“Ahem!” Tom cleared his throat. Edwards was startled; he had forgotten that he was not in a class room.
“Have you tested it before?”
“Yes, and, let me be honest, the outcome was not pleasant.” He took a big gulp from his bottle.
“What’d happened?” Tom wanted to know before deciding.
“No dear, I can’t tell you much. Big corporations are funding this experiment, and I am not allowed to share my findings with everyone. My lips are sealed.”
“Is that guy alive?”
“Yes, he is and some of my fellows have managed to fix the damage that I had caused to the poor soul.” Edwards jerked his head.
“What was it?”
“Don’t pester me.”
“I am not going to hand over my assistant to you unless you come clean.” Tom was also firm.
“He got boils,” Edwards looked angry, “... in his pubic area and trust me he was lucky to get away with boils only.”
Tom piped up, “Why are you buying Concrete Dissolver in such large quantities?”
“Oh, you noticed? I didn’t know that you are observant. It’s a good thing that you observe unusual things. We might go very far together as partners. I break it basically. There are some components in it which help me, but they are found less than one percent in the chemicals available in the market, so I have to buy it in bulk to get a sizeable portion out of it.”
Tom was thinking fast. He had not put enough thought before in making a decision in his entire life. It was his only shot in life, and if he missed it, he would regret endlessly. Finally, when he opened his mouth, he tried his best to look determined.
“Edwards! What if I propose myself to be your subject instead of my assistant?”
Edwards jumped from the couch.
“Have you gone mad?” He protested in a thundering voice.
“Why? What’s wrong with that?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Edwards mimicked him mockingly; he started walking with a look of disgust on his face. “For a moment, I had started to think that you might be an intelligent man beaten up by bad luck, but now I am sure that you are in this scanty situation because you are a fool.” Edwards looked sullen, but Tom knew he had to play up to get what he wanted.
“Listen to me, Edwards.” Tom tried to reason with him. “I am a grown-up man, and I also know the risks involved. I am willingly giving my consent to be your subject. If something happens to my health —”
“Hell, with your health.” Edwards interrupted him angrily. “You think I am concerned about your health? You twerp!”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“You are the problem. You are born in this town. Ten dozen people know you; friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, customers. If something happens to you, I will be a dead man, and I cannot take this risk.” Edwards waved his hand.
“How would you get away with Sam?”
“He is different. Being an immigrant gives him a perfect excuse to get vanished. Even if he dies, you would easily tell people that he has gone back to his home country. Nobody would look twice for him. That is the mastery of my plan, Tom. I could go anywhere; what do you think I am doing here in this small town? These immigrants usually go to metros to find easy work. They live in groups and look after each other which makes it almost impossible to take one out without alerting his whole gang, but in the small towns, it is a piece of cake. Some of them are here without even a work permit or a visa. You have no idea how easy it is to take them for scientific experiments. No identity, no dead body; No one would even remember that there was such a person living here.” For the first time since his meeting with Edwards earlier this evening, Tom felt impressed. Feeling goosebumps all over his body, he realized that the man in front of him was indeed a genius, regardless of operating on a different level of reason which made him slightly dangerous.
Tom felt he had no option left except for feeling contented with his share of profit.
#
Tom started to monitor Sam since the day he first clued him that Dr. Edwards has some work for him. Nothing was changed in his daily routine for a while. He was coming at work on time and following orders without hassle, but there was something different about him which Tom was unable to figure out. Was that how he looked? Or how he walked? But in all honesty, he didn’t know much about his assistant even before so he was unable to spot any differences now. For him, he was a guy with a name, and the sole reason of his existence in Tom’s life was to make his work easier. Other than that, Tom could not be least interested.
Finally, one fine afternoon, Sam gave a leaving notice to Tom while he was doing the weekly inventory count. For some reason, Sam was not looking happy. Tom scrutinized the teenager in front of him and thought about talking to him about his ‘work’ with Dr. Edwards. But would that be wise? If he didn’t speak to Sam, he would stay safe even if something goes wrong afterward. He could easily save his neck by claiming that Dr. Edwards never told him about the nature of work he wanted his assistant for. He didn’t even dare ask him where he was going, but he heard him talking to a girl who was a frequent customer that he was going back to his home town as his family had some emergency.
Three days after Sam’s departure, Dr. Edwards paid him a visit.
#
“So how did it go?” started Tom, pouring the tea for Edwards. They were resting in the quarters.
“I am close. I am very close.” Edwards was contented.
“How did Sam take it?” Tom was curious.
