2005
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
CHAPTER 19 - Hard Love -
"Mirrors and copulation are abominable, because they increase the number of men."
–Jorge Luis Borges (Labyrinths)
Xelloss had not slept well in days, and when he had, dreams disturbed his slumber. This last one had been awful. He was nude, lying atop Lina, who was also undressed. They kissed deeply, then he pulled back to say, "Lina, open up for me... Let me in. Let me touch you..."
His answer was a cold chill across his back, as if a door opened to receive a blast of arctic air. He twisted his head and body to face the exposure. In the nonsense way of dreams, he saw a figure floating in the distance. The flowing red hair and massive trench coat was familiar. "Gaav?"
Gaav turned at the sound of his voice, even if there had been no sound at all. The big man moved towards Xel, his long overcoat shifting smoothly around his ankles as he walked, giving the eerie impression from a distance that he was several inches off the ground. "So, which one sent you to spy on me? Your mother or your father? Don't bother lying. I'm not joining forces with any of their crowd. I have no desire to live forever. But that is not why I'm here."
"No?" Xelloss wished to be in Lina's arms again, and not face off with Gaav, but she was gone. She had never lain with him that way. It was all an illusion-- Lina was not real, and it was Gaav's apparition that was still present.
"I came to warn you. I will hold you responsible for any harm that may come to Valgaav, my son. If Rezo had any honor, he would have protected his grandson."
"You know who Zelgadiss really is?" Xel asked, but since it was his dream, he received no answer. His dreams had never provided him with answers, only emotional release. "You are not real. None of this is–"Indeed, only the ache inside was real. "Lina, oh gods Lina. What did you do to me?"
The next day began in the afternoon with the routine duties of life; work would come later that evening. Lina dug through her piles of clothes tossed helter-skelter around her room. "Time to do some wash," she decided. "Nothing's clean. What's this stuff that stinks to high hell...? UGH!"
The sewer water soaked clothes lay where she'd hastily dropped them before their last trip to Wolfpack Island. Partial drying in the summer heat beneath a couple of dirty towels had not improved them, either. "Whee-euw! How much is here? Oh..."
Xel's damp shirt and pants were there, too. Now she remembered removing them from the car and dumping them in her room. She was fingering Xel's shirt, and stopped abruptly. "The sleazy bastard. I oughta just burn these."
But, instead, she added them to the two huge bags of laundry, and left her room, banging the door behind her. She must have made a good deal of noise, because Amelia easily located her doing the wash. "Hi, Miss Lina. Boy, you do have a lot of dirty clothes there. Let me help. Which detergent do you use? Do you add softener? Miss Lina?"
At that moment Lina re-discovered Xel's shirt. When she held it close, she caught a whiff of his cologne through the mustiness. Memories of the exciting time they had spent together flooded her mind. She had climbed in bed with this man twice.
"Miss Lina, you're crying. Oh dear." Amelia hugged her best friend and patted her comfortingly on the back. "Tell me what's the matter."
"I'm not...crying...really..."
It took Amelia a few more minutes to get past Lina' denial, but she did finally convince Lina to tell her what Xel had said, effectively breaking up with her. "But, Miss Lina, I guess I didn't understand how you felt about him. I thought it was Mr. Gourry you liked more."
"I like them both, that's been my problem all along. Not that I have a problem any more. Xel apparently has a girlfriend hidden away on his family's estate on the island. Lain Sherra. Oh, she's real. I met her. She's a pilot and very mature and a complete professional. I could tell she liked him by the way she acted, but he didn't let on at all that they were a couple. Not then."
"No! I can't believe that." Amelia's eyes turned glassy, and her stance became fixed in preparation to begin a dramatic speech. "Mr. Xelloss certainly doesn't act like a guy devoted to some distant lover from whom he is separated by time and space." She was getting swept up in the drama as she spoke. "No love-sick pining away with longing, expressive sighs, or anything."
Lina slowly looked over at Amelia. "Ah, actually I've never seen any guy act that way."
"Which means," Amelia carried on, "he doesn't really love her, whoever she is. Maybe it's an arranged thing by that sinister mother of his."
"Er, or not, Amelia..."
"It doesn't matter. What does is that you're a fighter, Miss Lina, and so you have to ask yourself: 'Is it Gourry I want or Xel?' which, in turn, leads to the question: 'Is Mr. Xelloss worth fighting for?'"
Lina stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Her friend was inclined to judging things in terms of black and white, while she allowed most things to fall into the "shades of gray" category. "Hell if I know, Amelia. Is any guy worth it? I mean, I go to college in fall, and what would I do with him then? I'd be busy; he'd be working the night shift and sleeping days. Not much of a chance for anything. I know that would happen, too. I haven't had time for Gourry much since I started work. It's kinda sad, because I said I would make time for him, but...we just run out of things to say. He knows fun places to go, but we don't have anything to talk about."
"But with Mr. Xelloss, you have a really exciting time, don't you?"
"Yeah maybe too exciting, but, it doesn't matter. Like I said, he's moved on and I gotta, too." Try as she would, though, Lina couldn't hide her broken heart from her best friend.
The Gaav residence was also humming with the mundane duties of life. The boys ran the washing machine, vacuumed, and emptied litter boxes as a prelude to their day. At one o'clock, the doorbell joined the drone of the vacuum and the dull thumping of music from a CD. "Hello? Who disturbs our day?" Xel asked as he threw on a shirt, just in case it was someone special.
"Is a Mr. Xelloss Metallium here?" The young delivery man appeared nervous when he greeted at the door by both the intimidating Valgaav holding a mop and Xel with a vacuum hose.
