Liquid L.E.A.D. Part 3
Are you, Dr. Johannes Dielberg?
Yes? I’m Dr. Dielberg. Is there something wrong Officers?
Dr. Johannes Dielberg, we are placing you under arrest, for failure to appear in court.
But, I haven’t done anything wrong. As I began to ask how and why they had promptly put me in handcuffs, and read me my Miranda Rights. The only thought on my mind other than, what did I do wrong was, how am I going to explain this to David, and will he still want to see me?
Upon arriving at the Jail, they told me that I had failed to appear in court, in the State, of Pennsylvania. It wasn’t until that moment where I put all the pieces together, “The Subpoena”. All to quickly, everything had caught up to me. Now, what was I going to do? They gave me one phone call, there was only one number that I knew at this very moment, it was David’s.
I decided against calling him, and requested a phone book to call a lawyer. After quickly scanning thru the book, I chose one. A few minutes on the phone, with this lawyer and I was able to convince him to take my case. He came down, a rather heavyset gentleman, in his mid 40’s. He spoke with me, made a call to the Attorneys office, which was handling the case in Pennsylvania. About thirty minutes later, he hung up with them, looked at me and said, why did you not comply, all you had to do, is tell the Attorney, if the chemicals you used, were purchased illegally. I looked at him confused. In my mind, I was telling myself, you stole them, not purchased them. He saw my look, and said; I know you were terminated, but those chemicals you relieved them of, were not purchased thru the normal Government channels. So therefore, if they tried to have you arrested, they would have to claim all the shipping manifests, costs, etc, etc. It doesn’t make it look good that you skipped out of town. There will be no charges against you of theft, because some of your coworkers said you made some startling advancements that you shared with them, and help the company at the same time. But it will make your testimony a little hard to swallow. They have accepted my Attorneys License, so we will be traveling to Pennsylvania on Monday morning.
Pennsylvania, but I can’t leave, not now, David. The weekend was horrible; I wasn’t able to get released, not even if I could have made bail. It was now Monday and we were on a plane headed to Pennsylvania. Upon arriving, I noticed there was a police car waiting to take us to court. We arrived, in the judges’ chambers the handcuffs were taken off and I was told to have a seat. There were three Attorneys defending the Company, my Attorney, and one from the Federal Regulations Bureau. The Judge was well seasoned and pulled no punches, there were two guards at the door. The questioning began, and I sweated every question, even the first one. Are you Dr. Johannes Dielberg? They went onto my age, my current profession, my current “Address”. Luckily they believed me when I said I was living on the boat. They had a copy of my Bill of Sale.
After the torture was finished, I was taken to a local jail, booked again for their records. It wasn’t until the next day that I saw my Attorney again, he said, if I can make bail, I would be able to get out, with the condition that I do not leave town, until they are done with me. The charges he said, against you, will be dropped after they finish with the preliminary hearing in Four months from now. I was sick, I needed to be elsewhere, I promised David I would be around, all, was lost.
I made Bail, my Attorney arranged for us to stay at a local motel. In my room, I laid there, almost in tears. What now, will David want to hear from me, will he understand? I never told him the whole truth about getting fired; I merely told him that my position was terminated. The Truth and a Lie at the same time, I picked up the phone and pulled out his number, and dialed.
The Answering Machine picked up, I was going to hang up, but when I heard his voice on the message, I hung on and began to talk. “Hi David this is Hans, I am sorry............I, suddenly I heard a click, Hello, Hans? Yes David it’s me. How are you? I am sorry I didn’t call you until now. Before I could get another word out, he stopped me.
Hans, is this true? I read in the papers, that a famous scientist was arrested, and saw your name. You told me, they terminated you position. It says here you stole from the company. Have you been lying to me all this time?
I fumbled for words, No! I have not been lying to you. There is much more to it than you think, I swear. When all this is over, I will explain everything, I Promise. There was nothing but dead silence at the other end. David, are you still there? Please, answer me.
