Chapter 1 Part 3

Chapter 1 Part three

When baby Robert was two, his father came home for the last time.He parked his car at the end of the block and walked past a long line of devoted followers all the way to his doorstep. Margaret had Adam, Beth and Kate, who was now also presenting, posing for a picture.
‘Oh. Good thing you’re here’ she said, not really making the usual fuss out of his return. ‘You can join us for a family photo.’
‘I prefer not to.’ Joe replied. He noticed a boost in Margaret’s self confidence since he had last seen her. She no longer threw herself at him with love and longing as she had before. The children had shifted the spotlight of her attention.
‘Nonsense, you’re their father; you have to be seen with them sometime.’

Two things snapped at that moment. The first was a camera taking what was undoubtedly a beautiful family photo. The second was in the mind of a reporter from the New York Times who happened to be watching the whole event. This particular reporter had been following the phenomenon for some time and had recently visited Joe’s New York wife, Nicole. She was so proud of her little son, she decided to ignore Joe’s advice and call the paper. Moreover, she decided to be thorough and take him on a tour of every photo album in the building, some containing pictures of Joe. Albeit, a younger and happier Joe than one could find today.

That week a story was printed in the paper. It was about the five prodigy children found around the country and their common father. To three of the four families this came as a very big surprise. The fourth lived in Tucson, Arizona and hadn’t yet heard the news.

Joe woke up that morning with the business section of the Sunday paper. It was being slammed against his head repeatedly by Margaret.
‘You son of a bitch’ she screamed.
Joe wanted to ask what was wrong, but having just woken up so violently, couldn’t think of much to say.
‘How many families do you have?’
Margaret stopped hitting him and threw the paper on the bed. She stood over him and gazed into his eyes in a way she had never done in the past.
‘I thought the children were a gift from God, something that came out of our love for each other. Now it seems it’s all about you.’ She screamed 'get out'. Go live with one of your other wives.’ Margaret left the room.
Joe finally picked up the paper and saw the headline. It read: “children of sin.” How colorful. He gathered his things and walked downstairs to say goodbye to his children.
‘How many brothers and sisters do we have, dad?’ little Adam asked as he came down. Joe kneeled.
‘Thirteen, beautiful children, including you, son’ Joe replied truthfully.
‘Can they all do what we can do?’
‘It appears so.’ He said reluctantly ‘I'm leaving now children, but I’ll come visit you from time to time. I promise.’
Joe noticed Beth was angry with him. Her fists were clenched and she was concentrating. He quickly turned to check on his bag and rightly so. It had burst into flames.
‘Put it out honey.’ Margaret said.
She didn’t listen. After a few short moments, Adam put the flames out for her.
‘You should leave’ he said calmly and maturely.
Joe quietly took his things and left.

For the first time Joe broke his pattern of travel. He was on his way to the only place he knew to go, the next city in his list, his next family. Seattle.