A knock came at her door. “Mrs. Evans?”
She recognized Judd’s voice. “Just one moment,” she called, turning to the mirror over the dresser. She touched up her makeup. A little lip gloss; a soft pat of the dark cake of face powder accentuated the dyed coloring of her chestnut-brown, short curled hair. She turned from the mirror to the door and opened it. She allowed herself no facial expression. “Yes?” she asked.
Judd looked at her, then he smiled quizzically.
“Mrs. Evans? I must have made a mistake. Do I know you?”
“Judd!” she laughed. She pulled him into her arms. She pressed herself against him and kissed him. “Now do you know me?”
“Can’t miss,” he said, smiling. He looked at her approvingly. “My God, you’re beautiful,” he said. “No matter what they did they couldn’t take that away from you. Beautiful.”
“Do you really like it?”
“Yes, really. And you were right not to let them cap your teeth. Everything works.”
“Don’t make me cry,” she said, trying to laugh. “I’ll lose my contacts, I’m not used to them yet.”
He smiled at her. “First you’re a woman.”
She nodded silently. She knew what he meant.
“Do you feel up to some doctor talk?” he asked. She led him to the table near the window, where they sat. “Some juice?” she asked. “They make fresh pineapple juice. It’s very good.”
“Fine.”
She went to the refrigerator and poured two glasses from a plastic carafe. She held up her glass to him. “It’s not Cristale,” she smiled. “But cheers, anyway.”
“Cheers.”
“Okay,” she said. “Let me have it.”
His face was serious. “Sawyer wants me to stop all the treatments now.”
“Did he say why?”
“The scans show a minuscule enlargement of the brain. Less than half a millimeter over the total area, so it’s not a growth or tumor that concerns him or the neurologists. The last scan I had was ten months ago. The enlargement has occurred since then.”
“Have you had any unusual pressures or headaches?”
“No.”
“Any problems of locomotion, orientation, hearing or vision?” she pursued.
“No,” he answered.
“Sexual, urinary or digestive problems?”
“No.”
She was silent again for a moment. “Do you have any problem sleeping, loss of concentration or physical and mental tiredness?”
“No.”
“Weight loss or gain?”
“Always the same,” he said, “one-sixty.”
“Height loss?”
He laughed. “That’s a funny question. Still six-one. Why do you ask?”
“Aging process,” she said. “At a certain age the skeleton shrinks.”
“I’m not that old yet,” he said.
“I agree,” she said. “But I’m just asking.” Silently, she took another sip of her juice. She looked at his eyes. They were clear and cobalt blue against the bright sun from the window. “Do you feel any slowing down of your thought processes?”
“Quite the contrary,” he said. “They seem much faster. Sometimes the thoughts rush so quickly through my head that I consciously have to slow them down to retain them, or the thought seems already the deed.”
“Like now?” she asked.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Do you see me as I am now?” she explained. “Or do you see me as I was before my cosmetic changes?”
He looked at her. “You always look the same.”
“Close your eyes,” she said. She waited until his lids were shut. “Describe me,” she asked.
“You’re five-eight or nine, weight about one-thirty, you have long blonde hair, gray eyes, full breasts about thirty-nine or forty with strong, jutting nipples, waist twenty-six or seven, hips about thirty-eight or nine—”
“That’s fine,” she said, interrupting him. “Now, open your eyes and describe me.”
A surprised look came into his eyes. “You don’t look like that at all. You have short brown hair. You have brown eyes.” A puzzled sound came into his voice. “Why did I think that?”
“You were describing your memories,” she said. “Not what you saw.”
He fell silent for a moment. “Is that bad?”
“No,” she said. “Quite normal. We all see inside our heads what we remember. It takes a little time to replace memory with reality.”
“But I thought my thought processes were faster than before,” he said.
“You’re probably right,” she said. “But your new vision of me is still so fresh in your memory that you reached over it to the older memory. If you closed your eyes again, you would probably see the new reality.”
He closed his eyes and sat for a moment. “You were right,” he said slowly. He looked at her. “And I thought I was doing something special.”
“You sound disappointed,” she said.
“I am,” he said. “I thought I was far ahead of everyone else.”
“You are. And you aren’t. Don’t forget you’re still a human being.”
“Will I always be like that?” he asked. “Living in my memories?”
“Probably,” she said, then added, “Unless you live forever. Then you’ll have to discover a way to lose many of your memories or you may overburden your brain.”
He stared at her. “Could that be the reason my brain is enlarging? So that it can store and handle more memory banks?”
She met his eyes. “I don’t know. But I should think not. Biologically and anthropologically, the human brain is the result of millions of years of evolution. We have never known of a normal human brain changing as a result of mutation.” She fell silent for a moment. “Remember one thing, however. The brain functions within the limitations of the human skull that contains it. And bone does not stretch.”
He looked from her face to the wall behind her.
“Also remember,” she added, “the size of the brain means nothing in relation to mental powers. The brain of a cow is much larger than a human brain.”
He looked into her eyes. “Then what do you suggest?”
“I’ll go along with Sawyer,” she concluded. “Let’s hold up the treatments. At least until we learn more about the cause of this condition.”
