Chapter 9d05
Chapter 9 (Draft 05)
"Hello?"
"Doctor Howard, I have a call from a woman who says she's your niece. Shall I put her through?"
"Of course. Thank you, Susan."
"Uncle Glad? Hi it's Kari."
"Kari… this is a surprise." Howard happily pulled up the chair behind his desk to sit. "Where have you been keeping yourself? Your mother told me you were on vacation."
From her cell phone outside of Mercy Center Kari Dietz was frowning.
"She told you that, did she? So what else did she have to say?"
"Now - now, don't get yourself all boiled up. I was asking about you… she didn't volunteer anything. She did tell me you were dating that handsome detective again. How is Robert?"
Kari tutted into the phone. "She can't keep her big mouth shut to save her life."
"Careful there… that's still my sister you're reproving." The man was grinning through the silence. "Does that mean you and Robert are not together again?"
There was another pause. "Yes… we've been seeing each other."
"So… what's the problem? You trying to keep your love life a secret from your favorite uncle?"
Kari finally smiled. "That's impossible, especially with my busy-body mother always banging away on the rails about everything."
"Only for those willing to put their ear down to listen, I should think," Howard replied. "So how is Robert these days? I always liked him."
"He's good. Listen, Glad… I hate to be short, especially since we haven't talked in a while, but I have a friend here at Mercy that I think needs your help."
"Really? Is this friend a patient?"
"Her name is Sally Carmichael, and yes… she's been a patient here a few times."
Twenty minutes later, Doctor Howard was flipping over his third page of notes.
"And you say all of the tests have been inconclusive, nothing unusual at all?"
"Yes… everything seems normal, and Sally looks great, but as you can imagine… this is very concerning to us. She puts up a brave front, but I can tell… she's really scared."
Howard finally leaned back. "I don't know her doctor — who is it again? Hoffman, you say? Do you think he'd be willing to take my call to consult?"
"Oh Uncle Glad, I'm sure he will. When I mentioned to him that I knew you and your research on aging might be helpful in Sally's case, he was very open to discussing their findings with you if I could set up the call. Frankly… I think they're kind of stumped around here, and I know they'll want to keep Sally in this hospital indefinitely until they understand what's happening to her, but Sally isn't going to stand for that. We have to come up with something tangible if we ask her to stay longer."
"All right. Let me see what I can do to clear my calendar for tomorrow and I'll drive in. Do you think you can keep Ms. Carmichael at Mercy for another night if she knows I'm coming in to look at her?"
"I don't know. I hope so. I'll try and convince her it's important."
"Good. Well, I'd better let you go if I'm going to ask Susan to rearrange my calendar before she leaves this evening. Maybe we'll do lunch tomorrow… the case permitting, of course."
"Oh Uncle Glad, you're a sweetheart. Of course; it'll be great seeing you again."
"So be it. I'll see you tomorrow. My best to Robert… and of course to your mother."
Doctor Howard hung up and then immediately picked up the receiver again. He pushed a second button and listened for the expected buzz and click.
"Susan… can you check my calendar for tomorrow? I'd like to…"
"Hello… Doctor Howard."
Howard was immediately cut short. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, I must have hit the wrong…"
"No, your phone is working properly, doctor. Do you know who this is?"
Howard paused and then almost yelped out loud as he jumped to his feet.
"Mr. Bezuhov? I'm sorry, sir, have you been holding for me? Had I known…"
"You would have… what? Hung up with your niece, Miss Kari Dietz? I hope not; I think that would have been rather rude of you."
Howard gulped and then slowly lowered himself to sit again. The chilling sensation of gnarled, old fingers grasping the back of his neck made him shiver, and the returning feeling he was being watched began to sweep over him once more.
"How did you know…?"
"Doctor Howard… it is imperative that you keep that appointment with your niece tomorrow. The Sally Carmichael case has become something of an interest to me as well, and thus… I should expect it would be most important to you."
The doctor frowned. Once again, Howard was allowing his mutinous pride to invade his reply.
"I'll have to check with my secretary to see if I can clear my schedule…"
"I've already done that for you, Doctor."
"Excuse me?"
"Your secretary was more than willing to clear your entire day when I told her who I was and asked to see you tomorrow. My apologies to your Mrs. Miller for the pretense, doctor, but I did it so you could meet with your niece as requested."
"But why? Do you know this woman, this… Mrs. Carmichael?"
"Only by the case notes sent to me within the last twenty four hours. She's created something of a stir with the senior staff at Mercy Center Hospital there in Seattle, but I'm afraid her fifteen minutes of fame will have to wait. I won't allow her to leave the hospital until you've had a chance to examine her thoroughly and report your findings back to me."
