By the time 10 o'clock rolled around on Saturday morning, Hutch had run four times around the trailer park, eaten a full breakfast, did a load of laundry, showered, and readied himself for the day. He was anxious and found it difficult to sit still.
He had an hour before Ren would arrive with his grandpa to take them into the city, and regardless of how long it felt, the minutes refused to tick by.
As promised, Ren's grandpa had delivered all the information he could about Cascel Tower on Thursday morning, and over Thursday and Friday afternoon, Hutch, and Ren, when available, scoured the information for details and followed every lead as far as they could. While nothing came of their search, they did discover a handful of now defunct companies that were once under the Cascel Tower corporation umbrella, all of which had names that were oddly familiar to Hutch. And while nothing led directly to Casimir Salvador, the added coincidences had cemented Hutch's belief that Salvador was out there, alive and waiting.
"You're going to put a hole in the floor," Cherry commented, coming out her room wearing her pajamas and her usual open, silk robe.
Hutch stopped pacing around the living room, turning in her direction. "Sorry."
"Something on your mind?" she asked grabbing a mug down from the cupboard and filling it with coffee.
"Plenty," he replied. "Ren and his grandpa are coming to pick me up in a bit."
"Right. He's taking the two of you into the city. You mentioned it the other day," she remarked taking a sip of her coffee. "Doesn't explain why you're about to climb the walls though."
"I just…" Hutch groaned, raking his hands back through his hair. "I don't like waiting. I would go for another run, but the neighbors are going to start to wonder, and I don't want to have to shower or clean my shoes again. The snow's made everything a mess out there, even if didn't amount to much overnight."
"Uh huh. That's the excuse you want to stick with?" she asked, raising her brows to him.
Hutch took a breath and sat at the counter. "Yes." He sounded less than convincing.
"Suit yourself, but if you ask me, there is no reason for you to be nervous. John isn't going to ask about what happened between you and Ren or about how you ended up in the hospital."
"Well that certainly has helped to put my mind at ease," he replied, his words laced heavy with sarcasm, even as he opted to latch on to the excuse given by his mother.
It was easier to run with her idea than explaining to her his worry over barely remember Ren's grandpa, John Dodge, or knowing he was less than two hours away from walking into the one place that may provide him with some answers, or worse, having none.
The thought of wasting Mr. Dodge's time with this bothered him in an unexpected way, as memories of his childhood continued to work their way to the surface since his return to Earth. He could now recall some of the time he spent with Ren when they were still very young.
Around the age of six, Ren lost his father, Matthew, to a car accident, and after, his grandfather, who was Matthew's father, became a more prominent member of the family, visiting often and helping take care of Ren.
Hutch could vaguely remember the small excursions he would be invited to join them on, when Mr. Dodge would take Ren to the one of the cities museums, the aquarium, science center, or zoo. When he was either nine or ten, he could even recall going to an amusement park and having to spend a night in a motel.
When he thought back on those happy memories, his heart began to sink, and he began to wonder when he began to change into the bitter teenager he had become. Ren's grandpa had been kind to him when it wasn't required. He was never under any obligation to let Hutch take up time when he was with his grandson, and yet in every way, he treated him better than his own grandparents ever had.
On one side, Hutch's grandparents, like his father, tried to deny his existence, and on the other contact had dwindled to empty birthday cards. Contact with his maternal grandparents had never been much more than birthdays and holidays to begin with, but that had completely stopped when he was about twelve after an argument broke out between them and Cherry. He couldn't recall what the argument was about now, but he could with ease, remember being dragged by the arm out of a house as both sides screamed at the top of their lungs.
"Mr. Dodge has always been as good to me. He treated me like I was just as much his grandson as Ren. He should question what happened and I should be nervous about facing him. I deserve whatever scrutiny he has for me," Hutch explained, and after the moment he had taken to think about it, he knew what the right thing was too do. "I intend to speak with him before this day turns awkward and that has my brain running in circles. Hence the pacing."
Cherry smiled, reaching out and setting her hand over his. "Jules, you say whatever it is you need to say, in whatever order it pours out. And I'll bet you, just about anything, John will appreciate your honesty. Until then though, try to relax. Being all worked up isn't good for anyone."
Cherry was right, being worked up wasn't going to help him in the long run, not with Mr. Dodge and not with the unknown of what awaited him in Cascel Tower.
For the remainder of the hour, despite his discomfort for sitting still, Hutch managed to stay on the couch with Cherry as she flipped through the channels, stopping on anything even remotely entertaining until a commercial, where the channel flipping would commence once again. Normally, Hutch found this behavior mildly agitating, but today it was easily ignored, finding it just distracting enough to finally push time forward.
"They should be here soon," Cherry said, turning off the TV with a groan as she stood up and headed into the kitchen. "There's a ten in my purse. Take it, so you can get yourself something if you get hungry. And I was thinking of getting take-out for dinner, so you don't need to rush home. Just enjoy your day out. You deserve the break after everything you've been doing around here."
"Thanks, mom," he replied, watching as she rinsed her mug and put it in the dishwasher, which he had spent the previous day repairing.
"No problem. I still can't believe you managed to get this thing working," she remarked, closing the door.
"You and me both," he replied, despite it being a simple issue of cleaning out the drain, which had, at some point, gotten clogged with gunk.
She smiled as she headed towards her bedroom saying, "I'm going to get changed. No need to be looking like I just crawled out of bed."
Cherry, who was now dressed and ready for her day, hadn't even made it back to the couch when a knock came to the door as it opened, and Ren stepped inside. "Hello!" he called out in his usual chipper tone. "Good morning, Cherry!"
"Good morning to you too, Renaldo," she replied, smirking as Ren's cheeks turned bright red, his eyes hastily diverting to the floor.
"You ready to go?" he blurted out as the screen door clanked shut behind him.
"Yeah," Hutch replied, with a nod.
Putting on his shoes, he grabbed his coat from his room.
"Money," Cherry stated, pointing at her purse on the counter while she searched around the kitchen, an unlit cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth.
"In the basket on top of the fridge," Hutch told her, knowing that she was seeking out a lighter, as he picked up her purse, flashing the ten he took out when she turned to look at him, lighter in hand.
"You boys have a good day. And Ren, if he gives you any trouble you tell your grandpa he has enough money on him to find his own way home."
"Will do," Ren replied, turning on his heel to leave.
"And bundle up Jules. The snow might not be falling, but it's still near freezing out."
"Got my toque and gloves right here," Hutch said, pulling them out of his coat pockets and putting them on. "We won't be back too late."
"See you later then."
"Bye Cherry!" Ren shouted as he bolted out the door.
"By Renaldo!"
"Your mom's so awesome," Ren remarked as he led the way out of the house and down towards the driveway where his grandpa was waiting in his silver 2002, Buick Regal, visor down, with gloved hands on the steering wheel.
Even at that distance, he was an intimidating sight, and with every step Hutch took, drawing him closer to that car, his heart began to beat faster. This was his green mile, thankfully covered in snow just enough to harken the stay of what felt like a pending execution.