XXIV: In Which Ron and Colin Make a Discovery

Jane looked up at the door chime and smiled, seeing the customers coming in.  She didn’t need special powers to know what this order would be. Two familiar faces were walking in, hand in hand.  The taller of the two was a stunning Arab girl dressed in a flower-print floor-length dress, the shorter was a white girl with short brown hair, dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans.

“Good morning, Jumana.  Good morning, Star. Secret Special today?”  She asked, knowing the answer was yes.

“Yes, please, Jane.  How are you today?” Jumana asked.

“I’m doing really well, this morning’s been slow.  How about you two?” Jane replied.

“Ah, Statistics is kicking my a*s.” Star said. “I don’t know why I ever thought it was a good idea to take it as a morning class.”  Jumana just laughed to herself.

“I’m just keeping my Heart company while I wait for my first class to start at a reasonable hour.”  She said. Jane laughed with her.

“Ok, just give me a minute and I’ll bring your drink to you when it’s ready.”  Jane said. Usually customers were called to the counter when their drinks were ready, but Jumana and Star were a special case.  She went to the back freezer and grabbed the secret tub of ice cream and brought it to the front. Jumana was Ahmed, the general manager’s daughter and she had a soft spot for milkshakes, so Ahmed kept the ice cream in the store just for her and Star.

Jane scooped the ice cream and other ingredients into the blender, thinking how lucky the girls were.  The two of them lived with Ahmed while they went to college, because Star’s parents had thrown her out of their home when she came out of the closet.  Ahmed had taken her in and accepted her as his own. Eight years ago, when Jumana had come out of the closet, Ahmed had uprooted their entire lives in their Middle-Eastern homeland to bring her to America where she could be safer.

The irony of their situations was not lost on Jane.

“Here you go, ladies!  Enjoy.” Jane delivered the milkshake with its two bendy straws to the table just as the door chime sounded again.  Colin walked in and Jane hurried back to the counter to make his drink.

“What are you up to today, Colin?”  She said, making a medium coffee with cream and sugar; Colin’s usual order.

“Ronaldo is supposed to meet me here so we can go to County Records together.”  He said casually.

“I hope you guys find something, for Zachary’s sake”  She took his money and punched his card.

“So do I.  I hope we’re doing the right thing, though.  I can’t imagine being so bored I’d risk going to hell just to have a change.”

“I’m sure it will work out all right.”  She said, handing him his drink.

Colin sat at one of the smaller tables and waited for Ron to show up.  He was early for the time they had agreed to meet, but he always preferred to be early.  He took out his phone while he waited, and found he had a Facebook message. It was from Steve.

“Hey, I need to talk to you soon.  In person, it’s important. The message read.

“Sure.  I’ll come back to Kaldi’s and message you when Ron and I are done.”  He sent back.

It didn’t take very long before Ron arrived, getting his own coffee and joining Colin at the table.  They finished their drinks over small talk, then got in Colin’s car and headed out. Five minutes of driving brought them to their destination.

“Hello, gentlemen.  What can I help you with today?”  The guy at the desk looked to be a college student, young, pale, and awkward.  Ron stepped up and took the lead, much to Colin’s surprise.

“Hey, I’m doing a family history and I found some passages in my grandfather’s journal mentioning a friend who got sent to Kanetown State and I want to find out more about the guy.”  Colin was momentarily stunned. Ron’s entire demeanor had changed, he stood relaxed and casual and spoke his lie as if it were the most natural thing in the world. For the first time today, Colin finally noticed that Ron wasn’t wearing the usual caped outfit of Ronaldo Whispertongue and was instead wearing a plain blue t-shirt and jeans.

“Well, patient records are of course sealed, but we have a good variety of records here that are open to the public, let’s see what we can dig up.”  The young man said.

In very short order, with the assistance of the clerk, whose name turned out to be Chad, they were able to locate a death certificate for one Nathan McDunnel, born 1927, died 1953 at Kanetown State Mental Hospital.  Cause of death: Pneumonia.

“Now to cross reference with the Pathological Reports.”  Chad said. Thankfully these are indexed. They’re public record because they have a lot of details but no patient names.  Let’s see, April twenty-fourth, Nineteen Fifty-Three. Died of Pneumonia.” After a few minutes of searching, he pulled out a record. “Here we go.”  He announced.

The record was an autopsy for patient #24601, twenty-six year old male, dead of pneumonia induced respiratory failure.  It went on to list the condition of the organs and appearance of the body. Suddenly, Ron pointed to a part of the report that Colin had skimmed past; the admitting diagnosis.

Homosexuality.

Nathan had been confined to an institution for the rest of his life for being gay.