"Yeah."
"Court subpoena for evidence." The man handed an envelope to Xel, then briskly stepped away, disappearing into the bright sun.
Valgaav watched as Xel opened the papers. Zelgadiss turned the sauce on the stove to simmer and joined them from the kitchen. As he read, Xel's eyebrows knotted. "I already did this!" he shouted. "Damn. It. All! Atlas City has my DNA on record. Now the Seyruun district wants it!"
"What for?" Zelgadiss asked. He found no reason to get all stirred up over something so unimportant.
"This is about the paternity suit again? I thought that got resolved months ago," Valgaav said.
"Me, too! Looks like she got a change of venue to Seyruun, which is really hardass about indiscretions. Atlas City didn't care who gathered the sample, as long as it was a doctor. Seyruun won't accept the doctor being the patient."
"Okay, so we'll have some doctor Sylphiel trusts do it for you, and me, too. Right? Might as well get my DNA on record this week." Zelgadiss said. "Or, have you changed your mind about needing that?"
"No, I want that," Xel said quickly.
"And you need it because...?" Zelgadiss nudged.
"To do some comparisons with other family members to see if we can locate your birth mother." This was a true, but incomplete, reason.
"I thought you said she was dead."
"Many people are dead. If our aunt is your birth mother, we'll prove that, and some other things..." Xel's voice faded. "Things that should remain secret."
It was clear to Zelgadiss that Xel was withholding information from him, something he had been doing every time he had brought up any subject having to do with upcoming plans. "You're pissing me off with your evasiveness, Xel."
Xelloss ignored the comment. First he was dreaming of Lina, and now this. It made him tense and uncomfortable. He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had to get control over himself first, then his life. Make plans for the day, he told himself. Arranging events was his way of calming down. With his composure somewhat restored, Xel said, "I collected hair with follicles from a brush in Rezo's bathroom. Do you think we could get some from both your parents at their house? You still have keys to it, or did they rent it out when they left?"
"What? Hairbrushes?" Zelgadiss changed mental gears again. "I have the key to a storage locker where they packed up what they didn't move or sell. We have time to take a look if we go now. But first," he said, standing defiantly and blocking Xel's path to the door, "Tell me why."
"Because, I want to find out why they messed with your birth certificate, kept your mother a secret-- if that's true, of course– and why you have been kept a secret relation. That's what I need the DNA for, to trace your lineage. That's it, the truth." Indeed, what Xel had just said was dangerously close to revealing his entire rationale.
"This hasn't anything to do with the sleuthing you've been doing on Wolfpack Island?"
"I honestly don't know the connection, if any, but Rezo is hiding several skeletons in his closet, and it's time to bring them out, don't you think?" Xel's eyes twinkled with anticipation.
"Fine." Zelgadiss picked up the phone. "You're not fooling me one bit. Keep your damned secrets. In the meantime, I'll see if Sylphiel can help us out, and we'll stop at the storage place after the hospital. Oh, I had a thought. My grandfather's DNA may be on the Zanaffar database. They keep complete records of every employee to rule out possible personal contaminants."
"That will come in handy. I'll look that up. Not yours, though?"
"No, not mine. I hadn't been there long enough, and besides, I was still mopping floors and emptying wastebaskets."
"Too bad."
"That's my life. Anyway, I'll call Sylphiel now. Be back in a minute."
"Valgaav, you coming with us?" Xel asked as he jammed the vacuum cleaner into the hall closet.
"No, I'm going over to see Amelia." He dried his hands on a towel. "I'll be back to eat Zelgadiss' cooking here before work, okay?"
"Have fun with Little Miss Spunky."
Valgaav looked his cousin over carefully, guessed what was still irking him, and teased him some. "You know where you made your mistake with that girl, don't you?"
Xel dipped his head and crumpled up the subpoena. "What, like sleeping with her in the first place? Sure, I know that," he answered sharply.
"After that," Valgaav smiled. "You shouldn't have given her the money. Now, whenever she needs some dough, she'll find some way to track you down. It's all about extorting money from you, you've figured that out, haven't you? You know who the real father is?"
"The guy she screwed when she was 'so in love' with me? Yeah, he skipped town, no job, no nothing."
"So you do have a heart!" Valgaav laughed as he located his car keys. "The secret is out."
"I wish I didn't," Xel muttered. "I wish I could rip it out."
"Well, stop treating every girl you meet in a sexual way and maybe you'll want to keep your heart. You're capable of nurturing more honest, genuine relationships, probably." Valgaav gave his cousin one last hard look, then left him to brood.
Zelgadiss marched back into the front room as Valgaav disappeared out the door. "Okay, Sylphiel has it all worked out. I needed a check-up too, so I guess I'll need to stay a little longer. That okay with you?"
"Yeah, if I have all the samples, I can run them over to the lab to start the DNA testing. We can meet in the lobby."
"Yeah, and then I think found the key to a storage locker where some of my folks' stuff is kept. It won't take long if we both search for hairbrushes."
"Good idea. Simple is best."
"Hi Zelly," Sylphiel greeted him in a small hospital waiting room, her soft green eyes warm and beckoning.
Zelgadiss was pleased to see her. She never placed demands on him, and, since the accident, he associated her with pain relief and with having a sympathetic ear. "Hi, Sylphiel."
"Hi, Xel. If you both come with me, I'll draw some blood. Did you want to take it up to the lab yourself?" she asked Xel.
"Yes," Xel watched as she carefully removed a sample of his blood and labeled it. She withdrew a longer, sharper needle. "What is that for?"
