Well, Dave did one thing right. He got the guys out of his old house. Frank arranged with the police department to allow him to go to his home and pick up his clothes so he had more than three shirts for work. It was all carefully arranged like clockwork. The police arrived at the house and made sure Kat and the children were safely away from the premises before Frank was allowed to arrive. Two police officers escorted him into the house, presumably to make sure he didn't take anything other than his clothes, while one remained outside in his car. Was he suddenly some violent criminal? They made him feel like Public Enemy No. 1.
Once Frank was in the house, he looked around for any sign of Frances or Eric strewn about. There was his daughter's portable CD player, she had that thing attached to her at all times. Why did she leave it behind? Was it a sign for him? A clue that something was wrong? She was his firstborn, she was his girl, he needed a sign that she was alright. He looked in the kitchen. He and Frances made dinner together most nights. He wasn't a great cook, but there were a few things he could do pretty well. The Francis Layton School of Cooking involved a crock pot, a piece of meat, Campbell's soup and anything else he found in the fridge. Leftover veggies, some potatoes . . . you got a stew going! He walked past Eric's room; it was a mess, as usual. He wanted to go in and roll around in the mess; smell that sweet, familiar scent, to feel at home again. It was almost too much to bear. He remembered the time he spent the whole night in that room with Eric. Kat had gone berserk on him. Eric was only ten, and he stayed out an hour past his curfew. Kat demanded to know where he was and who he was with. The kids knew their mom had a temper and were very careful not to tick her off. Eric lied and said he was at Mrs. Green's house hoping that Kat would take that as an answer and not be angry at him. She called her mom and found out that Eric was lying. She got the truth out of him by beating him with a shoe so hard he sobbed all through the night. Frank stayed with him to comfort him, and to make sure Kat didn't get angry at the crying and come in and start on him again. They all knew how to walk on broken glass by now.
The officer told Frank to hurry and get what he needed, which jolted him out of his daze. He went into the attic where his clothes were kept. Kat insisted that she needed the entire bedroom closet for her clothes and his clothes were to be kept in the walk-up attic.He packed his things and turned to leave. Walking out the door he started to feel dizzy. A cold, clammy feeling crept up and enveloped him like a dark wave. He felt like he was going to drown; he couldn't breathe. He almost got sick once out on the sidewalk, but he swallowed it down. He couldn't allow himself to feel these feelings, if he let it get to him, he didn't know what would happen. He steeled himself, thanked the officers and got into his car. If they had any shred of sympathy or kindness, they didn't show it. Just all in a day's work for the busy Delaware County Police Department.
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