“He took it in good spirit. He knew he had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving, but he was lucky to have even that much chance in life. He will be a brave man one day, that kid- a bit unhygienic though.” He snickered.
Tom stared at the silver cup in his hand. Martha had bought it some years ago, and it was one of her most precious possessions. She was very hygiene conscious. So, you could tolerate a dirty marriage, but you couldn’t tolerate a dirty kitchen, he had blurted out during one of their fights.
Tom jerked his head and asked, “where is my ten percent?”
“Save with me.” He chirped, as he yawned, stretching himself on the bean bag. He was having sleepless nights unquestionably because there were dark circles under his eyes.
“And when will I get that?” Tom tried his best not to sound desperate or needy, but the truth of the matter was that he was both.
“After the second assignment. Look, I am this close to making the biggest scientific discovery of the century, and I have spent most of my money on hiring subjects for the experiment. Now, I only need to make one last experiment to finally document my formula before handing it to financiers, but I don’t have enough money to pay. I will sell my car to pay the last subject, but once I give the formula to the company, they have promised me to give me at least five percent of the market value of the patent. Do you know how much that would be?” Edwards was boasting, but Tom was getting uncomfortable with the premise, “millions my friends, think of millions.”
“And what will I get from those millions?” Tom sounded suspicious.
“Everything you ever want. You don’t trust me?” Edwards must have read doubts on his face as he quickly stripped off his watch and shoved it in his hands. “Here, take it. It is a Glashutte Original, my friend. It is worth way more than your ten percent.”
“No, no, I cannot take it. I was just asking —” Tom spluttered, blushing red.
“It’s alright. I understand your concern.” Edwards was still cheerful as if nothing had happened. After few more seconds of meek refusal, Tom quickly put the watch in a side drawer.
“So, what is the second assignment?” he tried to be cheerful as well.
“You need another assistant for your shop, my friend. You should have given an ad as soon as possible, and don’t forget to look for immigrants.”
Tom felt hesitant before speaking his heart to Dr. Edwards. He knew that what he was going to ask was too much for the doctor,
but still he had to make a last effort before giving up.
“I was thinking about what you said before.”
“What exactly?”
“You said that you cannot take me as a subject because people know me here.”
“Yes! And I still deny your request if you are having the same insane thoughts again.”
“Wait. Let me finish first. You said that immigrants get vanished, and no one noticed. Didn’t you?”
“What is the point?”
“What if I also get vanished?”
“How is it possible?”
“I can sell my shop and move to some other city as simple as that. Even if something goes wrong, no one would ever know that.” Tom was getting frenetic.
“No. I am sorry, Tom. I know you are desperate for some extra money, but this is idiotic. Even if you move to another city, you have friends and relatives who would look for you afterward.”
“No no, they will not.” Tom laughed in a strange, high-pitched voice. “You don’t see it yet, but no one would look for me. My wife left me six months ago with all the savings I had. Friends look at me with the suspicion that what if I ask for money. If I go away, they all will be secretly glad.” His face turned red, with the struggle to not cry.
Edwards gaped at him, “Tom, I didn’t know you were suffering so much.”
“I am fine. The point is you have nothing to lose.”
“Well, in that case, you should give an ad about selling your shop. We can only proceed if you get a suitable buyer and don’t forget to pay off your creditors. The last thing we want is someone tailing you to the Mexican border.”
“Mexican border?” Tom looked at him, raising eyebrows.
“You cannot live here, Tom. Not in another town or another city, you must leave the country. This is the only safe passage for both you and me. If you don’t like Mexico, then go to Canada. It’s up to you where you want to go.”
Tom felt a bit awkward. It was one thing to move to another town, and he was actually looking forward to that, taking into consideration the fact that he had no fondness for the crowd in this one, but moving to a different country was something he had no idea about.
“And in the meantime, you have to prepare your body for the experiment. You know that the actual chemical can be lethal, but we will start with small, non-lethal doses so that you can get ready for the final trial.”
Edwards put his hand in the coat lying on the back of the sofa and took out a small wooden box.
“You need to take one capsule daily for one week and then two capsules daily in the second week, and then three capsules in the third. Don’t you ever forget to take the dose or we need to start from the beginning, and then it will take three more weeks. You are getting my point?”
“Absolutely!” Tom opened the box, which was full of red and black capsules shining under the dim light of the living room. “But I am not sure whether I can get a buyer within three weeks or not.”
“Just give the ad, and don’t bother about the price. Remember you have to sell it at any cost, literally at any cost.”
