“Worth It”

Part 3

A short story based on the WB Series, “Tarzan”

By Deb Duncan

Disclaimer: Don’t own any of it…not the characters or the series in any form. I am making no profit off of this. I’m writing it purely for my own enjoyment, and hopefully for the enjoyment of some of the fellow Tarzan fans.

Distribution: If you want it, you can have it… just give me credit and tell me where it is going.

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John walked Jane to her car, wishing he was going with her. She got in the car, shut the door and then turned to him. “I’ll see you soon?” she stated/questioned through the window and smiled at him.

Crouching down, grasping her hand, he stared at her. “Yes,” was his simple reply as he gazed intently into her eyes. The look of desire on his face could have melted steel with its intensity, and the smile slowly faded from her face, replaced with a desire so physical she could feel the blood rise to her face. Slowly smiling that crooked, sexy smile of his at her wide eyes and obvious desire, John kissed her hand and placed it inside her car. Blinking a couple of times to clear her vision, Jane looked at him again and decided she’d better leave quickly, before anything else happened.

Regaining her composure, Jane checked the traffic, waved and yelled, “Bye,” at John and drove off. John watched her car until it went out of sight. “Soon,” he stated, already thinking of when he’d see her again. Turning, he ran up the steps, entered the mansion, then ran up the stairs to his greenhouse, where Jane’s scent still lingered. Walking back to his little trysting area next to the waterfall, he looked at the remains of their breakfast, remembering all that had happened. “Soon,” he repeated to himself as he stared at the dishes. Then he gathered it all up and took it down to the kitchen, not wanting Mary or another servant coming to look for it.

Leaving the tray where he’d been taught, John wandered towards Kathleen’s suite, wondering if she was back yet. He had several questions he wanted to ask her, especially about money and reading. Not finding her, he prowled through the floor, ending up at his old nursery. Walking into the nursery, he wandered around it, looking at items on the shelves – toys, pictures, books. Wait a minute. Books. Reading. John crouched down and looked at the shelf full of children’s books carefully, pulling out the books one at a time and staring intently at the covers. Vague memories tickled the back of his mind as he stared at the books, especially that yellow one there, with the monkey on the front!

Carefully opening the front cover, John stared at the pictures and turned each page slowly. A growing feeling of connection with his past built inside him until finally something clicked within his mind. Concentrating on the pages, but not really seeing, he heard his mother’s softly laughing voice. “Curious George again, John? Haven’t you gotten tired of that book yet? No? Oh, all right, come on then.” Soft arms enveloped him as he climbed up on her lap and opened the precious book clutched tightly in his hands. It was his very favorite book.

The page started to blur and a tear plopped onto it as John’s first memory of his mother became clearer. Wiping the tear away quickly before it could damage the precious page, John was amazed at his wet eyes and the constricted feeling in his chest. His mother, he finally remembered her! No picture of her face came into his mind yet, other than the one he could always see when he looked at his locket, but the sound of her voice, the feel of her arms, were very real and tangible somehow, and he was extremely glad he’d come into the nursery again.

And that’s how Kathleen found him ten minutes later. A soft step into the room brought him back to awareness and his head whipped up. “John?” was her quiet question as she saw him crouched in front of the picture book. Her eyes widened a little at the moist eyes that lifted up to hers. She quickly recognized the book in front of him and remembered it used to be his favorite. Crouching down next to him, she started talking. “Curious George – as I remember, that used to be your favorite book.” Smiling at the memory of having to read it to him over and over again as a teenager, she added, “I think we all must have read it to you hundreds of times. You never could get enough of that book.”

“I know,” he quietly answered. “I remembered it…and my mother reading it to me.”

“You do? That’s great, John!” Kathleen was very excited. Maybe more memories would help him feel even more connected to her and to his home, so he wouldn’t continue to feel so out of place. Noticing him continuing to stare at the pages, Kathleen suddenly realized his hunger to read. “Would you like me to read it to you again, John?” she asked quietly. “I’d be happy to.”

Nodding his head, John answered, “Yes,” wanting very much to hear the story again, hoping more memories would come.

Settling herself cross-legged on the floor next to him, Kathleen turned the pages back to the first one and began to read. Fascinated, John listened and stared at the pictures, but no further memories came through. As she closed the book, Kathleen looked at John, who was staring at the back of the book, but not really seeing. “John?” she asked, wondering what was going through his mind.

“What?” he answered finally, coming out of his trance.

“Would you like to learn to read?” she asked, hoping desperately that he would answer yes.

“Yes, Kathleen. I want to read. I want to read, I need to learn so much, so I can be with Jane,” he answered quietly. Looking at her, he continued, “Will you help me?”

