There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 34

"It sounds as if you did something bad and are trying to get away with it. According to your father's memory banks, you have tried this twice before, unsuccessfully. Your nose was in the corner of your room for four hours. Is that what you're trying to avoid this time?"

"Can I tell you what happened, before you make a decision?"

"Go ahead."

"This morning I up very early. I thought it time to leave, but not. Dad make pancakes, then mommy and Newton want pancakes. Dad said if I went to sleep, we go to Creamy Cow. I was very good. I went to sleep and didn't get up until daddy woke me. We had lunch. We stop at Creamy Cow. No chocolate syrup. I get strawberry. I never have before. It was delicious, like my mommy. I wanted to drink it from the side of the glass, but my banana split was in it. Everything moved. Syrup missed my mouth, go down my shirt. My mommy very angry with me. My daddy too. Did I do bad?"

"What do you think Teddy? If your mommy and daddy are angry with you, was it a good thing or bad thing?"

Teddy started to cry. Through her tears she said, "It was a bad thing."

"You must remember Teddy, you are only two years old. You are expected to make mistakes like this. You must learn from them, and not do them again. Your parent's anger is expected, but it is only for a short time. They will love you regardless of what you do, as long as you learn not to do it again. Did you apologize to your parents', and tell them that you love them?"

"No, I tried to tell them I was right."

"Now that you know you are wrong, what are you going to do?"

"I tell them I sorry, and not do it again."

"Didn't you leave something out?"

"I love them."

"Why are you talking to me? You know what to do, do it."

"Thank you for being my friend Callie. I see you soon."

Teddy ran to me, and I wrapped her up in the towel.

"Did you learn anything from Callie?"

"Yes, I have to be better."

"You are only two years old, and very soon you will be three. You are not expected to be perfect. I am not perfect either, and I am much older than you are. As we grow older, we try to make less mistakes than we made the day before. As hard as we try, we always fail. Remember, only God is perfect, and he forgives us for most of our failures."

Teddy laughed.

"Teddy, I wasn't being funny."

"I'm sorry grandpa. Grandma wanted to know when you grew up."

"I grew up after the plane crash in Alaska. Ask her to go sleep on the nearest cloud. We have to find the bomb someone planted on this ship to make us fail."

"Can I see my mommy and daddy now?"

"Absolutely."

*********************

William, Jemma, William Junior, and Patrick arrived, and were immediately attacked by reporters. True to his nature, William refused to talk to them. Young William took his place at the microphone.

"Today is a very auspicious day for everyone involved in the "Deep Space Science Project." Since its inception, 9 years ago, led by four people, it has grown into a massive undertaking that I can proudly say for my father and the other 19 members, who have financed this project, has been successful beyond anyone's wildest imagination. Its initial budget was $350 billion. Each investor has already recouped their investment, because this project and its 250 scientists have accounted for 918 patents. The lives of Americans, and people all over the world have been made better, and benefited, because of their efforts. The most obvious one is the development of the Nuclear Fusion Reactor. No longer will the world have to worry about the disposal of waste from Nuclear Fission Reactors. All of you have read about, and seen the young man, who developed and patented this reactor. His name is Gordon Oliver Stars Luck. The son of Mrs. Jennifer and Doctor Even Luck. He was 15 years old when he developed this reactor, and he was not a one patent wonder. I cannot tell you about some of the others he developed, because most of them are national secrets.

His sister, Mrs. Delicious Luck Thyme is responsible for the engines that will lift this amazing craft into the air silently, and without the use of hydrogen, and oxygen, which cause the explosive reaction used to lift the rockets NASA uses. The Federal Government refuses to believe these will work to get anything out of our atmosphere and into space. We will prove them wrong today. We will be out of the atmosphere and into space in less than 90 seconds.

I will not go into everything else we will do today, and leave it to the speeches you will hear later. You will be stunned into silence, and you will not believe what you hear. However, this spacecraft will transmit back live pictures, and radio transmissions every second of its trip past the moon, Mars and every other planet it passes along its trip past the Kuiper belt and into deep space. It may be possible for some of our scientific equipment to communicate with satellites that are orbiting the earth, or that are stationary in deep space.

