Between the Lanterns(53)
Joshua looked aghast and said, “Why the hell would I do that? You sold us the blueprints. I can just make one now; I don’t need yours.”
“Damn,” August said to himself, deciding to worry about it later.
Right now he needed to get home to Sam.
He got into the car, slammed the door shut, and said to Mr. Stevens, “Drive. Fast.”
They pulled up to the Lurie family home soon after, and August exited the car without a word to Joshua Stevens.
“Goodbye, Mr. Lurie,” he called after August.
The AutoCar peeled off, going way too fast for this street. He should probably slow down. There were kids in this neighborhood.
August tore open the front door and started yelling out for his wife, “Sam! Are you here? Babe?” He ran to every door and threw them open, shouting all the while, “Sam! Babe! I’m home! Where are you?”
August hoped he hadn’t missed her. He hoped she wasn’t headed back to the clinic while he was on the way here. If she was, how would he get back? August couldn’t ride a bike in this condition. He sat down on the couch to catch his breath, starting to feel woozy from all the physical activity. He closed his eyes for just a moment, and the lanterns automatically dimmed their light.
He woke to the sound of the doorbell.
Shit! He had fallen asleep. It wasn’t his fault; August was still in immense amounts of pain as the meds were wearing off, and his body was trying to help.
The doorbell rang again.
August struggled to his feet and made his way to the front door. The lanterns followed him.
“Sam! Is that you?” he called out, as he pulled the door open as quickly as he could in this wounded state. Standing there was not his wife, but a man in a white coat.
“Dr. Granger?” August asked, his voice full of confusion. “What are you doin’ here? Look, I’m real sorry I left without fillin’ out the proper paperwork; it’s just that I needed to find my wife. You understand, right?”
Dr. Granger shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care and said, “We’ve got all of your information on file, Patient Lurie. Your leaving the clinic so soon won’t deprive me of my payment. I’ll get it, don’t you worry about that. I’m here to give you this.”
Dr. Granger handed over a large envelope with a bulge in the bottom, and August accepted it curiously.
“What is it, doc?” he asked.
“I know you and your wife don’t seem to think so,” Dr. Granger said, aggravated, “but I’m a very busy man. I don’t normally do stuff like this, but she paid me an exorbitant amount of money to deliver this package to you and to… perform other duties that I’m sure will be detailed inside that envelope.”
With that, Dr. Granger turned around and walked to the street where he had parked his AutoCar. August, standing on the front doorstep in between the lanterns, was at a loss for words momentarily.
When he found them, August called out, “Dr. Granger, you were with my wife today? Where is she? Is she back at the clinic?”
The “good” doctor didn’t even slow his stride or turn around.
“No,” Dr. Granger called back over his shoulder. “She’s dead.”
Chapter 24
I’M SORRY
She’s dead? What the hell was Dr. Granger talking about? The nurse had said she was just at the clinic this morning.
“Doc! Doc! What do you mean?” August screamed after him, hobbling as fast as he could to reach the AutoCar just before it pulled away.
The “good” doctor rolled down the window looking irritated, and said, “Just open the envelope and read the letter inside, Patient Lurie. Then get back to the clinic as soon as you can so we can clean you up. You don’t want to get an infection. Or maybe you do. I don’t care.”
He peeled off faster than he should on this street. He should probably slow down. There were children in this neighborhood.
August sat down on the front lawn and tore open the large envelope. Inside there were two items and a letter. He ignored everything else and pulled the handwritten note out, and as he read the first two lines, he began to wail mournfully, tears falling from his eyes like a heavy rain.
August. My love. I’m sorry. I ached to tell you before, but I didn’t want to spoil your plans. I didn’t want us to spend our last few days together in sadness. They have been wonderful days, haven’t they? You see, my Countdown started five days ago…
Suddenly, August stopped reading and stood up angrily. Still crying, and with a shattered heart, he could barely breathe with the agony inside of his chest. But he was also pissed beyond belief.
“How could you do this to me, Sam?!” he screamed into the night. “You know what I went through with Granny! YOU KNEW IT! Now I gotta go through it all over again, and this time, it’s worse! WHY? Why did you do this?”
He fell back to his knees and sobbed on all fours. A sudden wave of nausea swept over him, and August threw up in the grass. He heard voices and saw that a few neighbors had heard his yells and were staring at him from their front doors. Not wanting to continue reading the letter here and now, he stood up and stumbled back inside, slamming the door behind him, and feeling lost. This house wasn’t his home anymore; not without Sam. It seemed like some strange, foreign land to him, when suddenly he felt very sick again and ran to the toilet.