Kathleen’s eyes were suddenly full of unshed tears. Putting her hand on John’s shoulder, Kathleen answered. “Yes, John, I will help. I’ve already investigated hiring a tutor to help you learn even faster, and I think I’ve found a good one. The first thing she’ll do is help you relearn to read. You had started learning to read before the crash, you know, and I think it will come back to you pretty easily. And I will help, too, John.”

Staring at his aunt for a moment, John was amazed at how lucky he was to have found her again. “Thank you, Aunt Kathleen,” he said with total sincerity. “Thank you very much.” And he put his hand on top of hers and squeezed it. Smiling at each other, they finally stood up.

‘Okay then,” Kathleen said brusquely, “we’ve got a lot of work to do, and I have to get it started. I’ll talk to you more about this soon, okay John?”

John nodded. “All right.”

Kathleen turned and left the room. John crouched down again in front of the shelf. There were still a few books left on the shelf and he was going to look at them all…

~~~~~~~~~~

Jane walked into her apartment, locked the door and then closed her eyes and leaned back against the door, letting it hold her up for a few minutes. Her nerves and libido were still humming from that last look John had fixed on her. In fact, she really couldn’t remember the drive home; all she could remember was the look in his eyes. Strange, she remembered getting into the car, sitting there driving, getting out of the car and coming into the apartment, but that was it – not a bit of the actual trip. Jeez, she had to get a grip!

Nikki, hearing the front door open but no sounds of Jane walking through the apartment, came out of her room to investigate. “Hey, whatcha doin?” she asked as Jane came away from the door. “Where were you? I got home a few minutes ago and there was no note or anything!” Not leaving a note was a sin in this house.

Not wanting Nikki to know she’d stayed overnight at Kathleen’s, Jane tried to think quickly of some excuse. However, looking down at her outfit, she realized she was still wearing the outfit she’d left in yesterday, and if there was one thing her little sister noticed, it was clothes.

“Weeellll?” Nikki drug out the word, looking at her big sister. “Hey, you’re still wearing the same outfit you wore to Kathleen’s last night. Did you have to go out on a case and you’re just now getting home?” That was totally normal for Nikki by now; Jane was always getting called out of the house at weird times by Sam.

Giving Jane the very excuse she was looking for, Jane nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m beat. I hate that paperwork!”

Nodding sagely, as if Nikki had a clue what type of paperwork Jane had to do, she added her own two cents worth, “Yeah, paperwork, yuck. Everyone has it. You have yours, I have mine, heck, I bet even Kathleen Clayton has a ton of it.” And with that, she flounced away, back towards her room and the music blaring from her CD player.

Jane walked to her bedroom, dropped her keys on top of her dresser, and then collapsed on the bed. Thinking back on the night she’d just had, she sighed and closed her eyes, reliving part of it. Getting very warm at her memories, she opened her eyes and sat up. ‘I have to stop thinking about it,’ she told herself and began to take off her clothes. Maybe a hot shower would help. She certainly hoped so.

~~~~~~~~~~~

John had finished looking at all the books in the nursery and then carefully put them back. He got up and wandered around the room briefly, touching certain items and looking again at the photographs. Sighing and putting down a photo of his mother hugging him, he finally left the nursery and headed towards Kathleen’s office. He had a few questions for her about what money was and why it was necessary.

Padding down the stairs and walking towards her office, John noticed how quiet this corridor was on the weekends – without the hustle and bustle of the newspaper office. It both fascinated and repelled him to think of all those people working so closely together with all those strange machines. Kathleen had told him they were called com-pu-ters. He wondered what they were for. Plus, he noticed that they had TVs on all the time in the offices when they were there. How could they stand all that noise all the time?

Arriving at Kathleen’s private office, John peeked in to see what she was doing. She was talking on the phone, so he crouched down outside her office and waited for her to finish. Her back was to him as she finished her conversation and then leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed. John came silently into the room and sat down in one of her guest chairs. Sitting up straight and turning around, Kathleen gave an involuntary gasp as she saw John sitting in front of her.

“John! I didn’t hear you come in.” Her hand had moved up to her chest, resting there as if to help calm her pounding heart.

“What is money?” John asked. He saw no reason to delay asking the question uppermost on his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What is money?” Kathleen repeated back at him, still a little foggy-minded from the upsetting call she’d just finished, and a little flabbergasted at the question and the enormity of explaining it to him. “Why do you want to know, John?”

“Because you said I would need money to take Jane out to dinner and to the moo-vees. What are moo-vees, Kathleen?” John then thought of another question. “And why do I have to take Jane somewhere else to eat? The food is good here.”

