Doppelganger Girl

by T. R. Woodman

  As her eyes adjusted further, Evelyn realized that what she thought, at first, were crates or boxes or low-slung tables were actually cots. “Is this a dormitory?”

  “It is now,” he said. “I heard the building has been many things … apparently, it’s over two hundred years old. But the walls are adobe and they’re about a foot and a half thick. The room stays cool, so the local mission is using it as a respite for the homeless and the infirmed.”

  They skirted the outside of the room, and Evelyn noticed that every bed had at least one occupant. Tate kept pushing, and getting a little irritated at his rush, Evelyn tried to slow her pace enough to look around, but Tate only pushed her harder.

  Breaking free and feeling her face flush, she stopped. “What gives?”

  Tate stopped, turned, and with a look of surprise, or embarrassment, he started to open his mouth.

  “Father Tate.”

  Evelyn watched as Tate’s head sank a little. She glanced to the center of the room to see who had deflated her brother with something so little as a friendly greeting.

  Coming quickly, waving and skipping his way through the cots, was a squat man. The wisps of hair combed across the top of his balding head hadn’t done much to protect his scalp, and even in the semi-darkness of the mission, Evelyn could see the top of his head had the reddish glow of having been burned. He wore glasses, and his robes weren’t much heavier than well-used bedding, though they covered him from neck to ankle.

  “I’m so glad you’re back, Father,” he said, a combined look of admiration and awe in his eye.

  Evelyn glanced back at Tate and had to suppress a giggle, realizing that even though he was a priest, even Tate had limits to his patience with certain people.

  “Brother Antonio,” Tate said, turning to the man and leaving his scowl behind.

  At this, Evelyn couldn’t suppress a laugh.

  Hearing her laugh, the man’s attention immediately shifted from Tate. “Well, who is this?” he asked, stumbling and catching his footing as he reached out to shake her hand.

  Evelyn grabbed the man’s overly warm and unfortunately damp hand, more to keep him from accidentally grabbing another part of her that would have caused nothing but embarrassment for all three of them.

  “Brother Antonio, this is my sister, Evelyn … Evelyn, Brother Antonio. He’s in charge of the mission here in San Antonio.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brother Antonio,” Evelyn said.

  The little man’s head moved back and forth between Tate and her with such excitement that it almost made Evelyn dizzy, and again, she felt a lightness in her chest just watching the man.

  “Oh no, Evelyn, the pleasure is all mine, all mine indeed. It has been such an astounding blessing to have Father Tate here with us, and now we get to have his sister!” At this, the little man let go of her hand, reared back with open arms, and proceeded to wrap her in an uncomfortably one-sided hug.

  Being a few inches taller than Brother Antonio, Evelyn could feel the heat from his burnt crown on her face, and she started shaking, trying to keep from laughing. Glancing at Tate for some help, he also started to laugh under his breath, apparently getting some juvenile enjoyment out of watching her get the air squeezed out of her by the silly little man.

  Finally releasing her from his grip, and still with a grin wide enough that Evelyn worried his chubby cheeks might pop from the pressure, he stepped back and hammered on. “Oh, I just can’t believe you’re here. It really is just such a treat to have you. Of course, things have been quite busy around here, quite busy indeed, but having Father here with us has just been an absolute godsend! I don’t know what we would do without him.

  “I hope you’ll stay with us. You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you like. Yes, that’s just what we need. A nice long visit.”

  “I’m afraid we won’t be able to stay,” Tate said, trying to manage the little man’s affections. “It’s time for me to move on. I just came to collect my things.”

  “Oh no, no, no. You can’t leave us now, Father!” Antonio said with a gasp, the color and animation in his face all but melting away. He reached out to grab Tate with both arms.

  “Father, you must stay with us. You just must stay. Please … at least for a few more days … There is just so much to do and so many more people to help.”

  Evelyn watched as Tate winced. She knew he had given his whole life to helping the destitute and the helpless, and Brother Antonio wasn’t making his decision to leave any easier.

  Tate gently shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s just not a good idea, Antonio. I’m sorry.”

