Summoned Again?

I parked in the parking garage and stored the fax machine. I say fax machine; but in reality, it was something they called an all-in-one machine. It had a printer, a scanner, a fax machine, a wireless photo printer where you could send it photos from your cell phone or camera to have it print, a USB port, memory card slots, and a second phone jack. You name it, it had it. I almost felt bad that I would only be using the fax machine part.

I couldn't store the bear, because people were around and clearly saw me with the giant thing. I thought it was hilarious that they made teddy bears this big and I was a little disappointed that they only had one in the store. I was tempted to tell them to order in more for me, then decided it wouldn't work if I had to wait weeks to 'surprise' Crystal with them by putting them all over the place. I might do that later if this time goes well.

I rode the elevator up to the top floor and stepped out with the eight foot tall thing in my arms. I walked over to my door and actually stood the thing up beside me and took out the fax machine and put it on the floor off to the side, with the accounting files on top of it. I used my key in the lock and opened the door, then stepped back, fully prepared for what came next.

“I'm hoooome!” I said into the open doorway.

“DAAAMON!” Crystal yelled. As she ran over to the open door, her eyes saw what was standing next to me. “TEDDYYYYY!” She yelled and leapt at it instead. She tackled it to the floor and laughed as it easily stopped her from hurting herself. She even bounced a little.

“He heard that I had to go to Washington D.C. and I invited him to come and stay with you.” I joked.

“Thank you!” Crystal said and rolled off of it. She tried to pick it up and laughed and laughed as it flopped around.

“Let me give you a hand.” I said and pulled it up into a standing position. Now that it was up, she pulled on the arm and it flopped over her and she dragged it into the apartment. It was damn funny seeing a teddy bear moving on its own and I laughed as I picked up the fax machine and carried it into the apartment and shut the door.

“So, did you have fun on your little trip?” Jenny asked, her arms crossed and her face stern.

“Not only did I have fun and discovered the person that was mostly behind everything, since I'm sure a few other people were involved to get three different agencies working on it, I've also got Mr. Graham working on trying to repair the misuse of government procedure.” I said and she looked surprised. “Not only that, I've got a broker working on setting things up to get me back on my feet.”

“You.” Jenny said, her eyes squinted.

“Yes, me.” I said and walked over to the kitchen table, then changed my mind and went over to the house phone and pulled over a chair and put the files on the floor before opening the box.

“What are you doing?” Jenny asked.

“The broker needs the documents my old accountant had for me.” I pointed to the files and then started setting the fax machine up. I unplugged the house phone and plugged it into the second jack, then used the phone cord from the box to plug the fax machine into the wall and then plugged the machine in.

“Why didn't you just stop somewhere and get them to do it?” Jenny asked.

“Two reasons.” I said and went through the setup in the directions. I skipped the parts for everything except using the phone and setting up the fax part, since I didn't really need anything else at the moment. “First, the fax machine makes a digitial copy of the documents, so wherever I sent them from would have a copy. Second, I spent enough time away from Crystal and wanted to get back here as soon as I could.”

Jenny's eyes went hard and she didn't uncross her arms. “Oh, yeah? Then why did you go and tour the White House?”

“It was something to do.” I said and dialed the broker's fax number. It connected and I opened the top folder from the accountant, then slid the small stack of pages in. Some of them were double sided and the fax machine handled it without me having to flip the pages over, which was great. “I had to make a bank appointment and with the broker...”

“How are you paying for a broker?” Jenny asked. “And you better not tell me with your looks, like whoever you were with texted me when I asked. Oh, and they hung up on me.”

I sighed and took out my cell phone. “The battery was dying and she turned it off. It's actually dead now.” I walked over to the plug in the kitchen and plugged the cell phone in to charge it.

“Who was it?” Jenny asked.

“Just someone I met at the White House.”

“You met her at the White House? How...”

“She was in the tour group.” I said with a shrug.

“So, rather than rushing back home where you had obligations, you...” Jenny's voice dropped too low to hear as she cursed. “...with some woman you just met?”

“I wore protection.” I said and checked the phone. I read over the text exchange and chuckled.

“It's not funny.” Jenny said and the fax machine beeped.

“No? Read that.” I pointed at my cell phone and walked over to the fax machine to add the next file's stack of papers.

“I read it the first time.” Jenny said.

“You weren't reading it from this side or objectively.” I said. “Hey, Crystal! Are you hungry? I'm about to perform another magic food trick!”

“YAY!” Crystal yelled and dragged her new best friend over to the kitchen table.

I laughed at her struggling with it. “I would have come to get him for you.” I said and sat Teddy on one of the kitchen chairs. Crystal sat at the one next to him and Jenny stayed at the counter and read my cell phone.

“Uh oh! I think Teddy might be getting sick!” I said and went behind him and used his arms to hold his tummy. “I don't feel so good.” I said in as toyish of a voice as I could.

“Oh no, Teddy!” Crystal rubbed his tummy. “Don't throw up!”

“It's... too... late!” I let his arms go and pushed his head to the table. “BLLLLAAGGHHHH!” I said exaggeratedly as I shook his head and Crystal laughed. When I lifted his head, one of the kid's meals was there on the table.

