The P.O.E. & a Gateway in the Basement

Prologue

Prologue

The moon is high in the sky and the rain is coming down like cats and dogs. Mrs. Whitmore is in sweats cooking her whole family dinner. Her only child Jacob is in the living room playing with one of his toys and watching cartoons.

"Jacob... you ready for dinner?" She has to yell a little because she is stirring the potatoes and the sound of the television is a little louder than it needs to be.

"Yes mommy." Jacob does not want to be disturbed from his cartoons.

"It's almost ready to eat so go wash your hands." She sets the table and sees car headlights seeping through the curtained windows. At that moment she knows that her husband is home from a hard days work.

"Honey... I'm home. Is dinner ready?" Mr. Whitmore enters the front door, places his bag in a cupboard next to the front door.

"You have perfect timing I am just finishing it." She walks over towards her husband and places a romantic kiss upon his lips, while wrapping her arms around him. But once she gets a good smell of his body odor, she realizes that he smells like perfumes and alcohol. "You have been with that woman again haven't you?" She is outraged knowing that he will go against her wishes.

"Of course... I have to see her... she is part of my team and we were celebrating." Mr. Whitmore is half-shocked that his wife is angry, but too tired and drunk to care otherwise. They both see their son standing in the doorway that goes into the kitchen from the living room witnessing their argument.

"Jacob Alan Whitmore! You go to bed right now!" She points towards the stairwell with a very angry look. Jacob runs up the stairwell as quickly as possible, but he does not go to his room, he stops at the top of the stairwell and quietly listens to his parents arguing. "That brings me to another point. Why can't you tell me what you do for a living?"

"If I told you once I have told you a million times... it's Top Secret."

"You got to give me more than that."

"Okay. I will give you the cliff notes version: I fight evil and save innocent people. Other than that I'm sworn to secrecy."

"If my own husband can't be honest about things how can I trust him?" She asks herself and only comes to one conclusion. "I can't... so if you can't tell me the truth I want you to get out of my life and don't talk to me again unless you want to tell me something that I don't all ready know."

"Okay then... that's it. What about my son?" He quickly collects the things that he carried inside with him.

"Just forget about him. Now go!"

Mr. Whitmore leaves without saying anything else. He should have figured that this relationship wouldn't last. Next time he is going to try to go out with a woman that he works with. That way she will all ready know everything he knows so there will not be any secrets between them.