Thursday, October 9, 2008

Chapter 19


Jon headed downstairs to see his brood gathered in the family room, each engrossed in their own activity. Jesse was busy battling some aliens on the big screen, while Jake was running his dump trucks over some action figures.

"You better watch what you're doing, Jake. If Romeo comes home and finds that you'd messed up his Spiderman, he's gonna have a hissy fit," Stephanie warned, looking up from her fashion magazine.

"Don't worry, Steph, Spiderman's super strong."

"He's plastic," she said with another warning glance.

"Jake, listen to your sister."

"Awww, dad. You're always taking her side."

"Only when she is right and in this case, she is. Be more respectful of other people's things."

"Okay, fine," he groused.

Walking into the kitchen he found Dot helping Grace get ready to start lunch. He kissed her lightly and waved to Grace.

"Well, I'm off, wish me luck."

"Jon, I'm not so sure about this project of yours. It sounds like a pie-in-the-sky theory or something."

"It will be a breakthrough in technology, you'll see."

They had discussed his involvement in the project and though Dot could not fathom the idea, she had relented seeing how enthusiastic Jon was about it.

"If it works as well as I hope it will, then it could be the answer that we are all looking for, Dot."

"I know," she sighed, "but it just seems so.....I don't know.....so science fiction. Do you really think such a thing is possible?"

"Honey, where would we be today if everybody thought that way, hmmm? There would be no cars, airplanes or even computers."

"I guess you're right. But still....."

Jon smiled at her. He understood her trepidation. In fact, he was hard to convince at first when they had approached him with the idea. But listening to their explanations and theories, he began to see all the possibilities this new invention could bring about.

"Don't worry, babe. Today I'm just going to listen to their presentation. I promise not to make any commitments until I discuss them with you, okay?"

"Okay, honey. Good luck."

"Thanks. I'll see you at dinner."

*****

"Romeo, we need to start heading for home or your mom will have my head."

"Mommy will look silly with your head, Uncle Mookie."

"Very funny," Richie rolled his eyes,"now, let's get going."

**Can my dad come with us?**

"No, of course not! How are we going to explain that? Besides, I don't think it's good idea to have both of your dads in the same place."

**Why, Uncle Richie?**

"Because they'll spontaneously combust if they are."

**Has anyone told you that you watch too many movies?**

Richie looked up to just in time to see Jon snickering and nearly forgot himself by starting give him the finger salute. He caught himself when he saw Romeo staring at him and could have sworn there was a smirk on his face.

"Look, Romeo, that just can't happen, okay?"

**Fine. But I don't see what difference it makes. They've been in the same house, you know.**

Failing to come up with a reasonable answer, he simply patted Romeo on the head and picked up the toddler and his backpack and headed out the door. He stopped short, remembering to admonish Jon to stay put.

*****

"Mr. Bongiovi, thank you for taking the time to listen to our presentation. We are almost ready to begin. Let me introduce you to the rest of the board."

Elijah Greensberg was the perfect stereotype of a chairman of the board. Well into his sixties, his immaculately cut Armani suit served well to disguise a belly that had been spoiled with good, rich food and expensive wine. With tufts of silvery white hair encircling a shiny dome, he was almost a caricature of himself.

Leading him down a long hallway lined with doors, Elijah stopped periodically to greet the workers that they passed. One door was open and when Jon looked in, a man in a lab coat came bursting out towards them.

"Mr. Bongiovi, may I speak to you for a minute?"

"Levinshon! I've warned you about this. Now, get back in your office and stay put." Elijah practically shoved the man through the door. As he did, Jon looked inside to see a small boy sitting on the carpeted floor with some books. He had looked up from his reading in time to see his father being pushed in.

"Hey, Elijah, there's no need for that," Jon said. He bristled at anyone being treated that way, especially in front of their children.

"Is that your son?"

"Yes," Levinshon replied, "this is Samuel."

"Hey, Samuel, whatchya reading?"

