Chapter 26

Mr Sackman left the next day. He took the 'Star' newspaper with him to read about what happened in North Bay. He said, "With this I can make you even richer."

John went to work. Carm and I went with him and used his car. We toured Chinatown; and it was a lot smaller than what it would become in years to come. I bought oriental vegetables, rice, spices and a great many more articles including various kinds of tea.

When I found that Carm had not been paid yet I gave him some money as an advance. He purchased a silk robe for Jamie that I thought would look good on him. I purchased silk jackets, skirts and slippers for my ladies and Jamie even though I knew that they would outgrow them.

While looking at the people around me I remembered the series, 'Kung Fu' and thought it a good series to film in Toronto as the most modern segment had been. I had no idea who could take David Carradine's role.

We stayed long enough to eat an authentic Chinese meal. This one was large enough for Carm and he seemed to like it. The meal was not what the North American native ate, though but rather it was what the Chinese themselves ate. Carm was happy and content when we left.

We searched for a large and prosperous electronics store and I went in with Carm to find how cheap I could get six units. I spent most of my time haggling and it was in the forth store that I got my best deal. They would take all six units to the hospital and install them then repair the two dead units and return them all for a fixed price. I paid in cash from my wallet, that seemed to surprise the owner but then again I had Carm with me.

Carm did admonish me. "You shouldn't carry around that much cash. The store owner tells a friend and the friend tells a crook and you get robbed or robbed and hurt, if not killed."

"You are completely right but who in their right mind would go up against you?"

"There are some people not in their right mind and a gun held by a kid is bigger than me."

"You're right again. I'll wear a money belt and keep only a little cash in my wallet from now on."

We dropped our groceries off at the Holtzman house. I told Mrs MacIntee that her song was on the way and that I was cooking supper.

We dropped off the car where John worked and then took a taxi to the hospital. The hospital administrator was too busy to see us until I mentioned that I had a donation to make.

He welcomed us into his office and basically ignored me and fawned over Carm.

Carm put him straight. "Mr Congdon here is the one that is making the donation. I am just his bodyguard I guess."

"Bodyguard? Why does he need a bodyguard?"

"Look in the papers."

"Oh!"

He turned to me. "I am sorry Mr Congdon. I had no idea who you were."

"I am still a twelve-year-old kid to you but I am one that wants to help the hospital."

"You are mistaken. I read the article and it says you are destined for great things."

I put the receipt down and said, "These televisions will be delivered to the hospital tomorrow and the two defective units repaired and returned within a week. You must keep this receipt for warranty work and I must be issued a receipt from the hospital for income-tax purposes."

The man looked at the figure at the bottom and said, "Thank you very much. This is very generous of you. I have never heard of a man as young as you doing anything like this."

"Perhaps I can contribute more as my own fortunes improve."

"Again thank you Mr Congdon. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Mmmm there might be at that. I want to visit a new patient. He's the other boy mentioned in the newspaper. The hospital has a policy of keeping young visitors out. I do hope this does not apply to my good friend Carm or to me."

"Oh, no. I'll send official notification to the floor to make sure that the staff is made aware of your status."

Carm and I walked through the hospital. He said, "You handled that quite well. Do you get everybody to do what you want?"

"Carm, you are here for pay but I also think you are here because you really want to be. Am I behind you twisting your arm?"

"No, I guess not."

"I see good people and I see where they can fit in my large family. People that read the papers know that I am going someplace. They either take what I offer or they don't."

The head nurse was at her station and started in where she stopped yesterday. Carm put his elbow on the counter and his chin in his hand and stared at her. The woman just ran out of steam eventually until the phone rang. The nurse was called to the phone and she listened then her face fell. She came back and stood tall and said, "You may visit."

The first words out of my mouth was, "Thank you ma'am." Carm had said not one word to her before this.

Jamie ran to me and during the hug kissed my cheek then did the same to Carm. I could tell that Carm liked this. Carm handed him his package and Jamie eagerly opened it. When the black robe came out Jamie's eyes got very big. He put it on quickly and tried to find a place to look at himself. He came running back and gave Carm another hug and a kiss.

We got lots of questions and I gave Jamie a point-by-point listing of how to treat silk. From behind my back I handed a much smaller bundle and Jamie quickly found matching silk slippers. I didn't mind the payback at all either.

I said, "We got you some silk pajamas too but you may not want them."

"Why?"

In a low voice I said so only he and Carm could hear, "The slippery silk kinda rubs your dick and it gets hard. The next thing you know there is a big wet spot then later a big wet spot. Kinda messy if you have no place to wash up."

