6: Robert

Not only did the doctor and Jack want to remove themselves from the plane, as well as from all other things to do with aviation. There was a man, sitting next to the window on the same plane as the estranged doctor and noveaux-rich, that was more desirious to arrive in London.

His name was Robert, his last name was not important to him as he had recently had a falling out with his ill father. His father had contracted the HIV virus from one of his "late nights". Robert had come to terms that his father wasn't ever going to be the rolemodel that he had needed and wish for as a child. On his eighteenth birthday, Robert told his father that staying home in Arizona wasn't what he needed, or wanted to do with his life. After saving his money for what might have been a car for his sixteenth birthday, Robert had raised enough cash to fly out to London and become a Gate Keeper of the Tower of London. Naturally Robert's father had trouble accepting the fact that his only son was leaving him to become a "pointless" and "ill-educated" Gate Keeper.

All the same, Robert said good bye to his deteriorating father, and left for the airport with a solitary bag of clothes, Stephen King books as well as books on the history of the Tower. As he sat on the plane, leaving the country he had grown-up in, Robert, for perhaps the first time in his life, felt free.

On the airplane, Robert watched the sceen with the teenage girl and the aprehensive man over the top of his The Tower of London for Dummies book. He laughed to himself when she forgot the yarn and again when the man went into the bathroom and came out with a defeated look. Shaking his head, Robert delved further into his book, trying to quell the questions in his mind asking if he was ready to be on his own in a different country.

5:
Looking at the man before her, Jack thought of someone she knew a long time ago.

When Jack was a child, she walked around her Great-Grandma's house. It never smelled nice, the musty smell of pills and cigarettes. At Christmas time, Jack would help hang ornaments and all the other fiddly bits on the tree. One year, one of GG's better years, she was able to decorate the tree with the whole family. One of the ornaments had fallen on the floor. It rolled under the tree, the orange light of the old lamps reflected off it's crimson exterior. Jack had crawled under the tree trying to make sure the ornament hadn't broken. Lying on her stomach, her little legs poking out from the oppoisite edge of the Christmas tree, Jack saw the wrinkled, vein ridden hand of GG, holding the vibrant ornament.

It was after remembering her Great-Grandmother's eyes as she gazed into his, that Jack remembered where she was, on her knees on an airplane. She stood up without looking at the kind man before her who held the ball of yarn in his palm. Fiddling with her hair a bit, Jack looked up and the stranger again, and mummured a thank you before heading back to her seat.

The stranger cleared his throat which caused Jack to stop, turn and look at him with a questioning look. He nodded at his hand and streched the ball, of the embodiment of embarrassment, toward Jack again. She took it this time, a blush comming to her cheeks, burning it's way down her neck and up her ears. Jack turned away from the kind stranger and headed back to her seat, fumming to herself all the while about making a fool of herself infront of the doctor who was pioneering the HIV cure. Not to mention the whole scene had been recorded by Isiah, who had then posted it on Ourplace, which caused Jack to have an increased desire to get off the plane and kill the boy.

The doctor, meanwhile, thought he had something wrong with his face and ran to check the bathroom mirror to see what was wrong. After performing a through examination, Thomas found that nothing appeared out of the ordinary and suffered a severe stab at his still developing self esteem and wanted very much to get off the plane as soon as it landed.

4: In the air

Jack had heard about the HIV cure, she didn't care much. Her opinion on homosexuality wasn't in favor of many things. However, Jack hoped that the children of HIV positive mothers in Africa would be treated and be able to live happily. Her parents made her watch the broadcasts because they didn't think that sheltering their children would help them grow. Isiah didn't know what was going on and made sure not to mention it too much amongst his friends so as not to sound too smart.

Now that school was out and she had been accepted to King's College in Ireland, the family was going on a trip to England to check out the housing as well as do some site-seeing. Jack had heard plenty of stories from her dad about London when he stayed there for two years, as a result Jack was very much an anglophile. Winifred and Maorganmorianncumor had been sent over early and with the money from the lotto they were now staying at a friends house who absolutley loved dogs.

