help. Any idea when the parents will be in ?”
“Vangie, did the Swopes say when they’d be in?”
The Filipino nurse shook her head. “Usually
they’re here in the morning–right around now. If
they don’t come soon, I don’t know when. I can
leave a message for them to call you, Doctor–”
“Delaware. Why don’t you tell them I’ll be here
tomorrow at eight thirty and if they arrive earlier,
please have them’ wait.”
“Eight thirty you should catch them.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Bev, “I’ve got the number
of the place they’re staying–some motel on the
west side. I’ll call and leave a message. If they Show
up today do you want to come back?”
I considered it. Nothing on the agenda that
couldn’t wait. “Sure. Call my exchange. They’ll
know where to reach me.” I gave her the number.
“All right, Alex, you’d better get in there before
you truck a few million pathogens over the border..
See ya.”
She hoisted the large purse over her shou!dex
and walked out the door.
BLOOD TEST 71
I .stepped pounds to the Laminar Airflow Room:
He’d sat up and his dark eyes followed ‘my entry.
“I look like a spaceman, huh?”
“I can tell who you are,” he said gravely, “everyone
looks-different.”
“That’s good. I always had trouble recognizing
people when they wore these things.”
“Ya gotta look close, with strong eyes.”
“I see. Thanks for the advice.”
I got the box of checkers and unfolded the board
on the armlike table that swung across the bed.
“What eolor do you want to be?”
“Dunno.”
“Black goes first, I think. You wanna go first?”
“Uh huh.”
He was precociously good at the game, able to
plot, set up moves, and think sequentially.’A bright
little boy.
A couple of times I tried to engage him in conversation
but he ignored me. It wasn’t shyness or lack
of good manners. His attention was focused on the
checkerboard and he didn’t even hear the sound of
my voice. When he completed a move he’d lean
back against the pillows with a satisfied look on his
grave little face and say, “There! Your turn,” in a
voice made soft by fatigue.
We were halfway through the game and he was
giving me a run for my money when he clutched
his abdomen and cried out in paim
I eased him down and felt his brow. Low-grade
fever.
“Your tummy hurts, doesn’t it?”
He nodded and wiped his eyes with the back of
his hand.
: -72. Jonathan Kellerman
I press6d the call button. Vangie, .the Filipino
nurse, appeared on the other side of the plastic.
“Abdominal pain. Febrile,” I told her.
She frowned and disappeared, returning with a
cup of liquid acetominophen held in a gloved hand.
“Swing that counter over this way, would you.” .
qhe set the medicine on the slab of Formica.
“You can take it now and give it to him. The
resident’s due by within the hour to check him
over.”
I returned to the boy’s bedside, propped him up
with one hand behind his head, and held the liquid
to his lips with the other.
“Open up, Woody. This will make it hurt less.”
“Okay, Doctor Delaware.”
“I think you’d better rest now. You played a good
game.”
He nodded and the curls bounced. “Tie?”
“I’d say so. Although you were getting me pretty
good at the end. Can I come back and play with you
again?”
“Uh huh.” I-le closed his eyes.
“Rest up, now.”
By the time I was out of the unit and had shed
the paper suit, he was asleep, lips parted, sucking
gently at the softness of the pillow.
THE NEXT morning I drove east on Sunset under a
sky streaked with tin-strip clouds and thought about
last night’s dreams-Tthe same kind of spooky, murky
images that had plagued my sleep when I first
started working in oncology. It had taken a good
year to chase those demons away and now I wondered
if they’d ever been gone or had just been
lurking in my subconscious, ever ready for mischief.
Raoul’s world was madness and I found myself
resenting him for drawing me back into it.