“Sawyer wants me to go back into the hospital in Boca Raton.”
“That makes sense,” she said.
“I don’t have the time.”
She looked at him quizzically. “What difference does time make for a man who plans to live forever?”
He sat there thoughtfully without replying.
“I have a feeling,” she went on, “that you know something you haven’t shared with Sawyer or me.”
He was still silent.
She offered a guess. “Are Xanadu and the DNA chemical cell-engineering project related somehow?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass,” he said flatly. But he showed no sign of anger. “I told you I’d tell you at the right time.”
She shrugged in acceptance. “But you don’t plan to go to Boca Raton?”
“That’s right,” he answered.
“What are you doing then?” she asked.
“I’m planning to have a meeting with the Maharishi,” he said.
“The appointment has been made?”
“I didn’t say that,” he answered. “We’re just going to drop in on him.”
“I’d like to meet him with you,” she said.
“If you do, you might blow your cover,” he said.
“What cover?” she asked. “I’ve already told them I am not interested in their program.”
“Sooner or later, then, they’ll find you.”
She looked into his eyes. “I’m not much concerned about that,” she said. “My professional curiosity is much more important. Maybe the man has some of the knowledge we’re searching for.”
“A
nd that’s worth your life?”
Her eyes didn’t waver. “I myself have no desire to live forever, Judd.”
He was expressionless. “I’m beginning to feel that I was selfish in coming to see you.”
“Don’t feel like that,” she said softly. “I love you. And if you hadn’t come to see me, I would have gone to you.”
16
The telephone on the table between them rang sharply. She picked it up. “Mrs. Evans.”
“Dr. Walton,” a voice replied. “Is our friend still there?”
“Yes.”
“May I speak with him?”
“Of course,” she said, then added, “Trouble?”
“I don’t know. But Fast Eddie has just come into my office. He thinks they have picked up a tail.”
“I’ll put him on,” she said.
Judd took the telephone. “Yes?” He listened for a moment, then looked over at Sofia. “Go to the window and let me know if you can see a white van about five cars behind the limousine.”
Sofia looked down. “Yes,” she said. “I can see it.”
“Is there any lettering on the side?”
“Island Laundry,” she answered.
“Anything else? A telephone number?”
“I don’t see one,” she said.
“Come back from the window,” he told her. “Even though the windows are one-way glass, I don’t want to take any chances.” He spoke into the telephone. “Island Laundry. Do you have anything on them?”
“Never heard of them,” Brad said. “We use Waikiki. Fast Eddie also tells me that two men came into the lobby just as you went up in the elevator, and they are still hanging around there.”
“Shit,” Judd said.
“Should we hassle them?” Brad asked.
“That’ll only give us away,” Judd said. He thought for a moment. “We’ll pull the old hat trick. Only the hat will be a patient.”
“Got it.”
“How long do you need to get it together?” Judd asked.
“Give me fifteen minutes,” Brad said, clicking off the phone.
Judd looked at her. “I’m sorry.”
“What about?”
“Because I blew my own rules. I ordered that no one was to bring you near me for your own protection, and I fucked it up myself.”
She looked at him. “Don’t feel sorry,” she said. “That, too, would have happened sooner or later.”
***
The little Japanese nurse bent next to Brad as he fixed a nose bandage across Judd’s face. He held it gently but tightly. “Put on the tape, Jane,” he said.
Deftly the nurse held the roll of surgical tape and covered his nose to his cheekbones until the center of his face was entirely hidden. “Okay, Doctor?” she asked.
Brad checked Judd. “How do you feel?”
“Like my nose is stuffed,” he said.
“It’s that street shit you been snorting,” Fast Eddie laughed. “Told you you’d wind up with a plastic lining.”
“Not funny!” Judd said sarcastically. But he was smiling.
Jane turned. “Your turn, Mrs. Evans.”
Sofia looked at her. “I thought everything was finished.”
“Surgically, yes,” the nurse smiled. “But there are still a few touch-ups to finish. Like your hands and arms, for example, or your décolletage.”
Sofia looked at her hands. “They look okay to me.”
“Hold them up against your face,” Brad said. “They’re completely white, not at all like the skin tones of your face. They’d be a sure giveaway if anyone was looking for you.”
Sofia looked at him silently.
“Jane has a body stain. She’s an expert with it. It won’t take long,” Brad went on.
“Two applications should do it, Mrs. Evans,” Jane said. “The first one stays on ten minutes, then you shower and dry off. Then we’ll do a second application and dry it into your skin with a hair dryer. The color should stay on your skin for at least two months, even if you shower twenty times a day.”
Sofia looked at Judd. “Do we have the time?”
“We don’t have much choice,” he answered.
She nodded to the nurse and started for the bathroom. “Let’s begin,” she said.
The nurse picked up a large doctor’s bag and closed the bathroom door behind her. “Please take off all your clothes, Mrs. Evans,” she instructed her. “And then clean off all your makeup.”
Quickly Sofia stripped and removed her makeup with a large jar of cold cream. She washed her face with a cloth and dried herself. She turned to the nurse. “Now what?”
