Between the Lanterns(52)

August stood up, dusted off his jeans, and joined in the laughter, saying, “You know, Sam, I’m startin’ to think you ain’t as good-hearted as I once believed.”

She tried to stop giggling to apologize, but couldn’t stop.

“I’m…sorry…sweets. Oh my gosh,” she somehow got out between laughs, “I needed that. Thank you.”

August gave her a theatrical bow for the second time that day and said, “Happy to be of service, m’lady. Now why don’t we head over to…,” but he was interrupted as he stepped off of the curb, into the path of a fast-approaching AutoCar.

Samantha tried to stop him and failed once again.

“August! Look out!” she screamed.

The AutoCar passenger was reading a newspaper and letting the vehicle do the driving. It detected a new obstacle in it’s path, and moved to avoid August without slowing.

It was not enough.

The AutoCar slammed into him, not fully, but enough to send August flying into the road. He lay there bleeding and silent. The machine drove on, never even stopping.





Chapter 23





DAY FIVE





August woke suddenly. His heart was racing as he looked frantically from side to side, trying to figure out where the hell he was. The recognition wasn’t instant, as his head was thick with pain and veiled in a mental fog. But August soon realized he was in the clinic on West Main Street. Recognition hit him as August saw one of the heartless nurses who let John die, years before. He even spared a moment to wonder why the man still worked here.

August was hooked up to several machines, and his arm lay at his side in a cast. He looked in the mirror mounted on the wall beside the bed, and saw that his face was a mess of scrapes and bruises. The rest of his body just about matched that look.

August glanced at the news vid playing on the monitor built into his bed-table and saw the date.

“Oh dear God, I’ve missed an entire day…”

Pulling at the lines in his arms and the tube in his nose, he called for a nurse. The other terrible nurse came striding into the room at the sound of the beeps from the machines, more than to August’s calls.

“Patient Lurie, stop that. You’re only making things worse. Just lie back and I’ll drug you up so you can sleep,” the nurse said.

August pushed the horrible man away from him, and yelled, “NO! Don’t you dare put anythin’ in me. You’ll regret it if you do. Where is my wife?”

The nurse scrunched up his face and said, “Fine, I won’t help you. You just go ahead and hurt yourself worse. I don’t give a damn.”

August grabbed at the rude man and yelled into his face, “WHERE IS MY WIFE?”

The nurse’s face took on a look of fear as he backed away and tried to pry Patient Lurie’s strong hands from his scrubs.

“Who? I mean, what… what does she look like? Maybe I saw her,” the nurse stammered pleadingly.

“She’s a Chinese woman, Southern accent, long, black hair… calls everyone sweets,” August said, describing the love of his life.

The nurse’s eyes opened wider in recognition and even rolled a little before thinking better of it, as he said, “Oh, her. She’s been storming around the clinic for a whole day now, talking to everyone who will listen about waking her husband up. I guess that’s you. Well, I saw her leaving about an hour ago. Probably, your wife just wants to change clothes and shower. She’s been here for too damn long if you ask my opinion.”

August let go of the man’s scrubs, who then fell back a few steps as a result.

“I didn’t ask you your opinion,” he told the wretched nurse. “Now get out of my way. I’m going home. I’ll be back later to sign any paperwork.”

The nurse started to protest, but at a glare from August he just nodded in agreement and left the room in a hurry.

Getting home wasn’t exactly easy for August. He had just been hit by an AutoCar two days ago and had suffered a broken arm and two ribs, not to mention the cuts and bruises covering the rest of him.

He had done his best to change back into his own clothes, but they weren’t in the best condition, and neither was he. The result was a shirt buttoned improperly, which created a very crooked appearance. That coupled with the blood on the garment made him look frightful. His pants were on, but August couldn’t find his belt, so he had one hand holding them up, the other hand held his shoes. There were no socks either.

August had no idea how he was going to get home, but knew he needed to see his wife as soon as possible. He began hobbling down the street in the direction of their home.

“You look terrible, Mr. Lurie,” a familiar voice said.

August glanced to the side and saw Joshua Stevens had just pulled up next to him in an AutoCar.

“I feel it, too, Mr. Stevens,” August admitted. “Look, I need a ride to my house. Could you please give me a lift? I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Mr. Stevens eyed the bloody clothes and almost said no, but August had just made Joshua a very rich man, so he didn’t especially care about the interior of this AutoCar. He was going to buy a new and more luxurious one tomorrow.

“Get in, Mr. Lurie,” he said without question.

August went to open the passenger side door, but hesitated and said, “Before I get in, tell me one thing. Did you steal my SameSoul prototype?”