Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress

Author:Nancy Kress [Kress, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, Short Fiction
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Published: 2012-04-25T03:50:27+00:00

He tried to understand, despite the anxiety swamping him for Cixin. “Why isn’t that all happening?”

“Nobody knows.”

“Well, what does the radio say?”

She flung out her hands. “Unknown quantum forces. Angels. Aliens. God. Secret government shields. Don’t you understand . . . nobody knows. This just can’t be happening.”

But it was. Ben said wearily, “Where do you think I should look next for Cixin?”

They found him two days later. It took that long for basic city services to begin to resume and for anyone to approach the Dumpster. Cixin was catatonic, dehydrated, bitten by rats. He was taken to the overburdened hospital. Ben was called when a nurse discovered Cixin’s name and phone number sewn into the waistband of his jeans—Renata’s idea. He found Cixin rigid on a gurney parked in a hallway jammed with more patients. He had an IV, a catheter, and multiple bandages. His eyes were empty.

Ben put the inhibitor on Cixin’s tongue. Slowly Cixin woke up, his dark eyes over sunken cheeks turning reproachful. Ben yelled for a doctor, but no one came.

“Cixin.”

“They . . . didn’t . . . know,” he croaked.

“It’s okay, buddy, I’m here now, it’s okay . . . Who didn’t know what?”

But painfully Cixin turned his face to the wall and would say no more.

The staff wanted to do a psych evaluation. Ben argued. They turned stubborn. Eventually he said they could get a court order if they wanted to but for right now he was taking his boy home as soon as the treatment for dehydration was completed. The harassed hospital official said several harsh things and promised legal action. A day later Ben signed out Cixin AMA, against medical advice, and drove him home through streets returning to normal much faster than anyone had thought possible.

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