GONE TO TEXAS
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Note
: The descriptions and accounts in these stories are fictional and do not portray any actual people or events.
Elizabeth and Summer both stirred in the bed. "Where are you going?"
Mallory jumped up from the foot of the bed with her leash, providing an excuse.
"I'm taking Mallory out again." I needed to think. I really needed to think.
Mallory got her business done long before I got my thoughts together, and I started back toward the house. The way things were going, I was surprised Mallory hadn't demanded that Elizabeth take her out instead of me. Mallory clearly preferred Elizabeth to me. Summer clearly preferred Drummond to me. Even Suzie signals had deserted me. My Only Talent was now no talent at all. Maybe my fabulous fractal antenna array was now just a brain tumor that no longer functioned. Was this the malignant and defective gift I would pass on to my growing boy?
Mallory got in front of me and growled very quietly, making me freeze in my tracks. She was alerting to something up ahead of us. I realized I had only my pants and shoes on, no shirt. The night was cool, but I suddenly felt a chill inside far colder than the outside air temperature. I saw light through the trees and then a pair of headlights coming up the driveway. The car stopped and the lights went off, and a door opened and thunked closed. Mallory growled again, loudly. I heard steps coming up the driveway.
"Keep that fookin' dog back, Robbie. It's me, Jackie! I've got to find Summer! I know the van is here. Is she here?"
Jackie stood behind the driver's side door of a beat-up and multi-colored old Vauxhall hatchback that looked like a pregnant Smart Car but old and retarded. He looked very worried.
"Hold on Jackie. I'll put Mallory up and get Summer."
When I got back into the house, Summer and Elizabeth had heard the commotion outside and had pulled on their clothes. They stood next to the bed and looked at me expectantly.
"Summer, Jackie is outside. He came to find you. I'm going to keep Mallory inside while you go out to talk to him."
Summer went outside, and Elizabeth came over and hugged me. It helped with the chill. We watched through the window as Jackie and Summer put their heads together for a moment and then Summer cried out. She seemed to freeze for a moment, then spun on her heels and ran back toward the house. She bustled through the door.
"My father is ill. I have to get to the Isle of Man immediately!"
She began gather her stuff from the bedroom. Elizabeth went with her. I put Mallory in her kennel and went back out to ask Jackie what was going on.
"Jackie, what happened with her father?"
"He is sick, I'm not sure with what. He's in hospital up there. Summer's phone was off, but she has a tracker on the Sprinter so I used it to find the vehicle. It's a about an 8 hour drive up north from here and then a ferry ride. We've got get started!" Elizabeth and Summer emerged from the door. Elizabeth had her arm around Summer and was speaking in her ear. Summer was nodding her head yes.
I sensed that Elizabeth was taking control. She was, and she spoke up. "Let's take her to the FBO at Exeter instead. I have a friend there that can help."
Exeter was about an hour away. We put all our stuff in the van. Elizabeth took the wheel, as I was unsure about driving from the wrong side, especially since we needed to go fast. Jackie headed back toward Wingham in the Vauxhall, with Mallory in her kennel and the not quite able to close hatchback tied down with a bungee cord. It would be very interesting to see him release her back at Summer's house! Elizabeth made two mobile phone calls from the road, and when we got to Exeter she drove into the airport and pulled up to a metal building.
There were two guys in dark blue uniforms waiting for us in the lobby. In five minutes, we were in a little 4 passenger shiny white jet and taxiing out onto the runway. We made a climbing turn and booked it to the north. We landed in less than 3 hours, and a taxi was waiting to take us to the hospital at Braddan. Summer's dad was in a private room, and awake and alert. He looked a lot like the old James Bond guy that lived near Nora's parents on Eaton Square, but he sounded like Dumbledore.
"No need for you to rush, dear. We thought it was a major problem, but it was just a little arrhythmia. Fully controllable with medication, I am told. They expect to release me tomorrow after 24 hours of observation." He nodded toward the heartbeat and pulse ox monitors by the bed. "Your man that we called at the business number got a little overwrought, and apparently your mobile phone was turned off."
Summer leaned over her dad and sobbed, hugging him tightly. He looked uncomfortable and patted her shoulders, still looking at Elizabeth and me.
"Perhaps you should introduce me to your friends?"
Summer stood and rubbed her eyes, still a little dazed. Elizabeth moved forward smoothly and took his hand.
"Elizabeth Ashcroft Knowles, Professor. Pleased to meet you!"
I moved up, too. "Robbie Roberts, Sir!
"Oh, I am just a lecturer, not a Professor. I don't want to put on airs."
There was awkward small talk for next few minutes, while Summer recovered her composure. Elizabeth responded to questions in her DEFRA persona, ably talking about agriculture and trade, and connecting with the senior Mawn on several planes. I was introduced as someone Summer had met at work. He made a face. I suppose he might not be fully on board with Summer's choice of careers, or more likely, he didn't like my looks. He changed the subject.
"Elizabeth, I don't recall you at King's School. Where did you and Summer meet?"
"I went to maintained schools, sir, but then was fortunate enough to attend Imperial College London". That clearly made an impression on him. "Robbie introduced us. I met him on a flight from Dallas to London last year."
Summer's face snapped up and she gave me a funny look.
Elizabeth took her hand. "I am glad that Robbie and I could be here for Summer. She is a wonderful young lady and I am proud to call her my friend."
Summer's face turned bright red, but her father seemed pleased by Elizabeth's comment, and did not notice the blushing.
Her father now turned the conversation to practical matters. "Summer, my former student Daniel plans to pick me up when I am discharged tomorrow, and I plan to stay up here for another week or so before I go back to Canterbury. There is no need for you to stay, just as there was really no need for you to come. But it was nice to see you and meet your friends."
Summer sniffled and hugged him again. "Are you sure you will be fine?"
On the flight back, I realized that I had been distracted from thinking about my troubles. Summer took Elizabeth's hand again and thanked her again, apologizing for all the trouble for a trip that turned out not to have been required.