Home » The Archives » Chapter 9 » Regrouping and Recouperation
| Re: Regrouping and Recouperation [message #228 is a reply to message #227] |
Mon, 23 July 2012 15:25   |
artisticrainey
Messages: 1228
Registered: July 2012
Location: Northern Ireland
Karma:
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Field Commander
Switzerland |
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Monday, August 13, 7:30am Christchurch, New Zealand
"Mrs. Hanson?" The red haired young man walked towards Anna. When Anna nodded, he went on. "I'm Gordon Tracy. Are these your bags?"
"Mr. Tracy," Anna held out her hand and Gordon shook it. "Your father said to pack for up to a week." There was a small bag and a medium sized suitcase at her feet. She had a computer case over her shoulder.
"Right. My co-pilot is doing the preflight checks right now. I'll load these and we should be ready to go. If you'll follow me." Gordon picked up both bags and headed towards one of the doors leading to the runway. Anna moved ahead of him and held the door open. "What's this, women's lib?"
Anna looked at him. "If I were carrying something heavy and you had something light I would assume you would open the door for me. There is nothing 'lib' about it, just common politeness. Now if neither of us was carrying anything, I would let you open the door for me." She grinned wryly. "I'm known as 'Anna the immensely practical' in some quarters. This just seems to me to be the most practical way to do things."
"So I don't get a lecture on how women can do things for themselves?" Gordon was amused in spite of himself.
"Why, do you need one? I can probably give you one if you want, but I can think of several things I'd rather talk about." They had reached the plane by this time and Gordon quickly loaded the luggage. The steps were already lowered and he gestured for Anna to precede him.
Alan looked out from the cockpit. "Everything's ready to go."
"Great. Let's get this show on the road. Oh, Mrs. Hanson? This is my brother, Alan." He started to slip into the copilot's seat then looked back at Anna. "I understand you have a pilot's license. Would you like to fly part of the way? Or at least sit up front?" He grinned. "Common politeness says I should ask."
"No, thank you. I know how to fly but I don't enjoy it much." Anna kept her face perfectly straight. "Besides, I'd hate to deprive you of your fun. That wouldn't be polite." Her innocent look could match the best one Gordon could put on. But then her face grew thoughtful. "I would, however, like to talk to you after we've taken off. How long will we be in the air?"
"About 30 minutes. I'll be back in a minute." They had been taxiing toward the runway and they were next in line to take-off.
Anna unzipped her computer case and opened her laptop. She plugged in a mouse (she hated trackballs) and clicked on a file. She was still studying it when Gordon returned a few minutes later.
He looked down at an old newspaper article about his Dad and Dianne's marriage. "You're about to lose your internet connection. In fact, I'm surprised you still have it."
"This computer doesn't have a connection to the net." Anna closed the file and then the computer. "I got this article off the net at home last night and copied it to disc."
Gordon looked surprised. "I thought that model of computer had a built in wireless connection."
"It did. I had them disable it. In fact, I had them physically take the wireless card out."
Gordon's eyebrows went up at this. "Why?"
"Any computer, no matter how secure, can be hacked into. I knew too many people who got into 'impenetrable' systems in college. If a human wrote it, another human will find a way around it." Anna looked up at him. "Most of the people I worked with valued confidentiality. And in a child abuse or child custody case there can be a lot at stake. Not to mention defense attorneys trying to discredit a witness. Or civil wrongful death suits. My private files never go near the net. I have to update the city files in some cases, but that can be a summary of how I feel the patient is doing. But what goes on in my office, stays in my office."
"Please, sit down." She indicated the seat next to her. "What can you tell me about Tyler? I understand this has been a very upsetting year for him. Are you close to him?"
"We're close, but he's closer to John. Unfortunately, John now has a girlfriend and Tyler is not handling it very well." Gordon hesitated for a minute.
Anna broke in. "Gordon, it's very important that I know everything I can in order to help Tyler. But it is even more important for Tyler to have people he feels he can trust around him. If he told you something in confidence, don't tell me. If you think I should know something, tell Tyler that you think he should tell me. On the other hand, I am not going to pass anything about Tyler on that is told to me in confidence, unless I have to. So unless someone is hurting Tyler in any way, your secrets are safe here. If he has made any accusations though, I need to know."
"No nothing like that. Although he did accuse Kat of making 'goo-goo eyes' at John." Gordon seemed lost in thought for a minute. Anna waited patiently, knowing he would continue when he was ready.
"Right after my mom died my dad was, well, not doing very well."
Anna nodded. "That would be Lucy, his first wife."
Gordon went on. "Grandma came and took care of us. She took us in to see the pastor at our church, a couple of times. He helped us a lot and we told him how Dad was doing. Including the fact that Dad wasn't home much and that when he was, he was drinking a lot. We didn't find this out until much later, but he wasn't the one to complained to Child Protective Services. His secretary had been reading his notes and listening in on some of the sessions. She told a friend of hers who was a social worker. The friend called CPS. They investigated, and found no evidence of abuse. But the investigation was hard on Dad and then the press heard rumors about it and they started hounding us kids. We couldn't go out on the playground at school, we had to give up some extra activities, Dad finally had to hire security people for anything we wanted to do. I was still pretty young, but both Scott and Virgil almost had to give up Scouts. After about a year things settled down. That's when Dad decided to move us all back to Kansas."
Anna let out a breath. "So your father doesn't trust counselors much. He must be really worried about Tyler to have called me then."
"Yeah. This is scaring him. And me, too. Tyler has always been a picky eater but nothing like this. And now he's throwing up again. He was sick right after the tsunami, but we thought he was better. Dad just doesn't know where to start and neither do any of the rest of us."
"Gordon, what other changes have happened in Tyler's life recently?"
"A lot of new people have moved to the Island recently. That should be good though."
"Change, good or bad, can be upsetting. How did he handle your dad's accident? Did he go see him in the hospital?"
"Fairly well, I thought. All three of the younger kids saw dad as soon as the hospital permitted them to visit. We didn't really notice any problems until after the tsunami."
"You said 'the younger kids'. Do you feel like they are two separate families? And, more importantly, does Tyler?" The voice Anna used was so matter-of-fact that is was impossible for Gordon to resent the question.
"Dad adopted all three of Dianne's kids. We are one family. I won't say 'one big happy family' because we're human and have the normal problems. But, other than the 'you're older and get to do neat stuff' there's nothing major." Gordon thought for a second. "At least none that I know of. It's kind of neat to have a little sister and to no longer be one of the 'terrible two youngest'."
"Is there anything else you think I should know about? Even if it seems like no big deal?"
Gordon opened his mouth to answer but Alan's voice cut in before he could. "We're approaching Tracy Island and are clear to land. Fasten your seatbelts, everyone. And before you ask, no, I don't need you up here Gordon. What you were talking about back there was more important than help on a 30 minute flight." Gordon nodded and fastened his seat belt.
Post by susanmartha On 1/14/2007
  
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