Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (34 page)

“
Just the gist,” Schmidty
said. “The details gross me out.”

Nodding, Seth told him about the LAPD
case.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon—3:45 P.M.

Feeling like she’d been called to the
principal’s office, Jill cleared her throat and sat down in front
of the doctor. The appointment had changed four times until it was
at a time when Jacob couldn’t come. She’d been confident she would
be fine. Looking at the team of doctors hovering near the windows,
she didn’t feel confident. Blane’s doctor stood near the door. But
the man sitting at the desk was clearly running the meeting.

An older man, he had the look of a marathon
runner and the steely eyes of a physic professor. He didn’t smile
at her or treat her like a ‘little woman.’ Instead, he and Blane’s
doctor had met her in the lobby.

He’d introduced himself as Dr. Zeit. Not
Joseph Zeit or Joseph or Joe, using his first name like the younger
doctors. He’d said Dr. Zeit as if he’d entered the world as a
doctor. She found it oddly comforting and vaguely unnerving. Was
there a human being inside there? Swallowing her panic, she’d
followed the men to Dr. Zeit’s large office with a view of the
Rocky Mountains.

“
Mrs. Marlowe,” Dr. Zeit
started.

“
You can call me Jill,”
she smiled.

He nodded.

“
We’re all a twitter
here,” Dr. Zeit said.

Jill nodded.

“
Yes, I’m sure you
noticed,” Dr. Zeit said.

“
Seems like there’s a lot
of doctors here,” Jill said.

“
How much do you know
about HIV?” Dr. Zeit asked.

“
HIV?” Jill’s voice rose
with panic. “Nothing.”

Dr. Zeit’s steely eyes peered at her

“
I mean I was tested,”
Jill words came in a panicked flurry. “Jacob too. When we first got
together. Before we were married. We’re both negative or were. I
haven’t tested Katy. Is that what you mean?”

“
You’re terrifying the
girl.” Jill looked up to see a woman a little older than she was
stepping toward Dr. Zeit. “He’s an old school doctor. He figures if
he stays quiet you’ll tell him what he wants to know.”

“
What does he want to
know?” Jill sputtered.

“
I want to know if you
work at Pete’s Kitchen,” the woman said.

“
Sure,” Jill glanced at
the woman’s red hair held in a simple pony tail, her brown eyes and
bright smile. “I used to work there more before I was married. Now
that I’m pregnant with the boys I…”

“
I thought so,” the woman
smiled. “Dr. Emily Hughes.”

“
Emily,” Jill smiled.
“Pancakes and coffee. Lots of coffee. A cinnamon roll when it’s
fresh.”

“
Jill was my waitress at
Pete’s,” Emily smiled at Dr. Zeit. “During medical
school.”

Jill gave Dr. Zeit an uncomfortable
smile.

“
You don’t have HIV,” Dr.
Zeit said.

“
What do you want to
know?” Buoyed by Emily’s intervention, Jill sat a little
straighter.

Dr. Zeit looked at Emily. Jill watched
information pass from mentor to student. Emily nodded. Leaning
against the desk, Emily took over the conversation.

“
It’s not talked about a
lot, but there are some people who are immune to disease,” Emily
said. “We first found it in a patient in West Africa. It was one of
those things. The WHO collected blood samples from hundreds of
thousands of men and women. It took years to get through the
samples. When they did, they found a man who was different. He was
immune to HIV.”

“
He came in, gave his
sample, and went on with his life,” Dr. Zeit said.

“
No one has been able to
find him since,” Emily said. “We only have the one blood
sample.”

“
He has a genetic mutation
that seems to infer immunity to, well, everything,” Dr. Zeit said.
“Or everything we’ve tested.”

Dr. Zeit turned to nod to a tall, thin
doctor standing near the windows. He stepped forward.

“
We have seen other
immunity,” the tall doctor said. “Some prostitutes in Ghana were
immune while they were in contact with the virus. Oddly, they
contracted the disease when their levels of exposure
subsided.”

