“Have you ever had a patient kick back in?”I asked.“After a decline.”
Tamara thought about this.
“Yeah, I think,” she said.“I mean.It’s gotta be something totally unrelated that pulls them back into reality.Into the present, you know.Something shocking.”
She looked both ways, and then pulled something out of her cleavage.
“Look, I’ve been wondering how to talk to you about this,” she said.“Now’s a good enough excuse as any.You know my boyfriend?Joey?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“He’s a big fan of the barbecue at this bed and breakfast,” Tamara said, with a wink.She slid a map across the table to me.“It’s a ways out of the city, but I think it might do you and the boys some good.Fresh air.Moonlit sky.Banjos twanging amidst the cornfield.”
I stared down at the papers she slid over, and then up at Tamara again.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”I asked.
“If you think it’s a good idea, I think it’s a good idea,” she said.“Do your own research on the place.Maybe… maybe this is the kind of trip that’ll snap Brother Al out of the rut he’s been in.”
I stared at the papers she handed me again.
“Tamara, if this works, you’re a genius,” I said.
“That’ll be a 450 dollar copay,” she said.
“How about I buy lunch,” I said.“It’s probably the last time I’m going to eat for a few days.”
Vic,one of my boyfriends, thought it would be a funny idea to rent a van for the five of us.
“Seafoam green,” I said, disgust on my face.
“It’s an homage,” he said.“Besides.Plenty of room back here for Brother Al in his wheelchair.Plus there’s an automatic ramp, at least.And look at all the storage space.And, deluxe tinted windows.Shouldn’t have to wear sun protection until we get out.”
“You sprang for the ramp?”I asked.“Couldn’t you all just lift him in the chair?”
“I have to let him do something for himself,” Vic said.“If this works, this is going to be a miracle.”
“Lots of moving parts to this,” I said.“This could go wrong.Really wrong.”
“You’ve got a shapeshifter, a necromancer, and a daywalker on your side,” Vic said.“Worst case scenario—things don’t go the way we think.Then this is nothing more than a little bed and breakfast outing and the fresh air will do Brother Al some good.”
“Right,” I said.“Right.”
I breathed in a deep breath and closed my eyes.
2.
There werefive of us in the van, headed out to the country.
“I’m going to vomit,” Brother Al wheezed.“We’re going too fast!I can’t take much more of this!”
Country roads graced us as we sped down the highway.Massive cornfields, rustic and brown, wilting slowly as the creep of autumn came on were our backdrop.
“Does someone have a bucket?”Eddie asked.
“Here, I have a handkerchief,” Nagi said.“It’s silk, mind you.”
I twisted around in my seat.
