Part XIII - 18: A Choice of Families

"But she's my sister! I can't let my sister stay a slave, even if she has been let live her own life most of the time."

"I will not give her up!" Harrison said.

I had just returned from the really cool bathroom they had there, my smile from having to step over the massive pileup of sleeping Etas fading fast.

"Where's Sarah?" I asked, noticing she wasn't in the room.

"She gone to get Tommy," Harrison said. "Your companion here is not seeing things very clearly. She's my wife, the mother of my child, and I am not going to give all that up!"

"Who said anything about giving it up," I said. "Look, all we want is for Sarah to be her own master. I am not going to force her barrier down, but if she would lower it so we could scan it, I probably could tell you whether she would still... love you afterwards."

Harrison sat there undecided. It was one thing to trust me as a friend, but this was too much for even friendship.

"Harrison, my friend, you know you're my friend by force. Don't you see if I wanted to I could have made you give Sarah to us? You could have wound up eating shit for a living if Joey had been the one to see through your illusion."

"Well, I don't think I... " Joey started.

"Shut up, Joey. Harrison, we won't release Gina's power until Sarah is freed. The only hope you have is to free Sarah and hope she will still love you. You haven't mistreated her, have you?"

"No... Stan never mistrea... " Gina said.

"Shut up, Gina," Harrison and I both said.

"May I join the party?" a gentle voice said from the door.

"Wally?" Joey said.

"Richardson! What are you doing here!"

"Alex, please call your mistress Denise and tell her to come to the warehouse. Tell her I said it's an emergency."

"Richardson... " Harrison said growing rather angry.

"I'm here to make sure everyone sits down and works this out peacefully, Stanley. Just like we did when I was fourteen."

"Wally, if you had anything to do with this, you better come clean or I'll... "

"You'll do what? Play your tricks on me?" he said, smiling.

"Wally... " I said, sensing there being something more the situation.

"Not now Tim. Gina, what is the matter with you?"

"He," Gina said, pointing at me, "turned me off!"

"He did? Well, good for you, Tim. Now turn her back on before she starts crying."

"Look, Wally. I like you. You're a pretty easy going guy. But I'm not willing to trust you just yet. We've come too far to screw it all up now."

"I see. Gina, please get dressed, then if Tim hasn't turned you on by dinner, I'll do it myself, all right?"

Gina gave me smug look, and even made a "Hmmmph" at me as she turned around and left, her sexy ass catching my eye.

Joey had been getting dressed himself, so I started to pull my clothes on as I said, "Look. Right now I don't care about anything except taking Sarah back with us to see her parents. I want to go home, and so does Joey. Can't you at least let her spend some time with her family this Christmas?"

"We are her family," Harrison said. "We have been for twelve years now."

"Only because you made her think we were all DEAD!" Joey spat.

"Who's dead?" a familiar woman said, stepping over bulky leg of an Eta to enter the room. "And who made this mess out here?"

"Denise!" we heard Gina's voice cry from the lobby.

"Gina, what's the matter?" Denise said, stepping out of the doorway and out of sight.

"Gina, get a hold of yourself, girl!" Harrison said, rolling his eyes up as we heard Gina's blubbering.

"And he told me to shut up, too!" Gina cried out as they both came in the room.

"Oh, brother," I said, sitting down on the bed next to Joey.

"Stan, what's going on? Who are these... boys?" Denise said, eyeing us like vermin.

"I'm Sarah's brother, and I've come to take her home. Any questions? Good. Let's go, Tim," Joey said with a dark look on his face, getting up, grabbing my hand, and pulling me towards the door.

"Uhm, excuse us for a momENT!" I said as Joey jerked me through the door.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I said to him when I realized he was seriously heading for the stairs. "You're really not just going to try and grab her and run, are you?"

"Yes I am. This whole thing smells like a setup. Wally's playing us for fools."

"Wally? I haven't felt anything... Wait a sec. Joey. Wait. Stop!"

"What!" he said, spinning around with frustration written all over his face.

"Wally is on our side. Or at least he's on Sarah's side. Yeah. That's what it is. Shit. You were right. He was setting us up. Setting us up to... to... Damn. I almost have it. But I'm positive he's not trying to trap us or anything. He want's Sarah to have you guys back in her life."

"Well, I'm not going to play his or anyone else's game anymore. I want my sister and... that's that. Are you going to help me finish this or not?"

"That's a stupid question," I said.

"Well?"

"Yes, I'm going to help you finish this, but not by kidnapp... "

"Fine. Then I'll do it myself," Joey said, turning to leave.

