LADY DONOVAN PHONES FRANK, PART FOUR (the Donovans are
on the phone; it's late and Frank is still shaken from his dream) "And the man
who plays Ardeth Bey looks like you, but with longer hair. Scrumptious!" "Thank you, my
Lady." "You still
sound a little shaken up. You want to talk about it?" "It's nothing
I can't handle. Just a bad dream. I've gotten too much stress lately." "You just
returned to work! No, no, dear. I didn't mean it that way. It's not that I
didn't enjoy having you home for those six months. It's just, well, it seems
that you react differently with this job." "I've never
done undercover work before even though my mother practically wrote the book on undercover work. I'm
reacting to having to learn different ways of applying my skills." "Kinda like
when I started my new job?" (Frank chuckles
softly and a smile cracks his mouth) "Exactly the same thing. You felt
out of your true element, having to learn new skills while applying your
existing skills to the demands of the new job." "It took me
six months to settle into my new job. The sudden death of my boss....ohhhh!
And you were off in classes for those six months." (Frank is smiling)
"That I was. I really did need the time to study child and adolescent
psychology." "For our children
as well?" "Yes, for our
children too." "Is it really
true that drug users are emotionally trapped at the age when they first
started using?" "That is
indeed correct, my Lady. You know me, how I like to plan and how I don't like
not being in control. Many of the criminals my unit goes after were heavy
users as teens and some of them were left to the streets since
childhood." "And taking
those courses would better enable you to reach into their minds." "Correct."
(Frank smiles broadly. He walks over to the chaise lounger, then changes his
mind and goes to the small mini bar on the far side of the room, next to the
fireplace. With one hand, he takes the stopper out of a crystal decanter
containing scotch whiskey. He pours himself a small shot of whiskey.) "The clinking
of glass tells me you're going to drink something. Mmmmm, the scotch?" "Guilty as
charged. What's my sentence?" "Three rounds
of lovemaking." "Accepted and
entered into the record." "Love
you." "Love you
back, my Lady." "Frank?" "Yes?" "There's
something I've been meaning to ask..." "And that
is?" "Well, those
courses couldn't have taken all of your time during the day..." (Lady D
is interrupted by a soft noise from Frank.) "You know
where I was during the day...the Academy and the University." "Did you
receive additional training?" (Frank pauses the
glass halfway to his mouth while he quickly debates his answer. To his wife,
he did receive additional training in psychology courses but part of his days
were also dedicated to learning advanced techniques in counterintelligence.
Frank makes his decision and takes a sip of his whiskey. He swallows.) "My
Lady." (he says this as a soft statement) "My Lady, the Academy's
courses are rigorous and the post-graduate work courses I took at George
Washington University were time demanding. The distance between GWU and the
Academy in Quantico is more than sufficient to account for my time." (Frank had
neglected, and still neglects to tell his Lady that with his beaching leading
into his new job came the privilege of using a helicopter to get around the
WDC region from Quantico. The helicopter cut down on the time needed to get
from Quantico to various points in the Washington Region during his
additional training in counterintelligence. Frank also neglects to tell his
Lady that he'd finished the course work for GWU inside of a month.) "So that's why
you were always a bit short on the phone. You were stuck in I-95's traffic! I
remember you phoning in from the scene of that horrible accident just up from
Quantico." (Frank nods then
remembers he is on the phone) "I remember. Two dead." (Frank had been
using ground transportation on that particular day and had been in the fifth
car behind the car which had been, well, basically smushed by an overturned
tractor trailer. The tractor trailer's driver had had a stroke; he survived
but with some paralysis on his left side.) "The driver
was in the rehab class at the hospital. I remember him quite well when I was
going in for my own treatment. He'd be walking really slow down the
hallways." "Are you
having any pain still?" (Frank's voice is full of soft concern for his
Lady.) "Not anymore.
After the treatments were finished, the pain went away." "Porphyria is
an unpleasant illness." "Tell me about
it. When I was a child, the other girls at summer camp used to nag at me
because my urine sometimes was a dark blue. They thought it was dye." "A genetic
miscode. You're missing an enzyme which processes the glucose." "It was such a
relief to finally understand why I'd been having stomach pains all my life.
