Between the Lanterns (6 page)

“Oh John, I’m so sorry, sweets,” Samantha said. “I wish there was something we could do. I’d give you an organ if it’d help. You and August are the only two people I’ve met since Cheryl died that I feel a connection with, you know?”

“Same here, old man,” August agreed. “I’d give you whatever you needed if it would help. Just like Sam said, I’ve felt pretty alone since Granny passed away. I just can’t relate to most people. They’re too… distant. You and Sam feel like close friends or family, even though I just met y’all. So, don’t worry about not havin’ anyone who will mourn for you. We will, John. You have my word. I just wish you’d stayed in the diner one more minute... then we coulda been friends for a long time.”

“Shoot no, August. I’m already old,” John said with a grin. “We’d have had three years tops.”

“John, we’re going to stay with you until the end. Is that alright with you, sweets?” Samantha asked quietly.

John’s eyes filled with tears of appreciation and love as he looked at the two young people standing beside his bed and told them, “That would be… right kind of y’all. Right kind, indeed.”

August and Samantha took turns napping while the other would keep John company. The clinic staff came in periodically to administer pain medication that would ease his passing. They were all very confused by the presence of these two young people, especially once they found out that they weren’t family.

One nurse pulled Samantha aside and asked, “Why are y’all here? He got lots of Credits or something? Insurance scam? What’s the deal?”

Samantha hated this nurse with all her heart until she remembered to forgive and forget, as they used to say.
 

“No, ma’am,” she told the nurse. “He’s just a friend, and I don’t want him to die scared and alone.”
 

At one point, late into the night, August was in a deep sleep, snoring softly and twitching a little now and then. John nudged Samantha on the arm and pointed over at the snoring August.

“That boy loves you, you know?” he said.

“Excuse me, sweets? We just met and barely know each other,” she said, feigning offence. “But I have to admit I am rather fond of him so far.”

“Baloney. You love him, too,” John murmured. “I can see it when you look at each other. It’s the way Cheryl and I used to look at each other in the beginnin’. I’m tellin’ you now, dear: you need to hold onto that boy just like Cheryl said to you. Don’t let him pull away and make the same mistake I did. Life is short, and if you mess this up, you might never get another chance at love. Real love.”

Samantha looked at the sleeping man she barely knew. That flutter was in her stomach again, just like every time she thought about him. It was true that he was unlike all the other people she knew. He cared, just like she did. That had to mean something. Didn’t it? Maybe John was right. Maybe she and August already did love each other.

“Maybe, John,” she said, running her hands through his gray hair. “Maybe.”

She continued looking at August while rubbing John’s head when she felt something change.

“John? JOHN?” she yelled loudly, panic in her voice.

August shot up like a lightning bolt at the sound, and immediately ran to her side, saying, “What’s goin’ on, Sam?”

“John’s eyes are rolled back in his head,” she answered through tears, “and I think he’s choking!”
 

Samantha didn’t know what to do. She just grabbed John’s hand, while August hit the emergency nurse button.

They came strolling in and checked the time. The two on-duty nurses nodded at each other and wrote some stuff down on their LightBoard, using their fingertips.
 

“Time of death, 2:13 AM,” one of them said.

“He’s not even dead yet, you horrible people!” Samantha screamed at them frantically. “He’s choking! Help him! PLEASE!” Tears poured out of her eyes as she pleaded with the two uncaring nurses.

“Ma’am, please keep your voice down,” the other nurse said. “Patients are sleeping in other rooms. He may not be dead now, but he will be in a minute. He can’t breathe, and there’s nothing we can do.”

August grabbed a face mask attached to an automated breathing machine next to the bed, handed it over to the nurses and begged, “Use this. Intubate him or whatever you call it. He’s a real person, damn it all! Don’t let him die without trying to save him! Please!”

The nurses looked at one another and shrugged, then one said, “It won’t do any good, sir. Patient Hill is a hopeless case.” Then the two heartless nurses walked out of the room and back to their station.
 

As they did, August overheard one of them saying, “He would have been a great candidate for the new Montek.Automaton program. I wonder why they didn’t buy that option, seeing as how they’re so hung up on that old geezer.”

