Between the Lanterns

by Bush, J. M.

  Samantha didn’t know what to do. She just grabbed John’s hand, while August hit the emergency nurse button.

  They came strolling in and checked the time. The two on-duty nurses nodded at each other and wrote some stuff down on their LightBoard, using their fingertips.

  “Time of death, 2:13 AM,” one of them said.

  “He’s not even dead yet, you horrible people!” Samantha screamed at them frantically. “He’s choking! Help him! PLEASE!” Tears poured out of her eyes as she pleaded with the two uncaring nurses.

  “Ma’am, please keep your voice down,” the other nurse said. “Patients are sleeping in other rooms. He may not be dead now, but he will be in a minute. He can’t breathe, and there’s nothing we can do.”

  August grabbed a face mask attached to an automated breathing machine next to the bed, handed it over to the nurses and begged, “Use this. Intubate him or whatever you call it. He’s a real person, damn it all! Don’t let him die without trying to save him! Please!”

  The nurses looked at one another and shrugged, then one said, “It won’t do any good, sir. Patient Hill is a hopeless case.” Then the two heartless nurses walked out of the room and back to their station.

  As they did, August overheard one of them saying, “He would have been a great candidate for the new Montek.Automaton program. I wonder why they didn’t buy that option, seeing as how they’re so hung up on that old geezer.”

  John stopped struggling and breathing at 2:16 AM, a. A full three minutes after the two terrible nurses said he had died. August and Samantha held each other and wept until the sun came up. That’s when the clinic staff asked them to leave so they could clean up the room.

  Chapter 6

  IT’S THE LAW

  The two of them walked down West Main Street in a daze; both felt dizzy and lost after the events inside the clinic.

  “I’ll walk you home, if that’s alright with you,” August said, with his arm still around Sam. His thoughts were not on how pretty she was, or how marvelous it felt to hold her. His mind was on those horrible people in the clinic. How could they have let that happen? Should he and Sam have gone with the Montek.Automaton option after all? It was all too much for him to handle. So instead, he decided to focus his attention on making sure Sam got home ok and wasn’t too upset. He’d do whatever it took to keep her from feeling sad for too long.

  “Thank you, sweets,” she sniffled, adding, “I need that right now. I don’t want to be alone.”

  “I don’t, either,” he admitted shyly. August didn’t mean just for now, either; he meant for the rest of his life. But he couldn’t say that to her, not yet. It was way too soon.

  Samantha looked up at August, correctly guessing what he had meant. She locked eyes with the beautiful stranger who felt so much more than that… so much more than someone she had just met. With what the two of them had just been through, and the losses they had both suffered in their lives due to The Countdown… Samantha felt a connection to August that she couldn’t explain. When he touched her, she tingled all over. When he talked with compassion and understanding, when he cared about something… it made her feel like she was home and safe around him. He was everything she had ever hoped to find in a friend... and everything she had ever hoped to find in a lover as well.

  “Do you mean that, August? Do you mean it the way I hope you mean it?” she asked quietly, looking deep into his eyes.

  “I really do, Sam. You’re somethin’ special, and I don’t want to miss out on… well, you,” he answered, trying not to sound awkward. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like there is no one else in the entire world who feels the way I do about stuff. Everyone is so damn rushed all the time, and so worried about what’s popular and what other people think. You and John are the only other people I’ve met since my granny died who actually… care,” he said, pulling her hand up to his mouth, kissing gently on her knuckles. “Kindness is so rare these days, and I don’t want to let it out of my sight for one more second. I want to hold onto it as tight as I can and never let go. I want to hold onto you, Sam.”

  She felt in perfect agreement with everything he was saying. She knew it was crazy, but there was a spark between them. It came from a real place, and it felt wonderful. She beamed at August, and he smiled right back.

