“No! What the fuck, Ellie? That’s disgusting.”
A sudden wave of relief passed over me. We both had pretty loose morals and I didn’t have a problem with him doing just about anything else but I would have been mad if it involved animal cruelty.
“What were you doing then?”
“We took the dogs.”
“You stole them?”
“Yeah, you could put it that way. There were seven of them in this nasty abandoned warehouse downtown. We broke in and took them. I needed the fireworks as a diversion, something loud enough to cover the barking.”
“Where are the dogs now?”
“Steve took them. He’ll find homes for them.”
“Nice! That’s. . . That’s. . .“ I didn’t have the right words to express myself but I was really pleased with him. “Well, shit, that’s just too cool. Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Look, when I put these Games together, I don’t tell anyone anything. If the cops came and asked you what you were doing here, you wouldn’t have to lie. You could tell them you were waiting for your boyfriend. Even if they pressed you for info, you wouldn’t have any. I like to keep everything as secret as possible.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I trust you.”
“Then why would you be afraid to give me the details? I mean, almost blowing your ass off? I know I can be stupid sometimes, too, but I am pretty good with logistics. If you told me --”
“Okay! Point taken,” he interrupted. “I just don’t like giving details away.”
I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him on that point. He’d either tell me next time around or he wouldn’t.
“I just want to help,” I said.
He nodded slowly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So, is a Game always something like this? You know, not really a job per se, like you don’t get paid or anything.” I was a bit confused on the whole Game thing.
“No, not at all. A Game is just one of my ideas. It could be anything. Usually there is money involved. Sometimes, a whole shitload of money.”
I could tell that for Max, money was a minor motivation; the true drive behind these Games was just to see if he could pull it off. No matter how crazy or dangerous his ideas were, to him, they were all just Games.
9.
April rolled around as winter melted into spring and life emerged again. Max had another job. He didn’t ask for my assistance, just grabbed his coat in the early evening, casually told me he was leaving on a Beer Run, and kissed me goodbye.
I wished him luck and told him to be careful, then settled down to watch TV. There was a Top Gear marathon on BBC, and I zoned out to the sound of revving engines as the three hosts bragged about the super cars they were lucky enough to test-drive.
When Max didn’t come back by 2:00 am, I decided to go to bed.
He’ll probably stay out all night like last time, I thought to myself as I slipped under the covers.
At first I thought the incessant ringing was in my head, coming from some far off place in my dream world. Then, it hit me it was the phone, not a background noise in my nocturnal adventures. I cracked one eyelid to look at the clock. The green digital display read 7:32. Way too early. I shut my eye and blindly reached out to pick up the handset on the night table.
“Hello?” The word came out like mush.
“Ellie, get down here. I need your help.” It was Frank. He hung up without further explanation. The urgency in his voice did a lot to wake me, but I still wasn’t ready to jump out of my warm bed. I rolled over to wake Max, hoping I could make him get up and see what Frank wanted. He always woke up better than I did.
The other side of the bed was empty and cold. Frank’s phone call suddenly sounded more worrisome to me now that I knew Max never showed home the night before.
I sat up, rubbing sleep from my eyes, and jumped out of bed, trying to hurry. I threw on some clothes, slipped shoes on my feet, and ran downstairs to find Frank.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Frank was propping the front door open with a chair. He looked up at me and nodded, then walked outside. I followed him out. The cold spring morning edged the blades of winter-burned grass in frost and formed icy crystals in mud puddles that would thaw by afternoon. He marched out to the strip of lawn between the house and the sidewalk. Lying there, unconscious, between the garbage and the recyclables that had been left for the dump pick up, was Max. Dried blood crusted his face, and a bruise started to make an appearance on his cheek.
“Oh, my God!” I ran over and crouched down beside him. “Is he okay?”
“Get used to it, he does this sometimes.” Frank clutched a cig between his lips. The smoke curled up as he squinted his eyes against it. “Fucking pain in the ass.”
“Frank, he’s --“
“Get his feet! We’ve got to get him inside before anyone notices,” Frank barked at me, looking truly annoyed as he bent and lifted Max under the armpits. I tried to pick up his feet, but I couldn’t lift them high enough to get him off the ground. I dropped them, moved in closer, grabbing him under the knees, and heaved upward. He was heavy. It took everything I had to even move him a few feet. The five front steps felt like climbing the Empire State Building.
“I’m going to drop him,” I told Frank as we got to the top. “I can’t hold on much longer.” My arms were shaking with the effort, and I could feel my hands sliding from their grip.
“We’re almost there.”
“Frank, I’m losing him!” My fingers slipped from their hold, and Max fell with a thunk to the porch floorboards.
“Jesus, Ellie, we’ve got to get him into the house!” Frank snapped at me.
“I didn’t mean to! He’s too big!”
He looked at me with a little smirk. “You’ve never complained about that before.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not funny.”
“I know. Sorry. Can you make it a little farther?”
I nodded and picked up the deadweight again. We moved Max into Frank’s apartment and settled him on the couch. I was thankful we only had to go that far and not the two flights up to our place.
