James Grippando - Leapholes

"One more thing," said Ryan. Jarvis continued down the hall, but Kaylee stopped in the doorway. "What is it, Ryan?"

"You know, I really was mad at you. I understand that everything you said and did was part of the test Hezekiah designed for me. But it still wasn't very nice the way you tricked me. Especially that night we spent in the dungeon, when you pretended to be so scared. The truth was, you could have gotten up and left anytime you felt like it."

"I'm sorry, Ryan."

Ryan wasn't sure if he should say everything that was on his mind, but he couldn't stop himself. "And it's not very nice to hold someone's hand if you don't mean it."

"You're right about that," she said as she lowered her eyes. "But there's one thing you should know. Just because I tricked you into thinking I was scared doesn't mean-"

A blaring announcement over the intercom-"Dr. Blanco, please report to the O. R. immediately"-completely drowned out Kaylee's words. Ryan watched her lips move. He could have sworn she said doesn 't mean I didn 9t want to hold your hand.

"Doesn't mean what?" Ryan asked.

She looked away, seemingly too embarrassed to repeat it. "Nothing. I'm just sorry about that whole thing, okay?"

He was curious to know if he had read her lips correctly, but he didn't press it. He was already feeling less anger toward her. "Okay."

She gave him a little smile and said, "I'm glad you're going to help us find Hezekiah."

"Me, too," he said. And he truly meant it.

Grippando, James

Leapholes (2006)

Part 2

The Brood Follows the Dam

From a very early age, Kaylee knew she was different.

Kaylee was just a toddler when her mother started fighting off the modeling agencies. Your daughter should be in commercials, they told her. Maybe even movies. She had perfect features. A natural beauty. Cha-ching, chaching. Her mother was smart enough to realize that the only thing those people cared about was the sound of a cash register ringing.

Kaylee was no dummy herself. In fact, she was so intelligent, it sometimes scared people. Once, when she was a little girl, she tagged along to the doctor's office for her mom's annual checkup. Her mom sat on the examination table. She was so pretty, looking exactly like the woman Kaylee dreamed of becoming. Kaylee watched intently as the nurse rolled up her mother's sleeve and checked her blood pressure.

"Very good," said the nurse, reading from the gauge. "One-twenty over eighty."

"One and a half," Kaylee volunteered.

"One and a half what?" her mother asked.

"One-twenty over eighty. That equals one and a half."

The nurse looked up from her chart and almost dropped her pen. "How old is that child?"

"Six," said her mother. "Well, almost six."

The look on that nurse's face was unforgettable. Over and over, throughout her childhood, Kaylee would see that same spooked expression. Hearing the amazing things that came out of her mouth, adults would guess that she was just small for her age. "You're special," her mother would tell her. She always made Kaylee feel that way.

It had taken Kaylee's mother a while, but finally she warmed up to Hezekiah and his leapholes. Some parents would freak out if an eccentric old man told them that their daughter has what it takes to become a Legal Eagle. Kaylee, however, had been pursued all her life, whether it was the modeling agencies or top private schools. Her mother checked out Hezekiah carefully. Eventually, she came to see him as a private tutor of sorts, though her affections ran much deeper than that. He was like family to her, and she adored him like a grandfather. It was difficult for her to accept the fact that Hezekiah was gone.

Naturally, her heart fluttered when Jarvis called her with the good news.

"Ryan and his mother are driving to Hezekiah's office right now," he said into the telephone.

"Awesome!" said Kaylee. She was speaking from her bedroom on an encrypted satellite telephone that the Society had given her. Secrecy was at the core of the Society. "What time are you meeting them?"

"Three o'clock."

"Do you want me and my mother to come over? Maybe it would put Dr. Coolidge more at ease if she met my mother."

"It's best if I handle the first meeting by myself."

"Why?"

"Because we can't trust Ryan or his mother yet. Your membership in the Society is secret. I can't run the risk of exposing your identity until I know more about Dr. Coolidge. You and I will be dead meat if she shows up on the nightly news talking about the secret Society of Legal Eagles."

Kaylee fretted for a moment. She didn't like leaving this in the hands of Jarvis, but he had a valid point. "All right. As soon as you develop a level of trust, call me. It will be easier to convince Ryan's mother to let him go looking for Hezekiah if my mother is there to reassure her."

"No problem."

"Oh, and just a reminder: Don't even think about taking Ryan by yourself to search for Hezekiah without me. That would be way too dangerous. You're not a Legal Eagle. Ryan may have what it takes to be one, but he doesn't fully understand leapholes yet."

"Yes, I'm fully aware that I'm not a Legal Eagle, that you are, and that Ryan probably will be. Is there anything else you'd like to rub my nose in?" He sounded quite annoyed.

"Sorry," said Kaylee. "I wasn't trying to put you down. I just want to make sure that this is done right and that we get Hezekiah back."

"Then we're all on the same team."

"Good. Don't forget to call me."

"I won't."

She said goodbye and hung up. But the tone of his "I won yt" made her wonder. Did he mean I won't forget?

Or did he mean I won 7 call?

Ryan's mother was no fool. No one knew that better than Ryan.

Sharon Coolidge had graduated at the top of her medical school class. She did her residency (a form of training for doctors after med school) at the most prestigious children's hospital in the country. She was a respected pediatrician. As Ryan had learned at a very early age, it was extremely difficult for a child to pull the wool over the eyes of a pediatrician. His friends could often skip school by faking illness in the morning. Not Ryan. One time he held the thermometer over the light bulb so that it would register a phoney fever. This same kind of stunt worked every time for his friend Sweaty Colletti. Ryan's mother just looked at the thermometer and said, "Either someone put a match to this thing, or you died twenty minutes ago."

No, it wasn't easy for Ryan to fool his mother. So, as he stood in Hezekiah's law office, listening to Jarvis talk, he had a sinking feeling. He knew that his mother wouldn't easily buy into the notion of lawyers who could make law books come to life.

"Leapholes, huh?" she said with a hefty dose of skepticism.

"Yes ma'am," said Jarvis. "That's what we call them."

"It's not really magic, Mom," said Ryan. "It's computerized. They're called Virtual Legal Environments."

"Is that so?" she said.

She didn't seem persuaded. Ryan was beginning to wish he had explained more to her during the car ride. He had gone missing almost three full days to take Hezekiah's test. Both Ryan's hospital physician and his mother were convinced that Ryan's accident had caused temporary amnesia. Their theory was that Ryan had walked around aimlessly for three days before someone finally brought him to the hospital. Had Ryan tried to tell her about leapholes and magician-like lawyers, she probably would have readmitted him to the hospital-maybe even the psychiatric ward. So he decided to let Jarvis do most of the explaining. Perhaps that was a mistake.

Ryan said, "Jarvis, why don't you take my mom to Hezekiah's library?"

"Good idea. Come right this way, Doctor."