I am here; he said. I was beginning to like you Hans. You were different from all the others that I’ve met, or so I thought.
No, David, I am. It’s just that when I met you and we talked, all I could think about, was being with you, I didn’t want to do anything to mess it up. You spoke to me without judgment and I listened to you and spoke with you without judgment. We have a chance at something, still have a chancel, please, don’t give up now, not when we are just starting.
Hans, I, I need to think. Give me some time. Click!
My heart was torn. I was ready to die. I thought, that the one person I finally met, whom had the same Fetish that I have, was the one. Now, all I know; is that when I speak to him again, if he’ll speak to me again, it may be the last.
I cried myself to sleep.
It has been a month now, and I haven’t spoken to David. Friends and coworkers that I hadn’t seen, have stopped by to see how I was, and wished me well. I went out to dinner on several occasions, with old coworkers.
Even my sister Goulda stopped by. I hadn’t seen her in two years. We rarely spoke since Mother and Father passed away. She was the only one who really understood me. We caught up on the latest family affair, and before leaving, she told me she was moving to Europe, with her husband and two daughters. He had been promoted, and given a CEO position, in one of the head offices. We promised to one day, get in touch, to never forget that we always had a special bond. With that she was gone. After Goulda left I started feeling lonely.
I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t spoken to David. I rummaged thru the end table next to the bed, and found his number. Before I even touched the receiver, I stopped myself, and began to wonder. Does he really want to talk to me? Is there any chance left? It’s been a month; does he think I gave up that easy? I snapped myself out of that train of thought and picked up the phone. I dialed his number, and the phone was answered by a strange voice.
She said hello. I asked, if David was there? She said hold on please. Sweetie, there is someone on the phone for you. SWEETIE?! Did I miss something? Did I dial the right number? Hello, I heard his voice. In a nervous tone, I said David............is that you? Yes, came the confused answer. It’s Hans.
Hans, is that really you? How are you? I haven’t heard from you in a month. I thought, when I spoke with you last and said I needed time, that you would call within a week. After the second week, I thought you decided to forget about me. I have missed you so much. All I wanted to do is hear you voice one last time. I Love You Hans!
All this came out, while he was crying on the phone.
I quickly joined him. His voice; was like music to my ears. We cried on the phone, and at one point, I gained my composure and asked. Who is the female voice on the phone that called you sweetie?
Who? Oh her, she is an old friend from childhood. She had moved down here a couple of years ago. She came over today to tell me she was getting married. We were talking and I told her about you, I was in the kitchen as you called, making us some tea.
It has been far too long, since we last spoke, and saw each other. BTW, I went to the Marina, where you said you had docked your boat. I spoke with the owner of the marina and asked, which one was yours. He pointed me to your boat. I saw a notice from him on it. “A TEN PERCENT FEE IS CHARGED, FOR EVERY DAY THE BOAT IS DOCKED, UNTIL “RENEWAL” OF THE RENTAL AGREEMENT”. He said, the ten percent, was figured on the amount of the Original Rental Agreement. He also said, if in 60 Days, the fees aren’t paid, you will lose the boat. You still have 30 Days left, to renew or pay.
When will I see you again Hans? I miss you!
I miss you too, David! I don’t know. My attorney said originally, four months, now he is not quite sure. All I know is that it’s already taken too long.
We chatted for a couple of hours. He relayed to me all the pertinent information I needed to take care of the boat, motel bill, car rental etc. After we hung up, I made myself some notes before going to bed. That night, for the first time, in almost six weeks, I inflated myself several times, bigger and bigger each time. Six foot, eight foot and even twelve foot round. I thought about David each time, I went to sleep happy.