Misdiagnoses, round-robin doctor visits, umpteen gynecological visits, tubes
in my stomach, and elsewhere...and it was porphyria. King George was said to
have porphyria." "It's a little
known illness. I think physicians have porphyria located under 'other
diseases of humans.' I wasn't too happy with the amount of time it took to
get you properly diagnosed." "You're such a
dream. Always caring for me." "I love my
Lady." "And I love
you. I can't seem to say that enough. I am glad the miscode wasn't passed to
our children." "Porphyria is
treatable with the proper medication." (Frank takes a sip of his
whiskey) "And proper
loving by the spouse." (Frank smiles, then
puts down his glass) "And love should
be in the prescription given by every doctor." "I
agree." (Lady Donovan yawns and Frank continues) "How about I read
you a story, my Lady, and then you go off to slumberland?" "That would be
wonderful! What are you going to tell?" (Frank smiles, slyly).
"Once upon a time, there were two lovers." "Mmmmmmm." "Their names
were Romeo and Juliet. Their love was pure, and true, although they were both
very young by current standards." (Frank picks up his glass, sips,
swallows, then continues). "Their
families were feuding and they didn't want the two teenagers to fall in love.
But kids, being kids, did the opposite of what their parents expected. And
the two fell in love. Their families found out, and grew angry at the two
lovers. Juliet, in order to avoid marrying a man named Paris, drinks poison
that makes her appear dead for two days. Romeo finds out about Juliet's
death, and goes to see her body. Romeo enters Juliet's tomb and finds Paris
mourning his beloved Juliet. Paris challenges Romeo to a duel and Paris
loses. Romeo then drinks poison and dies as he kisses Juliet's lips. Juliet,
upon awakening from her poison drink, finds Romeo's body beside her, then
takes his dagger and kills herself." "A story about
love against all odds." "That's what we
have here: a love against all odds. In my job, my family can be taken away
from me in a heartbeat, or I can be killed by a vengeful acolyte of Sonny's
or any of the other criminals I took down." "You're saying
we should enjoy our love to the fullest every day?" "That I am.
Romeo and Juliet had but a little time to themselves before their families
tried to pry them apart." "Sometimes I
feel like we're living in a Kurt Vonnegut short story. The one about Harrison
Bergeron where everyone who is beautiful, or intelligent, or athletic has a
handicap placed on their person by the Handicapper General." "Sounds like a
nightmare world. Why do you think we live in the world of Harrison
Bergeron?" "The
Handicapper General has a device placed in the ears of people who are overly
intelligent. A loud noise comes over the earphones every twenty seconds to
disrupt the thoughts." (Frank knows what
his wife means but intends to ask her because he senses she is shaky his new
job.) "How does that apply to our life?" "Every time I
feel safe, a criminal pops into our lives, threatening to take away the
safety I feel with you." (Frank is concerned
about Lady D's statement, and his concern shows on his face). "Do you
think I'm going to get killed?" "Sometimes I
think that I, or our kids, are going to be kidnapped, tortured and killed.
But I don't want you to be unduly alarmed, dear. I know you are the absolute best at protection. How you manage to
protect me and the children astounds me, every day. I don't know how you keep
up your compsure under the strain. I've been reading about criminals, you
know." (Frank is genuinely
alarmed but pleased that his wife thinks so well of him and his skills and
this also shows on his face. The last fact relayed by Lady D surprises
Frank.) "You've been reading up on on what kind of criminal cases?" "Probate.
Drug. Homicide." "And which do
you prefer?" (Frank knows many people are drawn to crime; especially
lurid cases. Probate cases, in particular, fascinate people because probate
cases expose the accumulated assets--both financial and emotional--of an
individual over a lifetime. Probate cases, like the Marshall Estate, tend to
fascinate the public because they can expose hidden grudges, sometimes
pitting sibling against sibling, husband against wife's family, wife against
husband's family.) "I
think....probate. Death is usually natural, not inflicted by someone
else." (Frank nods to
himself and a small smile plays out on his lips. He is pleased his Lady
prefers Probate cases. Although many English--and Frank knows his own mother
lived in England and his Lady's great-grandmother was from Cardiff, Wales)
prefer murder mysteries, Frank deals enough with murder on a daily bais that
murder intrudes into every fibre of his being. And he would prefer his Lady
be interested in Probate, where the crimes are generally limited.) "Probate cases
are interesting. Some can expose
hidden grudges over a lifetime." "That they can
do. Like the Marshall case. Do you really think Mr. Marshall was competent enough
to make his own financial decisions?" "That would be
for a judge to decide. But it certainly could bring the inheritance verdict
into question." "I
agree." "My
Lady?" "Yes?" "Will you
dream about me tonight?" "Of course! I
dream about you every night!" "Oh?" "Yes. I dreamt
last night that we were ghosties." "Ghosties?" "We had died,
and we became ghosts who welcomed other souls into the aftelife." (Frank thinks this
dream is not good, as it indicates stress in his Lady's life. Everyone has
stress but his Lady's dreaming about ghosts has Frank concerned. And he takes
a sip of his 25 year scotch whiskey.) "Ghosts." "Ghosts. It
was strange. We became ghosts and we were the welcome committee in the ghost
world." "Why do you
think you had this dream?" "I don't know.
