Episode 1 - Delivery Disaster

“Daddy! When are you coming back home?”, a little boy asked over the phone. James was on his way to deliver food at a nearby house when his phone rang and his son had called. “I’ll be home in the evening son, daddy’s working right now.” he said, stopping his bike at the side of the road. Sobs and whimpers came from the other end of the line as James’ four year old son began to cry,“Daddy please come home quickly, there's a strange man in our house and he is in mommy’s room!”, he said crying, “I am scared dad, mom let him in the house, but the man is scaring me!”. James stood there in a daze. “This can't be happening to me”, he thought as his son sobbed loudly over the phone. “Don’t worry son, I’ll come home right now”, he said as he kept the phone.

It was quite evident that his wife was cheating on him. James’ life had been hellish for the past few years, he lost everything in a fraud case and although once rich, he was now practically penniless. He had met his current wife during the days when he used to be the owner of a huge tech company. They married and had a son, but everything turned upside down when his company got involved with a data leak case. His business partner had been selling people’s personal data to big companies in order to get more money for their tech firm. The court case proceeded to find them guilty and James Brady and Company was set to pay two hundred dollars as compensation. That was a huge blow, which crushed his entire life that he had built. All his hardwood, down the drain.

James sped up his electric bike as he dodged traffic on a congested road. People yelled at him for almost crashing into their vehicles, but James was too in his head to pay heed to them. All that went on in his head was his wife’s alleged infidelity, and that made him terribly angry. “How could she.” he thought, “After I gave her everything.” he thought as he moved towards his home. His head was full of chaotic thoughts as he thought about his young son, crying for his mother who was busy in her room, with another man. He thought about his own mother and what she would say when she found out about his wife. James’ blood boiled with rage as he reached his apartment building.

“Not now”, he said rudely to the security guard who had approached to talk to him. James needed to catch his wife in the act, and he had every intention of plunging his pocket knife into the man she was cheating with. Pressing the elevator buttons, he waited, as it descended from the sixth floor. The doors opened and an old woman of roughly seventy years stepped out. She was carrying huge bags of vegetables with her and she looked really sweet. “Mom, what are you doing here”, he asked in a shocked voice. “Hello my darling boy! I just stopped by at your house to bring some fresh produce from the farm. I missed you and my grandson and so I set off with your favorites to come over and cook at your place.”, she replied with a smile

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To James, his mother meant everything. Ever since his father passed away during his infancy, his mother had been there for him throughout. Despite being a poor farmer, she did her best to provide for him, and even skipped meals so that he could have extra food. She raised him to be hardworking and ambitious, all by herself. James loved her alot. “Mom, why are you down here then, with all the food. Didn’t Rachel let you in?”, he asked her as he took the bags from her arms. “Oh yeah, son I did ring the doorbell plenty of times, but it seems like no one was home.”, she said, perplexed, “ I thought that on Saturdays, at least your son and wife would be at home, but it seems like she took him out for a walk or something. I was going to head home now.” “Nonsense, mom. You should’ve waited here at the reception or at least asked for me at the reception. They would have called me up and let me know about you at least!”, he replied. “Oh, it’s no problem son! These old bones needed some exercise anyway”, she said in a happy voice. “Well, mom you’re coming with me now, okay”, said James, taking his mother by her hand and leading her back to the lift.

In the lift he started thinking about his wife and how in a few moments, both him and his mom were going to have to deal with a sticky situation to say the least. He looked up and sighed. “What is the matter dear? You look anxious and weak. Have you eaten well?”, came his mother’s concerned voice. “I am fine mom, just worried about work and stuff.”, he said. For the moment, he didn’t want his frail old mother knowing about what might happen in the next few moments. “Oh, dont stress, my dear. Look, I have brought fresh eggs, bacon, and smoked ham from that deli that you like. I also have some good onions, tomatoes and lettuce.”, she said excitedly, “I will cook you a nourishing meal that will bring back the color in your face in no time!”, she patted his back.

The lift doors swung open, and they stepped out. “This is it. Better get this over with fast”, he said as he approached the door to his house. James stood there, with his mother’s bags of food, and rummaged through his pocket for his keys. His hands shook with anger and fury as he fumbled for his keys. “Let me hold the bags, son, while you look for the keys”, his mom said softly. “No, it’s all good mom.”, he had found the keys. Unlocking the door, he first went to the kitchen to set everything on the counter. He would not let his rage destroy his mother’s lovingly picked vegetables and meat. “Mom, why don’t you sit here?”, he said pointing to the living room sofa, “I’ll be right back okay?”. “Alright son”, she replied. Even though she knew something was going on in the house, she chose to remain silent so as to not stress her son further.

He first went to his son Benny’s room. Knocking the door, he opened it slowly to find his son sitting on the bed with a blank yet terrified face. “Benny!” James called out to him, as his son rushed out of the bed and into his arms, sobbing. “Daddy! You came back! Mom and the man, they were here. They..”, he couldn’t finish the sentence. James held his son and comforted him. “Benny, my baby. Hush be quiet, everything is going to be fine”, he said stroking Benny’s hair gently as he held him in his arms. “Can you tell me what exactly happened, son?”, asked James gently. Although he was furious from within, he couldn't show that to his son.

“He tried to hit me, dad”, replied Benny through his sobs.