Counting Up To Infinity

by Allen Fleishman

  “But he was dead. His heart stone-cold stopped. It wasn’t pumping very slowly. It completely and utterly stopped. I never studied biology, past my first year in college, but without blood, the cells, especially the brain cells, die. There was no oxygen. … No life.”

  David shrugged. “Do you remember hearing about the Krebs cycle which provides energy by breaking down fats and oxygen into energy and carbon dioxide? Well there’s a cycle called the Ryan cycle, which converts carbon dioxide into carbon and pure oxygen. It not only frees a bit of stored energy, but it provides oxygen for the Krebs cycle.”

  “I never heard of any Ryan cycle.”

  “Well it didn’t exist anywhere before three weeks ago. Your son was able to recycle his oxygen and more efficiently use his fats and sugars in order to re-grow and fix the damage. As a guess, I would say it took him this long to fix his broken body. Malcolm how are you feeling?”

  Malcolm, who was sitting in the back of the car with his father, had been very quiet up to then. “I’m not sure who you are, but thank you. I’m just very tired, and pretty hungry.”

  David laughed, “In the rush, I never introduced myself. I’m sorry Malcolm. My name is David Klein. My father, Martin, is on the board of directors of Organic Biotechnology.”

  Roderick started to get angry, “If he’s on the board of directors of the company, why didn’t he know my son was alive. We could have put my son in a bed until he woke up.”

  David grew serious, “For that we have to plead complete and total ignorance. No one at Organic Biotechnology knew that your son was alive. Everyone, except the geneticist, believed, like you, that Malcolm died. Everyone. The geneticist tried to convince upper management that he might be alive, but no one believed him. We all believed the electrocardiogram, the electroencephalogram, the thermometer, and the medical professionals, including my father and the Ryans, who said that there was no possible way, no conceivable way, for a normal human to be alive. But Malcolm is now much better than all of us.”

  Malcolm looked around, “I don’t feel that different, except I can feel my legs and hands again. I can now walk. I was even able to get out of the grave with your help.”

  David said, “Malcolm, you’re the miracle man now. I told my dad, my stepmother, and Josh’s parents to meet us at your place. Perhaps they could bring some Chinese take-up from St. Louis? Should I call them to stop along the way?”

  Roderick said, “Ahh, yeah I guess, Ginny wasn’t expecting any company. Holy cow. Virginia doesn’t know. I’m going to have to break this news slowly to her.”

  Malcolm said in a pained voice, “Mr. Klein, thank you for the offer, but I’m allergic to peanuts and MSG, I’m not allowed Chinese food.”

  David paused for a split second, smiled, and looked back at Malcolm, “You WERE allergic.” David had a big grin on his face.

  Joshua, who had been quiet all this time was actually answering and primarily evading questions from his and David’s parents.

  ***

  Virginia Coombs was glaring at the door when she heard the crunch of a car’s tires on the gravel road. Rod knocked then opened the door slightly. He peaked in through the half opened door, with a worried grin. “Hi Ginny. I got great news.”

  Virginia looked him up and down and saw his pants and his shoes caked in dirt. He was filthy. “Where did ya go at this late hour, and who are these boys with you?” She was furious and saw two whiteys behind Roderick, despite the half-closed door.

  Rod was quiet, and then he said, “I went to Mal’s grave.”

  “Whatdidya do that for. Let the dead rest. Let the dead rest.” She closed her eyes, tears were welling up again, and she became quiet.

  “Ginny, the drug worked. It really worked. Sit down.”

  “What are you making up stories for? Isn’t his death enough?” Virginia’s eyes were wild with panic. “What are you making up stories for? I can’t take this shit. He’s dead, Rod. Let HIM go. HE’S DEAD. OH PLEASE ROD, LET IT REST, LET HIM REST!”

  Roderick entered. He took her hand and gently led her to the large chair and said in a loud voice. “SIT DOWN GINNY.”

  Startled, Virginia sat. Rod never yelled at her.

  Malcolm took that for a cue to enter. “Hello mamma”. As he shambled forward, he stumbled a bit, but remained standing. David was bracing his hand and shoulder.

