Chapter 9

Saturday, September 15 - Monday, September 17, 2001

Things were a little better the next morning. Shae had given him a sleeping pill and stood and watched him until he took it. It was a long night, a horrible night of bad dreams, even with the power of the pill. Several times, Shae or his mother had come in to comfort him, calm him down -- it later turned out they had traded off staying up the whole night, just in case.

He was just stirring when Eve walked in -- Shae had called her after he'd gone to bed the evening before, and she'd left before dawn to drive the Trans-Am back to New York again. Over the next couple hours, she managed to talk him up from most of his depression, and get to the core of what was he was thinking.

One thing was clear: it wasn't going to be a good idea for him to even think about trying to live in Battery Park Village for the foreseeable future, maybe ever again. Not that it was any big surprise; in talking it out as early as Wednesday, it had seemed like a logical conclusion. But the reality of it for him was worse than even Eve had imagined it would be. "I'd advise you to get clear out of New York for a while, if you could," Eve told him. "There's no reason you can't pull out of this, but being in this town will remind you of it all the time."

"I know you don't want to hear this," his mother told him, "But just let me throw out the idea of you and the boys coming back to Bradford for a while. You could use the break from the constant reminders. I know it wouldn't be good for your job, but maybe it could be a workman's comp thing."

"Right at the moment, it's not the worst idea I've ever heard," Dave agreed, a little to her surprise. "I haven't had a chance to talk about this yet, but I might be able to do it and still keep my job."

"What's this?" Shae said. "I know you weren't real happy about what happened at your office meeting yesterday, but we never got a chance to talk about it."

"Last night put a totally different spin on it," Dave explained. "Right now, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea. I'd still have to work it out with Michelle and Dick, and probably Rob, but maybe it could be done." He went on to explain the meeting the day before, and the still-developing plan to do some of the editorial functions from home offices. He explained his reservations about the idea. "I'm sure it's not a bad idea to hide out somewhere," he concluded. "And maybe only have to come into the office occasionally. It doesn't have to be all the way back to Bradford. In fact, that far away might be on the cumbersome side. But after a few months to let them get the mess cleaned up, well..."

"It's a few months to heal," Eve finished for him.

"It won't work in the long run," Dave said flatly. "I'd miss too much from not being in the office. But under the circumstances, Michelle and Dick and Rob might be willing to bend a little for a few months."

"Yes, it probably wouldn't work in the long run," Eve said. "But it really is an idea worth considering, if for no more reason than to not have to be reminded daily."

"Dave," Shae said. "I told you a few days ago you're welcome to stay here as long as you want."

"Shae, you've been incredibly good to me," Dave nodded. "Hell, everyone has. But there's a limit to what I feel I can ask of you."

"Don't think like that," Shae countered. "I also told you I wouldn't mind having a roommate again. This place is pretty big for me to rattle around in by myself, even as big as I am. Besides, it could give you an extra set of hands to help with the boys. They're nice kids; they're starting to grow on me."

"I'm not going to rule it out," Dave said. "But it's another angle I haven't thought about. I guess I had in mind they'd be going back to school at Battery Park when things got worked out. I see now it's not going to happen. They're only in kindergarten, for Pete's sakes, but I need to be thinking about getting them into school somewhere."

"It would do them good," Eve agreed. "Socialization with other kids is important, especially the way things are. It's not an issue that has to be confronted Monday, but you shouldn't let it drag out too long, either."

"My thinking, exactly," Dave agreed. "It doesn't need to be a high-powered thing like at Battery Park..."

"Where you've got all the upscale, status-conscious yuppies pushing their kids to peak performance to satisfy parental egos," Eve interrupted. "And the kids often don't understand what's going on."

"My thinking, too," Dave nodded. "I really wasn't thrilled with the idea, but it was convenient and not as bad as some. They seemed to do a fair job of letting kids be kids. You wouldn't believe the preschools some people I know have sent their children to, or what they cost. But to get back to my question, Shae, do you have any idea what the school situation is like here locally?"

"Not a clue," she shrugged. "It's nothing I've had to think about. Well, I can recall hearing people gripe about the public schools when I'm at the grocery store or something, but that counts for nothing."