"You won't allow…? Are you saying you can keep her from…?"
"Doctor, I have some of the lab results for Mrs. Carmichael here in my hands," the man interrupted. "I'd like to share with you some very interesting findings… if I may."
Howard was alarmed, his thoughts racing. My God — this poor woman is a prisoner at the hospital and she doesn't even know it.
"Doctor? Are you there?"
"Yes… yes, I'm here. Findings, you said?"
"Pay attention, doctor. I think this may be very important to our work. I had a second series of tests done on Mrs. Carmichael four hours ago. There are very high levels of the hormone klotho in her bloodstream."
Howard was somewhat surprised by this news. "High levels of Klotho, did you say?"
"That is correct, doctor."
"And what about her glucose levels? Are there any signs…?"
"Her glucose levels are nominal, no signs of diabetes, but I should think her insulin resistance would be rather high given these levels of klotho, wouldn't you agree?"
"Perhaps, yes. It would depend on a number of things. Would you have any data on allele frequency?"
"But of course, doctor… of course. Are you ready?"
Howard was already flipping the page over on his notepad. "Yes, go ahead please."
"I think it most significant to tell you about Marker 1 allele, and specifically allele seventeen: N equals ninety five, X equals fourteen, and P…"
Howard stopped writing to listen. "Yes? What is it?"
"Greater than zero point zero, zero, zero two, doctor."
"Point zero, zero, zero two? Are they sure about that?"
"I had them run the test again after seeing these initial results. They are indeed accurate."
"But… that's a level more prevalent in newborns. This woman, Sally Carmichael is…"
"Ninety three years old. Yes, interesting to be sure. Thus, Doctor Howard, my urging a change in your schedule for tomorrow. A quirk of fate has given us your niece who has allowed us easy access in a rare moment of legitimate consultation. The irony astounds even me."
"I'll want to rerun these tests again… just to be sure."
"I leave it in your capable hands, Doctor. But I will insist on a daily update in the usual way. Are we agreed?"
"Yes, sir. Of course."
"Very good. Farewell Doctor Howard and… good hunting."
There was a soft click in Howard's ear and then the buzz of a dial tone. As the doctor hung up the phone, he flipped his notes back to review his earlier conversation with Kari. He saw the name Sally Carmichael scrolled across the top.
"Who is this woman?"
The next day, Sally was still in the hospital and more irritable about her situation than ever. Although Hoffman and the rest of the doctors were taking her case much more seriously, she didn't seem to know anything more about what was happening to her than when she first let Kari talk her into returning to Mercy Center.
Adding to her frustration at being in the hospital again, Sally was having problems sleeping. To the point, she was dreaming about going home again, home to that dirt road connecting Stella to Shubert. She saw herself soaring over the grain swept hills of a planted Nebraska just before the harvest, her travels finally drawing her to Route 62. A disfiguring scar across the swaying fields of wheat. She followed the road with anticipation to a small, dilapidated house her father built before she was born.
But every time Sally tried to land, strangers unknown to her would run out of the house to shoo her away. They waved their hands and bed sheets, welcoming her arrival with tattered brooms and pitchforks, like an old crow looking to steal their labor.
"Go away, there's no room!"
She tried to yell back at them, to tell them she belonged there, that this was her father's house. She called to her father and mother, she cawed for her brothers to help her, but they would not come.
"Shoo, you old thing! There's no place for you here."
"Go away!"
Sally jerked awake, tired more than when she first closed her eyes, dripping with sweat and exhaustion. Even when she tried to remain conscious, the meaning of the dream would always trouble her weary mind, and the moment she closed her eyes again she found herself soaring over those swaying fields, following that dusty road.
"Sally — I have somebody here I'd like you to meet"
Once again, Sally's was yanked away from the fight outside her father's house again, and one of the faces swinging a broom began to change as the voice became more recognizable.
"Sally — a wake up."
Sally's eyes flew open again with a raspy, "Caw!"
Kari was standing over her, looking serene.
"Sorry for startling you, Sal, but I have to give you your meds."
Sally immediately sat up with a quickness that startled Kari once more. The nurse still wasn't use to seeing Sally Carmichael move so fast.
"Whoa — whoa, easy now."
Sally frowned. "Oh, stop your fussing, child. I'm fine. How would you react at being poked out of a solid sleep? Solid sleep, the woman thought to herself. Where are these lies coming from?
"Is it time to go home yet? Do they know anything?"
Kari tried to force a smile. "Not yet, Sal, but there is somebody here I wanted you to meet. Remember I said I was going to contact my Uncle Howard about your case? Well he's driven into town to see you."