  In the light of the house, Roderick realized that his son was actually taller than he was. Maybe it was the years cramped in the wheel chair, perhaps he always was. Maybe it was the new DNA. But the boy was a tall skinny man, with a baby face. The lumpy face and the barrel chest from the enlarged liver and spleen were replaced by a sleek, tall man’s body. He no longer had Mongoloid features.

  Virginia slumped in her chair and with a strong inward breath. “Oh my god.” She just looked at her son, then forced her eyes shut. “No, no, no, no.”

  “Mamma, it’s me Malcolm. I’m not dead.” Malcolm put out his arms.

  Virginia’s fingers dug into the orange overstuffed chair. Her face was pale. “Oh Lord! Oh, my Lord. Oh, my sweet lord Jesus.”

  Malcolm bent down in front of the chair and put both of his hands over this mother’s hands. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Malcolm turned to Roderick, “Daddy, how long was I away?”

  “You died almost three weeks ago, son.”

  The words shook Malcolm. His knees crumpled to the floor; he knelt in front of his mother’s chair.

  In a quiet voice, Malcolm said, “Momma, hold me.” Virginia Coombs automatically reached out to hug her son. They held that tableau for several minutes.

  ***

  Forty-five minutes later the food delivery came, brought by David’s and Joshua’s parents. Virginia and Malcolm had gotten over the initial shock. True to his word, Malcolm was very hungry. There weren’t enough chairs for all nine of them, so Martin, David and Roderick stood while eating.

  “I’m sorry for the seating, but we aren’t set up for guests right now.” Virginia was very apologetic.

  David looked around. Although the house was clean, there were piles of paper and unopened envelopes on a desk in the corner of the room. There was also a pile of Tupperware containers. David guessed that friends and neighbors had helped with dinners for the last three weeks. There was some small talk about the weather in the south. Janet said how she was not used to it being so warm in March. That she was still used to the New England weather.

  Virginia broke into the conversation with a concerned voice, “Rod, you’re going to have to go back to the cemetery tomorrow and get Mal’s glasses.” Virginia looked at Janet, who was seated opposite her and confided, “My son has very bad eyes.”

  Malcolm spoke up after swallowing his food. “Gee Mamma, I was so excited to get out of the coffin, that my glasses fell off. When I saw Daddy reaching down I hadn’t realized that they were off. I can see fine now. Actually, I see better now without my glasses than I used to with ‘em.” Malcolm looked around and squinted.

  Janet stared angrily at Joshua and then looked at Malcolm. “Your vision is now normal? What was it like before?”

  Roderick said, “Bad, real bad. My son wore Coke bottles over his eyes. They were so thick that they had to make them out of ultra-refractive glass, to keep the weight down. I think it was 20:1400. But corrected it was 20:45.”

  Janet asked, “and your vision is good now? As good as with glasses?”

  Malcolm’s face was greasy from the egg roll that he had just inhaled. “Better.” He wiped his mouth.

  Janet held out two fingers, “Could you come here and squeeze my fingers?”

  Malcolm wiped his hands on a napkin then reached forward and grabbed Janet’s fingers.

  In an agitated, high-pitched voice Janet screamed, “OK, ENOUGH. Stop please.” She faced Roderick, “Do you have any big lumps of coal handy?”

  Roderick looked at her curiously, �
��No, what would you need that for?”

  Janet grinned, “I was going to ask your son to squeeze the coal. Do you think my house-calls come cheap?”

  Roderick started to guffaw and had to be helped to prevent him from choking.

  Virginia looked at him, “What is she talking about?”

  Regaining his composure, Rod smiled, “In the Superman comics, whenever Superman wanted some easy cash he would crush coal into diamonds.”

  Virginia had a momentary half-smile, but the frown returned. “Malcolm is having a lot of trouble walking.”

  Malcolm spoke, “Oh, I can explain that Momma. Imagine not being able to walk for, let’s say three years, not being able to know where your feet are. Then all of a sudden you can move and feel your legs. You have to learn how to walk again. It’s like that.” Malcolm smiled.

  “What I’m still confused about is how come you didn’t know about what your geneticist was doing? Why didn’t we know that my Mal was alive?” Roderick looked at Janet.

