Buck Fever

by Robert A Rupp

  “Let me know how I can help. I can provide you with the local color.”

  “Okay, thanks. I will send you a draft in a week or two. Bye,” Dingman said, ending the call.

  “With Lickshill’s body coming to Detroit, we have a better chance of tying it into our story,” Porter said. Dingman nodded.

  “When we get to the MDCC, you can have the car and take Katie home or wherever,” Dingman winked. “I am going to update Pillbock and see what the research department can uncover for us.”

  “I don’t think Katie’s going to be in the mood for...ah...romance for a long time. I’m not sure she’ll want to be involved in rehashing this whole experience for a story, now that she’s become a central actor in it.”

  “That is what will make this a story to remember. She will become a celebrity. Major news networks will scramble to interview her.”

  “She has never liked the limelight; I’m not sure she could handle all that.”

  “If you want this story to impact your career, you will talk her into it.”

  Porter fidgeted as Dingman exited the freeway and entered Jefferson Avenue near the Times building.

  Chapter 61

  Three women and two men, wearing blue sweat suits and carrying plastic hospital bags waited in line in the nurses’ ready room. A nurse briefed them regarding building security and removed their plastic wristbands.

  “Do you know who is playing this weekend?” Lopez asked Sulkin, standing in front of him.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Sulkin said, acting offended.

  “Sorry. Is there a problem?”

  “Not if you think losing thirty years of your memory is a good thing. I don’t have a clue where I’m supposed to go. I have a brother coming from Jackson. Guess I’m going to live with him for a while.”

  “Sorry, I still don’t understand.”

  Katie Kottle chatted nonstop with Sissy Montagno about her pending baby. Mandi Hermanski looked bored.

  “People, please stop talking. The doctor is here to brief you,” the nurse said, as Dr. Grace walked into the room.

  “I know you are all anxious to leave and get on with your lives. There are a few ground rules I would like you to follow. First, if you feel as though you are relapsing into physical symptoms you experienced recently, call the hospital immediately. I don’t anticipate any follow-on issues, but we do not have all the facts related to this infection. Also, you are going to encounter news about events at the hospital that may seem foreign and disturbing to you. Please call the referral number listed on the checkout sheet if you wish to talk to me.”

  “I heard that a patient committed suicide and some preacher killed himself in the hallway. Is that true?” Lopez said.

  “What? Oh, my God,” Kottle said.

  “You’re kidding. Could that have happened to the rest of us? What if we all go home and get so depressed that—” Sissy Montagno said, rubbing her stomach.

  “Yes, we had several incidences where this disease became uncontrollable, but I can assure you that they were unique circumstances. You will probably hear about it on TV or read about it in the newspapers.

  “What am I supposed to do now? You’ve taken away my life and left me a middle-aged man without a livelihood. I’ve got to start over,” Sulkin said.

  “I understand your concern. Your memory could return within several days. We will stay in daily contact with you until you fully recover.”

  “When can I come and pick up my husband?” Sissy Montagno asked.

  “We are transferring Mr. Montagno to the Troy Beauford Hospital. He should be out within a week.”

  “He’ll be at the Troy hospital? That’s great; then I can visit every day.” Her faced beamed contentment.

  ~ ~ ~

  The waiting room door opened. Lopez walked out to greet his wife with hugs. Sulkin embraced his brother, patted his baldhead and began to ramble about his missing life. Mandi Hermanski stepped slowly up to Jack. She hesitated, then grabbed his neck and hugged tightly. Sissy Montagno walked up to the hugging couple and waited silently for a ride home. Kottle saw Porter standing behind Lopez and darted into his arms.

  Chapter 62

  Jack Hermanski held Mandi’s arm as they walked toward the rear patio door of their home. Rusty barked from inside. Mandi wavered, her legs wobbled.

  “You okay?” Jack said.

  “Just a little tired, but I’ll be fine. I’m not looking forward to seeing the house. If I really did all those things you say, it must be quite a mess.”

