Amoeba (The Experiments) (44 page)

“Cal-babe, please.”
Sitting on his bed, knees to his chest, Rickie heard his voice in his mind pleading to Cal.

“Rickie, you are not changing my mind.”

“But the Sarge . . .”

“The Sarge
, Rickie, is number one to me. He said it himself. He doesn’t want to feel like he has to face my mistake every day for the rest of his life. And Rickie, he doesn’t have to. Jake of all people doesn’t deserve this.”

“Then I’m going with you
, Cal.”

“I have to go alone. I have to.”

Rickie could still hear the sadness in her voice even though she was long gone. He could still feel it hitting him, like her words did. Feeling about as distraught as he could possibly feel, Rickie, in debate, stood up from his bed, and as he did, though the window, he saw Jake walking toward the unity circle.

Alone, Jake returned from working out, marching his way back to his bungalow, planning on taking a shower and waking Cal to go get breakfast if she wasn’t already awake. He hadn’t wanted to work out alone. He would have preferred to have Cal with him. But she was sleeping, and Jake really didn’t have a clue about what kind of workout she could do. He had never worked out with a pregnant person.

He turned the knob to his door, calling out to her. “Cal.” He could see
, standing in the open doorway, that the bed was made. “Cal.” He didn’t get an answer, and Jake felt the emptiness of the room. Scratching his head and stepping inside, Jake felt an annoying pain in his back. It caused him to stumble a step or two forward, but only because it surprised him. Spinning around, Jake felt the pain hit his gut, and he went back another step. “Rickie! What the fuck!” Jake blasted. “And I am not in the mood to fool around.”

“I’m not fooling around
, Sarge.” Rickie had a ‘Rickie’ amount of anger to his voice as he raised his fist. “I’m beating you up.”

“You’re what?”

“Put ‘em up, Sarge.”

“Rickie, what . . .” As Jake saw Rickie swing at him, he stepped back placing his large hand on top of Rickie’s head. Stable, he kept Rickie at arm
’s length, but despite the distance between them, Rickie still tried diligently to charge at Jake. His feet moved fast, but he gained no ground, and his arms swung frantically, hitting nothing but air. “Rickie!” Jake yelled. “What the fuck are you trying to do?”

“I told you,
beat you up.”

“Why?” Jake asked, still holding Rickie back with ease.

“Because!” Rickie screamed. He stopped swinging and stepped back, red faced and with a hostile attitude. “You’re an asshole!”

“Yes, I know. So why are you beating me up for that now?”

“Because right now, you’re an even bigger asshole than I ever thought you could be.” Rickie was so emotional. “I have lost all respect for you. All. I will never look at you the same way again. Ever! In my book you’re about as low as they come.”

Was this Rickie? Jake had to wonder. Where were the ‘dudes’ the ‘likes’ the snickers
? “Rickie.” Jake had to take a second. The vengeance filled words of Rickie went through him with hurt, taking Jake aback. “Rickie.” Jake spoke in a stunned voice, very softly. “Can you tell me what I did that has caused you to feel this strongly against me . . . . Please?”

Rickie moved back, running his hand through his hair. He had a hard time even looking at Jake. “You’re this big tough guy. Cold, ya’ know. And that
’s okay, cause you’ve lived your life alone. It never bothered me when you were mean, because all that was always just the way you had to be. But when it came to the Cal-babe, you, Sarge, you ruled. I was like, man, this is what it’s about. The Sarge and Cal-babe. I thought . . .” Rickie closed his eye trying to stay in control, yet his emotions hit him again when he spun and faced Jake. “I thought you loved her. I thought you loved her more than life itself.”

“My God Rickie . . . I do.”

“The how could you do it? Knowing how much she loved Jessie. Knowing what it did to lose her kid. How can you make her give up another?”

Jake looked at Rickie with a
confused look on his face. “What are you talking about?”

“See? You don’t even consider it. The baby
, Sarge. You don’t want to look at Cal’s so she’s doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“Letting the institute give her an abortion.”

Jake’s eyes widened
, and he immediately barged to the door. “Oh my God.” He flung it open and spun in the open doorway to face Rickie. “I swear on my life I didn’t tell her to do this. Oh my God.”

“Sarge?” Rickie stepped to him.

“Rickie!” Jake yelled and it seemed to come from his heart. “Get me in there. Get me in there now. I . . .” Jake flew off the porch. “I have to stop her.”