  They kissed each other standing in the middle of West Main Street. AutoCars raced by and honked their horns. The two of them didn’t even notice. August held her head gently in his hands as he ran his fingers through her smooth hair. They kissed long and soft, trading secrets through their breaths. Samantha held him around the waist and rubbed at his lower back. The kiss was never- ending and eternal, yet fleeting and over way too soon.

  They pulled apart and pressed their noses together, breathing heavily. August’s chest heaved with excitement. He had never felt like this before. His heart beat like a drum, and he almost hummed a tune to the beat. He was ecstatic and lost in her, this beautiful woman.

  Sam’s legs trembled, and she held onto him for support. She had never in her life been so excited and so afraid at the same time. All she wanted was this man and nothing else. He was the sun in the center of her solar system, the gravity that held her to Earth. How could this be happening? She didn’t know yet, but she was going to take Cheryl’s advice. She would hold onto this feeling; she would not be left wishing August were around. She would make sure that he was always around.

  August looked to the sides, and Sam followed his gaze. Somehow, they had ended up standing in between the lanterns at the end of West Main Street again; in the exact spot where they first met. It was the third time the two of them had come together here in this place, between the same two normal, everyday lanterns.

  “This is my favorite spot in the entire universe, sweets,” Samantha whispered to him.

  “Dear Lord, it’s mine, too,” he replied.

  -

  Two months went by, and the two young people saw each other every single day. August switched his shift at the factory to match her schedule at the diner, so he could walk Samantha to work. Most days she brought home food from the diner, and they took turns eating at his place or hers. August’s little apartment was becoming nicer and nicer the more he worked on it, and so he started to spend some time fixing her place up a bit, too.

  They would lie on the couch or bed together for hours, telling each other every moment of their lives as far back as they could remember. They found that their lives were similar in many ways, but diverged in several as well.

  August had two distant, and unloving parents and so got his love and caring from his granny as a child. Samantha’s parents died when she was very young, and she didn’t really remember them.

  “What happened to them, Sam?” August asked when she revealed this painful truth.

  “Well, I was too young to remember anything, but my foster parents told me it was cancer. I doubted, even back then, that they both died from cancer. So when I got a little older, I went in search of public records about them,” Samantha explained. “After a lot of searching, I found them. They were both from the area of Old China; you know where Shanghai City is over in the Asian States. They apparently came to Alabama looking for jobs. The records said they were both farmers, and I read that this area was still holding onto some good farming back then. Anyway, sweets, it turns out that my father had died of cancer, but my mother… well, she committed suicide soon afterward. She jumped into Lake Eufaula with enhanced gravity rings on her ankles. The extra pull kept her down on the bottom so she couldn’t come up.”

  “Oh no, Sam,” August said, placing his hand on her own. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Oh, sweets, it’s alright. I never knew either of them or, well, I don’t remember them anyways,” she replied with a tender smile. “My foster parents, Steve and Jessica, were decent enough people. They had a lovely home, and I never went without anything that I needed. They just weren’t the most loving parents, you know? It’s not their fault,
either. Just a product of the times, I guess. The day I turned 18, they asked me to leave, as they would no longer receive any benefits from the government for keeping me. They let me keep my clothes and personal items. They even helped me to find the job at the diner and a place to live. So, all in all, they weren’t completely bad. There was some good deep down in them.”

  “Sam, they asked to leave because they weren’t gettin’ paid anymore? That’s just plain vile and wretched behavior,” August said, disgusted. “Didn’t they love you?”

  “I guess they did in their own way. The way anyone today really cares about someone else: on the surface only,” Samantha told him. “But I loved them. I cared for them and still do. I appreciate everything they did for me, even kicking me out. Because if they hadn’t I would have never met Cheryl. The woman who taught me to cook, care, and live. She had that same spark as John, August. I wish you could have met her. She and John were very similar. I wish they could have stayed together, forever.”

  “Me, too, Sam. But nothing lasts forever, as they used to say,” he replied.

