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Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 09:11:41 -0500 (EST)
X-Sender: inachan2@mail.ican.net
To: jq@edc.ml.org
From: Ina-chan 
Subject: JQ: fic:Legacy(1/1)
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Reply-To: jq@edc.ml.org

February 26, 1998

Disclaimer: JQ Characters belong to HB & Turner Productions.
Rating: Language
Archivers: Tell me where
Category: P, a touch of Angst
Summary: Another person reflects on his past...

Legacy (1/1)
by Ina-chan

        "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
        I learned to hate that question as a child. I wanted to growl 
and poke the eyes out of whoever asked me that question. Of 
course I didn't. It wasn't the proper thing to do for a person of  
'our stature.'
        "So what are you going to be when you grow up?"
        [I'm going get a big black bike, wear a cool leather jacket and 
ride all over the United States of America.]
        "A lawyer ma'am."
        "Oh how wonderful! Your father must be so proud!"
        At this point I would glance at my father who will give me this 
proud 'father's day' smile. I would smile back then turn back politely 
to entertain his stupid guests. 
        My father. One of the wealthiest and most successful 
entrepreneurs of the century. A proud man with high expectations. 
Who loved his only son more than his own life, who ensured his son 
had the best education, who gave his son everything he ever wanted, 
who wanted to secure his son's name and stature in society...
        ... who wasn't there when his wife needed him the most. 
        ... who is never there when I need him.
        God only knows how much I loathe him.
        If I ever have a son of my own, God help me! I will never... 
NEVER be like him.  
         And yes. I never wanted to be a lawyer. He did.
        I didn't really know what I wanted to be back then. All I knew is 
that the world is a vast ocean of mysteries. And I wanted to solve every 
one of them. I wanted to go to the moon after watching Neil 
Armstrong's first step. I wanted to build ships, aeroplanes, robots, 
and talking machines. I wanted to travel through the freezing arctic or 
wade in the tepid rivers of the Amazon. I wanted to help mankind...
        ... and share all my dreams with him... 
        He laughed.
        He patted my head and said how proud he is of me for having a 
great imagination. And said that flights of fancy has its own time and 
place. That if I wanted to help mankind, I have to work with people, 
not machines... That I could help more as a defender of human rights 
and of the law... and maybe I might even become president...
        So when the time came... I went to law school. And it happened...
        I disappointed him.
        It was like running at full speed then hitting a brick wall. Maybe it 
was just the fact that it was my father who wanted me to do this, or 
maybe I was just not cut out to do this, or maybe I really was stupid... 
It was just so FRUSTRATING! I never failed in anything in my entire life. 
All of this just made me feel... angry!
        Distressed over the progress and possibility of kicking out the 
son of one of the founding families of this great educational institution... 
the University bigwigs matched me with a private peer tutor.
        IMAGINE! ME! Requiring a tutor! In the past, all I learn... whatever 
it may be... I thrived, I flourished, and I excelled. I graduated high school 
with the highest marks and as class valedictorian. I left Prep school in 
the Deans list and the gold medal of excellence in my belt...
        At one glance, she looked like one of those flower children. Long 
blonde hair, big bright blue eyes, innocent mischievous grin...
        B*tch.
        She was also one of  those no nonsense, no sense of  humour, 
die hard political science students... burn the bra in the courtyard radical 
feminists. Yeah, right. She acted more like a godamn Nazi with special 
prejudice towards men, specially me. 'Rachzbitchel the Hun'... Adolf's 
long lost daughter. Let's just say, the arrangement  was not a happy 
one. This woman seems to have this fixation on proving to the world 
that men are genetically stupid... specially... guess who? Yup!  Me. But 
after all the name callings and verbal jousts, there was one thing that she 
called me that was essentially true.
         "Coward! That's what you are Mr. Benton goddamn arrogant 
S.O.B. Quest. Stop cowering down and feeling sorry for yourself making 
everyone around you miserable. You have a GIFT man! USE IT!  If  THIS 
is NOT what you want, then get the hell out of here! Stop wasting your 
time. Stop wasting MY time."
        So I dropped out of school.
        I never have to see Adolf's offspring again.
        And it felt good!
        But my father wasn't exactly pleased. That screaming match on 
that day I decided to move out for good was really the last time we really 
talked TALK. I traveled around for a while... odd jobs here and there... 
It was fun! Until my father finally caught up with me. We had a compromise.
Stop staining the family name and go back school, I get take any course 
or University I wanted. So I went back to University... far, far away. I never
really did set foot back into that house ever since then. Someday... maybe... 
when the wounds heal... Maybe I'll return home to Maine. 
        But University life was a blast. Everything just came back easily after 
that. There I was plucking courses and degrees away, one after the other... 
basically impressing everyone since no one has really seen a person ace his 
first bachelor's degree within a non-stop two years, and still graduating with 
the highest marks. People who knew me thought I was probably one of those 
late blooming geniuses. Right. Who cared about them? This was what I 
wanted! I was learning the mysteries of the universe. Solving the puzzles 
called sub-atomic particles, studying lost civilizations, basking in the
cultural fires of the gift of tongues. This was what I wanted! And I'm finally 
happy?  Right? right...
        Six years after we parted, my father had a stroke and died.
        We never really did have a decent conversation after that talk with 
the lawyers.
        It's so funny, how sometimes life can become ironic all of the sudden.
        My father's dead. I thought... I was finally free... only to find
out that this was just the fastening of the first shackle. I was now the proud 
young  owner of  Quest Enterprises... with no background or business sense 
whatsoever.
        I was very... pissed off...
        ...at life, for being such a hell hole...
        ...at my father, for dying... for making sense...
        ...at me, for not listening.
         It was rough at first, but I did manage to get the hang of it. I mean, 
the stock market didn't crash because of me yet... YES. I know what you're 
thinking! THAT was not my fault. Life goes on... sometimes with unexpected 
twists.
        It was roughly after my Physics Ph.D., quite a while after I published 
my research thesis when Uncle Sam got interested in my ideas. I know, 
pretty exciting... but that wasn't what the irony is all about. That was when I 
got aquainted with the President's aide.
        I crossed paths with HER.
        Again.
        Adolf's daughter.
        I didn't really recognize her at first..  maybe it was because 
she was wearing a bra... OH GOD! I can't believe I said that. Don't  let her 
know that. She... was still very... upset about me calling her a b*tch back 
then... But she was the one who pushed me into getting a backbone, so I 
guess I do owe her.
        One word of advice... Guys, when expressing gratitude toward a Lady 
with no fear of commitment or strings... just send her a card. I learned and 
fell the hard way. A very turbulent and confusing two years later...
        'Rachzbitchel the Hun' became Mrs. Rachel Wildey Quest.
        I have no idea how it happened... or know exactly when it was that she 
succeeded in conning me into falling in love with her. It was a very...
weird... experience. But I didn't really care. It was that period of my life
that 
I could  say that I was truly happy.
        When my son arrived, I knew that everything was finally complete. I'm 
telling you, nothing can compare to the feeling of holding your first born in 
your arms for the first time. I know that they say that babies can't really see 
until they were a few months older. But I swear, when I held Jonathan in my 
arms, he opened his eyes and looked at me. As if his beautiful clear blue eyes 
were saying: 'So... you're my Dad! Cool! Hey Dad! Nice to meet you, now 
lemme sleep."
        I remember trying to hold back my tears as he reached out and curled 
his tiny little hand around my thumb... as he yawned... and as he peed on 
my shirt.
        Amidst the great joy and pride I felt, I also felt... fear. So that
day I made a silent vow. "You can be whatever you chose to be, my son. 
Whatever  you want. And I will  always be here for you."

