Chapter 21

Used to being sent to answer the door despite the fact that no one had knocked, Ken headed towards the door as soon as William had told him to answer it. He shook his head in puzzlement the entire trip. Although he knew from experience that there would be a person at the door, he hadn't given up wondering how William did it. Colt looked from William to Ken wondering what was happening since he hadn't heard anyone knock.

The door opened to reveal a very tired looking green robed Druid while he was in the middle of yawn. He was sporting a three day old beard, his eyes were bloodshot, and his robe was wrinkled. Surprised the door had opened before he had even rung the bell, the Druid said, "Sorry. I'm looking for William."

Shocked at seeing a Druid in such a shabby condition, Ken stepped back and took a second look. It took him a couple of seconds to recover. He said, "Come in. He's expecting you."

"He is?"

"Yes," Ken answered. He didn't understand how William knew about visitors before they arrived, but the young man was never wrong.

Cole entered the house and looked around. The furnishings didn't look nearly as expensive as they were, but the quality was definitely obvious. He said, "Nice."

"Thanks," William said as he stepped over to Cole. Gesturing to a sofa, he said, "Have a seat. You look tired."

"I am tired," said the young Druid as he dropped onto the sofa. Sighing, he said, "Why didn't you let me know about your neighbors before now?"

"I didn't know about you," William answered taking a seat across from Cole. He studied the Druid seeking some clue as to what had been going on the past few days.

"It's almost too late to save the daughter. She's already got heart and liver problems."

"I suggested counseling, but the mother wanted to rip my head off," William said while shaking his head.

Leaning his head back with closed eyes, Cole said, "I'm done with the mother. She'll be over a little later to apologize. I haven't even started with the daughter."

"You've been there for three days," William commented. He had assumed by Cole's presence that he was finished. Frowning, he wondered why he was misinterpreting events so drastically wrong.

"That is one dysfunctional family. The father is totally absent. He stopped by for ten minutes and then left before I had a chance to talk to him. He wasn't even concerned that the kid is killing herself. The mother had a lot of issues that had to be dealt with before I could even start on the daughter. Her delusions were enabling her daughter to self-destruct. The daughter is locked into a self image that totally warped," Cole said wishing he was back at the Druid College.

Colt, the daytime bodyguard, asked, "You're sure that it will be safe for the mother to come over here?"

"Yes, I'm sure. She won't hurt William." Cole rubbed his eyes. He was very tired and just wanted to close his eyes for a minute.

"I hope you won't be offended if I don't entirely trust you," Colt said.

"I won't be offended. Your job is to be suspicious of people so you can protect your client. Mine is to be suspicious of my client so that I can cure them." Cole barely managed to suppress a yawn.

William turned towards the kitchen and called out, "Lisa, we're going to have a guest using one of our guest rooms."

"Don't put yourself out," Cole said.

"It's not a problem," William said knowing that the only person who would have to do anything would be Lisa. Standing, he said, "If you'll follow me, I'll show you where it is."

Lisa came out of the kitchen and said, "The guestroom is ready."

"I know. You always keep it ready," William said.

Cole followed William down the hallway. On reaching the guestroom, William said, "Here you go. You have your own bathroom."

Having followed the pair, Lisa entered the room and handed Cole a small sack. At his confused expression, she said, "It has a comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shaving lotion, and shampoo."

"Ah, I appreciate it. My stuff is still in the car," said Cole looking at the bag with real appreciation.

"Speaking of which, could you give me the keys to your car? We've been driving around yours to get in and out of the driveway," William said.

Embarrassed, Cole fished a key ring out of his pocket and handed it over to William. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Sorry. I was more concerned with getting to work."

"I understand. Unlike me, most people aren't perfect. In fact, I'm the only perfect person I know."

William had delivered the line with such a straight face that Cole didn't realize that he was kidding until the young man had winked at him. Deadpan, he said, "I'm very glad I came here. You need help even more than your neighbor."

William laughed and said, "Get some rest. We'll talk later."

As they left the room, Lisa commented, "He'll have you committed to a mental hospital by the end of the day."

Winking at her, William said, "No need, I already live in a madhouse."

Lisa laughed and headed towards the kitchen. She wanted to finish preparing a snack before Tim came home from school. She was making a fruit salad with a honey dressing knowing that William enjoyed it as well.