She smiled faintly as her eyes flickered across Zelgadiss' face. "I found these penetrate his skin far better than your ordinary needles. Now, make a fist and hold still..."
Xelloss watched the proceedings with interest. Sylphiel was a lovely girl who had never so much as blinked at him, which struck him as odd because every girl he'd ever met fell for him. Filia obviously adored him, but didn't know how to express it except in violent outbursts and insults, but she was attracted just the same. Amelia liked him, but she was too besotted with his cousin Valgaav to have much left over for him. Lina, well, she clearly a special case, and he didn't want to consider her with the others. But Sylphiel, she had no reason any longer to ignore him, unless... Her eyes certainly lingered upon his blue friend longer than necessary. Could it be that she liked the strange, unusual, and afflicted, Xel wondered?
"Oh, Xel, hope you brought a good book to read while you wait. Zelly's check up will take awhile."
"No problem. I'll catch up with you in an hour or so," Xelloss said, taking the two blood samples, then disappeared the moment Zelgadiss turned his back.
"I was about to call you to remind you about your check up, and then you called me. Um, follow me, please." She leaned into him, whispering, "And the DNA sample... Did that birth certificate I found have something to do with this?"
"Yes, partially," he said curtly. He didn't want to discuss his problems. "Where are we? This doesn't look like your ordinary hospital room."
"It's not. The doctor let me have this private outpatient room. It's really nice; more like home, I think. I hoped it would make you feel more comfortable." She wet her lips, but she wasn't nervous. She was anticipating Zel's mood changes.
"Yeah, thanks." The table looked more like a bed; there were curtains over the window and wallpaper. A wood cabinet and desk, which would have looked at home in his room back home, held the medical supplies. "So should I take off my shirt or...something?"
Suddenly, it occurred to him that she might ask him to remove all his clothes. He wasn't sure whether he could do that, even if it was behind a screen. His eyes were downcast, unable to meet hers.
"No, I'll do that."
Zel's eyes shot up, his mouth agape. "Wha...?" His question left unasked as cool fingers slid beneath his shirt.
Sylphiel's whisper tickled his ear. "This skin feels fine, but I need to undress you completely. Arms up!"
He didn't know what to say. "Um..." He allowed her to strip off his t-shirt.
"Go ahead and sit on the examination table." As he did, she moved between his legs, running her finger tips over his exposed skin. "These wounds have healed beautifully.
His nipples hardened under her ministrations, eliciting a gasp from his lips. "Oh, Sssyl..." He was certain this was not her usual bedside manner when she worked.
"Hmmm? Your back, yes. I should check that, too." She smiled slyly and leaned forward, crushing her breasts against his chest and wrapping her slender arms around him. "Nice back."
Zelgadiss' shock had worn off. He embraced her, burying his face in her hair. He was a man beneath his alien body, after all. "Sylphiel..." His hair had once been long and dark, but hers was heavier, crow's-back black, and straight. It felt cool, but the rest of her was warm and soft and wonderful. With one hand embedded in her hair, he gently turned her head until their lips touched.
Her kiss deepened with enthusiasm. She had liked the old Zel, but back then she had been shy and retreating, while he had seemed arrogant and unreachable. Gourry was her thoughtful, dutiful boyfriend, although they had been too much alike; their romance lacked fire. While she wondered if being with Zelgadiss would be more exciting, she wouldn't think of deserting a sure thing, or of hurting her Gourry-dear.
She had watched as Amelia and Lina befriended Zelgadiss. She had been certain that the bubbly and cute Amelia would attract him, but noticed that it was Lina who had finally caught his eye. She hadn't understood what had caused Zel to back off and give up on Lina.
She had had no idea that it was for her own boyfriend's benefit that Zelgadiss hadn't tried to date Lina– not until Gourry broke off with her. Gourry had been kind and honest with her. He told her first, before approaching Lina with his feelings. He wanted to remain friends, like they had always been, but "Lina was just special somehow," he had said. When she carefully considered their situation, Sylphiel agreed that they'd been drifting apart. Still, it had stung her pride and left her feeling empty.
When Mr. Tadaaki had asked her to lunch the next week, she accepted. Gourry's leaving had left a void in her heart, which she needed to fill with somebody. Tadaaki was an older man, but also good-looking, very polite, and kind. His presence had been a consolation to her ego, even as she began longing for a boy closer to her own age.
Again, her thoughts had roved and settled onto Zelgadiss, who was so cute and smart. "If only he'd notice me!" Sylphiel had wished.
She had even been about to take her chances asking Zel out when Filia had stepped in. Sylphiel had known that she couldn't compete with Filia; not with her beauty, figure, or popularity. Then Tadaaki had died, and she discovered that he'd been a married man. She had been reeling from that knowledge when Zelgadiss was nearly killed in the accident at work.
Sylphiel had always loved her volunteer work at the hospital, but when circumstances suddenly had put Zelgadiss under her care, she realized her vocation. Her interest in healing could become a rewarding occupation. His terrible misfortune had left him disfigured, gloomy, and angry. He had become a changed young man, but unknowingly he stirred more than just Sylphiel's sympathy. She had seen his potential. She appointed herself his caretaker, the one to make him well and whole again, and that included encouraging his self-confidence, which was mixed up in what she was up to at the moment.
Best of all, he wanted her, too. Never had anything felt so good. Why this wonder of a girl wanted to touch his blue scarred skin, or run her fingers through his silver, wiry hair, he couldn't fathom. Zelgadiss had thought Sylphiel was always so refined; she was a dutiful priest's daughter, and rather tall. But that was in the past, in high school. Now he was the taller one, and she was so lovely and sexy at the same time.