Even though Jack knew she was going on vacation she still brought her yarn for crocheting and a bag full of fabric and another with her sewing machine so that she could work on her skirts. Her family was lucky enough to get on a plane that went to London without stopping, but everyone brought things with them to keep themselves busy. Dad brought his genaeology, Mom brought her laptop so that she could watch movies which she didn't need because there were individual dvd players in first class, Isiah brought his laptop so that he could chat with is friends on Ourplace, and Jack brought her Ipod and yarn so that she could finish a scarf while on the plane.

Once everyone was settled on the plane and the hostess had gone through the saftey measures for the fourth time, the plane took off.

Finally, thought Jack as she was pulling out her yarn, I can sit, relax and listen t- "CRAP!", Jack said as she watched her yarn fall out of her lap and roll down the isle. Unbuckling her seat belt Jack got up and ran to go and catch the yarn. After running past one divider Jack saw the main ball go under someone's seat. Aww, for cryin' out loud!, she thought as she stopped a few seats away. Jack got down on her hands and knees and gropped around under the seat in an effort to grasp her yarn.

"Excuse me, miss," came a voice from above her, "Is this what you are looking for?"

3: Dr. J. Thomas Monet


God I'm nervous...it's ok...even they there are people out there...a lot of people...I'm fine...But what if I screw up? Oh God...are you even there? Bastard...
"MONET!!!"
DAMN...that was a loud "whisper" as we are supposed to be "whispering" behind the curtain...a thin curtain...of a press confrence...I'm so nervous...
"Damn-it Monet are you even listening?"
Oh...Mr. Kefferson was talking...for crying out loud I'm too nervous I don't know what "The Genius" my boss was saying...
"Pull yourself together man! Remember the cure for HIV, how it attaches to white blood cells and makes a copy that is stronger and is programmed to attack the cause of HIV. I have put people in the crowd so that they ask you certain questions. Those people are holding YELLOW slips of paper and will make this sign with their hands." He said while flipping me off.
"OI! Sir, I do not appreciate this joke!" I said barely getting the words out.
"Just what do you mean Monet, hmm?" He said Now that I actually look at him...Mr.K looks like a bull with Mad Cow disease...Oh shut up! What if I said that...oh crap he's still standing here...um...
"Well...sir... I don't think that it's funny for you to flip me off before I go on talking about your product."
"I wasn't flipping you off!" he said indignantly.
"YES you were!" I said.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Jeffery T. Monet."
OhshitI'mscrewed...
"Go ON Monet..." said Mr.K as he pushed me toward the stage.
Ohgod...DON'T TRIP!!! Damn that light is bright...just keep smiling...like Barbie...I hate that stupid doll... finally I'm at the pulpit...look into the light...at least this way it's a quick death.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Where the hell did that come from?, "the cure for HIV is here!" Fantastic, a pausing moment. Wait a minute, some bastard is flipping me off! Oh wait that's the sign thing.
"Yes sir," Yes, you smarmy bastard who flipped me off what do you want?
"Dr. Mon-et, what exactly is this 'cure'?"
"The cure for HIV is an injection of nanogenes that go circulate in the blood. These nanogenes attach to white blood cells. After detaching the nanogenes multiply and become stronger than the paitent's blood cells and are programmed attack the cause of the virus."
Thank God that sounded professional. Another bastard just flipped me off!!
"Yes?"
"Mr. Mu-net," I am really getting tired of people saying my name wrong. It's not that hard. MO-N with the "a" sound like "ballet" or "gourmet", "Have there been tests during which a patient with HIV was cured after the injection?"
"Yes," I think anyway...Robert was cured..wasn't he?, " as I understand it one of our many," ok that was a lie but they don't need to know that, " patients, Mr. Marsh, recovered one-hundred percent after the injection." I won't tell them that he died a week later in a car accident. Finally the last smarmy git who's flipping me off.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Mon-yet," GET IT RIGHT!!! IT IS NOT THAT HARD!!! Breathe Tom...breathe..., "When do you think that this cure will be avaliable to the public?"
"Since the cure is in such great supply, the cure is currently, at this moment, in shipping to all of the hospitals in the world according to the recorded cases of the virus. The public should be able to have access to it in no later than a week. Thank you." It's done! now I can go back to my bed in my office, and sleep.
"Monet! Where do you think you're going?"
"I was going to go back to the office, Sir."
"No you're not. You are coming with me to the party to celebrate the international sucess of the cure." Mr.K...you can stick this cure up your... But before Tom could finish his thought, Mr. Kefferson whisked him away to join the festivities at a local club. Where Tom spent his time getting steadily drunk and watching the swaying bodies on the dancefloor, not bothering to get up and dance with his co-workers in a frenzy of celebratory sex.