John stopped struggling and breathing at 2:16 AM, a. A full three minutes after the two terrible nurses said he had died. August and Samantha held each other and wept until the sun came up. That’s when the clinic staff asked them to leave so they could clean up the room.

Chapter 6

IT’S THE LAW

The two of them walked down West Main Street in a daze; both felt dizzy and lost after the events inside the clinic.

“I’ll walk you home, if that’s alright with you,” August said, with his arm still around Sam. His thoughts were not on how pretty she was, or how marvelous it felt to hold her. His mind was on those horrible people in the clinic. How could they have let that happen? Should he and Sam have gone with the Montek.Automaton option after all? It was all too much for him to handle. So instead, he decided to focus his attention on making sure Sam got home ok and wasn’t too upset. He’d do whatever it took to keep her from feeling sad for too long.

“Thank you, sweets,” she sniffled, adding, “I need that right now. I don’t want to be alone.”

“I don’t, either,” he admitted shyly. August didn’t mean just for now, either; he meant for the rest of his life. But he couldn’t say that to her, not yet. It was way too soon.

Samantha looked up at August, correctly guessing what he had meant. She locked eyes with the beautiful stranger who felt so much more than that… so much more than someone she had just met. With what the two of them had just been through, and the losses they had both suffered in their lives due to The Countdown… Samantha felt a connection to August that she couldn’t explain. When he touched her, she tingled all over. When he talked with compassion and understanding, when he cared about something… it made her feel like she was home and safe around him. He was everything she had ever hoped to find in a friend... and everything she had ever hoped to find in a lover as well.
 

“Do you mean that, August? Do you mean it the way I hope you mean it?” she asked quietly, looking deep into his eyes.

“I really do, Sam. You’re somethin’ special, and I don’t want to miss out on… well, you,” he answered, trying not to sound awkward. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like there is no one else in the entire world who feels the way I do about stuff. Everyone is so damn rushed all the time, and so worried about what’s popular and what other people think. You and John are the only other people I’ve met since my granny died who actually… care,” he said, pulling her hand up to his mouth, kissing gently on her knuckles. “Kindness is so rare these days, and I don’t want to let it out of my sight for one more second. I want to hold onto it as tight as I can and never let go. I want to hold onto you, Sam.”

She felt in perfect agreement with everything he was saying. She knew it was crazy, but there was a spark between them. It came from a real place, and it felt wonderful. She beamed at August, and he smiled right back.

They kissed each other standing in the middle of West Main Street. AutoCars raced by and honked their horns. The two of them didn’t even notice. August held her head gently in his hands as he ran his fingers through her smooth hair. They kissed long and soft, trading secrets through their breaths. Samantha held him around the waist and rubbed at his lower back. The kiss was never- ending and eternal, yet fleeting and over way too soon.

They pulled apart and pressed their noses together, breathing heavily. August’s chest heaved with excitement. He had never felt like this before. His heart beat like a drum, and he almost hummed a tune to the beat. He was ecstatic and lost in her, this beautiful woman.
 

Sam’s legs trembled, and she held onto him for support. She had never in her life been so excited and so afraid at the same time. All she wanted was this man and nothing else. He was the sun in the center of her solar system, the gravity that held her to Earth. How could this be happening? She didn’t know yet, but she was going to take Cheryl’s advice. She would hold onto this feeling; she would not be left wishing August were around. She would make sure that he was always around.

August looked to the sides, and Sam followed his gaze. Somehow, they had ended up standing in between the lanterns at the end of West Main Street again; in the exact spot where they first met. It was the third time the two of them had come together here in this place, between the same two normal, everyday lanterns.

“This is my favorite spot in the entire universe, sweets,” Samantha whispered to him.

“Dear Lord, it’s mine, too,” he replied.

-

Two months went by, and the two young people saw each other every single day. August switched his shift at the factory to match her schedule at the diner, so he could walk Samantha to work. Most days she brought home food from the diner, and they took turns eating at his place or hers. August’s little apartment was becoming nicer and nicer the more he worked on it, and so he started to spend some time fixing her place up a bit, too.