  “Well. … You have to appreciate that the geneticist’s a real genius, a genius’ genius. Your son is living proof of that. The geneticist is probably the smartest person to have ever lived. We”, she paused, “have to make some allowances for him. Oh, we love him like family, but at times, we forget that he’s not very mature about certain things. He just … well, he just never told us anything about the nerve regeneration. I just learned about it as we drove up here. In fact, I only found out that he ‘fixed’ the vision when you did, just now. The same with his new-found strength. I, we were only told that the geneticist was going to fix congenital disorders, like LPH Deficiency. I was never told about vision or nerve repair or super-human strength. He refuses, I mean, refused to tell us about what other corrections he made. I’m going to have a long, slow talk with him when I get a chance, a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g t-a-l-k. However, like I said before, he’s an ultra genius and like family. He’s just a bit naïve, a bit immature.”

  Janet continued, “Malcolm, in what other ways do you feel different?”

  Virginia spoke first, “His skin felts hot. Does he have a fever?”

  “I don’t feel different, Momma.”

  David spoke up, “Perhaps I can explain that one. As I told your husband on the way here, one of the ‘tweaks’ that was done was that his metabolism was made better. He’s able to convert one of the gases we exhale, carbon dioxide, into oxygen, carbon and energy. He’s able to generate a lot more energy like that. In fact, before he stopped breathing three weeks ago, he was racing his metabolism. It may explain why he had a very high fever and why giving him oxygen made get hotter. It also allowed him to live when he wasn’t breathing and his heart stopped. He only needed a small fraction of the oxygen in his blood.”

  Joshua shrunk down in his chair under the glares from his parents and David’s parents.

  Martin cleared his throat and put down the plate of fried rice. “Would it be possible for Malcolm to visit Organic Biotechnology? I’d like to give him a thorough going over. Also for all of our sakes, given all the publicity about him being dead and all, would it be possible for you to keep this quiet for a while?”

  Roderick looked at Sidney then did a double take on Joshua. “That’s where I saw you. When we first met, I thought I remembered your face or name, one of those Déjà vu experiences. You’re THAT Joshua Ryan. Your parents look different from the news, and you were still a baby in those photographs, but are you THAT Joshua Ryan?”

  Joshua looked at his parents. Sidney and Janet’s lips moved but they didn’t say any words aloud. Finally, Josh nodded. “Yes, my parents were badly hurt by the press for saving my life.”

  Janet added, “The press can be very unforgiving. In a way, we were lucky because we lived in a liberal state, Massachusetts. Had we lived in a Missouri, Josh probably would not be alive right now. Hmm … I hate to mention it, but with the definition we currently use, Malcolm is no longer in the same species as the rest of humans. He only has one chromosome. It’s totally up to you. You can handle this any way you want. We’re able to help any way we can, but shall I say, once the bottle is broken, there may never be a way to put it back as new. I’m not sure how you would want us to help, but we could provide a real school and physical therapy for Malcolm. We also have a real job for Roderick, too.”

  In a slightly bitter voice, “You mean like school custodian or night watchman?”

  Martin, perhaps in a too bitter voice said, “NO. I mean a real job, with real pay and real responsibilities, commensurate with your abilities, only the least of which is you being fourth in your engineering class at Rochester Institute of Technology.”

  Sidney interjected, “Can we call tomorrow and discuss things? We can go to a nearby hotel and speak to you tomorrow. You were through a lot tonight.”

  After helping to clear the table, the Ryans and Kleins left.

  Malcolm looked tired, “Mamma? Daddy? Can I go to bed, I’m tired.”

  Virginia said, “Sure baby.”

  Malcolm left the room and shambled into his own room, holding onto the walls for support. He appeared a few minutes later. “Mamma, can I keep the side of the bed down?” His bed was a hospital bed. He had been sleeping with the side of the bed up, to prevent his falling out.

  Virginia smiled, “Sure baby.”

  Malcolm looked a bit sheepish, “And can I leave the light on.”

  Roderick nodded, “Of course. It’s your room; you can sleep any way you want.”

  Malcolm retreated into his room.

  Virginia started to go to the sink to clean the silverware and plates. Rod grabbed her hand, “That can wait Ginny.” Rod pulled her to their couch.

