Fook (39 page)

“Oliver,” Mr. Fook spoke.

“Who’s Oliver?” Sarah asked again.

“Jason.”

“What?” Sarah turned back to Derek.

“According to this, Oliver is Jason or at
least he will be.”

“I don’t know who’s more confusing to talk
to, you or him,” Sarah sighed.

Returning to his seat beside her, “It’s all
here. It appears that Jason was adopted by the Nesbits last week.
Look, there’s even a picture.” Derek held up a Polaroid taken
through the window of a hospital nursery. “That must be
Oliver—“

“—Jason.”

“Thank you,” Derek looked up at the old
man.

Mr. Fook continued to smile.

“I don’t think Jason’s parents were killed
in a car accident,” Derek turned back to Sarah. “I think he was
kidnapped by his grandmother.”

“This guy was your best friend for nearly
twenty years, but you don’t seem to know anything about him.”

“Not the truth at least.”

“Derek, if that’s true,” she pointed to the
letter, “then this family is completely nuts.

Derek’s eyes widened as he looked at Mr.
Fook, expecting him at any moment to become aware of what they were
talking about, but instead the old man was staring at the blank
television screen.

“So what are we going to do?” Sarah returned
Derek’s attention to her.

“I need to at least ask him about the time
thing.”

“I don’t think he’s going to be much help.
Besides we don’t even know if he knows about it.”

“Jason said it skips a generation. If that’s
true then Mr. Fook here is very familiar with the concept of time
travel. We just have to find a way to get it out of him.”

Turning back to Mr. Fook, both Derek and
Sarah jumped back, nearly alerting the nurse with abbreviated
screams as Mr. Fook came into view only inches from their faces.
His smile was gone and in its place was a look of clarity and
seriousness they had not seen since the moment the front door had
opened.

“Mr. Fook,” Derek nervously grinned. “I
didn’t see—“

“—No time travel. I warned her. Just as I
had been warned, but I didn’t listen and now look at me,” he
pointed to his head. “I’ll keep telling her until she listens. You
should do the same. Ty doesn’t have to worry. He doesn’t have the
gift, so he doesn’t even know. But Jason...”

“Mr. Fook?”

Derek and Sarah turned to see the nurse
standing in the doorway, a look of surprise on her face. Turning
back to Mr. Fook they were met with the same carefree grin they’d
seen moments ago, still only inches from their faces.

“Is everything alright?” the nurse
questioned as she rushed to Mr. Fook’s side and helped him back
down into the chair.

“Yeah, fine,” Derek attempted to compose
himself. “Mr. Fook was just telling us about the secret door in the
upstairs bedroom.”

“Oh, I didn’t know about that one,” the
nurse smiled. “You’ll have to show it to me sometime, Mr.
Fook.”

“Is the pie done?”

“Do you want pie? I can check the freezer
and see if we have one if you’d like.”

Mr. Fook sneered at the thought.

“I think Mr. Fook’s getting tired kids. Did
you get what you needed?”

“I think so,” Derek exchanged a look with
Mr. Fook as he and Sarah stood from the couch.

“Good. Maybe you two can come back again and
spend some more time with him. Aside from me and the letters he
gets from his sister each week, he doesn’t have much contact with
the outside world.”

Realizing that he was still holding the
letter and photo in his hand, Derek slowly lowered them, hiding
them behind his leg.

“But now I think he needs to lay down for a
while,” the nurse spoke as she helped Mr. Fook to his feet, sliding
the walker in front of him.

“Thank you Mr. Fook for all of your help,”
Derek addressed the old man.

“Yes. You have a beautiful old house and I
can’t wait to write about it in our report,” Sarah added.

“Do you kids mind letting yourselves out?”
the nurse asked.

“Not a problem. Thanks again,” Derek
replied.

“Time travel,” Mr. Fook mumbled as he slowly
shuffled toward a doorway on the opposite side of the room with the
nurse by his side.

Derek and Sarah paused to look at each other
nervously before heading for the door.

“Time travel?” the nurse laughed. “That
would be pretty neat. Maybe you could go back and see this old
house being built, or maybe change something in the past.”

