The Beachhead by Christopher Mari

Author:Christopher Mari [Mari, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503942622
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2017-03-20T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Kendra slid her hand across the bed she shared with John and found it empty. The sheets were cool. She rubbed her eyes and ran her other hand through her knotted hair, then sat up. Somewhere outside she could hear the easy undertones of voices chatting, a pair of them. The quieter one was clearly John’s. She snatched her clothes from the floor, slid into her uniform pants, and pulled on an undershirt while still under the covers, not wanting the chilly morning air to come in contact with her bare skin. Then she splashed ice-cold water on her face from the baked-clay washbasin on the dresser and finger combed her hair in the bedroom’s small mirror before heading in the direction of the voices on the porch. The men were drinking coffee from ceramic mugs.

“What would I have liked to have seen on Earth-of-old?” John said with a sigh. “A football game. You know, the roar of the crowds, all those people sitting there getting thrilled by a bunch of guys trying to keep a ball from landing in a certain spot. You?”

“Frank Sinatra,” Jack Lewis answered. “He was a singer, supposedly one of the greatest. Pity we don’t have any recorded music. The more often you read something or someone is once-in-a-lifetime, the more you want to—”

“Hey Kendra. Want some good and strong coffee?”

John’s voice was bright and clear as he greeted her. It sounded just as it ever did, not a trace of illness clinging to it. Apart from the fact that his cheeks had hollowed out and his eyes were a bit deep set, it was hard to tell he had ever been sick. She surveyed him as he kissed her. Even the dark circles under his eyes that had been almost like bruises were fading. She smiled at him closemouthed as plans of hearty breakfasts and morning jogs ran through her brain. Just little bits of exercise at a time until he was back up to fighting strength.

“What’s up?” she asked, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her right ear.

“We’ve got news,” John said. “Jack here has agreed that we’re both well enough to visit this mysterious ‘someone’ we’re supposed to be interested in meeting.”

Kendra looked at Lewis, who grinned as he stuffed his morning pipe with tobacco. “The someone wouldn’t be so mysterious if he told us who it was.”

“It’ll be easier to explain once you see him,” Lewis said evenly. “No need to stress your systems during your recoveries.”

“Oh really?” Kendra eyed the older man. “You the doctor now too?”

“Kendra—”

She looked at John. “Prisha agree to this?”

He scratched at the now-ragged blond hairs on his neck. “We haven’t, uh, talked to her yet.”

Kendra looked at one, then the other, as she shook her head. “Where is she?”

“In the barn,” Jack said, lighting his pipe. “Tending the horses. She is the animal doctor too, you know.”

Kendra took the three front steps in a single shot. As she approached the barn, she could hear Prisha’s soothing voice talking under the whinnying of the horses.

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