Sylphiel had unbuttoned her uniform blouse and drew one of his hands underneath. It trembled as he lightly fondled one of her breasts. Zelgadiss' heart pounded so hard he was certain she could hear it. He had never touched a living girl so intimately, and he was afraid of passing out from the excitement. "You're so beautiful," he murmured. "I never imagined this." He didn't explain which 'this' he meant, but she just nodded in understanding. She hadn't either.
"You're so special to me, Zelly. I-I'm not usually like this..."
"I know," he muttered, totally contented to have her make the first moves.
When she unzipped his pants, telling him that it was time to completely disrobe, Zelgadiss was positive that he was the luckiest guy ever born.
Valgaav and Amelia were sitting at her kitchen table, her sister flitting in and out every so often, letting them know that they were not alone.
Valgaav sipped at his soda stiffly.
Amelia frowned slightly, waiting for her sister to leave them alone before asking, "When was the last time you cried?"
He thought a moment. "I did as a kid, but not lately. I don't know, why?"
"Miss Lina hardly ever cries. Almost never, but today she was holding a shirt of Mr. Xelloss' and crying. Not a lot, but some, which is lots for her."
Valgaav closed his eyes and held back his thoughts, not again. He scanned for Nahga's presence, and then asked, "So, has Lina told you anything about her trip with Xel?"
"A little," Amelia said. "I know she'd not going anywhere with him again."
"Yeah, I guess I had something to do with that. She's better off with that Gourry dude, anyway."
"You? What could you have to do with Mr. Xelloss having a steady girlfriend back on Wolfpack Island?"
"Steady girlfriend? Xel? Not likely. What gave you that idea?"
"You tell me what you did to interfere first."
He could sense Amelia's disapproval already. He joggled his glass, watching the ice rearrange itself, and waited for Nahga to pour herself a cup of tea and leave. "I didn't do anything. I just reminded Xel that he was ten years older than Lina, and that, like it or not, he had a responsibility to treat her better than usual, and if he was really a man, he'd leave her to go back to her boyfriend. Older girls, well, they might be able to guess his moves, but Lina's just a kid in most ways. I mean, if he'd really cared for her, he would be fighting for her still. As it is, he dropped her, right?"
"No, not right, Mr. Valgaav. Not right at all. Miss Lina was falling in love with him, and you don't know Miss Lina. She's tough. She takes care of herself and doesn't let anyone push her around. Mr. Xelloss' moves would never be a match for Miss Lina's! But that's all water under the bridge, because he does have a girlfriend, whether you know about her or not. Mr. Xelloss told Miss Lina that his girlfriend's name was Lain Sherra."
"Lain... Who? You mean Sherra Lain Grauscherra, our cousin? She is a year older than Xel; a pilot who lives on Wolfpack Island. I don't know what else she does there. Nice lady, but definitely not Xel's girlfriend."
"Cousin? You're sure? Oh, of course you are, I'm sorry. But why would he have told her a thing like that?"
"A lie? Because he couldn't tell her he felt he was too old for her, not to her face. That would be like saying he wasn't good enough for her. He's neither that generous nor that honest."
"Coward. It's wrong to lie to her that way. He should have told her what was on his mind, and let Miss Lina decide if he was too old for her. That's terrible to make her think she never meant anything to him that way."
"Like I told you, Xel's not especially considerate of other people's feelings. For all I know, he's got another girlfriend already, but her name's not Lain Sherra." Valgaav caught Amelia's eyes. She looked troubled, but about the wrong people, he felt. "Here's what I think, Amelia. Xel and Lina are mismatched, and, yet, probably deserve each other. As much as Xel's a friend of mine and Lina a friend of yours, it is their business to work out. Now, I'd like to drop them and talk about, well, just about anything else. That okay with you?"
She smiled. "Yes."
He looked over his shoulder for a more private place to talk, but didn't know the house well enough to suggest a room. "Would you like to take a walk?"
Delighted at his suggestion, Amelia said with gusto, "You bet. The 24-Hour has a pineapple-coconut icy drink I just love. It's at the big intersection."
"I know the one. Sure, I'll buy you a drink." He took her hand, furthering her joy, and led the way out of the house and down the street. "Why do you call it that? The place has a name."
"When you see the sign, you'll know. The '24 HOUR' part is huge. It is all you can see anymore. The name lost its light bulb five years ago, and they never replaced it because a robin builds a nest there every year."
"The '24-Hour', eh? Cool."
Xel moved along the crowded hospital corridor looking for a familiar face. He had kept in contact with a few of his peers, one of which he hoped would be working today in Seyruun. "Gene!"
"Xelloss? Of course it is! What brings you to the hospital? Nothing serious, I hope, or have you reconsidered going for your surgery MD?" Gene grinned in a friendly way. The two men had graduated together from medical school, each to his own chosen profession.
"No, I'm happy with the dead. You still delivering babies?"
"Last year of it. I'll be doing just GYN after this winter. Malpractice insurance is driving me out."
Xelloss nodded. "I understand the rates are terrible and climbing each year."
"Yeah, it's too bad, too. I like bringing those little lives into the world as much as you like dealing with the dead, I assume."
"My patients rarely have cause to file suit."
Gene shuffled uncomfortably. There was something about Xel that gave him a creepy, uneasy feeling. He wanted to walk away, but he was too polite to do that without a little more small talk and a smooth exit. "So, what's up? You married, yet? Kids?"
"Ah, no and definitely no."
