DIVISIBLE MAN--NINE LIVES LOST by Howard Seaborne

Author:Howard Seaborne [Seaborne, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trans World Data LLC

44

I waited until Lane and Rosemary II departed before telling Andy about the cargo plane that carried ATVs to and from Ekalaka, about the lawyer in Sioux City, and about Martian Mike and how I lost Wally. I wanted to leave out the shotgun blast because I knew she would worry about damage done to me, but I couldn’t find a way around it. She felt an urgent need to hug me, but then worried that I was still in pain. She asked if I had taken anything, and I said no, so she ran for ibuprofen and a glass of water.

“I need a shower and a shave. And then we have to find that kid.” I explained my stop in Sioux City and the conversation with Delilah. “I can make it over to Michigan before it gets too shitty.”

I expected an argument. Instead, Andy rubbed my chin. “Yes.” She exaggerated taking a whiff of me. “And yes. You need both.”

“What?”

“A shave and shower.”

“C’mon, Dee. I’m serious.”

“Serious about going to Michigan? Tonight? After what you just told me? No.”

“It’s the only idea we have.”

“No. It’s not. Not if you let me do my job. Go get cleaned up.”

I stood my ground.

“Go. I mean it. And when’s the last time you ate?”

“I had three tacos from a truck in Greeley, Colorado. That and a Snickers bar from the FBO in Sioux City.”

“Well, I just happen to have what you need. After you are clean and presentable, we’re going up to Lydia’s for dinner with—”

“No.” I said it a little too harshly and it gave Andy pause. I backtracked quickly. “Please… no. I need to—”

“To what? Tell me. What do you plan to do? You’re dead on your feet, Will Stewart. You were hurt in God only knows what ways. You haven’t slept. Do you think I don’t see that?”

“And what if that’s where they took the kid?”

“I hate saying it, but from what you said, the chances are that he’s already dead. But I pray he isn’t. What if you go running off tonight and there’s nothing there? And you end up stuck in Frankfurt for three days until they plow the runway? When you might be needed somewhere else?”

My wife stepped up to me and rapped her knuckles on my chest.

“Ouch!”

“Go. Upstairs. Shower. Shave. Get dressed. There’s nothing you can do for that young man tonight, but there may be some things I can do. You’re no good to him or me in a pile of wreckage, God forbid.”

“Then we’re skipping dinner with Lydia? And I assume your parents?”

“Don’t be silly. I can make some calls while you clean up. You need a good dinner and a stiff drink. Now move it.”

“Fine. If I fall asleep in my soup, turn my head so I don’t drown.”

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