Soulshine (12 page)

After a hectic afternoon, Linda finally made it to her office, where Frank and Hugo were waiting for her. “Oh, God. I thought I was finally going to get the preparations made for Evan Troy"s transfer. Now I just heard that Michelle Fleming is pregnant?”

Frank nodded. “Yes… that caught us by surprise. Can this situation get any crazier?”
“You"re telling me,” said Linda. “I wish we could prove how old that girl is. There is no way that she"s pushing thirty. Still… she"s been through so much with her boyfriend.”
“We"ve spent so much time treating Evan Troy,” said Hugo before pausing. “Do you think he really
is
her boyfriend… or do you think he kidnapped her and forced her to drive, they got into an accident, and he may have threatened her to keep quiet?”
Linda shook her head. “That girl is in love, gentlemen. Believe me. I know the look. Those tears are real. She"s not afraid
of
him. She"s afraid to
lose
him.”
“Yes… yes… I suppose you"re right.”
“I don"t know what exactly is going on with those two, but if they are doing anything illegal, they aren"t hurting anybody. I"m pulling for them. I just hope that Fletcher University isn"t going to reject Evan because of his having no identification.”
“He talks as if his mind is fuzzy. He may have amnesia,” offered Frank.
The phone rang. “Excuse me,” said Linda as she picked it up. “Hello… Linda Sherman.”
“Ms. Sherman, this is Stuart Williams.”
“Stuart… how are you?”
“Doing well, thank you. I"m calling about the arrangements for Evan Troy.”
“Yes, it"s been crazy here for the past day. I"m still getting all the paperwork and records together so it will be ready when the patient is transported tomorrow.”
“Well, if you could use more time, I may have some good news for you then. I originally hated to ask this of you, but… could we delay the pickup another day?”
Linda looked at her calendar. “Thursday?”
“Yes… we should be able to get there in the morning on Thursday. I"m sorry for the delay. The doctors who will be attending to Mr. Troy are also teachers here at the university, and they are attending a mandatory faculty meeting tomorrow, which makes us unprepared to adequately treat the patient. But from the sound of it, you may appreciate the extra time… and I trust the patient is still in capable hands?”
“Well, yes he is,” said Linda, “but despite my hectic schedule, Mr. Troy"s condition is in dire need of better facilities.”
A moment of silence ensued. “I understand. Look… we can definitely get there first thing that morning. The time delay will be less than twentyfour hours. I"m sorry. We completely forgot about the faculty meeting… and we have all the other doctors" schedules to consider.”
Linda sighed and looked up at Frank. “Is first thing Thursday morning okay for transporting Evan Troy?”
Frank looked at Hugo and then hesaid, “If it has to do…”
“Fine,” said Linda to Stuart. “Thursdaymorning it is.”
“Thanks for your understanding. Well, I also have plenty of work to do. I"ll talk to you later.”
Linda hung up the phone and looked at the two doctors. “Oh well… things just got crazier. So what can I do for you?”
“We just want to let you know that we both need to get some sleep. We"ll be available on call throughout the night, and now it looks like we"ll have another busy day monitoring Evan Troy tomorrow,” said Frank.
“Yes. I take it there"s not much change in Evan?”
“No positive change. The nurses are working around the clock keeping him comfortable, minimizing his blood loss and monitoring his vitals.”
“Hopefully it"s not a death watch for the poor guy,” said Hugo. “I can"t hope but grieve as I marvel at what"s happening with him. Yet I got the strangest call earlier this morning.”
“Who was it that called you?” asked Linda.
“Some monk by the name of Hawkings. He called himself Brother Hawkings. He said that he wanted to take Evan Troy into his care. He was quite insistent. It seems that they have this cloister where he feels that he can cure him.”
“That
is
curious. I wonder how he found out about our patient. He must be very local. Did he say where this cloister is located?”
“No… and I didn"t think to ask. I was too busy explaining to him the reasons why we could not release the patient to him.”
Linda looked to the ceiling and put her hand up to her chin.
“Linda? What are you thinking about?” asked Frank.
Linda looked back at the two doctors. “What did Hawkings sound like? His voice… I mean.”
Hugo shrugged. “It was somewhat distinctive… not like what you normally hear in Ontario or Quebec… just different. Why?”
Linda scratched her head. “It"s just that when I talked to Stuart Williams over at Fletcher just now… he didn"t quite sound like the man I talked to earlier in the week… but he sounded more American than Canadian. Iwas just wondering… the timing of the two calls and they both involved making arrangements for Evan Troy.”
“Hawkings is definitely
not
from the States.”
“Don"t mind me,” said Linda. “I"m just very tired.”

