Between the Lanterns

by Bush, J. M.

  Samantha, in a very unladylike moment, gave Joshua Stevens the finger.

  “I understand,” Mr. Stevens said, “but we’ll be in contact after you’ve had time to think about it. We’re willing to offer you enough Credit so that you never have to work again. You two could travel the entire world for the rest of your lives, staying at the most luxurious resorts. You would live the life of the truly wealthy. All you have to do is sell us Woodrow.”

  August and Samantha left Bayuss Tech without a word. They packed their suitcases and left Jamaica City a few days early.

  Chapter 17

  NOT A CHANCE

  “Patient Lurie, Dr. Granger will see you now.”

  The same two awful nurses were on duty at the front desk. As soon as they said to go in, the two idiots began laughing and placing bets on something inaudible.

  The clinic still looked the same; it had only been a month since the last visit, but it felt less ominous and dark this time. Patient Lurie was happy. Today was a follow-up exam to determine if the prescriptions Dr. Granger had prescribed were completely successful.

  While sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor, there wasn’t much to do. Some magazines lay on a side table, so Patient Lurie picked one up and thumbed through it. In the middle of the periodical, there was an advertisement for Montek.Home’s newest product – Love.Lanterns.

  FILL YOUR HOME WITH THE LIGHT OF LOVE. MONTEK.HOME INTRODUCES THE LOVE.LANTERNS; THE PERFECT ADDITION TO ANY HOME. LET OUR LIGHTS GUIDE YOUR LOVE.

  Patient Lurie threw the magazine into the trash bin while muttering profanities, just as Dr. Granger strode confidently into the room and sat down on a little stool.

  “I see here that you’re no longer experiencing headaches, trouble with your bowels, or panic attacks,” he said in his typical monotone. “That’s promising. Today, we’d like to do some more blood work and scans, just to verify that everything is fine. Would you like to add anything before we start? Any new symptoms or changes to tell me about?”

  Patient Lurie smiled and replied that there was nothing new or different. It was a good feeling to be free of illness, no matter what Montek was trying to do them. August and Samantha would come out on top like always.

  “Ok, good,” the doctor said, not sounding like he cared one way or the other. “Follow the nurse and he’ll tell you what to do. I’ll check in a bit later.”

  Once all of the blood tests and scans were done, Patient Lurie once again sat in the exam room waiting for the doctor. Once he finally arrived, Dr. Granger didn’t even sit down.

  He just poked his head in and said, “We’re pretty backed up right now, and your tests aren’t urgent. You can go home, and we’ll call you with the results in a few days if that’s ok with you. You’ll have to sign a consent form giving us permission to tell you the diagnosis over the Montek.Communication lines. Or, if you’d rather, you can come in for the news. I don’t think that will be necessary, though.”

  Feeling good, Patient Lurie signed the consent form and told the doctor to call, but only on one certain number, as there was no need to worry the spouse.

  Despite all that was happening with Montek, the Lurie family was feeling good. Yes, they were stealing August’s designs. Yes, they were trying to buy Woodrow. And yes, they were probably going to continue to do both of those things. But August and Samantha were determined not to let it affect them.

  Funnily enough, business was still great. In fact, with Montek offering similar tech on the Net, many customers rushed to buy it from Sweets, Inc. to have it faster, and to brag that their model was cooler because it was from a smaller production line. There were fewer Sweets, Inc. versions in the world than the Montek models, which made them rare and better in the eyes of the hip and fashion-conscious citizens of the United States of Earth.

  -

  August was tinkering with a new invention in the workshop at home when a thought suddenly sprung to his mind.

  “Sam, come in here, babe,” he called out from his little room full of spare parts and odds and ends he’d packed away. “I’ve got an idea, and I wanna run it by you.”

  Sam was hand -washing the dishes from supper, as she liked to do. She said it calmed her down like meditation, even though August had built her an old- style dishwasher. They both hated the SaniDish that Montek sold, which cleaned your kitchenware with ultraviolet light and high-temperature heat. It was waterless, which was technically good for the planet, but both Samantha and August felt that nothing ever got spotless without some water involved.