"Still the consummate playboy, I see. Well, you'll tire of it eventually and want to settle down. Like me– I have two now, boy and girl, and Evie's pregnant with number three. It's the best, having a family."
"You look great, Gene, so it must suit you. I'm sure I'll find the right lady one of these days. So, I have some paperwork to do, and these," Xel held up the blood samples as a visual cue, "to get up to the lab. Is there an office I could use for an hour or so?"
"Yeah, sure, you can have mine. Follow me." Gene led Xel through the 'No Admittance' doors, past closed doors labeled with multiple names. He stopped at one with his name and one other doctor's name posted outside. "I share my office with Ashad, 'member him? Tall, dark, internal medicine?"
Xel nodded, although he only vaguely recalled the other guy. "Wasn't he in the class before us?"
"That's right. Well, good to see you. I have some patients to check in on and a delivery in an hour, so I have to rush off. Just close the door behind you; it locks automatically."
"Okay. It was good to see you, and thanks for the office." Xel remained standing until Gene had left and closed the door. As soon as he was gone, Xel quickly settled into the comfortable chair and turned on the computer. It immediately came up in the Unified Medical Entry System all personnel were required to use to file examination reports, test results, surgery records, patient charges, and even submit prescriptions. Xel smiled. This was so handy for what he needed to do.
Using the hospital letterhead, he sent a request to Zelgadiss' parents for a blood sample. He told them about their son's 'crisis state' and a need for a cure. Dr. Gene's signature was automatically placed on the letter, but before sending it, Xel replaced the e-mail return address with one of his own hidden-identity accounts.
He still had time to kill, so he looked up Zelgadiss' records, scanning them out of curiosity. He was amazed that his friend had survived the serious burns, but was disturbed by how little investigation had gone into correcting the blue skin condition and dramatic hair change.
Next, he looked up the records for the blood samples Sylphiel had recently entered. It was a minor task to request both men's results to be sent to the mortuary's e-mail address, as well as having his alone sent to his lawyer. Satisfied with his activity for the afternoon, Xel shut down the computer, scribbled a quick 'thank you' note to his friend Gene, and then left the office to drop off the vials at the lab.
Fifteen minutes later, Xel was patiently waiting for Zelgadiss to complete his physical examination. He turned another page of 'Outdoor Sportsman' magazine, but he wasn't reading it. He was still thinking about Zelgadiss and everything he had suffered lately. The chemical accident caused extensive damage to his friend's skin, including his genital region, according to the reports he has scanned. Xel wondered if that meant Zelgadiss couldn't perform sexually, and suddenly he felt extreme and sincere sympathy for him. What would he do if it had happened to him? Xelloss wondered if he could live life so disfigured. Possibly. How about if sex was impossible? At first he thought, emphatically, that the answer was no, but after further consideration, Xel decided that he would find a way, somehow. He decided that if Zelgadiss would accept his help, he would find him a cure, somehow, sometime. No man should live life so impaired.
"We'd better get a move on if we're going to find those hair samples, or would you rather read about fly fishing for sport?"
"Fishing while flying? Never heard of it," Xel said as he tossed the magazine to the side, and bounced out of his chair.
"Nor has anyone else. You were reading an article on sport fishing, which in the case of that issue was focusing on 'fly fishing'." Zelgadiss turned up the corner of his mouth in a half smile.
"It was? How did you know that? Are you hiding secret skills from me, like being a speed distance reader?"
"I might be, but not in this case. I read the previous ten issues of that magazine during my incarceration here earlier this summer. I ran out of things to read; what can I say?"
Xel slapped him on the shoulder and chuckled quietly on their way out to his car. Zelgadiss impressed him with his wry wit and humor as well as his survival powers. "New CD," Xel said as he turned up the volume and whipped the car out of the parking lot. The drive to the storage locker took another fifteen minutes, during which they listened to a CD. Zelgadiss hummed to it, which Xel took to mean that the physical had gone well. Good. Maybe he wouldn't have to help find a cure, after all. Perhaps the damage would undo itself.
"You seem pretty relaxed," Xel told Zelgadiss as he parked in front of his family's storage locker.
"I am," he said with a shy smile, which kept returning to his face no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Without a word of explanation for his high spirits, Zelgadiss pulled the lock off the door and rolled back the storage locker door. "I'll check the boxes on the left, you start on the right."
Xel slit the packing tape and opened the first box. He was thankful for the turnabout in Zelgadiss' mood, and so he didn't press for details. "Like opening presents. Oooh, books. No, thanks." While checking other boxes, he glanced back at his friend a couple times. Zelgadiss was whistling a tune.
"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you just got lucky back there at the hospital," Xel chuckled.
The whistling stopped, and the heat of embarrassment rushed to Zelgadiss' face. Xel raised his head slowly, his eyes widening. "No way."
"It's really none of your business..." Zelgadiss muttered, but he was dying to tell him.
"During your check up? Really? Sylphiel? That's really...something. I mean it! I mean, I figured she was a closet lesbian or something the way she glossed over me, but it was you she had the hots for. That makes sense now. Sex with your nurse, Zelgadiss." He clapped him on the shoulder by way of congratulations. "Well done."
"I hadn't expected it. She's not that kind of girl, you know. Not with just anybody! But she picked me. I didn't even know she liked me that way. Anyway, we're going out tomorrow." He met Xel's eyes', his self-confidence wavering. "She's always been really nice, but she's beautiful, isn't she?"
