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Getting the hulking things onto two plates, I cut them in half, getting a beer for him out of the fridge. Taking a breath of courage, I went up to his office, where he had been hiding out since the lockdown started and knocked on the door. The typing stopped, and I took that as a cue to go in.
“What are you doing?” Dean demanded, not looking up from his work.
The computer screen was streaming with all kinds of code. At least I thought it was. I used computers, everyone did, but I really had no idea how they actually ran. My only real exposure to programming being the documentaries I had seen on hacking. What the authorities did to Kevin Mitnik always seemed to me like a travesty of justice. What Dean was doing with such things on his computer, I had no idea. Then again, I had been expecting porn or at least a movie or online shopping.
“I brought you a sandwich and a beer.”
“Leave the beer, toss the sandwich. I'm too busy. The last thing I need right now is a bloody sandwich.”
I slammed down the open bottle of beer so hard it foamed up over the desk, turning into a rushing river that got dangerously close to the computer he spent more time with than his sister's orphan daughter.
“Hey!” Dean protested, staving off the flow of foamy beer with whatever was handy.
“You know what? Fuck you! I have tried my best, and you have been nothing but awful to me. You are impossible to work with and impossible to work for! As soon as the quarantine is lifted, I am out of here!”
I stormed out of the room, taking my cheesesteaks with me, slamming so the door so hard the noise hurt my ears.
After having a good cry in the bathroom, I ate both my cheesesteaks because fuck him, they were awesome.
Pulling myself together, I went down the hall to the playroom where Jessica was having a tea party with her stuffed animals like a normal kid should. A little island of calm among the storm.
“I heard shouting,” Jessica said, looking up at me.
“Sorry honey, I—”
“You said a bad word.”
“Yes, I did. I said a naughty word. It was wrong, and I don't want you to ever repeat it, okay?”
“Okay.”
She just kept on pouring invisible tea and offering make-believe cookies to her inanimate friends like a little trooper.
“Were you yelling at Uncle Dean.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Well, because he was being mean.”
I had fully intended to tell her that I was planning to leave after the quarantine. It wasn't her fault. I just could be around her Uncle Dean anymore because we made each other sad.
Jess hummed. “He does that because he likes you.”
“He what?” I asked, not expecting that.
“I like you, too. I don't feel right with Uncle Dean. He's weird. I like you. You're normal and fun.”
“I am?”
“Yeah. It was scary when mama went away. Uncle Dean came back, but I hadn't seen him before. He left a long time ago. He was weird. He wouldn't play. I like you. You play.”
I could feel my heart actually breaking. I had no idea that Dean wasn't around when Jessica was born. She was basically living with a stranger, and I was the only sense of normalcy she had in her turbulent life.
There was definitely something going on with Dean. When did he go away, and why? Did he go by himself, or was he sent? Did he only come back when his sister died? My mind was whirling. Jessica was right. It was weird. Really weird, and I didn't know what to do.
I did know one thing, though. There was no way in hell I was going to tell Jessica I was leaving after the quarantine. I just sat on my little plastic chair, between Mr. Otter and Bunny Bun, and held out my little plastic cup for my invisible tea.Chapter Five - DeanI was glad I had started keeping my golf clubs in my car. Otherwise, there could have been a lot more damage to my office than there was. I was surprised and frightened by my rage. Becky hadn't really done anything that bad. She just told me things that were true that I didn't want to hear. That still didn't stop me from putting my fist through the wall.
Picking the bits of wood and plaster out of my hand, I sterilized the wounds and changed my shirt to one that was less beery and bloody. Choosing a different tie from my collection of over 100 handwoven pieces, I sat back down at my desk and waited for a business call that I knew was coming through. It was from an investor, and I had to look my best.
I hated having to kiss the ass of such a toffee-nosed twonk, but some of my closest relatives were toffee-nosed twonks. Besides which, there was a certain poetry in taking money from a venture capitalist to create something that would make his reign of terror more difficult to maintain. I had fibbed a bit about what the app was going to be for. Leaving out a piece of information here and there, such as the security features and new form of sustainable crypto-currency that would make banks optional for anyone who used it.
