Weekend (6 page)

Robin was jaundiced - even the centres of her once emerald eyes were stained a sad yellow. The sheen and curls had fallen from her brown hair. Perhaps in concession to the spreading grey, she had it cut very short. There wasn't a spare ounce on her emaciated frame. Her pretty blue blouse and smart white skirt hung on her like old sheets. As she approached, it was as though she were treading through a thick liquid, with effort being required for every few steps. Shani told herself that this could not be her dear friend.

She had deteriorated rapidly in these last four weeks.

Robin was the best of them. Since they had both been adopted, it should have been no surprise that Lena and Robin bore no similar personality traits. Nevertheless, it was hard to believe they had grown up together in the same house. Robin never asked for anything, never complained. Not that she worked at being a saint. An inborn lack of egotism had her naturally more interested in others' cares. However, she was not perfect. A follower, prey to everyone's idle influence, she seldom asserted her personality.

Fortunately, Lena - a leader at heart -never tried to dominate her. But Robin's greatest fault was her laziness. Though no moron, her grades at school had never risen above a "C". What Robin could do today, she put off till next year. Yet maybe that bad habit was passing. From what Lena said, she appeared to be trying to get the most out of her time off the dialysis machine. Maybe because she might not have a next year.

Of all the people in the world, Shani loved Robin the most.

Shani hugged her, feeling Robin's ribs. "I missed you," she said, fighting to keep her voice easy.

"I missed you more."

Shani took a short step back, still holding her shoulders. "But you're so skinny. Aren't you eating?"

"I'm dieting," she joked, fingering a tiny gold eagle pendant that hung from a tiny silver chain around her neck.

"Hello, Robin," Park said at Shani's back.

Robin's lower lip quivered before she could hide it with a smile. "You look well, Park."

"I feel okay. How are you?"

"Good, great."

"Give her a kiss, you bastard," Lena said.

Robin laughed, spreading her arms. "And a hug, too. I'm not contagious."

Park took her in his arms, and only because she knew him so well was Shani able to see that he, too, wanted to weep. "It's good, real good, to see you again," he said.

"Really?" Robin sighed doubtfully. But she quickly chuckled to lighten the mood, undoing his embrace.

"But I'm forgetting my duties as a hostess. You must all be thirsty. Was that Angie's voice I heard? How many have arrived?"

"Sol's coming up the road," Shani said. "Bert and Kerry're with him. Other than that… Oh, Flynn's here."

Robin brightened. "Flynn! I'm glad; he's such a sweetheart. I'll get plenty of drinks, then. Don't any of you go anywhere. I'll be right back."

"I'll help you," Shani said.

"No," Lena said firmly. "She can handle it herself."

When Robin had left, Park leaned against the wall as though suddenly weary. "She looks terrible," he said.

"She has looked better," Lena agreed.

"Why has she suddenly lost so much weight?" Shani asked.

"She's been depressed, hasn't been eating," Lena said. "Ten days ago we got a letter from Stanford Medical Centre. It was nicely phrased, but essentially it said that they had her at the bottom of their transplant-candidate list."

"But why?" Shani cried, taking the bad news hard. A transplant was Robin's only hope for a normal life.

"Robin only has one kidney now, and it's ninety per cent failed. Who could be more needy?"

"Morethan ninety per cent failed," Lena corrected. "But you would be amazed at the number of people in her predicament. Stanford figures she had one transplant, and rejected the organ, and is therefore not a prime candidate. In other words, they feel that they gave her a chance, and now they have to give someone else a chance. Plus, she has another strike against her. You might have seen in the news, there's been a big backlash against rich people being able to buy organs and get transplants sooner than poor minorities. All those human rights fanatics are watching the Carlton name closely to make sure Robin doesn't get any special favours. Stanford's got paranoid, and Daddy's offer of a big donation hasn't eased that paranoia. It's all a bunch of b.s. Robin will probably be the last one to be given a second chance. I swear, sometimes it doesn't pay to be rich."

"Stanford isn't the only medical centre that does transplants," Park said.

"The situation would be the same elsewhere," Lena said.

"Is there no hope?" Shani asked. In a moment, she would have the nerve to make her offer, she hoped.