“I have to go now. I’m already late,” Frank said, as he looked at his watch. “Wash his face. There’ll be someone coming in a few minutes to take a look at him, but he’s probably fine. If anything happens, call my cell. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He briskly walked out the door and shut it behind him.
I looked at Max and saw the kind of trouble he could get himself into. I went in the kitchen and poured hot water into a bowl then found a face cloth in the bathroom. The blood wiped off easily. There was a small scrape on his forehead, but I think most of it had come from his nose.
A knock sounded on the battered wooden door. I got up and answered it to a tall woman in her early thirties. She wore a long white lab coat with a nametag over her left breast reading “Dr. O’Connor.” There was a stethoscope around her neck and an equipment bag in her hand.
“You must be Ellie,” she said and stuck her hand out in introduction. “I’m Jillian. Max told me a lot about you.”
Max talked about me with this woman? I felt a little awkward. I had no idea who she was. She was obviously a doctor, but I couldn’t imagine how he would have become friends with someone in such a different social circle.
“Hi.” I shook her hand. She gave mine a firm, strong pump as I let her in. “He’s on the couch.” I pointed to where Max lay, his feet sticking over the edge.
She walked across the room and pulled her hair back, taking the dark blonde strands up into a ponytail that hung to her shoulders. She reminded me of a young horse with long legs and an athletic body, slightly awkward, yet graceful. Her elongated face held a wide mouth with thick lips and huge teeth. The only thing keeping her equine features from sliding into the homely range was a beautiful pair of large green eyes. They were a stunning shade framed with long dark lashes.
Jillian sat on t
he edge of the couch and started to examine Max. She poked him, prodded him, listened to his heart, then took out a small penlight and lifted his eyelids to look at his pupils. He groaned and moved.
“Ah, Maxwell, you’ve decided to join the land of the living,” Jillian said as he opened his eyes.
“Jillian?” He mumbled something that neither of us understood, then turned his head and looked at me.
“Hey, you,” he said and grinned, the words slurred slightly. He reached out to me with his left hand then pulled his arm in quickly. “Ow! Fuck.” He cradled it against his chest. “I think it’s broken.”
“Are you drunk?” Jillian asked, disapproval in her voice.
“No. Yes. I don’t know. Maybe.” He leaned over the side of the couch and threw up. That answered her question.
Jillian crinkled her nose in disgust, the corners of her mouth turning down in a grimace. “Ew! You’re so gross!”
“Come on. You know you love me,” he said as he tried to sit up.
“That’s only because you’re my brother and I’m required to by law. Otherwise, I’d never put up with all of your shit.”
Brother? Max once told me he had a sister, but he was vague on the subject, like he was with everything personal. The only thing he said about her was that we’d meet sooner or later.
“You guys are brother and sister?” I asked, the surprise ringing in my voice.
“Half,” Jillian answered. “In times like these, I always stress that he’s my half brother. Same father, different mothers.”
Then, I realized it. The eyes. They had the same alluring green eyes, a striking match. Other than Jillian’s tall stature, that was the only resemblance.
I had all kinds of questions I wanted to ask but it didn’t seem like a good moment.
“You’re in luck. I don’t have any surgeries today and no patients until this afternoon.”
She’s a surgeon? I was impressed.
“My tech is on vacation, so it’ll be nice and quiet in the office. Can you walk?”
“I think so,” he said.
She stood and helped Max to his feet. He retched again, but luckily didn’t vomit. He teetered a bit, and she wrapped an arm around his waist for support.
She turned to me and nodded at the mess on the floor.
“Clean that up and meet me at my office. I’ll leave one of my cards with the address.”
I mopped up the puke, left Frank a note, then picked up the card Jillian left and headed out the door. I was eager to see how Max was doing, but I had to stop in my apartment first. I still hadn’t had a chance to pee, and I wanted to put on fresh clothes and brush my teeth. I also picked up my GPS so I could find Jillian’s office.
I got in the car and looked at the business card to see where I was going. It read: Dr. Jillian O’Connor, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.
Jillian is a vet? I started to laugh at the idea. It was brilliant, no hospitals with all of the questions that came with them, no involvement of the authorities, no worries about his lack of health insurance. A vet had to be a good doctor since the patients didn’t talk. She obviously knew what she was doing, and being Max’s sister, she’d take really good care of him.
It took about 45 minutes to get to Jillian’s office. I drove along the winding roads, the countryside spreading out before me. Her office was in the middle of nowhere.
I walked in and looked around. A small black dog came running around the corner, barking like crazy and jumping in tight circles. I crouched down and let him sniff me. After getting a good nose full, he turned and trotted to the back room. I wasn’t sure where to go so I followed him. He led me to Jillian and Max.
“I see you’ve met Hannibal,” Jillian said, indicating the dog. Max sat quietly in a chair next to her, his face ashen, looking like he might throw up again. She was applying a cast to his arm.
“Hannibal? As in Lecter?” I took my hand slowly away from him. Maybe the dog had a killer bite.
“No, the Carthaginian. You know, the Punic Wars, Romans, ancient history.”