“These cookies are very good, Jean,” said Eric as he sat back in a comfortable chair in Jean"s apartment.
“That"s about all I can bake well.”
“Are you just being modest?”
“I"m being truthful,” said Jean as she sat down in the chair next to Eric.
“It"s nice to see you relax, Jean.”
“You mean you don"t like the tense Jean?” she said with a smile.
“I like all the Jeans,” said Eric with a laugh.
Jean laughed. “You know… there"s only one guy I always feel relaxed around.”
“Hmmm… that would
not
be me, would it?”
“No… but I"m trying.”
“So who
is
the lucky guy?”
“I don"t know that I"d call him the
lucky
guy, but it"s Bryan.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “Do you like Bryan?”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean… do you
like
Bryan?”
Jean pressed her lips together before answering. “I like
you
. That"s why I"m more comfortable around Bryan.”
“Well, Bryan"s a good, thoughtful guy. I see possibilities there.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Are you trying to drive me nuts?”
“Oh, I wish I knew what I wanted.”
“You
do
know what you want. You just don"t want to give it to yourself.”
“You
see
? Bryan wouldn"t get philosophical like that. The same thing goes with religion. You come at it from a philosophical angle, while Bryan just doesn"t question my beliefs.”
“You mean Bryan doesn"t
challenge
your beliefs. Oops… there I go again,” laughed Eric. “Seriously… would you like me to tell you what
I
want.”
“Sure.”
“Only if you tell me what
you
want afterwards.”
“I just told you that I don"t know.”
“Then tell me what you
think
you might want, and then I"ll…”
“You"ll analyze my mind. We"ll see. So go ahead… tell me what
you
want?”
“Very well. I"ve done a lot of traveling in my… uh…”
“Thirty six years?”
“Uh… right.”
“And you still look none the worse for wear… amazing.”
“You don"t believe me, do you?”
Jean looked him over closely. “Nope.”
Eric gave Jean a guilty smirk. “Okay… the truth.” He took a deep breath. “When I first came into Grand Central Station six years ago and met Bryan, I figured that he may know someone in the theater business, so… I sort of… exaggerated my age to make it look like I had more theater experience under my belt than I did in fact have.”
“I knew you weren"t thirty when I first met you.”
“Yeah… and Bryan probably saw right through it too.”
“Bryan believes people. He has to in order to interview people for magazine articles. So… you were saying that you have done a lot of traveling in your… how many years?”
“Uh… many. The point is that I have met many people, and I have always been drawn to the soft-spoken, unassuming types of people… be they male or female, it doesn"t matter. But in order for me to truly enjoy them, they must be carefree and spontaneous also. Bryan sort of satisfies all those qualities, which is why I"m able to enjoy rooming with him, but it would be wonderful to find a woman with those qualities. You possess the first two of the four qualities. Sometimes I see the latter two starting to come out, and I want to encourage you to be carefree and spontaneous more often. Actually, your wit
is
quite spontaneous sometimes.”
“So that"s what you want… a woman who is soft-spoken, unassuming, carefree and spontaneous. And you think that
I
have a chance to be all those things?”
“You could. As I said… you already are soft-spoken and unassuming. Waiting for me outside the jazz club was rather spontaneous. Keep practicing those nice surprises while working on being more carefree, and you could have it.”
“What about age? That isn"t a qualification? I suspect that I"m almost twice your age… maybe I even
am
twice your age.”
“Twice my age… same age… half my age… what does
that
matter? Only human beings are inhibited enough to believe that they must behave in a certain way.”
“Half your age would be obscene.”
“Soft-spoken, unassuming, carefree, spontaneous… okay, and mature. Meet those qualifications, and age does not matter.”
“So there"s really five qualifications.”
“And kind… make that six qualifications. See? I"m always refining my views. You should too.”
“I"m losing count.”
“Luckily for you, you possess the two added qualities. You still just need to become carefree while honing your spontaneity.”
“And you"re not the least bit interested in physical appearance?”
“Jean, if a girl has those six attributes, then she will have a smile and personality that causes her to be beautiful. So… odds are I will like the physical appearance. The outward is usually the manifestation of the inward. I imagine that the same would go for guys, eh?”
“Yes, Mr. Townsend,” said Jean with a grin. “It certainly does… and you have all of them.”

