Chapter 54

It wasn't easy, but Isaac managed to get Taylor into the bedroom and out of earshot of the attorney.  "Why don't you check your email or something?"  He asked.  "Maybe Marcy wrote you a love letter."  He smiled.

"Doubt it."  He said to himself as he flopped his suitcase up onto the bed.  The zipper was stuck.

Isaac sat down on the opposite bed and watched him fight with it.  "Hey, let's make sure Zac and Mack get that one, it's got a little dip in the middle."  Taylor smiled, momentarily  thinking of his little brothers duking it out as everyone knew they were both horrible to sleep with.  The longer he wrestled with the suitcase the more curses he mouthed making Isaac smile again even as he closed his eyes, laying back on the bed.

~~~~

The sound of pottery breaking woke him up to the sight of Taylor with his hands on his hips and the suitcase having been flung across the room into a lamp that had once graced the small table next to the television.  "What the heck is going on in here?!"  Walker's voice entered the room before his body did.

"Uh, he couldn't get his suitcase open."  Isaac stated.

He could tell his father was almost at his breaking point.  "So, throwing it and breaking the lamp helped?"  Taylor was glaring at his father.  Walker reached in his pocket and pulled out the small brown bottle.  "I think you need to take one of these, shower and take a nap."  He said to him.

Isaac watched in horror as Taylor mouthed the word, "no." 

Silence engulfed the room.  "I'm not in the mood for this Taylor.  It's not going to hurt you, it'll just soothe your nerves a little so you can calm down."

"No." 

"Stop saying 'no' to me—you're not Zoe."

"Then stop treating me like Z-O-E." Taylor stood his ground.

Walker went past him and into the bathroom and came back with a glass of water and one of the tiny pink tablets.  "Here." He said, holding it out to his son.

Isaac knew this was it.  Either, Taylor would chill and take it or his brother and his father would come to blows.  He could count on one hand how many times he or one of his siblings had said 'no' to their father.  "You may as well take it.  I don't want to have to make you, but I will.  It's for your own good."

Ah, Isaac thought, the universal parental all purpose reason, 'it's for your own good'.  It was almost like slow motion as he watched Taylor shake his head, but what happened next was over very quickly.  Walker was a big man, and though Taylor was tall and muscular, he was no match for his father.  And, though he coughed and spit, if he wanted to breathe again, he knew he'd have to swallow the pill.  Sparky was under the bed barking like mad.  Isaac wasn't sure how it had happened.  All he knew was that suddenly, his brother was on the other bed, his father was on top of him and then, he was pulling him back up again saying, "wash it down, I'm sure it tastes bad."

Taylor gulped down the water because it did taste bitter and he knew he would throw up if he didn't.  Before leaving the room, Walker came over to Isaac, "The next time he can't get his suitcase open, you better damn well help him, got it?"

~~~~

Zac's eyes were as big as saucers as his father came back into the room.  Walker hadn't even flinched when the sound of shattering glass came from the other room.  "Dad, are Ike and Tay fighting?  What's going on?"

As Diana started to get up, he shook his head, "no, Taylor's fighting with himself.  Leave him be."

Just then, Taylor stormed through the room and out the door, Isaac hot on his heels.  "Ike!"  his father called, "come here."

He looked, first at Taylor's back as he stomped down the hall and disappeared into the stairwell, then back to his father.  "But Dad..."  He started, but Walker motioned for him to come back inside.

The attorney should have been surprised by the turn of events, but he wasn't.  He'd seen many families of victims be put through the same thing he was seeing here.  Rock star, kindergarten teacher, CEO, or convenience store clerk, it didn't matter who, it was typical for them to sometimes take their anger out on their families.  Taylor was lucky though, his family seemed to understand this and deal with it accordingly.

"Which way did he go?"  Walker asked.

Isaac slowly walked back in, "He went through the door to the stairs."

"Is this the hotel you were staying at when it happened?"  John asked.

"Yes."  Diana answered worriedly.

"Most people do not want to return to the scene of the crime, so he's probably headed up."  Walker spoke again,

"Ok Ike, take your cell phone with you, go find him and call us when you think he's ready to talk to Mr. Conover, alright?"

"Alright," he said and he headed for the door.

"Take your jacket,"  Diana said, and she stood up and went to the closet taking Taylor's out as well.