We will never see these magnificent people again, as they travel to the next star system looking for Earth 2. They won't be able to set up a signal fire to let us know they found it. It may take generations for a signal to get back from them that they found it. Or they may never find it, but they will keep looking for as long as they live. Thank you very much. I will not take any questions."

Needless to say the press corps started shouting questions to Junior as soon as he finished speaking. He ignored them, walked away from the microphone, joined his family, and began walking towards the stage. He wasn't paying attention where he was going, because he was talking to his mother. He knocked over a beautiful red headed woman, and landed on top of her.

Jemma, William, and Patrick laughed as they saw their son in this very sexual position, but decided to let him try to talk his way out of this problem. They kept walking, and left the two of them alone, on the ground.

Junior did not move. He looked at the woman's face, with his body still positioned between her thighs. He was stunned by her beauty.

She said, "I don't kiss on the first date, and I don't screw in public. Would you mind getting off me?"

"I am so sorry, I was looking at your face and not thinking. May I help you up?"

"You would have to get off me first."

William rolled off her, jumped up, and offered her his hand. He helped her to her feet, and almost began to brush her off, when her eyes glared at him.

"Is that the way you get to feel women up?"

"No, I've been trying to avoid women as attractive as you are all my life. I never wanted to get married. I am not gay, but I find women overpowering. This is not a come online. I just got back from China. I've been there since I was 21, and built up a business that was quite successful. My father recalled me, because he's getting old, and wants me to take over his entire empire. It's quite extensive, and it's going to take me a while to learn, and understand it all.

I'm sorry I never gave you my name. I am William Zabo Junior. A two-year-old redheaded girl named Teddy, told me I would meet a redheaded girl today. You are Doctor, am I correct?"

"How could you possibly know that? I've never met you before."

"I'm not an ax murderer, but if I can find Teddy, would you come with me to meet her?"

"How do I know you're not an ax murderer?"

"Isn't that evident, I don't have an ax."

"Very funny, I would have to tell my aunt where I'm going."

"You could bring her with us if you'd like."

"I'll ask her if she'd like to come."

After walking through the crowd, and down the line of seats, they reached her aunt.

"Aunt Hannah, this is William Zabo Junior. I'm going with him to meet a little girl, who told him we were going to meet today."

"You're going to meet Teddy, how wonderful."

"How do you know Teddy?"

"I told you I was going on a long trip today, I just didn't tell you how long."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm not going to be at your wedding dear. I'm going to be far, far away. This nice young man will make you a good husband and a great father to your children. You don't need me hanging around you anymore. They need me on that ship, and I've decided to go. I didn't want to tell you before now, because you would have argued with me, until the cows came home. This way is much easier. Enjoy your young man, he will love you and your children forever."

"Hannah, he doesn't even know my name."

"Your name is Gwendolyn, everybody calls you Gwen."

"What's my last name smart ass?"

"Thornhill, it's not the same last name as your aunts."

"This gets scarier by the minute."

Hannah said, "It won't be a once you meet Teddy. Go along now, she's in the hangar.

"I'm going to run away from home, you're scaring me."

"I'm the one running away from home, and I'm running further than you are."

"Hannah stop this, either you are getting nuttier than a fruitcake, or I am."

"Honey just go along with William, and you will have the best life any woman has ever had. Kiss me, and say goodbye. You will see me once more later today, but this will be the last time we will be alone together."

Tears flowed out of her eyes as Gwen let the power of her aunts words sink in.

"I'm going to have to hire a new nurse."

"You're going to be closing your office soon, and moving to South Carolina. You can hire a new nurse there."

"If you knew all this was going to happen, why didn't you warn me? I could have taken a sedative."

"Doctor, you are not allowed to medicate yourself. It's against the rules."

"Sometimes you have to say screw the rules, and save the patient."

"Time is running short, and there is a lot to do. Give me my kiss, say goodbye, and go with your young man. Your wedding will be something for the ages. His father will not accept anything less. Don't argue with William senior, worse still, don't argue with Jemma, you will lose, and you will be badly bruised when she's finished with you. She's 63 years old, and she's pregnant. That is a bad combination."