#
On Thursday afternoon, Tom received a call from a girl who was talking hysterically.
“Mr. Rodgers! Is Sam at your place?”
“No, he left the job few days ago.”
“Did he tell you where he was going?”
“He went back to his country.”
“No, he didn’t. He had asked me to meet him at the Houston Airport on Tuesday. We had planned to go together, but he never arrived.”
Tom murmured apology and end the call, but it had shaken him. Where was Sam? He might have ditched the girl and flew from Austin. There were many other international airports from which Sam could go back to his home country.
-
By the end of the first week, Tom had accepted the fact that he might have to leave his shop behind without getting a penny for it. He was mumbling curses to Martha when his mobile phone rang.
“Hello!” It was a woman on the other side. “I saw your ad on craigslist that your shop is up for sale. Can I come in the evening to see it?” The voice was strangely familiar.
“Yes sure. Can I know your name?”
“I am Mary.”
“And for what purpose do you want to buy this shop?” Tom had mentioned in the ad that he wanted to sell the store with inventory. What a woman wanted to do with a fully-stocked hardware store was beyond his understanding.
“Basically, my husband is interested in buying, but he is out of town, so he had asked me to visit it.”
“Alright, come around five, and I will give you a tour.”
The woman who came in the evening was blonde, slim and wearing too much makeup. When she opened her mouth, Tom realized she was not the one with whom he talked on the telephone. She had asked for a price list of the stock present at the shop after getting the tour of the shop and storage at the back.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Standing in Tom’s living room, she watched the sunset.
“Yeah.” The honest answer was that he never noticed. Naturally, he was not interested in a sinking sun as he watched his life sinking around him daily.
“Where did you get this pot?” The woman noticed the pot on the center table that Martha had bought few days before her exit. She tried to move swiftly but tripped over her shoes and knocked down the corner table. The capsule box, which Tom had put there to remember taking his dose daily, fell to the carpet, spilling its content out.
“Oh, I am sorry. I am really sorry.” She bent and started picking the capsules. “I am just not used to of wearing these—,” she bit a corner of her lips.
“It’s alright. There is nothing much we can do now.” Tom picked the box; some of the capsules were smashed after getting under lady’s high heels. The woman looked embarrassed after the event and took leave immediately. While picking up the tiny little pieces, Tom noticed that there was no stain on the carpet. He took a small broken shell in his hand and brushed its inner side; it was dry.
#
Edwards didn’t like getting calls but there was an exception for an emergency situation, and as per Tom, it was definitely an emergency. If Edwards had given him empty capsules by mistake, then it would throw his fortune even farther away than three weeks. Edwards patiently listened to him on the phone, apologized for the mix-up and told him that he was sending the original capsules and he now had to restart the medication process. He cursed him in his heart and cut the call. Next morning, he saw a carton on his doorstep without any label or names. Dr. Edwards was definitely a man of discretion.
He was opening the shop when Steve Sullivan gave him a visit.
“Hey Tom, how are you, buddy?”
Tom got alerted as Steve only called him buddy when he was in dire need of something from him.
“I am fine, Steve? How are you?”
“I am alright. Let’s get inside.”
The shop was all to themselves as Tom did not hire an assistant after Sam left him. Sometimes he really missed Sam and his gift of gab. People think there is no sound when someone is all by himself but even in the most barren moments of his life, Tom had heard a sound - the sound of loneliness - and it does not comprise of a single voice. It speaks in thousand voices, taking shapes, faces and turns to stab him where there were already wounds.
“There is a problem with Lisa,” Steve cackled when he pushed him to open up. “I am going out of town tomorrow and … I don’t want to leave her alone. I have enough reasons to believe that she is not entirely loyal to me.” Steve was always a gentleman while talking about women. Some other man would be driving nuts with that knowledge.
“You must have some misunderstanding.” Tom had an idea whom Lisa could be cheating with, but he didn’t want to speak bad about her. Steve should be wiser before marrying such a young woman, he thought.
“No, no, Tom. There is no misunderstanding. The signs are there alright, but I was a fool to not see them before.”
<
br /> “What can I do in this matter?”
“You need to keep an eye on her while I am away.”
“But Steve you know I have to run the shop all day. How will I do that?”
“You don’t need to tail her all day. Just keep in check with her evening activities. I don’ think you have much business in late hours. Do you?”
“No, but still I have got to close the shop in the evening, and many customers come after office hours,” he stated.
The House on the Lynch Street Page 2