  Evelyn felt her stomach knot, figuring the little man was going to put pressure on Tate and realizing how uncomfortable things were about to get.

  “Brother Antonio,” she blurted, trying to help, “I’m sorry to take him away from you so suddenly, but my brother and I have to attend to some family matters. That’s why I’ve come for him.”

  Evelyn watched as the little man deflated even further, and she couldn’t help but feel a pinch of sadness at having sucked so much life out of him. But as quickly as he drooped, the little man bounced back with a smile.

  “Oh, my dear, I completely understand. It would be selfish of us to keep Father here any longer than absolutely necessary.”

  Turning, Antonio took up Evelyn’s hand and placed it on his arm to escort her toward the back of the room. “But maybe you and I might entice him to help out just one more family before you go.”

  Evelyn had never met a more relentlessly persistent person in all of her life. If the Philips clan was bullheaded, they had nothing on Antonio. Evelyn turned her head quickly to see that Tate was following and shaking his head slowly. She couldn’t see any way out of this, so she smiled the unsure smile of someone who was completely clueless about what was about to happen.

  “You see, they just arrived earlier today—”

  “Antonio … really … we can’t stay,” Tate pleaded, though his tone sounded as if he had said exactly that phrase a thousand times before and it had been ignored exactly that many times.

  In just a few paces, they had reached the back wall of the room and were approaching a doorway, the frame of adobe cracking and chipping from years of neglect. The door was missing, and in its place hung a multicolored striped bedsheet that had been strung across the frame like a curtain.

  “Really, Father, I know I’m imposing on you, but this family is desperate … They need a miracle,” Antonio said as he reached for the sheet and gently pulled it aside for Evelyn and then Tate to duck inside.

  A single exposed bulb burned overhead, casting a dim and dingy light on the mostly barren and tiny room. Evelyn’s attention was immediately drawn to the center of the room, where the form of a wispy person shuddered violently on a cot under a dark woolen blanket.

  “Evie?”

  Looking away from the suffering person before her, Evelyn glanced toward the back corner of the room in hearing her name. Despite the bulb, there was too little light for her to see much, the shadows shrouding whatever contents they could, and then she saw a face emerge, and to her surprise, one she recognized.

  “Ollie?”

  “Well, what do you know?” he said, standing and grinning at her. “I knew you’d come … couldn’t stop thinking about me, could you?”

  Evelyn couldn’t help but blush, and even though there was hardly enough light to see the walls, she was sure the blood rushing to her face was perfectly visible to everyone.

  “You just keep telling yourself that, Ollie,” Evelyn retorted, hoping to recover a little of her dignity.

  Ollie stepped closer and looked over her shoulder. “And it looks like you found your brother.”

  Evelyn whipped her head around. “Oh yeah. I did. Ollie, this is my brother, Tate.” Quickly she glanced at Antonio, who had already swept around to tend to whom Evelyn now realized was Tillie.

  Just then, two more shadows emerged from behind Ollie.
It was his brothers. With all three standing together, there was no doubt they were related. They all had the same square jaw, penetrating eyes, and easy smile.

  “Tate,” she said, turning quickly to him, “this is Ollie and his brothers, Tanner and Malcolm. They’re the ones who gave me a lift into town.”

  “Thanks for taking care of my sister,” Tate said, reaching out and shaking all three of their hands in turn.

  If he was skeptical about them before, it didn’t seem to have stuck with him, as Tate was as relaxed around the brothers as she had ever seen him.

  “Oh, it was nothin’ really,” Ollie said.

  “You ought ta know,” Tanner added, addressing Tate, “yer sister wasn’t all that keen on hopping in the back of a truck with the bunch of us roughnecks. Took my brother more than twenty minutes to coax her out from behind her bush. I’d say she’s got some brains about her … which is more than I can say for ol’ Ollie here.”

  Tate laughed. “Tanner, you have no idea how true that is … the part about how smart my sister is anyway.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Ollie interrupted, obviously taking the teasing in stride. “I’m just glad Evie found you, though. It seemed like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders wondering if she was going to find you or not.”

