| General Fiction posted December 28, 2024 | Chapters: |
...16 17 -18- 19 
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Many partings
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 18
by Jim Wile
| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 17: Fran and Brian decide to hire Abby to help with the mission to stop the spread of Dipraxa.
Marie muses about her past relationships and experiences in her family, contrasting it with what she's observing with Julia, Brian, and Johnny. She gains a new perspective especially about Brian who she now sees as a good man.
She and Julia play music together to entertain the group while Brian picks up food for dinner. Although neither the food (barbeque) nor the bluegrass music are to her liking, she finds she's enjoying herself among her family.
Chapter 18
Marie
All five of us staying at Brian’s house made the trip to the airport today. This was on a Sunday the week before Thanksgiving, and the airport was not that crowded this afternoon. It will undoubtedly get busier later in the week.
Abby’s flight was first, and mine would be half an hour later. Brian dropped us all off at departures and then parked the SUV in short-term parking so that he could come in and join us for a proper goodbye before I had to head out.
When he returned, it was just about time for Abby to leave. It sounded like she will be back here again in two weeks to work with Brian on their project. After saying goodbye to everyone, she headed for security, wheeling her carry-on bag behind her.
We had a little time before I had to go through security, so we found some seats to relax in for a while. I took Johnny out of his stroller and sat him on my lap. He began playing with a necklace I was wearing and stayed occupied with it for a few minutes until he got bored and wanted to get down and push his stroller around. He tends to bump into people with it, so I walked around with him and helped him steer.
In a few minutes, it was time to go. Julia and I looked at each other, and I said, “Julia, thanks for inviting me to the christening. I’m so glad I came, and I’m especially glad that we’ve put the past behind us and are moving forward now. I can admit that I’ve been wrong about a lot of things, especially your charming, handsome, and intelligent husband here, which he never fails to point out to anyone who will listen.”
They both laughed.
“And you have proven to be a marvelous mother to Johnny—something I regret that I never was to you. I hope that now I can at least be a good grandma.” Tears began forming in Julia’s eyes then.
“Send me lots of pictures. I’ll even tape them to my refrigerator. Isn’t that what grandmas do?”
She nodded, and when she gained her composure, she said, “Mother, I’m also glad we’ve been able to put the past behind us for all of our sakes, especially Johnny’s. I’m happy that you’ve been enjoying each other’s company too. You look very sweet together.”
I held my arms open for Julia then, and she came in for a hug. I can’t even remember the last time we hugged. Maybe we never did, which is very sad. I removed one arm from her back and used it to beckon Brian to come into the hug too, which he did.
“You’re a good egg, Brian. You take care of this family. And I wish you the best of luck on solving your problem, whatever it is, and also testing your new drug. It’s a terrific thing you’ve done.”
“Thanks very much, Marie. That means a lot to me. And I certainly will take care of my family. Julia and I were talking about it—do you think there’s a chance you can join us for Christmas here in a few more weeks? We would love to have you stay with us again.”
I hadn’t given it any thought before now, but it sounded very appealing. “Why, yes, I’m sure I’ll be able to spend some time here again. I’ll begin making flight arrangements right away. Thank you.”
I looked at my watch. “And now, it’s time to say goodbye to my favorite grandson.”
He was sitting in his stroller again and looked like he was starting to get sleepy. I bent down so I was at eye level with him and said, “Johnny, I’m going to miss you. You are such a smart and cute little boy, and I’ve loved every minute with you. But Grandma will see you again very soon. I have to leave now, so I will say goodbye to you and Mommy and Daddy now.”
Julia picked him up from his stroller and held him upright in her arms. “Wave and say, bye-bye, Grandma,” as she demonstrated waving herself. “Say, bye-bye, Grandma.”
“Ba-ba, Gam-ma,” he said quite clearly as he waved his little hand, and I waved back and said, “Bye-bye, Johnny,” before I turned and headed toward security. So, I’ve graduated from the indeterminate Ga-ga, and I’m now Gam-ma. I think my heart actually grew three sizes today.
Dana
When we arrived back at Fran’s house from our meeting yesterday at Brian’s, Mike greeted us and said he’d be serving dinner soon. It was late November, but still temperate enough that he grilled us some steaks outside on their deck. With baked potatoes and asparagus, all of which he managed to prepare on the grill, it was a delicious meal.