  “Be right there, Ssweets. Just let me dry my hands,” she called back.

  As she walked into the workshop, Samantha noticed August was acting a little strange. He was sitting between the lanterns, which were shining a dim and somewhat melancholy light in the small room. August seemed nervous and was tapping his foot while chewing on his fingernails. When he looked up and saw Samantha, he smiled and held out his arms for a hug.

  “I think I forgot to tell you, but dinner was amazin’, honey. Just amazin’,” he said as he squeezed her tight.

  Samantha loved it when August complimented her cooking. She didn’t cook as much as before when she had the restaurant, but she tried to cook at least once a day. It was still her passion, but cooking also brought up a lot of bad memories.

  “You did forget to say so, but I forgive you, you handsome devil,” she replied, thumping the end of his nose.

  August kissed Sam on the neck, and she squirmed a little. It tickled, but it also felt extraordinarily pleasant.

  “So, I wanted to talk to you about Montek’s offer,” he said, getting serious.

  Samantha pushed away from him with a shocked look and said, “Sweets, you aren’t honestly considering selling Woodrow to Montek, are you?”

  August scrunched up his face in disgust and said, “Hell no! Not a chance, babe. Not a chance. No, I was thinkin’ of sellin’ them the SameSoul. You said you didn’t like it, and I know they’d pay us an incredible amount of Credit for it. We could travel. We could go and do it… live like nomads. Never stayin’ in one place for too long. Get out there and experience the world, you know? It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I think this could be our ticket. What do you say?”

  Samantha wasn’t sure what to think. On the one hand, she honestly didn’t like the thought of her soul… or consciousness… or whatever… being captured inside some machine, even if it was lovely old Woodrow. On the other hand, she would love to leave all of this behind and be happy with her husband; no worries about what Montek might or might not steal next. Just travel the world and be happy. Learn recipes from around the globe. It sounded like pure Heaven to her the more Sam thought about it.

  “Oh, sweets,” she said, sounding unsure. “It sounds wonderful… except that you’d be helping that disgusting bunch of maggots at Montek. And to be honest, I was kind of coming around to the idea of the SameSoul.”

  She wasn’t coming around, not completely anyways. But it wouldn’t hurt to let August think she was. After all, he was very proud of his invention, as he should be. Samantha kept thinking back to how they would have done it to Tara if she had activated that damned BrainSave. If it was good enough for her, it was good enough for Sam. But she also thought of being trapped forever in a tin can…or, in this case, a woodblock, and it terrified Samantha.

  “Well, babe,” August said with a surprised grin on his face, “I could always keep the original for us and sell Montek a copy… or heck, just sell them the plans to make the SameSoul. We could even take Woodrow with us. I don’t know, I just feel like we’re stuck in a bad situation with these jerks, so we might as well try to make the best of it.”

  Woodrow had been folding laundry in the other room when he had heard his name, and suddenly pushed the workshop door open and wedged inside with the two of them.

  “WOOD ROW,” it said.

  Both Samantha and August snickered at the big, wooden robot. He always came whenever he heard his name, just
like a dog.

  “No, Woody, we don’t need you right now, sweets,” Samantha told it. “Go on back to folding the laundry, please and thank you.”

  Woodrow did as he was instructed, leaving the two humans alone again.

  “So, what do you think, sweetheart?” August asked. “Sell this little device, make a ton of Credit, and travel the world? Live like royalty in a different country every month?”

  Taking a brief moment to consider, Samantha’s teeth broke free in an explosive moment of happiness as she screamed, “Yes, baby, yes! Please and thank you, too! Let’s do it. Let’s do it now!”

  August was thrilled. He thought it was the absolute best move for them. After all of the awful things they had endured together, he felt they deserved to celebrate their life by doing this. It just felt right.

