The Whitney Chronicles. Judy Baer

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ already told Betty that I’d be gone and that it was important for you to be with me. My appointment is at ten. We’ll be back at work by noon.”

      “We will?”

      “Betty wanted to know what it was about, but I told her that I wasn’t free to discuss it yet. Paranoid as she is, I think she believes we’re going on some sort of covert mission for Harry. I don’t want to go into it until I know something. I’m hoping tomorrow to tell her I had a false alarm.”

      “What about Kurt? Don’t you want him to go with you?”

      “He has class—a big test that he can’t miss. Besides, the nurse had to help him twice in my room during labor. By the time Wesley was actually born, Kurt was sitting in a chair breathing into a paper bag. Having him with me wouldn’t be much of a comfort.”

      A comfort. “Kim, we’ve got to pray.”

      “I haven’t stopped since I found this thing. I was in the shower. I usually do my exam on the first of the month, but somehow it just slipped by me this time….”

      I’d never seen her so upset. Kim is often my strength, the one who reminds me that everything works out, that no matter how bleak things might look, God is still in control. Now it’s my turn.

      I took her hands in mine and felt her fingers trembling. We prayed silently, knowing God could hear us no matter what the volume.

      As we escaped the dark walls of the restaurant, it was as though I’d stepped into an alternate universe. Granted, it had been dim inside Emilio’s, but it wasn’t the light that made me blink, it was the color. Everything seemed so much brighter than when we’d gone inside. A glossy golden retriever wearing a vivid blue collar and leash walked by carrying a bright red ball in his teeth. His master, a college-age man, did a little shuffling dance step to the music on his headphones. I could hear snippets of music as he passed. The sky was cerulean blue and a woman in a lime-green jacket and a black skirt almost bumped into me in the crosswalk. What was going on?

      Then it hit me. Leaving Emilio’s had been like walking out of a womb and into a reality I was suddenly seeing through new eyes. I had been rudely reminded of the fragility and unpredictability of life. No matter how much planning for and dreaming about the future we did—Wesley’s high-school graduation, the size eight jeans hanging in my closet, the end of Mother’s menopause—all we had was now, and we were fools not to enjoy every moment of it: the colors, the sounds, the people.

      The afternoon went slowly. I kept glancing at Kim, who had her gaze determinedly fixed on the papers on her desk. But, eventually, time has to pass. I didn’t have to look up from my desk to know when it was five o’clock. I felt the whoosh of moving air as Mitzi moved by me on her way to the door. Whoever says humans can’t travel at the speed of light has not worked with Mitzi. (It isn’t that she works fast, it’s just that she leaves fast.)

      Now, I’m not all that crazy about mammograms myself, but I recently had a baseline done. My dad’s sister had breast cancer years ago and my doctor recommended it. My mother didn’t help a bit. She likened the test to lying on a cold concrete garage floor and having someone drive over the targeted area with the wheel of an automobile. My attitude was not good going in, but as it turned out, everything went fine.

      To my dismay, Kim didn’t want me to leave her side. I knew she was going to be fine as soon as I saw the hot-water bottle warming the X-ray equipment. These people knew what they were doing. Fortunately, the nurse shooed me back into the hall before the actual procedure.

      As I paced back and forth in front of the door, an incredibly good-looking blond man in a dark suit, crisp white shirt and, incongruously, a Popeye and Olive Oyl cartoon tie, walked up to me.

      “Is something wrong? Can I help you?” He looked so genuinely concerned that I actually felt tears scratching at the backs of my eyes, the tears I’d wanted to cry for Kim and didn’t dare.

      “No. My friend is having a mammogram and we’re both a little nervous, that’s all.”

      “I see.” And I believe he actually did. “If either of you needs anything, just say so.”

      Frantically, I searched my mind for something, anything, I needed. Of course I came up blank.

      “I hope your friend’s test turns out well.” His eyes were a kind of inky yet brilliant blue, like a brand-new crayon fresh from a box of sixty-four—indigo, I think. When he smiled, gentle, pleasant lines radiated from the corners. The term “golden boy” must have been coined for this guy. But before I could think of something intelligent to say, he tipped his head and turned away.

      I wondered if he was an administrator at the clinic—he was definitely a great asset to public relations. But what did I know? Most everything I know about health I’ve learned from my mother, the medical encyclopedia of misinformation.

      The door opened and Kim appeared next to me. “Hi.”

      “Hi, yourself. How was it?”

      “Fine. Easy. It would have been a breeze if I could quit conjuring up worst-case scenarios.” She sighed. “I asked the technician how things looked, and she said the doctor would tell me. I wouldn’t have asked her if I wanted to wait for that. Don’t tell me she hasn’t looked at enough of those things to see what’s going on in there.”

      “Think of it this way,” I soothed her, “by noon tomorrow, you will have seen the doctor and this will be over.”

      “I hope so,” Kim said gloomily. It was weird, but I felt chilled all the way to my bones as she spoke, as if she knew something I didn’t.

      Feeling troubled, I decided to stop at my parents’ house. My dad is always able to calm me down when I’m upset. It’s his quiet, self-effacing way, the mild-mannered exterior of a man with so much wisdom and love for me that I choke up just thinking about it.

      Dad was in the yard. He’d paused with his hands resting on the top of his rake to look out at the flower garden. When he saw me drive up, his face broke into a grin. I felt better immediately.

      “Hi, Daddy, how’s it going?”

      For once he didn’t just say, “Fine.”

      “I had to get outside for a bit. It’s a little—” he paused for just the right word “—‘twitchy’ in there.”

      “That’s a new one.”

      “Your mother never ceases to amaze.”

      “What’s she up to now?”

      “Oh, she’s looking for the money I gave her to buy herself some new clothes.”

      “What do you mean, ‘looking for’?”

      “She put it someplace ‘safe,’ somewhere no robber would think to look.”

      “Uh-oh.”

      “Apparently no one would think to look in her hiding place—including her. So far she’s been through all the drawers, three closets and half the kitchen with no luck. If she doesn’t locate it by bedtime, I may have to sleep at your house. She’s not going to stop until she finds it.”

      “What СКАЧАТЬ