[voicemail message] Hey there, Tiger. There’s been a situation on board the Zero-X, so I’m on my way there now to see if I can assist. Hate to let you down, but we’ll do movie night tomorrow instead. I promise. I hope you understand. Don’t wait up for me, I’ll be home before you wake up. Love you, son! Jeff Tracy out.
Three thousand,three hundred and twenty.
Three thousand,three hundred and twenty-one.
Scott has to travellight wherever he goes. A couple of grams could make the differencebetween life and death when he’s got three terrified peopleclinging to him and the jet pack’s straining way beyond its safetylimit. He can take nothing of meaning for fear of losing it down amine or on top of a mountain where he’d never find it again. Hetakes a photograph of the old days before dad disappeared whereeveryone’s laughing and there’s no strain in anybody’s eyes,not even his own. He looks alien in it now, all young and care freeand excited by the rocket plane being built in a hangar thousands ofmiles away. There’s no gray in his hair and the only weight on hisshoulders is Virgil’s arm, slung tight around him to draw him intothe picture. Scott keeps it with him just in case he needs somethingto look at; something good to fall asleep to one last time.
He keeps a voicemailtoo. One little voicemail he can’t even remember getting becausethe events afterwards wiped everything else out from his memory. Itsat there ignored for a day because Scott had far, far bigger thingsto worry about than one quick voicemail. He had things to do, so, somany things it’s been eight years and he still finds things heneeds to do. The list overwhelms him and consumes him even nowbecause a company the size of Tracy Industries can only wait for solong and people all around the world have got no time to wait at all.He’s always needed in sixteen different countries for twentydifferent things and it drowns him. It devours him even in his dreamsof explosions and having to leave the debris field – leave dadbehind because there was a little boy thousands of miles away who hadno parents at all now.
And he’d finallylistened to the voicemail that night because compared to everythingelse on his list, one voicemail he could deal with.
It helps in thedarkest nights when it feels like the sun’s got stuck beneath theearth and it’ll never rise again. When Scott’s watched thefootage for the thousandth time, his eyes all red and sore fromstaring at the bright lights in the dark and still finding nothing.When it feels like he’s got nothing he listens over and over untilhe knows every breath and hesitation.
But Scott does.Every night for hundreds of nights, each hour blurring into the nextand one rescue merging into another ‘til he forgets what countryhe’s in and what he’s even doing there. That drawl is all he canhear for months and it’s so loud on birthdays he can’t think ofanything except dad but he has to because he’s got four brothersand they keep getting older. They need somebody in their lives tokeep up traditions and make their birthday all about them. So Scottsmiles and sings Happy Birthday and tidies up confetti and putsplates in the dishwasher just like dad used to, hoping in time thatthe singing will become louder than that drawl.
“I’ll be homebefore you wake up….”
He listens to itwhen he wakes, sometimes. When his legs match the color of hisuniform or Thunderbird One’s grounded for repairs. Or if it’s asignificant day or a good day or pretty much every day for a fewyears.
One thousand. Twothousand.
He’s reached threethousand when there’s finally the breakthrough Scott stoppedlooking for two years and six months ago. Scott’s never given uphope; he’s a Tracy and they don’t give up hope no matter what,but finally the drawl has gotten a bit quieter and he can havethoughts that don’t immediately go back to dad. The good daysoutnumber the bad and that’s when it happens.
But he’s not out.You can kick a Tracy down but he’ll never be out. They never giveup no matter what life throws at them, the four wonderful young menwatching the new video with Scott can attest to that. They never givein even when the sun won’t rise and all hope feels lost. They keepon fighting and this shows them why it’s so important to keep theirfaith in the universe and in doing the right thing no matter what itcosts. Jeff Tracy; still teaching them life lessons after all thistime.
