MIND FIELDS (10 page)

  Sal’s was a casual little Italian restaurant, one of her favorites, but she didn’t want to hassle with getting dressed and braving the cold night air.

  “Nah.  Let’s just stay in … a little pasta, some wine, a nice crackling fire …umm, sounds perfect, don’t you think?”

  “I didn’t really want to go out anyway,” he said as he put his arms around her.

  “Hey, want to go upstairs and work up an appetite first?”  She winked at him.

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” he said, reaching out to help her up from the sofa.

___

  One hour later, they were sipping Chianti in the kitchen. She was stirring in the not-so-secret ingredients of her not-so-famous spaghetti sauce, and he was grinding some fresh garlic for the bread.  They had so much fun cooking the meal together that they were almost disappointed when it was ready to eat. 
This is something Paul would never have done,
she thought to herself, inhaling the fragrance of the freshly baked garlic bread as she watched Guy pull the tray out of the oven. 
God!  Stop thinking about him, girl.  Don’t ruin today with the past.

  They set up a bridge table and ate by the fire.  The food was wonderful, but as romantic as the evening was, she was ready to go to sleep as she sipped the last of her third glass of wine.

  She slumped into Guy’s arms as they sat on the sofa watching the fire die down.  “I’ve got to get to bed.  Can you take care of the fire while I go take my insulin?  I want to make sure I do it before I’m too tired to see the syringe.” 

  “Sure, babe,” he said as they struggled up off the sofa together.

  Sandi had been diagnosed with diabetes as a child.  Although great strides had been made in the treatment of the disease, she still needed to take a shot of Synthulin, a synthetic long acting insulin, once a week.  She always took it shortly before going to sleep. After all these years, it was second nature to her, but tonight she really hated sticking that needle into her arm.  It was like a pinprick awakening her from her ethereal dream; the pain was minimal, but it was enough to disturb her preciously serene state of mind. 

  It was at that moment she decided what her next project would be – the fabrication of a nanobionic insulin pump, an organic, artificial pancreas made from nanobots that could be injected into the bloodstream, and then assemble themselves into a functioning pancreas once inside the body.  It would be the perfect cure for diabetes.

  She tried hard not to think about her new project that night, but it was no use; her mind was in high gear once again.  Only the wine enabled her to drift off that night, but the rest of her weekend would not be the respite she had hoped for.  It would be even better.

___

  The sunlight glistened off the snow and slipped between the slits of the Venetian blinds in the bedroom.  Guy was fast asleep, but Sandi felt the call of a new day and craved a hot cup of coffee.  She edged slowly out of bed so as not to disturb her lover, slipped on her green corduroy robe, and made her way down to the kitchen.

  The skies had cleared by morning, and the day that followed was filled with an invigorating sunshine, enhanced by its brilliant reflection off the glazed-over snow carpeting Baltimore County.  Sandi had moved north of the city to a cozy suburban neighborhood in Phoenix, Maryland after she left Paul.  The commute was rough for someone who had lived on or near campus for so many years, but it was well worth it.  When she arrived home each evening, she felt like she was in a different world.

Wintertime was really something special; while the city turned black with soot-covered road slush from the salt trucks and auto exhaust, Phoenix was awash in the pristine beauty that nature meant for the snow to be.  The rolling hillsides were covered with the dusty, white powder and the trees, especially the evergreens, were draped in a blanket of snow, weighing down limbs that arched gracefully toward the earth.  As the day passed, the warm rays of sunshine bathed the snow-laden branches creating an evanescent trickle of water, lasting just long enough to refreeze at the tips of each branch and glisten in the afternoon light.  It was truly a winter wonderland.

  Sandi was on vacation in her own home. The love of someone who could share this beauty with her made it all the more special.  Being a guitar player had its trials and tribulations, but today Guy Andrews was glad to be a musician.  Even though Sandi had made a spur of the moment decision to take the afternoon off, Guy had no problem arranging to spend it with her; in fact, he had no problem clearing the whole weekend to be with her.  Guy was not the most successful of performers, and his work was limited to late-night gigs at The Pendulum Pit, where he was often pre-empted by more popular performers on Saturday nights.

