Strange Robby (56 page)

Spider laughed. "I don't understand you, either. In more ways than one. Why on earth would you want to put a damn stud in your tongue? It's the stupidest thing you've ever done, and that puts it way up there, boy."

"Ah, they got to you," Mark pouted.

Spider smiled. "Go home, Mark. Take the stud out of your tongue and let it heal. Unlike most kids your age, you don't have to do weird shit to be an individual. And don't pick at it or it will never heal."

"But, Thpider!" Mark whined.

"But me no buts, Son. Now go home—I'm working."

"Thankth a lot," Mark said facetiously and headed for the door. "You thtill going to take me to the conthert on Thaturday?" he asked.

"If at all possible. If I can't, Deacon will take you."

"Call me when . . . "

"I'll call you first. Now go on."

She smiled as she watched the door close behind him. It wasn't always that easy to stay out of decisions made by his parents. She didn't always agree, but it wasn't really her place to meddle. He was their son; she was just the chicken that laid the egg.

However, she agreed with them a hundred percent on the tongue-piercing thing.

The comlink buzzed and she answered it more professionally this time. "Hello. Chief Webb, SWTF. How can I help you?"

"Spider, this is George . . . Carrie's water just broke. We're on the way to the hospital."

"One minute I'm standing in court giving deliberations, and the next . . . " Carrie started to cry. "I didn't even know I was in labor, how stupid is that? I thought I had gas from lunch."

"It's all right, Baby," Spider assured her.

"It was embarrassing." Carrie cried harder. With the next contraction she all but broke Spider's hand.

"Breathe, Baby, breathe." Spider prompted, trying to get her hand out of Carrie's death grip.

"I'll breathe you!" Carrie cried. "This was . . . a bad . . . idea! This was . . . a real . . . ly bad . . . idea." After the contraction, she looked at Spider. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to have a baby. Especially not your baby. He's going to have a great huge head, and it's going to hurt."

The doctor laughed as she examined her. "It's a little late for that, Carrie. With the next contraction you can push."

"Spider," Carrie whispered.

Spider leaned down, and Carrie grabbed her by the front of her green smock. Then she started shaking her. "Look what you did to me! Look what you did!"

The Doctor had to stop herself from laughing. This was the usual fair when dealing with heterosexual couples, but you didn't expect it with a lesbian couple.

"Honey, it was your idea to have a baby," Spider reminded her gently as she removed Carrie's hands from her gown.

"I know. I know, but . . . Oh, my God!"

"Push," the Doctor coached. "Push."

Tommy stopped a minute to look out over his ten-acre spread. He would have liked to have more land, but this was the compromise. He got to have his farm as long as Laura could still drive to work. He wiped his brow, looked up at the sun, and then started hoeing his turnips again.

He felt his life had begun on the day he quit the police force and started teaching Jujitsu to the SWTF's "new agents." He worked at the "office" three days a week and had the rest of the time to work on the place. Working with the hybrids, teaching them the disciplines of the old ways, made him feel like his life had purpose. The way he had felt about police work until he had learned that they didn't really want you to make a difference, just keep the status quo. When the agents he trained now collared a criminal they didn't live to become repeat offenders.

Laura should have been home by now. It was a forty-five minute commute one way, but she didn't seem to mind too much. She loved her job, but surprisingly she really enjoyed living in the country. She had been skeptical when Tommy had told her he was tired of police work. She had gone along with his idea of moving and working part time for SWTF, but had really thought that the new would wear off and he would miss the streets. She seemed just as happy when he didn't.

Tommy was sure he knew why Laura was late, and when the phone rang it just confirmed it. He jumped in his car and headed for the hospital.

Tommy stood beside Spider and looked into the plastic box at the baby boy. Spider was rattling a mile a minute. "As soon as they've checked him out he's going back to the room with Carrie."

Tommy looked at the baby's hands and then at Spider. "Spider," he said in a whisper. "This baby is yours! How the hell did that happen?"

Spider looked at him and smiled. "Would you believe I have really potent alien semen filled spit?"

"No, I wouldn't," Tommy said.

Spider shrugged; she obviously wasn't going to tell him.

