After Things Fell Apart by Ron Goulart

Author:Ron Goulart [Goulart, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2013-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter XV

The faintly brown seagull flapped up off its perch on the head of the decorative drugstore android. It swerved, flying low toward Haley, then angled away into the fog.

“Oops,” said Haley, automatically dodging the ocean bird.

“Do that again,” requested the doctor shaped android. He had Pure Food & Drug Plaza lettered in light beads on his tunic chest.

“Oops.”

“How long have you been doing that?”

“Only since the seagull flew off your head.”

“Huh,” said the android. “Sounds like whooping cough to me.” He tapped his lower chest and then his temple. “We all of us have, up here in our brain region, a whoop center which controls whooping. Sounds to me, son, like you might have trouble in your whoop mechanism.”

“Is Dr. Rebecca Stoner on duty now? I understand she owns and operates this drug store.” The computer back at the G-Man Motel had traced the prescription blank and handwriting to this drug store in the beach town of San Bonito.

“You just take yourself on inside and tell them you’re suffering with whooping cough, son, and they’ll show you the wide range of quick acting and relatively harmless remedies always in stock here at the Pure Food & Drug Plaza, largest operation of its kind in San Bonito.” He clicked off.

Haley walked ahead as a nearglass door opened in front of him. The drug store was high and square, made of panels of different-colored and different-shaped synthetic glass. The afternoon was as gray as the morning had been and the kaleidoscope effect was dulled. No one seemed to be inside the big store. He wandered among counters, suspended shelves. “Hello,” he called out.

An old man in seafaring clothes appeared from around a wall of vitamin packs. “Do you know which is best?”

“No,” said Haley. “Have you seen Dr. Stoner around anyplace?”

“I mean between this one and this one.” The old man held up two clear tubes of spansules. “These red and white ones or these blue and gold.”

“I’d take the blue and gold.”

“You’ve had experience with this product?”

“No, but those are my school colors.”

“Come now,” said the white whiskered old sailor. “I’m due to ship out later in the day. We’re going after mutant fish and I expect to hit many strange ports of call before my cruise is done.” His voice lowered, grew more rapid. “I’m concerned, as no doubt you will be when you reach my years, with my vitality. With my vim and vigor, if you follow my drift. I have quite a reputation for raising Cain in the remaining hellholes of the Pacific. I need a product that will assure my prowess.”

“Maybe you ought to think about retiring from the sea.” Haley noticed a fat, pleasant-looking, middle-aged woman standing far across the store. She was wearing a white uniform.

The old seaman said, “It’s a toss-up. I can’t decide whether to buy myself Wham Bam! or O Buoy!”

“Try both.” Haley hurried off toward the medical appearing fat woman. When he was near he asked, “Dr. Rebecca Stoner?”

The woman chuckled, blushed.

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