The Wonders by Paddy O’Reilly

Author:Paddy O’Reilly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Washington Square Press

I THINK THIS IS it.” Minh held out the screen for Leon to see. He placed his hand on her arm to steady it so that he could read the message.

“I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” she said with a laugh. “She’s your surgeon, not mine.”

All the messages and e-mails had been sent under Minh’s name. The contact note gave the dates Leon had been under the care of a Dr. Susan Nowinski whom Dr. Minh Trang was attempting to find. Leon would know it was the real Susan if she could explain where his surgery had taken place. Apologies and sympathy notes and attacks from people who believed they were being scammed had flowed in.

It’s not me, but wishing you luck in your search.

Hope you find her.

Keep at it. She’s out there somewhere.

I know this is an attempt to steal my identity. Rot in hell, you scumbag.

They had finished with Australia and moved on to America, first mapping out regions, tracing the state and county lines in thick black pen on a large map stuck to the wall, turning the USA into a jigsaw of possibility. The washed-out greens and yellows of the map, the resistance of the wall behind when Leon pressed a finger to a city gave the task a materiality missing from their electronic work.

The reply on Minh’s screen said, Dr. Trang, please pass along this message. Dear Leon, how lovely it would be to see you. I treated you at a university in Melbourne, Australia. I have information to give you. Please send me your contact details.

Leon dropped his hands between his knees and let his head fall forward. “It’s not specific enough and Susan would never say how lovely. It’s another phishing reply. I hate that there are so many people who want to rip you off.” His hair had been styled in a 1920s cut with a part on the side and the hair slicked up and across. The cut might have looked good for the fans but whenever he bent over as he just had, hair fell down in a thick greasy flop over his eyes. He groaned, pushed it back into place and wiped his gelled hand on his trousers. “I’ll never find her. The Americas will take years and years to work through.”

Minh used her feet to push her office chair away from the desk. It rolled backward and sideways until she was facing Leon.

“I think it’s worth going on. We’ll find her eventually.” She ran her fingers through her hair and stretched her hands to the ceiling as she yawned.

“If I last that long,” he said.

Again she used her feet to steer the chair, this time a little closer so that her knees lined up opposite Leon’s. “Sometimes you talk about yourself as if you are a machine, Leon. If I last that long. Washing machines last. Phones last. Part of staying healthy is believing that you are.”

In her warm spicy presence, aware of her feet poised on

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