"I'm reading about atoms," the boy beamed.

Jon looked at the man. "Smart boy you've got there. I guess he takes after his old man, huh?"

"Well, yes, we talk about science all the time. Right, son?" The boy nodded and went back to his reading.

"Mr. Bongiovi, I really must speak to you before you go into that..."

"That will be all, Levinshon." And with that Elijah slammed his door shut and hurried Jon off to the boardroom.

"Why wouldn't you let him talk?"

"Oh, pay no attention to him, Mr. Bongiovi. He always has some wild theories about every single experiment we do here. I don't know why even hired him the first place. He's just not a team player, if you know what I mean. And just so you'd know, his wife is a die hard fan of your band. I'm betting he's trying to get an autograph or some concert tickets. I'm so sorry about that."

Before Jon could ask another question, they had reached the boardroom. Guiding him inside, Elijah proceeded to introduce him to the board members and a team of scientists and physicists.

"Have a seat, Mr. Bongiovi, we are about to begin the presentation."

*****

"Hi, Richie. Thanks for taking Romeo for the night. So, how did everything turn out?" Dot was hopeful that they were able to solve whatever was the problem. She knew, though, that these things were not so easily dismissed.

"Well, we had a good man to man talk, ate some chocolate cake and then we went to bed. Yep, we had a pretty full night."

Dot snorted at this. "And what did you discuss in your 'man to man' talk?"

"Oh, that's a secret, right Romeo? Although I should tell you that it was about a cute little redheaded girl."

"No! That's yucky, Uncle Mookie!" Romeo groaned.

Richie laughed as he put the toddler down and Romeo ran off to the family room to show off his new action toy.

"Richie, you didn't have to buy him another toy. You're going to spoil him."

"Nah, he's a good kid, Dot. Besides, that's what uncles are for. Where's Jon?"

They had moved into the kitchen where lunch was being set out. Richie helped himself to a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Dot joined him and Richie noticed a concerned look on her face.

"Dot?"

"Hmmm? Sorry, it's just that I've been thinking about this project that Jon is so into right now. I don't know, Richie. It just seems so....."

"Like it's out of Star Wars?"

"Exactly."

Wait till you get a load of what's happening.

Richie considered what she said for a moment before he spoke again. He had heard a little about this project from Jon and understood where Dot was going with this. "Dot, I bet cell phones and computers sounded unrealistic before they became commonplace. Who knows? In the near future, whatever he's working on could be something in every household."

"You sound just like Jon."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't worry about him too much. He's not stupid."

"I know, it's just......" Dot changed the subject then. "Did Romeo ask for his 'daddy' during the time he was with you?"

"Uh, not really. Although he did talk about Jon working a lot."

"I was starting to wonder if Romeo is inventing an imaginary 'daddy' because Jon is spending so much time on this project of his that he hardly has time to play with him."

"Dot, what's really worrying you?"

She held her coffee cup tightly as she tried to think of the right words.

"I just feel that there's something..." she stopped.

"What?"

"Just that something strange is going on here."



3 comments:

richiesambora said...

Kay, thanks for the new chapter and for giving us more questions. LOL

I've heard that nanotechnology can entail considerable risks.
Why does Levinshon want to talk about with Jon?
Is Jon or the world in danger when he supports this project???
Is this project probably not about providing food to the hungry but for producing something dangerous?
Is Romeo supposed to warn Jon about this project?

It would make more sense if an "old" Jon would travel back to the past to stop the "younger" Jon from doing something dangerous.
But as it is the other way around I still got no clue.

LOL I could go on like this. There are soooo many questions....
But I better stop asking and try be patient while we have to wait for the next hints.
~Andi

norwichliz said...

Oh, Dot...you have NO idea! :)

Jon I think you should go back and talk to that guy...it may be what Romeo's trying to fix.

Sunstreaked said...

No, no, no - do NOT talk to that guy - YET! I'm greedy, I want this story to go on for a LONG time!