Part 73
Elizabeth was drawing Quinn, who was leaning against her car down at the track, on her day off.
"Aren't you glad to be out of the hospital?" Quinn asked her.
"Definitely," Elizabeth said, using a pencil sideways. "I'll never fail to appreciate the outdoors again! Even when it is as chilly as it is now!"
"Have you heard any more from your best friend at the undisclosed location?"
"No, as a matter of fact. I never got a second letter. I guess she's into studying."
"Yeah, about time for midterms, now."
"How's our friend doing? All over it?"
"Who?"
"Our mutual friend."
"Zander? I don't know, really. I guess he's over it. I don't know. Come to think of it, he hasn't had time to think about it, I'm sure. He's got his parents to deal with, so I imagine that has overwhelmed lit- Emily's rejection."
"Parents?" Elizabeth looked up for a minute. She smiled, and continued drawing. "Zander has parents?" She giggled a little bit.
"You thought he was hatched from a test tube?"
"Something like that," Elizabeth smiled to herself, turned her head again, and kept on drawing.
Quinn laughed. "He does seem like the creation of a mad scientist, doesn't he? Foisted upon the world, to destroy us all."
Elizabeth laughed. "What was he the creation of?"
"Well, you know that video game, Tetrus? Where the blocks come down from the top and you have to try to get them in line?"
"Yes," Elizabeth giggled some more.
"I remember Joe joking around when we were kids. He said the Russians invented that game to drive us nuts. Though we must have invented a game that drove them more nuts, because they lost big time and dissolved their evil empire."
"I see!" Elizabeth giggled. "Zander destroyed them! There are people who think he could!"
"No," Quinn laughed, "the Russians sent that game, and it didn't work, so they pretended to go away, and now, they've sent Zander here to accomplish the purpose of driving us nuts!"
Elizabeth looked up. "It's going to work! We're doomed! But really, who are Zander's parents?"
"Russian immigrants, who came to Florida, had Zander and his brother, and then got divorced. Zander ran away from them to get away from their custody battle."
"There's a brother?"
"Yep. A 16-year-old brother."
"Wow! Emily never mentioned any of that!"
"I don't think she knew."
"Strange. One would have thought she'd have asked."
"It could be he wouldn't tell her. It was like pulling teeth, and we wouldn't know now if we didn't need his medical history to make sure he didn't have a serious heart condition."
"Even so. Wouldn't you have pressed really hard?"
"I would have. Especially when he wouldn't tell me. I mean, can you imagine not knowing that stuff about Lucky?"
"Lucky hasn't spoken to me in a couple of weeks. Big fight, you know how that goes. But no. No way. Of course, we were in high school and he lived with his parents. But if I had met him somewhere else I'd expect to know that stuff. You don't even think about it. It's basic."
"Lucky fights with you when you were in the hospital?
"Well, as you can tell from our mutual friend's experience, that doesn't make us immune."
"But Lucky knew you were in the hospital."
"It's other stuff, coming to a head due to being in the hospital. It's not good when you have too much time to sit around and talk."
Quinn laughed. "I'll remember that! But back to this Emily, I know she's your best friend, but there's another thing. This thing about how they keep it a secret Zander was in the hospital. So I wonder about the real strength of this relationship. How could that be? Why would you put yourself out of direct contact with your boyfriend and still think he was your boyfriend? I've never know anybody like this, even in high school."
"Who knows?" Elizabeth said. "It is rather odd. But I wouldn't worry about this relationship picking up again."
"Then the way Alexis found out about his family was by going and talking to his prior girlfriend," Quinn was going on. "A model that Lucky was photographing, in fact. Zander told that girl a very little bit, but enough that it helped Alexis track down his parents."
"Zander. Parents. I'm really curious."
"You can get to see them some time. The mother and brother are here now. The father is here at least some of the time. Oh, and the mother and brother live in the same neighborhood with the Quartermaines."
Elizabeth laughed again. "Man! Grandfather Quartermaine is probably trying to sue somebody right now! That's almost funny. I can hear him. 'That deviant's brother will not live in this town,' and so on."
"Exactly it." Quinn said. "Zander was at my folks one day; he told us about that guy calling him a deviant."
"He was at your parents'?"
Quinn explained how her parents had ended up with Peter.
"I think we should take Joe Quinn to the Middle East," Elizabeth said. "He is the only one who can hope to solve their problems. But you have gotten drawn into that deviant's problems! Be careful, Quinn. The Svengali will take over your mind, and you will end up doing his bidding!"
Quinn laughed. "I've heard these warnings before! Have they ever worked on anyone?"
"Not that I know of," Elizabeth admitted.
A little while later, Paul arrived, having left the hospital a little early, at Quinn's invitation to come to the track to see her being a model.
Quinn introduced them. They both started a little, almost, Quinn thought, as if they secretly knew each other from some previous time.
"You've got the perfect model," he said to Elizabeth.
"You wouldn't be so bad yourself," Elizabeth said. "I can see it - All-American boy with motorcycle. Even if you don't really ride a motorcycle, you can still be the model."
"Try it," Quinn told Paul. "It's not too bad. I've been standing here for awhile now. It's not as dull as it sounds. Like communing with nature. Really gets your head out of the medical setting, work and the whole thing."
"I'm glad to hear that!" Elizabeth said. She looked at Paul and then went back to drawing.
"Are you working for somebody?" Paul asked Elizabeth. "As an artist?"
"For Deception Company, in the art and advertising department," she said. "Part time, though. I'm a senior at PCU. An art major. This is not for work."
"Oh, no," he said. "This is true artistic inspiration."
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Joe Quinn and I were talking one day, and just stumbled on this idea. And I've become a professional Quinn drawer in the hospital. I'll show you a sketchbook sometime with several drawings of a nurse reading a chart or writing in a chart."
"You must be glad to get out of there and see different things!" he laughed.
"Yeah," she looked up at him, "Different people, too."
