Keely Pt. 7

It wasn’t as hard as I imagined. Keely’s dad, Don, called Ace by his friends for having 4 holes-in-one in his lifetime – two in one round – was rehabbing new knees and just hanging around the house blowing blues on his harmonica.

“Hey Dad, what’s up?” he answered when I picto called. I explained as clearly as I could what Keely was into and after the expected “Dad, are you taking your meds?” response, he listened as I elaborated and then agreed to meet at the Institute.

“How come she didn’t call me?” and “none of the kids call enough” were his final remarks. I of course just replied, “tell me about it.”

Heather was, in fact, baby sitting the twins, but she wanted in on the action, so she took them back to Cody’s third wife, Alicia, the high strung one. Alicia couldn't deal with the children for long so she quickly enrolled them in day care.

This freed up Cody as well. He turned over the day to day routine at his Boeing Nissan Aerocar dealership to Abigail, his first wife and business partner, who still carried a torch for him and wanted him back, unlike his second wife Amanda, who wanted him eviscerated, but those are stories for another day. He grabbed a demo and flew to the Institute the morning after I called him..

“Hey, Hockey Puck how’s it going?” I said to Carson when I got him on the Picto. “It’s Hockey Star Grandpa, Hockey Star.” We’ve been doing this routine since he was a player in the juvie leagues. I explained Keely’s dilemma and Carson was on his way to the Institute before I put down the phone.

Todd was the problem. He and his wife Ziza were sailing off the coast of Indonesia on their ancient Catamaran. Todd hated the modern boats that could sail unmanned and whose sailors were really just passengers, so he kept his vintage 2002 Cat repaired and sailed the old fashioned way, hands on. Well, one hand anyway. The other usually held a beer. “Hey,” he would announce to anyone complaining, “I’m retired.” I think he got that from me.

“It will take me three days to get to land Dad, and that’s with good winds” he said after I had explained the situation.

“No time for that” I said, we need you now. I’ll have the Institute helojet you out in the morning. Can Ziza handle the boat alone or should I send crew?”

“She’ll be fine. The sea is quiet and she's a good sailor. Weather should hold for a week or so. I'll be ready in the morning."

Two days later they were assembled in the Trip Room at the institute and after much gawking, gaping and having their minds blown by everything around them, they all had the same question, what do we do now?