by Ami Urban
"Completely. He'll at least get half off on pedicures."
"Oh, my God!" Raychel sounded exasperated, but the two of them had small smiles on their faces.
"Once he can walk again, he'll be having problems with stares."
She was silent for a moment. "Oh...that one took me a minute."
Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I'm trying to think of another amputee joke, but I'm stumped."
"That's it!" Raychel stood up with her hands in front of her. "I can't take any more of this. How do you put up with it?" She was speaking to me.
"He has good timing."
"Someone thinks I'm funny." He smiled at his sister.
"Oh, you're funny, all right. So funny that I can't take it anymore. I'm going to check on Gregg. You two have a nice chat!"
Jack watched her walk back into the house. When she was gone, he made a move to stand.
"Wait! Gregg will make a fortune as a Bell Hop!" He waited for a moment. "Damn. She didn't hear me." He sat and watched the raccoon hunt around in the garden.
Once the humor inside me died to a tolerable level, I spoke. "So, how have you been doing?"
He still didn't look at me, but shrugged one shoulder. "As good as can be expected."
I nodded. "You never mentioned Raychel by name before."
"I never even knew if she was still alive. We were both pretty stubborn about contact."
The French door slammed open, startling the raccoon and causing it to squeak then run to hide behind a bush.
"Uncle Jack!" Alex ran to him.
"Juliet!" He smiled for the first time since he'd gotten in. It was warming to see. He picked up Alex and spun her in a circle. "How you been?"
She giggled. "You know how."
His expression seemed impressed. "This is true."
Rex had also come out when Alex had, but he instinctively hid behind my legs. He didn't remember Jack right away. I patted his head, but he whimpered.
Jack set Alex down. "Hey, Romeo. How about you? How you doing?"
Rex cowered away, but I caught him, pulling him in front of me. "You remember, Jack, honey. Don't you?" Our gazes met and a wave of heat washed over me. One corner of Jack's mouth twitched upward.
I cleared my throat and turned back to Rex. "Jaggy?"
That resonated with my son. "Jaggy!" He cried as Jack lifted him up.
"I knew you just needed a reminder. Way to go, mom," Jack said. His smile seemed genuine.
"Way go, momma!" Rex imitated him.
"What do we do next, Aunt Lisa?" Alex sat down in the chair Raychel had previously occupied.
"Yeah." Jack turned back to me with my son still in his arms. "What do we do now, Aunt Lisa?"
I sucked in a breath. "Well, dinner is being put out soon. Would you like to join everyone? How long are you staying?"
Jack looked at Rex and bounced him once. "Dunno. That's up to Raychel."
"I see."
"But I see no reason why we can have dinner together. Do you?"
Rex shook his head. "Dinner."
"Do you, Juliet?"
"Nope!"
He turned back to me. "Then it's a yes."
***
"It certainly has been some time since you left, Jack." Ms. Huntington smiled proudly at her guests. We'd gained some new faces and lost a few, but the house still felt like a family. Jack had already begun eating — it seemed he was famished — so he abruptly put his fork down and gestured a "thank you" with his mouth full.
"And it's lovely to have you here, Raychel, dear."
"Thanks!"
I found Raychel's zeal incredibly sweet. She was bubbly and happy. She made jokes all the time. She was the female version of Jack. I felt like nothing could bring her down.
"All right, everyone. let's eat!"
The table erupted in a cacophony of conversation and clinking silverware. There were smiles and laughs. People were happy.
"When is the last time you had a decently cooked meal?" I watched Jack hungrily devour his food.
He paused to swallow. "When I was here."
"Oh."
"Who are they?" He nodded toward a couple who were cuddling together.
"They're Sam and Jennifer. They came here shortly after you left."
"What happened to Cheree and Ben?"
I glanced down at my plate. "They aren't together anymore."
"What?" Jack gave me a skeptical glare while he chewed.
"Ben left about a week ago and Cheree went shortly after."
