Chapter 28: Good Morning
Theo finished everything he needed to do inside and stepped out. The morning light was only just settling, thin and grey. In fact, thick fog was drifting across the front of the building, low enough that it swallowed his ankles as he walked and blurred the parked cars into soft grey lumps.
He trekked a while, past empty stops and a near-empty road, but couldn’t find a bus to Dumphrey Avenue, so he settled on the train instead, riding it as far as Faux Edrein Station. From there, Dumphrey Avenue was an easy enough transport.
On the train, Theo watched the other passengers. Most wore suits and carried bags, heading to work. A few wore modernized armor, and some even wore costumes that covered their faces.
Nobody really cared.
There were very few heroes the public actually cared about. Being a Hero earned you more money, sure, but that didn’t mean every hero earned more. There was Uthedaisis, for example, a grown Hero riding a packed commuter train same as everyone else. And there were many like him.
Heroes having to take the train already spoke a lot.
It was different for the ones who had entered the Tower and come back out. Those were the true starlights of humanity. The ones capable of protection.
Theo sighed and turned away, watching the fogged glass slide past instead, the grey shapes of the city smearing by beyond it.
He thought about what his own trip into the Tower would be like, and about what he was going to have to fight. He didn’t really know what waited in there, only the stories, and the stories never agreed on much. He was scared. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t.
’But I have to get this strong to be able to smash her head into an elevator door, right?’
He sighed again, and the rest of the journey flew past.
Around 8:30 AM he was already at the hospital.
When he entered the room, the air still carried that flat hospital smell, and Uthed was laid out on the chair near the door, with a scattered chicken package on the table in front of him, picked clean down to the bones.
The moment the door slid open, Uthed jumped up so fast the chair rocked behind him, and looked at Theo.
Theo took in the ruined package, then the polite man standing over it.
’Looks like he really had a blast.’
Uthed gave him a sheepish chuckle.
"They serve really good food in this place. It’s far better than anything I could ever cook up."
Theo tilted his head. "Really?"
Uthed nodded and started clearing the table.
"Would you like me to put in an order for you? Have you even eaten anything this morning? Wait, why are you here this early? What about your two wives?"
Theo answered while he stood beside Thall.
"I took care of them. I packaged a few things for the both of us. Who’d have known you’d have settled yourself."
Uthed glanced at the bag in Theo’s hand.
"Don’t take it to heart, brother, I just couldn’t resist. But I haven’t eaten this morning, if that’s any consolation."
Theo gave him a thin look.
"Geez, it’s barely morning. I don’t expect you to have eaten anything."
Uthed scratched his head. "Right."
Theo walked over to the main sitting area, dropped the bag, and sat down, unpacking the food packages one by one and setting them out gently across the low table. It was only a little of what he’d cooked that morning for Sesan and Estea, still warm enough to steam when he peeled the lids back. He’d also mixed in some medicinal herbs the market women swore were good for stroke and seizures, the kind of thing they pressed on you whether you asked for it or not. Healthy for the body, generally. As he got ready to eat, his phone buzzed against his thigh.
He fished it out and looked at the screen. A call from Mr Billy Jean.
"Hello."
{Hello, Mr Theolyne. Good morning. Regarding what you spoke about the other time, I’ve made a few arrangements with a real estate agent, and they have something for you. Would you be chanced for a meeting this afternoon? Perhaps, if you like their deal, you could even do an inspection.}
’Wow, that’s pretty fast.’
Theo nodded. "Yes, that’s absolutely alright, Mr Billy. I appreciate it."
{I’ll be bringing a proficient lawyer, a trusted friend of mine, just in case. You don’t need to use him, but for the reviewing of the information the agent gives you. Is that okay?}
It wasn’t until Billy mentioned it that Theo remembered he was supposed to actually find a lawyer himself. He’d thought about reaching out to some of his college colleagues, but that would be weird, because he wasn’t especially the social type and hadn’t kept tabs on anyone after school. Half of them probably wouldn’t even remember his name.
"Ah, right. That’s absolutely okay, thank you."
Theo sighed and hung up. Then he dug into his breakfast, Uthed settling in silently beside him to do the same.
The man was bewildered at the first taste. He slowed his chewing, glancing down at the food like it had done something to him.
"Hmm, did your wife cook this?" he said around a mouthful.
Theo swallowed and answered calmly. "No, I cooked it myself."
The man paused for a moment, cheeks still full. "Wow."
’Just how more husbandful can he be?’
The two ate in silence. Theo spent the whole morning with Thall, watching her some of the time, the slow rise and fall of her breathing under the blanket, and pressing at his phone the rest, mostly checking the same two message threads that had nothing new in them.
He’d left Thall’s former phone with Estea, so he called twice to ask if they were okay and needed anything. The first time, Estea answered normally, but the second time she hung up on him before he could even finish checking in. He looked at the ended call for a second, then set the phone face-down on the arm of the chair.
After a nap, Theo got up and went to have a shower, letting the water run hot until the last of the morning’s tiredness sank off him. He’d brought an extra change of clothes: slightly baggy jeans, a shirt, and a hoodie, with his legendary Hikey sneakers, Jupiter Lady Edition.
Then he set out to meet Billy and the estate agent.