“So, I broke into the lab and stole these, and I took off. Stupid them, they were used to dealing with the drugged-out electrode-heads they did their psych experiments on. Security was laughable. I imagine they’re still looking for me. If they don’t intend to kill me, they’ll probably call these units my ‘debt’ and put one of those things in my neck, like yours, and sell me off.”
He looked at Theo’s neck curiously. “I bet I could get that out of there.”
“Then what?”
“What? You could go underground.”
“Like you? I suppose I could but they’d just catch me again. There’s nowhere to go. Besides—” he glanced at Jennifer. “You’re forgetting my owner. If she didn’t want it out, we’d have to separate her from the control unit somehow and keep her from interfering, and from calling the cops as soon as I took off. Do you have a taste for that? I don’t.
“If she was willing to let you do it, then she’s left holding the bag. They’ll be checking up on us and when they found me gone she’d go to prison as an accessory. That’d be nice, too, wouldn’t it?”
Jennifer finally stuck an oar in. “Would you like me to leave the room while you two discuss it? Christ, everybody’s busy deciding my future, even my, my chattel—” she flung this at Theo, who winced. Then she felt bad. “I’m sorry—”
“It’s just the truth.”
“Just don’t anybody be deciding what I think and do, okay? You forgot one option, though. If Surgeon could get that thing out we could ditch it and the control and I could go with you—or away, anyway.” She suddenly ripped the thing off her wrist and threw it on the table. “There sure isn’t any future for me here.”
“None out there, either,” Theo said. “There’s still the problem: Where the hell would we go, singly or together?”
“Nevada.” The new voice startled them. It was Curt, sitting in his p.j. bottoms on the last stair step. He grinned at them slyly.
“Sneaky little dickens,” Surgeon said with affection. “Nevada, huh?”
“Sure. They’d let you in. It’s free there, freer than here anyway.”
“That’s just rumors. Since they seceded in the ‘04 election nobody ever runs any news out of Nevada any more. It might be a radioactive hell, for all we know.”
“I think we’d have heard about that,” Theo laughed. “But there’s no way in there, is there?”
“Airplane. California lets planes go back and forth across the border—”
“—for a small fee,” Surgeon injected, his grin a death’s-head leer.
“Of course.”
“But they don’t have them orphanages there, or work camps—”
Curt looked at Theo—“or slaves, neither. It’s almost like it used to be, the way they say it used to be, everywhere. I was trying to get there but they caught me.”
“How could you get on a plane?”
“I couldn’t. There’s one other way. Trains. Trains run in and out all the time, coal going in, sulfur coming out.”
“Sulfur?”
“Big export after the secession.”
Surgeon smiled at them. “See? There you go. Get rid of the tether, hop a train, everything’s rosy. Aren’tcha glad you found me?”
“Thanks for the thought, Surge, but the damn thing’s right on my jugular. You shake a little, I bleed to death.”
Surgeon looked offended. “I don’t shake.”
“Maybe not, but I’m not ready to take that chance.”
“Okay. It’s your neck.”
* * *
Theo woke before everybody else in the morning and started the coffee, then went outside to persuade eggs out from under the hens. The screen door’s screech woke Surgeon. He yawned, scratched, and stretched on his sofa bed and finally got up to put on his pants. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement in the kitchen.
“Morning, Sissy. Sleep good?”
Theo came back in with eggs pouched in his T-shirt.
“Hi Surge,” Sissy said, “What’s this?”
Surge turned just in time to see Theo flying across the kitchen table reaching for her, and in eerie slow motion her little pink index finger poking straight down onto the yellow button on Jennifer’s control unit.
“No!” he screamed, but it was too late.
Like a giant unseen fist had thrown him, Theo bounced off the table, doubled up in mid-air, and fell to the floor. Eggs shattered and splattered around him. A thin wheeze came from between his gritted teeth.
“Oh, no!” Surgeon yelled, “Jennifer! Come now!”
But there was nothing anyone could do. The pain-dose had dissolved when it entered Theo’s jugular vein and it could only run its course.
