51: The Series

51:The Storm Chapter 18

Wren and Lindsay got home and changed into their sweats so they could relax for a little while. Just as they sat on the living room couch, the front door opened, and Dillon walked in.

“Mom, Wren, I had so much fun!” he yelled as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

“That’s great. Come in, sit down, and tell us about it,” Lindsay told him.

“All the kids were there. You knew that Nim, Rebecca, Jake, and Ashley were going to be there, but Maggie, Josh, Caleb, and Beth were all there too, and then they all brought their boyfriends and girlfriends, and the tents were packed, but it was so much fun. Do you mind if I go take a shower and then tell you both more when I’m done?” Dillon asked.

“Please go take a shower,” Lindsay told him. She had been trying to hold her breath and not let Dillon know. She was almost sure that Wren was doing the same.

“Is it just me, or does it smell like he rolled on a dead skunk?” Wren asked after Dillon left the room.

“No, that had to be at least three dead skunks and maybe a dead opossum for good measure,” Lindsay said. “My eyes are literally watering, and Crook is trying to bury his head in the couch.”

Wren looked past Lindsay to the couch next to her. Their dog, Crook, had been lying there asleep when Dillon came in, but as soon as he left the room, Crook had stuck his head between the couch cushions.

“I think I am going to light one of your fancy candles,” Wren said, getting up off the couch.

“Oh, now you like my fancy candles,” Lindsay said.

“If it helps with this funk that is now in here, I love your fancy candles,” Wren said, laughing.

“You know,” Lindsay paused, then continued. “If this is the worst thing that happens this weekend, we are doing great,” Lindsay told him as he returned to the couch and sat down again, putting his arm around her shoulders.

“No kidding there. Right now, we know that Dillon is here safe. Your big, hairy friend is sedated and being treated by Randy and others at the facility. The weekend crew at your department seems to have everything under control so far, and even if something happened, they would call Little Bob, not you. I think he gave them strict orders not to call you this weekend,” Wren told her.

“And how exactly would you know that?” Lindsay asked him.

“A Little Bob, I mean bird, a little bird told me,” Wren said, smiling at her.

“That is what I figured. Remind me to put a little something special in Little Bob’s coffee for him,” Lindsay said, laughing.

“Yeah, that would come back to bite you. You know Bob would do the same thing to you,” Wren said, laughing too.

“True, very true. You know why he is so worried about something happening to me, right? He doesn’t actually care what happens to me; he just doesn’t want to be in charge of those lunatics.”

“I will believe that when pigs fly,” Wren told her, kissing her on top of the head.

“Don’t say that. Somewhere in those files, there might be a case of a flying pig,” Lindsay said, only half-joking.

“The sad part is you could be right,” Wren laughed.

They settled back in on the couch and found something to watch on TV. After a while, Dillon finished his shower, came out, and told them about the camping trip. Wren had asked him if anything unusual happened, and he told them he had not noticed anything. After Dillon finished, he went to his room to do some homework. Lindsay and Wren both breathed a sigh of relief; he was home and safe.

“What do you want for supper tonight,” Wren asked.

“You have got to be kidding. After everything we ate at John’s, you are thinking about eating again?” Lindsay asked him.

“Not really, but I thought you might be hungry,” Wren said defensively.

“I don’t think I will be eating for a week. Do you think John will be able to help with the weirdness?”

“I hope he can. If anyone can, it will be him. I am wondering what kind of research he is doing in that lab of his. I know he learned about some very unsavory things while he was still in Germany during World War II.”

“Are you telling me he was a Nazi scientist?” Lindsay asked.

“No, but he does know a lot about the research and studies they conducted,” Wren answered.

“That makes his life story even more depressing,” said Lindsay with sadness in her voice.

“Why?”

“He said that Anubis was studied even more than he was, which means, at some point in his life, he was treated as a science experiment. No one should be treated like that. Then, to think that he may have had no choice but to do the same to others is heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine going through everything he has been through,” Lindsay explained.

