Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8 (42 page)

Frank had nothing to say to that
. He just wanted to enjoy her words, and he basked in them while he finished putting things away. “You ready to go home, or you think you might want to go back to my house and talk?”

“
Talk? It’s pretty late, Frank. I might start to ramble. You know how I am at night.”

“
Then we’ll stay up and talk as late as you want. All right?”

“
I’d like that.” She watched Frank pick up his boots and set them on the workbench. He then proceeded to undo his pants. “What are you doing?”

“
I can’t walk home in these pants. I can’t move.” He dropped them. “Wanna walk back half dressed?” He winked. “Come on it’ll be fun, me in my boxers and you in that wet tee shirt.”

“
If I do this with you, will you make me a sandwich? I’m kind of hungry.”

Fran
k, wearing only his boxers, picked up all his clothes, his boots, and his shoulder harness. “I’ll make you a sandwich.” So simple it seemed with Ellen, just being them. Frank placed his arm around her, holding his clothes and hers, and walked slowly with her back home.

They fought over the front door and who would get in first
. Ellen being smaller and wetter, slipped herself between Frank and the door, stumbled into his living room, and laughed. “I won.”

“
I let you.”

“
Right.” Ellen saw him ready to drop the wet clothes. “Leave them outside.”

“
Shit, you’re right.” Frank opened the front door and set the clothes on the porch. He carried his shoulder harness inside, tossing it over the back of the couch. He saw Ellen standing with her arms crossed tightly. “What’s wrong?”

“
What the hell temperature do you have the air conditioner on? It’s freezing in here.”

“
Sixty-five.”

“
Sixty-five? Christ, Frank.” She began to jump up and down to warm up.

“
Want one of my shirts?” Frank pointed to the steps. “I’ll go get one.”

“
Please.”

“
Be right back down.” Hurrying, Frank charged up the steps and into his room. He took a moment to remove his damp boxers and toss on a pair of shorts. He grabbed a tee shirt from his top drawer for Ellen and ran back down the steps, fully intending on turning down the air. “Here’s the ...” he stopped when Ellen turned to face him, she stood without her top, “... shirt.” He slowly walked to her, extending out the shirt, staring.

“
You really want me to put this on?” Ellen laid her hand on Frank’s.

“
Yeah. No. Yeah ... no.” He moved into her. “What are you doing?”

“
Wanting to warm up.”

“
You know, all I wanted to do was spend some time with you. This is an added bonus.”

“
So I take it you aren’t turning me down?”

“
You are making it very ...” Frank slipped his hands on her waist then brought Ellen close to him. “Very ... difficult.” Just as he lowered his head to kiss her, he heard three banging thumps coming from below, and Frank jolted back. “Did you hear that?”

“
Yes. What was that?”

“
Stay here.” Frank reached for his revolver in the harness over the couch and turned to the kitchen when he heard the basement door open. “Shit.” In one motion, he tossed Ellen her shirt, took a step to the kitchen, raised his revolver, and clicked back the hammer. “Freeze!”

Henry shrieked and jumped when he saw the gun pointing at him
. “Frank!”

“
Henry, what the fuck?” Frank placed back the hammer and lowered the revolver. He set the gun on the dining room table. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“
I’ve been here working. Why is Ellen half dressed? That is wrong, Frank.” Henry looked past Frank to Ellen who tossed on her shirt. “I can’t believe you’re doing this already with her.”

“
I’m not doing anything with her, Henry. We got wet washing jeeps. Now what the hell were you doing in my basement?”

“
Ellen’s leaving.”

“
Answer the question.”

“
Ellen’s gone.”

“
Shit.” Spinning around, Frank saw the open front door, and he took off after Ellen. “El.”

“
I’m going home, Frank.”

“
No wait.” He pulled her back. “We were gonna talk. I was going to make you a sandwich, remember. Not to mention you were standing almost naked in my living room.”

“
I’m sorry about that. I feel embarrassed. I shouldn’t have hit on you.”

“
No!” Frank’s eyes widened. “Hit on me. Hit on me any time. El, I ...”

“
Frank, I’m going home. This isn’t going to work. It was a great night, but it’s not going to work.”

“
What isn’t going to work? Fine, leave your clothes on. Hitting on me isn’t important. Just don’t go, please.”

“
And what? Go back to your house while Henry is there?”

“
I’ll make him leave.”

“
Then what?” Ellen asked.

“
Then he’ll leave.”

“
Then what?” Ellen asked again.

“
He’ll go home?” Frank shrugged and Ellen began to walk away. “Wait. What?”

“
Then he’ll be back. He’ll always be back, because you’ll always hang around him. You get mad, like last night, and then you forget.”

“
Henry’s my friend.”

“
So am I.”

“
What? I can’t be friends with both of you?” Frank questioned with edge.

“
You shouldn’t be.”

Frank released the grip he had on her
. “I can be friends with both of you.”

“
I don’t want you being friends with both of us, Frank. Because if you only knew.”