"Really, no joke?"

"No joke. And if you just wear them as you walk, it will give you an erection. That could knock someone's eye out if you are not lucky."

Carm tried to hide his smile but I think Jamie was well warned.

Jamie told us about his tests but was not that sure about what exactly was happening. The two doctors were going to phone the house every night and give us a verbal update.

A lot of children drifted closer because we were the only visitors and they wanted some company. I said to all of the group, "I have to start a movie company. I have some SciFi books that will have to be changed into scripts. I also have the ideas for a television series. The first show takes place in China in front of a Shaolin temple. I went into detail as to what the temple stood for and described their way of fighting.

Jamie now stood on the floor and displayed his robe and I talked of the young boy that stood quietly in the rain while the others fled. I used Jamie as a living doll to show the stances. With little dialogue from my characters I had to put a lot of episodes into one. They liked the 'grasshopper' and the water worn stone idea.

Before I knew it an hour had passed and my throat was dry. Carm continued by talking about life in the military. He actually gave a good rendition as he mentioned the good and the bad points. He took a long time explaining boot camp then talked about what could be learned in the military if the recruit decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

We left later and had a pack of kids following us. It gave me hope for my books and possibly my movies but the kids seemed to be lonely and there was little I could do.

We took a taxi us back to John's. I washed up then started the meal. Mrs MacIntee watched as I did everything. At the same time I talked about the new kitchen I was going to give her and asked for ideas that would improve it. Soon she was working with me assisting in doing the simple things.

"Your song went out today. I would think in two to three months you would will start hearing it on the radio. It might also be kept in reserve by the person who buys it until they need a good song."

"That's ok. My husband likes the idea and is spreading around the words now. He distinctly told them that I am not a store bought woman though."

"It was only a song with the same name as you have."

"I know and I still like it." She changed the subject, "You talked about this island and how it could move to different spots in the kitchen"

"Yes, the new island will move and the wheels lock and will keep it in place. The bottom carries some of the things you need in the kitchen."

We cut up chicken breasts then cooked them with the right sauces and spices. John came into the house and his nose brought him to the kitchen. "Good afternoon. I see the two of you are having designs on my waistline."

I said, "We learn to cook properly because in Home Ec you have to eat the mistakes too."

"I guess that will do it. What did you find out today?"

I continued with the preparations and said, "Jamie is looking good and in great spirits considering that he is cooped up in the hospital. Carm bought him a beautiful Chinese silk robe. I got some televisions for the hospital and not only bought my way past the nurse but got a tax deduction."

John said, "I had to call the Crown Attorney in North Bay and tell him not only your location but that of your little friend. He told me he would pass the information on to Children's Aid. We were on the phone for quite a while and I could hear that he was excited with the prospects of an actual case of brainwashing a minor and how it will help his case."

I asked, "Is someone besides the Children's Aid going to track down the aunt? She would have to know who took her charge from her. Goldbalm is the logical person. He is going to have to fabricate a lie to explain how Mr Sinclair was able to take custody."

"We are checking that too. Mr Sackman was worried about your safety but knows that the situation is perfect to increase your public awareness. The value of your songs and other works are going to increase. He told me that MGM is getting more serious about your script. Now that your name will be more widely known we can demand a higher price."

I asked, "What about the book form of the two novels?"

"They usually talk through the mail. We haven't got a rejection slip yet."

"I think the novels will sell. One if the movie is made and the other even if I have to make the movie myself."

"Jeff, then you have to deal with distribution. You may have to open your own theatres."

Now this was an interesting idea. Imax theatres didn't come out for another ten years. "John, that is a great idea. I just thought of very large format film that has to be shown through an equally large projector. The cost would be a lot more than conventional films but the images could be a hundred feet high." I thought then of the Steadicam system. This would make a fortune for me but the television cameras now were very large. Movie making though could use the system on their track-mounted vehicles.

"A hundred feet high?"

"It can be reduced in size though. With six audio channels, a person would believe they are actually in the action. It think if the movie was projected inside a large dome it would be even be more compelling."

John asked, "Is this where you want to put most of your money? It will eat it all up and more."

"You're right. But if I get enough spare change I can start this before somebody else thinks of it."

"Good but better to hope your books and scripts sell."

The food was almost done and Mrs MacIntee was not ashamed to sample what was I made. "Not bad for an amateur," was her smiling comment.

