Chương 21: Book 2 - Chapter 2 A

That afternoon, I grabbed a bag of fresh ground coffee and went to find Grandpa.

"Grandpa, we've got an important errand to run while Grandma takes a nap."

"Okay, I'll grab the keys." Once we were in the car, he asked, "So what's the errand?"

"This is one of those times where you are going to have to really trust me. Are you ready for that?" He waved up at the building.

"I've trusted you this far and it's been good."

"Okay, but this will be a bit different," I said mysteriously. I gave him the directions to a nearby pharmacy.

"Ready, Grandpa? Just go to the drive up window, and ask for the prescription for Wolowitz." I handed him the cash for the purchase. He was visibly nervous, not sure what I was getting him into. I didn't tell him. He sighed in relief driving away from the window with the prescription. He promptly found a parking spot and just stared at me. I gave him a grin.

"Excellent work, Grandpa. You just need to do it one more time." He muttered imprecations under his breath but followed my directions to another drive up pharmacy.

"I'm picking up a prescription for Koothrappali," he told the woman at the window.

"One moment," she said, then gave him the total. He passed the cash over, and she gave him the prescription, then asked, "Do you need to go over the prescription with the pharmacist?" He quickly glanced at me, and saw my shake of the head.

"No, I'm good. Have a nice weekend!" he said, and drove off. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was Thursday. He grumbled softly to himself.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble. I'm going to get arrested for fraud and drug possession. It'll be retirement in jail." I snorted and directed him north out of town to a small disreputable looking house in a bad neighborhood. Parked on the street, I turned to Grandpa.

"Grandpa Joe, this is very important. The future gets very difficult and I need the man in there. You must not talk at all while we are in that house. Do you understand?"

"Sure, I'll let you talk."

"No Grandpa Joe. You can't say a word, no gasping in surprise, no interruptions, no questions. This only works if you stay completely silent." He took a deep breath and let it out.

"I'll stay silent." I walked up to the house, as he followed. The front door was unlocked, and I entered as if I lived there. I looked around at the mess. Empty bottles, mostly Jack Daniels, littered the floor and couch. Amidst the bottles on the couch was a very tall, heavily muscled black man. He was completely out of it, and snoring softly. I gestured Grandpa in after me. I quietly and carefully closed the door behind us. I put a finger to my lips to remind him to be quiet. He gave me a wide eyed nod in return.

Grandpa looked on the verge of complete panic. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I took my bag of coffee grounds and went into the kitchen and started the coffee maker. Grandpa went in with me, but stood so he could keep an eye on the guy asleep in the living room. When the coffee finished, I poured a cup, and dropped in a few grams of a powder I had created a couple months earlier in Organic Chemistry.

After stirring with a questionably clean spoon, I walked back into the living room with the cup of coffee. I gestured to Grandpa to stay where he was. Standing in front of the quiescent man, I yelled, seeing Grandpa jump in surprise from the corner of my eye.

"Matt! Wake up! Sergeant Preston! Open those eyes!" One eye opened, bloodshot and bleary.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doin in my house?" he slurred.

"I'm making coffee," I said, handing him the cup. The other eye opened. He reached for the cup and took a sip. With gusto he drank down the rest of the cup.

"I'm out of coffee," he told me.

"I brought it."

"Who are you kid?"

"I'm John Wayne Cook. I'm here to recruit you, Sergeant."

"Not a Sergeant anymore."

"Once a Marine, always a Marine."

"Ha. Move out of the way I gotta pee." He stumbled out of the couch and down a hallway. Lying on the couch was his Remington M1911A1 service pistol. I picked it up, I put the safety on, and set it on a side table. It was a couple of minutes before he returned. I stood there waiting. Eventually he returned, noticing Grandpa for the first time.

"Who are you?" he asked him.

"He's with me. Sergeant, you have three problems and I'm here to fix them."

"I've got more than three problems, kid."

"No, you only have three. Sit on the couch," I told him. He slowly walked back to the couch, moved some bottles from the floor to a side table. He noticed his gun, but didn't reach for it. After he finally sat, I continued.

"Problem number one, no job. Solution, you will work for me. I need a bodyguard and driver. I'll pay you $25, 000 a year plus food and housing. Two weeks paid vacation after one year, and full medical from day one.

"Problem number two, you're very sick and it's not the alcohol. You picked up a disease just before you discharged." I tossed him the package of antibiotics from the pharmacy.

"Solution, take those, it'll clear up in a week, but take the full 18 days."

"Problem number three, you're depressed, drunk and contemplating suicide. Solution, a job and medication will help some, but you're low on testosterone." I pulled a small bottle and a syringe out of the second pharmacy bag.

"I'm going to give you a shot. Stand up, drop just your pants and sit back down." He did so, not really understanding why he did so, while I filled the syringe from the bottle. After a quick check for air bubbles, I stepped toward him. I wiped a spot with an alcohol wipe halfway between his left knee and crotch and stuck the needle into the muscle just outside of the centerline. He just watched with a curious look on his face. Grandpa was looking dizzy but had stayed quiet as I had asked.

With the injection complete, I pulled the needle out and dropped it into an empty bottle.

"One injection a week for the rest of your life. Problem solved." I pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and set it on the table. I put a piece of paper over it, with instructions.

"This is for a cab and your breakfast tomorrow. Be at this address at 8am with all your belongings, you're not coming back to this sty again. Now get up, go to the kitchen, take your first dose of antibiotics, and go to bed," I told him forcefully. He stood up, pulled his pants up, walked past a frozen Grandpa into the kitchen, took his pills with a glass of water and walked down the hallway to the bedroom. He dropped into the bed and fell immediately to sleep. I turned to Grandpa.

"We're done, let's go." He practically fled out the front door. I followed, locking the front door before pulling it closed behind me. Once we were back in the car, doors shut, seatbelts on and doors locked, Grandpa started to tremble.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen! What the hell were you thinking!"

"I'm thinking that because I hired Matt, you won't ever have to do stuff like that with me again."

"Thank God! Can we go home now?"

"Carry on Macduff," I said with a smile. A few minutes later after we were back on the highway Grandpa cleared his throat.

"John?"

"Yeah, Grandpa?"

"What was that powder you put in his coffee?"

"A little something that helped him follow directions."