The kitchen was a chaos of Theo’s agonized screams and Sissy’s hysterical crying, Jennifer and Surgeon dithering helplessly, slipping in the broken eggs. Joseph, Curt and Winnie sat on the stairs, frightened, hugging each other.
“Oh, God,” Jennifer cried, “The damn things last an hour or more. Oh Theo, what can I do?”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Sissy wailed, and Winnie hurried to pick her up.
“Get her out of here,” Surgeon hissed. “Calm her down, don’t let her see.”
Theo’s body contorted in waves and his legs kicked and cramped. His arms contracted, pulling his hands into claws. Only the whites of his eyeballs showed. Inhuman grunts, and bubbling saliva leaked from his lips.
“Curt, come here, help us get him into the john,” Surgeon said. “It’s gonna be messy.” He looked at Jennifer. “Get his feet, will you? Careful, he’ll kick the shit out of you. I’ve seen this before. In a few minutes he’ll lose everything, both ends. Hurry!”
When they’d laid him on the tile floor Jennifer brought Surgeon armloads of towels, then he closed the bathroom door in her face. She sagged against the door and wept, listening in horror to Theo’s animal screams. She pounded the door in impotent rage.
“Get away, Jenny,” Surge called, “Go help Winnie with Sissy.
* * *
When it was over they put him in his bed and he slept for an hour. Jennifer peeked in and saw his eyes were open. The purple gouges under the lower lids were back.
“Hi, bud,” she said softly and knelt by the bed. “How you doin’?”
“Oh, I’ll make it. Some fun, huh?”
“No.”
“I’m sore. And hollow. Clean inside and out—who cleaned me up, you?”
“No. Surge wouldn’t let me. Seemed to think it’d bother you.” Her grin was weak.
“Smart kid.”
“Good kid.”
“They all are.”
“Theo, I had no idea how bad it would be. I never thought I could use it, except right at first when I didn’t know if you’d get violent, or, or—”
“Whatever.”
“But I couldn’t, not ever, now. I couldn’t understand why you seemed so . . .”
“What? Servile?”
That was the word but she hated it.
“Not much I wouldn’t do to avoid that trip. I’m no hero. And just think, my little bomb’s loaded with hundreds of them.”
He fixed his weary gaze on her face. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you take the kids to town for a movie, leave your unit with me.”
Her eyes got huge as his meaning sank in. “Theo! God! You couldn’t—?”
“Just one last instant of pain, you know? It’d be easy, right now.”
Winnie knocked at the door, carrying Sissy, who was still hiccuping sobs. Her childish voice was almost inaudible. “I’m sorry—hic! I didn’t mean to—hic! hurt you.” Her face crumpled and the tears started again. Boom-Bear showed damp patches.
Theo sat up. “Come here, Sis. Come on, honey, I’m not mad at you.” He pulled her up on his lap and hugged her. “It wasn’t your fault, Sissy. Hear me? It wasn’t. We should have been thinking. It’s an interesting-looking watch, isn’t it?”
“No!”
“Well, no
t now that you know, but when you first saw it, it was. We should have put it away. It’s. Not. Your. Fault. I’m not mad at you. You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetie. And I’m okay again. So it’s all right. Okay? Don’t feel bad any more. That’s an order, kid.” She looked up at him uncertainly.
“Hug?” he asked. She collapsed, squeezing Boom-Bear between them. Her baby-fine hair tickled his nose. His eyes raised to Jennifer’s. “Forget the movie.”
She smiled, relieved.
Surgeon poked his head in the door. “How’s the patient?”
Theo’s face went hard. “I’ll have that operation, Doc.” But he looked at Jennifer. “If that’s what you want, too.”
Jennifer had spent the time waiting for him to wake up, thinking in circles. Even if she could find someone to buy him who’d be good to him, there was no predicting what would happen later. He would live his life at other peoples’ mercy, waiting for the next “admonishment”. The word felt foul in her head.
There’d be nothing she could do, she wouldn’t even be able to keep track of him, and couldn’t help him anyway.
So when he asked, she said, “I’m game if you are.”
