Chapter 20

The work day had been a blast.  His regular patients recognized him but kept the secret that David of Disturbed was actually their very own Dr. D.

Over his lunch break he and the other look a likes entertained a small crowd.  He learned that his colleagues could actually play the music his uncles and father had written.  And they took the persona they portrayed very seriously.  They wanted to look as real as they possibly could, even as they put on the impromptu mini concert in the smoking area on the hospital grounds.

Jake had spent years studying his father’s mannerisms.  All of the attention to detail made his performance look realistic.  For the eight hours of his shift, he WAS- for all intents and purposes- David Draiman.

The men and women he entertained that afternoon wanted to hear that music they could relate to.  “Indestructible”, “Warrior”, “The Animal”, “Prayer”, and “Liberate” had to be done, as well as some of the other material from during and after the Utopian Conflict.  Jake had a blast singing the songs he grew up hearing.  After the impromptu show, they faked signing autographs and passed out the signed photos of the real Disturbed.

When Jake arrived home that afternoon he started up the stairs to put his things away only to be stopped three steps up by his father’s voice from behind him.  “Jacob Micah, if you go up those stairs, you’re one dead doctor.”

Jake turned and looked at his father.  “Who said?”

“A young woman by the name of Delilah Cheyenne Holt- Draiman, soon to be just Delilah Cheyenne Draiman.”

“Oh really?  Well, I guess I’ll find something to occupy myself down here.”

“Come down to the basement and shoot some pool with me.”  Jake set his things on the couch and followed his father to the basement.

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“So, how was your Halloween treat for your patients today?” David asked after they’d broken the balls they’d racked.

“It went well. My regular patients recognized me but swore that they wouldn’t ruin the surprise for anyone else.  We did an impromptu thing during lunch in the smoking area.”

“Sounds like fun.  But, Jake, do me a huge favor, would you?”

“What’s that, Dad?”

“Don’t EVER pull this shit again.  Looking at you right now is like looking in a fucking mirror and seeing what I looked like 33 years ago.  I don’t really need the reminder in front of my face.”

“Don’t worry, Dad.  This”, he pointed at his face and now bald head, “was a onetime thing.  I will never do this again.  When I was a kid, sure, I wanted to be the next David Draiman.  Which of us boys doesn’t at first?  Then, on that rally tour, being you lost its appeal to me.  Hearing about all the death threats and the bounty on your head really killed that for me.  Don’t get me wrong I’m proud to call you my father.  You’re an amazing man.  But, that’s when being you kinda lost its romance for me.  You can trust that you’ll never see me do this again.”  The entire time he spoke he was lining up his shot.  When he finished he took shot and sunk the 2 ball.  “I’m solids”, he said.

“Are we calling shots?”

“What for?”

David shrugged.  “Ok.”  He lined up his shot as he continued.  “I honestly think that the rally tour was a wakeup call for all of you kids; especially your younger siblings.  Maddie and the quads had no idea what was going on until I gave that speech in Austin.”

“That fucking ‘Never Again’ speech.  You’re never going to live that down.  I hope you realize that.”

“Oh, I figured it out right after I did it and saw that uprising it caused.”  He took his carefully planned shot, sinking the 9 ball.

“One to one.  Don’t let me show you up, boy.”

“You can’t show me up, old man.  I don’t think you can even get it up anymore.”

David laughed.  “Listen to you talking trash already.  I think I’m going to have to teach you a lesson in humility.”

“You can try and fail.  I’m about to school you in how to play pool.”

“Ok, since you’re about to teach me how to play pool, then I’m sure you wouldn’t object to a friendly wager.”

“Ok.  If I win, you have to grow your hair out and wear it for a month.”

“Have fun arguing that with your mother”, David said with a laugh.  “If I win, you have to clean out the hot tub on your next day off.”

“Ewww, Dad.  That’s pretty fucking gross.”

“You’re mother and I haven’t anything in that hot tub in a long time.”

“But still… that’s gross.”

“Then you had better start schooling me after I make my next shot, hadn’t you?”

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 Jake hit his knees when he watched the eight ball go into that hole after his father took the shot.  “God DAMN IT!” he shouted.  “I’ve now got to clean that nasty ass hot tub that you and Mom screw in.  YUCK!”

“Let this be a lesson to you.  Don’t talk shit unless you can back it up.  And never talk trash to your old man.”

“Did you just admit you’re old?”

“Not on your life, Jacob Micah.  You just don’t talk shit unless you can back it up, especially not to me.  I’ll have to put you in your place.  Now, seeing as you’ve been officially schooled in how to play pool, do you want to try for a friendly, non- shit talking game?”