  “Let’s take it one day at a time. See, Rusty’s waiting to see you. Here boy.” Jack opened the patio door as Rusty rushed toward them. He stopped abruptly in front of Mandi, lay down and whined, then ran off into the living room.

  “He’s afraid of me now, the little shit. He knows I’m going to beat the crap out of him if he messes up one more thing in this house.”

  “Take it easy, he’s just confused. You two need to make amends. Go into the living room; I have a surprise for you.”

  Mandi staggered past the kitchen and entered the living room. Rusty growled and retreated into a hallway.

  “Oh, Jack, it’s beautiful. I love the carpet, and the drapes are perfect.”

  “It took some finagling, but the insurance company paid for everything. See, your life is going to be normal in no time. By the way, I have something to tell you. It’s about Dillon and that lousy sister of his, Nora.”

  “What? Dillon is the only one of your friends I get along with. He—”

  “He stole fifty thousand from the company, and Nora apparently helped pass the money through petty cash.”

  “You’re kidding, so what happens now? How did you find out?”

  “Actually, George noticed it. Since the deer incident, he’s been able to add numbers in his head and...that’s not all. He thinks Dillon may have tried to cover it up by trying to kill him. George didn’t see anyone, but he remembers his head being forced down and then pain in his neck.”

  “Oh, my God, where is Dillon now?”

  “Cops are looking for him; he probably left town. Nora is still in jail.”

  “I can’t believe this. So much has happened in the past two weeks. How could Dillon do such a thing?” Mandi sat into a chair by the picture window and reached down to stroke the carpet. “It’s got a nice texture. How about a Martini?”

  Jack laughed. “That didn’t take long. See if you can make friends with Rusty while I take Sissy home.”

  Mandi looked up and nodded as Jack walked toward the kitchen to retrieve his car keys.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Are you going to be okay?” Jack Hermanski asked, as he guided Sissy Montagno on the walkway to her house.

  “I think so,” she said rubbing her stomach.

  “They are moving George to Troy Beauford tomorrow. I’ll pick you up, and we can go visit him. Okay?”

  “I would like that a lot,” Sissy said, unlocking the door.

  Chapter 63

  Sleet danced off Lucinda Lopez’ coat as she guided her husband, Harry, up the steps to their Port Huron house. She reminded him that the steps were slippery. He carried his journal and note pages under his right arm while clutching the hospital bag with his left hand.

  “I think it’s time we moved back to Ann Arbor. I have a lot of research to do. If my theories are correct, they could revolutionize physics. Michigan could become the university of choice for gravitational exploration.”

  Lucinda stated concern in Spanish.

  “You worry too much,” Harry said, and laughed. “I am normal, and these formulas are beginning to make sense. I don’t completely understand what I wrote, though. That’s why I need to be around other smart people that can make sense out this.”

  Lucinda chirped more Spanish. Her hand shook as she mentioned Greppleton’s name.

  “Don’t worry; no more hunting.”

  Chapter 64

  Clustering snowflakes batted Katie Kottle’s eyelashes as she
opened the door to her apartment and glanced at the lone couch fronting a TV. Porter stood behind her.

  “Let’s go to your place; it’s too lonely in here,” she said, patting white flecks from her cold face.

  “Do you think that’s wise? You’ve been through a lot and—”

  “And what? Don’t you love me anymore? You think I’ve changed don’t you? You’re afraid that Rachel will surface at any moment, and you can’t handle that.” She turned to look at him and stroked her face, feeling for a mole.

  “I...I just need to get adjusted to all of this, just like you do. I still love you.” Porter grabbed her arms, pushed them to her side, and kissed her forehead.

  “You don’t even want to kiss me on the lips,” she said and broke away from his grasp. She walked to the couch, sat down and covered her face with a pillow.

  “No, that’s not it; I just need some time, and so do you.”

  “Go, just go.” She lifted an arm and waved without looking up.