They took all the curtains, rugs and linens out of Theo’s bedroom, washed down the walls and surfaces, closed the window and taped its sash to seal out dust.
Jennifer had some medical supplies on hand, really veterinarian supplies for the livestock. She had rubbing alcohol, sutures and curved needles, several scalpels in sterile wrappers, bandaging materials.
By the next morning the room and equipment were ready. Surgeon kept a running conversation with Theo, telling him exactly what would be involved.
“You can back out any time up to the cut,” he said for the hundredth time. “It’ll hurt like a sonofabitch, we don’t have any anesthetic.” They’d concurred that getting him passed-out drunk would be a bad idea. If he vomited in the hangover it could rip out the stitches and maybe tear the jugular vein.
“It’s really a pretty simple, superficial operation,” he said again. “There’s not much between me and the tether. Skin, a little connective tissue, and the platysma muscle. That’s really thin, too. What makes it tricky is the location on the vein, of course. And I don’t know how they’ve got it secured. If there’s some kind of complicated net that’s had connective tissue grow up into it, we might have problems.”
He palpated Theo’s throat with gentle fingers. “See, it’s only about as thick as a pencil, and an inch and a quarter long. They didn’t need this bloody great gash to put it in, the butchers. My cut’ll just be half an inch, then I’ll have to make a little cut across the platysma, that’s maybe two, three stitches. With my extensions I can work in really little incisions.
“It’ll hurt, Theo, can you get your mind into somewhere else and leave your body relax? We’ll have to tie you down—if you flail around, you’re dead for sure. And fix your head so you can’t move it . . . but even just tensing up could blow it.”
“Got it covered, Surge. A long time ago I tried to memorize Fahrenheit 451. I’ll try to remember it.”
He sat in a chair next to the bed. A tray covered with a boiled towel held their instruments and suture-loaded needles. He’d washed his hands for thirty minutes, until they glowed red. He plugged in the extensions, and exercised them absently while he gathered the focus.
Theo’s head was fixed to the left, and Jenny sat where he could see her and she held his hand, bound to the bedpost. They’d tied a belt around his head and jaw to keep him from opening his mouth.
“Okay, Theo, you ready? You’re looking great, very calm, I can see your respiration’s slow and steady. Concentrate on keeping it that way when it hurts, and that’ll help you stay relaxed.
“Winnie, got your towels ready? Don’t blot till I tell you. You might have to get right into the incision if the blood pools.
“Jennifer, just keep him looking at you. If you get woozy, lay down on the floor for a bit. Don’t put it off; we don’t want you falling. Winnie’s helped me dig a bullet out of a guy, she’s a rock.” He grinned at Winnie and she tied a boiled bandanna over his nose and mouth. Now everybody except Theo had one.
“Buncha bandits,” he muttered through his teeth.
Ten painful minutes passed. Winnie daubed blood, but there was surprisingly little. Surge knew his vascular anatomy.
“There’s the little bastard,” he murmured. “Lovely. Okay, what’s holding it in place? Ah—very nice. We’re in luck, Theo. They’ve got one—two—three—looks like six little wires wrapped around the vein. This’ll be a cinch. You okay?”
Jenny, watching Theo’s face, said, “He’s fine.”
Surge’s extensions moved delicately. “Gonna fish around back here a little, Theo, it might hurt. There. And There. Oh, this is easy. These extensions are great. And five—and six, and there it is.”
Surge held up his prize for the girls. Jennifer controlled her expression with difficulty. The smooth gray plastic cylinder with its six wires now spread out, glistening with blood and serous fluid, resembled a large, nauseating insect. Surge plunked it down on the tray scornfully.
“Okay, sew-up time. Hang in there, Theo, this’ll hurt but we’re in the home stretch. You really have to stay calm and still here. I’m stitching the platysma now and it’s right against the vein. Okay, there’s the muscle back together. Jenny, help him out there, huh?”
Theo’s eyes streamed tears. She wiped them with a towel and took his hand again. “He’s almost done. It’s out! Just a few more stitches and you’re done. Free!”