They would lie on the couch or bed together for hours, telling each other every moment of their lives as far back as they could remember. They found that their lives were similar in many ways, but diverged in several as well.
 

 
August had two distant, and unloving parents and so got his love and caring from his granny as a child. Samantha’s parents died when she was very young, and she didn’t really remember them.
 

“What happened to them, Sam?” August asked when she revealed this painful truth.

“Well, I was too young to remember anything, but my foster parents told me it was cancer. I doubted, even back then, that they both died from cancer. So when I got a little older, I went in search of public records about them,” Samantha explained. “After a lot of searching, I found them. They were both from the area of Old China; you know where Shanghai City is over in the Asian States. They apparently came to Alabama looking for jobs. The records said they were both farmers, and I read that this area was still holding onto some good farming back then. Anyway, sweets, it turns out that my father had died of cancer, but my mother… well, she committed suicide soon afterward. She jumped into Lake Eufaula with enhanced gravity rings on her ankles. The extra pull kept her down on the bottom so she couldn’t come up.”

“Oh no, Sam,” August said, placing his hand on her own. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, sweets, it’s alright. I never knew either of them or, well, I don’t remember them anyways,” she replied with a tender smile. “My foster parents, Steve and Jessica, were decent enough people. They had a lovely home, and I never went without anything that I needed. They just weren’t the most loving parents, you know? It’s not their fault, either. Just a product of the times, I guess. The day I turned 18, they asked me to leave, as they would no longer receive any benefits from the government for keeping me. They let me keep my clothes and personal items. They even helped me to find the job at the diner and a place to live. So, all in all, they weren’t completely bad. There was some good deep down in them.”

“Sam, they asked to leave because they weren’t gettin’ paid anymore? That’s just plain vile and wretched behavior,” August said, disgusted. “Didn’t they love you?”

“I guess they did in their own way. The way anyone today really cares about someone else: on the surface only,” Samantha told him. “But I loved them. I cared for them and still do. I appreciate everything they did for me, even kicking me out. Because if they hadn’t I would have never met Cheryl. The woman who taught me to cook, care, and live. She had that same spark as John, August. I wish you could have met her. She and John were very similar. I wish they could have stayed together, forever.”

“Me, too, Sam. But nothing lasts forever, as they used to say,” he replied.

A few days after that, Samantha was working in the diner as usual. Lunch rush had just finished, which was all of four people total, and she was tidying up. A tall and lean man walked into the diner and looked about, as if lost.
 

“Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you? Would you like to sit down and have something to eat? Today’s special is lip-smacking good: chicken and dumplings with egg custard pie for dessert. Sweet tea included, too,” Samantha said with her customary good nature and friendly smile.

“No thank you, miss. I had a Nutricator smoothie on the way over,” the man replied.

Samantha rolled her eyes at the well-dressed gentleman and told him, “That ain’t food, sweets. Come on, have something real for a change, won’t you?”

“No, I must decline,” he said flatly. “Though, I wonder if you could lend me some assistance. I’m looking for Samantha Vann. Is she around, by chance?”

“Well, sweets, that’s me,” she answered, shocked at hearing her name out of a stranger’s mouth. “Samantha Vann at your service. What’s this all about, sir?”

The nice-looking man reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope, explaining, “This concerns the Last Will and Testament of John Hill.” The man looked around at the diner, empty of patrons, and asked, “Would now be an appropriate time to discuss this with you?”

Samantha was taken even more aback, and a little lost for words. She told the man, “Well… I guess so. John’s will? I thought he was more broker than the rest of us?”

The man in the suit sat down and motioned for Samantha to do the same and join him. “First, let me introduce myself,” he said, offering his hand to Samantha,. “My name is Lee Parr. I’m a lawyer for the state, and this whole business is rather odd and unusual. You see, you are correct. John Hill had no Credit to his name. He had very few possessions, too, only some clothes, a few cleaning items, and a bag of toiletries. That’s just about it, you understand. However, as he lay in the clinic, mere minutes after arriving, he requested my services based on the recommendations of Dr. Granger. He and I play golf together once a week, you see.”