  He cleared his throat. “I was pilloried by the press over the Franklin job many years ago. If this comes out, half the press will say I’m a liar, I’m a fraud, and the other half will demand Mal be dissected. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize the Ryan kid immediately. Maybe it was because Mal was going to be dead in three weeks. But do you remember the Preacher, and what he said about the Ryans? Do you remember what your brother-in-law said? There’ll be hallelujahs one minute, but they’d call Mal a zombie and the devil’s spawn the next. I agreed to move down here so you could be with your kin when the Franklin job went down and Mal started to get sick. But for the same reasons, we need to leave Westphalia.”

  “But Rod, my sisters would never turn on Mal. She’s watched over him for the last ten years.”

  “Ginny, I love your sister Dorothy, but she stopped the school from teaching Darwin. She said, ‘it was against God’s way.’ Ginny, she’s a good God-fearing woman. But she’s backward. She never went to college like you. How did she react to Joshua Ryan? What would she say about the deal we made with the devil to bring Malcolm back from the dead? How he’s so much hotter than normal? That he no longer needs glasses and is so strong? What will she say when she finds that Mal is no longer human. His DNA is not human any more. Do you remember what was said when they found out that Bobo was gay? How Bobo was forced to leave town?”

  “But Rod, I’m scared. I don’t trust those whiteys.”

  “Well if we can move to somewhere else, and if they offer me a job, I don’t mind using them. They can’t be any worse than Chet Herman the Third. I’m willing to hear them out.”

  Virginia looked pensively at Roderick. “You know, Organic Biotechnology probably don’t have much money. And I don’t know about you, but the way that they all dressed, they didn’t look like rich folks to me. Their cars looked dowdy, even if they were prototypes. And if they had any money, they’d be sending their lackeys out here for us, not their board of directors.”

  Rod looked at her, then down. “I’m sure not going to work for less money than as a janitor at the school. I have some pride left.”

  Virginia thought for a second, smiled, then said, “Rod, you do what you think is best. I’ve stood by you th
rough it all. We’ll end up fine. You’ll know what you need to do.”

  Roderick looked at her. He read between the lines and knew she was right. He was being a proud fool, but she loved him and trusted him. She knew that Roderick Coombs would do what was necessary for his family. They were married so long that he knew that she knew that he knew that she knew.

  ***

  At nine o’clock the next morning, Janet called and asked if they could come by. Thirty minutes later, the two cars rolled up. In the daylight, Rod again noticed that David’s car looked dirty and was the cheapest of the C H Motors line. His father’s car was only slightly better, although both had the propellers folded up giving the cars their unusual reverse tail fin look. As they walked in he got a clearer look at Janet and Sidney Ryan in the morning light. Their eyes looked older than their gait and demeanor.

  “Drs. Ryan, Mr. Klein, David and Joshua, welcome back. I put up a pot of coffee.”

  “Thank you Mrs. Coombs. We’d love some, is Malcolm up yet?”

  “Yes. He’s in his room should I get him?”

  Janet smile, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to do a quick check-up on him. I didn’t bring my medical equipment, but I’d like to do a quick impromptu look at him. That is, if you or he doesn’t mind?”

  Virginia nodded, “With all you’ve done for him, I don’t mind at all. It’s the first door down the left.” Virginia pointed to a door that had a large plaque ‘Malcolm’s Room’. After his death, they couldn’t do anything to it. It was always ‘tomorrow we’ll clean it out.’

  Virginia poured a cup of coffee for Martin, Sidney, David and Roderick.

  Martin said, “Did you think about what we said last night and the problems with small town, rural, Missouri?”

  Roderick pursed his lips, “The people in this town are good people, but they can be petty and mean spirited at times. I agree that staying here and letting the people know about Malcolm might be a mistake, a big mistake.”

  Sidney nodded and smiled. He seemed to be moving his lips without saying anything.

  Martin said, “I’d like to discuss a job.”

  Roderick looked at Martin, “I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why? Are you offering me a job or keeping me quiet about Malcolm. I’ve already agreed with you to be quiet. You don’t have to offer me anything. His life is enough. More than enough.”