"You know as well as I do that's not possible."

"Get out your medical history books, and be ready to change them, because Jemma is pregnant. Every 15 years like clockwork, she gets pregnant. She's ready to kill her husband."

"I would agree with her 100%, and plead insanity in court."

"If there was one woman in the jury, she would never be convicted. Get going you two, and enjoy your lives together."

Gwen and Hannah hugged and kissed for the longest time.

"You should have warned me. What am I going to do without you?"

"You are going to do the same thing I am. You are going to have the time of your life. Where else have you ever heard of a 56-year-old woman traveling into deep space because she is needed, and not as excess baggage. They really need me on board that spacecraft, and I was ecstatic when they asked me. Go, before we both start crying."

It was too late for that. William took Gwen's arm, said goodbye to Hannah and began walking down the line of chairs. The flood of tears was already blinding her, and she held on to him for dear life, and for guidance as she walked with him.

Hannah watched her walk away, knowing she was fine, but crocodile tears were flowing down her face, and fogging up her glasses. She was thankful she had tissues and hankies in her bag to wipe her eyes and clean her glasses so she could see her one last time.

*******************

"William, when you tripped me, weren't you with your family?"

"Yes I was."

"Where did they disappear to when you fell?"

"Since Teddy told everyone what was going to happen today, it was a foregone conclusion I was going to fall over a redheaded female. They saw me fall over you, and they saw you were a carrot top. I believe they disappeared laughing to leave us alone. They knew I was dead in the water, because Teddy is never wrong. Never! She is clairvoyant and the things she says always come to pass.

My mom and dad are as funny a married couple as you ever want to meet. You would never guess the amount of money my dad has because he never flaunts it. A hospital here, in Temple, was being so poorly managed, and the doctors and staff were so bad my father bought the hospital. He didn't clean house as you would expect a new owner to do, he brought in a new attitude. If you don't smile, you are fired. If you aren't nice to the patient, you are fired. It didn't matter if you were in janitor or a doctor, you were out the door. He bought the hospital for around $60 million, put another hundred million dollars into upgrades, and pays the staff better. Now the hospital get applications to work here from Houston, Dallas and Austin. You may ask yourself what does he get out of this largess, and it's easy. The hospital is a 'Non-Profit.' It's a tax write off for him, and trust me he needs tax write offs.

My mom and dad have been married for over 43 years, and have two children 15 years apart. If you watch their interplay, you would swear they are newlyweds. It's been 15 years, and my mom is pregnant again. They are unbelievable, and on time."

Gwen said, "I know my aunt said the same thing, but physically, it's not possible. It's possible for the man, but not possible for the woman."

"When I introduce you to my mother, would you please tell her she can't be pregnant? She will show you the sonogram of the little girl she has inside her."

"Your family is going to rewrite the textbooks, and that is an expensive undertaking."

"You doctors are all rich, you can afford it."

"You said you were rich, and I'm not doing too badly myself. If it's not too personal, how rich is your father?"

"I don't know exactly. I do know is he put down $30 billion to help start up this project. That was before they had all 20 investors lined up. When they had the full complement of the group in the fold, they returned $16.5 billion to him. Each members final cost came in at $17.5 billion, and they will be getting a refund on that also. The project came in $47 billion under budget. When was the last time you heard of a government project coming in under budget?"

"I don't believe I have."

"If the government tells private industry what they need, and tell them to use their own funds to get things done, it will be done cheaper, faster, and better. Keep the government out of business and let them make the laws that keep the public safe. Let the government pay like most businesses do, one third upfront, and then by progress reports. Every time the company meets a particular standard, they get paid more money. If they miss a deadline, money gets deducted. Businesses don't like to lose money, they will make those deadlines, even if they have to keep factories open 24/7."

"Is that what you anticipate doing?"

"I know one thing I am going to do. There are going to be no hungry people in the United States. Then, there are going to be less hungry people in this world, and a lot fewer sick people."

"How do you figure that?"