        Then life mocked me.
        "You have a gift Benton, use it..."
        Gift... Or curse? You'd think, that after all the things you've done
for the good of mankind...
        Never listen to a woman.
        It was a conference in Switzerland... While I was demonstrating a tool 
that will help mankind lead a better life, they tried to take my family away. 
Rachel was able to prevent them from getting their hands on my son, but 
she wasn't able to save herself.  
        Nothing is sacred anymore. The world has become so power hungry 
that human life is reduced to nothing more but a commodity. The government 
assigned a man to protect my son. Another tangible proof of my weakness, 
my limitations, my fears...
        I wasn't able to save my wife...
        I was powerless to do anything...
        I am incapable of protecting my son.

        But despite my fears of the uncertainty of the future, there is one 
promise that I know I will keep.
        "So Jonny, who are you going to be when you grow up? Are you going 
to be a world famous scientist like your Dad?"
        I feel only pride surge through my heart, as I watch the
four-year-old in my arms shake his head without hesitation... without 
looking for a cue...
        "He will be what he chooses to be, isn't that right big boy?"
        My son only looked up at me and flashed his mother's smile in 
agreement. I can only try so much to keep a straight face as my son would 
intelligently answer the insistent questions I hated so much as a child, with 
a very serious adult-like solemn expression.
        "Well then, who do you want to be when you grow up?"
        "Batman."
        [Anything you choose to be my son, anything you choose...] 
	
---FIN---

Comments, criticisms, assault brick launchers to inachan2@ican.net

Author's Squawk:

        ARGH! I'm fountain of ideas this week... much to my physical body's 
dismay! YES SAIJIN! I promise! This is the last one, I'm getting sleep after 
this one.
        ANYWAYZ, this is for you people who wanted a follow-up on "Blur."  
Of course the story here is all based on my imagination. Just showcasing 
my beliefs about Rachel's death and the family wealth. I truly believe that 
Dr. Quest most likely came from a line of wealthy families, and Quest 
Enterprises is already an established institution before Benton got into 
the inventing streak. Trust me, wealth like the Quests have is impossible 
to attain in a single lifetime... yes, even if you win the lottery... unless
you won 100 Million more 20 times in a row. 
        Tell me what you think! ^_^.
Ja!
Ina-chan
========================================================
Favourite Quote of the moment:

     A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of
architectural art provided you had mastered them first. That would apply to
religion as well as to art. Ignorance of the past does not guarantee freedom
from its imperfections.

	- Reinhold Niebuhr 

Ina-chan
e-mail: inachan2@ican.net
insanity site: http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/psycho/66
ICQ UIN:  3364641


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