“I don’t know, Dad.  I was thinking…”

As he tried to finish his sentence, James and Jeremiah came down the stairs.  “AH!  We must be living in an alternant reality where there are TWO of DAD!” James shouted with a belly laugh.

“No shit, Jay”, Jeremiah laughed in response.

“What do you two want?” David asked.

 “Is that Jake over there?” Jeremiah asked.

“Yes, it’s me”, Jake responded.

James grinned.  “Well, ‘Miah and I couldn’t help but overhear the friendly game of billiards you two had going on down here and wanted to see if we might be able to join in.”

David looked at the silver tongue of the Draiman family.  James was destined to be a lawyer, David could feel it.  “What’s the catch, James Matthew?”

“We play teams.  If ‘Miah and I win, you and Jake have to pull strings to get us early admission to Loyola.  If you two win, ‘Miah and I will clean the pool AND hot tub once a week for three months.”

David and Jacob exchanged a look.  “What do you think, Doctor?  Should we take this wager?” David asked his oldest son present.

Jake scratched his chin.  “It almost sounds too good to be true, Dad.”

“Oh, he’s serious”, Jeremiah said.  “We never open our mouths to speak anything other than the truth.”

 “You’re just as bad a liar as your twin brother, Jeremiah Alexander”, David replied.

“I’m insulted”, Jeremiah said. 

“Good, maybe you’ll stop lying through your teeth, then.”  David looked back at Jake.  “What are you thinking, Jake?”

“I’m thinking that I can’t turn this down.  I mean, they’re gonna take over the hot tub”, Jake said with a chuckle.

“Then let’s not turn it down.  But, should we lose, which is doubtful, you still have to clean out the pool on your next day off.  If they lose, you’re off the hook.”

“I understand.  Let’s kick their asses, but we’re going to need a ref.”

“Oh, I agree.  We both know they cheat.  Who’d you have in mind?”

“Text Maddie and get her down here.  I’m pretty sure she’s not busy.”

David nodded.  “Brilliant.  I like it.  I’ll get her down here while you deal with Draiman & Draiman, Attorneys at Law”, he said with a laugh while he pulled out his phone to text his second daughter.

“Ok, boys, you’re on, but we want a ref.  Dad’s getting Maddie down here to officiate.”

“That’s fine.”

“All of you but Dad are assholes”, she said as she came down the stairs into the basement game room.  “Ok, let’s get this shit on the road.  Challengers rack ‘em, the other team breaks.”

And so, the game was on.

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“Ah, that’s bull shit!” James cried.

“Best two out of three”, Jeremiah said.

“Maddie?” David said, looking at the child in question.

“It was a fair game, and you two need to grow up and just clean the pool and hot tub tomorrow”, she said, sounding every bit like her mother.

“Thank you!” Jake said.  “It was a pleasure kicking your butts on my wedding day.  Thank you for sucking bad enough to get me off the hook with the hot tub.  I didn’t want to spend tomorrow cleaning it out.  I’d rather spend the day after I get married locked in my bedroom with a certain beautiful young woman named Delilah.”  He checked his watch.  “Speaking of, it’s about time to get this party started.  Shall we all head up so that I can say my vows?”

David laughed.  “I think we shall.  Maddie, you care to lead the way?”

She smiled.  “Of course, Daddy.”  She slid off of her little perch on top of one of the air hockey table and sashayed up the stairs toward the backyard with her brothers and father hot on her heels.

When they emerged, Jake was grabbed and dragged out to the canopy by his mother.  It was black to go along with the theme of the wedding.  It was Halloween after all.   “Stand here and be still, Jacob.  Move and I’ll kick you square in your ass”, Brie said to her son.

He laughed.  “Yes, Ma’am.  I’ll stand right here.”

She grabbed David and dragged him back into the house.  Jake stood and laughed.  He shouldn’t have been surprised that his mother was a wreck.  She’d been killing herself trying to put his wedding together.  He’d been ordered to stay as hands off as possible by the woman him was about to make his wife.

When his father returned, he was walking with the preacher was going to marry them.  He looked familiar, but Jake just couldn’t place from where.  “Reverend Sanders, this is the groom, my son Jacob.”

“Pleasure, Reverend”, Jake said with a smile.

“Pleased to meet you as well.  What is the point in looking like your father for this?” the Reverend responded.

“Ask my bride.  I have no idea.”

“I think not.  I’ve learned not to question the bride when I do things like this.”

“It’s lucky that you’re a non- denominational preacher or we’d have had to find a rabbi”, David said with a laugh.

“I’m glad I could be of service, much like my family has been to yours in the past.”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked.

“My father was the reverend that married your parents when they renewed their vows eleven years ago.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that”, David said with a laugh.  “I think I said the exact same thing to him.”

“You did, Mr. Draiman.”

All David could do was shake his head and laugh as he walked away.