Xelloss was about to quip something along the lines of, "what does it matter if she puts out?" but reconsidered. Zelgadiss was a good kid, a nice guy, and this had to be the first he'd ever fooled around with a girl since his accident, probably ever. Xelloss had a change of heart, remembering what he had thought about in the waiting room. Instead of being discouraging and destructive, he decided to build up Zel's confidence. "Yes, she is. I'd date her if I could. You're one lucky guy, for sure."
Zelgadiss blushed again. "Thanks. I think so, too."
That was too much warm-fuzzy-feeling crap for the two young men. They both turned back to their work without another word. Minutes ticked by, and then Zelgadiss cleared his throat. "Ah, I've found old kitchen stuff. I hope they saved something useful. So, ah, tell me, what is the difference between DNA analysis on hair and on blood?"
"Nuclear DNA comes from blood and tissue. Mitochondrial DNA is collected from hair and bone, and doesn't tattle on its owner's gender. Nuclear DNA testing is, however, the preferred method of DNA testing for identification purposes. It's basically the same as the analysis carried out for paternity testing, actually. Your DNA profile, or that of the questionable remains, is compared with the profiles of known relatives, which is why we need to contact relatives to provide a small blood samples for comparison. This will involve testing your mother and father to determine whether you really are a child of those parents, Rezo to see who he is related to, and my aunt, who may be your birth mother. If there is a match between the DNA profile of the you with the deceased or those of your 'real' the parents then it is likely that an identification can be made. If you had brothers and sisters, they could also be compared."
"So, why are we collecting hair, then, if it's not very useful?"
"It's useful, just not the best. It's our back up in case my plans don't work out."
"Plans? What plans?"
"I sent an official looking request to your parents, whose names and address were on your records in the hospital, if you were going to ask how I knew that information. I wrote that a treatment for your condition was under investigation, and we needed a blood sample. I'm hoping they both send me the samples, but if they don't we'll have to rely on what we find here. Besides, a complete hair, yanked out with the root material clinging to it might have enough tissue for nuclear testing."
"How about the hair you collected at my grandfather's house?"
"I didn't know about the DNA testing at the labs, but it will be backup for that, too. Can't be too careful or have too much information."
Valgaav couldn't remember ever feeling so care-free and cheerful before. Amelia lifted his spirits in an entirely new way each time he visited her. Nothing seemed hopeless; solutions to every problem were in sight. And in her world, there were no dead bodies waiting in the cooler.
"So, is it good?" he asked.
"Ummm, you bet. Would you like a taste?" Amelia offered him her tall drink.
He sucked at the straw and shrugged. "Not bad. Kinda sweet for me, but it's cold on a hot day like today." His narrow golden eyes came to rest on her lips, swollen slightly from the cold drink. They rose slowly to meet her wide gray-blue eyes. She shivered. "See? You'll get brain-freeze if you drink that stuff too fast. Come 'ere."
He perched himself on a low wall in the shade of the tree and pulled Amelia onto his lap. He liked kissing and holding Amelia. She was very full-figured, making her soft and terribly exciting to imagine fondling alone sometime. She didn't hold back, but put her all into kissing. French kissing was something new for her, though. Her eyelashes brushed his face, tickling him. "You're staring at me. Something wrong?" he asked.
"N-no, not really. I wasn't expecting you to do...that, I guess."
He thought her blush was adorable and her innocence almost too much for his self control. When he lowered his eyes, he could see the lace trim on her bra and sufficient flesh to put his urges into overdrive. His mind was going wild with sexual imaginings. "Do what? This?"
Oh, he knew what she meant; he was enjoying his role as teacher. He ran his tongue along her lower lip, and then pushed gently until he met with her teeth. When she started to speak, opening her mouth, he took the opportunity offered to slide in his tongue. His hands held her firmly in place as he tickled her tongue with his, begging it to come out and play. She squirmed, arousing him further until he ended the kiss with a gentle suck of her lower lip. "Um, you are something else, Amelia. It's a good thing your daddy keeps you under guard."
She giggled with delight. She liked the way this older boy flirted with her and made her feel so desirable and womanly. "Oh, he likes you lots, from meeting you and your dad at bowling and all. You're serious, a student with potential, and a good worker. He admires your dad, too."
"I guess we have that in common, don't we? We both love our fathers, and want to please them," Valgaav said as he tamed his inflamed libido with thoughts of frowning fathers.
"That's just one of the things I like about you, Mr. Valgaav. Daddy doesn't have to worry when I'm with you."
Valgaav shook his head, and gave her a tight hug. "Oh, that's not true, Amelia. He should be very worried. You are very tantalizing."
She looked down, blushing. "I'm not a tease."
"No, you're right, you're not. I meant that you make me want you." His eyes flashed, but he was smiling. "And I love you."
"Oh!" Amelia was caught off guard by his declaration. "Y-you do?"
"Yeah, I do. I just figured that out-- why I feel the way I do around you, why I want to be with you all the time. Nobody's ever made me feel this way. Nothing like this." He used a long, tanned finger to tilt up her chin. "I mean it. I'm serious here, Amelia."
"I love you, too," she said. "Oooh, that's feels so good to say, doesn't it? I love you, Mister..."
"Valgaav or Val, if you want, but no 'mister' anything any more, okay?"
"Oh, yes, Valgaav. Val-gaav... Val...Valgaav. I think Valgaav will be best. Let me try that again, then. I love you, Valgaav. There, how did that sound?"
"Like the best thing I've ever heard. Gods, Amelia, I love you so much..." he pressed his lips to hers, and shared a moment of bliss.
"You know, I don't know that much about you," Amelia said after catching her breath.