  Samantha was in shock. She never for one minute thought that her life would have turned out like this. It felt like she deserved to have a wonderful life after all of the difficulties that had come their way in the past. Together, they had been through quite a lot, and it felt like the right time to celebrate that life by making this crazy move.

  “It’s settled, then,” August said, slapping his knees and standing up. “I’ll call up Joshua Stevens tomorrow and offer to sell him the SameSoul. Of course, I’ll have to tell him about it first. Montek don’t know anythin’ about it, but I guarantee they’ll want it once they know about it.”

  “Oh, sweets I’m so happy I could spit!” Sam said. “This is the best idea you’ve ever had. I’m going to the bedroom to start weeding through my old clothes and throwing out everything I don’t need anymore. Our lives are going to have to fit into suitcases now!”

  August planted a kiss on Samantha’s forehead before she walked back out of the workshop and told her, “I’ll be out in a bit to do the same, babe. I just wanna finish this little hunk of junk I’m workin’ on.”

  Five minutes later one of their cellphones rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Patient Lurie? This is Dr. Granger. I’m calling in regard to your follow-up blood work and scans. You signed a form that gave me consent to contact you by phone, so I decided to go ahead and do this over the phone rather than set up an appointment.”

  Patient Lurie was dead silent, hoping for good news but fearing the worst, as that’s what life had taught them to expect recently.

  “Well, the good news is that the cure worked, and your stomach cancer is completely gone,” the doctor explained, “with all of the internal damage having been fully healed by the second set of meds I prescribed.”

  Patient Lurie exhaled a sigh of utter and total relief. It had worked. Everything was better, and there was nothing to fear anymore. Thank God.

  “There is some bad news, I’m afraid,” Dr. Granger added, not sounding as if the news was awful. “You see, Patient Lurie, after this was cleared up and we checked your blood work and scans again, we noticed a different anomaly. Tracing it back through your proteins, we found something else.”

  “What?” Patient Lurie asked with a dry rasp.

  There was a long pause on the line, and Patient Lurie could only wait in dreaded silence for the answer that felt certain to be only one thing.

  But no, it couldn’t be that bad. Things were going so well for the Lurie family. It couldn’t be that. Not a chance.

  “Patient Lurie,” the doctor said over the line, “your Countdown has begun. You have five days.”

  Chapter 18

  DAY ONE

  The decision whether or not to tell your spouse that you are going to die in the next five days seems like an easy one. You can’t just keep it secret from them. That would be terrible, wouldn’t it?

  Or would it be kinder to keep them in the dark? Would you rather spend your last five days crying and feeling sorry for yourself, or would you rather spend your them planning for a trip around the world? That way, your spouse could still go on the journey without you to get away from all of the bad memories in this house.

  It seemed like the better option, and so that is exactly what Patient Lurie decided to do. Keep it secret, and go ahead with the planning. It would not be easy either way at the end of the five days, but it seemed like this way, at least, their last five days together would be pleasant.

  -

  “Mr. Stevens?” August said.

  There was a momentary pause on the other end, and a deep inhalation of breath before Joshua said, “Mr. Lurie! I can’t believe you’re calling! Have you changed your mind about your automaton? I promise you that you won’t regret it. You’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams.”

  Once again, August wondered if he was making the right decision to sell his invention to this global network of crooks and monsters. He had sounded so confident when talking to Samantha about this in his workshop, but that was more to put her mind at ease. Inside, he still felt guilty about the thought of taking Credit and living like a king while Montek took his hard work and put their dirty signature all over it.

  “No, Mr. Stevens,” August said, trying to hide his disgust. “I will not be sellin’ you Woodrow. I’ve told you that won’t happen.”

  Joshua Stevens’s voice went from happy to irritated in an instant, as he heaved an enormous sigh and grunted in reply, “Then why have you tied up my line and wasted my time, Mr. Lurie? I have a business to run.”

  “You mean stealin’ other people’s ideas and passin’ them off as Montek’s original inventions?” August let slip, immediately regretting the words, as he was trying to get Mr. Stevens on his side temporarily.

