Plans for Maddie’s wedding were coming together, the quads were on their way to Chicago and Jake was prepping to fly out to Paris for the Nobel Prize ceremony. He wasn’t looking forward to it though he knew he was receiving a huge honor.
Delilah was getting bigger with every passing week and she and Jake couldn’t have been more excited. They’d started preparing the nursery for the adding Ira to their little family. Jake painted half of the room a shade of blue with green striped and added white stripes to Miri’s side of the room.
Finally, the day came that Jake had to fly to Paris for the Nobel Prize ceremony. He was packed and ready to go. He was just waiting for the time to come to go to the airport. “Dad, I really don’t want to go do this”, he said as he ate lunch with his parents and wife that afternoon.
“Jake, you’re receiving a big honor”, David said. “You should be excited.”
“I didn’t do it for the glory or the recognition. I did it because the men and women who suffer traumatic brain injury deserve to lead a normal life to, especially those who serve in the Armed Forces.”
“We know that, Jake”, Brie said, “but your father is right. You should be excited that your hard work is being recognized by the medical community at large.”
“What about all of the things that you’re done for massage?”
“I’ve gotten my recognition for what I’ve done and I’m teaching your sister all of my tricks so that my secrets don’t die with me.”
“But Mom, have you ever been nominated for something like this before?”
“No, but what recognition I’ve gotten is sufficient.”
Jake sighed. “I honestly don’t feel like I deserve this. I haven’t done anything for this high of an honor.”
“It’s usually the truly humble that get the rewards.”
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The flight to Paris was long and lonely. He was just thankful that he didn’t have to change planes but once in Minneapolis- St. Paul . From there it was a straight flight to Paris. French coffee, french food, the Eiffel tower- all things he’d experience before. The only places he was going to go were to the UN Headquarters to accept his award, his hotel room, and the airport.
After the series of civil wars that had broken out when he was a child the UN had been reformed and the headquarters set up in Paris. He was thankful that he wasn’t having to fly out to some Godforsaken desert to do this. They’d have just had to send it to him instead.
During the first leg of his journey he worked on his acceptance speech. Nothing he could say sounded humble enough. He tried to speak from the heart, but what cane from his heart sounded nothing like what he wanted to say.
The second leg of the trip was less stressful. Rather than trying to write out what he was going to say he decided to watch a few of movies, check his email, and things like that. When they brought him something to eat, he’d eat but it was only picking at the nasty airline food. He’d brought snacks that would help with his sugar should he need them. He couldn’t wait to get into Paris to get some food. He was hungry, but the food on this particular trip wasn’t worth the upset stomach later.
Once he was on the ground and through French customs, he went straight to his hotel. He just wanted food, a shower, and sleep. He preferred that they be in that order. Once he checked into his hotel room he checked the time. He could call home to let everyone know that he was safe and not get told that he was crazy for calling as early as he did. He called for room service and called home while he waited. He didn’t bother turning on the television because he wouldn’t understand a word that was said anyway. That was the biggest thing the irked him about travelling abroad. No matter what country he was in, they spoke the native tongue even though the international language for everything since after the Global Wars was English. The only reason they were called the Global Wars rather than World War III was that they were individual civil wars rather than one large full scale global war.
He waited for the phone to pick up as he dug through his suitcase for something to wear for bed. It was fairly early in the morning and the ceremony wasn’t until that night. After he left the UN from accepting the Nobel Prize he was going to go straight to the airport to go home. He didn’t want to be away from his wife, daughter, and unborn son any longer than he had to be.
“Hello?” asked a soft sleepy voice.
The voice brought a smile to his face. “Good morning, gorgeous”, he said with a smile.
“Jakey!”, she said in excitement. “You’re in Paris?”
“Yeah, been here for about an hour. Customs was a bitch.”
She laughed softly. “I’m not surprised. Have you eaten?”
“Kind of. I ordered some room service right before I dialed your number. I’m tired, hungry and I stink. After I eat, I’m going to get a quick shower and get some sleep before the ceremony this evening.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Are you going to go back to your room or come straight home afterward?”
“Straight home. Paris hold nothing for me without you here, baby.”
“Except the Nobel Prize.”
“And that means next to nothing to me. I really don’t care for the Nobel Prize. I’m just hoping that while I’m here that I don’t miss the big moment.”
“You mean me going into labor?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean. I don’t want to miss you having my son.”