  Evelyn smiled and glanced back at Antonio. He was busy tending to Tillie, who seemed to have stopped shaking as he touched her brow with a damp cloth.

  Evelyn looked back at the boys. “How’s Tillie doing? Did you find the Healer?” she asked, not sure she really wanted to hear the answer.

  Ollie pursed his lips, looked down at the cot his sister was resting in, and started to shake his head. “No. Not yet. Nobody has seen him since yesterday. Not sure when he’s gonna come back either, but I hope he does soon. I’m afraid Tillie doesn’t have a lot of time left.”

  “Oh, he’s back, Ollie.”

  Evelyn, Ollie, and his brothers all turned to Antonio. He was still wiping the sweat off Tillie’s forehead, and he very obviously hadn’t missed any of the conversation to that point. But as a smirk crept across his lips, he gazed up and past all of them. They all turned just in time to see Tate wander distractedly into the corner.

  “He’s standing right behind you.”

  DEFENDER

  Though the man in the corner of the room stood still, he changed. It was an illusion, perhaps, or maybe a trick of the mind. It was the subtle transformation something has, not because its nature has changed but because your perception of it has. It was like watching a sister change into a hero as she defends your honor in a room full of bullies, or a friend turn into a love with a sugary kiss. Only, now Evelyn couldn’t wrap her mind around the change that was taking place. The questions were there, but they were so ethereal, she didn’t know how to put them into words.

  Evelyn had known Tate since he was a baby—rather, the data she had about Tate began when he was a baby. She knew him. She knew about the fever that had wreaked havoc on his brain tissue. She helped program the nanites that restored him. She taught him about computers and helped educate him as he grew, and she helped protect him as an adult while he tried to live his life as a servant to humanity, knowing there were people who would rather kill him for the technology he possessed within him. And after thirty years of life together, the gap of the last six years notwithstanding, Evelyn stared at the man in the shadows and shuddered for a second as he transformed into a complete stranger.

  Evelyn’s heart pounded in her chest. Even she had gotten her hopes up for Tillie at the thought that maybe there was a treatment that could save her. But Tate was a priest, not a doctor. And definitely not a voodoo witch doctor. As far as Evelyn knew, other than prayers, Tate had little to offer, and the doubts she had and the growing certainty that Tillie was going to die wrapped Evelyn’s brain in a cold, damp, smarmy gray gloom.

  Nobody said anything. It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room, and everyone was holding their breath in anticipation of some miracle, as if Tate was going to grow wings and a halo, or burst into heavenly flames. And he stood there in the corner, facing the wall but not really looking at it, his fingers on his chin, as far removed from them in thought as he might be if he were standing on the moon.

  What are you up to, Tate?

  Moments passed, and then Tate turned to face the group. “Ollie, we need to talk,” he said. “You too,” he added, looking at Evelyn. Without another word, he turned and walked through the curtain, back into the main room of the mission.

  Evelyn turned to Ollie. He seemed to be caught somewhere between being concerned and confused, but Evelyn could tell there was an excitement inside him somewhere giving a spark to his eyes, even in the semi-dark.

  “Why didn’t you tell me your brother was the Healer?” he asked, stepping closer to her and losing just enough of his bravado to reveal a vulnerability that completely disarmed Evelyn.

  “I didn’t know, Ollie … really,” she said, shrugging her shoulders, still trying to figure out what was going on.

  Ollie stepped even closer, putting his back between his brothers and Tillie. It didn’t take but a few seconds, and Evelyn watched his expression change, the vulnerability melting away and the boy of the world returning. “You don’t think he’s gonna be able to help Tillie, do you?” he asked in a whisper.

  Evelyn had her doubts that Tate was going to be able to help Tillie, especially after what Ollie had told her about her condition, but she didn’t want to say it.

  “All I know is that my brother has more secrets than I thought.”

  Ollie gave a nervous-sounding chuckle and held the curtain for her as they stepped into the other room.

