The GR-8 Discovery - Chapter 2

Chapter-2

There was a sharp knock on the door. Joan hurried to the door.

She opened the door and let the boy in.

“I was waiting. What took you so long?” asked the concerned mother.

The boy didn’t bother to answer her question. Instead he looked around the house for about a minute.

“You are still having the back pain?” he asked.

“You better stop worrying about me. I am fine” the word fine itself explained that Joan had been not keeping well for at least fifteen days.

“I have brought some medicines for you.”

“Or can we say that you have stolen them from your father’s closet!”

“Why do you always talk about him when I come to meet you? Don’t tell me you love him.” Even the boy got annoyed.

“No I don’t. But I can’t let my son become a thief.”

David didn’t reply.

David loved Joan a lot. He had been extremely close to her. David was five when Joan detected that he was dyslexic. But Joan didn't lose hope. She tried every way of curing her son. She spent sleepless nights searching for different ways. This is why David had been with Joan for a long time. And the same reason applies to Joan’s divorce. When David’s father discovered his child was dyslexic he couldn't entertain him much. He couldn't tolerate David’s falling grades. But Joan loved him nevertheless. She never minded anything her son did. The truth was though David was dyslexic he always respected and loved his parents. Such difference in attitude between Joan and David’s father made them move away from each other. David often witnessed prolonged arguments that could sometimes continue for months. One day these arguments gave rise to the thought of divorce.

“Tomorrow is David’s open house. I have to meet Bennett so I wouldn't be able to attend it. Tomorrow at nine please go to his school.” The three were having breakfast.

“And hear the same words that David’s a piece of junk who will never get good grades. Oh it’s something I totally agree with. I don’t intend to break my head and waste my time by going there.”

Joan wasn’t surprised but angry.

“I know you find him ungrateful but that won’t change the fact that he is your son. You ought to have certain responsibility towards…”

“He is not my son” he snarled.

“How the hell can you think that?”

He waited for some time. He was preparing himself to say something. At last he blurted out.

“Okay, let’s face it. Now answer me quick! With whom did you sleep to conceive this ungrateful brat!? He can never be my son. Is he that Conner you broke up with in college to…”

“NOT A WORD MORE!”

“Or Chris, whom you thought to be super-hot or…”

David remembered seeing Joan’s eyes getting clouded with tears. She sat on the chair crying. She spent the whole night in David’s room crying bitterly. She couldn’t believe her husband had said such cruel words. She decided she couldn’t live with him any longer. For two days she didn’t come out of her room. On the third day she finally came out, said only four words to her husband and went back to David’s room. These four words meant nothing to David’s dad. But they were truly alive in David’s mind. These four words had shattered his family.

“I want a divorce.” Joan had said calmly and had gone back.

“Of course you will! Good for you to stay with that stupid son of yours” he had shouted back.

The divorce procedure took long - almost a year and during the first two months of this duration Joan kept David’s treatment going on. And at last she could see the results. David had recovered. He had recovered completely. He no longer was a dumb student. His grades improved. He became sharp and soon could outshine his classmates. He was nine then.

When his father came to know of this development he grew jealous. He couldn’t let David off his hands. He was his only son and he couldn’t afford him to stay with Joan. He made every attempt to get David. He even used certain illegal ways. He gave his final blow was appealing to the court that though at first he had let Joan keep David but he soon discovered that Joan was mistreating David and even torturing him. This was surely a lie but was an easy task for him to make it a truth by only bribing certain people. His wrong intentions won. He got David. This was the second time Joan couldn’t stop crying. Parting from David was hard for her and even harder for David. He was furious at his father. But at that age he was quite helpless. He had lived with his father since that day but his mind and soul had always remained with Joan.

After ten years on thirteenth February, 2054 he had come to meet Joan. This wasn’t his first visit to her. Though he was not allowed to meet Joan, he used to visit her secretly every week. He had been doing this since he was twelve. He had hated his father since the divorce. As he grew older he began to understand that his father was none other than a cruel and selfish person.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Joan coughing loudly.

David looked at Joan for a while.

“Do you want some tea?” she asked.

“No mom. No need for that. I have to tell something very important.”

Joan made an expression that clearly stated ‘go on’.

“I think this is my last visit to your place.” exclaimed David.

Joan was quite surprised at this. It was only David who was left in her life. If he would leave, she will become terribly alone.

“Why?” she asked concerned.

“At this moment your survival is more important me visiting you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It is something very confidential. Okay now I won’t waste any time. There is going to be…”

Suddenly the door started banging loudly. Joan was getting up to open it but even before she could reach the door it crashed open with a loud bang.

Joan could see a man in a black coat holding a revolver in his right hand. She didn’t know him. But suddenly another man emerged from behind him whose face Joan could never forget.

“Joan, maybe you don’t realize that I can get you arrested on account of kidnapping my son!” he said curtly.

“And maybe you don’t know that now I am the senior administrator of NASA and I can do this in a matter of seconds.” He added.

Joan looked at him with eyes wide open. He didn’t change. He can never change.

“Now quietly hand over David to me or you will have to go through an unnecessary process of trial which I don’t think you want to go through again!” his voice dripped with sarcasm.

It was David who spoke.

“You will not even touch my mother, Henry! I won’t let you fulfil your intention.”

“How many times should I tell you call me DAD? You have seem to forgotten that!”

David turned his attention to Joan.

“Mom, please listen to me carefully. Please…”

“Cover his mouth quickly and drag him out of the house!” roared Henry.

The next moment the man with the revolver was holding David tightly covering his mouth while David was struggling to escape.

“Please don’t hurt him… please…” Joan pleaded to Henry.

At this Henry smiled even more and David struggled even more.

“Don’t worry darling, I won’t hurt him. After all he is my son. And I won’t kill you either. You know why?” he lowered his face to hers “Because soon you are going to get what you deserve. Good bye honey!”

Henry left the house and the man too managed to drag David out of the house. He closed the door behind him.

Joan was still standing there, tears trickling down her wrinkled and sagged cheeks. What worried her the most was what David had intended to tell her some minutes ago. He had very desperately tried to tell her something but he couldn’t. And what was Henry telling her about the thing she deserved? Toady’s visit of David had left her with many unanswered questions. But about one thing she was sure - she would never see David again.