  “Okay. I’ll pick you up at seven AM. You be ready to go. We’ve got a front page story to write and ten days to do it.”

  Porter walked closer and patted her shoulder. She grabbed his hand and looked up, smiling.

  “Make it eleven o’clock and we can have lunch together. Remember the doctor said I shouldn’t work until one o’clock.”

  “Okay, see you at eleven.”

  Chapter 65

  “There she is, the woman of the hour: Katie Kottle,” Cory Pillbock said, as Kottle and Porter entered the briefing room next to Pillbock’s office. Dingman waved from his standing position next to a white board with storyboard notes attached. Two other men sat at the long oak table with old news articles, notepads and Disease Control Center documents spread out near laptops in front of them.

  “I told you he would be happy to see you return to work,” Porter whispered. Katie hesitated and proceeded to a chair. Porter followed, setting next to her.

  “Are you ready to get back to work; are you excited? I’m excited,” Pillbock said. “How are you feeling?”

  “I feel fine. Let’s get this story finished and out the door,” Kottle said, beaming. She opened her shoulder bag and slipped out her laptop and several notepads.

  “That’s my girl.”

  “You go, girl,” Porter whispered.

  Kottle rolled her eyes at the two men sitting across from her as they acknowledged her presence.

  “Hi, I’m Joe Chekless; I just started last week,” one man said.

  “Casper Jordan, here, you saw me downtown,” the other man said.

  Kottle and Porter offered their hands with guarded emotion and confirmed the introduction.

  Pillbock watched and waved in a paddling motion from the rear of the room as Dingman explained the storyboard approach documented so far. The pace was slow; he needed to speed it up.

  “Okay, okay; here’s where we are, and where we are going,” Pillbock interrupted. “Joe and Casper have dug up great background facts, both historical fact and anecdotal evidence. The Egyptians had magic concoctions that prolonged living tissue after death. The building of the pyramids remains a mystery as to what leaps of intelligence took place to solve the complicated structural development problems. Greeks had a concoction called Kykeon. Various religious cults sprang up during the life of Christ who used potions to heal flesh, and create visions of heaven and hell. Nostradamus used a drug similar to LSD according to historians to see visions of the future. And, the Salem witches are suspected of suffering from hallucinations caused by Ergotamine poisoning. And, we know of one common food substance that connects all of this history: grain, good old wheat and rye grain. Grain has always been subject to a fungus called Ergot; and Ergot is still used today to create Lysergic Acid or LSD, thanks to Albert Hofmann. Here is the kicker; the deer that caused the recent infection were loaded with Ergotamine and subjected to a strain of Hantavirus usually found among rodents in the South. The virus created enzymes in the blood stream that apparently changed the Ergotamine into a form of LSD, thus leading to the bizarre behavior of the deer and those that ate the deer meat.”

  “He knows his shit,” Jordan whispered.

  “He should; he got it all from us,” Chekless whispered back.

  “I found on the Internet that Jack the Ripper lived above a bakery and suffered from a Jekyll and Hyde personality. Do you think there’s a connection?” Porter said, reviewing his notes.

  “Brilliant. Definitely worth pursuing,” Pillbock said.

  “I’m on it,” Chekless said.

  “I also had Lickshill’s brain sample that Sulkin gave us analyzed at the Detroit Crime Lab. Their sniffers definitely identified a form of Lysergic Acid plus some unidentified substances,” Dingman said.

  “So, you’re saying I was tripping on acid all last week?” Kottle said.

  “In a manner of speaking, maybe,” Dingman said.

  “Do you think Hitler had this disease?” Kottle wondered.

  “That would be stretching it. Are we going to say all bad people might have been exposed to this in their life? I say we stick with four or five occurrences that seem provable based on historical fact, otherwise, we will dilute our premise. Let people use their imagination. That feeling of underlying conspiracy that we are not telling the whole truth is what keeps them interested.”

  “And, I have a name for it,” Pillbock said. “We are going to call it: Buck Fever.”

