Chapter 52
As the driver pulled up to the airlines' entrance, Diana spotted a small group of reporters and cameramen camped just inside the sliding glass doors. Walker looked back at her, having seen them as well. Mostly, they appeared to be people she was familiar with and she pretty much knew they were no threat as the hometown media was usually polite and respectful to the family. The problem was, she knew if they knew the group's travel plans, so would the rest of the media and that could be a problem. She looked over at her sons next to her. Taylor was leaning forward in his seat, his head on his arms. Behind his back, she signed to Zac, "N-E-W-S people. Stick close to T-A-Y."
Zac nodded and turned back to Isaac in the seat behind him. He nodded as well, having watched the exchange between his mother and Zac.
~~~~
The van pulled up to the curb and the driver got out and began to unload the suitcases. Reporters began to scramble for the best positions as the family began to get out of the vehicle. "Taylor, you get out last and I want you to carry Zoe for me, alright?" His father said.
It was common practice to shield themselves behind her, as for some reason, the press was less likely to approach them when she was perched on their hip. He nodded and moved out of the way for Zac as he grabbed his backpack from under the seat. Once everyone was out, Taylor put on his backpack, checked on Sparky, who was snoozing, and stepped down onto the walkway. Isaac handed Zoe to him and he situated her on his hip so as not to squash the little dog concealed in his jacket. His father stuck a black baseball cap on his head, the family encircled him, and they made their way into the building. Immediately, flashes went off and cameras and microphones were aimed at them.
"Is Taylor going to have to testify?"
"Is Dr. Harris going to plead guilty?"
"Are the other boys going to go on with the band?"
All these and more were shot at them, but no one acknowledged any of them and quickly made their way to the bag check and to get boarding passes. Isaac tipped the two skycaps who'd carried their luggage. Looks from Diana and Walker were enough to make the media back off a bit and as he made his way back to join the family, Isaac stopped just long enough to say to them that Taylor had recovered nicely from all injuries he'd sustained and that he was adjusting and just looking forward to the end of the ordeal and that they would be the first people they called if they had any news to share. Lastly, he thanked all the people who had sent their prayers, gifts and well wishes to his brother. With that, he walked over to his father, who patted him on the back and they began the short walk to the gate where they would board their flight. Pockets were emptied and purses and backpacks put through the metal detectors.
Sparky went through unnoticed and once again they found themselves waiting to actually board their plane. Taylor sat in a hard plastic chair with Zoe on his lap clutching a round, yellow, cheerio shaped box. Mackenzie and Avery were bickering over his losing the caps to her markers the last time she'd allowed him to use them. Jessica and Zac each had gameboys out, hers a transparent purple, his bright green, both beeping and churning out irritating electronic music. The insanity of his family was the only thing keeping Taylor sane he realized. Isaac settled in and put on his headphones, keeping an eye on Taylor, he looked spent. As music poured into his ears, he watched as Zoe offered Taylor a tiny goldfish cracker from the little plastic box. He shook his head 'no' and she put the morsel in her own mouth. Over and over, she would offer, and he would decline with a shake of his head. When at last the container was empty, she threw her hands out. "All gone," she said. Taylor made the same gesture and she handed him the yellow box which he dropped into his mother's bag, then a look passed over his face that caused Isaac to pull his headphones off. "What?" He asked.
"They just called our flight." His father said.
Just then, a flight attendant approached Walker, "Sir, would you like to board now, before things get too crazy?"
"Yeah," he said, looking at his family, "that would probably be a good idea."
She smiled, then turned and walked through the doorway that led to the plane. Isaac put his cd player in his backpack, zipped it, then stood up. "C'mon Tay," he said, walking towards his brother, "time to go."
Taylor sat Zoe down, then wiped his palms on his jeans, and stood up, putting on his backpack, careful not to crush his friend. Zac and Isaac walked on each side of him as they made their way down the walkway. Soon they noticed him slowing down, Zac put his hand on his brother's back and glanced at him, "Keep going dude." He muttered.
Isaac looked over at Zac. Taylor felt like a condemned man being led to his execution. He could hear his own footsteps and they seemed to be getting louder and they were, as Isaac and Zac were now pulling him along, his feet smacking the floor. Isaac had hold of Taylor's backpack. "Keep it together Tay, we're almost there."