Jack swallowed. "What happened?"
"I don't know."
Scott swung over and asked me if I'd like more bread. I tossed him a polite smile and accepted. Then he bent down.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"A more appropriate time would be tomorrow morning. Would that be all right?"
He nodded and whisked away to offer others more bread.
"And who's that?" There was a tiny hint of malice in Jack's voice. I turned to him in surprise.
"that's Scott. He's the new chef."
"What happened to Jeffrey?"
"He left."
"Hmm."
"What is it?" I managed to maintain a patient tone.
"Does he talk to everyone the way he talks to you?"
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"He's like a lost puppy. I notice him following you around and taking every opportunity to speak to you."
I blinked a few times. "He's nineteen-years-old, Jack."
He squared his shoulders. "So?"
"He just lost his parents." I lowered my voice even more. "I talked him through it when he first got here. He was suicidal. It wasn't healthy."
Jack seemed to want to say something, but he kept silent. I couldn't tell what was going on inside his head.
"He's jealous."
We both looked up to see Raychel smiling at us.
"I am not."
She laughed. "Yep, you are. it's super obvious, bro. When are you going to stop being mad?"
"I am not mad."
"Yes you are." I chimed in, keeping as calm as I could. The truth of the matter was that heat I'd felt hand't stopped coursing through my veins. Every time he looked at me my entire body craved him.
"See?" Raychel stuck her tongue out at him. "Even she knows you're mad."
"That's because she studied psychology for a semester in college." He glanced at me, making my heart hammer in my chest.
"So you admit you're mad!" Raychel continued to egg him on.
"Okay, how long is this going to go on? Is this like an initiation thing or are you two girls going to say things about me to each other until I crack and put you in the brig?"
"Oh, God. The brig." Raychel put a hand to her head and leaned back.
"The brig?" I was curious.
"We used to have this stupid tee-pee thing when we were kids." She smiled at the memory.
"It was a wigwam." Jack cut in. "It was made out of sticks and some ripped up jeans or something. Whenever one of us would get in trouble, we'd get sent to it. We called it the brig."
"Eventually we started stapling things to the inside so we wouldn't get bored."
"Remember the posters?"
Raychel laughed again. "Oh, God. I'd put up posters of James Bond and then he'd tear them down and replace them with Raquel Welch. It was like a cold war."
They continued discussing their childhood while I listened. It was a very sweet conversation. I knew they'd had some issues between one another and it was comforting to see them remembering good times and not bad.
The dinner lasted quite some time as the guests were enjoying the conversations. I'd taken a break to put the children to bed, but they wouldn't sleep without a Goodnight from Jack. When I came back down, we enjoyed a round of desserts before everyone decided to turn in.
From the Desk of Dr. Lisa James
December 20
It was 1:30 in the morning when I ventured downstairs for the final time. The ho
use was eerily quiet. But the silence was thick. It was as if all ears were trained; waiting for something to happen.
"How's it going?" I checked the straps on each of Gregg's arms. They were still secure.
"So far, so good. It's throbbing, but I don't feel sick or anything."
"Did Scott give you some water an hour ago like I asked?"
"Yes."
"Did you drink it?"
"Yes."
"Without issue?"
"Yeah. It was a Godsend."
I nodded. He was safe for now. But the timing was critical. I needed to know how the wound was progressing and if it seemed to be healing or spreading. I rounded the table, ready for the worst but hoping for the best.
I'd kept the lights off in case the virus took him during the night. But I made sure to carry a Maglite with me. I clicked it on to study the wound.
Each tooth mark was individually apparent. They were swollen and puffy. That was normal. What wasn't normal were deep purple veins visibly sprouting from all sides. I moved the restraint away from his foot to see they had reached the heel already.
"Shit."
"You're going to have to take my leg."
I looked at him and he gave me a weak smile. He smelled a bit like liquor, but I couldn't have blamed him at that point.
