The Letter from Dr. Barnstead
“Knock, knock, Daniel?”
Jacked walked in the front door and could see Daniel sitting on the couch. “Hey, I knocked.”
Daniel didn’t move. Jack walked over and tapped him on his shoulder. “Hey, you okay?”
Daniel remained rigid, except for the hands in his lap, which were shaking as they held a piece of paper. Jack grew concerned and moved around the couch to sit on the coffee table facing his friend.
“Daniel?” He waited. It seemed a long time before Daniel’s eyes finally focused on him. He took the time to note that Daniel was holding a hand-written letter. A photo face down lay on the floor at Daniel’s feet.
“Jack? Why…. when did you get here? Why didn’t you knock?” Daniel seemed truly startled.
“Hey, I haven’t been here long and I did knock. You’ve been somewhere else. Something on your—”
Daniel glanced down and quickly folded the letter, lost in a flurry of motion as he frantically felt around his legs and then in the sofa.
Jack reached down and picked up the photo face down, holding it to Daniel. “Something you wanna share?”
Daniel froze when he saw the photo. His face morphed a variety of emotions from shock to anger, not settling on one. What was clear to Jack though was that his friend was distressed, and this set off his alarms like nothing else could.
“Daniel, buddy, talk to me.”
Daniel didn’t move, not a bit. Staying in his awkward twisted position on the couch, his gaze wandered from the photo to Jack’s face. At first Jack thought Daniel was staring at him but it soon became obvious he was looking straight through him. Daniel’s mouth moved but nothing was coming out. Something was very wrong here. Reaching out to squeeze his knee, Jack said softly, “How ’bout I get you something to drink?” Rising to leave he was quickly stopped when Daniel shot out his hand and latched onto Jack’s arm.
“I-I got a letter and… and a ph-photo too. I-I’m not sure what to think of this. I mean it can’t be true. It has to be a joke. You would think I would have known. They… they would have told me or at least N-nick would have. It has to be a trick. Maybe the NID or or…”
“Slow down, Daniel. Back to the letter and the photo. What’s spooked you so much?”
Daniel pointed to the photo. “Look at it, Jack.”
Jack brought the photo, still face down, toward him. Then looked back over at Daniel, making sure that this is what his friend wanted. Daniel nodded, if only slightly, eyes transfixed on the photo.
Jack turned the picture around and was confronted with the image of a pretty woman probably in her late 30′s or early 40′s, although her youthful looks could easily belie her true age. She had striking features. A warm smile, hazel, maybe blue eyes, honey skinned, and all neatly framed with light brown hair. The name at the bottom of the page identified her as—Melinda C. Barnstead.
“Dr. Barnstead, just got appointed to the SGC, she’ll be here within the month.” Daniel said, scrubbing a hand across his face as he rose and moved to look out of his window. “She said she can’t wait to meet me and… and—”
“Why is this so important, Daniel? So there’s another scientist coming to the SGC that’s letting you know about them and looking forward to meeting you. That’s not new and nothing to get you worked up like this. So, what is it Daniel?”
“She’s an archeologist too, ya know? An archeologist just like me. Just like me. She got married a few years back. She’s been a loner all her life until she met Ted. She has a daughter, Melanie Barnstead. Melanie turns two in November. Melinda also said she’s been looking for me all her life. She knew about me, just didn’t know where to find me. All her life she knew about me. I never knew.”
“Daniel, knew what? I’m trying to help you buddy, but you’re not making any sense.”
“Before she married she had a different name. She tended to use the one given to her by her foster parents. But her maiden name… her name was Melinda Claire Jackson.”
“What?” Jack looked back at the photo. “This picture is too recent to be a photo of your mother, so…” Then Jack looked closer at the photo. The twinkle in her eyes, they were definitely blue, and her hair maybe more blonde than brown, and that smile… it seemed so familiar. He looked up at Daniel, who was looking back at him expectantly.
“I should know, Jack. Something, right? We work in the most secure facility in the world; you’d think with all the background checks and stuff that someone would pick up a connection like that? Join the dots, that sort of thing. She’s older than me. Maybe… maybe…”
“Daniel, are you trying to tell me that you think this woman is your older—”
“Sister, yes, Jack! And she’s coming here.”
The End