  Sandi was thrilled that he had made time to be with her.  From the moment they had first met, their relationship was magical.  Guy always seemed to know exactly the right things to say, the right things to do.  It was as if he had some sort of connection to her inner soul, a messenger that knew her innermost thoughts and feelings.  She was sure it was fate, that somehow it was ordained that they be together.  Within weeks of their meeting, Guy had moved in with Sandi.  She often found herself wondering what it was that attracted her so strongly to him; they had so little in common. Then he would go and do something perfect.

  This was one of those times.  Paul would have never spontaneously taken off just to relax.  There were certainly many things that she loved dearly about Paul, but she didn’t want to think about those things right now.  She was glad to have Guy here with her now to share in this winter wonderland. 

  As much as Guy liked to sleep in, the smell of coffee lured him from his bed. He walked into the kitchen and gave Sandi a peck on the cheek.  “Mornin’, lover.”

  She smiled and got up to pour him a cup.

  “So, I’ve got you for the whole day, huh?”

  “The whole weekend,” she said.  “Think you can stand it?”  She put the mug down in front of him.

  “It’ll be a struggle, but I think I can manage.”  He reached up and pulled her close as he sat by the table, burying his head between her breasts.

  She gave him a kiss on the top of the head.  “Umm, don’t start that now.  I want to get outside and enjoy some of this glorious weather.”

  “Too bad,” he muttered as he let her go.

  They spent the day doing something she hadn’t done since childhood —they played in the snow.  She had forgotten how cleansing it could be.  With a little practice she regained her skill at making the perfect snow angel.  Guy was laughably bad at it.  She complained about having given up her sled years ago, but Guy saved the day, appearing with two plastic trashcan lids.  They raced to the hill in the park by her house.  It was a steep cascading hillside that dropped off toward the Gunpowder River.  The hill was a popular spot for local kids to gather after a fresh dump of snow.  A dozen of them had already flattened out the powder, making for a rapid ride down the hill.  They gawked at the two “old people” as Sandi awkwardly snuggled into the trashcan lid, and then screamed as Guy pushed her down the hill, following close behind as he jumped into the other lid.

  “Jeez, act yer age, would ya!” she heard one little boy shout as she fought to stay upright.  She gathered speed quickly, and soon her ecstasy turned to apprehension as the river grew closer and closer.  It was quite shallow here, no fear of drowning, but the thought of crashing into the ice-cold water and smashing up against the rocky bank was less than appealing.  She threw herself off the makeshift sled and screeched, as much with joy as with fear, as she rolled to a stop in the fresh snow. 

  For a brief second, she lay on her back staring up into the sun, realizing thankfully that her body was still intact, but then Guy landed on her with a thud.

  “Whew!  What a rush,” he screamed.

  “Ooph,” Sandi grunted, the wind knocked out of her.

  “Uh, sorry, San” Guy said, seeing the dazed look in her eyes.  He gave her a slow, simmering kiss and the world seemed to melt away.

  By the time they got home, they were both drenched and chilled to the bone.  It was nothing that a soak in a hot bath and a romantic evening by the fire wouldn’t cure.

  When unburdened by the realities of everyday life, Guy was perfect for her.  They spent the weekend in fantasyland; music and books by a crackling fire set against the glory of Mother Nature were the fare for the respite.  She was totally removed from her work both physically and mentally.  It was brief, but it provided the cleansing that she needed to rejuvenate herself, to rekindle her creativity.

  By the time Sunday evening rolled around, Sandi felt like a new woman.  She had not been so relaxed in years.  Guy had promised the owner of the Pendulum Pit in Fell’s Point that he would be back at work for the Sunday night crowd.  Guy had developed a bit of a following over the past few months, and his presence would be missed.  He felt good about being needed at work.

  Sandi protested meekly, but in reality she did not mind seeing Guy walk out the door to go to work that evening.  Mindless passion could be wonderful, but only for so long.  She took advantage of the solitude of the evening to finish reading
I, Robot,
and went to bed early.  Weekend mornings after an evening of wine and passion were tough to negotiate. Sandi had learned long ago to forgo alcohol on Sunday night; it made starting the work week much more tolerable.  She was looking forward to starting off the week with a new attitude.  An early evening with no wine or worries would surely do the trick.

___

It’s tough getting out of bed when it’s still dark out, especially when the winter chill is so deep that it seeps right through the walls and into you bedroom.  This mid-December morning was one of those days.

