|
||||
|
� Duplicity I knew keeping Hamilton around would come back to haunt me. I just didn't anticipate it happening so soon. I received a call from a representative of Hamilton's staff earlier this week, informing me that he and the rest of the lab staff had quit. It didn't take much prying before he revealed the reason. Apparently Hamilton had threatened them after some experiment didn't go the way he'd hoped. I called Hamilton to Smallville and told him that I didn't have the funds to support his research any longer. It wasn't completely a lie, LexCorp has taken the majority of my assets to get off the ground. However, if he'd actually managed to produce some results, I would have found a way to keep him on. He hadn't. As soon as I broke the news he became irrational and angry... actually, he started off irrational and angry. He stormed out of my office, but not before telling me what a huge mistake I'd made. Judging by his demeanor, I wasn't inclined to agree. The next day, I was enjoying a peaceful moment of relaxation when the door to my office opened and my father walked in. I managed to make it through an entire minute with him before pouring myself a drink. I'm rather proud of that. He claimed that his doctor recommended he take a break and relax for a while. I suggested the sea air might be just the thing, but he insisted on staying with me. Damn it. The day after that, Hamilton showed up again. He stormed into my office, demanding that I hand over the octagonal disk we'd found in the fields a few months back. I told him it disappeared in the storm, but he didn't believe me. He shoved everything off my desk, vowed the conversation wasn't over, and left once again. Without telling me why he wanted it. After that rather disturbing encounter, and after dealing with my father, I was in need of some normalacy. So I drove out to the Kent farm. Mrs. Kent allowed me to wait in the kitchen until Clark got home from school. I passed the time by scanning her cook books. Clark finally arrived, and I told him how desperate I was to get away from my father. He wanted to know why I wasn't more willing to try for peace. I told Clark the truth, that my father's lied to me too many times. And something in Clark's expression changed. So I asked him about the octagonal disk. He casually replied it must've been carried off in the storm. A little too casually, if you ask me. I didn't like thinking that way about Clark, especially since I've been doing so well in the 'not wondering' department. So I decided to make a quick exit. And deal with my father some more. Finally, I put in a call to Dr. Rawling, my father's occupational therapist. That's when I found out that my dad had, once again, lied to me. Dr. Rawling said the worst thing in the world for my father was to be away from his doctors. I confronted Dad about it, and he said he simply needed to get away. Then he started giving me advice about Hamilton. Apparently he'd spoken to him, in depth, about his research. My father claimed that I'd been too rash in terminating Hamilton's contract, and asked if I'd taken a look in Hamilton's storm cellar lately. But not before lecturing me about my improper Oedipus reference and chiding me on not having a Merlin to my Arthur. The mansion's shrinking in size by the hour. I decided to humor my father, and agreed to drive out to Hamilton's old estate with him. Before we left, I made sure to put in a call and have the helicopter waiting when we got back. The storm cellar was completely empty. My father claimed that Hamilton must have moved it, then stated that he was going to stay in Smallville. I told him I hoped his decison wasn't based on a sudden interest in alien spacecraft. He said he only wanted to spend more time with me. I wonder if the Kents have a room available for rent.
|
| |||