Sally looked around and saw a man in his mid fifties standing behind her friend, wearing a three-piece suit and holding a stethoscope.
"Sal this wonderful man in my favorite Uncle… Doctor Gladwin Howard." She turned to present the man with a wanting gesture of building pride.
Doctor Howard did not come forward. He was staring with the same astonished wonder he was startled with at first entering the room to look upon Sally's face. The woman sitting up in the bed before him looked younger than himself and yet, according to the medical records he had already spent nearly two hours inspecting, she was more than ninety.
"Uncle Glad?"
The man was startled again and then quickly came forward. "My apologies, madam, but…"
"I'm much younger than I look," Sally cut in. "Yes, no doubt the doctors here at Mercy have already informed you of this fact, sir."
Howard was barely listening. He was already going through all of the test results again in his mind. Now that he had seen the woman, he was questioning the validity of everything given to him by the hospital's staff. He unconsciously removed the binder from its place at the foot of the bed.
Sally looked incredulous as she glared back at Kari.
"Uncle Glad?"
The doctor, finally realizing his rudeness, tried to smile. "My apologies…" he said, as he opened the binder again.
"Yes… you already said that, doctor," Sally insisted appraisingly, as Howard moved to her bedside. He ignored her cynicism before tossing the binder uncaringly onto the bed below her feet.
"Mrs. Carmichael…" he started blandly. "How are doing with all of this? How do you feel?"
Sally jerked back, disbelieving the question.
"And before you answer… I don't mean just… physically." He leaned forward. "What are you thinking, regarding your condition right now?"
Sally glanced up at Kari, looking for something of a translation.
Howard could read her mind and came closer to add, "Are you excited about this opportunity?"
"Excited?" Sally returned hotly. "I most certainly am not!"
"And why is that? According to every test result given me thus far, you seem to be in perfect health. Your heart and breathing are stronger, your electrolytes are… very nearly ideal. You look like a woman barely fifty years of age and, given your genetic disposition for longevity, it would appear you've been given an additional fifty years of life. Most of the people I meet in my line of work, Mrs. Carmichael, would consider this a gift from God." He could see Sally's glare darken so he quickly shifted his tone.
"But this might not be the situation in your case, and thus my question: What are you feeling about what's been happening to you?"
It was at that moment that Sally was suddenly surprised by the man's acumen, and she realized he wasn't as dense as she initially thought. It was the first time in nearly two days somebody tried to examine the most important part of her dilemma. How did she feel about getting younger?
Certainly there was fear; fear of the unknown, fear of the strangeness in all of it, the fear of not knowing if what was happening to her was going to leave her with her all-so-important dignity. In her mind, she really had two problems. The first was her concern if what was happening to her would ever stop. And the second, and the one thing that seemed most important above everything else, was wondering what she would do if it did stop, if she now found herself in a younger woman's body.
Sally had mentally prepared herself for the inevitable end to her life years ago. It wasn't that she was afraid of death; in fact she had a very strong sense of eternity that manifested itself in something of a lust filled need for the afterlife; the life she had planned for with the souls of her parents and brothers, with her beloved Mary… and of course with God. Life she had been told… was a test, and although she wasn't Job, Sally felt tested enough. Of course she had made many mistakes in her life, but she always endeavored to keep her honor and solemnity, and sacrificed much of her sanity to keep from being rude. In return, God was due to fulfill His promise to her, and she didn't want to believe His "gift of eternal life" was meant to be her continuing survival within the sinful and living world around her.
And, in the end, that's what Sally feared the most: Was God's definition of eternal life just this? A continuation of what she already knew all too well? It couldn't be; this certainly wasn't God's greater plan for her or anybody. This couldn't be His doing. People were still dying every day. Was their death meant to be permanent, the beginning of heaven's punishment? Were there other people like her, unknown to the rest of the world, now living some extended life… living forever? Was this all she should expect of God's promise? Was this what she had given her life to reap in the end, just… more of the same? And what if in this second life Sally wasn't so willing to refrain from sin? Would she then simply die, just like everybody else, and enter into hell's waiting arms all the same? Would that mean everybody ended up burning with Caligula and Hitler, with the Hentai and Judas?
Sally looked at Kari's uncle who had revealed the blessing of patience, but he still seemed anxious for a reply. She took a deep breath and answered. "I'm… disappointed."
The man leaned back clearly intrigued, but to Sally's great surprise he did not ask her to clarify the summary of thoughts now coursing through her brain.
Ethan was on the phone.