William returned to the living room and handed the keys to Ken. He said, "Move the car so that it's out of the way. I'm tired of driving around it."

Taking his seat at his desk, William returned to work on his research. The numbers on his screen scrolled by as fast as his eye could follow. As the numbers flashed by, he mentally constructed the graph. He had missed enough of the output that he would have to wait until the run was complete to see the graph in all of its glory, but what he was seeing excited him.

Colt watched him work for a while and then returned to reading his book. When they were around the house, there just wasn't that much for him to do. It seemed to Cole the kid put in sixteen hours a day. William spent a lot of time at the house working on his programs and reading.

The only time William took a break was when he spent time with Lucy. At those times, his attention was entirely on her. Colt wondered what it would be like to have someone focus their entire attention on him with the kind of intensity with which William focused on Lucy. It had to be heady stuff.

William's shout of glee startled Cole. Looking over at the young man, he asked, "What?"

"I do believe that I've got the result I was looking for!"

"Ah, that's good," Colt said wondering what it meant. It didn't look to him like it meant that William was going to stop working anytime soon. The young man was typing like a demon on the keyboard backing up all of his work.

With an exaggerated gesture, William pushed the return key and then raised his hand high into the air. Pushing away from his desk, William spun around on his chair so that he faced Colt. In a happy voice, he said, "I'll check it tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?"

"I never like to check my work when I'm excited. It's too easy to miss things. It takes a calm cool head to find fault with your own work," William said with a smile. He felt like celebrating somehow, but Lucy wouldn't be home for another three hours.

Colt looked at the young man sitting calmly in his chair. After half a minute, he asked, "Are you excited right now?"

"Yes, I'm very excited. I may have just completed over two years worth of work," William answered puzzled by the question. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Colt with a questioning expression on his face.

Answering the unasked question, Colt said, "You don't seem very excited. You're just sitting there, hardly moving."

"Oh."

"Normally, I jump up and down when I'm really excited. I'll fidget some when I'm a little excited. You're just sitting there, hardly moving," said Colt amazed at the reaction of the young man. If he'd just finished something that he'd been working on for two years, he'd be dancing for joy.

William sat back in his chair and thought about what he'd like to do to celebrate. Ken having finished moving the Druid's car to the front curb, entered the room, and sat down at the table unaware that William had completed his research. After a few minutes, William said, "Let's go out to eat tonight."

"What restaurant?" asked Ken, suspecting that he knew the answer to his question.

"The Burger Shack in Ohio," answered William although that wasn't really the name of the place. He smiled as he thought about the hamburgers, onion rings, and milk shakes they served there.

"You mean the Sonic Drive In?"

"Yeah, that's the one. It's not that far," said William.

"That's a fast food place. Nobody goes to a fast food place to celebrate two years of work," declared Colt. He had worked protecting lots of rich and famous people and had experience with the unusual behaviors they occasionally exhibited. Without exception, they all had a little something for fast food, but he'd never had a client who had wanted to celebrate a significant milestone in a fast food place.

"William does," Ken said earning a dirty look from the bodyguard.

"They've got hamburgers this big," said William holding his hands out in a manner suggestive of their size. He licked his lips at the thought of eating one. His eyes lit up and he added, "They even have Chili Dogs with cheese and onions on them. They are so good."

"You're going to drive almost forty miles to have a hamburger or a chili dog?" asked Colt incredulous.

"I'm going to have both. Usually, Tim and I will split the Chili Dog. Lucy and I will split the hamburger. That way, I'll have room for dessert," said William.

"Dessert?"

"They have banana splits for dessert. I love these because they're made out of that soft ice cream. I'm going to have a whole one all to myself."

"You're kidding?" Colt asked. It was hard to believe that one of the wealthiest people in the world would have so much enthusiasm for a Sonic Drive In.

Ignoring the question, William turned to Ken and said, "We'll all go there for dinner after Lucy gets out of class."

"That'll be fine, William. We'll have to take two cars since there will be ten of us," said Ken chuckling.

Ken waited to hear the inevitable comment about not spoiling their appetites before going to the Burger Shack. Before William had a chance to say it, Lisa came out of the kitchen and announced, "I made fruit salad."

William frowned at the thought of ruining his appetite for supper. With a grimace at the thought of skipping the fruit salad, he said, "Maybe not today. We're going to the Burger Shack for dinner to celebrate."