“Well,” Kathleen said with a touch of humor, “is there anything else you want to know?” Her nephew was certainly a curious one, which was actually a good thing. It proved how intelligent he really was.

“Not right now,” John answered, thinking about it. “I just need to know these things right now. I have a plan.”

At that enigmatic statement, Kathleen just stared at him open-mouthed. “A plan? A plan to do what?” she asked, although she had a pretty good idea.

“A plan to make Jane mine, to show her I can live in her world,” John said matter-of-factly. Not volunteering any more information, he just looked at his aunt.

“Oh, I see. THAT plan,” Kathleen replied, with a small smile on her face. “It goes along with learning to eat properly and dress properly, right? Okay then, let’s get those questions answered. First of all, you have to take Jane out to eat because that’s what men do when they are interested in a woman and want to get to know her better. They take her out to dinner and talk to her.”

“Why can’t I just talk to her here?” This courting business was too confusing for John.

Realizing this battle wasn’t going to get won easily, Kathleen used the old standby her parents had always used on her. “Because that’s the way it is, John. That’s the way civilized people learn about each other. You can’t just fling a woman over your shoulder and run off with her; you have to treat her nicely and make her feel special. Do you understand?” She certainly hoped so.

John just shrugged and said, “Not really, but if I have to do this, I will.” He would do anything for Jane. Even if it sounded silly to him.

Kathleen decided to move on to the next subject. Tapping her bottom lip with her finger, she tried to decide the simplest way to explain money. “Money. How do I explain money?” John just sat and waited. He knew Kathleen was thinking.

“Okay. Money, John, is what people give to each other to pay for services or things they want. Money is a variety of specially printed papers and metal coins that have value. For instance, if you saw a pretty bunch of flowers downtown in the market that you wanted to give Jane, what would you do?”

“Take them,” John replied.

“No, no, no, that would be considered stealing, and you would get arrested. The person selling those flowers either grew them to sell them or paid someone else to grow them. This is how they earn enough to buy the things they need and want.”

Looking a little perplexed, John asked, “What is value and earn and … services and sell?” John didn’t understand a lot of terms yet.

‘Oh, my, this is going to be more difficult than I thought,’ Kathleen said to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait just a minute, please,” Kathleen said to John as she looked inward, trying to think of how she would explain all this to a child. “Okay, let’s try this. When you were in the jungle, and you saw that one of your jungle friends had something you wanted, how did you get that item without taking it or hurting your friend?”

John moved into a crouch in the chair and thought for a moment. “You mean like when Go-lat found some nice grubs and I wanted them?”

Kathleen couldn’t help it, she grimaced, but then she quickly recovered and smiled. “Yes, John, yes, that’s it. What did you do?”

“I gave him some pretty pebbles for the grubs. He was very happy.” John knew where there were a lot of pretty pebbles, so giving them up was easy. And the grubs had been very tasty.

“Okay, that’s called trading or bartering. You traded the pebbles for the grubs. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Kathleen hoped so.

“Yes. I gave Go-lat the pretty pebbles and he gave me the grubs. So?” John didn’t think it was a hard concept.

“Well, not everyone in a big city has something that everyone else would want, so we trade with money, instead. When the flower seller has flowers to sell, you give him money and he gives you flowers. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, but why would he want money? He can’t eat it and it doesn’t sound too pretty.” The world was very black and white to John.

“Because the flower seller can then trade that money for other things he wants, like food or clothes. Did Go-lat eat the pretty pebbles he got from you?”

“No, he just liked to play with them and look at them. Then he hid them.”

“Okay, but was he happy with the trade?” Kathleen was trying to make a point.

“I guess. I was. The grubs tasted good.”

Shuddering, Kathleen said, “That’s good, John. Okay, so if I had some food and you had some money, and you were hungry, what would you do?” She had to make sure he understood.

“I would give you the money for the food?” John was pretty sure he had it right.

“That’s right. And then I’d use the money to buy something else later. Do you understand that?”

“Yes. But where do you get money? I don’t have any money. And what does it look like?” John was very curious about this money now.

“I will show you different types of money later, when you’re ready.” No need to cross that bridge until absolutely necessary.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kathleen continued her money explanation. She wanted John to fully understand the concept because it was going to be very important to him later, whether he wanted it to be or not. “Most people get money by working at a job, like Jane does – she’s a cop and the city of New York pays her money to work for them, protecting other people and arresting bad guys. Jane is getting paid for providing a service – something she does - the service of protection. Do you understand that?” Kathleen knew it was a big leap, but she thought John was intelligent enough to make it.

“Jane gets money for her job?” This was a very strange idea to John. He sat and thought about it for a couple of minutes. “Is that why Jane is a cop, to get money?” John was frowning.