   Paul grunted and rolled over to hit the button on the alarm clock.  As he lay there thinking of reasons not to crawl out from under his nice, warm down comforter, he began to realize that there really was no rush to go in to work this morning.  For what seemed forever, he had always been in the middle of some phase of the nanobot project, but now, with the success of his recent patent acquisitions, he was finally
between
projects.  He pulled the comforter up around his neck and nestled into the pillow.

  About an hour later, the sunlight made its way in through the blinds, and Paul found himself struggling to stay in bed.  Finally, he succumbed to the urges of his built-in alarm clock, the one that kept nudging his brain to kick into gear.  He just couldn’t sleep any longer knowing it was a workday, even if there was nothing in particular waiting for him at the office this morning. 

  It had been three days since that call from Sandi, and he still relished the sweetness of victory.  At first he had felt kind of sorry for her, really.  He knew that she had worked hard on the neuronanobots, and he remembered how he had felt when he learned that she had trumped him on the congressional approval for the human research trial, but this time it was his turn.  With the passing time since that phone call from Sandi, he had gradually grown more disinterested in the supposed implausibility of the parallel advances that Sandi claimed to have made at Hopkins. 
Just sour grapes
, he thought pityingly.  He had decided to ignore her appeals for the time being.  As much as he would enjoy spending some time with her, he would not do it under these circumstances.  He was not going to let anything, not even Sandi, ruin that sweet taste of success.

  He dressed warmly and took the elevator down to the lobby to check his mail before heading in to work.  The mail was always delivered early to Poe Towers, and Paul figured it might be nice to have something other than science journals to read at work today.  He planned to play out this rare opportunity to slack off at work to its fullest.  Today was not going to be a productive one, at least not in the way that JT Anderson had come to expect of him.  This was going to be a day to savor.

  He got out at the lobby and found himself walking toward the mailroom with a bit of a lilt in his step. 
I could get used to this,
he said to himself, enjoying the aimlessness of the moment, but in reality, he knew that he’d go nuts if he didn’t get involved in a new project soon.  He was determined not to think about that today.

  Much to his disappointment, the mail was sparse, save for one rather large manila envelope.  At first glance, he was excited at the thought of receiving a mystery package, but when he saw the return address with ‘Dr. Sandra Fletcher’ above it, he remembered that Sandi said she was sending him a copy of her research on the neuronanobots.  He shoved it into his briefcase with disinterest, and made his way to the garage.

  The city streets were a mess, with black road-crud from the recent snowstorm built up along the sides, but once out of the city it was as different story.   A blanket of white snow still covered the hillsides, and icicles glistened on the trees along the highway.  The roads themselves were completely clear, a result of one night of plowing followed by two days of bright Baltimore sunshine to finish the job.  It was after ten, and the roads were nearly empty.  It was an unusually easy drive into work.

  Paul parked in his space at BNI and went right to his office.  Sean was already in the lab running some tests when Paul entered.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

  Paul smiled sheepishly.

  “Ah, even you deserve a break now and then.  Stop feeling so guilty.”

  Paul laughed.  “It’s all in your imagination, lad.  ‘Guilt’ is not even in my vocabulary today.”

  “Hey,” Sean looked serious, “what have you done with Paul Hingston, and why are you in his body?”

  They stared at each other with deadpanned expressions for a brief second, and then burst out laughing.  Paul shook his head and opened the door to his office.  He tossed the briefcase on the desk, threw his coat up on the rack and plopped down in his chair.  He put his feet up on the desk, enjoying the moment.  It was so rare to have nothing pressing to do.

  “Oh shit,” he said, noticing the road crud on his shoes.  He quickly pulled his feet off the desk and brushed the desktop with his hands.  Grabbing for some tissues, he wiped the desk dry, and then cleaned his hands.  He opened the briefcase and spotted the package from Sandi again.  “You’re not gonna ruin this glorious day for me, love.”  He tossed the package into the bottom drawer of his desk, the one where he filed the things he intended to never look at again.  He closed the drawer, checked his shoes, which were now dry, and propped them back up on the desk.

  “You say something, Paul?”

  “Huh? … Oh, no, just talking to myself.”

  “Good thing, cause if you’re gonna start calling me ‘love’, I’m outa here, dude.”

  This day was just getting better and better.  Paul leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, and gazed out at the snow-glazed hillsides surrounding BNI.