The Hearings, had gone on now for sixteen weeks. I hadn’t been in today’s hearing. My attorney told me it wasn’t necessary for me to go today. So I bummed around town and got back to the motel by noon. I was going to order lunch, when I heard the knock on my door. Hans, I have good news. It was my attorney, shaking my hands and saying CONGRATULATIONS! It’s finally over. I fell to my knees and cried. It’s all over, I am a free man again, now I can be with David. The next day, we flew back to Florida. I was never so happy to leave Pennsylvania behind me, permanently.
I had settled with the motel owner while I was still up north. When I arrived, he greeted me and said, you are always welcome to stay with us. He gave me the same room I had had, only months earlier. I paid for a whole month, this time. I knew David would be at work, so I took the time and went to check on the boat. It was still there, just as I left her. The marina operator walked up to me and asked, if he could help me. No Thank You, I own this one, as I pointed. It was at that moment when he said, oh yeah, the guy who rented my slip for two weeks and got arrested. He walked away laughing. I went in, and immediately began to dust and clean everything, inside and out. It was now evening time and I made my way back to the motel. I went to sleep exhausted.
Morning came, I did my usual morning ritual of exercise and such. I picked up the paper that morning and realized, as I stared at it, Saturday Edition. Today is Saturday, David doesn’t work, or at least I don’t think he normally works. I quickly made it back to the motel and raced to call him. He picked up, and I was in heaven. We made plans to meet at the beach where we last saw each other. An hour later, we were in each other’s arms, hugging so hard, that we had to let go just so we could breathe. We walked hand in hand down the beach, talking about everything that had happened, since we last met. I told him everything that happened, and filled in the details, of why the company terminated me, and how I ended up on my island. I still hadn’t told him of my discovery, or the fact that my island, is in the Bermuda Triangle. It was after 1:30pm, and we were both hungry. We stopped at the Chinese restaurant he liked to go to. We placed our order and ate, all the while, staring at each other. After we ate, we walked some more, at the local mall. We wanted to let the food settle before going to an early movie. After the movie, David went home. We agreed to meet again in a couple of hours, after we both had a chance to relax, shower and get ready for dinner.
He came to the motel, and we agreed on a light dinner. We found something out west. We reached our destination; this time we took only his car. We were lucky enough, that the place wasn’t at full swing just yet. They promptly seated us, and we placed our order, and received the food shortly there after. We ate in silence, enjoying each other’s company. After dinner, we went for another walk on the beach. It was now close to 10:00pm, and we went back to the motel. He came in, and we both sat on the bed. I asked him to tell me more about himself, likes and dislikes, and so on. As we lay on the bed while he was talking, we fell asleep.
We awoke the next morning, in each other’s arms. Good morning, with a great big smile, was seen and heard from the two of us. We lay there enjoying the moment, for a while longer. I looked at the clock on the wall, and saw it was now 9:00AM. Oops, I said, I missed my morning exercise. Looks like I’ll have to do double tomorrow morning, or get them done later on today. He slowly leaned forward and kissed me on the lips, I reciprocated my feelings towards him. We both rose from the bed and stretched. After he and I showered, we decided to have a late breakfast. While eating, we engaged in idle chatter. After finishing our meal, he apologized and said he could not spend the day with me; he needed to be with his female friend. The engagement had broken off and she decided to go back north. We hugged and kissed for a long moment, and with that he departed.
Upon arriving at the motel, I decided that it would be best if I went to the island for a couple of days and make sure all is well, though the island is devoid of human or animal life, I needed to be sure. David called in the evening, again apologizing for not being able to spend the day with me. I told him that I was going back to the island for a couple of days, and that I would see him soon. A couple of hours had gone by before we were off the phone.
In the morning I spoke with the clerk behind the desk at the motel and advised them that I would be gone for a few days. Please do not rent out my room, as I have paid in advance. They assured me that the room would remain vacant until my return. With that out of the way, I went shopping for a few supplies for the trip home. After picking up what I needed, and loading it all in the boat, I went to the marina office and spoke with the manager and said I shall return in a few days. He said not to worry; I already paid for the month in advance, so I can return with all confidence that the same slip would remain open for me. I quickly boarded the boat and off I went.