I know I am concerned about being away from you and the children." (Frank nods, and
sips his whiskey again. Separation anxiety. His lady was experiencing
separation anxiety.) "It's
important that the children have time apart from the parents in order to
practice their social skills. Likewise, it is important for the parents to
have time away from the children to re-establish their pre-children
relationship. You know as well as I do that becoming a parent means less time
interacting with your spouse as an adult." "I know. It's
just that sometimes I feel as if everything I do, everything I say, is guided
by what's correct for the children. But sometimes I wonder.." (Frank is going to
push her logic). "Wonder what?" "Wonder if our
children would be smarter, or more social, or something if I didn't work or
if I had co-slept with them during their infancy." "Our children
are perfectly fine. And each is reading at least three grade levels above
their classmates." "The result of
Children's Shakespeare." "The result of
their parents treating them as intelligent humans, albeit young humans." "We do tend to
read stories above their grade level. Like with Olivia, when I read Watership Down to her over a month's
time, she was so enthralled and she kept asking me to let her read parts of
the page." (Frank smiles. He
remembers his Lady reading Watership
Down to their daughter. He'd
thought the book too...too...well, too old for their daughter, but Olivia had
taken to the story like a duck takes to water as a hatchling.) "She's
smart isn't she?" "Yes."
(Lady D pauses before she continues.) "Do I worry too much about what
other women think about how we are raising our children?" "At times, yes
you do. Just as I worry about what other men think about how I am raising our
children. I am career FBI and that does take a toll on children. I worry that
at times, I am thought of as less than a parent than as a sperm donor for the
children." "You are not a sperm donor! You raise the
children just as much as I do! Why, just the other day, our daughter Olivia was telling people how she was going to
deduce how the cake got stolen from her classroom. A regular young Nancy Drew
she was! And she was telling her friends how she was going to solve the crime
of how the cake got stolen from her classroom--just like her daddy would
deduce it stolen!" (Lady D is
indignant that anyone would have the gumption to think that Frank is less a
father for his job and that thought shows in her voice.) (For his part,
Frank smiles at the thought of their daughter telling her classmates she was
going to be just like her daddy. And he takes another sip of his scotch.)
"Point well taken. Children do tend to imitate parents." "And what
about the fact that we've installed stereos in their headboards?" his
lady wants to know. (Frank nods. The
adult Donovans have had cassette players inset into the headboards of their
kids' beds. For at times, the kids get nightmares, and after their parents
comfort the children until the children drop off to sleep, the kids tend to
fall asleep to their parent's croonings, then snap awake some time later. But
the kids love listening to their favorite audio books--their son is
predilected towards the sound-effects enhanced "Star Trek" audio books
whilst their daughter tends to prefer falling asleep to to Amelia Bedelia
stories on tape.) "It does seem
that our children have an insatiable appetite for audio books late at
night." "Well I, for
one, do not mind if the children take a flashlight and read under the
covers." "Nor do I
mind. The children will need to get up at their usual time the next morning,
unless it's a weekend day." "And the kids
will learn just how much they can read before they suffer the consequences of
not getting enough sleep." "Exactly.
Sometimes, kids need to learn the consequences--within reason, of course.
Staying up until the wee hours late a few school nights will teach the kids
that they need to plan their time a little better--exchanging less playtime
for more reading time, and less television time for more reading time." (Lady D laughs)
"For our kids will be very sleepy the next day in school! Mrs Thurmond
asked about our kids' sleepniness the other day. I told her not to worry
about it. That our kids were learning that surreptiously reading under the
covers after bedtime would adversely affect their alertness during the school
day." "And what did
Mrs Thurmond say to that?" "She laughed.
