@geraldinebanksJanuary2025
Sandy sat back in her high backed leather executive chair in her new basement office . The chair she suspected was a hand me down of Gerry’s but it was comfortable and her new Basement Office was to Sandy’s liking. It was state of the art and secure.
She thought about the three blissful days she had spent at Building 1 with Alex. It had been a wonderful time. Alex was a healthy little boy and they had both enjoyed each other’s company. She asked him to write her letters and she would send some in return. The secret compartments were theirs and theirs alone.
When the time came for Sandy to leave and go home , Sandy had consoled Alex telling him that there would be more visits although she didn’t know when they would be. But in the final moments of saying goodbye it was Sandy who had broken down inconsolably and Alex who comforted her in a way that was far beyond his years. Dr King came and spoke to them both kindly and said to Sandy that it was time to go and sent Alex off to play with some friends. Dr King put his arm around Sandy’s shoulder and suggested that they have a talk and some tea in his office before she left.
Tea in hand , Sandy listened carefully to Dr King. He explained that Alex was responding well to treatment, but a lot of the research into Alex’s condition had been destroyed or lost and Alex’s treatment plan had been and would remain a lot of trial and error. That would continue. The positive fact was that Alex had responded successfully so far and that Dr King and other researchers had gained a lot of insight into his condition through his treatment. There was, however , no guarantees.
Sandy had been so distraught at having to leave her little boy that she really hadn’t taken much of what Dr King had said to her at the time, but now back to her “normal life” she had time to consider what he had told her.
The previous night in bed Martin and Sandy had discussed the visit . Martin had lots of questions which Sandy did not have the answer to . How big was this ” resistance organisation”? When were these God- Like decisions put in place , removing sick children away from their natural parents and disposing them of so much rubbish. Martin and Sandy blamed themselves for not paying more attention to what had been happening. In reality however, a lot of the legislation had been put in place before Martin and Sandy were even born. They had no reason to know or care about it , until the legislation impacted their lives, which if Sandy had not been unfaithful it probably wouldn’t have.
Their initial anger subsided as they realised things would have been so different if Alex had been a fine and healthy boy. They wouldn’t have known about the ” Denaturisation Policy”. They would have continued to live their lives without even knowing that there was a problem. What was driving this idea of ” Denaturising” and where did it stop? They both became tired and emotional, and felt overwhelmed. They fell asleep in each other’s arms and hoped that the morning would bring them some energy and ideas on how to look at things anew. The end of the week would bring another Organic Vegetable Delivery.
Sandy’s mind wandered as she sat in her chair and she thought about Gerry. He was very important to the future, a lot of money was needed to keep facilities like Building 1 functioning. Sandy had wanted to tell Gerry and maybe show him some of the pictures she had taken but Martin was not so sure and felt that Gerry could be a risk, the less people that knew the better. Gerry could for all they knew be a powerful A1.
Just as Sandy was mulling this over , there was a message notification on her mobile, it was Gerry, please could Sandy pop into his office , he wanted an update on her new project. Sandy picked up her digital camera from her desk, she had decided to show some pictures to Gerry. The location ,date and time had been removed and the pictures were purely of Alex, there was nothing in the background, no people , no scenery , nothing to give any hint of where she had been.
When Sandy reached Gerry’s Office, she was just about to knock on the door when Millie bumped into her in the corridor. Millie was tanned and a bit flushed.
” Sandy, nice to see you , did you have a nice break? You look really tired, have you been burning the midnight oil, or have the twins not being sleeping? Millie was fishing.
” Hi Millie, well you know how it is , Martin and I did get away , but it’s not really like a holiday camping is it? I think I need a week in Marbella to recover.” Sandy was polite but not friendly.
Millie was unsure, Marbella was her and Gerry’s favourite getaway. The green eyed monster raised it’s ugly head. What could Sandy mean?
” Hhhmm,,, well I’m sure you’re too busy now to take any more holiday. Gerry says you’ve got a New Project. See you around.” Millie breezed down the corridor and didn’t wait to speak further to Sandy. Sandy heard Gerry’s voice
” Come in!”
As Sandy entered the room , Millie gave a glance back at her , but Sandy took no notice and she closed the door gently behind her. Millie’s suspicious mind was the least of her worries.
Gerry stood up from his desk as soon as he saw Sandy , he’d already moved a couple of chairs to a small coffee table in front of large viewing screen. Sandy took the memory card out of the camera and gave it to Gerry. Gerry put it on the table and walked over to his office door and locked it. Leaving the key in the door.
” I don’t want any interruptions.” He returned to where Sandy was sitting and sat down while he put the memory card in the viewer.
” You’ve got it all figured out Gerry , haven’t you?” Sandy said.
” We can’t be too careful , Sandy, it’s my only son we’re trying to help. You have no idea what affect this is having on me.”
” Millie thinks you’re back to your old tricks again.” Sandy looked questioningly at Gerry.