“YAY!” Crystal yelled and pulled the bag towards herself.

“Uh oh! I think he's gonna do it again!” I said and repeated it to make another bag appear. “I don't know if I want to eat Teddy Bear throw up, though.” I looked at Jenny. “Aunt Jenny? What about you?”

Jenny gave me a glare for a second and sighed. She put the phone down and took the bag.

I had the bear throw up another bag. “Crystal likes it, so I guess I'll eat it, too. Thanks, Teddy!”

“Thanks, Teddy!” Crystal repeated and ate some of her french fries.

The fax machine beeped and I went to it and added the next few pages, waited for them to go through, then added a large stack with everything on the building and condo purchases. I sat down to eat with Crystal and Jenny and talked about all the things they did for the two days I was gone. Jenny only spoke occasionally and her eyes kept going to my cell phone.

When Crystal finished eating, she hopped down from the chair and reached for Teddy.

“Crystal.” I said a bit sternly and she looked at me. “Wash your hands first. You don't want Teddy all greasy, do you?”

“No.” Crystal said, her face slightly sad.

“Then we'll wash our hands together and...” I started to say and she took off running. “Hey!”

Crystal laughed and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Use soap!” I said loudly.

“Aww!” Crystal responded. A minute later, she came back out to the kitchen and showed me her hands. I nodded and Teddy was off the chair and dragged across the apartment to the living room.

I finished eating and washed my hands as well, then went back to the fax machine. I added the last few files, making sure I knew which one ended where, and went to my cell phone. I gave my contract lawyer a call and had him fax a copy of everything from the bank to both me and my broker, since I had given my copy to Mr. Graham. I also told the lawyer to ask the broker for a job if he wanted one and the salary. He coughed, spit, and sputtered on the phone for a minute and then agreed.

“How are you offering everyone jobs?” Jenny asked as she washed her hands in the sink.

“I told you. I'm getting back on my feet.” I said.

“Damon, they took all that money and left us broke.” Jenny said and dried her hands.

“Yeah, and I'll be fixing that soon.” I said and crossed my arms. “I also won't let it happen again.”

Jenny huffed. “How exactly are you going to stop them from doing it? They're the government!”

“Right up until this happened, I thought so, too.” I said. “I've discovered that they are just people with a lot of perceived power. Badges, laws, rules of conduct... all of it are just the means to exert pressure to keep people in line and to keep us nice and compliant.”

Jenny blinked her eyes at me for a moment. “What are you saying?”

I pretended to take out the leather pouch from a pocket and opened it. “Thanks for staying here and taking care of Crystal for me. I appreciate it.” I said and quickly counted out ten thousand dollars to hand to her.

“Where did you get that?” Jenny asked as she stared at the money pouch and her face looked shocked.

“I sold some jewels.” I said and put the money in her hand. “If I need you again, I'll call.”

“Wh-what?” Jenny looked up from her hand to my face.

“I'll need to look into hiring a nanny for her as soon as possible. If I get unexpectedly taken away again, I don't want to leave her all alone.”

Jenny blinked her eyes at me again. “What... what are you...”

“It might take a while, though. I can't hire just anyone, you know. It's a long process, so I hope I can count on you when Crystal needs you until then.”

“When Crystal needs me?” Jenny asked.

“That's right.” I said and put my hand behind her back as I led her over to the apartment door. “Thanks a lot for helping out. It was so nice to have someone here to depend on.” I turned to Crystal. “Say goodbye to Aunt Jenny, Crystal.”

“BYE!” Crystal said without looking.

I opened the door and eased Jenny out into the hallway. “I'm planning to go to D.C. again in a couple of days to meet with the broker again. If you're available to come over to watch her then, let me know.”

“But... but...” Jenny held up the money.

“Yes, I'll give you another ten grand.” I said and slowly shut the door. “That seems to be the price that you'll do anything for.”

Jenny gasped and stepped forward to block the door with her foot. “That is not true!”

“Jenny, you didn't ask me for money when I called and you easily could have. You betrayed me instead and gave me over to kidnappers for the ransom money. I've been wondering this whole time why you would do that, and I can't figure it out, except that you hate me for leaving like I did.” I said. “I'm sorry about that and I can't do or say anything to undo what happened, so I'm going to just ignore it all and move on.”

“Damon, you can't just...”

“...just what? Tell you that every time I see you, my heart breaks? That knowing you valued money over me has made me lose faith in you? That the only person I sincerely cared about in this world gave up on me... that you gave up on believing in me?”

Jenny looked like she was about to cry and I opened the door.

“I love you and I'm sorry. We were both hurt by what happened and I honestly don't know how to work through it. It's tearing me up inside and I can't let those feelings ruin my life. So, like I said, I'm going to do my best to ignore it, because I don't want to think about it anymore.” I said and touched her shoulders.

Jenny's arms came up as if to hug me and I eased her backwards a step and let her go. “Damon...”

“I'll call you in two days to see if you're available.” I said and stepped back into the apartment as I shut the door.

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