Season of Passage, The (17 page)

The only reason Terry had taken Jennifer to Dr Palmer in the first place was because he had been desperate. Her nightmares were murdering her.

She had lost ten pounds from her already thin frame, and she was having trouble functioning during the day. The doctor had come highly

recommended from his partner at the paper, Tom Brenner, whose two ex-wives had praised Palmer highly. Initial y the doctor had prescribed

thrice-weekly sessions and potent sleeping pil s for Jennifer. The latter had brought some relief; however, it was Jennifer herself who had proved

her best doctor. She'd suggested she stay up at night and sleep in the day. She'd been out of school, anyway - they understood she was il - so

Terry let her try it. If she thought it would help, fine; and the rescheduling did bring great relief. The nightmares appeared unable to thwart her while

the sun was in the sky. After work he would come home and wake her and together they would prepare dinner - or breakfast, whatever. Then they

would write, he on his new novel, on which he was actual y making some progress, and she on her mysterious story. She was a painstaking worker.

She spent many hours to get a piece 'just as it was, Terry.'

Near midnight they would go for a long walk through the deserted streets of Houston. The regular exercise made them both feel better. It was weird,

but while walking with Jennifer he never worried about getting mugged. When he was with her, he no longer felt he was even in the city, but in a

wide-open space where any potential danger could be seen coming from far off. Certainly her lively conversation had a way of transporting his mind

to better places.

She always wore the silver ring Professor James Ranoth had given her. It was not magical in the way Jim thought, she said confidently, but it did

help her write her story. He wasn't sure what she meant. He had never been much into jewelry.

They talked about Lauren a lot, of course. In a way their entire life was now little more than a process of kil ing time, of waiting. Occasional y, though,

Terry wondered if they were waiting for the same thing.

'Mr Hayes,' Dr Palmer's secretary said behind him. 'You

may go in now. Jennifer and the doctor are finished.'

Thank you.' He started down the hal toward the back office.

'Oh, Mr Hayes?' the secretary cal ed.

He stopped. 'Yes?'

'Your fiancée's almost there, isn't she? I read in your paper they'l awake on the fourth of January.'

'You're right. But even then they'l have five days before they official y enter Martian orbit. It'l be six days before they land on the planet.'

'It must be exciting, knowing someone who's doing such great things.'

Terry resisted the temptation to tel her he wished Lauren was a dental assistant. 'It's a great privilege,' he said.

The secretary stood. She was a perky blonde, fresh out of col ege and looking for a Mr Goodbar. He'd seen the type before, and had had plenty of

sex with them until they found out he was broke. Palmer's secretary went out of her way to keep him company while Jennifer talked with Dr Palmer.

'I have so much shopping stil to do, Mr Hayes,' she said. 'I wish I had someone to help me.'

'Cal me Terry, Carol. Al my friends who are stil alive do.'

Carol chuckled. 'I have to leave now. I won't get a chance to see you on the way out. I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas,' he said. 'To you and your family.'

She blushed. 'Oh, I'm not married, Terry.'

Famous and exciting Dr Lauren Wagner notwithstanding, Carol was dropping hints. Terry didn't mind. He liked aggressive women or rather, horny

women, who were not always the same. Yet he was being a good boy, and it wasn't

too hard. After Lauren, most women bored him. Carol certainly did.

'But you have a mother and father,' he said. 'You probably have aunts and uncles. Maybe even nieces and nephews. One of them has got to want to

go shopping with you.'

Carol didn't know what the hel he was talking about. So she smiled. 'That's a great idea.'

He turned away. 'I'l see you after the holidays.'

'I'l look forward to it,' she said brightly.

Once in the doctor's office, Terry took a seat beside Jennifer, who was sitting in an oak chair three sizes too big for her and swinging her feet

inches above an Indian carpet that depicted a scary scene of angels clashing with devils. Dr Palmer sat behind his desk and fought with his

beeper, which wouldn't stop beeping. He was a nice man, although he was extremely ugly. He had been injured in a car accident as a teenager. His

face had gone through a window and wrapped around a fire hydrant. At least that's how he put it. Plastic surgery hadn't worked wel in his case, nor

did his beard and moustache hide the rough spots. Oh, wel , Terry thought, the man seemed happy enough, and he certainly charged enough an

hour.