Billy, in his own world, was nearly knocked down by Jake in the middle of the Unity circle. “Jake, whoa. What’s wrong?”

Jake looked
dazed but determined. “I have to stop Cal.”

“Stop Cal? Stop her from doing what
? Is she in trouble?”

Jake turned to look at Billy. “She’s aborting the baby.”

Billy was lost. “What baby?”

“Your baby.” Jake spun and started to run. “Billy, if you want to . . .” When Jake looked back, Billy was passed out on the ground. Shrugging, Jake picked up his speed and hit the path, with Rickie keeping up and not far behind him.

Greg rushed as if a world emergency were occurring, flying down the corridors of the center all the way to the control room, flinging open the door. “Tell me.” He jumped down the steps to the table. “Tell me this isn’t true. You heard wrong.”

“Haynes.” Aldo stood up. “Do something.”

Greg’s eyes went to the tape that played, a tape of Jake and Rickie. The word ‘abortion’ rang out. Greg slammed his hand on the table. “Barb, get Stan on the phone. Stop this thing.”

“I’ve been trying.” She looked back at Greg. “Busy.”

“Son of a bitch.” Greg’s head twitched in anger. “Stan is fired. He is fired when he gets back. What the hell is he up to?” Running his hand over the top of his head, Greg, fist first, leaned on the monitor’s counter. “Come on, Jake. Come on.”

Stan flicked the bubbles from a prepared syringe he held in front of Cal. “This will relax you. It may just put you to sleep, but that’s okay, When you wake up, it will be over with.”

“You guys know what you’re doing
, right?” Cal asked nervously while lying on the table, a sheet covering her. “I don’t mean to question you, but I don’t want to die from this.”

Stan gave
her a reassuring smile. “Me, no. But Ollie does. He knows what he’s doing. It is very sterile, clean, and clinical. You’ll be safe. I would like to ask you to come back to follow up though, if that’s all right.”

Cal’s hand reached out to stop Stan from giving her the injection. “Why are you doing this
? The controllers aren’t supposed to even talk to us, let alone help us.”

“Honestly?” Stan asked.

“Yes.”

“Cal, I watched you guys the whole last experiment. You can say you guys were like buddies of mine. But more so than anything else, you can say I maintain my belief that it is the woman’s decision to have a child
, not some experiment’s. Relax.” Stan grabbed hold of Cal’s arm holding the needle close.

“Thank you
, I . . .”

“Cal!” Jake’s screaming voice in the distance was heard. “Cal! Don’t you do this!”

Cal blinked several times. “Jake?”

“Rickie hurry with that.” Jake bounced back and forth in a ready
-to-charge mode in front of the gate to the control center. “Cal!” He called out. “Don’t you do this!” he cried as loud as he could then he heard the buzz of the security system on the gate.

Rickie pushed the gate open. “This way
, Sarge.”

Jake ran behind, screaming the entire way, hoping through the brick walls that Cal could hear him.

“Jake.” Cal slid from the table, wearing a robe, listening to Jake’s steady call grow closer.

“Cal! Don’t do this. Cal . . .”

She closed her eyes when she heard the storming of his footsteps down the corridor.

“Cal.” Jake
, in his run by the room, skidded to a stop, backed up, and burst in with Rickie right behind him. “Cal.”

Cal’s eyes shifted to the red faced duo. “Jake, Rickie what . . .”

“Tell me.” Jake, breathing heavy, approached her. He looked at Stan. “Tell me it didn’t happen.”

Stan shook his head. “We hadn’t begun.”

A loud breath came from Jake and he laid his hand on Cal’s shoulder “Get dressed.”

“Jake, look, I
’m, not going any. . .”

“Get dressed.” Jake added more depth to his voice.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m . . .”

“Fuck it.” Jake stepped to Cal
, swept her up into his arms, and spun to the door. “Rickie, grab her clothes.” Jake walked out carrying Cal.

“Sarge, I’ll be there in a jiff.” Smiling, Rickie looked at Stan. “Dude, like, can I have a Pop Tart before I book?”

Phone in hand, Greg slammed his office door. Though his voice portrayed an angry calm, his face depicted a man ready to explode. “What the hell was going through your mind?”

“I’m sorry
,” Stan said.

“What? You didn’t think I would find out?”