“I love you,” Wren said, kissing her. “Only you could be told what you were told today and come away feeling sorry for someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“He believes that your brain could function differently than everyone else’s. Don’t you think that is something that maybe you should get checked out?”

“No, because in the last couple of months, I have had a full neurological workup. I have had X-rays, a CT, an MRI, and an EEG, and they all came back normal. As far as modern medicine is concerned, I am normal, and the headaches I have been having are from stress, lack of sleep, and post-concussion syndrome,” Lindsay told him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Wren asked worriedly.

“Because I didn’t want this to happen. You worry about me even when there is nothing to worry about, and I love you for that. It also means if I had told you, not only would you have worried, you would have told the Bobs and Max, and then all of you would have been driving me up the wall. I swear, by the time the weather cleared and everyone had moved out of the office, I was ready to slap the next person who asked me if I was alright, if I had eaten, or when I slept last,” Lindsay told him, then laughed.

“I’m glad that they watch over you. I am also a little concerned about all the interest from John. The fact he has that lab does not make me feel any better about it, either. Something feels wrong about it,” Wren explained.

“I have to admit I did kind of get a weird feeling, but with his age, it is possible that he just registers things differently than I’m used to.”

“Explain the feeling you had,” Wren told her.

“It’s a little strange. When I meet someone for the first time, it is an instant sensation even before I shake their hand. It is either positive or negative, but with John, there was not anything. It was like touching an inanimate object. I even have the positive and negative with animals, but not him. There was just nothing,” Lindsay said, wrinkling her nose. “Don’t get me wrong, he seems like a nice man, and I am grateful for his help, but something feels almost empty about him.”

“I have known him for a long time, years before I came here. There has always been something that I can’t quite put my finger on when it comes to him, but he has always been a good friend,” Wren told her.

“I’m sure he is fine. I just feel strange about him. That doesn’t mean bad or good, only different,” Lindsay told him. “Now, pick a movie if you want to watch one so we can relax.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Wren said as he walked over to the DVDs and began looking through them. “What are you in the mood for? Monsters? Action? Sci-fi?”

“None of the above. We need to watch something completely different from what we have been living for the past few months,” Lindsay told him. Can we watch a comedy of some kind?”

“Don’t you get enough comedy from the Bobs?” Wren asked her with a smirk on his face.

“Every time they are involved in comedy, I have to worry if the department is going to be sued,” Lindsay answered.

“Fair enough, comedy it will be,” Wren said as he kept looking for the right movie. He finally found one and got it ready to watch. “Before we start watching, I will check on Dillon and make sure he doesn’t need help with his homework.”

Wren walked toward Dillon’s room. Lindsay waited for him while he was gone and kept thinking about John Lingerfelt. She genuinely liked him but also felt slightly uncomfortable for some reason. That bothered Lindsay because she had never felt that way before. It also bothered her that he had taken such an interest in her and how she might have a connection to the things they had been encountering. His questioning of whether the ability to communicate and connect could be because of her concussion or if she was born with it made her begin to question things that had happened in the past.

“Well, we will have to wait for anything else from him,” Wren said, walking back into the living room. “Dillon is out cold on his bed.”

“That’s good. The kids were probably awake all night last night,” Lindsay replied as Wren sat down and put his arm around her shoulders. “I say after we watch this movie, we go to bed early. What do you think of that idea?”

“That is a wonderful idea,” Wren told her. “But I think I might have a better one.”

“Oh, what is that?” she asked.

“We should just go to bed now and not watch the movie,” he told her.

“I love that idea,” Lindsay said, smiling at him.

They both walked to the bedroom and crawled into bed. Wren was asleep almost instantly. Lindsay had always wished she could do that every night. Usually, when Lindsay tried to sleep, she would be awake thinking about a dozen things. She could only fall asleep when she was utterly exhausted, and even then, she would never stay asleep. Tonight was one of those nights that sleeping would not be easy.

She kept thinking about meeting John and his offer to help her and Wren with the weirdness. She was very grateful for his help but was still uneasy. Maybe what he had told her about himself bothered her more than she had realized. Whatever it was, that was what she was thinking about when she finally drifted off to sleep.