Prism by Faye Kellerman

Author:Faye Kellerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

12

Although it took me an hour to walk home from Ozzy’s, time passed quickly as I thought about everything he had told me. We were all going to meet in a few hours, and I wondered how I would pull off being casual when my brain felt like it was on fire and my heart continually thumped in my chest.

Lucky for me that when the anointed time rolled around, Mom was involved with Suzanne. Lucky also that Jace wasn’t home. Otherwise there would have been a barrage of questions. As it was, I ran out with an “I’ll see you later.” I thought Mom mumbled a good-bye, but I couldn’t be sure.

The car that Ozzy wrangled up was a heap: no air-conditioning, no heat, no radio, springs sticking out of the upholstery; but it worked, so I didn’t complain. He looked a lot better than the car. He said, “Driving is important to me. I need to travel across the states to these obscure places you wouldn’t even believe. And since I’m still in school, I have to do it during vacation time.”

His expression was serious, but his eyes were still gorgeous.

Oh, Kaida, this is so not the time to get moony. Damn those hormones. Silly schoolgirl. I started asking questions to hide my embarrassment. “Ozzy, are herbal remedies allowed? Things like mint tea for digestion?”

“Sure. Natural is good; not natural is bad. You’ve got to get that through your head, okay?”

“Okay. And it’s fear that keeps it that way.”

“Yes.”

“Even if it prevents someone from saving his own life?”

“Fear of death from the authorities versus fear of death from sickness. With one you’re eliminated, and with the other you get to die horribly. You choose.”

“That’s crazy!”

“There are always ridiculous rules. James told me that there were some people in the alien worlds that didn’t use medicine for their babies to help them with sickness. Is that true?”

“No, it’s not true!” I froze. “Unless you mean vaccines.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Um…there might be some who think that vaccines—which are medicines to keep you from getting sick—that they might cause autism or an allergic reaction, so yes, there are some people who don’t vaccinate their babies.”

“So someone convinced those people that the solution was worse than the diseases. Welcome to my world, Kaida. Welcome to my life.”

Crazy, crazy, crazy. I didn’t want to think about any worlds right now. But I had to. I had to focus.

“James also told me that he learned from the archives that the medicine in the alien world costs a lot of money.”

“It can. But you need that stuff to take care of life.”

“But you don’t need it if you think that using it is dangerous.”

“That’s just ignorance. I think you have to turn left here to get to Joy’s house.”

He turned left.

“Don’t look at me like I’m crazy, Kaida. I’m with you on this one. I think that survival of the fittest has its place—but not in everything.” He paused. “Not when it comes to my mother.

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