Todd Revisited: Missing Pages (Chapter 24)

He wasn't really in the mood for this joker.  He chewed his sandwich.  Although, this could be fun.  Taunting The Impostor all he could, at every turn, they found themselves in the library again, him eating his sandwich, and the other walking about looking . . . impostorish.


Neither was ready for Vickers when he came in.  "Hello Todds Manning."


Not humorous.  One thing lead to another, and he found himself in the confusing web of David Vickers' world.


"Only the real Todd Manning will be able to answer the following question," Vickers began.  "How many pairs of hands other than my own did baby Jack pass through before getting back to Todd and Blair?"


"Really?"  Todd said.


"That's your test?"  The Impostor asked.


"Answer the question."  David said matter-of-factly.


Todd talked first, "I thought Jack was Max Holden's kid, so I gave Jack to a Mexican nanny called Polumba."


"Paloma," said Impostor.


"Tomato."  Todd said.  "She gave the kid back to Blair."


"So I took him to the . . ."  Impostor began.


"No I took him to the airport,"


Impostor said, "Pawned him off on a baby broker . . ."


"But the baby showed up again, so I gave Jack to some Mexican nuns. . ."


"Who gave him to you."  Impostor was seemingly disinterested, bored.


"...because you said," to David Vickers, "that Jack was your adopted love child with your gay lover, Todd."


"Still gives me nightmares," said The Impostor.


"Tell me about it," said Todd.


"Well looks like I have my answer."  David said.


Puzzled, Todd got up.  "Ya know, I've been gone a long time.  A lot of things have changed.  So I take comfort in the things that are still the same.  So I'm glad to see that you're still a complete idiot."


The Impostor spoke up, "besides, this guy has already been quizzed about my life.  He's got all my memories."


"Yeah because they're my memories."


Todd's only recompense in this conversation was to bring up his mother, Irene.  The three of them tossed around her name and what she might know, before threatening David into bringing down the diary.


"We Todds don't bargain."


"We Todds take."


And when Todd grabbed a tissue to grab David's tongue with, he ran out of the room in fear and brought the diary back, leaving it for them to fight over.  "Looks like you two are going to have to learn how to share.  happy hunting."  And with that, Vickers was out of sight.


Of course, thinking it over later, he realized how babyish they were being about it, but they did fight over it, and had to be refereed by Vicki, who came home just in time to see them pulling at it between them and raising their voices.  She intervened and helped them, by reading parts of it aloud.  Of course, what they really wanted to know and to hear was missing, since pages were torn from the book.  As she read, especially the part about him being given away to Peter Manning and Bitsy, he could not help but feel a slight sense of panic within.  It wasn't visible to those in the room, but it was there, in the pit of his stomach, the way it was when he first started remembering his real truth and heard a conversation between Lilly and Aman back in Ireland.


His thoughts were interrupted by the accusation of the Impostor that he ripped pages out of his mother's diary.  And this altercation was also interrupted by a doorbell, which Vicki ran off to answer, handing the diary to him and leaving them alone in the library.  With the mention of Peter Manning and his mother and the diary, he found himself lost in thought.



"I'll listen, but you brought me back off the road, for Goodness Sake, wife, it has better be important and not a load of blarney!!"  Aman said, leaving his fisherman cart and running to the door.  She met him on the front landing.


"It's bad, Aman.  I think our boy is very sick."


"Why, what happened?"


She explained in detail the events of the last few minutes.  He was without words.  "Let me call the doctor, ay?"


She nodded.  "Aman, I was so afraid, not for what he would do to me, nothing like that, just for what he must have dealt with.  The things he said happened to him . . ." her voice trailed off and he put his arm about her shoulders.


"Now, there, there, woman, stop yourself.  You can't control what happened years ago."


"So sad, Aman.  How can people DO these things to their children?"


Aman did not say much, thinking back to what Lilly had told him weeks before about being frightened of the guest, when he had verbally attacked her without warning.  Inside, he though that there must have been much worse for their friend Todd Manning than what "Tom" revealed that day.  It was not over.