Carlucci's Heart by Richard Paul Russo

Author:Richard Paul Russo
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 0-441-00485-7
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1997-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Caroline stood at the open window of the room they had given her on the fourth floor, and looked out on the courtyard below. The sun was shining down through a hazy sky, baking the building and the courtyard; late morning, and already it was hot, though there was a slight breeze that came in through the window. Across the way, in the shade of a palm, Hernando crouched over his brazier of coals, just as he had two days earlier. This time he was cooking long, thin strips of dark meat. Hernando had spent much of the past two days there at his grill, cooking meat and fish and sometimes vegetables. Periodically he would fill a plate or two and disappear into the building. Other times people came to him with their own plates, which he loaded with food. He drank beer steadily as he cooked, one bottle after another. He seemed quite content.

Caroline, too, felt content, despite having been kept in this room for two days, effectively a prisoner. Two days with little to do, nowhere to go, and no responsibilities. Two days to read and doze and think. And she’d begun to rethink what she wanted out of all this.

The room was small, maybe ten feet square, with a bed, a stuffed chair, a very old dresser with empty drawers that smelled of cedar. Rashida had sent someone to Caroline’s apartment to pick up a few changes of clothes, toiletries, and half a dozen books. Caroline wasn’t locked in the room, and she had free access to the bathroom and shower down the hall one way, and the kitchen down the hall in the other direction. But there was always someone with her, watching her door, joining her in the kitchen, standing outside the bathroom waiting for her to emerge. She really didn’t mind.

Rashida came several times to visit, and they talked about a lot of things, but never about Cancer Cell or experimental treatments or any of that. Sometimes she stayed for an hour or two, and they would go to the kitchen and have tea, or a bite to eat, and sit at the table, talking. Caroline had the feeling Rashida was lonely, that she didn’t get out in the real world much. She liked Rashida, and she thought Rashida liked her.

She saw Rashida enter the courtyard from the street gate. Rashida glanced up at the window, then walked over to Hernando. She spoke to him for a few minutes, then crossed the courtyard and disappeared into one of the alcoves. A couple of minutes later there was a quiet knock, the door opened, and Rashida stepped into the room.

She stood just inside the door for a moment, watching Caroline, then walked over to the chair and sat in it, crossing her legs. “Testing’s completed,” she said.

“And?”

“You have Gould’s.”

Caroline smiled. “Did you expect anything else?”

“No. But we had to be certain.”

“So do I start on some experimental treatment program?”

“It’s not that simple,” Rashida said. “There’s a lot we have to talk about first.

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