Read with BonusRead with Bonus

7: Gorilla Man (Flashback)

*The opening song of Sesame street blasted on the home theatre speaker and woke half the neighborhood up. Those who were in the closer proximity took a moment to check if their hearing was still intact. Mike came running into the living room, his ears strongly cupped by his palms. He saw little Jack trying his best to find the volume button on the remote but failing miserably. The batteries had fallen out the moment he had turned the TV on. The empty villa echoed with the cheerful song. Mike could barely hear his wife who was shouting at the top of her lungs behind him.

“Kill the power!”, he heard her shout. He scrambled to the switchboard and pulled the plug. The sudden silence hurt almost as bad. All three could hear their heartbeats. Little Jack was panting. It was five in the morning. The couple decided that there wasn’t any reason to try and go back to sleep. The noise had kicked their brains into full throttle. Mike could still feel himself influenced by adrenaline.

“I told you but you just had to get the loudest one”, Grace fired at him. She hadn’t been wrong but he had a thing for that kind of stuff. He collapsed on the couch and Grace decided to fix something for the breakfast. He let out a huge sigh. One of the perks of being the richest guy in the hometown, was the lack of chances of any neighbor complaining about the noise. They had all known him for years. He had convinced his parents to move out of the farm as soon as he had started to make a fortune. His dad had hesitated but had to give in because the farm wasn’t making much and the newly imposed taxes had completely eaten up anything he saved at the end of the year. The parents had loved the villa and the neighbors. Most of the neighbors recognized Mike’s father from the farmer’s market so there were some instant friends. It was a pity that Jack’s grandparents couldn’t hang around for long. They both passed the same year he was born. Four years old Jack was oblivious to his parents’ stares, and was busy looking for the long-escaped batteries.

“You are not supposed to be out of your room bud!”, Mike called out to his son as he held out his hand, inviting him to sit beside him on the couch. Jack came running. Time to get ready for school was still two hours away. Mike wondered what he was going to do in that time. Jack jumped on the couch beside him and after a few hops he landed. Mike put his arm around Jack as soon as he was motionless. “Nightmares?”, he asked the little ball of energy, finger combing his hair. A silent nod was offered in response.

“Monster?”

“Yeah”, this time more audibly. Mike tightened his hold rested his cheek on Jack’s head. “You do remember who daddy is, right?”, he asked expecting a quick answer. Jack kept is eyes to the ground. There was no precedence of scolding or spanking in the house, so it wasn’t out of fear. Mike realized that the response wasn’t coming so he added, “I am gorilla man and I …”. “…banish all the monsters just by blowing them away!”, little Jack finished the sentence and all the sorrow on his face had drained. They high-fived. Grace returned from the kitchen.

“Come on! Time to dress up for school”, she softly ordered. The order was met by a long and lazy whine. “But…”, Jack protested but the mother interjected, “I know! I know! You can watch TV until it’s time to go if you get ready now”. The protest was abandoned and Jack darted to his room. Mike was dozing off on the couch.

“Don’t you have a flight today?”, Grace inquired. Mike nodded without opening his eyes. She wasn’t worried. Mike had always been the quicker one to get ready for occasions. She knew it would only take him five minutes to come out looking like a Nobleman.

On the table they looked like perfect team of misfits. Jack was having a bowl of chocolate cereal with his eyes glued to the TV screen. He was ready for school wearing a pair of white shorts held up by a pair of suspenders, and red buttoned up shirt. Mike was a stage away from a stereotypical mafia boss look. An open buttoned white shirt, a red tie loose around the collar, with hair looking as if he was two bottles down. He was busy with the paper and ate every once in a while. Grace was finished with the breakfast and read her favorite fashion magazine. There was a knock on the door. It was their driver, Antonio. He had been with them since they had moved here. It was time for Jack to leave for school. He quickly swallowed the cereal. His mother sprinted to him with a napkin. He grabbed his bag with a dinosaur’s green head sticking out of its back. It had been a subject of ridicule but Jack liked it and didn’t let it get to his head. His mother kissed him which he disgustedly wiped off his face and ran to Antonio. “It’s the T-rex! Run!”, Antonio played scared and Jack roared back. He led Jack to the extravagant black sedan and took off. Mike took it as a cue for him to get serious. He gulped the coffee and buttoned up his shirt as he raced through the last of the pieces on the paper.

His study looked to have been a subject for thorough police search. The most essential papers had been the most elusive as usual. But the labor had been done in the night to prevent any delays in the morning. A brief case, a box file and a suit, was all that was going with him. He had opened a branch of Red Stallion fertilizers in DC so he was requested by his staff to inaugurate it. He was scheduled to be back the next morning. The phone rang. He picked it up and his PA was on the other end. “We are on our way to your house”, she informed. Mike received a little briefing. He hung up when he had run out of questions.

Minutes later, a white car that was bit short of a limo, arrived at their doorstep. He always used his office cars to airports and long office trips. He kissed his wife goodbye, took a seat in the car and left for the airport. His young PA sat beside him wearing a black suit, looking formal as ever. On the way, he rechecked everything that was supposed to be in the brief case. His PA kept blathering about who else was going to be at the inauguration, the yearly agreement with the airline, his CFO’s resignation for personal reasons, and many other issues that he couldn’t care less about. He felt the PA’s voice fade away and his thoughts turned to wonder what little Jack was doing at the school. Most likely making his teachers pull their hair out, he thought. He grinned at the image. He was pulled out of his daydream by the piercing monophonic ringtone of his flip phone. He pulled the phone out of his coat pocket. It read “Home”. “What the hell did forget this time?”, he thought to himself. He answered it. There was silence. “hon?”, he tried to break the silence. He heard heavy breathing on the other end. Mike was getting anxious now. The heavy breathing transitioned to weak sobbing. “Goodness, Grace!”, he exclaimed, clearly running out of patience. The sound of sobbing gained strength. He was about to speak again but stopped as he felt words brew on the other side. Every second passed like an eternity. He recognized his wife. Finally, she spoke. His PA couldn’t hear the words but read him well enough to know that they were grim. She could see him change colors.

“Turn the car around!”, he ordered and the car screeched to a halt before going the other way.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter