by neetha Napew
Dawn's twilight seeped through the windows. He lay quietly in bed, pretending to sleep. Suki roused, kissed his cheek and went to get Nicky. Nyk slipped out of bed and sat at the dinette in the apartment's kitchen. “Do we have any plans today?” he asked.
“I don't have any -- except maybe to tag along with my folks. You?”
“No -- nothing.”
“I'll take him downstairs and then take my shower.”
“I'll take him -- don't start your shower without me.”
“Why not?”
“I'd like to take one with you.”
“Nick!” She smiled. “Well -- okay -- it's cramped in there, but I think we'll both fit.”
Nyk carried Nicky downstairs to let him crawl on the living room floor. “Suki and I are going to take our showers,” he called to his mother-in-law. “Then, we'll be down.”
“Okay, Nick. I'll watch Nicky.”
He climbed the stairs and joined Suki in the bathroom. She adjusted the water temperature, slipped off her robe and stepped into the shower stall. Nyk stepped beside her. He picked up a bar of soap and it slipped from his fingers. “I'll get that...” He stooped to pick it up.
“Ooof,” she said. “You poked me in the stomach.”
“Sorry... let me lather you...” He rubbed the bar on her skin and spread the suds with his hands.
“I'll take that,” she said, grabbed the soap and began lathering him. “This is kind of fun.” She ran her hands along his legs.
“I'm sorry we didn't do this more often,” he replied.
She looked at him. “What's stopping us? I must do my hair -- I'll have to bend over. There isn't enough room...”
“Okay...” He stepped out and sat on the toilet seat lid.
“Do Florans shower together?” she shouted over the sound of the water.
“You saw the showers on my world -- they're for a single occupant, only.”
Suki shut off the water and Nyk rushed toward her with a towel. He helped her out of the stall and began patting her body.
“Nick... such attention ... not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's just ... you never had much interest in showering together, before.”
“It just came into my head.”
She stepped into the bedroom and pulled on a pair of cutoff jeans and a tee shirt. Nyk slipped into a polo shirt and shorts. He took her hand and headed for the stairs.
“Careful on the steps.”
“I've only lived here my entire life,” she replied. “I'm not an invalid.” He escorted her to the kitchen and poured coffee for her.
“How are you this morning?” her mother asked.
“I feel like I won Queen-For-a-Day,” she replied. “Nick's been super-attentive, and he won't tell me why.”
“Whenever George gets super-attentive, it usually means he's about to spring some sort of disappointment -- like a business trip to Honolulu, and I can't come along. Isn't that right, George?”
Suki's father looked up from his newspaper. “I don't recall any business trips to Honolulu.”
“No upcoming business trips,” Nyk replied. “George, were we planning on going anywhere in the car today?”
“I hadn't planned anything.” George folded his paper. “I've just come off a difficult day of a difficult week. I can think of no better way to spend a three day weekend than sitting and doing ... nothing at all.”
“Maybe Nick would like you to drive him somewhere,” Yasuko suggested.
“Did you want to go to that summer property you bought on the Island?”
Nyk pondered. “It's a holiday weekend -- the traffic would be dangerous. No -- we don't have to do that.”
“Maybe next weekend, then,” George replied. “You have that nice property, now -- it would be a shame not to put it to use.”
“Next weekend...” Nyk cradled his head in his hand. “Yes, let's plan for next weekend.”
Yasuko cleared the breakfast dishes. “Let's take a walk in the park,” she suggested.
“Yes,” Suki replied. “I'll get the stroller.”
“Are you coming?” Suki's mother asked her father.
“No -- I'm going to spend this weekend sitting in my easy chair and doing nothing -- and, savoring every second of it. You go ahead.”
Nyk held Suki's hand as they walked toward the park. “He likes the fresh air,” Suki said to Nyk and gestured toward the stroller.
“Huh? Oh, yes -- fresh air.”
“Nick -- why are you so distracted today?”
“Oh, it's nothing. I'm okay now, aren't I?”
“I guess -- you don't seem too cranked at the moment.”
“It's because your dad isn't with us.”
“Daddy? Nick -- I thought you and Daddy got along fine.”
“We do... it's just ... that ... he's home ... sitting in his chair.”
“Yes? Go on.”
“That's it.”
Suki shrugged and pushed the stroller through the intersection. Nyk saw a yellow taxi heading down the street. He grabbed Suki's arm and hustled her along the crosswalk. The cab made an abrupt right turn and headed down the other street.
“Ow!” Suki exclaimed. “You pinched me -- I'll be black-and-blue. What was that about?”
“Didn't you see that taxi?”
“Of course I did -- didn't YOU see? He had his blinker on and was making a turn.”
“It didn't look like it to me...”
“Nick -- I've been crossing the streets of this city for twenty-eight years. I think I know how it's done.”
“You're right -- I'm sorry, korlyta.”
They arrived at the park. Yasuko pointed toward a swing set. “They have a kiddie swing. I'm going to push Nicky over there.”
