* * *
At least in the store, Sarah didn’t have to listen to the trial. But she could only stay in that particular shop for so long, and now she’s walking back into the mall with several packages of new sweaters for the winter at the mountain cabin in Payson in her arms. And there’s Messick again, this time with a brother of an AIDS victim.
“No, Mr. Messick, Matt never had any symptoms. My brother was never sick, ever.”
“But he turned out to be HIV-positive.”
“Yes.”
“And did he start taking AZT?”
“He resisted it for a long time. He hated taking drugs. But there was so much pressure from our doctor, and from our parents, that he finally gave in.”
“And what happened?”
“Pretty soon he was pretty sick.”
“In what way?”
“He was sick to his stomach, nauseated, you know. Then he got weak and couldn't stay up very long. And he complained about the pains in his back and his legs. He started losing weight. He looked horrible, actually.”
Sarah starts walking down the mall again, looking for someplace else to hide from it all.
“How long did this go on?”
“Well, he just kept getting worse and worse for about a year.”
“Then what happened?”
“Then he died, Mr. Messick.”
Sarah turns into a shoe store.
Wrongful Death: The AIDS Trial Page 41