"Thanks Mom, I'll call ya."

~~~~

As Isaac stepped out onto the roof, he could see Taylor standing near the edge looking down, the wind whipping through his hair wildly.  The shirt he wore had long sleeves, but it was still t-shirt material and the January wind on top of a twenty five story building was mind numbingly cold.  Isaac pulled up his hood, wishing he had gloves as well, and called out to his brother, "Tay, I thought you might want your coat."

Taylor turned and now the wind blew his hair into his face.  His cheeks were bright red from the cold and his lips were already a purplish colour.

"I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend…"  Isaac sang to his brother, smiling sadly.  "God, remember how many times we heard that song last summer?  Zac was seriously into that record, wasn't he?"  He said, walking towards him.

"Why'd he do that to me, Ike?"  Taylor mouthed.

Isaac wasn't sure he understood, especially since his hair kept blowing in front of his face.  "What'd you say, dude?"  He was getting closer now and he didn't want to spook him.

Now, he was close enough to read his lips, "why'd he do that to me?" 

Isaac was getting scared, he didn't know if he was talking about his father or the man who sat in prison now, awaiting trial.  "I don't know, man.  Tay, c'mon, put your coat on, it's fucking freezing out here."  As he tried to close the last few feet in the gap between he and his brother, he gasped when Taylor took a step backwards.  "Don't!  God...  Tay, just stop, ok?  I won't come any closer, ok?"

Suddenly, Taylor dropped to his knees and turned looking down the side of the building, "why did he do it, Ike?" 

Now, Isaac approached him and began putting his coat on him as if he were their baby sister and Taylor let him.  "We can't know why people do the things they do, Tay."  He said, pulling the hood up over his head.  With the fur around his face, Isaac thought he looked like he should be posing for some fashion shoot or music video instead of crying about the sorry state of his life on the top of a hotel in ten degree weather.  Isaac looked down to see where Taylor was looking, there was the alley and the dumpster and the parking garage.  "C'mon, how about let's go see the kids, they're in the pool."  He was beginning to worry about his brother's physical state now as well as his mental one, as he'd begun to shiver and he could actually hear his teeth chattering.

Taylor didn't answer but allowed himself to be led back into the warm building.  Isaac took him straight to the elevator and pushed twenty.  Taylor looked at him as the doors closed, "I thought we were seeing the kids."  He mouthed.

"Oh.  Yeah, geez, I forgot."  He said and he pressed the one.  Taylor continued to shake, his cheeks so red now, Isaac didn't ever think he'd seen them that colour.

The door opened first at twenty, then at five, where an elderly gentleman got on.  "You boys look cold.  Where ya been?"

"On the roof."  Isaac answered.

The man raised his bushy eyebrows, then looked from Isaac to Taylor, "Well, your friend looks mighty chilled there, better thaw 'im out quick or he'll get pneumonia.  I had that once, didn't like it one bit, no sir."  He said as the elevator stopped and he stepped out and went about his business.

"C'mon, you heard the man."  Isaac said, looping his arm in Taylor's and pulling him out into the hallway.

A sign read "Pool" with an arrow pointing to the left and soon Isaac found himself banging on the glass door as neither he nor Taylor had their keycards.  Mackenzie looked up just as he jumped into the water with a splash.  Coming back up, he yelled to their chaperone, "Maggie, let my brothers in!"

The girl got up from her chair and let them in.  The warm, humid air felt heavenly to Isaac and he was relieved to pull his coat off.  "Is the water hot, or just warm?"  He asked.

Jessica, her long hair floating beside her in the water called back, "Just warm, not like a bath or anything."

"Good."  He said, and without a moment's hesitation, he pushed Taylor into the pool, coat and all.  Never before had he done anything to have delighted his brother and sisters more.  They laughed and clapped and hooted as Taylor came up sputtering, wet fur stuck to his face and nothing but revenge on his mind.  Isaac quickly trotted to the other side of the pool, getting out his cell phone and quickly dialed the numbers to his father's phone.

~~~~

Walker answered, "hello?"  On the other end of the line he could hear laughing and screaming and his oldest son's voice.

"Dad?  You really owe me.  He's down here at the pool."  Before anything else could be said, he heard Isaac yelling at someone, "Just stay away from me!  I was afraid you had frostbite or hypothermia or something!  You'll thank me later!"

"Ike?!"  Walker tried to get his attention.

"Uh, Dad, I gotta go... you want him?  He's down here!  Bye."

And with that, the call was ended.  Zac could feel excitement in the air, "can I go now?"  He asked his mother, his swimming trunks in his hand.

"Just go...  Good grief, is it too late to send them all back where they came from?"  She looked at her husband.

Mr. Conover laughed as Walker stated quietly, "If it's anything like getting them out, then I don't think you'd enjoy it much."

~~~~

Before Zac could get out the door, Isaac ran through it and straight to the bedroom, locking the door with a click.  Diana rubbed her eyes and shook her head.  Now in the hallway,  Zac pressed the down arrow on the wall and watched as the numbers lit up, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.  When the doors opened, there stood Taylor dripping wet in a puddle, water coming off of him in little streams and two other people pressed into the corner trying to stay as far away from him as possible.  "What happened to you?!"  He asked his brother.

A look was all the answer he got and as Taylor stepped out, his shoes made a squish squish sound.  Instead of getting on the elevator, Zac decided it would be much more fun to follow him.  Squish, squish, drip, drip, he left a trail of water behind him.  Pool water obviously, from the smell of it, Zac thought.  Damn!  He'd missed all the fun because he'd had to tell the story again for the 5000th time.  When they got to the door, Taylor held out his hand and Zac gave him his card.

One green light later found them marching past the three shocked adults and to the locked door of their bedroom.  As Taylor banged on the door, water was flung and Zac giggled.  It was a little like a dog shaking after a bath.  Now, Zac heard the other children racing into the room still laughing about whatever had happened at the pool.

"Taylor, what is going on?!"  His mother exclaimed.

Walker approached him now,  "Give me your coat so I can hang it in the tub."

Taylor eyed him dubiously, obviously  still angry with him as well.  Begrudgingly, he took off the soppy garment and handed it to his father.  "Jiminy Crickets, that must weigh forty pounds!"  Walker said as he turned and went into the large bathroom opposite the boys' bedroom.

Upon his return, he quietly told Taylor, "you clean up the glass and I'll forget you threw it at me."  Big blue eyes looked into Walker's dark ones and then a nod, and he knew the incident was behind them.  "Now then, Mr. Conover needs to talk with you."

Zac stood back laughing.  He'd always known his family was a little crazy, but they'd just stepped up to certifiable.
 
 
 

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