They watched as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and let out a breath. As they entered the plane, the rest of the family was already seated and watching the three stragglers come in. They took their seats in the center aisle, sliding their backpacks underneath them, Taylor, in between his two brothers. Behind them, their parents sat with Zoe, and in front, Jessica, Mackenzie and Avery. Feeling the little dog moving around inside his coat, Taylor reached in and pulled Sparky out of his hiding place. Zac grinned, accusing the little mutt of having "bed head". Taylor did his best to make the wiry hair lay down, but without much success.
A flight attendant walked by just as Sparky yawned, "Oh my, um, animals are supposed to be..."
Taylor looked up at her at that moment, a look of panic on his face. "Please, he won't be bad." He mouthed.
One look at Taylor's eyes and she knew she couldn't say no to him. The whole family was looking at her, waiting. "Please," Zac said, "I know he's ugly as all get out, but, he just had a bath and stuff and all he does is sit on Taylor, that's it."
She sighed and leaned towards Taylor and whispered, "Ok, but you gotta hide him."
"Thank you." Diana said quietly and the woman gave her a sad smile in return.
She had seen enough on the news to know the family was under a lot of stress already and she wasn't going to add to it, especially once she saw Taylor's face under the hat that had hidden his well known features. "Can I get you anything?" She asked, looking down at her watch. "We have a few minutes before they start letting the other passengers on."
"Well, actually," Diana said, "do you have something like an ice pack, really cold?"
"Well, I could put some ice in a plastic bag, would that work?"
"That would be perfect." Diana said and she smiled at the woman. A couple minutes later she returned and handed her the bag, wrapped in a napkin. Diana stood up and leaned over to Taylor, handing him two Tylenol and the ice. "Here, take that hat off, take these and put this on your eyes, you look terrible."
"Thanks, Mom." He mouthed.
She handed him a bottle of apple juice from her bag. "Well, sorry, but you do." He held up the baby bottle and looked up at her. "Just drink it, you just need enough to get them down." Isaac and Zac laughed out loud when Taylor stuck the two tablets in his mouth then began to suck loudly on the bottle. "Geez louise, Taylor, unscrew the nipple!" She said and she swatted him on the top of his head. He shrugged and handed her back the bottle. She kissed the top of his head, "Zoe's behind you, so you can put your seat back." She said and sat back down in her own seat.
~~~~
Taylor did as he was told and was spared the looks from those passengers who recognized the boys, though he could still hear whispers. Once the plane had taken off and the seat belt light had gone out, Zac looked over at Taylor, his face partially covered by the ice, hoping he had fallen asleep. He got up on his knees in his seat and turned to face his parents and signed, "he was about to F-R-E-A-K out back there, I did not think we were going to get him on the plane." Diana shook her head and looked at her husband. Zoe watched with big blue eyes as her brother silently talked to their parents, her crayons momentarily forgotten. "What if there are more R-E-P-O-R-T-E-R-S in NY?" He asked.
Isaac now signed to Zac, "there WILL be."
Both boys were now looking at their parents. Taylor was listening to his family now, only no one was saying anything. But, he could hear the rustling of their clothing. He reached up and took the ice from his eyes to see Zac and Isaac signing to one another. He grabbed the hem of Zac's shirt and tugged. Zac looked down to see Taylor's questioning eyes. "What?" He said nervously.
Taylor now sat up and looked at them all. "What's up?" He asked.
"Nothing, we just didn't want to bother you." Walker answered.
Taylor shook his head. "No, you didn't want me to hear you." He signed. "What is going on?"
Walker sighed, "Tay, we just... Well, we're afraid there are going to be a lot of media attention when we get to New York..." Taylor turned his head and looked at the clouds out the window, then shrugged. "Are you going to be able to handle it?" His father asked.
He turned his eyes back to them and he nodded. Suddenly, Taylor noticed all the passengers around them were all gawking. Quickly, he turned back around, flopped the ice back over his eyes and slumped back down into the seat with a loud sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. Sparky peeked out of Taylor's backpack, which was now sitting on the seat next to him and Zac quickly patted him and gently pushed him down a little bit, hoping he wasn't about to bark or snarl at him as he often did.
"So Zac," Isaac started, hoping to diffuse the situation, "did you get to see Shelly last night?"
"Yeah," he answered glumly, "she's dating some guy from her school. Her mom thinks it's better if I don't see her anymore."
"That sucks." Isaac replied. "When did she start dating him?"
"Well," Zac replied, "I think maybe since before I even met her. So, whatever." Isaac could tell it bothered him more than he let on. Zac decided to change the subject, "How's Lee? She gonna miss you?"