“Must be nice to have a husband who cooks,” I said to Fran. “About all Steve can manage is eggs in the morning.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll keep him.”
We got to talking about Abby and our friendship. Fran is quite perceptive and said, “You know, Dana, despite your kidding around with her—the ‘Miss Perfects’ and the ‘Smarty-pantses’—I sometimes detect there’s still a little competition between you two.”
“Ya think? Abby and I have a complex relationship now. We are friends, yes, but it’s hard to totally suppress some of the resentment I felt for years, and I try to mask it with humor. She’s so damn smart, and good-looking, and fit—almost a perfect human being, it would seem. It’s hard to be friends with someone like that who is just better than you in every way. But she’s also such a nice person; how can you not like her?”
“I get that. But you know, life can be tough sometimes for people like that. They do arouse resentment in some others through no fault of their own, assuming they are nice people, as you say. It’s just human nature for some folks to envy them. You know, it’s not always best to be the smartest person around. Who do you go to for help when you need it? The rest of us can always find help from someone smarter, but it can be tough if there’s no one else around to get help from. The smartest one is expected to have all the answers, and that’s a lot of pressure they must feel.
“I’ve always wished I was as sharp as Brian. He’s probably the smartest person I know, but I just do the best I can with what I’ve got. That’s really all anyone can ask of you. You can’t control or take credit for the genes that give you your innate intelligence. Brian may argue that point because maybe someday, with gene modification, you can be made smarter. I don’t know.”
“I guess I know that—not about gene modification, of course, but about doing the best you can with what you’ve got—and I know it’s my problem, not Abby’s. That’s really the only thing keeping us from being close friends now. I guess I just need to make peace with something I can’t change. How did you get so wise, Fran? You’re a lot younger than me.”
“I had to grow up fast. Our parents died in an accident when I was 18 and Brian was 12, and I was his legal guardian for the next six years. The responsibility to raise a teenager when I was just coming out of that period myself was overwhelming sometimes. He was a good kid, but he got into problems with opioids following a car wreck of his own at age 16.
“But it’s funny the way life works out. He met his wife, Julia, at rehab when they were 16. Her mother, who you met, wasn’t always as she appears now but drove Julia relentlessly and put such pressure on her that she resorted to drugs to help her relax. Except for that inadvertent incident with Dipraxa for Brian, they’ve both been clean for years now. And it was her success as a touring violinist that gave them the income to build his lab, where he discovered the replacement for opioids. You never know how life will go, and sometimes when things seem darkest, there’s just no telling what may come along to save the day.”
I mused about this as we headed for the airport. I’d be going home today as an official FBI confidential informant.
Fran reiterated some of the key points I had to remember as we neared the airport. “Without being obvious about it, try to get as near as you can to conversations between the players in this. There are things we can do to get recordings of private conversations if it seems warranted. Even though Pennsylvania is a two-party consent-to-being-recorded state, there are legal ways around this if there is sufficient justification. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything that smacks of illegality, and we’ll be able to justify it.”
I already had a few ideas of how to go about this and who to approach. In fact, Leonard Merra, who seemed to be the point man in the quest to destroy Glyptophan, would be my target. God, how I would love to expose him and all the rottenness that goes on behind the scenes in this cutthroat, underhanded environment known as Big Pharma.
“One last word, Dana,” said Fran, wearing a sober expression. “Just don’t do anything risky or dangerous. It’s not worth it. We’ll get these bastards one way or another if they do something illegal. But we don’t need you to become another casualty in their war on ethics and decency. Understood?”
“Got it. No heroics.”
“That’s it.”
 Recognized |
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is the assistant marketing director for a Big Pharma company.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Patty Mattson: A hacker friend of Fran's. The programmer on Brian's project.
Abby Payne (nee St. Claire): A girl from Dana's past, who she used to bully but has befriended during their adulthood. The mathematician on Brian's project.
Mike Pekarsky: Fran's husband. He is a DHS agent.
Willy Stubblefield: The leader of Julia's bluegrass band.
Shannon Stubblefield: Willy's wife and the drummer in the bluegrass band.
Picture courtesy of Microsoft Copilot
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