” She can think what she likes, she’s got exactly what she wanted, exposure, she’ll just have to put up with her old dear of a husbands funny ways. I can keep her sweet.”
” Millie thinks you’re banging me” She was trying to shock Gerry.
” Well , so what , it’s a good cover, we might even manage a few nights away”. Gerry said coolly.
” A few nights away, not on your life. Whatever I’m doing , I’m doing alone.” Sandy felt slightly ruffled.
” I’m only planning ahead, let’s look at these pictures, this is like an ache I’ve never had before. How is my son?”
The pictures of Alex, rolled onto the screen , and Gerry was transfixed.
” Wow, he’s a good looking just like his father.” Gerry looked up at the screen and sat down in the chair next to Sandy.
” Yes, he’s a lovely charming little boy. Yes I suppose you can be charming too when you want to; with Alex it’s natural. Alex is quite the little leader, a very bright , helpful child. Sorry sounds a bit like a school report. but yes he’s a lovely little boy.” Sandy looked at Gerry and then up at the pictures on the screen. One appeared of his bare stomach with the scars.”
” What are they?” Gerry looked shocked.
” Well , he’s had to have some operations, and I’m pleased to say everything went well and appears to be still going well There’s no doubt that Alex has been through a lot and is OK at the moment. A lot of the research for these conditions had been destroyed since the Health Act and the information they can buy on the ” Dark Net ” is spurious, there’s a lot of information for sale. It’s very risky, they don’t know who they are contacting, or whether the Research is valid. They have some very good people to analyse it , but at the end of the day , it’s trial and error.”
Gerry began to flick through the pictures of Alex again, Sandy could see tears forming in his eyes. Gerry wiped them away with his hand.
” Can I keep them?” He said, looking at Sandy.
” Sure , yes I don’t see any harm, after all , you’ve kept your side of the bargain. He is your son. I think you want to keep him safe too. Even if someone broke into this office and stole them, I’m sure you’d think up some story to cover up . He’s just a boy. Also the resistance has the best chance if it is well funded and you seem to have landed on your feet with that . Long may it continue.”
” How’s your investigative stuff going.” Gerry recovered himself and gave his eyes a wipe with his hanky.
” Pretty well, I’m doing the background history on how all this came about. Most of it happened before I was born and the Political Structure was different. They used to have a thing called Parliament, that just seem to have fizzled away , and been replaced by , well that’s the difficult bit . I’m not too sure, a group of anonymous powerful people is my conclusion, but who? Laws are passed or more accurately enacted by our extremely large civil service. It works very effectively. The Health Act incorporated the “right to live clause” which in effect was the opposite .It’s quite clear that the intention was to reduce the burden on Society of what could be a blight to it. Non- productive people. There’s been a Global Consensus too which has won through on the “Denaturisation Clause”. In some Countries the ” resistance” is much stronger, mainly for religious reasons . Other Countries well it’s not clear what their Policy is because you cannot get access to information. And, of course, the Dark Net, is certainly influential in all of this. That’s the place anything including information can be bought or sold. It’s all opened my eyes, which I’ve got to admit have been pretty closed until now.” Sandy felt she summarised what she had been working on pretty well.
Gerry continued. ” When I was a young man , I supported all of this . I just didn’t see the potential for what could happen. The Politicians became more and more nefarious and irrelevant. They were painted as extremely corrupt or stupid. I knew, perhaps know of some of these anonymous people you talk about, but we were not sold it as a way to eradicate the less able. We were sold competition and winning were important to a strong Country. The State was not supposed to start playing God. The democratic process was slow and cumbersome, debate was pointless. Eventually, no one attended Parliament, and it was easy to transfer power to what I must say became a very efficient Civil Service.”
” Gerry , this job you’ve created for me , gives me the chance to help these people who are helping Alex.”
” Yes, Sandy , your Press Card is going to be a perfect cover. I’ll keep you straight, when you get too close there will be sabre rattling, but I’m aware of that and I can watch your back.” Gerry watched Sandy closely
Sandy’s eyes flickered, and Gerry could tell she had her doubts.
She replied very business like . ” I’ll keep you up to date on my progress.”
“Thank you and one day, I hope to meet my son, he looked up at the pictures. I can be Uncle Gerard, but I’m hoping it can be arranged.” Gerry was almost pleading.
This put Sandy completely off her stride; she knew that security was key in keeping Alex safe at the same time she understood Gerry’s need to see his only son. She looked at Gerry and all she could say was.
” Thank you for everything you are doing, one step at a time Gerry.” She stood up, looked straight at him and picked up her camera from the coffee table as she went to the door and unlocked it and left.
Gerry remained seated for a few moments looking at Alex’s pictures. He knew Sandy was right to be careful and he knew his reputation went before him as a ruthless operator. He hoped he could win her over.
thenotsomightyom 