Unforgettable (6 page)

I nodded. He knew about the thread.
This sucked. I thought I was doing so well.

He shook his head as he walked
out.

“
Call me if you move. Don’t
leave town unless you call me. From now on I am your
very best friend
.”

I called my landlord and asked if he
would install a deadbolt for me.

He said sure.

I relaxed.

For one hundred and eighty-five
dollars.

Damn.

I told him to go ahead. I'd get the
money somehow.

Robert showered and put on
the new cologne he'd bought at the gas station. He was going to
pick out the restaurant.

It wasn't far. He went in.
There were cloth tablecloths and shiny crystal.

"A party of one?" the
hostess smiled.

"Yes. One. For now. I'm
going to bring my bride, Lilith here. Think she'll like
it?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Come this
way. When is the wedding?"

"Soon. Very, very
soon."

I could barely drive. I trembled all
day vomiting after I tried to eat lunch.

I reached Jack’s place at
five-fifteen.

Fritz let me in. He looked worried,
concerned, when he saw me. I tried to be perky. Sam, the perky
PT.

I walked into the den.

“
How are things
going?”

“
Good. How are you?” Jack
had the same look Fritz did.

I ignored it and checked his foot. Then
I asked him to stand.

“’
Thought we’d do some
standing exercises today.”

“
I think I need some
lemonade, how about you?” He walked into the kitchen. I
followed.

“
Sit down.”

He brought the pitcher to the counter
through several pivots and hops. Then he handed me two glasses. My
hand shook.

He sat down.

“
How’s the pain
been?”

“
What’s wrong, Sam? You look
like you’re seeing the executioner. Where are the zombies, the
werewolves? Where are the monsters, Sam?”

I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell
someone. More than anything, I wanted him to hold me so I could
breathe again.

"Jack, I really hate to ask, but could
you loan a hundred dollars until payday? Car's having a little
trouble."

He scowled and took out his wallet. It
was fat. He handed me a fistful of bills.

"Need more, I'll call
Fritz."

I took two fifties and thanked
him.

"Tell me, Sam. Tell me what the hell is
going on. I can help you. I want to help you."

“
It’s my battle,” I
whispered, my mind checking out completely. I played with a rubber
band on the counter, staring at air.

“
What battle, what battle,
Sam?” He held my hand.

I felt that I would crumble into dust
at any second.

“
Sorry. Just a little
trouble from back home.”

“
Someone is terrifying
you.”

I shook my head.

“
You owe someone
money.”

No response.

“
A jealous
boyfriend…girlfriend.”

Nothing.

“
A controlling
boyfriend…ex-husband.”

Nothing.

He thought for a long time.

“
Someone wants to hurt
you.”

My throat turned to iron
shavings.

I looked away. My secret was secret no
more.

“
Just a little family
trouble…my brother’s been arrested. Drugs. It’ll get worked
out.”

It was the best lie I could think of.
Of course I could tell that Jack knew it was a lie.

“
You need help, Sam. When
you’re ready to tell me about the hell you’re living in—whatever it
is--I’ve got a lot of slingshots. I can make it go
away.”

He touched my face, lightly, sweetly. I
gave in and leaned into his hand. It felt so wonderful. I closed my
eyes.

I did not cry. I did not fall into his
arms. I did not scream for his help.

I trembled like a dam seconds from
bursting.

I had to leave.

“
Stay, Sam. Stay with
us.”

“
Have to go.”

Silverman picked up his
daughters from school since his wife was home sick with the flu. He
glanced in the rear view mirror. The same car had followed him for
two days. It was obvious his boss wanted him to spot it.

His stomach
hurt.

When he got home he took an
old cell phone of his and went in the garage. He called, barely
remembering the number.

"I need a meeting with the
Mayor...yes...I'm being followed. Yeah. And they're watching my
girls...right...tonight...thanks Biggs."

He walked me to the door.

The silence was like needles scraping
my skin.

Darkness lies but so do its victims. I
thought I was relatively safe. Now I realized I was almost
dead.

I heard Jack talking to Fritz as he
held the door for me. “It’s time to take care of that business…call
Roger.”

I stopped by the hardware store on the
way home and bought a nail gun and a hatchet with those nice crisp
fifties.

“
Bring it on, bastard,” I
mumbled as I walked out the door.

I didn’t remember driving
home.

A man in worker’s orange overalls
picked up trash in my apartment parking lot.

He had a desert combat hat on. His face
was covered.

He vigorously stabbed leaves and trash
with a stick and put them in a bag.

It didn’t make sense that he had a
camera swinging around his neck.

But I was almost home. Safe. And that
was all I thought about.

Wednesday

“
Hey Abe, what’s happening?
I am so thrilled to see you smiling.”

“
A beautiful lady coming to
see me, how can I not be smiling? Watch this, Mom and I have been
working.”

He gritted his teeth, held his breath,
raised his left arm and then his right. They were about three
inches off the arms of his wheelchair.

Three inches was miles. I almost cried
I was so damn proud of him.

“
Wow! Going Hulk on
me.”

He laughed.