  “Outstanding, Cory, it will make a great headline,” Dingman said, writing the phase on the storyboard.

  “Hey, didn’t you give it that name? And didn’t we discuss it with Louis?” Kottle whispered to Porter.

  “They’re both pompous assholes,” Porter whispered back to Kottle.

  “I love it, too,” Kottle said, smiling at Porter.

  “Yeah, it’s a winner. I wish I had thought of it,” Porter said.

  “Winning headlines are the art of this business,” Pillbock said.

  “Look and learn,” Kottle said, holding up her left hand to show her imitation wedding ring.

  “Exactly. Joe and Casper will concentrate on writing the back-stories regarding early historical references. Guys, I want these written in a short-story style—you know, something with drawings and pictures that reads well in newsprint and online. Katie, you will write about your first-hand experiences with the disease. Porter, you will write about the side references such as Lickshill, the doe/child incident and the unlucky man mangled in the tree chipper. And Dingman will write about the MDCC, Dr. Grace and other patients,” Pillbock explained. “I want a factual news article built around a documentary story-telling magazine style. Everyone is doing that these days. It’s the only way to compete with the TV news media. We can even make the online version a little more mature-rated since it requires a subscription password.”

  All heads nodded agreement.

  “What about Father Fellorday, Sister Mary Agness and Moses Carpenter?” Porter asked.

  “Casper has been on their back story while you and Louis were at the MDCC. You can add your first-hand observations. Damn, I am truly excited about this.”

  “We are definitely getting one of Pillbock’s free meal cards for this one,” Porter whispered across the table. “It’s going to be big.”

  Kottle nodded.

  “Would you please share that with the rest of us,” Dingman said.

  “Yes, please share,” Pillbock said.

  Chekless complied. “He said that we would all get a free meal card for a month.”

  Jackass, Porter thought.

  “Ooh, sorry, we no longer do that,” Pillbock said. “The company is cutting back, but I will take you all out for dinner. Now let’s get to work.” Pillbock smiled and retreated into his office.

  “Crap. Every time I get close to a perk, they take it away,” Porter said.

  “I didn’t think the food was all that great at the Chalet upstairs anyway,” Kottle said.

  “See, I told you only Canad
ians get these,” Dingman said, showing his card.

  “Deer haven’t been involved in all the historical references for Ergotamine poisoning, so why call it: Buck Fever?” Jordan asked.

  “Pillbock likes it, and it is current, so we are going with it,” Dingman said. “It also has good bokeh, eh?”

  “Bokeh?” both men echoed from across the table.

  “Yes, that fuzzy, out-of-focus part of a photograph that you try to make sense of with your imagination,” Porter said.

  “Yeah, we knew that, right Casper?” Chekless said.

  Jordan nodded as both men wrote the term in their notebooks.

  Chapter 66

  “Is there any Christmas shopping you would like me to do while you’re in here?” Jack Hermanski said, standing next to George Montagno’s hospital bed in the Troy Beauford Hospital.

  “Could you buy a nice sweater for Sissy? I’d appreciate that, and, thanks for helping her put up the tree. It means a lot to me,” Montagno said in a raspy voice. He lightly adjusted a bandage on his neck, which covered the two pencil holes. “I’ll be glad to get out of here and on with my life. Any word on the whereabouts of Lacarter?”

  “He’s long gone. The police assume he’s left the State. Probably went back to Vegas. You worried that he might come back?”

  “I really don’t know if he did it. I suppose I could have done it to myself, considering the shape I was in that day.”

  “Possibly, but the location of those pencils is too much of a coincidence.”

  “In seven months, I’ll be a daddy and that’s all I care about right now.”

  “Okay, gotta run. I will let you know what I find in the way of a sweater. Mandi should be able to find something. She knows what Sissy likes.”

  “How is Mandi doing; any odd behavior lately?”

  “No, none, and she gets along with Rusty now, too. Sometimes he growls at her for no reason, but he’s getting over it. See you later, guy.”