"What happens when they do their little tests and find out he has alien DNA?" Tommy asked in a nervous whisper.

"That's been taken care of," Spider said

Tommy watched as the doctor came over and took the baby out of the incubator for tests. Her hands dwarfed the tiny baby. Tommy looked at Spider, and Spider smiled and shrugged. "We're everywhere, man."

Robby held the phone receiver to his ear with his shoulder as he held a clipboard and signed a paper. He handed it back to Devan.

"I'll bet she did," Robby said. "I'm very happy for you . . . Just like you . . . Well, the poor little pecker head . . . No, we'll come see him when you bring him home . . . Yeah, I bet . . . I'll talk to you later."

"Who was that?" Helen asked walking up and taking his hand.

"It was Spider. Carrie had the baby. Eight pounds even, twenty-one inches long."

"Did she have any trouble?" Helen asked.

"No. Baby came natural childbirth. No meds, although Spider said
she
came close to taking a Valium."

"Daddy!" Carlos ran over and begged to be picked up. Robby picked his two-year-old son up and hugged him.

"What's wrong, Carlos?"

Carlos pointed to a man who had just walked into the shop. "Bad man, Daddy. Bad man."

Robby looked at the man and saw the darkness. He made a face and glared at the man. The man, sensing the invasion of his brain looked up at Robby.

"You there! Get out of my shop!" Robby ordered.

"I came about the help wanted ad. This is Strange Camp Furniture, Inc., isn't it?" he asked.

"The position has been filled. Get out of my shop!" Robby put just a little heat in the man's brain. The man all but ran out the door. The boy instantly wanted back down.

Robby looked at Helen. "He has the power." Robby sounded and looked worried.

"You'll show him how to use it, and he will be as good a man as his father," Helen said with a smile. She wasn't worried; and since she wasn't worried, Robby felt less anxious.

He walked over and sounded the whistle. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. After all, it was an hour early. "Have you all forgotten? Donna's graduating tonight—she's valedictorian." So far, most of the people who worked for him were his siblings, and the ones that weren't knew what came first to Robby. Besides, they didn't mind getting off an hour early.

Donna looked out at the crowd, just a little afraid. Then she saw her family. She saw her brother Robby smiling at her, and she found her courage.

"Today we graduate and go on with our lives. Some of us will go to college, some of us will go to work, and some of us, unfortunately, won't do anything. I could have been one of those do-nothing people, but I'm not. My brothers and sisters could have all become bad statistics, but we didn't. The reason we didn't is my brother, Robby. Robby taught us right from wrong, and Robby gave us love and discipline. If it hadn't been for Robby we would have fallen between the cracks and rotted, but he didn't let that happen. Robby never got to have a childhood because he had to take care of us, but he never made us feel guilty. He picked us up when we fell and gave us pep talks when we needed them. More than that, Robby told me I could be anything I wanted to be. He told me that I could soar with the eagles. I didn't have a mother or a father, but I had Robby. I wish everyone could have someone like Robby. I thank the school and my teachers for helping me out and bringing me this far, but mostly I have to thank him. I love you, Robby."

Robby looked up at her and smiled the biggest smile that he could find for her. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

Carlos, who sat on his lap leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Donna is very good."

Francis laid the rock upon the ground, and then she stood back and looked. She smiled at all that she had done.

"Finally, it's finished."

When she'd asked to be allowed to live in the woods at the camp, they had been more than willing to abandon her there. She kept a garden and fished and lived a simple but pleasant life. Occasionally Spider or the boy brought her extra supplies.

Francis sat on a rock at the edge of the clearing and waited. She didn't know how long she sat there, but it was dark, and she was just about to doze off when a bright light appeared in the sky. She watched as the ship slowly descended. It was much bigger than she had thought it would be, and she had to get up and run further into the woods to keep from being pelted with dust particles. The noise was deafening, and then all was still, and the ship rested in the field. When it was quiet, she walked back over to the ship.

One of the beings materialized right in front of her. It spoke to her in labored English, obviously something it had learned, not something it knew simply 'because.'

"What is it that you want?" the visitor asked.

"I just wanted to apologize for meddling, and to tell you that now everything is going according to your plans."

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five