Gunning For Gibson

Chapter 3

     Daniel had slept in that morning, something he rarely ever did. Then again, he never crashed in the den either but there he was. He probably would have slept longer had someone not woke him by tapping his shoulder. As he opened his eyes, Emma was standing above him.

     "What is it?" he softly asked.

     "There's no food here." Emma answered.

     "I know that." Daniel replied, "I wasn't exactly given that much notice of your arrival."

     "Well, it's time for breakfast." She replied with her arms crossed.

     "We'll go out for breakfast." Daniel said as he hoped that would work.

     "Are we going to each out all the time?" Emma then asked, "It wouldn't be very healthy for anyone."

     "No, no." Daniel said as he sat up. "Just until we can go to the grocery store and stock up, which we'll do after breakfast."

     Emma didn't believe him but left to head back for the master bedroom to get changed. Daniel didn't feel like dressing up that day, especially since he was going to spend it all with two children. When Emma was finished with his room, Daniel went into the wardrobe and picked out some clothes he hadn't had not used in quite some time, a testament to either his fashion sense or the fact that he'd been clocking way too many hours at work. He put on a pair of loose fitting jeans, a white t-shirt that he usually one wore under dress shirts and some plain socks. He considered wearing sandals but instead used his cross training shoes that he usually jogged with whenever he found time to do so. When he emerged from the master bedroom, both of the kids were up and about, wandering around their new surroundings and getting a feel for the place. Daniel wasn't used to this kind of activity in the morning. Usually whenever he had any guests, they would depart late at night or first thing in the morning without even waking him up. This was going to take some getting used to.

     Stephen met him halfway in the hallway and looked up with him brown eyes Daniel hadn't seen for many years. "I'm hungry."

     "So I've heard." Daniel said as he was still trying to clear the cobwebs. "We'll go out for breakfast and then we'll hit a grocery store to stock up."

     "Okay." Stephen said without much of a fight. "Can we get some fruit loops?"

     Daniel paused to ponder it. "I'll consider it."

     He walked them both outside and this time instead of taking the fancy car which was a squeeze for the both of them the previous night, Daniel chose to take out a small SUV that he rarely used. The only times he brought this behemoth out of the garage was when he needed to move around without being too flashy. Given the situation, this seemed very appropriate and he also did it to make sure there was more than enough room for both kids as well as the food they were going to gather at the store later on. Daniel put both kids in the back as he didn't like someone sitting beside him. He wanted his line of sight clear, which was force of habit rather than paranoia. As he pulled the big vehicle out of the garage, Daniel looked around for anything suspicious before hitting the road. He decided to hit a small place close to his house that he knew served a good breakfast, eager to stay away from processed food this time around. Every few miles he would glance at the rear view mirror and count cars, looking for any patterns or signs that someone might be following him. Nothing seemed to stick out so he did one lap around the neighbourhood before finally pulling into the parking lot. As he ushered the kids in, Daniel quickly turned around and watched the next two cars enter the parking lot. They were not familiar so he let it go and walked in behind the two kids.