Santaroga Barrier, The by Herbert Frank

Author:Herbert, Frank [Herbert, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Novel, Sci-fi
Publisher: Tor / Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 1967-01-14T03:00:00+00:00

8

Piaget was in his office with a patient when Dasein arrived. The gaunt, gray Sarah opened the door, allowed he could wait in the living room. With a grudging show of hospitality, she added that she would bring him some coffee if he wanted it.

With a stomach-gripping pang, Dasein realized he was ravenous with hunger. He wondered if he could mention this fact.

As though she’d read his mind, Sarah said. “I’ll bet you haven’t eaten breakfast.” She looked him up and down. “You look like you’d slept in those clothes. You doctors are all alike. Never care how you look.”

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t eaten,” Dasein said.

“You’re going to lead Jenny some life,” she said. But she softened her words with a smile.

Dasein stared in wonder at a double, whiteboned row of false teeth in the wrinkled face.

“Got a leftover apple roll and some Jaspers cream,” Sarah said. “Bet you’d like that.”

She turned away, went out through the dining room into a glistening white kitchen, which Dasein glimpsed once through a swinging door. The door went slap-slap behind her.

Dasein thought about that smile, recalled Jenny saying Sarah liked him. On impulse, he followed her into the kitchen.

“Bet you don’t like feeding people in the living room,” he said.

“Feed people wherever they have to be fed,” she said.

She put a dish on an oval table beside windows looking onto a flower garden brilliant in the morning sun. “Sit here, young man,” she said. She poured a thick flow of cream from a pitcher onto the golden mound of crust in the dish.

Dasein inhaled a strong smell of Jaspers. His hand trembled as he picked up the spoon Sarah placed within his reach. The trembling stopped at his first swallow of the food.

The pastry was sweet and soothing, rich with apples.

With a detached feeling of shock, Dasein watched his hand guide the spoon into the pastry for another bite, saw the food conveyed to his mouth, felt himself swallow it.

Soothing.

I’m addicted to the stuff, he thought.

“Something wrong?” Sarah asked.

“I …” He put down his spoon. “You’ve trapped me, haven’t you?” he asked.

“What’re you talking about?” Sarah asked.

“What’s it …” He nodded toward the pastry. “ … doing to me?”

“You feel strange?” Sarah asked. “Got a fluttery feeling behind your eyes?”

“I’m …” He shook his head. Her words sounded insane. Fluttery feeling behind his eyes!

“I’ll bring Doctor Larry,” Sarah said. She darted out a connecting door at the back of the kitchen and he saw her running along the covered walkway to the clinic.

Presently, she reappeared with Piaget in tow. The doctor’s face wore a worried frown.

“What’s this Sarah’s telling me?” Piaget asked. He put a hand under Dasein’s chin, stared into Dasein’s eyes.

“What’s she telling you what?” Dasein asked. The words sounded foolish as they spilled from his lips. He brushed Piaget’s hand aside. The doctor’s frown, the squinting eyes—he looked like an angry Buddha.

“You seem to be all right,” Piaget said. “Any strange symptoms of …”

“You’ve trapped me,” Dasein said.

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