“Actually,” Stan explained, “I was going to talk to her to have her make it look like a miscarriage.”

It could have been considered a squeal,
but most would take it as a squeak of disbelief, that little sound that escapes just before the word did in Greg’s case. “What? Fake a miscarriage. W . . . why?”

“I didn’t think it was right.”

“And who in God’s name gave you the authority to determine what is right and what is not right in this experiment?”

“Um, begging your pardon sir
, but you. I read my contract,” Stan said. “It states that on the Island I can deem any preplanned experiment unnecessary if I see just cause.”

“And where is your ‘just’ cause Stan?”

That moment was the one where Stan lost all answers. “Personal conviction?”

“Personal conviction doesn’t cut it. This is a legitimate scientific experiment
, and you nearly blew a portion of it due to personal conviction. You are so lucky Jake did his Jake thing. Lucky.” Greg paced as he spoke, running his hand over and over his face in frustration. “Now we’ll forget this incident and don’t try anything like that again, you hear me?”

“I hear you
,” Stan replied. “But before we hang up, I would like to go on record and say something.”

Greg rolled his eyes, tossed his hand in the air
, and made a face of disbelief to no one in the office. “Go on.”

“I would just like to say
that the odds are stacked against the participants as they are in every experiment. We didn’t need to get her pregnant.”

Greg’s mouth dropped open in a slight gasp. “We didn’t get her pregnant
, Stan, the fuckin paperboy did.” With a slam, Greg hung up the phone, ran his hand hard across his face, and took a moment to remember what a cool-calm expression was before he walked back out of his office.

The door to Cal and Jake’s bungalow burst open slightly, startling Rickie and Billy as they stood on the porch. They spun to see Jake with only his head protruding from the partial openness.

“Both of you. Don’t.” Jake ordered with a mean
tone to his voice. “And listen to me carefully. Don’t fuckin’ knock on this door. Don’t try to come in. Don’t even make a fuckin sound that I can possibly hear in here. Until you two see me emerge from this bungalow on my own, fear death if I get disturbed because of anything you do! You got that?”

Somewhat frightened, Billy and Rickie, both standing hands in pockets, nodded. The door slammed.

Rickie, bouncing from heel to toe, whistled lightly and shifted his eyes to Billy. “Dude, like, did you ever think that
one
little part of your anatomy could cause so much trouble?”

^^^^

Cal stood at the foot of the bed, biting her bottom lip and jumping when Jake slammed the door.

“Ten hours.” Jake walked to her. “Ten fuckin hours
, Cal, I sat in this room yesterday. Thinking. Sitting and . . .”

“Jake . . .”

His held up hand silenced her. Jake titled his head, closed his eyes, and cleared his throat. “I’ll try this again. Ten hours, Cal. Ten fuckin hours I sat in this room yesterday. Thinking. Sitting and thinking because you said that’s what we needed to do. I did it. Ten hours, Cal.” His voice raised. “Ten hours while you were out be-bopping along with Rickie, pissing in a cup. I sat here.” Jake paused. “Ten hours. Now . . .” he held up his hand. “Just so we’re clear on what kind of mood I am in right now, how many hours did I sit here . . . thinking?”

“Ten.”

“Exactly.” Jake walked to the small table and pulled out a chair. “That’s a lot of thinking babe. Sit your ass down. This is gonna take a while.”

Cal, keeping her eyes on Jake, moved to the chair and sat down.

“Now when a situation . . .” Jake’s one eyebrow raised when he watched Cal grab a cigarette. “What the fuck are you doing?” He walked to her, snatched the cigarette from her mouth, and grabbed the pack. “This is done with.” He crushed the pack and tossed it in the trash. “As a matter of fact . . .” Jake marched to the closet.

“Jake.”

“Sit down, Cal.” Jake flung open the closet, walked in, and came back out with two boxes of cigarette cartons. “This is done, too.”

“Jake
, don’t throw out my cigarettes. Jake!” She watched him open the door, hoist the boxes out, and shut the door just about the same time Rickie screamed ‘ow’.

Jake marched back up to the table. “Where was I? Yes. Now. When a situation occurs and it requires a lot of thought
, guess what I do, Cal?”

“You think?”

“Exactly. For how long?”

“Ten hours.”