2: Home Again

After making sure that James was ok it is nice to finally enjoy the solitude of my ro-
BANG
Oh goody, Mom's home...
"EVERYBODY FRONT AND CENTER!"
And there goes dad shrieking his head off again.
After everyone (Mom, Dad, Isaiah and I) were gathered together dad looked at each of us sternly.
"Isiah," gosh just saying his name made the kid jump, "do you know what today is?"
"Um...Well..." oh my god Isaiah just say it, "I don't know."
"Jacklyn, do you know what today is?" Do I freaking look like I know what today is? It's Monday Dad.
"No Dad, I don't know what today is."
"Mommy, do you know what today is?"
"Yes, I do dear."
"Pray tell, what is today Mommy?"
"Well," Mom said a little breathlessly, "today is the day that a winner for the $12 million dollar lottery was picked."
"And..." Said Dad trying to wind up Isaiah even more.
"Well," she said, OH MY GOD MOM JUST SAY IT!!!, "WE WON!!!!"
"No fucking way," I said, my jaw going slack.
"Yes dear", Mom said looking at me affectionately, " and after you are out of highschool we are going on vacation, to London, to buy another house."
"But first", said Dad, pausing for effect, "we need to pay bills, and set everything aside before we do anything else."
"Not even shopping?" said Mom and I at the same time.
"Not even shopping." said Dad decisively.

1: The Troubling Day

"I just can't wait until next week!"
Yeah, than I can finally get out of this school.
Jack caught snippets of conversation as she walked through the halls of Hinckley Highschool. Her name is actually Jacklyn Debelfore, but she preferred to be recognized the Tim Burton's creation than by a more cheerful sounding name.
"Well look who it is. So Jack, what's it like pretending to be a guy?"
"Did you realize that you're too ugly for any guy to go out with, let alone look at, you?"
Great, the jackasses have landed.
These jackasses names are:
David- The captain of the football team whose only problem with Jack was that she was the only one who didn't worship him.
Luis- David's best friend who didn't like Jack because she knew more Spanish than he did.
Jacob- The third in this trio of idiots, who didn't like Jack because she dumped her icecream in his crotch when he came onto her.
Fred- Cheerleading captain who only picked on Jack because he was trying to prove to the trio that he wasn't gay(even though his boyfriend at NorthWest could always be seen at the games and in the closet)
Looking up enough to make eye contact, Jack said, "You know what David? At least I'm not named after a naked statue, by some guy whose name you can't even pronounce."
The whole hall was apparently listening in because after Jack spoke the whole hall erupted with o's and shouts of "BURN".
Across the hall James had his eyes on Jack. James didn't stand out from the mix of punk, gangsta, posers, nerds and preps. In his black shirt and slightly baggy jeans no one noticed as he watched Jack. James saw out of the corner of his eye that Jacob had come up behind Jack with his American History book in his hands. Without thinking James rushed forward and grabbed Jack. Instead of Jacob hitting his intended target, the American History book hit James in the head with the spine causing him to stumble for a bit then, still pushing Jack away, fall to the ground with a thud.
The hall was silent as everyone's eyes were on the fallen James. Jack was the first to recover.
"Oh my god," she said as she bent down, "James?"
"Forget it. That little nerd didn't do anything anyway," said David, trying to recover his macho attitude.
"At least we know something," said Luis, "Jack finally managed to get herself a boyfriend."
The Jackasses left, along with everyone else in the hall so that, eventually, only Jack and James were left.