"If Robin had a blood sister or brother with a matching tissue type," Lena said, "who was willing to donate one of his or her kidneys, Stanford would have to take her. But since she doesn't, I would have to say there's no hope of her getting off the dialysis machine in the next couple of years."

Shani swallowed thickly. It was a thoroughly premeditated offer. "I had myself typed last week. I'm the same type as Robin. I would be willing to… I want to give her one of my kidneys."

Lena stared at her a long time before responding. "You are not blood-related. Stanford would say no."

"But I'm her age. I—"

"It was a noble gesture," Lena interrupted. "If there was a chance they would go for it, I would be on the phone now. Thank you, Shani."

"It was just an idea," she sighed.

Park squeezed her arm. "I'm proud of you."

"One thing," Lena added. "Don't tell Robin of your offer. It might give her hope, and then Stanford would just slam the door in her face again. Two nos in two weeks and she might stop eating altogether."

"I understand," Shani said.

"Knock, knock," Kerry said at the front door.

"The door's open," Lena said. "Hello, Kerry."

"Hi," Kerry mumbled, munching on a wad of gum, trying to look bored. "Where's Robin?"

"In the kitchen getting drinks," Lena said. "Where's my boy?"

Shani cringed at the word. Kerry played the fool. "Who?"

"Sol," Lena said.

"He's in the garage."

"What's he doing there?"

"How should I know? He's not myboy ," Kerry said. "And I don't think he'd appreciate being called that."

"I call him that all the time," Lena said.

"So do I," Park said. "But never to his face."

Kerry scowled at Lena's bikini.That was a mistake. "Don't you think you should put on some clothes?"

"What's it to you?" Lena asked, sharpening her tone.

"You're practically naked."

"If it's Sol you're worried about, he's already seen me naked, many times."

"Him and a couple of dozen other guys," Kerry muttered, looking out of the window at the rolling ocean swells.That was a bigger mistake. Lena smiled her special smile, a red-lipped warning, to those who knew her, that she was going to stick in the blade.

"In this area, I have to bow to your vastly superior numbers," she said pleasantly. "A couple of dozen? I should be embarrassed. That must be a pittance to someone like you."

Kerry did not say anything. She gave no reaction whatsoever except to turn and leave through the same door she had entered.

"Lena," Shani moaned.

Lena shrugged, still smiling. "She started it."

"Do you think she'll leave?" Park asked.

"I'm sure she already wishes that she had never come," Shani sighed. It was going to be a long weekend.

FOUR

Night had come but none of the other kids had. Lena confessed that the printer had accidentally put June twelfth on the written invitations, which was tomorrow. Because they talked to Lena on a regular basis, neither Shani nor Park had received such an invitation. Yet, Shani was still confused. She had spoken to many of her friends about how she had planned to get to the resort house by Friday afternoon. Why had not a single one of them commented on the fact that they were not coming till Saturday?

They had a late dinner, waiting for Robin to finish with her dialysis and join them. Though monitoring her sister's blood cleansing, Lena had somehow managed to oversee the preparation of a turkey, a ham, a basketful of baked potatoes, and two huge pots of steamed vegetables. There had also been a ton of assorted junk food: ice cream, potato chips, cola, and pastries. Shani had indulged in none of the junk, but she had discovered that even good food could make you sick if you ate too much of it.

After dinner they gathered in the living room, sprawling on couches, chairs, and the floor. The light breeze through the open windows was warm and salty. When they paused in their talk, they could hear the crash of the waves and the stir of the tide. Big Bert had one quarter of the. room to himself. He was working on a bottle of wine Lena had dug up from the cellar - a bottle that probably cost more than he made pumping gas thirty hours a week at an all-night Shell Station. Bert, Park, and Sol had been next to impossible to get out of the water at dinnertime, pleading, "Just one more wave!" Already, Park was a solid shade of red. At the moment, Angie was massaging aloe vera into his bare back. Robin had given her the oil. She did not seem to mind Angie touching her ex intimately in her presence, although Park appeared ill at ease, telling Angie to hurry and be done. The late-day dialysis had done nothing to improve Robin's colour. She looked exhausted. She was nervously fingering the miniature golden eagle around her neck, as if for strength. Flynn sat beside her on the love seat, his eyes following her every gesture. Shani did not know what to think, but she knew she was jealous.