  “Mr. Lurie, go fu…”

  Before Mr. Stevens could finish that thought, August interrupted and said, “I’m sorry that was rude of me, Mr. Stevens. I do have somethin’ to discuss with you. Somethin’ that I think you’ll be very interested in. I know it’s somethin’ that Montek would love to get a hold of.”

  Joshua’s attitude changed to positive once more as he replied, “Well, now. I am interested. I’ll be at your shop tonight. Will 7 pm work for you?”

  “Mr. Stevens,” August said, sounding confused, “don’t you even want to hear about it? You have no clue what it is I am tryin’ to sell you.”

  “Look, August,” Mr. Stevens said, “I won’t bullshit you. If it’s something you came up with, then I am going to want it. And if I want it, Montek wants it. I’ll see you at 7:00.”

  Joshua disconnected the call without another word.

  Samantha snuck up behind her husband who was standing in between the lanterns just staring at his cellphone in a confused silence. She had overheard a little of his side of the conversation and knew that he had been talking to that thief Joshua Stevens. It bothered her that they had to deal with him. It bothered her that they were going to deal with Montek at all. But it was for the best. The Credit Montek would pay for the SameSoul would cover any expense the Lurie family ever had for the rest of their lives.

  She put her arms around August’s waist and whispered in his ear, “Sweets, I was just getting rid of some old clothes, and I found some pretty sexy underwear. I need your help to decide whether to keep it or not.”

  August had not heard his wife walk in and jumped at her touch. Once he recovered and turned around, he had to do a double take… giving Samantha a once-over from top to bottom, taking in every inch of her body. To his surprise, she was not wearing any sexy underwear for him to look at.

  “Uh… what sexy underwear, babe?” he asked, his mouth going dry and his pulse quickening. “You’re nekkid as a jay bird.”

  “Oops. Whatever shall we do now?” she pushing her body against August.

  Her husband ran his calloused hands up and down her silky smooth skin. The juxtaposition of his rough, dark complexion against her soft, tanned skin always made him smile. He smelled her long, black hair, and the aroma combined with the touch of her naked body made him instantly hard. In between the lanterns, he looked at his wife and smiled.

  “I have a few ideas,” he told her, �
�but you’re gonna have to sign a waiver.”

  Samantha pushed back from him with a crooked grin on her face, and feigning shock, said, “A waiver, sweets? Whatever for?”

  August spun her around and pushed her towards the dinner table in a rush, and answered, “I can’t be held responsible for how quickly this will be over. You’re butt nekkid and sexier than anyone has any right to be. I just don’t want you gettin’ all angry at me for finishin’ before you do.”

  Samantha put her hand under his shirt and ran her fingernails up and down his back. August groaned and pulled her tighter to him.

  She grabbed his face in both of her hands, and in a stern voice said, “I’ll sign yours, as long as you sign mine, which states you must use any means necessary to make amends, sweets.”

  At that, August picked her up, placed her on the table, and stripped naked as fast as he could. Samantha put her feet on top of the table, making it easy for him. She bit at his lip as he worked. August braced himself on the table’s edge with his hands, pushed with his feet for strength, using his hips for the intricate movements. Back and forth. Over and over.

  After a while, Samantha realized that her husband had lied to her, as she finished long before he did. August was untiring, more so than he had been in a long time. More so than her husband had ever been, if truth be told.

  Samantha came again and shrieked in triumph. She grabbed onto her husband and urged him to go faster and harder, wanting him to feel that same moment of pure joy. He finally did, and then fell onto his wife. Sam held him, both of them gasping for air and smiling as they tried to move, but couldn’t. Eventually, August pushed himself up just enough to kiss the love of his life. She held onto his face while they shared each other’s oxygen. It lasted for as long as either could stand before they broke apart. The lanterns hovered in the air, slowly changing from warm to cool colors. They rotated around the table, creating a calming effect.