I sighed, seeing he had his mind set and wasn't going to listen to reason. So I figured if he was going to be unreasonable, I could be too.

"Well, I guess I'll just call my dad and have him send a limo out for me. I can't wait to get back home and see Suzi again."

Joey froze and turned around, then after looking up at my serious face, he said, "You're not really going home without me. You're just saying that to... "

"Joey, I'm tired of this shit," I said, passing him on the stairs. "I'm going home. You don't need me anymore."

"I... " Joey said behind me, then didn't finish.

I kept walking down, waiting for him to stop me, call me back, anything, but it never came. I did hesitate before pushing the exit door open to glance back up at him, and he just stood there, right were I had left him, staring at me with a stubborn dark look.

Going through that door was one of the hardest things I ever did. I didn't even feel the cold as I made my way back across the field and entered the medical building through its back door.

Okay, so I had no intention of leaving him there by himself. But even though Joey knew me better than anyone else in the world, he couldn't be sure that I wasn't seriously leaving. It was a power play, a gamble, or even a game of poker. He had tried to call my bluff, but now I was calling his.

But when I spotted a pay phone that for all intents and purposes should have been my destination, I wondered if he wouldn't win this hand after all. I actually did hold all the winning cards, but would I make him give up everything he has just because of his stubbornness? Do I do this to him? Can I? Would I? Should I?

My hand was on the receiver.

My hand was picking it up.

I put it to my ear.

I dialed the operator.

My voice asked to make a collect call and gave the number.

Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to leave Joey to fend for himself without anything to use?

It was ringing.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

The other end clicked and a moment later a familiar voice answered.

My traderous voice asked the servant to connect me to my dad.

"Tim! Alright!" Joey called, running up with a desperate face. "I'll do it your way, okay? I need you."

"Hello? Tim? Is everything all right?"

"Yeah dad. Everything is fine. We found her, and we'll have her home by Christmas. But let it be a surprise okay?" I said grinning at Joey's own grin.

"Oh, and could you have someone rush a couple of bottles of drink to Central State in the helicopter? I think we'll want to celebrate... "

"Is that... " Joey said, looking at the six year old blonde headed, brown eyed, fair skinned boy hiding behind Sarah when we returned to the office.

"Tommy, this is your Uncle Joey. He's my lit... my brother," she said.

Tommy just stood there, one hand holding his mother's hand while the other was fingering his lip nervously.

"Hi, Tommy... " Joey said softly as he kneeled down. "You named him after dad?"

"And you. His full name is Thomas Joseph Harrison," she said, leading Tommy over to Joey.

"Mommy?" Tommy said, tugging on her shirt to have her bend over.

Sarah, listened carefully as he whispered in her ear, then whispered something back to him before straightening up with a smile.

"What did he say?" Joey asked.

"He said he had to go take a shit, but wants you to take him."

"Really?" Joey asked his nephew.

Tommy nodded, then as they left together, Tommy called over his shoulder, "Uncle Wally? We're going to go take a shit. Do you want to come too?"

"Shit, Sarah!" Joey exclaimed. "What have you been teaching this kid? You used to wash my mouth out with shit like that."

"I still will too if he poops in his pants," Sarah said.

"Tommy, how about I take you next time, okay?" Wally said.

"Okay," Tommy said, glancing at his mom before they went out of sight. But then a few moments later, we heard him say, "I only need someone to go with me. You don't need to wipe, though. Uncle Wally always wants to wipe, but he's gay and likes wiping butts. That's what mommy says. Uncle Wally likes wiping little boy butts. Do you like wi... "

I don't know who was more red. Wally or Sarah.

"Cute kid," I said.

"Sarah," Denise said, "What do you want to do with them?"

"Stan? What should we do with them?" Sarah asked with a hint of humility in her voice.

"Shit, Sarah, I don't know."

"Stanley, go stand outside so Sarah can think. You know how she is around you," Denise said irritated.

"Oh, all right. But I'll won't give her up, you understand?" he said glancing at me.

"Like I said. I'm not asking you to do that."

"Yes you are and... "

"STAN! GO!" Denise barked.

"If you weren't my sister... " Stanley said as he scrambled out of the room.

"Now," Denise said, "Sarah, what do you think we should do with them?" Sarah sighed, then said, "I don't know... Denise, tell me the truth. How can my brother be alive when I... I saw his body?"

"I don't know," Denise lied.

"Bull shit," I said. "We uncovered the memory of you and your brother at the police station. Joey's dad has been haunted by that experience ever since. He hasn't been able to keep a job longer than three months ever since he saw the look of fear on Sarah's corpse. You guys really fucked him up, you know that?" I said angrily.