GENESIS

Part Two

Copyright 1997

by Shauna Brock

1984 Fort Lauderdale Police Academy

     He shut his notebook and tossed the pencil happily across the room. He hated homework. Well, that wasn't true, he hated paperwork. It was almost over with. One more assignment, one more test, and he would be done for the quarter. Not that there would be much of a break, the police academy only had two weeks in between sessions. But two weeks were two weeks, he planned on going to visit his grandmother n Palm Beach.
     "Chris?"
     He jumped, had he woken her up? "Yeah, Mindy?"
     She appeared in the door way and grinned at him, "Come to bed."
     Chris leaned back into the chair and beckoned to her. His bright green eyes sparkled with excitement, making his whole face glow. God he loved her. She didn't budge so Chris stood and pulled her into his huge arms. His entire body enveloped her. She ran her hand through his thick black hair and grinned, "I like it long like this," she whispered, "don't you dare cut it."
     Chris laughed, "That's what I said about your hair and you cut yours."
     "Girls are different. We can get away with stuff like that."
     Chris tickled her playfully and kissed her neck, together they hurried into the bedroom.
     "Grandma?" Chris called as he unlocked the door, "Gramma Rose?"
     "In here, Sweetheart!"
     Chris followed the sound of the sweetest voice in the world to the living room where his grandmother sat flipping through an issue of Redbook. "Hey!" He dropped his bag and hugged her frail body carefully. It pained him to see her grow old. "How are you doing?"
     "My aching bones can't keep up with this humidity." She smiled and patted the chair next to her, "Talk to me. How are things at the Academy, Officer Lorenzo?"
     "Good. I'm at the top of my class."
     The old woman's mouth dropped momentarily. "You?" Her bright green eyes sparkled with laughter, "Since when are you at the top of the class?"
     "Grandma! I'm not the same kid I was in high school."
     "Or college for the matter." She patted his knee, "I'm proud of you, Christopher."
     "Thanks."
     "Are you hungry?" She looked at him and smiled, "That was just the dumbest question in the world." She laughed and stood stiffly. "I pity the mother of your children if the kid has your appetite. Hell, I pity the women who has to keep you fed now. Speaking of which, how is Mindy? Are you still together?"
     "Going on two years." He helped her straighten up and escorted her by the elbow into the kitchen. "Sit still, I can feed myself."
     Rose laughed and sank gratefully into a chair at the worn breakfast table. "Help yourself, Honey." She watched as Chris discovered the ice cream and oreo cookies. Even at the age of twenty-three he was still a frightened boy of thirteen in her eyes. "Have you heard from your parents?"
     "Pop called yesterday. We talked for a few minutes."
     "How is he?"
     "Okay, I guess." He twisted the Oreo and licked the cream with the precision of a teenager. "He's got a new girlfriend."
     "Not surprising. He's an attractive man, a good man. I never blamed him for the split. Your mother just never wanted to work on it. Then again, your mother is flighty."
     "Anna is an actress. I have yet to meet one who has any grey matter at all."
     Rose laughed, "What about your mother? Anything?"
     "Nope." He stood and started rooting through the fridge for anything cold. One day he would make her get an air conditioner installed. He discovered an old beer and decided to take his chances. "What about you? How are you?"
     "I ache. But that's just part of being old." She sighed, "Chris. . ."
     "What?" A cold dagger of fear pierced his heart. "What?"
     "I'm just not as young as I used to be. It's hard to grow old."
     Chris looked at the woman in front of his carefully. Her hands shook, her wrinkled skin seemed paler, and her gray hair was thinning. She had aged since his last visit. "Don't worry! You still have a lot of time in front of you!"
     "No, I don't. Chris, I want you take some stuff back with you. That way--"
     "We'll talk about this later. Come on, let's go out for dinner. My treat." Chris refused to think about life without Grandma Rose.
     Rose shook her head. Chris had always been like this, scared to touch a tender feeling. Probably from the experience of his parents. But she had to talk to him. "Christopher, sit down."
     Chris sat. Rose only used his full name when something was important. "Look, I know you aren't getting any younger, but why do we have to talk about this now?"
     "I've changed my will, Chris. I'm leaving you everything."
     All the blood drained from Chris'; face and onto the floor. He knew that his feet were resting in a puddle of blood. "What about Anna?"
     "Anna won't care. Hell, she left here so young. . .and she hasn't been back. I want you to have it all. Once it's in your hands, you can decide what to do with it. Anyway, young cops don't make much money, you'll need something in the bank." She sighed and patted his hand, "Tonight we'll go through the attic and get rid of the junk. You can take some of it home. I know it's hard, Chris. But it has to be done."
     Chris nodded painfully and stood up, "Come on. Dinner is still on me."
     Rose smiled, "Even now, all you think about is food." She stood, gathered her things, and followed her grandson out the door.