  A few days after that, Samantha was working in the diner as usual. Lunch rush had just finished, which was all of four people total, and she was tidying up. A tall and lean man walked into the diner and looked about, as if lost.

  “Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you? Would you like to sit down and have something to eat? Today’s special is lip-smacking good: chicken and dumplings with egg custard pie for dessert. Sweet tea included, too,” Samantha said with her customary good nature and friendly smile.

  “No thank you, miss. I had a Nutricator smoothie on the way over,” the man replied.

  Samantha rolled her eyes at the well-dressed gentleman and told him, “That ain’t food, sweets. Come on, have something real for a change, won’t you?”

  “No, I must decline,” he said flatly. “Though, I wonder if you could lend me some assistance. I’m looking for Samantha Vann. Is she around, by chance?”

  “Well, sweets, that’s me,” she answered, shocked at hearing her name out of a stranger’s mouth. “Samantha Vann at your service. What’s this all about, sir?”

  The nice-looking man reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope, explaining, “This concerns the Last Will and Testament of John Hill.” The man looked around at the diner, empty of patrons, and asked, “Would now be an appropriate time to discuss this with you?”

  Samantha was taken even more aback, and a little lost for words. She told the man, “Well… I guess so. John’s will? I thought he was more broker than the rest of us?”

  The man in the suit sat down and motioned for Samantha to do the same and join him. “First, let me introduce myself,” he said, offering his hand to Samantha,. “My name is Lee Parr. I’m a lawyer for the state, and this whole business is rather odd and unusual. You see, you are correct. John Hill had no Credit to his name. He had very few possessions, too, only some clothes, a few cleaning items, and a bag of toiletries. That’s just about it, you understand. However, as he lay in the clinic, mere minutes after arriving, he requested my services based on the recommendations of Dr. Granger. He and I play golf together once a week, you see.”

  “I see,” Samantha said, trying to keep up.

  Lee went on, saying, “Anyway, once I met with Mr. Hill he told me that he had no family and no friends… except for you and a young man named August. He didn’t know your last names, he just said you two, and I quote, ‘were the two nicest people I’ve met in many a year.’ Mr. Hill then told me that he was the husband of one Cheryl Hill, owner of this diner. Now, this diner, along with her home, was left to Mr. Hill in her will once she passed away. As you are probably aware, she gave full management over to Tara White and yourself.”

  Sam was reeling with all of this information… Cheryl left the diner to John? She died years ago, though. He said that he just found out about her death right before he came to the diner.

  “Mr. Parr, how was John the owner?” she asked. “It was my understanding that me and Tara ran the place, and kept the profits. Cheryl said that the diner was now state- owned because she owed too much Credit on it.”

  “Well, Miss Vann, she lied to you,” Lee answered. “This diner has been owned by John Hill since Cheryl Hill passed away.”

  “But what about the Credit that gets automatically taken out every month? Where does that go? I thought it was paying off her debt, and that when it was all gone we’d inherit the diner. That’s what she told us, Mr. Parr,” Samantha said, still trying to understand.

  “Well, once again she lied to you, Miss Vann. Once Mr. Hill told me his story, I verified it all with the local government and everything checks out. He never wanted the Credit or the diner, as he said it would only break his heart even more. So the Credit every month went to charity. Research for a Countdown Cure, I believe. He knew of Cheryl’s death because he had to come down and sign all the paperwork when she died. He informed me that he was here to meet you. He said that before she died, Cheryl wrote him and told him about you and how you were the daughter that they never had,” Lee explained. “She wanted John to take care of you with the Credit from the diner. He said that it took this long to come here and meet you because he ‘was too damn scared,’: in his words, mind you.”

  Samantha needed a drink. Cheryl sent John a letter about her? And he had waited until just now to come and see everything… it all just seemed too strange for Samantha to comprehend.

  “I’m following you sweets, but I’m starting to feel sick,” Samantha said. “I don’t know how many more surprises I can take.”