Nyk sat on a park bench. Suki lay on the bench with her head in his lap. He watched Yasuko take Nicky from the stroller and put him into the swing; then, he looked down at Suki's face. A shaft of sunlight fell across her eyes. He contemplated her yellow-brown complexion and her shiny, black hair. Her full lips turned up in a smile. She hooked her arm around his neck, hoisted her face to his and kissed his lips.
He stroked her cheek and gazed into her eyes. In the sunlight he could see the structure and color of her irises. “You have such beautiful eyes,” he said.
“Yes -- we've gone over that,” she replied.
“No -- what I mean is -- normally, your eyes just look dark. In this light -- I can see the subtlety of the color. They're beautiful. You're beautiful.”
She smiled, looked up into his face and touched his cheek. “Now what?”
“What -- now what?”
“Nick -- you look as if you're about to bust out crying.”
“No -- it's just ... I was thinking ... if something were to happen ... to either of us ... well, to you ... I was taking inventory of all the things about you that are special. I think we should live each day as if it may be the last.” He brushed a tear from his cheek.
“Nick -- now you're maudlin.” She shook her head. “I'm sorry -- you're right. We should cherish the moment because in the next -- one of us might be dead.” She kissed his cheek. “But, let's not start mourning until it actually happens -- okay?”
“Okay.”
Yasuko pushed the stroller toward the bench. “Shall we look at the flower beds?” she asked.
“Sure,” Suki replied and stood. Nyk took her hand and walked with her mother.
* * *
Suki pushed the stroller up to the front steps and lifted Nicky from it. Nyk folded it and carried it into the house. He glanced into the living room. George was lying in the reclining chair. His head was turned to one side and his eyes were closed.
“George!” Nyk exclaimed, dropped the stroller and ran to him.
George jumped. “What the hell?”
“Oh, I'm so sorry, George -- I thought...”
“Thought what?”
“Never mind... I'm sorry.”
Suki came down the stairs from the apartment. �
�Nicky's down for his nap. What's the commotion?”
“It's nothing,” Nyk replied.
“Nothing except I think he startled ten years off my life.”
“I am sorry, George. Really.”
“I'll get over it.” He settled back into the recliner and folded his hands in his lap.
“I have to go to the market for some supplies,” Yasuko said. “Care to join me?”
“Sure,” Suki replied.
“I'll come, too,” Nyk said.
“You?” Suki looked at him, her head tilted. “You've never shown interest in going to market.”
“Why not? I have nothing better to do.”
Suki shrugged.
“I'll get my bag,” Yasuko said and headed for the closet.
“What was it with Daddy?” Suki asked Nyk.
“I walked in the house and saw him in the recliner. For a moment it looked as if...”
“As if what?”
“As if he wasn't breathing.”
Suki rolled her eyes. “Come on, let's go.”
Nyk accompanied Suki and her mother toward an Asian market a couple blocks from the house. Nyk walked in, inhaled the aroma of the place and regarded the shelves of noodles and canned goods. Yasuko stepped to a vegetable counter and began examining produce.
Suki selected a cellophane bag of hard candies. “I like these.”
“They're so big -- you could choke on one.”
She giggled. “If I were three, perhaps.” She dropped the sack into Yasuko's shopping basket and began looking at the selection of noodles.
Yasuko approached him. “Nick -- since you're with us -- would you mind grabbing that 25-pound bag of Calrose rice?”
He picked it up and headed to the checkout. Yasuko exchanged some words in Japanese with the clerk. Nyk hoisted the sack of rice onto his shoulder and headed toward the house.
* * *
Nyk watched Yasuko cut chicken breasts into cubes. Suki gestured to him. “My mom knows how to cook,” she whispered, “she's been doing it since before I was born. You are underfoot.”
He accompanied her to the living room. She sat on the sofa and patted the adjacent seat. “Sit here and be a good boy until dinner's ready.” He held her hand. “I swear, Nick -- if you had exhibited this sort of ... of obsessive-compulsive behavior before we were married -- we wouldn't BE married.”
“I'm sorry -- I'm having a bad day.”
“Is that what it is? As the day grows on -- you seem to get ... I don't know ... more antsy.”
He took a deep breath. “I'm sorry -- I have some free-floating anxiety today. Haven't you ever had that?”
“Not to your degree.” She kissed his cheek. “Try not to creep Mom and Daddy out at dinner too badly? Okay? Come on -- dinner's served.”
Nyk knelt at the dining table. “Sake?” George asked.
“A small one,” Suki replied.
“Same here,” said her mother.
“Nick?”
“I'm sorry -- what?”
“Sake?”
“Oh, no thanks.”
“Thanks for carrying the rice, Nick,” Yasuko said.
“Huh? Oh, no problem ... any time.”
* * *
Nyk lay in bed, his hands locked behind his head. Suki entered in her robe, brushing her hair. She tied it into a ponytail, slipped off her robe and slid in beside him. “Okay, Nick -- I want answers.”
“To what?”
“To your bizarre behavior today.”
“Bizarre?”
“All day you were so ... twitchy -- you were Mister Clean in the shower -- the weepy stuff at the park -- scaring my father -- telling my mother how to prepare donburi. What is going on?”