     The stuffy attic closed in on Chris as he searched through the old boxes. Rose had long since retired to bed, leaving him alone with his thoughts and his memories. He discovered an old yearbook and opened it, laughing at the hideous clothing and haircuts they had thought had been so cool back then. The book fell open to a page of pictures. The junior class. He'd dated a girl in that class his senior year. She'd signed the page. He looked at it closely in the dim light, scanning the faces of the girls. Megan Folley. There she was, her bright blonde hair stuck out in contrast to the two girls on either side of her. His gaze fell on one brunette and he almost stopped breathing. He'd attended Palm Beach High School for four years and he'd missed her? Her deep eyes stared at him from the picture and her smile, although forced, was beautiful. Her thick hair cascaded over her shoulders and past the edge of the picture. He scanned for the name. Rita Lee Fontana. How had he missed her?
     Dawn broke over Palm Beach with an already stifling temperature of seventy-three degrees. Chris blinked against the garish sun and stretched, stiff from the night he'd spent in the attic. He coughed once to rid his lungs of the dust and headed down to make breakfast. On the way he passed his grandmother's room and paused. "Grandma?"
     Her breathing was labored and her skin cool and clammy. Chris dashed for the phone, dialing 911 as quickly as eh could. You're gonna be okay! His mind screamed as he talked to the operator. How did you know?
Mindy came down to stay with him while Rose was in the hospital. She slept in the guest room, knowing Chris needed his space. One day she entered his bedroom, he was still at the hospital, and picked up the high school yearbook on the bed. One page was creased and she opened to it. One picture was circled with a red marker, the ink seemed fresh. Mindy stared at the girl and something snagged at her heart.
     "Mindy?"
     She dropped the book and hurried to the stairs, "Yeah, Baby?" She took one look at his face and raced into his arms, "Oh, Honey!"
     "It happened just a few hours ago. They couldn't do anything else. She. . ." Chris cried into her hair. "She couldn't hold on any longer. How did she know. . ."
     The funeral was quiet. Friends, flowers, and a lovely eulogy by the priest. Chris sat, numb, through it all. On one side Mindy clutched his hand, crying softly. On the other his mother sat, unblinking, not shedding a tear. After the body was laid in the ground, Chris approached her.
     "Anna."
     "Hello, Chris."
     "Uh, this is Mindy. My girlfriend."
     Mindy nodded and shook Anna's hand. "It's good to meet you. I'm sorry about Rose, she was a wonderful woman." She kissed Chris gently, "I'll wait over by the car Hon."
     "Okay." Chris waited until Mindy walked away before turning back to his mother, "How are you?"
     "Good. And you? Are you still at the Police Academy?"
     "Yeah. Classes start next week. I've been cleared for a week leave, but I doubt I'll take it." He sighed. "Just so you know, Grandma. . .she really loved you."
     "I. . ."
     "The night before she went into the hospital, she told me stories about you. . .and defended you against me. Did you know she kept a picture of you at her bedside? There are pictures all though the house of me and the rest of the family, but you are the only one she sees at night and in the morning."
     "I. . .I didn't know."
     "She was so proud of you. All she talked about was her famous daughter. She loved you." Chris wiped tears away, "But she didn't leave you a thing. You couldn't be bothered to come home and visit. You couldn't have picked up the phone to say hello. You. . ." Chris walked away but turned back, "It doesn't matter who, if it doesn't involve you, you don't care. She did. Rose cared about you, me, anyone she ever met. And now she's dead. But even. . ."
Chris gave up and walked away. Anna Alexis stood at her mother's grave, watching her son disappear. She didn't cry, she just watched.
     "Are you selling the house?"
     "Of course." Chris packed up the last box and taped it shut. Most of this stuff I'll put in storage. The furniture's already been donated, and the house will sell fast, it's in good condition and what am I going to do with this beast?"
     "Live in it. With your wife." Mindy tried to drop the hint but Chris shook his head.
     Before he'd come here, he talked of marriage every night. Since her arrival, he hadn't mentioned it once. Mindy knew Chris was burdened with Rose's death, but she had a feeling it had to do with the girl in the high school photograph. The only things Chris had decided to bring back were his senior and junior high school yearbooks. Each had the same girl circled in red. Rita Lee Fontana.
     "Come in, Mindy. Let's get out of here. We have to get to class tomorrow." Chris locked the door behind them and they started the car. The trailer behind them would be dropped off at a local storage unit. Mindy leaned back and closed her eyes while Chris headed out of the neighborhood. Through one slanted eye she looked at the man she loved. The look of concentration on his face wasn't grief over the death of his grandmother, but confusion about something else. Mindy closed her eye again. She knew Chris was thinking about that girl.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Disclaimer: the characters used in this story are purely fictious. the characters of Chris Lorenzo, Rita Lee Fontana (Lance), Rose, and Anna Alexis are the property of USA and Stephen J. Cannell. blah blah blah. there is no infringement intended on the rights to these characters.