Between the Lanterns(42)

“Well, babe,” August said with a surprised grin on his face, “I could always keep the original for us and sell Montek a copy… or heck, just sell them the plans to make the SameSoul. We could even take Woodrow with us. I don’t know, I just feel like we’re stuck in a bad situation with these jerks, so we might as well try to make the best of it.”

Woodrow had been folding laundry in the other room when he had heard his name, and suddenly pushed the workshop door open and wedged inside with the two of them.

“WOOD ROW,” it said.

Both Samantha and August snickered at the big, wooden robot. He always came whenever he heard his name, just like a dog.

“No, Woody, we don’t need you right now, sweets,” Samantha told it. “Go on back to folding the laundry, please and thank you.”

Woodrow did as he was instructed, leaving the two humans alone again.

“So, what do you think, sweetheart?” August asked. “Sell this little device, make a ton of Credit, and travel the world? Live like royalty in a different country every month?”

Taking a brief moment to consider, Samantha’s teeth broke free in an explosive moment of happiness as she screamed, “Yes, baby, yes! Please and thank you, too! Let’s do it. Let’s do it now!”

August was thrilled. He thought it was the absolute best move for them. After all of the awful things they had endured together, he felt they deserved to celebrate their life by doing this. It just felt right.

Samantha was in shock. She never for one minute thought that her life would have turned out like this. It felt like she deserved to have a wonderful life after all of the difficulties that had come their way in the past. Together, they had been through quite a lot, and it felt like the right time to celebrate that life by making this crazy move.

“It’s settled, then,” August said, slapping his knees and standing up. “I’ll call up Joshua Stevens tomorrow and offer to sell him the SameSoul. Of course, I’ll have to tell him about it first. Montek don’t know anythin’ about it, but I guarantee they’ll want it once they know about it.”

“Oh, sweets I’m so happy I could spit!” Sam said. “This is the best idea you’ve ever had. I’m going to the bedroom to start weeding through my old clothes and throwing out everything I don’t need anymore. Our lives are going to have to fit into suitcases now!”

August planted a kiss on Samantha’s forehead before she walked back out of the workshop and told her, “I’ll be out in a bit to do the same, babe. I just wanna finish this little hunk of junk I’m workin’ on.”

Five minutes later one of their cellphones rang.

“Hello?”

“Patient Lurie? This is Dr. Granger. I’m calling in regard to your follow-up blood work and scans. You signed a form that gave me consent to contact you by phone, so I decided to go ahead and do this over the phone rather than set up an appointment.”

Patient Lurie was dead silent, hoping for good news but fearing the worst, as that’s what life had taught them to expect recently.

“Well, the good news is that the cure worked, and your stomach cancer is completely gone,” the doctor explained, “with all of the internal damage having been fully healed by the second set of meds I prescribed.”

Patient Lurie exhaled a sigh of utter and total relief. It had worked. Everything was better, and there was nothing to fear anymore. Thank God.

“There is some bad news, I’m afraid,” Dr. Granger added, not sounding as if the news was awful. “You see, Patient Lurie, after this was cleared up and we checked your blood work and scans again, we noticed a different anomaly. Tracing it back through your proteins, we found something else.”

“What?” Patient Lurie asked with a dry rasp.

There was a long pause on the line, and Patient Lurie could only wait in dreaded silence for the answer that felt certain to be only one thing.

But no, it couldn’t be that bad. Things were going so well for the Lurie family. It couldn’t be that. Not a chance.

“Patient Lurie,” the doctor said over the line, “your Countdown has begun. You have five days.”





Chapter 18





DAY ONE





The decision whether or not to tell your spouse that you are going to die in the next five days seems like an easy one. You can’t just keep it secret from them. That would be terrible, wouldn’t it?

Or would it be kinder to keep them in the dark? Would you rather spend your last five days crying and feeling sorry for yourself, or would you rather spend your them planning for a trip around the world? That way, your spouse could still go on the journey without you to get away from all of the bad memories in this house.

It seemed like the better option, and so that is exactly what Patient Lurie decided to do. Keep it secret, and go ahead with the planning. It would not be easy either way at the end of the five days, but it seemed like this way, at least, their last five days together would be pleasant.





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“Mr. Stevens?” August said.

There was a momentary pause on the other end, and a deep inhalation of breath before Joshua said, “Mr. Lurie! I can’t believe you’re calling! Have you changed your mind about your automaton? I promise you that you won’t regret it. You’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams.”