When he was all closed up they put cold packs on the stitches to reduce the pain and swelling, and loaded him up with aspirin. Jennifer sat by the bed and he finally slept.
It was dawn when he woke.
“I’m starving.”
Jennifer shot upright, startled out of deep sleep. “Theo! You’re awake! What did you say?”
“I’m hungry. Got anything to eat?”
She got him oatmeal and milk and applesauce. He vacuumed it in and sheepishly held up the tray for more. She brought back soft eggs, and cinnamon toast soaked in milk, and orange juice, and that disappeared, too. She took the tray away and returned.
“So how’s the neck?”
“Sore as hell. But it’s getting better fast. That kid’s really something, isn’t he?”
“He deserves a lot better than he’s getting. They all do. Theo, I’ve had an idea . . .” She suddenly looked shy.
“And?”
“It depends on what you’re going to do now that you’re free. Do you know?”
“Nevada, I guess. Try for it anyway.”
“Have you thought . . . I mean, do you want . . . are you going alone?”
He took pity on her obvious discomfort. “You’re thinking the same thing I am. Maybe all of us try for Nevada? Take the kids? Heck, why not? I was wondering how I could stand to just dump ‘em back in the city. But they may not want to go.”
Her smile was guilty. “I, um, kind of approached them about it already. We’ve been getting ready. Curt’s studying my dad’s old atlas. It doesn’t show rail lines but he’s scoping out distances and landmarks. Surge is pretty familiar with the main yards down by the river. As soon as you’re stronger we can go.”
She looked around the room and her eyes misted. “I’ll miss this place, you know? I grew up here. But the country’s changed too much. I couldn’t keep it even if I stayed. Glen’s told me he’d build me a big house overlooking the golf course, as if that’d impress me. So I’m losing the homestead anyway.” She searched his face, grieving. “Tell me there’ll be something good to come, even if you don’t believe it, Theo.”
“But I do believe it. You think God gave Surge talent like that just to be wasted in a peanut field? And you . . .”
Surge opened the door. “Someone’s coming up the drive!”
The other kids and all their stuff were already in the basement behind the furnace, a plan they’d devised
after Theo’s operation.
Surge fled down the basement steps and Jenny went out onto the porch, strapping on the tether control. As she’d expected, it was Glen.
“Morning, Jenn. How’re you this beautiful fall day?”
“What do you want, Glen?”
“Is that any way to talk to your betrothed?” He mounted the steps, invading her space. She stood her ground. “Heard about your troubles, Jenn. Wish I could say I was sorry but I know you’re going to be a whole lot better off with me. Where is the dirt-bag, anyway? You get rid of him already?” He tried to peer in through the screen door.
Before she could manufacture an answer, Theo came out the door. He’d pulled on his pants but otherwise all he wore was the bandage on his throat. Glen glared at him.
“Still here, huh? I’m surprised you’re not in prison already, you pervert.”
“I’m going to sell him and spend the money on myself,” Jennifer said aggressively. “I can do that right up until my 25th birthday, you—”
“Say, what’s with the bandage?” He stared at the wound dressing, Theo’s pallor and the dark rings under his eyes. Then he giggled, a greasy sound. “You give him a shot of that tether, honey? Hoo-ee, you’re a spunky little thing. What’d he do, try to rip it out? I heard they do that sometimes, it hurts so bad. Well, you run along and do something useful, dirt-bag, I’m talking to my girl.”
“I’m not your girl,” Jennifer growled. “And you better be careful. I’ve still got this control and he’ll do anything I say.” She glanced at Theo and was relieved to see he was picking up on her charade, advancing toward Glen with murder in his eye.
“Especially after yesterday. I do believe he’d kill you if I told him to, just to keep from getting another jolt.”
Glen’s face went from bully to coward in a blink. He eyed Theo uneasily. Theo looked fifty pounds lighter but had muscle, and Glen clearly figured that the fear of another tether-dose would make him deadly.
“You might want to work on your manners, Jenn,” he said, backing down the steps. “I’m coming back with the sheriff to cart that creep away.” From the far side of his car he added, “And you’ll be coming with me.”
The Strangers of Kindness Page 5