  “Well, here it all is laid out for you,” Lee replied. “John wanted to meet you so he could give you the diner and Cheryl’s house. He met you, was very pleased with how pleasant you were and was ready to sign everything over to you. Then an AutoCar struck him on West Main Street. Very unfortunate. So, I was called in, and the papers were signed. All you have to do is fill out these few forms, sign on the dotted lines, and the house and diner are yours. The payments will cease going to Countdown Cure research and go to you. That’s as simple as I can make it.”

  “I think I’m going to faint,” was Samantha’s only response.

  She grabbed the dirty cloth, recently used for wiping tables, and held it up to her forehead. Now was not the time to worry about some bits of food getting on her face. It was cold and wet, and that was exactly what she needed.

  “Ok, Mr. Parr. I think… I think that I understand it all, I just can’t believe it. You go ahead, tell me what to sign, and I’ll do it,” Samantha said. Looking up at the heavens and shaking her head, she added under her breath, “Cheryl, you are a sneaky old bat, but thank you, both you and John, for what y’all did for me. I love you.”

  Lee looked at Samantha like she had gone crazy. People didn’t openly talk to the dead in Heaven anymore. Most people didn’t even believe in that kind of stuff, but if they did they just kept it to themselves. He felt that this lady was obviously a bit wacko.

  “Ok, madam. Just sign here and here, then fill out this portion,” Lee told her.

  Samantha did as instructed, and just like that she was the owner of a diner and a home. She hadn’t been to Cheryl’s place since she passed. Samantha loved that house. It was a three bedroom ranch over near Westgate Park:; a beautiful place, and much nicer than her small apartment. But living there would mean that she and August wouldn’t live close by each other anymore, though.

  “Ok, Mr. Parr, all done,” Samantha said. “Is there anything else I need to do? Where do I get the keys to the house and what not?”

  “Well, I have the keys here. The final, formal deeds for the house and the diner will arrive in the next few days. But other than that, it’s official. You are the owner of both as of this moment. Congratulations, Miss Vann,” Lee said.

  The possibilities opened up before her. Samantha thought of all that extra Credit she would receive, and thought of how much Credit she would save not having to buy a hous
e. She was sincerely excited about all of it.

  “I am also here on a different matter, Miss Vann,” Lee added. “As I said, I work for the state, and there is a new law that just passed last week. It’s part of my duties to visit all restaurants in town and let them know of this new law and make sure of their compliance. Due to an agreement with Montek, the government is now requiring all restaurants to have at least one Nutricator on the premises, so that everyone can choose to have the items on the menu cooked or created by a Nutricator.”

  Samantha’s excitement flew out of the window in an instant. Her face grew bitter, and she said in a venomous voice, “That’s not right, Mr. Parr. Neither the government nor Montek… hHell, let’s be honest, we all know they’re almost one and the same… but they can’t tell me that I have to use their filthy, disgusting machine to feed people fake food. The whole point of places like these is that we only serve REAL food. They can’t’ take that away from me. They just… they can’t!”

  Lee regarded Samantha without any emotion showing on his face and replied, “I’m sorry, Miss Vann. It’s the law.”

  Chapter 7

  MUSCADINE WINE

  Tara fussed and fussed over the state of Samantha’s hair. She put it up, then let it down, and then repeated the process all over again.

  “Sam, dear, I just can’t decide which way looks best on you,” Tara said. “You’re so damn good-looking that, either way, you’ll be the most beautiful bride this town has ever seen, but I want it to be perfect for y’all. What do you think:; up or down?”

  “Oh sweets, it don’t matter to me,” Samantha said, beaming with joy. “The only thing I care about is walking down that aisle and marrying that incredible man, spending the rest of my natural- born life with him, having babies with him, and growing old together. These are the things that concern me at the moment, not my dang hair. Just put it up or down, and be quick; please and thank you.”