“
Knew what? What should I know.”

Ellen shook her head
. “Nothing. Forget I said anything. Go back to your friend.”

“
Fine. I will.”

“
Go.”

“
I am.”

Ellen turned from him
, arms folded across her body.

“
El.” Frank tossed out his hand in frustration, then stormed back inside his house. “Henry, you being in my basement better be fuckin good ... what are all these papers?” Frank looked down at his coffee table. “Why are you smiling? You’ve been miserable all day.”

“
I got it, Frank.”

“
Got what?”

“
I think I can do it.”

“
Do what?”

Henry picked up all of his notes
. “I think I can make Dean see again.”

“
Re ... repeat that?”

“
All of this,” Henry showed Frank the papers, “my notes from the SUT program. I have created a program for the microchip for optical enhancement.”

“
Explain that.”

“
Dean’s eyes are fine. It’s his brain that is failing to send signals to his optic nerves. If we implant Dean with a microchip, that microchip will replace the signal the brain is failing to send, therefore, Dean will be able to see again.”

“
Holy shit.” Frank plopped in shock to the couch. “Will this work?”

“
I think so. In fact, I will make it work. I have to. Day and night if need be. There’s only one problem.”

“
What’s that?”

“
We can’t take a chance on lobotomizing Dean, and lobotomy is normally done to make room for the chip.”

“
So we can’t implant it then.”

“
Oh we could, if the chip was smaller.”

“
Make a smaller one.”

Henry slowly sat down next to Frank
. “I’ve been trying. I can’t. I don’t even know where to begin, to make one that small that will take the program without overloading it.”

“
It has to be able to be done,” Frank stated.

“
Oh sure. But right now, I can’t do it. I’ll figure it out though.”

“
Henry, you know who can probably do this?”

“
No, Frank.” Henry shook his head. “No, I won’t ask him.”

“
Why?”

“
I want to do this alone.”

“
Why?”

“
I don’t want him to help. No. This has to be mine,” Henry said defensively. “This has to be all my doing.”

“
That is stupid. You came up with the idea, right?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then it is all yours only he’ll help you achieve it faster, if he can. Ask him.”

“
Aw, Frank,” Henry whined.

“
Ask him. If you can get Dean back his sight, then you do it. That is what is most important.”

“
I guess you’re right.” Henry stood up. “I’ll talk to him in the morning. He’s probably sleeping now. It’s almost two.”

“
No he’s not.”

“
How do you know?” Henry asked.

“
He lost a bet. He’s at the Social Hall now. Go.”

“
Against my better judgment, I’ll go.” Henry pouted and walked to the door. “But ... if it works, it’ll really be great huh?”

“
Yeah it will be.” Frank stood from the couch.

“
Don’t say anything to Dean until we know it works.”

“
No problem.”

Henry opened the door
. “Do you think Ellen will think it’s great that I can make Dean see again?”

“
I think she’ll be very happy, Henry.”

“
Good.” Henry grinned. “I’ll be back, I think. Night, Frank.” He shut the door.

“
Happy but still pissed,” Frank said to the closed door. He turned around to see Ellen’s wet shirt on his floor. “At you ... and now me. Shit.” He picked it up and clenched it.

<><><><>

Not much ever surprised Danny Hoi
. Not the amount of glasses he had to wash, not the number of tables still left to wipe off. Not even the fact that Robbie Slagel, while taking down some of his equipment, kept getting thirsty and grabbing a clean glass. None of that surprised him. Henry walking into the Social Hall, still dressed like he was at the softball game, did. Danny looked up from behind the bar then returned to doing his glasses. He figured Henry had to speak to Robbie. Why else would he be there? He realized what Henry wanted when a stack of papers hit the bar.

“
Danny.” Henry sat on a stool. “I need to speak to you.”

“
Are you going to be all mean to me because I’m in a good mood, Henry. I’m not in the mood to have you being mean.”

“
No. I have to ... I have to ask for your help. I need to know if you can help me.”

“
I don’t know. With what?”

“
Recognize this?” Henry stood slightly, and pulled something from his pocket, and laid it on the bar.

“
A microchip, but it’s blue.”

“
Yes.”

“
It’s not from a SUT.” Danny examined it.

“
No. I made that.”

“
Does it work?” Danny asked.

“
I guess. It’s accepts the data.”

“
The data?” Danny asked. “You know how to program these things.”

“
I used to use the prefab programs on the disk that Robbie found, but I also learned how to create new programs.”

“
Excellent.”

“
In fact, Danny, I know quite a bit about the chips.”

“
So what do you need me for?”

“
See the chip? To implant that in the brain, a portion of the brain has to be removed to make room.”

“
That explains the zombie look.”

“
Exactly,” Henry stated. “I want to be able to implant a chip without having to perform a lobotomy on the patient.”

“
Make a smaller chip.” Danny handed it back. “That should work. One about a quarter of the size of this one and the base has to be plastic.”

“
I know, the electronic portion mainly has to be encased in plastic.”