Never Rest by Marshall Thornton

Author:Marshall Thornton [Thornton, Marshall]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Lethe Press
Published: 2018-10-17T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

That afternoon, I was almost finished with my stem cell/antibiotic/and whatever else treatment when Goth said, “I’m going to go have a cigarette or two.” He tipped his head in a way that meant he wanted me to come with him when I got unhooked.

Edmond stood up a little too quickly and sat right back down, “I’ll go with you. And maybe we can check out the other ward.” He threw in a lascivious wink. “See if any babes—”

I cringed. The whole point was to go some place Edmond wasn’t.

Goth said, “Yeah, um, aren’t you supposed to begin your baseline testing soon?”

“I’ll just tell Nurse Margie where we’re going.”

“That’s not a good idea. She’s going to know you’re going out to smoke. That will get you a ten-minute lecture. I’ll be back inside before she’s done.”

“But I’m not having a cigarette. I’m just tagging along to see if the ladies have arrived.”

“She won’t believe you. But, hey, go ahead and give it a try.”

Edmond obviously wanted to go but couldn’t if Goth wasn’t going to be with him every step of the way. He was in bad shape and knew he needed someone with him to lean on or pick him up if he face-planted. “Maybe I’ll go later. The tests are important, huh?”

“Yeah, they are,” I said. “Missing them would be a bad idea.”

Goth shrugged and left. Edmond and I stared at each other. After a long bit, during which my IV stand beeped to indicate it was done, Edmond said, “He doesn’t like me, does he?”

“I don’t know. Why wouldn’t he like you?”

“People don’t like me.”

That made me feel like shit. I didn’t like him much. I doubted Goth liked him, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to know it. “You just got here. He doesn’t know you well enough to not like you.”

He perked up. “Yeah, that’s right. Maybe he’ll like me later. Maybe if I give him some tips on how to attract the ladies.”

“That might do it,” I said. It wasn’t even close to truthful, but I didn’t think it was my place to explain how wrong Edmond was.

Nurse Margie came in. She unhooked me from the IV and told Edmond it was time for him to go upstairs. He had to lean on her before he was even halfway across the ward. Still, he managed to huff out the question, “Are there any nude beaches nearby?”

“Oh, how would I know that?” Nurse Margie said, as though she’d never imagined anything remotely sexual. That was clearly untrue since she’d mentioned her son several times. She’d had sex at least once.

I waited as patiently as I could for them to leave. Then I waited a bit longer. I didn’t want to catch up with them as they climbed the stairs. My heart was pounding harder than it had in weeks. I would have thought it was the treatment I’d just had, but it wasn’t. It was Goth. We weren’t going to be able to do anything in the ward that night, but maybe we could find somewhere outside to mess around a little.

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