I had made lots so I could feed Carm too and leave enough for the staff to taste. Rose promised she would share. John and Carm liked my meal better than the Japanese or authentic Chinese meals and complimented me on it.

The expected phone call came and John listened to what the doctors had to say. He played with his pen but wrote down notes so there would not be any mistakes.

When he got off the line he told us, "Jamie had another episode." Both of us were now worried. "It was a mild one this time. The doctors now are even more behind your idea of mental conditioning. They think that Jamie can be brought back to us but they have no idea of the time needed. They both think that the pair of you are the anchor he holds his sanity by."

"That puts a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. His link to me may be his conditioning. Carm, though, is a new friendship. That feels a lot cleaner to me."

"Cleaner?"

"He wants sex. With the evidence of this happening then I could be blackmailed. Carm is just friendship."

"Are you sure? You mentioned that he met a person in Toronto for a liaison. This could have been to tie Jamie to a man. He is a very beautiful child and many people would be interested in his body."

Now it was my turn to think and I said, "You may be right. It makes me sick to think about it, especially if Jamie was destined to be heterosexual after some harmless experimentation."

I called home again and Susan immediately picked up the phone. She was hoping it would be me. The school was in an uproar again, especially after the Toronto papers talked of the kidnapping. A bad feeling came over me when I thought of Sinclair's mob past. I talked to all the ladies including my youngest but instead of putting her to Grampy I asked for Edgar.

"Hello Mr Congdon. What is it you would like?"

"Sinclair is a mob figure. The second solution may have been my death or involve the death penalty if Sinclair was caught. I am trying to get across to you that this may be very much more serious than I thought. Whoever is behind this, faces some heavy jail time. All they have to do is hire an assassin to make sure Sinclair never mentions names."

"I concur. I will inform the police."

I added from all the crime films I had seen, "An orderly, a nurse or a doctor can slip in and administer some poison that will not cause any symptoms until the culprit is long gone. While you are here, I'll put Carm on."

While Carm talked, John said, "That does make sense. Kidnapping has the same penalty and the people behind Sinclair will face the same prospects."

Instead of going shopping on Tuesday we went to the research facility. The engineers and tradesmen were very interested in what had happened. I had to give a short talk on it from my perspective. I got a dig in for more security and hoped it would help.

The quarter inch tape was now cut and on very large spools but there was little I could do with it. It worked well in a standard recorder and I gave Carm the job of using sound of various intensities and then try to see how sensitive it was. It was not scientific but we could get a feeling for our product.

John had arranged for some of the chemists to be transferred to me for an experiment. I had four of them before me now.

"Gentlemen I want to make something simple for the home. I want you to make a sturdy vibrating platform that may have to be mounted on rubber. Make a lot of small moulds to cast some different compositions of fine stone, and pigment, then blend in an acrylic polymer. A large platform will be required to test full scale projects.

"I want to cast sinks too and then bond this unit to a hole cast in the counter top. Somebody will have to find some large stainless steel sinks to be mounted in the openings too.

"My suggestion to you is to measure your counter at home very accurately. The product I believe can be sold for a high price and you'll get one of the perks for helping me."

Previously, we had made one valve suitable for a bathroom so I could patent the mechanism. With some mechanical engineers and tradesmen I gave them a similar task to perform. I didn't need the valves pretty because that could be done in real production.

"Gentlemen, I will be setting up a factory to manufacture these articles. We will be making new designs all the time. This requires a both a management team and the actual research. When we are done we can have a talk about it."

I didn't know how many engineers would want to enter management or trades for that matter, but I was still desperately short of people that could take orders and give them out again.

John, at least, had got Stelco interested in steel siding, our racking system and some new types of sheet metal screws. We would get a cut of every component made if and when a second contract was negotiated.

Before we knew it, it was time to eat and visit Jamie. We had a rental car now that Carm drove.

Carm said, "What is so special about that tape I was fooling with?"

"It is thinner and stronger than the old tape and the coating is more sensitive. This means that you can get much better quality music from this tape."

"Worth much?"

"Fifty to a hundred I guess."

"Thousand?"

"Million."

"Oh."

We found Jamie a bit more subdued than usual but that was still acceptable. He had three boys with him and he was talking to them when we arrived. He was just as excited though when we he saw us.

We were introduced to his friends. I soon found out that he had told them about my latest adventure. Jamie though stayed close to one boy and even put his hand on the boy's shoulder. I was happy for the friendship until I took a good look at the boy. In many ways he was similar to me including the burns that the child was in the hospital for in the first place.