It was late evening when I reached home; the solar powered lights I set up were a welcome sight. I retrieved a few items from the boat and off to the cave I went. Once inside I noticed the interior was dark, and the generator was not going. Off I went and retrieved a flashlight in the emergency case I kept in the boat. I went over to the generator and found the circuit breaker tripped. I reset the breaker and on it whirred. I looked around and spotted the cavern floor wet, hmm, I followed the trail of liquid and saw one of the coolant lines had burst and so the a/c unit had automatically shut off before it burned out. I decided to fix it in the morning. When I awoke the next morning, again no light, the generator was off. I reset the breaker and felt the heat coming from the unit. Immediately I remembered the cooling system was down, and if this generator was to operate fully, I needed to fix the cooling system now. It took almost two hours to fix the cooling system, the Freon was all over the floor, and I needed to add new Freon to the unit. That alone took almost an hour; I used all the Freon that was in storage to fill the unit. My exercise that day was repairing the a/c unit and cleaning the cavern floor. It took the rest of the day to clean the floor and to apply a preventive compound against any kind of bacterial growth.
I woke up the following morning, and did my usual daily ritual. After eating breakfast I went into the lab, it was around one of the corners that this cavern had. It actually, if you think about it, has rooms, eight of them in-fact. The one for chemical storage had an entrance to the lab. I went to the fridges in the lab that I stored my formula and found that they were still cold. The backup system must have kept them working when the generator went out. I tested each container one by one, making sure there was nothing wrong with any of the formula. It takes ten days to get the process working properly just to make the formula, and I wasn’t planning on staying that long. All the batches were fine; they were as pure as the day I had made them. I of course drank some, the smell of the mixture was sweet and intoxicating.
It was now early evening; I went for a stroll and thought about David. How am I going to introduce him to my formula without him freaking out? I want him to know the freedom of being inflated huge without worry, but at the same time, not scare him away and expose myself to the world. There was a cool breeze, and I drank it in. Inflated by doing so, I had grown to over twelve feet around, and was blown into the ocean. I immediately deflated, a little too quickly, causing me to glide across the water. I had to swim all the way back to shore. I smacked myself in the head and promised to never inflate outdoors again, next to the beach. Before going to bed, I took and packed two suitcases with necessities. I took a small cooler the next morning and packed it with Gel Packs, and poured some of the formula in a sealed cylinder, packing into the cooler. The Gel Packs would keep the temperature in the cooler for as long as three days before needing to be re-chilled. I packed all on the boat, went back into the cavern and made sure all was well before I left.
Off I went again to Florida, this time with heavy thought. How will I introduce this formula to David? It was the only thing going thru my mind the whole trip back. As it was when I returned to the island, it was nightfall here. I packed the rental and off to the motel I went. The desk clerk greeted me and asked if I wanted a room, I said I already have one. She asked my name and said ah yes, I was told you had a room reserved. Here is the key sir. I went to the room and unloaded the car. After entering the room and locking the door, I read the note from David that the clerk had given me.
It read:
HELLO HANS,
I STOPPED BY TONIGHT TO SEE IF YOU HAD RETURNED, BUT THE DESK CLERK SAID, NO! THE WEATHERMAN ON THE NEWS HAD WARNED OF A POSSIBLE STORM HEADED THIS WAY, COMING FROM THE EAST. I HOPE YOU ARE OKAY, AND YOU GET THIS NOTE. PLEASE, CALL ME WHEN YOU GET IN, I WANT TO KNOW THAT YOU MADE IT BACK FINE.
LOVE, DAVID
After reading the note, I immediately picked up the phone and called him. He was about to doze off when I called. We spoke briefly and I assured him all was well and that I would see him tomorrow night after he left work, and take him to dinner. Hanging up the phone, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a list of supplies I needed for home.