"One part is going to be your wedding present from me and my extended family. Whether you patent it, or decide to give it away for free is up to you. If there are a lot fewer people that go to bed hungry, the disease rate will go down automatically."

"Does your father know about your plans?"

"He is already doing it. He has a program in place to wipe out hunger in the United States. I will continue his dream, by kicking the federal agencies out of that business. If they don't want to cooperate, because they have their hands in too many pots, and too many people are feeding at the government trough, I'll take to the airwaves and make them look like moneygrubbing idiots.

Once that is accomplished, I'll take it country by country, force the dictators out by feeding the people directly, and teaching them to stand up against their oppressors. If need be, I'll send a private army in and take the dictator apart piece by piece. As soon as that is accomplished, I'll have the UN, and the African Union come in and have them establish order, and form a decent government for the people."

"Do you know how many billions of dollars you are talking about?"

"My father's businesses bring in many billions of dollars a month. They are all legitimate, and they pay their taxes in every country they are in. He has passed every audit the United States government has put him through, and every other country in the world. He has had no problems in any area, including China. While I was there, I did not pay one bribe to any official. Every office in my buildings are bugged, and my employees knew it. Any official that came in and tried to get money out of us was turned into the local prefect of police, and was never heard from again."

"What a way to run a railroad."

"You are right, after a few years no one tried to get money out of us. They tried call girls, they tried passing us notes, they tried phone calls. None of it worked. My suppliers hated me, but my employees loved me. I paid them more than any other business in town, and I paid for their healthcare. They protected me like I was the premier of the country.

Here we are, get ready to meet Teddy, she will knock your socks off."

"I'm okay with socks, if it's anything higher, you're in trouble."

"Oh my goodness, you are going to meet more than Teddy; most of my family is here."

"Did you plan this?"

"I didn't know I was going to meet you, until you tripped me. How could I possibly plan this?"

"I didn't trip you, you knocked me down."

"You wanted to meet me and you know it. I am a chick magnet."

"Yeah, that's why you hid in China for 14 years."

"Uncle Even, I'd like you to meet someone."

"Congratulations William, I see you've met your redheaded Doctor. Did you attack her, or pull her out of her seat?"

"No, nothing so elegant. She tripped me, and would not let me up."

"Sex before the first date that was fast work William. Are you going to introduce me to Gwendolyn?"

"This is scary William."

I took her hand. "You haven't seen anything yet Gwen. Let me introduce you to our clairvoyant. Teddy will take you by surprise, and you will love her. Everyone take a chair, William has met his new wife."

Gwen said, "I think I should leave."

Teddy said, "56 years married. Good long time."

Gwen replied, "I'm 35 years old, I'm going to live to 91?"

"Him too, die in bed together."

Teddy asked Gwen, "Tell you about beginning of marriage or end?"

Gwen looked at William, "Please tell me about the beginning please."

"Three children, two redhead girls like mommy; one silver head boy like grandpa. William love you forever. He hen-pecked. You love him forever. Live in South Carolina, he take care of space program, and help feed the world. Him Nobel Peace Prize, you Nobel Prize for Medicine, Richard, Holden Nobel Prize for Science, 18 years. All private money, government not happy. Next election, all Representatives out of office. One third Senators out of office. Many changes take place in government bureaucracy. Lawyers out, business people in. Want William President, he say no. Hold me please."

Delicious handed Teddy to Gwen, and they smiled at one another.

Teddy said, "Head please."

Gwen looked around not knowing what she meant.

Delicious told her that Teddy wanted to take her head in her hands.

Gwen bent her head, and Teddy placed both her hands on her temples. Gwen felt something that she couldn't describe, but she knew it was from the contact with the little girls hands.

Teddy frowned as she gently moved her hands away.

"Little tumor behind right eye, must get fixed where grandpa went."

Gwen said, "I just had a physical, and they didn't see anything."

Delicious put an arm around Gwen. "Gwen, if Teddy said there is a tumor behind your right eye, it's there. Please get it checked. If she wants you to go to M.D. Anderson, go there. My father had pancreatic cancer, and they were able to save him."