Chapter 14

Urien had feared that sharing a bedroom, even with separate beds, would bring problems. Well, there had been, but not the kind he expected.

To put it plainly, George Brant was as much a pain in the neck as Barnabas was. They always knew better than you, and they let you know it.

"You did not floss your teeth" that was one of the first things that George had made to him.

And he had had to floss. And every night after that. And brush them properly. And then George said that he would thank him for it. After all, he explained, the dentist's drill was worse, not to mention the Novocain shots that left your mouth numb for hours afterwards. That was scary, all right, Urien had to agree. Then George had chuckled and admitted that he faced gunfire a lot better than he faced his dentist.

But not tonight. George was not in the mood to lecture, note even in the mood to talk. He looked out of the window and brooded, just like Barnabas.

Patterson had left a bad taste in his mouth. George tried to dismiss the veiled threat, but he could not fully do it.

"Thinking about work?" Urien asked, a bit nervously "Barnabas told me to watch out for you doing it."

"And you do what Barnabas tells you?" he said with a bit of irony.

"I try to. :" Urien said earnestly. "After all, he is my father."

"Yup. He is. And I am Uncle George."

Urien was quiet for a few moments. Then he began talking again."

"Does this have to do with the man we met today?"

"Yes. He used to be the sheriff of Collinsport once."

"And now he's retired?"

"The voters retired him. Undeservedly so."

"You ran against him?"

"No. Davenport did. I came quite a bit after Davenport, who was killed by person or persons unknown. If he had not run against Patterson, then Patterson might have been the one killed by Jeb Hawkes."

"Jeb Hawkes? Who was he?"

"Before your time, kid. Before mine. Barnabas can tell you more than I can. Anyway, Patterson is not thankful that he escaped that fate. He still resents the way he was rejected, as if all those years of service that he had put on his job meant nothing " George's eyes became slightly off-focus "He had held the job for too long. He might have thought that it belonged to him by now. He knew, of course, that he could be turned out like that, but he thought himself immune to it. It was very humiliating for him to be defeated like he was. He is a bitter man, and he has some right to be bitter. In his time, he was something to see. He was one of the best."

He knew that he was beginning to make excused for Patterson, that he was blinding himself to the risk that Patterson represented. No, Patterson did not really want to blackmail him. He was just venting his bitterness on him because he was young and strong and held Patterson's old job. But Patterson was too decent to commit blackmail. Yes, he was angry and taking his anger on him. But still, he was his childhood hero.

Was that true, really?

He wanted it to be true.

Julia juggled the hypodermic in her hands. She did not want to use it. No, that madness was past. Still...

There was something still pushing her, still riding her, but she could be stronger than it was...

"Don't play with it." Barnabas said.

She faced him. "Do you have any answers yet?" she asked.

"I don't.. I always told you that I did not have them.. Only that killing Nunez would not help."

"Why are you so determined that he should not die? Why do you care for him so much? What is he to you, really?"

"He is my responsibility. I told you before."

"And that is enough?"

"It is enough for me. And it was enough for you once."

"Do you know what he is, what he stands for?"

"I knew Norma Alvarez. She died in my arms, by my own hand. What more do you think I need to know?"

Julia just shrugged.

"Julia, I know what memories this man brings. Not just your family, not just Richard. It is all of you. The consciousness that you are child of the Holocaust. It goes against your own sense of self that I should lavish care on someone like that."

"And you think that I am not entitled to it?"

"You are. But I don't know what kind of an explanation of justification you could be given that would make sense. I could offer you bromides, but we know better, you and I. I have seen what the world is like. Not enough to share your feelings, but maybe enough to somehow understand them... Don't forget, Julia, my own family was wiped out, too."

"It is not the same thing."

"Pain is pain. Loss is loss. Destruction is destruction. I had every right to hate Angelique, even if I remembered how my ill-thought actions aided in that destruction... Yet one day, Angelique and I made our peace."

"And you think that one day I will be able to accept Nunez, the same way that you accept Angelique?"

"It won't be easy. But it has to be done. After all, you don't want to jeopardize a patient's recovery, don't you?"

"A patient? What are you talking about?"

"Melinda Jessup."

"Melinda? What does she have to do with this?"

"Comet is the only one that she responds to. Didn't I tell you of it before?"

"Yes. You did. But that was the dog. That was when I thought that Comet as no more than a dog."

"He's no more than a dog. As a dog, he's very good. It is only as a human being that he is a disaster."

Julia did not seem too convinced by this sophistry.

"Julia, I am not asking you to go easy on him. God knows, what I did to him is not picnic. He is not enjoying himself."

Julia began playing with the hypodermic again. Her anger, which had seemed to subside, was flaring up again.

"Julia, you were offering him a quick, painless death. What kind of punishment is that, compared to what I am doing to him?"

"That's what Dave got."

"So Nunez should get much worse than that."

"And what you are doing to him is much worse?"

"Do you realize what being a dog means to him? He can think, but he can't use words. Ideas, concepts that once came easily to him now escape him. He misses the life he knew, but knows that he can only regain it if I am pleased with him. He hates my guts, but is totally dependent on my good will. He desperately wants to escape., and he knows how useless it is."

Julia looked down, thinking about it.

"It is much, much worse than what you were planning to do."

"But with hope at the end." she grumbled.

"It is up to him to earn it."

"Turn him back into a dog" she grumbled "Do it now. I can stand him as a dog, not as a man. While I see his face and hear his voice I will be tempted to do this again."

Barnabas nodded. "You are right. I should do it. He's well enough for that."

"Today. I cannot guarantee what I will do tomorrow during the daytime."

"All right. Today." He had hoped to have one more talk with Nunez, to trash out some ideas with him, but it was not possible. Julia was too shaken for it.

It was no surprised that Nunez protested when they made him get up. He was still sick, couldn't they see?

Julia tied his wrists with surgical gauze. "So you don't try to escape again." she said to him. "It is back to the doghouse, Fido."

"Don't worry. He won't escape this time." Barnabas said "When he comes back, it will be on all fours."

"Make sure of that."

Nunez began to scream. "You can't do this to me, you can't"

Julia taped his mouth shut. "Throwing a tantrum will not help" she said conversationally.

Barnabas made Nunez get up, then he lifted him up. Better to carry him, and spare him the walk in his weakened state.