And said that she wished more kids would read under the covers at night. She
wanted to know what the kids were reading. I told her they were onto The Three Investigators. And she
gasped! Old blue haired Mrs Thurmond actually gasped!" "The Three Investigators is a series which was great during
my school years, but has fallen by the wayside. It seems that Jupiter, Pete
and Bob are not the kind of characters kids like to read nowadays." "Yeah? Olivia
seems to think that Jupiter Jones is a teenage Frank Donovan." "She
does?" "Yes. In The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy, Chapter
Three, Olivia says that the description of Jupiter Jones was 'bang on' with her daddy." (Frank chuckles as
he remembers that particular book. In that Mystery, a mummy 'whispers' and is hiding a fortune in jewels. In the third chapter, Jupiter had been listening in on
the conversation at Headquarters via a modified walkie talkie, and neither
Pete nor Bob had been aware of the fact. This action was very much what Frank
himself did at times with his own staff.) "Ahh. If I remember correctly, Jupiter finds the jewels in a hollowed out corner of the sarcophagus." "You guessed
correctly. Out of all of them, I prefer the Mystery
of the Whispering Mummy myself." "Really. I
prefer The Mystery of the Green Ghost as
my particular favorite." "Oh come on!
You simply can not say that the Green Ghost is better than a lost
mummy! One of the characters Whispering
Mummy even carries the last name of Bey, just like Ardeth does in the
Mummy movies!" "But nothing
compares to the Mystery of the Silver
Spider!" "Well, that
story is set overseas and has the Three Investigators posing as juinor
Intelligence officers for the US government....why, you scamp! The three
teens are doing undercover work, just like you!" (Frank and his Lady
laugh simultaneously. The Mystery of
the Silver Spider does have the Three Investigators probing into the
disappearance of a foreign country's emblem of royalty--a silver spider--and
the investigative trio find themselves armed with a two way radio and a
contact at the American Embassy. Naturally, the trio take down the bad guys,
and restore the rightful Prince to the throne.) "I plead
guilty." "And your
sentence shall be, on top of the other
sentence you have earned, a long night of confinement with yours truly. Of
course, orange chicken, warm bread pudding and a bottle of Dom Perignon will
be in attendance." "Naturally. A
full stomach makes anyone predilected towards a night of loving." "You
love-whore!" "Whore?"
(Frank is rather excited at being referred to as a love-whore but he doesn't
want to show this in his voice.) "The Drew
Carey show made reference to the fact that Drew was a 'pity-whore' when he
repeatedly sought sympathy from his friends whenever things got rough for him." (Frank is confused
now.) "So, what is the reference to love whore?" "It means that
you are more interested in making love than anything else." (Ahh, now Frank
understands. And he smiles.) "Love is important. And we can make a night
of it. Soft music. A roaring fire, a bearskin rug. The Dom chilling
out." "And us. Us
just being a couple. Doing couple things while the children have fun with
their own peers." "And one day
the children will be doing the same things with the opposite gender that we
are going to be doing tomorrow night." "Tonight." "Right. It's
after midnight." "You know, I've
been reading about this physiological development of the brain that starts
about age eight. What's on with that?" "The brain
tends to undergo physiological changes beginning around age eight. That means
that the maturation process has already begun. The process takes about two
years and during that time, kids will naturally slow down their learning
processes." "Is that the
reason why our son is going through a slowdown in his schoolwork?" "Yes. And
despite what the professional educators will have you believe, our son is
perfectly normal. It is a normal slowdown as a result of the puberty process
beginning." "So he will
catch up in a few years?" "Yes. He will
catch up to the educators' standards in a few years. Think about the differences
between a book suitable for an eight year old and a book that an eleven year
old will read by himself. The language is simpler in a book for an eight year
old but an eleven year old will be able to process complex thoughts, and
emotions." "Is that why
our son's taste in reading material is changing?" "Yes. And do
you know what?" "What?" "I think
you've managed to keep me on the phone for much longer than I had wanted you
to remain awake." "I miss you.
That's why I kept talking. Are you upset?" "Not at all.
But I know that you are sleepy, and that you are lying against the pillow
with the covers up under your chin holding the phone to your ear. How about I
hum something to put you to sleep?" "That would be
very nice." (Frank begins to
hum a tuneful song, slow and lulling. In his mind's eye, he sees his Lady's
grey-green eyes shutting for a few moments, flitting open, then shutting
again.) "Frank?" "Hmmmm?" "I love
you." "Love you
too." "I'll hang up
now." "Just until
later on, when I pick you up at the station." "You
bet." "Love
you." "Love you back." (Lady has shut off
her phone and Frank sits back on the chaise, balancing his glass of whiskey
on his rock-hard stomach. Frank
relaxes even more into the chaise. His eyelids flutter up and down. Realizing
he was falling asleep, he places his whiskey glass onto the floor next to the
chaise. Before he knew it, his dark brown eyes have closed and he is breathing
steadily.)--Back to Main page |