It always came down to this, Sydney thought to himself as he tossed his sports coat over the hood of his Lincoln and headed across the street for the green of the park. Every day lately, the Centre psychiatrist had been climbing from his car and heading across the street to commune with Nature – as if somehow those few minutes in the fresh air and surrounded by grass and trees for which the Centre didn’t even matter could help him wash the stench of betrayal and intrigue from his being.

Why did he continue to work there, he asked himself in a accusing tone – just as he did everyday. Why did he put up with the malignancy? He had more than enough money saved away to just retire and not even need to pull Social Security, for that matter – so what was it that drew him back to the cesspool day after grueling day, when he was coming to hate the very thought of going to work in the morning?

Sydney walked deeper into the park than usual this time, staying away from the established cement ribbons of pathways that crisscrossed the grounds in meandering grace and heading for a slightly thicker stand of old oak trees that was the barrier at the edge of the park and near the creek. There was no town on the other side of those damp clay banks – Blue Cove ended at the park. And while the poison ivy had been eradicated long ago, the grounds keepers of the park managed to let this end of the park retain its almost wild nature. There was a fallen log in the midst of the feral riot of fauna that he found most appropriate when moods such as this one struck.

No, he chided himself stringently as he took his seat on his log and breathed in the fresh, clean air, he wouldn’t think about the meeting that afternoon with the new Chairman and his right-hand man. It had been a meeting where accusations of obstructionism had flown in the face of the truth of the matter, which was that the one task he’d been assigned couldn’t be accomplished for as long as the genius they chased remained committed to his freedom. He’d been arguing for years that the Centre would never catch – and keep – Jarod until Jarod himself tired of running away. Six years of chasing the escaped Pretender – six years in which Jarod had been caught, only to escape again the moment the opportunity arose – had taught these men nothing.

He was tired – tired of chasing a man who had every right to want and protect his freedom from involuntary servitude, tired of have been a part of the mechanism that had kept such a talented and generous young man prisoner for so long, tired of being used, tired of seeing his research used to harm rather than benefit humanity in the name of profit.

It was his birthday – but only he knew that, only he cared. He was turning 68 years old – long past an age when normal people retired and settled back to enjoy their Golden years. But not at the Centre – people didn’t retire from the Centre, instead they were used up and tossed aside in the Centre’s own good time. And in his case, since he not only knew where most of the skeletons were buried but who was responsible for burying them there in the first place, he wouldn’t even achieve that exit mode. No, he was fairly certain that the day would come when he’d worn out his welcome there sufficiently – and the research he was doing to fill the hours when not running after Jarod wasn’t sufficiently profitable – that the Centre would turn HIM into one of those skeletons, conveniently buried where nobody would ever find him.

“Syd?” He heard a voice calling in the distance – through the trees. He recognized the speaker and chose not to answer. She’d had all day to talk to him – well, most of the day, until he’d been called to the Tower into that meeting, that is – and yet he hadn’t seen a glimpse of her all day long. Couldn’t she just leave him alone now that they both were officially off the clock? What more could go wrong today?

“Sydney? Where are you?” He sighed. She was persistent; he had to give her that. What was more, he knew she wouldn’t stop looking for him until she found him.

“Damn it, Sydney, I know you’re around here somewhere…”

“Over here, Parker,” he called out finally, and then sighed again. So much for solitary venting…

Gradually he heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer. “Sydney? What are you doing anyway – hiding?”

“Not hardly,” he grumbled loudly enough to carry. “You found me, didn’t you? What do you want, Parker?”

“But I haven’t found you yet,” she complained, her footsteps halting with her still out of sight.

“I’m in the trees,” he told her in a defeated tone. “Just walk toward my voice.”

“What the hell are you doing all the way back in here?” Finally she came into view from around the base of a stately oak tree. She caught sight of his silver hair at about the same moment and began walking more briskly through the undergrowth toward him. “Trying to go back to Nature?”

“Something like that.” Sydney shifted on the log until there was room for two to sit and then looked up at her as she approached. “Have a seat and tell me why you’re looking for me at this late hour – has there been word on Jarod?”

Miss Parker shook her head and accepted his invitation to take a seat next to him. “No,” she began. “I came looking for you this afternoon, but you weren’t there…”

“I was called into a meeting in the Tower,” he explained curtly, not really wanting to talk about that at all right now – certainly not in this place. “What can I do for you?”

“You can let me take you out to dinner, for one thing…”

He blinked. “Indeed! And the occasion?”

“You’re not the only one who knows how to look through personnel files, Syd,” she chided him gently. “I know what day it is.”

“Parker, you don’t have to…”

“I know I don’t,” she replied immediately, interrupting him. “But I want to.”

His chestnut eyes met and held her grey ones. “Why?”

Her gaze remained steady. “Because you’re the closest thing to family that I have left, and because it’s your birthday.” It was simple honesty – something that she’d learned the value of the hard way over recent years, and something that she knew he prized from her. Their relationship had never been an easy one; but of late, since the death of the man she’d grown up accepting as her father, she’d been making a conscious effort to smooth things between them – to tear down walls that she herself had erected. The more she made these efforts, the easier they were becoming – not to mention that she was enjoying getting closer to the one person she’d known since childhood and still respected.

“Thank you. Dinner sounds wonderful.” He was touched; someone HAD known – and cared.

“C’mon,” she said as she rose to her feet and extended her hand down to him, “I have reservations at the Fleur de Lis in Dover for…” She tipped her other hand and checked her watch. “…exactly one half hour from NOW. We should just make it, if we leave right away.”

Sydney let her pull him to his feet and then tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow to walk out of the forest copse with her. And that’s when it came to him. SHE was why he didn’t leave the Centre – she and a small and strange little man who could read emotions like others read comic books and, in a very real sense, a fugitive genius he’d raised and even now watched over from afar. Leaving the Centre would mean leaving them – and that prospect was something he just couldn’t face yet and doubted that he ever really would be able to.

Figuring out that little puzzle went a long way to setting his mind at ease after the rough way the day had ended otherwise.

Miss Parker glanced at her companion’s face and couldn’t help but notice the odd little smile that suddenly graced his lips. “You look like the cat that ate the canary all of a sudden,” she commented with a nudge of the shoulder. “Wanna share?”

“I just had a small flash of insight,” he replied, patting her hand with his free one, “which in itself is a very nice birthday gift. Thank you, Parker.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.” Not exactly understanding, but feeling as if she’d just been complimented, she blushed and held his arm just a little tighter. “Happy birthday, Freud.”

“One of the nicest ones I’ve had in a very long time,” he let his smile grow until it was wide and open and warm, “and you know, the best part is that I’m getting to spend it with one of my favorite people.” If Miss Parker could begin to tear down the walls behind which the kind and sensitive person he knew she was really had been hiding all these years, then maybe it was time he tore down at least a few of his own.

And suddenly, Sydney was glad to be walking out of the darkness of the heavier copse of trees and out into what remained of the sunlight. It was going to be a very enjoyable evening after all.

Fan Fiction <<>> Return to Reading Corner <<>> Feedback