“Not entirely, John. People like Jane who want to protect others and who are specially trained, they become cops. It’s not just for the money. Part of who Jane is, is a protector, and so she became a cop.” Kathleen hoped she hadn’t gone too far with this analogy. She didn’t want John to think badly of Jane.

“Okay,” John said slowly, still thinking. “So Jane protects others and is a cop because she wants to be, but she gets money for this, too, so she can buy food for her and Nikki?” John had made the connection.

Kathleen smiled. “Yes, John, that’s it. Other people sell other items, like shoes or clothes or food, or they sell services, like protecting or cleaning, or building things with wood, and they get paid money to do this, because everyone can’t do everything in a big city like this. That would be too confusing.”

John had just thought of something and was very curious about it now. “What do you do for money, Kathleen?”

“What do I do?” Oh, how to explain that one, Kathleen thought. “Hmmm, I guess you could say I sell information and stories in my newspapers. I have many people who work for me, finding out information about different things that are happening, and about other people, and then they write stories or reports about this information, which I read and then have printed in my newspapers. I then sell the newspapers to other people who don’t have time to find out this information for themselves. Do you understand?” Kathleen certainly hoped so, because she couldn’t think of how to word it any simpler.

“Yes, I think so,” John said. “Are these stories like Curious George?”

“Not exactly, John. Curious George is a make-believe story. The stories I print in my newspaper are ones that really happened or will happen. Do you understand the difference?”

“I know what make-believe is. Make-believe is not real,” John said.

“Yes, that’s right. Make-believe isn’t always true, but sometimes it could be.” Kathleen hoped he understood the difference. He seemed to.

“It could?” John thought it would be neat if Curious George could come and live with him.

“Yes, John. Remember when you wanted Jane to come and eat with you? Did you picture that in your mind before it happened?” Kathleen sure hoped this idea would work.

“Yes, but it happened, so it’s not make-believe.” John remembered the night before very clearly.

“Yes, John, it happened, but before it happened, you imagined a picture of it in your mind – that was make-believe, also called imagination. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” John thought this was a great game to play.

“Okay, then Jane actually came over and ate dinner with us, and that was real. That actually happened. Think back, did that night happen exactly the way you had pictured it in your mind before it happened?” Kathleen sure hoped it hadn’t, otherwise this analogy wouldn’t work.

“No…not exactly,” John said, thinking hard. “Jane was dressed differently in my mind, and we did things in a different way.” Then he smiled hugely. “But it turned out better when she did come over for dinner. I got to kiss her!”

Smiling hugely at his happiness and that her scheming had worked, Kathleen replied, “That’s nice, John. Do you see the difference between real and make-believe, or imagined?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well anyway, we’re getting off-track here a little. Where were we?” she said half to herself, half to John.

“You sell stories and information to earn money,” John answered quickly.

“That’s right, John. However, not all of my money comes from my job. Some of it I inherited from my parents. And so did you.” Kathleen looked at him intently and he just looked back at her curiously.

“What does inherited mean?” John asked. Kathleen had been expecting that question.

“It means, John, that when your parents died, all of the money that they had earned and saved that they didn’t need to buy food or clothes or other things, they said it should go to you. That is inherited. Unfortunately, it is also this money that your Uncle Richard is trying to get by controlling you. And that’s why we have to stop him – because it’s your money, not his.” Kathleen didn’t know quite how far she should go with this line of information, but she needed John to understand the danger he was in, and the reason for it.

“Why can’t we just hide this money?” John used to hide things he didn’t want his ape friends to find. It worked very well for him at the time. The apes weren’t as clever as he was.

“Because the amount of money is very large, John, and it is invested in banks and other companies, not just lying around.” John was looking very confused, but Kathleen had to go on, for his own good, and hers.

“I know that’s difficult to understand, John, but it’s the way it is and I can’t explain it any better until you learn more about it. And there’s a problem - Richard wants your inheritance so our family’s company, Greystoke Industries, can get bigger and stronger. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always do good things with our company and its money. So, I fight with him and try to keep him from getting all of our inheritance.”

Kathleen looked at John, hoping he could grasp some of what she was saying. John sat and rocked a little in the chair, thinking about what she’d said. Finally, he looked up at Kathleen. “So, I have money from my parents, and Uncle Richard wants to take it, and you don’t want him to have it because he would do bad things with it?” He had grasped the rudiments of the problem.

“Yes, John, that’s right. And, you need to learn about our family company and what good things can be done with your money, because there are a lot of needy people out there.” Kathleen was somewhat relieved.

“If I kill Richard, then this problem would be solved,” John said quietly.

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