"Hello, Robert? Hi — it's Ethan Dodge. Kari wanted me to give you a quick call this morning since she's already in consultation with her Uncle.
"No… I'm afraid I don't have anything new to report since yesterday. Sally is still here and they're still doing a lot of tests. Kari is hoping her Uncle will find something more conclusive. She said she'd call you tonight with a better update.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I got home kind of late, but I slept; Laura is watching the store for me. Thanks for asking.
"Okay… I will. You're welcome.
Ethan closed his cell and dropped it into his coat pocket. He lied to Robert Coleman about sleeping. The fact was he had slept very little in the two days since Sally's arrival at Mercy, and he was sure she was a long way from going home as he approached the hospital's elevators again. There had been so many tests done, and yet… the doctors couldn't tell them anything about what was happening to his friend.
Ethan looked down at the book he was carrying: a 1901 first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. He smiled at the book's cover as the elevator closed with a thump. Sally had experienced something of a craving for fresh carrots recently. Although this is what first brought the book into his worried mind, it was Peter Rabbit's rebelliousness that Ethan hoped to reinforce in Sally's disposition. He was sure she would appreciate his efforts to align himself with her frustrations. He opened his bag and moved his laptop aside to check he had remembered the carrots. He smiled again.
The elevator stopped to open and Ethan only glanced up briefly to see he still had six floors go. It wasn't until an enormous shadow blocked all the light that he noticed the two men standing with their backs to him. He immediately thought they looked strange. They were dressed exactly alike, in black suits and mirrored shoes that reflected the texture in the linoleum perfectly under their feet. Ethan looked up and could see a small coil of wire tucked behind the larger man's left ear. He casually stepped to the right, which didn't go unnoticed by the man who looked back to frown at him. Ethan tried to seem indifferent.
The man turned to face forward again and then leaned slightly to the right to mumble down to the other man next to him. The language was easily distinguishable from most others.
Russian Spetznaz, Ethan thought with a grin, letting his imagination entertain itself with thoughts of Christian undesirables hiding in Moscow's basements. He glanced up to peer at the right man's ear. Sure enough, another coiled wire was neatly tucked behind his helix. The man on the right began to whisper something back to the other. Softly at first, he shook his head derisively before saying one word that Ethan was surprised he recognized.
"ОхранаCarmichael."
The doors suddenly opened again.
Stunned, Ethan could barely speak. "Excuse me," he said softly, forgetting to expel the frown on his face.
The two men glared back to scan over him before parting to let him pass. He barely made it out before the elevators began to close again, and he could hear one of the men slam at the buttons behind him. Ethan looked back and watched the doors open once more, and the two men stepping together through the opening. They barely seemed to fit through the gap.
Nonchalant, Ethan headed for the open gap in the hall he knew was the visiting area and quickly ducked inside. He found a seat among some of the children playing on the floor and then opened his briefcase to grab his laptop.
Охрана… Охрана… Охрана… Охрана.
Ethan repeated the word over and over in his mind as he flipped open his computer and hit the power button. He had plainly heard one of the men in the elevator mention Sally's last name and he was desperate to understand what the other word meant — Охрана.
As his laptop started to come to life, he reached down to place Peter Rabbit carefully in his bag. The men in black were standing outside the door talking to reach other, the shorter of the two motioning the other into the room before disappearing around the corner. The larger man then stepped into the visitor's room, looking somewhat exasperated as he fell into a seat.
The laptop beeped and Ethan quickly started typing. He opened his browser before looking up into the corner of the room. He could see a wireless router bolted to the ceiling, its traffic lights blinking.
"Come on, come on," he whispered as he looked down at his screen.
CONNECTED
"Excellent!" Ethan quickly started typing again.
He banged out, English to Russian Dictionary. Охрoна… Охрiна… Охрана.
He pushed return and waited again; eighteen million hits. He clicked on the top line.
Online English to Russian to English, return again.
He typed Охрана, hit return, and waited. The laptop beeped again and Ethan frowned. He slowly looked up at the man seated across the room who was watching with some disgust the children playing on the floor beneath his feet. Ethan looked at his screen again and then closed the lid.
"Guard Carmichael?" he said under his breath. Why would these men be guarding her?
He slowly set the computer into his bag, removed Peter Rabbit, and stood. He had a sudden wanting to know that Sally was safe. He glanced only casually down at the man sitting in the chair before reentering the hall and turning for Sally's room. He could see the other man at the far end of the hallway seated under a window. He was casually paging through a magazine in the morning sun, and Ethan was immediately struck with the image of Mr. McGregor, dressed in a black suit and tie, chasing Peter to make his pie.
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