“Fuckin never do I sit and think for ten hours.” Jake blasted in a low voice. “But I did on this one. And here I was, thinking my heart out, going through this situation in my mind, believing that you and I would talk about what you and I thought about. And what happens? I’ll tell you. You go off on your own, fuck hearing what I thought about, and you decide to abort this baby.”

“Yes, but Jake, don’t you believe it is the woman’s right to choose?”

“No.”

“Just asking.” Cal held up her hands.

“Why, Cal, why would you even think about doing that?”

“Because it was for the best.”

“The best for who? For me? How do you know? Did you bother asking me? Did you bother hearing what I had to say? Did you give me a chance? No.”

“Jake.” Cal stopped him before he went on anymore. “Just listen to me
, okay? You of all people don’t deserve the hurt. I didn’t want you to have to face my mistake every day of your life. To look at a baby and every time you do so, you get sick or you see what I did wrong . . .”

“Cal.”

“What?”

“I’m about to say something to you I have never said before. And I am going to apologize in advance for getting out of line
, okay?”

“O
kay.” Cal nodded.

“Fuck you
,” Jake told her. “Give me more credit than that. You failed to give me any credit at all. My God, Cal, I’m smarter than that. You’ve really insulted me. Do you actually believe that I would blame a child, an innocent in this whole fucked up situation. That child did nothing wrong. This baby did not ask to be conceived. And I would never look at this baby with blame, contempt, or reminders of things I am putting behind me. You got that?”

“Yes.”

“I am your husband!” Jake’s face grew red. “I told you I would stand beside you, that I would not turn my back on you, and I’m not about to now. I know you. I love you. And I would never in a million years ask you to give up something that was a part of you for me. And if you would have just given me ten fuckin seconds of your time last night you would have known this for certain. Let me tell you something, Cal, you pissed me off with this little stunt today. Pissed me off. Do you know that?”

“Yes
,” Cal answered meekly.

“Good. And you know what? I’m still pissed off. Ten hours
, Cal. Ten hours I . . .”

“Jake,
please, do I have to hear that again?”

“Yes! Yes you do. Because you need to know that during those ten hours my thoughts went from ‘my God my wife is pregnant
from another man’ to ‘I’ll bet I have no trouble getting this kid into West Point.’. That is where my thoughts went. But you never gave me the chance to tell you that.”

Cal stood up slowly. “Jake
, I don’t expect you to accept this baby. I don’t. So please don’t force yourself into doing that, okay? I didn’t want the abortion. I didn’t, and I’m glad I didn’t have it. But I can talk to Billy. After the baby is born, I can give him custody of . . .”

“Cal!” Jake blasted.

“What?” Cal said with a jolt.

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

“No.” Jake shook his head dramatically. “If I don’t want the abortion, why would I want you to give this baby up to Billy
?”

“Because it’s best for our marriage.”

“Cal.” Jake faced her with a near stomp. “Think back, okay? Christmas. We made a decision that we felt would be the best thing for our relationship, for our marriage. What was that?”

“We decided to have a baby.”

“Exactly.” Jake placed his hand on his hips. “Well, it may not have happened like we planned, but guess what Cal? We’re having that baby.”

Cal’s head lowered and her hands grabbed onto Jake’s. “I’m sorry it happened this way Jake. I am sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Jake ran his hand down her face. “Cal, come on. You have got to understand, the circumstance in which this child was conceived do not please me in the least. Not at all. But, sometimes in the darkness of our mistakes, a little light shall fall.” Jake winked softly at her. “I wanted to have a family with you, Cal, and we’re gonna start that family. We have the chance. Just . . . just when it’s time to have the second one, can we keep Billy out of it?”

Cal knew Jake really didn’t expect an answer to that final question
, or at least she didn’t think he did. Even if he wanted one, Cal couldn’t give it. All she could do at that second was wrap her arms around Jake, bury herself close to him, and just hold on.

^^^^

With a soft, silent exhale, Cal stepped onto the porch, and Jake poked his head out. “Next.” He pointed to Billy, wiggled his finger for Billy to come in, then opened the door wide. Billy glanced at Cal in fear as he walked inside the bungalow. After the door had shut, Cal peered at Rickie then to the spilled box containing her cigarettes. “Okay, Jake’s busy. Help me get these put somewhere.”

Billy sat at the table watching Jake, silent, turn a chair around and straddle it sitting backwards as he faced Billy.