Derek hesitated for a second, listening to
the woman's words as her voice faded as she and Mr. Fook exited the
room, and Derek and Sarah stepped back out onto the porch.

“I know what to do,” Derek declared as Sarah
shut the door.

“What? Other than the truth about Jason’s
origins and his crazy father and grandmother, I don’t think Mr.
Fook told us anything to help us stop Jason from doing whatever he
has planned.

“Not Mr. Fook. The nurse.”

“The nurse?” Sarah asked confused.

“I have to go but I’ll be back as soon as I
can.”

“Go? Go where? What about Jason? What about
my sister?” Sarah was now completely confused.

“If this works, you, your sister, everyone
will be fine. But there isn’t a lot of time. I need a credit card
and your car.”

Sarah didn’t know what to think anymore. In
the last twenty four hours she’d learned that time travel wasn’t
just a concept for the movies, she’d found a dead body in a liquor
store, she’d witnessed a poor woman get murdered right in front of
her and she’d learned that a psychotic time traveling lunatic was
hell bent on slaughtering her pregnant sister. Derek standing
before her now claiming to have a solution, but only if he can
borrow her credit card and car, was probably the most rational
thing she’d heard yet.

Pulling her keys and credit card from her
pocket, she placed them in his hand.

Jogging toward the car, “I’ll drive you back
to the house first. Don’t tell your father until you hear from
me.”

“You’d better come back,” Sarah asserted,
staring over the roof of the car at him.

“I promise. I’ll come back.”

With that, they both got in the car and with
a squeal, sped away.

FORTY-ONE

“Oh my god! Is everything alright?” Sarah slipped
through the gap in the curtain to see her sister lying on the
hospital bed.

“I’m fine,” Katie replied.

“But dad’s message on the answering machine.
He said that you were in the hospital with some sort of pains. Is
the baby alright?”

Not used to seeing a panicked and emotional
side of her sister, Katie couldn’t help but let a little smile slip
out.

“What?” Sarah noticed the growing grin on
her sister’s face.

“You,” Katie replied.

“Me, what about me? I was asking about
you.”

“I’m fine,” Katie reassured her. “Just some
minor pains. That’s all.”

“Minor pains don’t usually land you in the
E.R..”

“Okay, a little more than minor, but they’re
gone and I feel fine.”

“What did the doctors say?”

“They mentioned something about Braxton
Chicks or something.”

“Braxton Hicks,” Sarah corrected.

“That’s it. They think it’s just false labor
pains. They said it was completely normal. Mine were apparently
just a little more severe than usual. They’re running tests now.
Sit down. Relax. You look stressed. You’ve looked stressed since
you got home this morning.”

“You have no idea,” Sarah thought as she
took a seat beside the bed. She told Derek that she wouldn't say a
thing about Jason until he contacted her, but how could she wait?
Seeing her baby sister in the hospital, even though she seemed
fine, was far more upsetting than she could have ever guessed it
could be, and this was only a false alarm. What if the next time is
for something far more serious, and she didn’t do anything to
prevent it? She had to tell her what she knew, no matter how crazy
it sounded. She had to convince her father and sister that the
threat was real and that they needed to pack up their things and
leave town for a little while. Even though Derek swore that such a
reaction wouldn’t do any good, she at least had to try.

“Katie, I—“

“—So, Miss Bishop, we have your results back
and everything looks fine.”

“Do you know what it was?” Sarah stood from
her chair, forgetting all about the Jason situation for the
moment.

“This is my sister, Sarah.”

“Nice to meet you,” the doctor extended her
hand.

More interested in knowing the cause of her
sister’s pain than meeting the doctor, Sarah shook the woman’s hand
while repeating her question. “Do you know what it was?”

“Is your father back yet?” the doctor turned
to Katie.

Having not even noticed his absence, “Where
is
dad?”

There was a little incident out in the
waiting room about ten minutes ago,” the doctor explained. “He went
out to deal with it until help could arrive. Do you want me to wait
until he gets back?”

“No,” Sarah answered before her sister even
had a chance to.

“No, it's alright,” Katie agreed.

“Like I said, everything looks fine. Your
blood pressure was normal and the ketone test came back negative so
like I’d suspected, we have nothing here but a perfectly normal
case of Braxton Hicks.”