"Yes. The virus is poisoning your blood. It's reached your foot already, but not your knee. If we can change that, we can save the rest of you."
"All right, so...what do we gotta do?"
I inhaled and held it for a moment. "I need medical supplies."
Gregg sighed as his head fell back onto the pillow I'd given him.
"For now I'll move the tourniquet up to your knee. That should keep it from spreading any more the rest of the night." I put the restraint back in place and moved the towel to tie around his knee. "Now, since we're going to anesthetize you in the morning, you shouldn't eat anything else. Water is fine, but try to limit your intake. The last thing you want after major surgery is to be nauseous."
"Okay."
I placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is a lot better than losing your life."
"I know... I just hope Raychel still wants to marry me when I only have one leg."
December 20
Lisa was super impressive the next day. She scrambled around giving orders to everyone who offered to help. For most of it, I held onto Rex while Alex followed on our heels. From what I could gather, Lisa had told two people to clean out one of the industrial size freezers and sterilize it from top to bottom. Scott was instructed to turn it off and wheel a steel table inside. People were running everywhere gathering towels and boiling water on the stove.
Ms. Huntington had told us there was a Dr. Brown who lived in the house. Neither of us had ever seen him because he apparently kept to himself. His room was at the end of the hall of the East Wing, so that was our first stop.
"I have a question."
Lisa was in the process of knocking on the door, but her closed fist stopped an inch away when I spoke. "Yes?"
"Why didn't this doctor guy come out and help you with Gregg?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure. But my impression is that he prefers solitude." She knocked three times.
"A doctor who prefers not to treat patients. Interesting."
The door opened a crack. "What is it?" A raspy voice met us.
"Dr. Brown?"
"Yes."
"My name is Dr. James. We have a patient downstairs in need of an amputation and—"
The door opened all the way to reveal a short old man in a brown tweed jacket. His spectacles were slipping halfway down his nose. "Yes. I heard last night. You need supplies, I assume."
"Yes, sir."
"Then come in." He waved Lisa inside. She disappeared and I started to go after her, but Dr. Brown held his hand out. "Only one guest in my room at a time." Then he shut the door in my face.
"Old Man River."
Waiting outside was no easy ordeal. At first, I watched the door for about five minutes, hoping it wouldn't take much longer than that. Then I began humming to myself. I had no idea what song I had in my head, but it was catchy.
When that still proved fruitless, I began to run Die Hard in my head. Man, that was a good movie. I found myself wondering if Bruce Willis was still alive. About fifteen minutes after that, I checked my watch. Then I realized I didn't have a watch.
"Huh..." I tapped my wrist. "I should draw a new battery for this thing..."
The door swung open. To my surprise, Lisa stormed out in a huff. Well, to Lisa, a huff is slightly lowered eyebrows and a deep frown.
"No, thank you, Dr. Brown. we're fine." When she shut the door, I noticed a few tools in her hand. But they didn't look right. And when she turned to face me, I could tell she was upset.
"What happened?"
"Dr. Brown"s name ends in DDS."
"Oh, shit."
"Exactly. All he had was lidocaine. We need to knock Gregg out not numb his tongue!" She inhaled and shut her eyes. She was calming herself.
"But you got something from him?"
"Yes. Suction, latex gloves and a syringe." She opened her eyes. "What are we going to do?"
The entire way back to the kitchen Lisa was silent. I could tell she was working things out in her head. She'd told me that if we couldn't knock Gregg out for the procedure it was likely he'd go into shock.
No one could give her any advice as to where to find medical supplies. She handed over the tools she'd received from Dr. Brown and instructed someone to sterilize them in boiling water. Then she sat heavily into a kitchen chair and sighed. Raychel came out of Gregg's room and immediately knew something was not right.
"What's going on?"
"We don't have drugs to put Gregg to sleep," I said.
My sister looked from Lisa, to me, to the ground and back at Lisa. "What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure yet." Lisa looked up, putting her chin in her hands.