In that silence, Billy softly spoke up. “Jake, let me say something, okay?”

Jake nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I want you to know I plan on doing what I have to do, okay? I will take full financial responsibility for this baby. I will help with this baby. I’ll take the baby if that’s what you want. I’m not going to walk away. I’ll be responsible.”

“I . . .” Jake took a second to stare down at his own hand. “I don’t want you to
, Bill.”

“Jake?”

“I’m not asking you to put out one cent for this baby, or a second of your time. I hate how this baby came about. Hate it. But I don’t hate the baby. Let’s face it, you aren’t exactly the fifty thousand dollar sperm donor we were looking into getting, but you gave us the end result we wanted. I want . . . I want this baby to be raised by Cal and me. I want this baby to be a Graison. And I want this baby to call me Dad.”

Billy leaned back slowly in his chair. “Can I be honest with you
?”

“Please.”

“Jake, I spent my life without a father. My entire perspective of the man that created me was one of a lunatic. I guess I silently vowed to do right by my own child if I ever had that chance. Now, I know I wronged you. I know I stepped over boundaries and I’m lucky to be alive. But Jake, I don’t think I can walk away from this baby.”

“You know
, Billy, I realize that sometimes I can be a dick. But I wish to God you and Cal would give me more credit. I’m not asking you to walk away from this baby. I wouldn’t do that. I’m not even telling you that this baby being a Graison and this baby calling me Dad is the way it will be. I’m hoping, hoping that you will understand that Cal and I are married and
let
it be that way.”

“So you’re saying you aren’t ordering me to walk away, you want me to quietly do it on my own.”

Jake’s head went to the left then to the right. He looked up and down and under the table then tugged on his ear. “Where did you hear that from, because you certainly did not hear that cross my lips, now did you?”

“No.” Billy answered with a snicker.

“No.” Jake folded his hands. “Now, I will be insulted if you think I need your help to financially provide for this baby. I may hit you up come college years because I plan on getting this kid into West Point.”

“West Point?” Billy asked in shocked. “Jake
, the kid isn’t even born yet.”

“You have to plan ahead. Anyway . . .
you can be a part of this kid’s life, Bill. It would be wrong of me to shut you out. You can see the baby when you come in on those surprise weekend visits that you pull. You can see him when you want. You can even take him for visits with you, I don’t care. Be close to him. But all I ask is that we wait until he is old enough to understand before we tell him the truth about his parentage.”

“I can see the baby and be close to it? Develop some sort of Godfather
-type relationship?”

“Yes.”

“I appreciate this Jake. I do. And I can respect what you want.”

“Thank you.” Jake nodded. “But you know we can sit here and hypothesize all we want.
The fact still remains there’s probably a ninety percent chance you’ll die on the island anyhow.”

“Thanks.” Billy’s eyes widened. “You’re killing me
, aren’t you?”

“No.” Jake shook his head with a smile then turned serious. “At least I don’t think.”

“That’s not funny.”

Jake smiled.

^^
^^

“Next.” Jake pointed to Rickie as Billy stepped outside. “You two go take a walk or something. You don’t need to hear what will emerge from this room.”

“Sarge.” Rickie hesitated.

“In!” Jake pointed back with his thumb and saw Rickie didn’t move. “Now!”

Like a little kid, Rickie inched his way in, looking back at Cal the whole time and letting out a peeping ‘help’ as he walked in
to the bungalow.

With remnants
of memories of his childhood school days, along with the past three years racing through his mind, Rickie held up his hand stopping Jake just as he saw Jake’s mouth open. “Sarge, just so, like, I’m mentally prepared for this, are you gonna blast me like the time I wrecked your jeep?”

“Rickie . . .”

“Or like the time I blew up the microwave?”

“Rickie . . .”

“Oh, wait. No. Don’t, like, tell me you are gonna kill me like the time I got fired from McDonald’s for doing the manager’s wife?”

“Rickie!” Jake crushed him vocally. “Silence.”

“Okay, okay, just getting ready. Go on. Give it to me.” Rickie slowly sat down and took a breath.

“Five foot six! That is your height. I am six foot five. Yet you blast in my room, you try to tackle me, and you challenge me to a fight! You took a swing, no several
, at me. Then! Then you proceed . . .” Jake stormed to him. “Then you proceed to verbally rip out my heart! What the fuck where you thinking?”