Flights of Angels by Ellen Gilchrist

Author:Ellen Gilchrist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Subject Value
ISBN: 9781635762228
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2017-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

Monday morning it was raining. That always boded well for Phyladda. The credit side of the ledgers went up and up, especially if it rained all day. People couldn’t go for walks so they stayed in and thought about what might go wrong with them.

There were two, false, brown recluse spider bite alarms in twenty minutes between nine o’clock and ten. Jodie saw the first one and Kevin saw the second. “We could introduce them to each other,” he suggested when he and Jodie met for a cup of coffee. “The guy I saw has made a science of studying them. He talks on the Internet with a biologist in Arkansas who’s making an anti-serum. How old was the woman you treated?”

“About thirty-five. She had a friend who was bitten in Texas when she was young. The friend lost a piece of her nose. It’s a valid fear but not in L.A. I try to concentrate on telling her we don’t see much of it here.”

“This guy thinks they come in on trucks with frozen chickens. He and this guy in Arkansas are writing an article about it.”

“How old is he?”

“Forty. Good-looking man, short, strong, pretty face. He knows he’s obsessed, but since he’s writing the article he thinks it’s worth the mental pain.”

“When does he think he’s bitten?”

“All the time. Whenever he has a small sensation on his skin. After he sees spiders of any kind or kills one. About ten minutes after he kills any spider or any small unidentified bug.”

“How many does he kill?”

“Anything he sees that moves.”

“God, that must take a lot of time.”

“He’s a lawyer. He works in an air-conditioned office. He only kills them at home or if he’s out in the country. He’s coping, as long as he can come in when he’s scared. Before he found Phyladda he’d take Benadryl but then he couldn’t work for hours and once he fell asleep at the wheel.”

“I think you’d better send him to a psychiatrist. That sounds really bad. My woman was not much better. She’s been to the emergency room three times thinking she was bitten. She’s been here twice. One more bite and I’m getting her some help.”

“Why do you think they believe they’ve been bitten?”

“Bonding issues. Something wrong with the mothering after birth, separation from the mother, it all begins in the early years, it begins at birth. Everything I’m reading tells me it begins so soon, before there is language, so it isn’t easy to cure with language.”

“How would you cure it?”

“With love, Kevin. That’s what Phyladda is for. Listening and love, time and patience. I don’t know. I may never get back to acting. I’m caught up in this now, especially with you here beside me. Working beside me. I think of you all day, so near and so in tune. Sorry, drink your coffee. I’m going mush mush.” Jodie started giggling and Kevin pulled down his scrub suit and flaunted a breast. They started laughing so hard they couldn’t contain it.

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