Going into the bathroom, he shaved quickly and then showered even more quickly. Because of the way they had designed the master suite, he could go from the bathroom into what they called the dressing room without going back into the bedroom.
Once he was dressed, he first looked in on Emma. She was fast asleep and appeared as adorable as ever. He wasn’t worried about her for today because for her it was going to be like any other day, with no comprehension her mother’s life would be in jeopardy. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about JJ, with whom he and Laurie had had a talk the night before. There was no doubt JJ understood the situation. It was also clear that the boy chose to put on a face that said that he wasn’t concerned and didn’t care. But Jack knew differently as he was sensitive enough about his son to recognize the discrepancy between his outward behavior and his inner persona.
Leaving Emma’s room, Jack went into JJ’s. He had to smile when he saw how twisted up JJ was in his bedsheets even though his face at the moment was the picture of total repose. Jack could clearly remember himself in the fourth grade and how rambunctious he’d been. It made him wonder if he were in JJ’s school and acted as he had in his grammar school, would they also be asking to have him psychologically evaluated. Of course, there was no answer to such a question, yet Jack couldn’t help but ponder it. He had acclimated to the idea of having JJ evaluated, going along with Laurie’s idea that the more they knew about him, the better parents they could be. At the same time, Jack felt as strongly as he did before about the current rampant overdiagnosis of ADHD and the folly of putting so many children, particularly young boys, on stimulants. From his perspective, if there wasgoing to be such a recommendation for JJ, there would have to be one hell of a good argument, and it would have to come from multiple sources.
Although JJ’s alarm wasn’t due to wake him up for another fifteen minutes or so, Jack put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and gave it a gentle jostle. He had to do it again several times with increasing force before the boy’s eyes opened. When he saw Jack, he sat up.
“What time is it?” he asked nervously, apparently thinking he’d overslept.
“It’s still early,” Jack said, speaking quietly. “Everyone is still asleep. I just wanted to talk with you before I go off to work.”
“What about?”
“About Mom’s surgery today,” he said. “Have you thought about it since you, Mom, and I discussed it last night?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“What do you mean?” JJ said.
“Does it scare you? Are you worried that she will be in the hospital for a few days? Anything like that?”
“I don’t know, maybe a little. Can I stay home from school today?”
Jack regarded his son. He tried to tell from JJ’s expression his motivation for asking if he could stay home from school. Knowing his son’s penchant for computer games, it was natural for Jack to be suspicious that electronic gaming was more the driving force than emotional turmoil, but how could he be sure?
“Is that what you’d like to do?”
“Maybe,” JJ said.
Jack smiled inwardly, sensing he’d already got his answer from his son’s equivocation. To test his suspicions, he said, “If you stay home, there will be very limited computer gaming.”
“Aw, why?”
“We’d have to get your school to send us the work you would be doing in class so you could do it here,” Jack said. “But let me tell you something. If you’re worried about Mom going into the hospital, going to school might be better to keep your mind occupied. That’s why I’m going to work, and I’m going to work particularly hard. What do you think?”
“I think I should go to school,” JJ said.
“I’ll call you as soon as I know her surgery is over,” Jack said. “How’s that?”
“That’s good,” JJ said.
“And you can call me whenever you want for whatever reason.”
“Yeah, I know,” JJ said.
“Do you want to come downstairs and have some breakfast with me?” he asked.
“Okay,” JJ said, as he struggled to untangle himself from his sheets.
Breakfast was a simple affair consisting of orange juice and cold cereal. Conversation involved the coming weekend with the promise of bike riding and using the lacrosse sticks in the park. When they were finished eating, JJ went back upstairs to dress for school while Jack wrote a note to Laurie. Although he had offered to stay home for the morning and drive her to the hospital, she had insisted otherwise. She’d said that she wanted him at the OCME to help George Fontworth if there was a need, which she doubted. She’d insisted that Jack not make a production of her having herminor procedure, as she called it, and that she preferred to get herself to the hospital. He hadn’t argued.
The last thing that Jack did was have a brief chat with Caitlin for final instructions and to make sure she had his mobile number front and center in case there was any need to get hold of him even though neither she nor Jack could see that happening. Then after a final goodbye to JJ, he got on his Trek, and headed south.
For the next thirty-one minutes Jack was able to enjoy himself. Acombination of the weather and the required physical exertion cleared his mind. Even the traffic seemed slightly lighter than usual, and Jack had more tolerance than he often did for the yellow cabbies and the new bane of rideshare drivers. It was exactly 7:15 when he walked into the ID room to swat Vinnie’s newspaper and ask Jennifer if any interesting cases had come in overnight.
“It was kind of a slow night,” Jennifer said as he helped himself to a mug of the communal coffee. “But there is one here that might catch your interest. It’s a death by hanging that has the police confused as to whether it’s a homicide or a suicide.”