“Is it normally so painful?” Katie asked,
obviously relieved, but worried that it might happen again.

“False labor pains are very normal in the
third trimester. It’s simply your body’s way of preparing for the
real thing and while it is possible to have some pain, it’s
typically no worse than menstrual cramps. I think what you felt was
a rare anomaly and I wouldn’t expect it to happen again, but if it
does, please don’t hesitate to contact your OB-GYN. I’d rather you
be seen than just assume everything’s all hunky-dory, okay?”

Relieved, Katie nodded with a smile.

“What’d I miss?” Phil slipped through the
curtain. “Oh good, you got my message,” he greeted his oldest
before turning his focus back to Katie. “So what is it? Is
everything alright? How’s the baby?”

Watching her father, Sarah now understood
Katie’s smile when she had first arrived and started the game of
twenty questions.

“I was just telling your daughters that
everything seems perfectly normal. All tests came back fine. I
think it was just pre-labor pains.”

“So what do we do? Does she need to be on
bed rest?” Phil continued his worried questioning.

“I don’t know that strict bed rest is in
order, but given the severity of the pains that you described,” the
doctor turned back to Katie, “I don’t think it would hurt to take
it easy and stay off your feet for the next few days.”

Instantly Katie’s look of relief returned to
that of concern. “What about the dance tomorrow night?

“I don’t think—,” The doctor began what she
intended to be a statement of reassurance, telling her young
patient that it would be perfectly fine for her to attend the dance
if she just took it easy, but was instantly cut off by Mr.
Bishop.

“—I don’t think that would be a good idea,
sweetheart.”

The doctor turned to Mr. Bishop as if she
wanted to disagree.

“I mean. We don’t want anything to happen to
the baby,” he defended his stance. Is a dance really worth it?”

“But Dad, I can’t not go. What about
Mark?”

“I’m sure Mark will understand. If he cares
at all, he wouldn’t want you putting yourself or the baby at
risk.”

Sarah and the doctor exchanged looks. She
knew what the doctor wanted to say, but it was obvious that she
didn’t want to interfere with their father’s parenting. She
herself, under normal circumstances, would have gotten all over her
father for such an overprotective stance, but this was perfect.
With Katie forced to stay home, Jason’s dance plans would be
ruined. Aware that it wasn’t an absolute solution to the situation,
it might at least buy her and Derek more time to figure things out.
Besides, if Katie’s pregnancy
was
in any kind of danger, she
didn’t need the stress of hearing that someone out there wanted her
dead. That sort of news alone could throw her into labor and
potentially cause her to lose the pregnancy. No, for now she would
remain quiet like Derek wanted.

“Sarah, will you talk some sense into him,”
Katie turned to her sister for help.

“I think Dad’s right.”

“What!”

“It’s not worth the risk,” Sarah and the
doctor this time shared disagreeing glances.

“I have other patients to tend to,” the
doctor excused herself from the escalating family squabble. “I’ll
have the nurse bring your discharge papers,” she added before
disappearing through the curtain.

“I can’t believe you’re taking his side,”
Katie stared at her sister in disbelief.

“There aren’t any sides here,” Phil
interjected.

“You know, I shouldn’t be surprised. I know
you think you’re better than me.”

“I’m not better than you,” Sarah respond in
shock.

“Yes you do. Ever since mom died you’ve had
a problem with me.”

“I haven’t had a problem with you. I’ve had
a problem with some of the decisions you’ve made.”

“Girls,” Phil attempted to gain control of
the escalating tone of the situation.

“Like getting pregnant?” Katie asked.

“Yes, I guess so, but that doesn’t matter
now because here we are and all I’m trying to do is keep you and
the baby out of danger.”

“Danger? What danger?”

“Shit,” Sarah thought. “Safe from getting
hurt,” she poorly recovered.

“No one’s going to get hurt here. The doctor
said I was fine.”

“She also said that you should take it easy
for a few days,” Phil added.

“This is ridiculous,” Katie huffed as she
slid off of the bed. I’ll be in the car. You can wait for the
papers,” she announced as she slipped past her father and
disappeared through the curtains.