"You're right. I keep my past mostly to myself, but I think you should know a few things." He took a deep breath and adjusted Amelia's position on his lap.
"Am I getting too heavy? I can get down..."
"No way," he chuckled deep in his throat. "I'm never letting you get away now that I have you in my clutches." He growled like a lion and pretended to bite her neck playfully.
She giggled more and pushed him away, enjoying the fun, until an unwelcome, familiar laugh interrupted them.
"Oh, ho, ho, ho, hoooooo! Who have we here? Ohhhh, if it isn't my little sister making out behind the Jiffy Market with my ex-boyfriend. How cozy. Wouldn't daddy like to know about this?"
Amelia hopped to the ground with Valgaav slowly rising to stand by her side, towering over both sisters. "That would be unwise," he said. "But I've got nothing to hide, and she's done nothing wrong, so go tattle all you like, Nahga– won't change the way things are between us now."
"We'll see how long it lasts," Nahga snapped back, flushed with anger, and then spun on her heel and left.
"I'd better get you home before she starts something with your dad," Valgaav said.
"I guess so, but I really enjoyed this time together, and nothing can keep us apart, no matter what."
By evening, Lina, Valgaav, Zelgadiss, and Xelloss were reunited in the morgue, working. The tension was thick, threatening to blow them apart, but Zelgadiss and Valgaav had their own personal triumphs of the day, making them potent enough to endure just about anything.
"We always do the thoracic cavity embalming right after we're finished with the arterial injection of embalming fluid," Valgaav explained to Zelgadiss as they completed the first task of the night.
Zelgadiss nodded in understanding while he removed the tubes and sealed the opened jar of formalin. "I remember. It hasn't been that long."
"The chest looks pretty caved in on that one," Lina noted. She eyed the proceedings critically, because she was bored, waiting for a pick up call, and avoiding Xel's presence, the last not actually being possible.
Valgaav ignored Lina, which he was good at by now, and continued speaking directly to Zelgadiss. Valgaav hadn't wanted Lina to be hired, he hadn't wanted the pick-up business she had been employed to do, and, in fact, he disapproved, secretly of course, of women working in the morgue business on principle, something he'd learned from his father. Gaav felt it was a man's job, but to avoid Seyruun discrimination lawsuits, he hired Eris and, later, Lina. Valgaav hadn't been fond of Lina to start with, and had watched as she became a problem for his cousin. He was concerned, feeling that she was about to destroy the camaraderie the three young men had established in the morgue. "Oh, yeah? Feels like we've been gone weeks. Well, what you're looking for now, and what we need to reorder more of, is the approved cavity filler..."
"I know..." Zelgadiss sighed. "I reordered it last Monday. It even came in, but the day shift just leaves the bags on the storage locker. They can't be bothered with filling the bin in here, the lazy cretins."
"Note the emphasis Val placed on the word approved cavity filler," Xel said from across the room. "I told him how on Wolfpack we packed bodies using kitty litter."
"That was clean, never-used kitty litter, I hope," Lina muttered.
Not wanting the conversation to escalate into a fight, Valgaav returned to his instructions. "Now, re-aspirate the lungs, and then the windpipe gets corked. All the exterior openings have got to be corked off."
"I can understand sealing them. Why not just super-glue them shut?" Zelgadiss asked.
"When the remains are available for viewing, the day staff has to check the abdominal and thoracic regions for any signs of bloating caused by gaseous buildup. If there's some distention, pressure is relieved by opening anal vent, thus the removable cork."
"That is done in the slumber room, of course, when no one is looking," Xel said with a chuckle. As miserable as he was having ended his relationship with Lina, he was at the same time reveling in her presence. There was something about her which drew him close and fed his hidden needs. She was obviously uncomfortable with him, and that made him want her attention all the more.
Lina looked at him askance. "No kidding..."
The frugal attention she was willing to feed him fueled his ego sufficiently for him to continue. "Which reminds me of another fun tale from my formative years. This would have been at one of my father's mainland mortuaries, where I had been starting out dressing the dead before showings. I remember dressing this young guy, old to me at the time, but probably mid twenties or so. Anyway, I had dressed him in what was his first suit and tie, and felt proud of how he'd turned out. I sat out with the family, at the back of the room during the funeral service just to witness the parent's joy in his appearance. Then, only minutes after the funeral services ended, when the lid was about to be lifted for viewing– everyone was lining up, and I was so excited-- the body caught fire inside the closed coffin. There was smoke shooting out of the cracks."
"You're kidding, right?" Lina wasn't sure whether to believe his stories anymore or not.
"No, it really happened," Xel insisted.
"It's true, at least, I've heard it can happen," Valgaav said. "Embalming fluids can spontaneously combust."
"Really?" Zelgadiss straightened, and glared at the bottle closest to him as if it might explode any second.
"It scarred me deeply," Xel uttered with a protracted sigh. "All that trouble I'd gone to, and no one ever noticed. The guy had looked very nice, too, better than when he'd been alive. Drug addict, under-nourished, ill, scruffy, when he'd come in."
He was talking mostly to himself, but Lina was listening and noticed the deep-seated sadness underlying his admission. Before she started to feel sorry for him, though, her attention was averted by the sound of the telephone.
Further comment was shelved, while Lina grabbed the receiver. "Rubyeye Mortuary and Funeral Home, Lina speaking. May I help you? We certainly do make pickups at this time of night. Riverbend Nursing Home on Sixth and River Road. Got it. I'll be right there. Thanks."
She pulled on her nicer-looking jacket and checked her kit for clean sheets and gloves. "After collecting bodies from tubs, cars, and fields in the dark, a fresh one out of a room oughta be a cinch."