Evan and Michelle looked out over the shining Pacific Ocean from the docks in San Diego.“Well, what do you think? Shall we live in Hawaii for a while? I"ve never been there.”

Michelle looked at Evan in surprise. “Ooh… that sounds interesting. Do you think we can? I mean… don"t we need to get some jobs somewhere soon?”

“I"ve got enough money on me for us to take a nice long vacation. I think of this as our honeymoon, considering we cannot get married because most ministers require birth certificates before marrying people. What better honeymoon spot than Hawaii? Besides, it will help take your mind off the way we had to suddenly leave Riverside.”

“I tried to hide that.”
“I know… but there were moments when it showed.” Evan put his arms around Michelle"s waist. “You have been so wonderful… and you are so beautiful. Have I mentioned that lately?”
Michelle gave him her classic shy look. “Only a couple of timeson the trip. It"s nice to hear. And you"ve
also
been wonderful… and handsome.”
“Thanks. I don"t think you ever said
that
to me before… the
handsome
part.” Evan kissed her and then smiled. “Do you know why you"re so beautiful?”
Michelle, not knowingquite what to say, said, “…No, why?”
“You pass the soulshinetest.”
“What is a
soulshine
test?”
Evan chuckled. “It"s actually something I came up with over thirteen years ago, when I was living in New York. Did you ever wonder what made a person beautiful… or handsome?”
Michelle thought about the question. “Not really. I always thought
you
were handsome. I think it was your eyes and your smile… your whole face.”
“Well,
soulshine
is my term for the six qualities that add up to beauty. No person can possess all six qualities and
not
be beautiful. It"s impossible. The reason your green eyes are so beautiful and your smile is so enticing is because you are… soft- spoken, mature, unassuming, carefree, kind and spontaneous. Your soul literally shines.” Evan paused. “That"s the only reason anyone should ever want to make love to another… because the other person just…
soulshines
.”
Michelle laughed. “That"s actually very nice. I like it. You have all those qualities too.”
“Let"s find a place to stay the night. I can"t wait to make love to my… bride.”
“Sounds good to me. I just thought of something about this
soulshine
thing of yours.”
“What"s that?”
“Well, if someone has all those qualities, it doesn"t matter if they get old because their soul will always shine, right?”
“Hmm… I like that.”
“So how do we get to Hawaii?”
“Um… I didn"t know we decided on that yet. Is that what you would like?”
“It sounds exciting.”
“Well… I would prefer a cruise. I"m… rather scared of flying. I used to get seasick, but I kind of overcame that feeling years ago after traveling on boats across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. But going inside a metal tube and hurtling across the sky… I would hate to crash down to Earth and end our eternal youth.”
Michelle thought about what Evan had said. “I guess it"s like that line from the song about Bobby McGee…
freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
We aren"t free as long as we have a lotto lose, are we?”
“I guess not. At least if an ocean liner"s engine stops, we don"t sink. If an airplane loses its engines…”
“I"ve never been on either, so either one is an adventure for me. A cruise sounds more romantic.”
“Yes… we can stand out on the deck and look at the moon every night, and… thanks for understanding my phobia.”
“No problem. I feel safer on the water too. I feel safe as long as I"m with you.” Michelle then got concerned. “Evan?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“What happens if one of us ever gets killed? I mean… if it happens to me, you"re used to living a long time on your own. But if it happens to you… what would I do for the rest of time?”
Evan squeezed her tightly and, just before they embraced in a long kiss, said, “The best thing is not to even think about it… and stay out of airplanes. Why tempt fate?”

Mary Fleming got out of the cab and hurried up the front walk to her Riverside home. She was somewhat relieved when she found the front door unlocked. “John! John! Oh, thank heavens you"re still here. I was afraid you were going to head to Canada and do something you"d regret.”