“
We’ve found it in China,”
an Asian doctor standing next to the windows piped up to say. “At
least fifteen people, women.”

“
The Chinese studies are
interesting because the majority of Chinese people are Han,” the
tall doctor said. “Basically, the same genetic stock.”

“
I came to see for
myself,” the Asian doctor said. “You are not Han.”

Jill shook her head.

“
What’s your background?”
Emily asked.

Jill watched every doctor in the room lean
forward to hear.

“
My mother is from Saint
Petersburg, Russia,” Jill said. “My father is from Zimbabwe when it
was Rhodesia.”

“
Africa,” the Asian doctor
nodded as if something made sense.

“
He’s a white man?” an
African American doctor near the door asked.

“
I don’t know his genetic
profile,” Jill said. “But he looks white to me. I mean, I could be
Chinese or Han or… I don’t know what. My husband’s family calls
themselves ‘American Mutts.’ I don’t think I’m much
different.”

“
The key is that you have
the mutation,” Dr. Zeit said. “I think every doctor in this room
would like to section some part of your body.”

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and SEVENTY-SEVEN

Tree

Jill gasped. Remembering Katy’s dream, Jill
shook her head.

“
I came to help my
husband’s cousin,” Jill said. “Not to be some research project for
bored doctors.”

Reassessing her, Dr. Zeit blinked.

“
Jill,” Blane’s doctor
moved toward her like a Coast Guard cruiser toward a sinking ship.
“We believe we’ve come up with a way you can help Blane without
becoming someone’s
lab
rat
.”

As if to tell Dr. Zeit to back off, Blane’s
doctor emphasized the last two words.

“
How can I help Blane?”
Jill asked.

“
First. When are you due?”
Blane’s doctor asked.

“
We hope I can go as close
to full term as possible,” Jill said. “My best friend’s daughter
was a preemie and none of us want to go through that
again.”

“
And when would that be?”
Blane’s doctor nodded.

“
Sixteen weeks,” Jill
said.

“
Four months from now,”
Blane’s doctor said. “I don’t know if Blane will make it that
long.”

“
Why are you
asking?”

“
There are a couple of
interesting studies of using cord blood stem cells to cure liver
disease,” Blane’s doctor said. “With your genetic type, you might
also cure his HIV.”

The room fell silent as every doctor’s
attention focused on Jill.

“
Valerie’s due in a couple
weeks,” Jill said. “And Honey a week or so later.”

“
Valerie?” Blane’s doctor
asked.

“
My husband’s sister is
married to my brother,” Jill said.

“
This brother of yours,”
Dr. Zeit said. “Does he have the same parents?”

“
Yes,” Jill
said.

“
We’ll have to bring him
in and…”

“
Jill,” Blane’s doctor
interrupted. “Why don’t we talk downstairs?”

Relieved, Jill smiled at Emily and left with
Blane’s doctor. He took a tight hold of her arm and led her to the
elevators. To her surprise, he pushed the button for the elevator
to the lobby. With his tight hold on her, he walked her to her
car.

“
Go,” Blane’s doctor said.
“Get out of here.”

“
But…”

“
We’ll work this out,”
Blane’s doctor said. “If you can talk to Valerie and Honey, we may
be able to buy some time for Blane. But if you don’t
go…”

He glanced back at the building. Jill opened
the door to her Lexus SUV and he helped her inside.

“
They want your… whole
family,” Blane’s doctor said. “They think experimenting on you will
get them a vaccine or a cure or…”

Blane’s doctor shook his head.

“
I’ll call Blane,” Blane’s
doctor said and closed Jill’s door.

She was a mile away before she realized what
the Blane’s doctor had meant.

The doctors wanted her
babies! The doctors wanted to
experiment
on her babies!

With a protective hand over her belly, she
drove to the Castle.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday afternoon—4:15 P.M.

“
Hey.”

Charlie stuck his head into Mike’s carriage
house studio. Up to her elbows in paint-soaked brushes, palettes,
and containers, Noelle was busy cleaning. The scent of turpentine
hung on the air. Charlie moved the fan to blow the fumes out of the
small space. Noelle smiled her thanks and went back to work.