'How do things look this week?' Terry asked.

'Ted doesn't want to see me for two weeks,' Jennifer said. 'He says I'm al better. I told him I was never sick.'

Dr Palmer nodded. 'I'm beginning to believe her. She's more sane than me. Especial y now that the nightmares are going away. I suggested to her

that she start sleeping at night again and return to school.'

'How about that, Jenny?' Terry asked. 'You can't be an owl the rest of your life.'

Jennifer giggled. 'Whooo says?'

'I think you're just trying to dodge school,' Terry said.

'Which is a definite sign of mental health,' Dr Palmer added. Jennifer shook her head. 'I can't sleep at night. Not yet. But I'l finish my story soon, and

then, maybe.'

Dr Palmer stood. He left his beeper beeping on his desk. 'You two can decide amongst yourselves. As far as I'm concerned, the crisis is past. I'l

see Jenny in two weeks. Now I must rush. I have presents to buy, lots of expensive presents for lots of greedy relatives.'

Terry stood and took Jennifer's hand. 'I should have postponed the appointment,' he said. 'Carol tel s me you had nobody else scheduled for today.'

Dr Palmer fetched his hat. 'Nonsense. Talking to Jenny is like a Christmas present. I've found myself waiting to see her again each week. In fact, I'm

not sending you a bil for the last month.'

'I suppose I should argue with you,' Terry said. 'But I wasn't going to pay you anyway.' Dr Palmer laughed. Terry pointed to the beeping beeper.

'Don't you want to cal in and see who wants you?'

'It's just my wife,' Dr Palmer said.

'How can you tel ?' Jennifer asked.

'It beeps differently when she cal s in,' Dr Palmer said. He led them toward the door, a hand on their backs. 'Oh, Mr Hayes, is your book about Ricky

in the stores yet? I want to buy a copy for my wife. She hates bugs.'

Terry scowled. 'There was a screw up at the printers. Its release has been delayed two months.'

'Are you upset?' Dr Palmer asked.

'If I am, I'm sure it's because I hated my mother,' Terry said.

Dr Palmer laughed again. 'You should have my job and let me write about cockroaches.' He scooted them out the door. 'Now you two run along and

have a merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas, Doctor,' Terry said.

'Merry Christmas, Ted,' Jennifer said.

Outside in the heat and crowds, Terry asked Jennifer, 'How about spending tomorrow at my sister's? She cal ed and said she'd love to have us.

You could hang out with my niece, Rebecca. She's your age. You met her once.'

'Hmmm,' Jennifer considered. 'If you want, Terry. But I was thinking how nice it would be to play in the snow. There's snow at your cabin. I read it in

the paper.'

'There's Daniel at my cabin,' Terry said. They had visited Wyoming twice since Lauren had left for Mars, enough times for Daniel to have fal en

completely under Jennifer's spel . He worshiped her. Jennifer thought he was pretty neat, too.

Jennifer blushed. 'That's not the only reason. The lake wil be frozen. We can go ice skating.'

'I don't know about that. It's a big lake. Even when it freezes, there are thin spots. I'd hate to fal in those cold waters. Your muscles would cramp in a

second. I remember Lauren told me a girl drowned in the lake at the end of summer because of cramps. Oh, you know about her. Daniel told you

both.'

Jennifer looked at him. 'Daniel didn't say anything about a girl drowning.'

'Lauren said he told you both. I remember.'

'No girl drowned. You can ask Daniel when we get there.'

Terry chuckled. 'When we get there?'

Jennifer grabbed his hand and pul ed him in the direction of his car. 'Let's hurry! We have to pack. We can use your work credit card to pay for the

airline tickets. Daniel told me he makes wonderful snowmen.'

Terry al owed himself to be dragged down the street, on his way to Wyoming. The paper had been on him to take his

vacation time anyway. 'We have to be back in Houston when Lauren wakes up,' he said. 'We can't stay forever.'

Jennifer stopped and gave him one of her patented penetrating looks. 'I want to stay there until she returns, Terry.'

'That won't be possible.'

'Then let's al go there together as soon as she comes home.'

