Page 2 of Drake Eternal

He’d spent the school year with us, and I knew that Sophie would miss him dearly. We all would. He was such a good boy, so calm and friendly. He was conscientious and a hard worker, getting top grades at school. His dark hair and blue eyes mirrored his father, and he was growing taller. He’d been a bit on the short side because of the years of illness, but he seemed to be completely normal now. Physically, he grew stronger with each passing month, and now, if you didn’t see the scar on his chest where he’d had a permanent port placed for chemotherapy, you’d never know he had been a cancer patient for years of his early life.

Children were resilient like that. We were so lucky that medical science had progressed so much that now, most children with cancer went on to live a normal life. Some still succumbed, and so we counted our blessings every day.

It would be hard to see him go, even if only for a few months.

Drake made Maureen and Chris promise to stay close to the more densely populated areas during their trip, just in case Liam needed medical care. Drake had taken Liam to a pediatric oncologist just to have a complete physical and check before agreeing to the trip.

Now, it was time to let him go.

“We’re going to miss you,” I said and gave Liam a hug, kissing the top of his head.

He shrugged and smiled. “I’ll be back. Besides, we can Skype any time we want.” He held up his latest Smartphone — an iPhone. “We can even do a video conference using our phones.”

I nodded and together, we finished packing his suitcase, which had a scooter attached. “I think that’s all of it,” I said and zipped up the outer pocket. “Your toothbrush and toothpaste and your meds are in your carryon.”

“Watch this,” he said. He moved the suitcase off the bed and then pulled the scooter down and rode it out of his bedroom to the staircase. He put the scooter back and carried it down to the main floor.

Then, he rode the suitcase-scooter until he reached the front door. He turned back after folding the scooter back up and smiled at me.

How I would miss that smile…

Drake appeared out of his office, his cell to his ear. He was nodding and speaking to the person on the other end of the line and came over to where Liam stood, putting his arm around Liam’s shoulder.

“I gotta go. We’ll meet you there. No, really. We’ll meet you there. We want to see him off.”

Drake ended the call. “That was your mother and Chris. They were going to pick you up, but I said no. We want to take you to the airport and see you off. Which is just as well since Maureen says they’re running late.”

“Okay.” Liam shrugged and checked his Apple watch. He looked back at Drake. “We should leave soon. Is Sophie ready?”

At that, Sophie popped her head out of her bedroom. She came out to stand at the top of the stairs. “I’m ready.”

“Good,” Drake said and checked his own watch. “I’m ready, too.” He looked at me and I could see he was trying hard to sound excited about Liam’s trip, but I knew he really didn’t want to see his son go away from us and to Indonesia. Not only would it be exposing Liam to various virus and bacteria that are unique to the area, but it would also be strange without his voice and laugh as a daily part of our lives.

We would all miss him.

Sophie and I went down the stairs to the main floor and together, the four of us slipped on our shoes and collected our things for the limo ride to JFK, where Liam would meet up with Maureen, Chris and their other child, a baby boy named Matthew. They had a flight to Jakarta on Emirates, first class, courtesy of Drake, with a three-hour layover in Dubai before their connecting flight to Jakarta.

Chris argued that they could take a cheaper flight on another airline, but Drake insisted. He paid for the four first class tickets and called it a birthday present for Liam.

“Why have money if not to spend it to make life better for those people you love, right?” he’d said when he purchased the tickets.

We loaded into the limo that was waiting outside the apartment and then drove off towards JFK, which was to the east of where we lived in Brooklyn. The trip was fast, and we arrived even earlier than planned, giving us some time to sit with Liam before turning him over to Maureen and Chris. Before we entered the terminal, Drake made Liam put on a KN95 mask. As a cancer patient on immune suppressing drugs, he would always be at risk of catching a more severe form of Covid, so we were stringent about masking in public. He would be at risk in the airplane and so before Drake agreed to let him fly, he made Maureen and Chris promise to keep Liam masked.

“Here,” Drake said and handed Liam a new mask. “Make sure to wear this. There’s nothing you can do about having to eat, but at least the air on the plane is cleaned continuously.”

Liam complied and slipped on the children’s mask.

We went to the Emirates first class lounge and waited for the rest of the family to arrive. Luckily, since Drake paid for the tickets and was a member, the three of us could wait in the first-class lounge for them to arrive.

Sophie and Liam sat by the window in chairs facing the tarmac. Drake and I sat at a table beside them, holding hands. I knew Drake was emotional as I was at having to say goodbye.

“I wish I was going with them,” he said, his voice soft and a little morose. “Wouldn’t it be nice for the four of us to take a trip?”

“We will,” I said and squeezed his hand. “When my article’s done. We could go anywhere you choose. We could even meet up with Maureen and Chris somewhere, if you really want.”

Drake nodded and exhaled heavily. “I’m glad I was able to take some time off this summer. We’re nearly through our scheduled surgeries for this quarter.”

“Good.”

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