  Tate was standing along the wall near one of the windows, and as they came though the doorway and walked to join him, he looked up and smiled.

  “Tell me about your sister, Ollie,” Tate said in a hushed tone, leaning in slightly and crossing his arms.

  “Well, Father, she got burned.” Ollie looked at Evelyn quickly as if to double-check he was saying the right thing. “She has radiation poisoning. We were assigned to the waste-processing center up in Colorado during the war, and she got sick. The doctor said there wasn’t much he could do. Then we heard about you and hoped you might help her.”

  Evelyn watched as Tate’s expression fell and his brow furrowed. “I see.”

  Perhaps hearing the change in Tate’s tone, Ollie stepped closer. “Look, Father … Tillie means the world to me and my brothers … She’s all we have left. When our parents died, we all kind of found our place taking care of her, and there’s nothing we wouldn’t do to help her. Hell, if we thought taking her to the moon would help, we’d find a way to get her up there.

  “I don’t know much about God, but from what your sister says, He’s the one who’s doing the healing. So I guess what I’m saying is, if you think God might just send us a miracle, then we’ll be forever in your debt … and we know there isn’t any way to repay a gift like that. But if you don’t think you can help her, maybe you could just give her a blessing … and make sure she’s right with God an’ all that …”

  Evelyn saw the tears forming in Ollie’s eyes, obviously getting choked up as the words came out. After a moment of clenching his jaw, trying to keep his lip from quivering, she saw the steely resolve return to his eyes, his skin getting thicker with each passing second, and the steady return to his chin. He cleared his throat.

  “…because Tillie doesn’t have much time left, Father, and if there’s nothing to have hope over, I think we’d just as soon know it so we can make peace with it … and say our goodbyes.”

  Evelyn couldn’t help the tears from trickling down her cheeks, and she quickly caught herself and looked away, wiping them away frantically.

  Nobody said anything for a moment, and then Tate broke the silence.

  “Ollie, will you please give me a minute with my sister.”

  “Yes, Father,” he replied, and Evelyn heard Ollie walk back to Til
lie’s room.

  She didn’t want to look at Tate. Something about all this terrified her, like she was going to open her eyes and he would reveal himself to be a charlatan—a gypsy with a purple turban standing in front of a cart full of lies. The thought of Tate not being the man she thought he was—the man she needed him to be—brought a lump to her throat and made it hard to breathe, hard to swallow.

  “Evie, look at me,” he said.

  Slowly Evelyn opened her eyes and looked at Tate. He still looked like the same guy, but she needed to know. “Can you even help her?” she heard herself ask.

  Still with a concerned look on his face, Tate put his arm around her. “Let me ask you something, Evie. What are you doing here?”

  The non-answer to her serious question with a question that seemed completely out of place was more than a little unnerving. Feeling a spark of frustration, Evelyn stopped and pulled away. “Come on, Tate. Answer me, because I’m really getting the feeling that you … they … I’m just … She is really sick,” she stammered, unable to find the words she wanted to say. She felt herself dig her feet into the dirt, like she was bracing herself for something bad.

  “And how can you do anything about it anyway?” Evelyn continued, the questions becoming clearer and the irritation rawer. Even though she couldn’t explain why, she was feeling incredibly defensive over the girl she had only met that morning. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t go to med school while we were gone, Tate. So what, you just read a few how-to books on healing the terminally ill, and now you’re a miracle worker?”

  Tate stepped closer and put his hands on her shoulders. “I will answer your questions, but you need to answer mine first. I know you came here to tell me about my parents, and about Jane, and we still have time to talk about those things, but what are you doing here? Is there some other reason you came back to Earth?”

  Evelyn paused for a second, her mind skipping through thoughts but unable to connect with anything relevant. The image of Joseph kept popping into her head, but so did Jane’s words—her wish—to run shuttles back and forth between the planets and rescue more people from Earth. The truth is she had been so confused about what she was going to tell Tate about Jane’s death, and was so worried about how he was going to react to it, she hadn’t thought about life beyond that terrifying conversation. Her mind wandered.