"Ahh," Sol moaned with pleasure. Park was not the only one getting a rubdown. Lena had Sol face down on the floor clad in only his swimming trunks. She was sitting on his butt. Naturally, Kerry was pretending that none of this was happening, sitting in a dim corner furthest from the centre of their group.

"We should play some games," Robin suggested. A sudden gust in the ocean breeze caused her to shiver.

"Should I close a window?" Shani asked.

"I like the wind," Robin said.

"Can I get you a blanket?" Flynn asked.

She appreciated his concern. "Thank you, I'm fine. I just need to be more active. What can we play?"

"Let's have an orgy," Sol muttered into the floor. Lena smacked him on the back of the head. "Let's play chess," he said, reconsidering.

"Let's play charades," Shani said.

"Sure," Bert said.

"I hate charades," Park said.

"We always play that," Angie complained.

"I'm terrible at charades," Robin said.

"It's a terrible game," Sol said. "Let's play Monopoly," Shani tried again. "Great," Bert said.

"I hate Monopoly," Park said, putting on his shirt. "We played that last time," Angie said. "I've never once won at Monopoly," Robin said. "It's a terrible game," Sol said, rolling over, capsizing Lena.

"Oh, brother," Shani said.

"Let's play that game where we make up names for each other," Bert said, finishing his bottle of wine, belching. "I love that game."

"Huh?" Park said.

"The one where you make up a famous personality and tape the name to someone's forehead and they try to figure out who they are by asking yes and no questions," Shani said. "Is that the one you mean, Bert?"

"I think so."

Sprawled on the floor in white micro shorts, it was Lena's turn to reconsider. "I'd rather have an orgy."

Bert's suggestion prevailed. Through quick manoeuvring, Shani got to choose Flynn's pretend name. As she taped it on his forehead, his curly brown hair got in the way. He helped her out, his large beautiful hands brushing against her clumsy fingers. "I hope you made me someone nice," he said. She had chosen Luke Skywalker , for Flynn — if anyone — seemed to have The Force with him, some kind of power. "I did," she smiled. "Is that hint enough for you?" He pulled out her pretend name, and, brushing back her hair, pressed it firmly in place. "I bet I'm an old meany," she said. "No, you're young and romantic." She, or her character? Blushing, she retreated to her chair. Sol made ParkTweety Bird . But Park -

unconsciously - returned the favour, making SolMr .Rogers . Seeing Flynn's name, Angie gave Robin Princess Leia . Robin, in turn, gave AngieDino the Dinosaur . Bert was a group effort. He ended up as Paul Bunyon . As fate would have it, Lena and Kerry were left to choose each other's names. To no one's surprise, Lena becameSatan . And Lena gave Kerry's character a real twist. She made KerryKerry

.

And so they went in circles, asking questions of the group, getting another turn when the answer was yes. Flynn took only three turns to guess who he was, and everyone booed Shani for being too easy. Sol was a close second. ApparentlyMr. Rogers was one of his baby sister's favourite shows, and the character was fresh in his mind. Lena followed shortly afterwards, pleased at Kerry's selection. They had gone about a dozen cycles when Park figured out his name, having already made several unsuccessful stabs with the premier cowards of history. From then on, the rest of them were stuck, and the winners, getting bored, started to drop more and more flagrant hints.

"Am I important?" Angie asked, exasperated.

"Sure," everyone said.

"And I'm a cartoon character," Angie muttered to herself, having picked that up earlier. "I don't know any important cartoon people."

"You're not a person," Lena said.

"You're a pet," Sol said.

"You're a pet dinosaur," Park muttered.

"You didn't have to tell me!" Angie said, mad. "I would have got it."

"Sorry," Park said.

"So, who are you?" Lena insisted.

"I'm… I'm… Dino?"

"Perfect," Park said. "Okay, Bert, it's your turn. You've got to start narrowing down your name by asking good questions."

Bert had been guessing names randomly, three times choosing the same name. He had drunk too much wine. All he knew for sure - hopefully - was that he was not Mr. T. The weird thing was, Shani would not have been surprised if Bert did pluck the name out of the air. Luck followed him like a shadow.