“
That’s a lot,” Charlie
said.

“
An apprentice cleans up
after her master,” Noelle said brightly. “I’m happy to do it.
Mike’s grandfather is coming in tonight, so we want to clean up a
bit.”

They heard a crash inside the carriage
house. Mike swore. Noelle turned to look.

“
I’m okay. I’m okay,” Mike
yelled. “Everything’s okay.”

Noelle turned back to her work. Her hair
fell into her face. Using her forearm, she tried to push the hair
out of her face. As soon as she started cleaning again, her hair
fell into her face. Charlie stepped behind her and scooped up her
renegade hair with one hand. He took a hair tie from his pocket and
put Noelle’s hair back into a ponytail.

“
I keep those in my pocket
for basketball,” Charlie said.

“
Thanks,” Noelle said.
“I’ve been trying to wear my hair down so I don’t look so much like
a boy.”

“
You don’t look like a
boy,” Charlie said.

“
Yeah, I do,” Noelle gave
him a sad smile.

“
You actually don’t,”
Charlie said. “You’re just not a stupid mousey little
girl.”

Noelle shrugged as if it was the same
thing.

“
Can I help?” Charlie
asked.

“
Don’t you have
basketball?” Noelle asked.

“
It’s ballet today,”
Charlie said.

“
Not until six,” Noelle
said.

“
Mrs. Anjelika’s father is
coming tonight,” Charlie said. “She’s busy. And… I wanted to ask
you something.”

“
I’m not telling you about
Teddy or me and Teddy or Dad or Dad and Sandy for that matter,”
Noelle said. “And Sissy’s private business is her private
business.”

“
I’m not asking about
Teddy or Aden,” Charlie said. “And I couldn’t care less about
Sissy’s secrets. Plus, I know everything anyway.”

“
What do you
know?”

“
I know that you and Teddy
have kissed a couple of times, but mostly hold hands,” Charlie
said. “I know Aden and Sandy get busy…”

“
I don’t want to know,”
Noelle held her hands over her ears.

Charlie laughed.

“
Here.” Noelle shoved a
wet brush at him. “You can dry. I’ll teach you so you don’t mess up
the brushes.”

Noelle gave Charlie detailed instructions.
He practiced rubbing the brushes just so while she made minor
adjustments to his technique before cleaning more brushes. They
settled into a rhythm of cleaning and drying.

“
You wanted to ask me
something?” Noelle asked.

“
I’m high on turpentine,”
Charlie said.

“
That’s not good,” Noelle
said. “Do you have to start over your sobriety? Did you lose all
your time? Maybe you should leave.”

“
I was joking,” Charlie
said.

“
It’s not very funny,”
Noelle said. Repeating what Aden often said, she added, “Sobriety
is no joke.”

Charlie gave her a wry smile. She
laughed.

“
What did you want to
ask?” Noelle asked.

“
Why do you think life
isn’t fair?” Charlie asked.

“
Oh. Huh,” Noelle
said.

“
It’s okay if you don’t
know,” Charlie said. “It’s something you’ll probably get when you
get older.”

“
You’re not that much
older than me,” Noelle said. “They talk about it at the meetings
Nash and I have gone to since we were little. Plus, it’s about all
my mother Nuala talks about. ‘My life’s so unfair. Blah, blah
blah.’”

With dirty brushes in her hands, Noelle
waved her arms around like a Muppet.

“
Fine, if you know so
much, answer the question,” Charlie said.

“
Life is a part of all of
us,” Noelle said.

“
That’s supposed to mean
something?” Charlie asked. “Listen, if you don’t want to
answer…”

“
I’m trying to answer.
You’re not listening,” Noelle said.

“
I am too.”

“
Ok, I’ll try again,”
Noelle said. “You can think thoughts, right?”

Charlie nodded.

“
I can think thoughts,”
Noelle said. “Most animals and people can think thoughts. Delphie
says even bees can think thoughts.”