“Right. The guy with the elephants.”
“Yeah, the guy with the elephants.” She smiled, pleased I knew what she was talking about. I liked that she was a history buff.
The dog didn’t look like a brilliant military commander to me, more like an Ewok. He was cute, though, and I bent down and petted him. He looked at me with intelligent brown eyes and licked my hand. I liked dogs more than people, but I didn’t own one. I was too scattered and irresponsible.
Hannibal suddenly turned and ran back out to the reception area, barking an alarm. We heard the door open and a voice call out.
“My hands are full. Can you see who that is?” Jillian asked me. I nodded and walked out to the front desk. A small man holding a huge blanket-wrapped bundle stood in the middle of the floor.
“Can you help me? My dog got run over.” He was smartly dressed, as if he’d been about to go to work when the accident happened. His large brown eyes brimmed with tears behind his gold-rimmed spectacles.
“This way.” I didn’t know what I was doing, but did it with confidence for his benefit as I led him to an examination room. I flipped on the light switch. “Put him on the table. I’ll get the doctor.” I ran into the next room and told Jillian what was going on.
“Shit. My tech isn’t here. Can you help with this?”
“I’ll try. What do you want me to do?”
“Just whatever I tell you.” She finished up what she was doing and washed her hands, then turned to Max. “Go in the house and make yourself comfortable. We’ll be in soon.”
She was a bit bossy, but it wasn’t from a superior demeanor, she just had a no-nonsense attitude that got things done. I followed her into the next room. She asked the owner a few questions as she examined the dog. It looked bad, and she decided she needed to operate.
“See these instruments?” she asked, pointing to a tray of shiny surgical tools and naming each one out loud as she picked it up. “Now, when I ask for it, you need to hand it to me. Got it?”
I nodded and mentally went through the list of instruments, hoping I’d keep them straight.
Jillian worked quickly and efficiently. I assisted the best I could. When she finished, she closed up the wounds and put the dog in a kennel.
“Will it live?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine. You did a good job in there.”
“Thanks.”
“I know my brother well enough to know what kind of business you’re in, so I’m sure you’ll say no, but if you want a job here, it’s yours. It’s hard to find good vet techs.”
“Wow. That’s nice of you.” I actually thought about it for a second. “You’re right, though. I don’t want to be tied to a job.”
“Lucky you.” She laughed. “Find Max and see how he’s doing. Make coffee if you want. I’ll be in as soon as I’m done with the dog’s owner.”
“We got divorced, but I kept the Green Card.” Jillian smiled and winked as she said it. She was explaining how she came to live in Vermont. After graduating from Tufts, she married her college boyfriend. They didn’t last, but she had a good job as a vet in a busy animal hospital, so she didn’t want to go back to Canada. She stayed there, gaining experience until she found the opportunity to buy her own practice. Frank helped finance it. He always arranged things in a convenient way. That was his specialty.
We sat in the living room with cups of coffee that I had made in Jillian’s fancy coffee pot. It was strong, giving a jolt of caffeine. Even Max was starting to look a little more himself. The coloring had come back in his face, and he was alert and following the conversation.
“Why do they call it a Green Card, any way? Isn’t it pink?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s pink. I don’t know why.” She dismissed his question and turned to me. “Are you originally from Vermont?”
“Yeah, I was born in Randolph.” This wasn’t a direction I wanted to go in. I didn’t like to answer per
sonal questions, so I looked at Max and changed the subject. “So, are you going to fill us in on what happened to you or are we going to detour that conversation all day?”
“I don’t want to know!” Jillian piped up. “I know what kind of trouble you can get in and I don’t want the details.” She looked at me. “I help out when I need to, but I am not in this business. I play by the rules.”
Obviously, she overlooked the rule against vets treating human patients.
“It’s not that bad. I was playing cards.” He shrugged.
“Wait a minute. I thought you were out doing a job,” I said, surprised since he’d said he was going on a Beer Run. That always meant some kind of job, not a card game.
“I was. When I got done, I needed to let off a little steam, so I went and found a poker game. I had a little extra cash on me from . . .” He hesitated as if he wasn’t sure what he should say in front of Jillian. “. . . the job. The game was going along fine. It was the end of the night, and I was a little drunk.”
“A little?” Jillian asked.
“Okay. I was really drunk. It was exciting, I was getting into it, and I just bet a little more than I had.”
I cringed. “How much do you owe now?”
“Nothing. We’re even,” he said and grinned sheepishly, indicating his arm.
“How much is a broken arm worth?” I didn’t know where he found these high stakes card games or why he tried to play. He sucked at cards and lost every time he placed a bet.
“About twenty grand.”
“Why would you do that?” Jillian pursed her lips and gave him a look of disapproval.
“Because it would have been a big win.” He said it like that was obvious, like anyone would have bet $20,000 he didn’t have.
“It doesn’t seem to bother you,” I said.
He gave me a lopsided shrug and said, “I’ve been beaten up my whole life. I guess I’m used to it.”
“And I’ve spent my whole life cleaning you up,” Jillian said. “If you need money that badly, why don’t you get a real job?”
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