“
Listen Abe, I wanted to
talk to you about something, I talked to your mom and dad about it
already. I think you need to go into a clinic, outpatient, for
therapy. You and I are only going to be able to do so much. They
have a lot more equipment and it’ll be good for you to be around
other people.”

He thought for a long time.

“’
You been laughing every
day?”

He smiled. “Yeah. I’ve been watching
funny movies and stuff. My friends came over, too. We had some
fun.

“
But, if I go to a clinic…I
like seeing you, Sam.”

I nodded.

“
I like seeing you, too. But
I really feel this is what will do the most for you.”

I hugged him and kissed him on the
cheek.

“
You take care of yourself,
Sam.”

I was at my car when my phone
rang.

“
Sam,” Stella was clanging
her bracelets against the phone.

“
Mr. Nolan called. His
doctor’s appointment is today and Mr. Nolan was hoping you could go
with him, meet at his house in about an hour. I can move your
people around, you’ve only got two or three I think. Henry is light
today so he could probably pick them up. We had a lot of
cancellations. We really want to keep Daffy happy. He’s private
pay.”

I drove to Jack’s. Two gardeners were
trimming and mowing.

“
I’m glad you could make
it.” Jack was standing at the door with khaki shorts and a white
linen shirt.

“’
Hate going to the
doctor.”

“
Me too.”

Fritz came bouncing out with car
keys.

“
Are we ready for our big
outing? Sarah packed us goodies.”

“
No way.” Jack grabbed the
bag.

“
Oh yes. You’d think we were
going cross country instead of across town. I think it’s those
mother hormones. I caught her talking to the koi pond the other
day.”

He gave me a smile and a wink. He
leaned over me and whispered.

“
I think we should make Jack
drive and we’ll sit in the back and neck.”

Jack laughed and climbed in the
back.

“
You must sit in the back
with me and hold my foot, saying kind, nurturing things to it,” he
said. I climbed in, taking his foot onto my lap. He groaned trying
to pretend it wasn't painful.

Jack told me stories about their last
shoot in Alaska and what it was like to pee outside when it was
below zero. I laughed so hard tears kept rolling down my
face.

He reached over and wiped them off with
his thumb.

His stare was suddenly serious and I
was drowning in his eyes, unable to look away.

Fritz parked in a lower parking lot
that seemed to be just for the physicians. We took a small
elevator, walked down a white hallway, and entered through an
unmarked door. A nurse took us to X-ray and then to an exam
room.

Fritz and Jack played with the
equipment.

“
Will you two stop
it!”

“
We’re bored,” Fritz smiled.
“All right, we’ll be good. If you insist.” He threw tongue
depressors at me just as the doctor walked in.

Jack introduced him to me. The doctor
looked at the floor strewn with tongue depressors and
grinned.

"Never can leave you two alone. Miss
Rose, my sympathies. Foot’s looking good, let’s get this cast off
and see what we have.”

He cut the cast, Jack twitching every
time it hit skin.

Fritz laughed.

“
It won’t cut you, you
know,” Fritz said.

“
I know. I just hate those
damn things.”

Jack’s ankle was a crisscross of
stitches, the entire ankle was shades of yellow and
purple.

The doctor pressed and pulled making
Jack wince.

“
Healing great, which is
really good. X-rays look good. That ankle was like sewing confetti
back together. I was afraid it might not heal. I think you can put
a little weight on it now, just toe touch. Next visit we’ll
increase your weight bearing. Probably a boot. Carlos will be in to
re-cast you and you’ll be on your way.”

He was gone. I looked at the incisions
and films.

“
You have got a ton of
hardware in there. Amazing. You’re lucky your circulation wasn’t
ripped up at the same time. ‘Might have lost your foot.”

A short muscular man came in,
introduced himself as Carlos, and re-casted Jack’s
ankle.

“
Thanks for coming along,”
Jack told me. “How’s your brother?”

I looked away, my feet itching to
run.

Jack smiled. “What’s your brother’s
name?”

“
Daniel.” Elton
John’s
Daniel
was
playing through my head.

Jack nodded. He wanted to see how far
I’d go with this game. Fritz frowned at him.

“
I take it Daniel is younger
than you are.”

“
Yes. He’s eight years
younger.”

“
So when your folks died he
was nine.”

My chest hurt. I felt
like
I
was nine
getting caught stealing ice cream money.

“
Right, right. It hit him
really hard…”

“
Don’t ever play poker,” he
laughed. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”

He was back to his dark, serious self
again.

“
There is no Daniel. There
is no brother. There is, however, something big, bad, and scary.
You’re not sleeping, you’re not eating. You look like hell. If I
guess it you have to own up. You just found out you’re
pregnant.”

“
No.”

“
Let me ask you, sweetheart,
what’s going to happen if you don’t get it?”

“
Get what?”

“
What you want? What you’re
praying so hard for?” he whispered. “What’s going to happen to
you?”

There was no more air in the room and
my lungs had glued shut.

“’
Feeling a bit
claustrophobic, sorry, have to go…”

I dashed out of the room, to the
parking lot. And that was as far as I had planned.

I went back to Jack’s SUV. I had to get
out of there. I didn’t know where I was but I was certain it was
too far to walk.

Carlos came out whistling.