He shrugged. 'What if Lauren wants to go to Disneyland?'

Jennifer was insistent. 'You have to promise me, Terry. It's important.'

'Al right,' he said, not sure what the big deal was.

They were stil in Wyoming on January 3rd. Christmas had been pleasant. Jennifer loved her typewriter. From the sound of the keys, she was

already typing better than forty words a minute. She continued to work seriously on her story. She had bought him a Ping-Pong table; or she said

she had - it was in Houston. She gave him a single paddle wrapped up. Terry figured she must have been saving the al owance NASA sent her out

of Lauren's salary. The gift was a stroke of bril iance on her part. Throughout col ege he had played regularly and had loved it. Yet, to the best of his

knowledge, he could not remember tel ing either Lauren or Jennifer about how much he enjoyed the game. He was looking forward to it.

Jennifer had also knitted Terry a scarf, which was coming in handy on this particular vacation. Through the cabin window, Terry could see the snow

fal ing steadily on the nearby trees. Daniel was visiting; he had just returned inside with a pile of fresh logs. Jennifer had a roaring fire going.

Together the kids sat beside the flames, talking quietly.

Terry turned away from the video phone, excited. He had just spoken to friends at Mission Control. 'Jenny, Daniel,' he said, 'Houston says Lauren

wil be awake at six tomorrow evening. We should catch the twelve o'clock flight back.'

Jennifer was running her right hand through the flames, a habit of hers that always made Terry nervous. Actual y, her running was more of a strol . He

didn't see how she didn't burn herself.

'We won't be able to talk to her, though,' Jennifer said, gloomy. 'We'l have to wait a long time to hear what she says, and then she'l have to wait a

long time to hear us.'

'You can't argue with the speed of light,' Terry said. 'But we can stil have a conversation, in a way. We'l get to see her on the screen.'

'She'l be on the TV,' Jennifer said. 'If we stayed here we can see her just the same.'

'You don't want to be at Mission Control while they're exploring Mars?' Terry asked, amazed.

'I want to be here,' she said.

'I can't figure you out,' Terry said.

'I haven't finished my story,' Jennifer said.

'I hardly see what that has to do with anything,' Terry said.

'She's gone,' Jennifer said softly. 'She'l be just a picture on the screen. She'l be only a voice on the speaker. I feel closer to Lauren here, where we

had fun together.'

'But I can't stay, even if I wanted to,' Terry said. 'I'm covering the exploration for the paper. You know that. I have to be at Mission Control. Anyway, I

want to be as close to the action as possible.'

'Here is closer,' Jennifer said in the same serious tone, watching the flames, her long yel ow hair shining in the orange light. 'Lauren liked here best.

When she's on Mars, she'l think of being here. She loved the forest and the lake. You go if you have to. I can stay with Daniel and his brother. I'l

come here each day to work on my story, and we can talk on the phone. You can tel me what is happening with Lauren.'

'Daniel?' Terry asked, appealing for help. That was a mistake. Apparently plans had already been made.

'Yes, sir,' Daniel said briskly. 'My brother said Jenny can stay with us. He and his wife like her a lot. You know, we don't live far.'

'But Lauren wil want to hear your voice when she wakes up, Jenny,' Terry said. 'She'l worry.'

Jennifer sighed. 'I can't speak with her when she's there.'

'Aren't you being a little ridiculous?' Terry said.

She was suddenly upset. 'I don't want to go! I don't want to know.' She added in a whisper, 'I'm afraid.'

'There's nothing to be afraid of,' Terry said. 'Their ship can't fail. It's been tested a mil ion times. Plus there is nothing on Mars that can harm them.'

Jennifer waved her hand through the flames again, so slowly that Terry suddenly sat straight up in his chair and almost yel ed. Yet her flesh

remained unaffected. The silver ring on her right thumb shone bright in the hot light.

'It's cold on Mars,' Jennifer said.

Terry was impatient. 'You're beginning to run away from stuff. You know that, don't you?'

A log in the fireplace cracked loudly, spewing forth a shower of sparks that momentarily glittered around her smal form. Jennifer slowly knelt back

on her ankles. Daniel watched her intently, with a peculiar look in his eyes that Terry found disturbing.