"Hey, you should probably eat. Want me to get you something?"
She nodded. "Sure."
I looked for Scott to find him in the kitchen slicing what looked like fish. I had no idea where he'd gotten any from, but I figured I was better not asking.
"Hey, Scott. Lisa needs some brain food. Whatcha got?"
At the mention of her name, Scott stopped what he was doing and turned to face me. "She's hungry?" There was a hint of urgency in his voice. It caught me off guard.
"Yeah... But don't have a heart attack, man."
Scott's eyes darted around, searching the countertops. He spotted something behind me and lunged to get it. I almost didn't move in time. He pulled out a platter of bagels and rushed out of the kitchen.
"All right." I followed him back to the dining room.
Lisa was still sitting at the table staring into space. Raychel gave me a weak smile. She was scared. She'd always hug herself when she got scared. That hand't changed a bit.
"Lisa..." Scott was too close to her in my opinion, but I didn't say a word. "I brought you something to eat." He placed the platter on the table next to her and handed her a bagel.
She took it with a tight, polite smile. She was totally in another world when she bit into the bagel. "I just don't know where we're going to find any medical supplies."
"Medical supplies?" Scott asked.
She looked up at him.
"I passed a hospital five miles east on my way here."
Lisa paused, her eyes lighting up as much as they could. "What are we waiting for?"
December 20
"This is an incredibly terrible idea." I looked up at the hospital through the rain-soaked windshield. The wipers flicked back and forth with an audible tick. Lisa unbuckled her seatbelt.
"We have no others."
"I'm sorry, what?" I tore my eyes away from a shadow passing in front of a second story window.
"We have no other ideas." Lisa stated her sentence slower than the first time.
"No, I know
." I gave my tone a higher pitch. "I'm just sayin' this place is probably haunted by ghosts and demons and Willem Dafoe, so it's up to you whether or not you actually need medicine."
"You are a strange man," Scott said from the backseat.
"Baby Face is right." I let out an exaggerated sigh. "We need a plan."
"I never said—"
"Medical supplies have specific closets, don't they?" Another kid who'd come with us piped up next to Scott.
"Normally." Lisa nodded.
"This place has three floors, Doc Hotness. Where do we start?"
"Hey, don't talk to—"
"Not now, Sierra." I put my hand up, not taking my eyes off Lisa.
"We start on the first floor."
A sort of frustrated anger bubbled up inside of me. She was treating me like a kid again. And I was pretty sure I wasn't born the day before, so I broke my gaze with her and looked back at the wheel.
"Junkies have probably already cleaned this place out. We probably won't even find anything."
"Well, we have to try."
"Took the words right outta my ass. Sierra! Protein bar me." I put my hand back, palm up and wiggled my fingers at Scott.
"What?"
"Turning slowly, I tried to keep my voice at an animated control. "You wanna give me a protein bar from the bag or you wanna keep making lovey eyes at my doctor friend, here?"
Scott sighed and began to dig through my backpack.
"I doubt anything is really on the first floor. That's probably the lobby and maybe a lab or two. So we can probably just poke around the back a bit and head upstairs," Lisa explained.
"Okay, sounds like a plan."
"There are no protein bars in here." Scott interrupted us from the backseat.
"What is in there?" I faked a roll of my eyes at Lisa.
"Fun Dips."
"And...?"
"That's all, man. You have like eighteen packets of fun dip in here. What the fuck?" Scott's voice began to rise into what sounded like a panic. Oh, now he didn't trust me. Just because I liked sour candy.
"Listen to me, Sierra!" I turned around to face him. He was hilariously pale. "What flavors are in there?"
He seemed confused by my sudden curt tone, so he took a moment to answer. "Uh...cherry and blue."
I sighed. "Blue's not a flavor, Sierra."
"Blue Raspberry, Jesus!"
"Gimme a cherry."