"I'm not so sure," Dave replied. "I have had reason to look at the public schools in New York. They range from not too bad to downright terrible, depending on the neighborhood. But with all due respect, Eve, knowing how you felt about the place, I wouldn't be surprised if Bradford schools are as good in the lower grades as the some of the best public schools here in the city."

"I never said I didn't get a good education at Bradford," Eve snorted. "My knowledge about the quality is just as dated as yours, but in our day a kid could get a good education in Bradford if they tried, and especially if their parents encouraged it. There are three doctorates I know of out of the eighty-one kids in our class. That's not a bad batting average."

"There were almost four, I was thinking about going for mine until we decided to have kids instead," Dave said. "But that's my point. From what little I've studied the public schools in this city, the odds of finding a general one as good as Bradford don't seem real good. That's not to say the magnet schools aren't pretty good, and the private schools can be among the best anywhere in the country. Julie and I had basically been focusing on private schools for just that reason. It's not easy to get a kid into a reasonably good private school on Manhattan. I have no idea what the situation is here on Staten, just like I have no idea of what the local public schools are like."

"And you have no idea of what it'd be like to get the kids into one anyway," Shae nodded. "As I see it, nothing can be done about it today, and nothing has to be done in the next few days, but it is something you should be focusing on fairly quickly."

"Don't just pass up the idea of Bradford," JoAnne pointed out. "Whatever happens, the boys will have the trauma of starting a new school on top of all this other trauma. At least in Bradford, everything would be small enough you could have a lot of input with the teachers, and the kids could have a lot of one on one if they need it. And, taking care of the kids when they're out of school would be much simpler."

"Because you're there?" Dave nodded.

"Well, yes," she agreed. "And there are others who can help. And, on top of that, I can't believe the kids won't be safer in Bradford than they would be in this city or any other big city. You don't have to watch them as close. That gives them a lot more independence than they might have in the city."

"It's an idea," Dave conceded. "But it hinges on my job. Nothing had been firmed up when I left yesterday, but the idea was being thrown around about the editors coming into the office perhaps a day a week, or one week out of four. The latter might be a do-able thing from Bradford, but it would dump a lot of the child care right in your lap. And, as far as that goes, it can't last forever, a year or two at the most, that's my guess anyway, before it would cause real problems at the office. I'm making good money there; I'd have difficulty doing as well in Bradford, even if there was a job there in my field, which there isn't."

"That's true," JoAnne nodded. "But who says you have to stay on that job? You were saying just a couple minutes ago that you thought you might want to get your doctorate. I'll bet when everything settles out there's going to be a pretty good settlement out of Tuesday -- probably enough for you to get your doctorate, and still send the kids through college, especially considering their trust fund from Julie's family. You could wind up teaching on some quiet campus somewhere where I don't have to worry about you and the kids all the time, like I do when you're living in this city. Dave, you know it scares the hell out of me."

"It scared the hell out of me, too," Dave nodded. "Until I learned about it and got used to it, but there are advantages, too. I'm not sure I can reconvert to living in Bradford again." He let out a sigh. "Look, it's pointless to try to make a decision right now. It's an option, I will grant that. It might even be the best option, considering the questions hanging about the schools. There's another option if the schools here don't pan out, and that's moving somewhere else in the city where there are first-rate public schools."

"If you do that, it probably means I wouldn't be able to help you as much with the boys," Shae pointed out.

"True," Dave sighed. "But it makes my point that a decision really can't be made on what I've got to go on today, and that includes both the local school situation and my job. Besides, I'm not so sure I should be making a decision like that right now, anyway."

Over the course of Saturday, Dave began to get things back under control, enough so that Eve decided to head home Saturday evening. Things were a long way from being under control in his life, but her quiet empathy and gentle skills brought about significant improvement over the course of the day. It didn't mean Shae didn't watch him take a sleeping pill that evening, of course.

Dave woke up early on Sunday morning, before anyone else, the first time since he'd been there he'd done so. Not wanting to wake anyone, he decided to skip the shower for now and do something else.