“I already gave you a daughter. What more do you want?” She couldn’t help but laugh.
“I wasn’t in the room when Miri was born. I want to be in the room with Ira.”
“And so you shall be”, she giggled.
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He ate. He showered. He crashed. The room was nice and dark when he went to sleep. The curtain on his window were nice and thick. He’d gotten the room he had because of the thick black out curtains. It made sleeping just a little bit easier.
He knelt between his wife’s legs with glove on. There was head full of hair trying to come out. His mother was behind him trying to instruct him on how to deliver a baby. “If anyone in the house knows how to do this it would be her and me”, he thought. He carefully massaged the opening that his son was coming out of in between contractions. When a contraction came on he carefully maneuvered the baby out of the birth canal as she pushed. “One more push, baby. You’re almost done”, he coached. She pushed and he maneuvered the shoulders out. Everything else came with the greatest of ease. “Suction, please”, he said and held a hand out. He suctioned out the mouth and nose and his son took his first breath and screamed. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. “Welcome to the world, Ira Benjamin”, he said with a smile.
He came out of the dream with a gasp. “What in the fuck?” he said. He looked at the clock next to the bed. It was almost time for him to get up to get ready for the ceremony. He wiped a hand down his face and made himself roll out of bed. As he grabbed his suit and toiletries to get another shower the reflected on what he saw. “That was crazy”, he thought. “I’m not going to miss my son’s birth like I did my daughter’s. I’m actually going to get to deliver him. WOW!”
He turned on the hot water and got in the shower. He wanted to be sharp for this ceremony. He was going to use the dream he’d just had to get him through the ceremony that evening. At that moment, it was the only thing that was going to keep him in a good mood as he got ready to go receive an honor he really had no interest in.
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When he arrived he was asked to be seated on the stage so that he didn’t have to find his way out of the crowd to come up and accept the award. He did as he was asked and waited for everything to get underway.
About half way through, he was fight off the urge to fall asleep. He yawned several times and popped his neck to give his body a sensation that would keep him awake- pain. Instead of wearing his contacts, he wore glasses. He thought it looked better that way. He was having to rub his eyes behind the glasses to stay awake. Jet lag was hitting him hard.
Finally, they were announcing his award. He was forcing himself to stay awake long enough to finish the ceremony and get checked out of his hotel. There was a long speech about his research addressing him and “this young man”, then finally, they said his name. “For outstanding achievement in the field of medicine, the Nobel Prize committee awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine to Dr. Jacob Micah Draiman.”
Jake stood and accepted his award. He shook hands with the committee chairman and had his picture taken with a million flashing bulbs. When the flashing subsided- but hadn’t completely stopped- he approached the podium and gave his acceptance speech. “Thank you. This is truly an honor, but I wouldn’t have been able to achieve such success without the support of my wonderful parents and siblings, my loving wife and daughter, and the hard work of several medical students and a stubborn Cajun Neurosurgeon.”
The UN rep from the US laughed with him at the comment. Apparently, she too was a Cajun.
Jake continued. He was going to keep it short, sweet, and to the point. “I sincerely appreciate the committee’s long consideration in this. I am truly honored. On behalf of myself and the entire team that worked countless hours on this project, I say thank you.”
He took the award and stepped away from the podium, shook hands with the committee chairman again, then took his seat to finish the ceremony. The only one left was the big kahuna- the Peace Prize.
Jake sat back and listened patiently as the Committee chairman announced the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was fading quickly. Thankfully, the man that received the Peace Prize did like Jake did and kept his speech short and sweet. The recipients all stood and had their pictures taken as a group, then they group was dismissed.
Several reporters tried to catch him to take his picture and ask him questions, but he politely told them that he had no comment and that he was in a hurry. Finally, he got out of the building, caught the limo that picked him up at his hotel and went back to the hotel. He changed out of his suit, packed his things, and checked out of the hotel. After getting a cab he went to the airport, checked his luggage, went through customs, and went to the gate he was supposed to catch his flight home. He only had one layover in the trip home and it was in the same place as the trip there. For that, he was grateful.
He got situated on the plane and right to sleep after snacking on something to keep his sugar from crashing. Even as he sat and snacked on the chips he brought with him, sleep tugged his eyelids down. He made himself stay awake long enough to put the chips back in his carry- on, got comfy, and went to sleep. Now, all he had to do was get home so that he could deliver his son when the time came.
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