He grinned. "She better. I'm already missing her. Speaking of which, Tay, Lee says you need to listen to some song..." He said as he began to dig around in his backpack.
Taylor grabbed the ice again and looked at Isaac and signed, "Is it T-H-R-A-S-H stuff?"
"What?" Isaac said, looking back at him. Taylor repeated his question. "I don't think so, it's some Indigo Girls thing or something." He said, going once more into his bag. "Here it is."
He handed the cd to Taylor—on the cover was a post-it note that said, Taylor -- track 2. He looked on the back of the case, "Galileo" was the name of the song. He looked up at Isaac and signed, "you know L-E-E is a little N-U-T-T-Y, right?"
"You're the one who gave me her number, remember?" Taylor nodded and Isaac smiled, "I don't know if I ever thanked you for that." Taylor smiled back and Isaac handed him his cd player, "I guess you forgot yours?"
Taylor shook his head and signed, "I don't want to D-I-S-T-U-R-B S-P-A-R-K-S."
"Oh, we wouldn't want to do that, now would we?" Isaac smirked.
Taylor shook his head and put on the headphones, then signed to his brother, "now you can talk about me." He then placed the ice over his eyes, leaned back and immersed himself in Lee's message to him. The song opened with the sounds of an acoustic guitar being strummed and then first one, then two women's voices began to sing. As he listened to the lyrics and the harmonies, he had to smile.
Galileo's head was on the blockAs the song ended, he thought of Lee's notion that there was a reason for all things, but the thoughts didn't last long as he was soon lost in the sounds of the two voices at play and he listened and was comforted by that very thing that had brought him such joy and grief, music. He listened until the cd ended and then he hit replay and finally, his weary mind shut down and allowed him to rest.
The crime was looking up the truth
As the bombshells of my daily fears explode
I try to trace them to my youthThen you had to bring up reincarnation
Over a couple of beers the other night
Now I'm serving time
For mistakes
Made by another in another lifetimeHow long till my soul gets it right?
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light?
I call on the resting soul of Galileo
King of night vision
King of insightI think about my fear of motion
Which I never could explain
Some other fool across the ocean years ago
Must have crashed his little airplaneYou know me
I take everything so seriously
If we wait for the time
Till all souls get it right
Then at least I know there'll be no nuclear annihilation
In my lifetime
I'm still not rightI offer thanks to those before me
That's all I've got to say
Maybe you squandered big bucks in your lifetime
Now I've got to payBut then again it feels like some sort of inspiration
To let the next life off the hook
Or she'll say look what I had to overcome from my last life
I think I'll write a bookHow long till my soul gets it right?
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light?
I call on the resting soul of Galileo
King of night vision
King of insight
How long, how long, how long?
~~~~
Upon landing, the flight attendants had warned Walker and Diana that, indeed there had been a horde of reporters and camera crews present, but that airport security had done what they could to get them to disperse. However, it was a public place and it was not illegal for the press to gather there and so that was as much as they could do.
Just the getting from A to B was enough of a struggle for a family of nine, but throw in the press and Taylor's reluctance to do anything at all, and Diana and Walker were on the verge of screaming. They decided that if they split up, they'd have a better chance of getting where they were going unnoticed. "Walker, why don't you, Tay, and Ike take Zoe and just head straight for the hotel? The rest of us can get the luggage and I'll just get another van and meet you all there in a bit, ok?"
He sighed, he hated leaving her to do all the work, but Zoe was fussy and Taylor, though he'd slept some on the flight, was looking a bit like a tiger in a cage. With Zoe on his shoulders, Walker and his two oldest sons headed for the van they'd rented and Diana, Zac, Jessica, Avery and Mackenzie went to pick up their luggage. They flagged down two skycaps and Diana rented a second vehicle. Once all the bags were loaded, they piled into the van after Zac called shotgun and headed for the hotel. Things went smoothly until they got about a block from the building they'd always called home while in New York. Traffic had slowed to a crawl and Diana was at the end of her rope as she listened to her children pick at one another and tattle over and over. "Zac, what's going on up there? Please tell me it has nothing to do with us." She said wearily.
Zac rolled down the window and sat up on the door to get a better view. "I don't know Mom, it just looks like a bunch of people standing around... Some of 'em are out in the street."
"How old and what sex are these 'people' Zac?" Jessica questioned.
"Uh, well, now that you mention it..." He said ominously, "it looks like a lot of teenaged girls, uh, and some other people..."
"Oh, please God..." was
all Diana could say.
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