"It'll take longer than you think," Valgaav told her. "Take time to talk to the other residents who might be up and see you. They are curious and frightened, because they all know that someday they'll be leaving the same way. It doesn't hurt to comfort a friend of the deceased who has absolutely nothing better to do but take up your time. If we get another call while you're gone, I'll call your cell phone."
"Talk to the residents. Gotcha! Future business, too. Okay, I can do this myself, Zelly; I won't be needing you. Stay here and finish your job." Lina flitted out. She was happy to go it alone, once in a while, particularly if doing so would prevent her from having to interact closely with Xel. It was all she could do to guard against Xel's intrusive personality. She was fighting her heart, which was being disloyal to her and grieving over him all the time. Seeing him each night at work was more of a problem than she wanted to face, because it meant having to accept the fact that she was in love, and that he wasn't.
Lina arrived at the nursing home in fifteen minutes and rang the bell at the locked main door. "I'm Lina from the Rubyeye Mortuary and Funeral Home."
"Why yes, you must be here for Room 136, right down the hall. I'll send someone to give you a hand."
"Thanks," Lina smiled, and pushed her cot down the hall. "Nursing homes sure aren't as particular about releasing a deceased to me as everyone else has been. No paperwork or ID check. I guess they don't want a body on hand one minute longer than necessary," she thought to herself.
Lina discovered, however, that the nursing home presented a different set of challenges for her novice removal team of one. She pushed her rolling cot directly to the patient's room, attracting a murmuring gathering of patients. It would have been worse during the day, when many more residents would have been out-and-about watching her. As it was, she was surrounded by a small crowd of ten or more onlookers.
The gentle words the dead woman's friends passed on to her resting form touched Lina's heart. How sad it was to die without family and where your friends would be soon to follow you. Lina stepped aside to let them pay their respects while deciding how she would man-handle the poor thing onto the cot without appearing disrespectful.
"Would you like a hand getting Mrs. Harper off the bed?" asked a young man who was an employee of the home. "My name's Paul."
"Sure, thanks, ah...Paul." Intensely aware of her audience, Lina wrapped the sheet more carefully and struggled to move the body as if it were only a woman asleep and not a heavy bag of beans. Lina tightened the straps, which held the body snugly to the cot, and adjusted the sheet, folding it neatly and tucking it under the dead woman's chin. She tilted the cot and left the face exposed, as if the deceased were going to the hospital. "Okay, Mrs. Harper," she said to the body in a light voice. "Time to go."
"Bye, Mary," one gentleman whispered as Lina passed by. He shuffled his walker around, falling in behind the cot. Others joined in, making a parade of metal and flesh legs to escort Mrs. Harper on her last excursion out of the home. Many residents talked to the deceased on her trip to the van. To Lina, that trip seemed like a mile! She was relieved to shut the door and leave the suffering folks behind.
"That was a nice thing you did back there, Miss Lina," Paul told her. "Everyone will want you to take care of their delivery in the future."
"Well, thanks for the hand Paul, and for the compliment. Take care." She tossed him a smile and drove off, pleased to have found the balance between being a good person and making the boss angry by lingering too long. If only she could balance her love life so easily.
Meanwhile, Valgaav had enlisted Xel's' expertise to demonstrate mouth sealing techniques to Zelgadiss. Xel was pleased to have something to do to take his mind off Lina's departure, and he was particularly adept at the process. "The mouth of the deceased is the focal point when folks view the remains in the casket. In fact, the mouth's expression determines how the relatives of the deceased relate to the body, whether they accept it as their lost one or not. So, it's our job to make them look natural. To do that the mouth is sutured shut and thoroughly waxed. Watch me."
"No Superglue?" Zelgadiss asked with his wry smile in place.
Xel leveled his eyes at Zelgadiss' and sneered. "No dickhead, not in this mortuary, but there are a few lazy "progressive" embalmers who do. I swear by a needle and catgut. Like this." Xel did a partial line of stitches, then let Zelgadiss finish. "You're less of a twit when you're all moody, you know.
"Too, bad," Zelgadiss muttered as he stood back to let Xel check out his stitches.
"Okay, that's pretty good. Next, you apply a coating of softened wax to both the upper and lower lip so they don't dry out and start cracking and flaking."
"Looks natural," Zelgadiss commented.
"That's the idea."
"You had a different introduction to morgue work than Valgaav, and me, certainly."
Xel laughed aloud. "Ha! No kidding! All kinds of stuff went on at my mom's place, because no one cared about crooks and crazies. There was this one morgue attendant at the Wolfpack complex who routinely extracted a variety of organs from corpses without permission from the families of the deceased, and then he sold the parts to researchers. Oh, I have proof it's still going on! I discovered, while digging through their records last month, that the morgue sold pituitary glands collected over the past year for about 50 cents each to fund last year's staff Solstice party."
Both Valgaav and Zelgadiss started laughing. It wasn't all that funny, but they were in good moods that night. They turned at the outer door opened.
"What's so funny?" Lina asked as she rolled her cot toward the cold storage locker. Noticing that Valgaav was looking her way expectantly, she added, "Nothing mysterious here, just an old lady. She can keep."
"Xel was telling a story," Zelgadiss said through a chuckle.
Further discussion was cut short by a cry for help, as a mortuary employee rushed into the autopsy room. "Oh, thank the gods somebody is here. Valgaav, it's you—great! What a relief! Come quickly. We have the wrong body for the night funeral service!"
End, Graveyard Shift Chapter 19