“It's nothing.”
“It's not nothing. I want to know -- and I won't give you peace until you tell me.”
He drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “When I was on Floran...”
“Why is it every time you go to that world, you come home with a story that starts with, 'when I was on Floran...?' What is it about that place?”
“When I was there -- I came across a document -- some ... family records that ... suggested something bad happened today.”
“Bad? What sort of bad?”
“That somebody in this household ... might've ... you know... died.”
Suki gaped at him. “Why didn't you say something?”
“I couldn't -- because of Quinn's Postulate and because of temporal interference. I must tread around you with great care, korlyta -- for your safety as well as that of my people.”
“Well -- that, at least, explains it.” She rolled her eyes. “I don't know what to tell my folks about your antics.” She looked at the clock. “It's a few minutes after ten. If you really mean today, then we have about two hours left. We're all safe in our beds. Short of a ... a satellite crashing through the roof, I think we're home free -- don't you?”
“It would appear so.”
“Care to make love?” she asked.
“I'm too overwrought.”
“What happened to 'let's make love every night -- no excuses?'” She looked into his eyes. “I see how it is -- you thought I was going to die today, didn't you?” He nodded. “The whole thing with the wedding -- mid August -- live each day -- all part of this notion about today.” He nodded again. “And you really believed it.”
“I've been dreading this day ever since I traveled there for the hearing. I wanted to be near you so ... so you could die in my arms. I must've made a fool of myself -- I'm so sorry.”
“Nick -- I forgive you. I probably would've acted the same way.”
He turned to her, grabbed her and held on. “I couldn't bear the thought of losing you.” He wept. “I'm so happy that document was wrong.”
“Records can be wrong,” she said as she stroked his face. “I know this as a historian -- all it takes is to transpose a couple of digits or misread something.” She held his face to her shoulder and caressed his hair. “It's all right -- we made it and nobody died.”
“I am happy we're married,” he said between sobs. “I wanted that a long time before.”
“I know. I know you did.” She held him until he grew drowsy.
* * *
“I don't know what happened,” Nyk said to Andra. “Either the genealogy is wrong -- or, we stumbled across an instance that disproves Quinn's Postulate.”
“Whatever did happen -- I'm delighted.”
“Do you have the transcript?”
“Yes -- right here.”
“Slip it into your vidisplay -- I want another look.” He scanned through the document. “Yes, it still says 1 September, 2001.”
“The good news is, Sukiko and her dad are safe.”
“But, for how long?” He shook his head. “I have to believe -- based on all our temporal studies -- the likely explanation is an error in the genealogy. The Roman cel is unreadable.” He slammed his fist into his palm.
“I still have the original data capsule,” she replied. “I could make arrangements with Korlo to have the data extracted. Do you want me to do that?”
“Yes. No. I don't know. Part of me says we're better off not knowing these things -- the rest of me wants to know.”
“You're better off knowing. Besides, there's no guarantee Korlo can read this capsule -- and, no guarantee what's in the capsule is what's on that transcript.”
“If you get a chance to go to Floran City -- drop the data capsule off with Korlo and let's see what he comes up with.”
18 -- Afterlife
Nyk jacked his laptop into the data circuit and opened his email. An urgent message from Andra awaited him. He opened his vidphone window and placed a call.
“Nyk -- what does dek unu mean in Esperanto?”
“Eleven, why?”
“That's what we thought. Nyk -- the date in the genealogy -- for George and Sukiko -- it's September eleven, not September one. Whoever transcribed the Roman characters made a mistake.�
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“Unu septembro versus dek unu septembro. I can see that happening. I assume the same error was made transcribing the year.”
“No, Nykkyo. Sukiko and her father died on September 11, 2001.”
He sat in his chair, slack-jawed, then buried his face in his hands. “I have to go through it again! Are you sure -- are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes -- I met with Korlo. I took the original data capsule to him and he converted it.” She poked her touchscreen. “Here is the original genealogy in Roman characters.”
Nyk watched the material scroll on his screen. He shook his head and attempted to speak.
“There's more. I have the Encyclopedia entry for September eleven.”
“YOU have it? How did you get it?”
“From Korlo.”
“He told me even he had no access to the material.”
“Nykkyo -- he's in charge of the material. How can he not have access?”
“How did you get it?”
“I used my power of persuasion -- and, some guiles I learned at Vebinad Academy.”
“Andra -- you didn't...”
“Of course not -- do you think they taught us to be whores? No -- they taught us how to deal with people, and Korlo is one. I told him if he wanted the original data capsule for his collection, he needed to give me the entry for September 11. I swore to him I wouldn't divulge the contents until after that date. By the way, what's today?”
“September nine.”
“You know, the time and date conversion is SO confusing... Oh, well -- he swore to you he had no access to the material, so I guess fair is fair.” She leaned close to the camera. “Nyk -- on the morning of September 11, a band of terrorists commandeered four airliners. One crashed in Pennsylvania. One was flown into a government building in Washington, and two were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.”