Between the Lanterns(37)
“Now that is something I’d be interested in buying! How much for one of those wooden automatons? It’s like the future and the past all mixed into one. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
August just shook his head and smiled apologetically, saying, “I’m terribly sorry, sir, but Woodrow is one of a kind and will stay that way. He’s a special part of our family. My wife and I made him, and we certainly don’t want a bunch of copies runnin’ around. I’m very sorry.”
The customer looked disappointed, but not upset. August could tell the man wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Already, quite a few residents of New Dothan had begged to buy Woodrow, or even have August make a duplicate. With the popular fashion right now being retro, people went crazy over the wooden but sophisticated automaton.
“Oh, it’s alright, Mr. Lurie. I totally understand. He does seem to appropriately be one of a kind,” the customer replied. “Thank you for the phones and lanterns. I’m sure I’ll be back soon. This is a fabulous shop with some truly unique tech. Goodbye, now.”
“Thank you for your business, sir. We hope to see you soon. Tell your friends about us!” August said, waving goodbye.
The man walked out of the shop with his purchases, and Woodrow came back onto the floor to refill the phone and lantern displays. August replayed the interaction with the man over in his head for a minute. There was something a little bit funny about him, but August couldn’t put his finger on it.
Looking at the receipt, August noticed the customer’s name, Joshua Stevens. August had never heard the name before. But there was something odd about him. For one, the man was rather pleasant. That was relatively unusual; most people were brusque and ill-mannered. This Joshua fellow was complimentary and even said goodbye. Most folks just bought something and left, only saying how cool everyone would think they were now that they had this weird tech.
August didn’t want to judge the man negatively for having manners, but it was unusual. For the most part, the only people he had ever known with a lick of manners was his wife, his granny, John from the diner, and even Tara and Bobby, to a degree.
But that wasn’t even all of it. There was something else strange about the encounter. What was ringing alarm bells in August’s head?
Suddenly, it hit him.
“He called me Mr. Lurie, Woodrow, but I never told him my name. Strange.”
Chapter 15
PATIENT LURIE
The clinic on West Main Street was pretty much the same as the day John had died there years ago, and only a few months ago when August and Samantha had been there for the miscarriage.
It looked the same. It smelled the same. The same nurses worked there with their same cold stares. Dr. Granger still ran things with a feeling of checking things off of a list rather than making patients feel at ease.
But somehow, it felt much scarier today.
Dr. Granger straightened some paperwork on his desk and began asking questions without actually seeming to care what the answers were.
“So, Patient Lurie,” he said, “it says here that you have been experiencing what you thought were panic attacks. Then a week ago they turned into headaches. Is that correct?”
Patient Lurie only nodded, feeling too afraid to do anything else.
“And your bowel movements have become infrequent, but painful and loose when you do have them. Is this also correct?” the doctor asked.
Again, only a nod in reply to the cold doctor, fear leaving the patient unable to speak.
“Ok. Well, what I’d like to do is order some blood work and a few scans,” Dr. Granger said. “It sounds bad, but you never know until you check. So, for now, I’d like you to follow the nurse, and he’ll do the necessary procedures.”
Patient Lurie nodded again and stared at the floor. Things had been going so well lately. The shop was doing amazing. The whole city lusted after the inventions found at Sweets, Inc. They could barely keep up with demand.
The Lurie family was doing incredibly well financially, in fact, because of the shop’s instant success. They had even heard rumors that the local Montek.Mart’s tech department was trending down from last year’s sales because of Sweets, Inc. That was huge.
Montek, the biggest company on Earth, was suffering sales losses in one tiny city due to one little start-up tech company. Insignificant news to Montek for sure, but it was humongous news to the young start-up company.
That was all Patient Lurie could think about right now. With all the hardships and obstacles they had overcome together through the years, August and Samantha had finally come out on top. They were finally saving enough Credit to go on a tour of the world. They would finally be able to travel and see everything. And then the panic attacks, headaches, and other symptoms had shown up. Patient Lurie had a bad feeling about them, and that is what brought about the visit to Dr. Granger’s clinic on West Main Street.
A secret visit to be sure, though. What if it was nothing? What if it was just the stress of having a family-run small business? What if it was just the flu? No, it was better to come in secret and have some tests done just in case it turned out to be nothing at all.
“Patient Lurie?” a familiar-looking man said. “Follow me. Quit staring into space and get up.”
Dozens of pinpricks, a few scans, and a mouth scrape later, Patient Lurie sat alone in a waiting room. What to do now? Go home? Go to the shop? The whole ordeal had only taken an hour at best. The rest of the day was wide open, but how to enjoy any of it?