"I saw some action in Iraq." Dean said. "What a blast! Too bad you didn't make it over there Sam, we kicked some major ass! I'd still be in the army if it hadn't been for the shrapnel in my leg."
"Sorry to hear that." Sam said, at least if Dean were there, he wouldn't have to pretend to be nice to him. Sam glanced over at Mindy, who was talking quietly with his Mom on the other side of the room. Mindy used to be the life of the party, she was often loud, flirted outrageously and broke ten guy's hearts every week. Now she didn't even look people in the eye when she spoke to them.
"I don't mean to be a party pooper," Sam said. "But I'm really
tired."
"The doctor's said that Sam needs plenty of rest." Martha said as she began collecting empty cake plates and taking them to the kitchen. Everyone said their goodnight's and left, Robbie and Dean headed out together. Mindy didn't say a word to her husband as she followed him out the door.
"Thank God that's over." Sam said.
"I know you're tired dear, but they're a very nice group of people."
"Oh come on Mom, Dean was the biggest asshole in the neighborhood."
Martha stopped and scribbled something on a piece of paper, in the
same happy tone of voice she said: "Oh, I know Dean was a little
wild, but he's grown up now. The army made a good man out of him."
She handed Sam the little post it note, it read: This house is bugged, don't say anything bad about Robbie or Dean, or anything
political!!!
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