“Very good,” the girl smiled. “Now step into the shower stall. Put on a shower cap and face me, your eyes tightly shut.” She held a spray can in her hand. “The stain may sting slightly but only for a moment. Don’t turn your back to me until I tell you.”
“Okay.” Sofia closed her eyes. She heard the hiss of the spray can, then she felt a faint sting as the spray touched her skin. The stinging crawled slowly down her body to her feet. After a moment the sensation stopped.
She felt the nurse’s hand touch her arm. “Still keep your eyes shut,” the girl said. “I’ll guide you so you can turn around for me.”
Sofia felt the girl moving as she turned. “Now stand with your legs slightly apart. You can place the palms of your hands flat against the wall of the shower stall to hold yourself steady.”
“I’m fine,” Sofia said.
The stinging sensation began again, this time from down her neck, across her shoulders and back, then finally to her legs. She could feel the spray against the back of her legs, then she felt it turn to the inside of her thighs and down to the calves.
She heard the nurse’s Japanese giggle. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Evans, but I must ask you to open your buttocks slightly if you can, because your skin there is too white.”
“I can’t do that standing in this position,” Sofia said.
“It’s okay if you bend slightly forward,” the girl said.
“Damn!” Sofia exclaimed as the spray hit. “This really hurts.”
“Many pardons,” the girl said. “But most necessary. There is time now, you can relax.”
Sofia half-smiled as the girl’s embarrassment caused her to revert to Japanese diction. She straightened up, turned back to the nurse and stepped out of the shower stall. She looked at herself in the full-length mirror. “I look yellow!” she exclaimed.
The nurse giggled. “Very Japanese,” she agreed. “But do not worry. Next application you’ll have normal, dark-white skin.”
Judd was alone when she returned from the bathroom ahead of the nurse, who was carrying the black doctor’s bag. “I’ll be back in a moment, Mrs. Evans,” she said. “I’ll bring your clothes and help with your makeup if you need me.”
“I think I’ll be all right,” Sofia said. She turned to the makeup mirror on the dresser. She began to apply her lipstick. In the mirror she saw Judd studying her with a strange look. She turned to him. “Anything wrong?”
He shook his head. “Every time I look at you, you look like someone else.”
“It’s the color,” she said. “You’re not used to it. It’s golden now.”
He was silent.
“It reminded me somewhat of Amarinth’s color,” she said. She loosened her white silk robe slightly. “But darker than hers.”
He turned away from her. “Finish your makeup,” he said almost harshly. “We’re almost ready to go.” He picked up the telephone from the table and dialed Brad’s office. “Has Valerie Ann arrived yet?” he asked.
Brad’s voice crackled through the receiver. “Fast Eddie has just brought her in through the lobby. He wants the two observers to have a good look at her before they go up in the elevators. I’ll bring them up to you as soon as they get to my office.”
“Who’s Valerie Ann?” she asked as he put down the telephone.
“One of the stewardesses on my plane,” he said. “You�
��re taking her place. I’m taking no more chances, just in case somebody figures out I’ve brought an extra girl aboard.”
“What will happen to this girl?”
“She’ll stay here a few days and then return home on a commercial flight.” He walked over to the window. “The van is still there.”
“You don’t think it’s a coincidence?” she asked.
“I know it’s not,” he said. “While you were in the bathroom we had the license plates checked. They’re phony.”
A knock came at the door, and the Japanese nurse entered carrying a small valise and a handbag. She turned to Sofia. “The clothes you wore when you came here are in the valise. Also your handbag.”
“Leave it on the bed,” Judd said. “She’s not using any of it.”
“Yes, sir,” Jane said. She put the bags on the bed and looked at Sofia. “Can I help you, Mrs. Evans?”
“I think I’m doing okay.”
Judd interrupted. “I’d appreciate it if you stayed, miss,” he said. “We may have to make a few more changes.”
A moment later Brad entered the room, Fast Eddie following him with a light-skinned black girl wearing a stewardess’s uniform. The girl’s eyes were lively and intelligent, her nose aquiline, and her lips slightly thick and wide. She noticed Judd’s nose bandage but remained silent.
“Thank you for hurrying, Valerie Ann,” Judd said. “I need to ask an important favor of you.”
“You’re the boss, Mr. Crane,” Valerie Ann said.
Judd gestured. “Valerie Ann, this is Mrs. Evans.”
The black girl looked at Sofia. “Mrs. Evans,” she said politely.
“Valerie Ann,” Sofia answered.
“I’d like you to give her your uniform,” Judd said, “so Mrs. Evans can return to the plane with me.”
The stewardess looked from Sofia to Judd. “There’ll be no problems with the uniform, Mr. Crane,” she said, “but she’ll never make it as a sister.”
“I don’t understand,” Judd said.
“Black girls are different from white girls,” Valerie Ann said. “First, she needs a little more soot on her face, neck and throat where it shows, then her lips need to be made wider and larger. Maybe the most important thing is her walk. Black girls’ asses have a bigger shelf that makes them move differently. What she needs is some ass falsies. Like Fredericks of Hollywood shows in their ads.”
Descent from Xanadu Page 25