“I don’t know,” Mildred said gently, not wanting to get J.B.’s hopes up until they knew more about the mysterious Dr. Clarke. Besides, a doctor wasn’t needed as badly as a new pair of corrective glasses.
“Guess we can make one detour before bunking down,” Ryan agreed. “Think you can find this place, Dean?”
“No prob, Dad.”
Ryan gestured for Dean to take the point. “Lead on, then.”
“BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL!” a dirty young man with shaggy brown hair cried out, waving his scabby arms and dancing around in a circle. As his patched long coat flapped around him like a cloak, he continued to chant, “Blue light! Blue light! Blue light special!”
The words created a surge in the milling crowd. Every man, woman and child dropped what they were doing and followed the mall crier.
“Where?” a man demanded.
“Which front?” a woman added.
“Name the place! Name it!” a couple said, their voices overlapping, matched in strident intensity.
“Where?” was the group cry. “Where is the blue light?”
A strobe suddenly erupted into being, shimmering, flickering, calling out over and over again in a strident on-off pattern from a shop located two dozen storefronts away. The instant the light revealed itself, most of the onlookers took off at a pace between a brisk walk and a fast jog.
“Pardon me, sir,” Doc said, addressing a weather-beaten man dressed in a patched red-flannel shirt and threadbare denim jeans, “but what is a ‘blue-light special’ and why has it caused such excitement from our fellow mall visitors?”
“It’s a secret,” the man replied mysteriously. “A surprise sale.”
“A sale of what?”
“That’s the secret. A blue light means you save big on whatever the store chooses to sell dirt cheap. You never know when a store is going to have a blue light, and you never know what is going to go on sale. But the faster you can run and get there, the better selection you’ll have. Personally I’ve never found anything worth a damn. I’ve got a bum knee, so by the time I show up, all the good stuff has already been taken. It’s not fair, but then again, nothing in life ever is.”
“You don’t say,” Doc said, stroking his chin.
J.B. STEPPED OUT of the small entrance to Dr. Clarke’s office. Clarke had also kept a piece of the past, retaining the Lenscrafters sign his facility originally used.
The visit to the eye doctor took only moments. The prices quoted for the man’s services, including a pair of eyeglasses, were well beyond the group’s current financial status. Another solution would have to be sought, but not until all had gotten some much needed rest.
Silently the group walked back to the Freedom Center Station. In a former life, the boarding hotel and apartment building had served as a “hub” store, one of the name-brand anchor shops that ensured a large crowd of excited customers would continue to come out to buy on a regular basis. Mildred recognized the logo of the place immediately.
“Sears. Where America Shops For Value,” she said dryly.
Once the rate was paid, and three rooms were secured, the companions went their separate ways. Each couple got a room, with Dean, Jak and Doc getting the third.
Usually a room alone meant time for lovemaking for Ryan and Krysty, but exhaustion had combined with the still fresh memories of Pharaoh Akhnaton’s mind games to still their passions. They mostly succeeded in cleansing themselves in a lukewarm shower, and were asleep within seconds of lying down together, their bodies intertwined tightly.
Chapter Eleven
J.B., now also cleansed of the skin dye, felt terrible, and his eyes hurt from the constant squinting he was having to engage in to try to bring his surroundings into better focus. The century-old adhesive of the fresh bandages Mildred had applied to his facial lesions itched, but he knew better than to scratch. The last thing he wanted to do was endure a double dose of Doc’s aimless chatter before he even had a full cup of coffee sub.
The group of friends had gathered in the late morning for a meal of water and eats from their supply packs. They were sitting in one of the common areas inside the mall. Arriving early due to being awakened at dawn by chronic aches and pains of travel, Doc had scoped out a wide bench and claimed it for his own, and for the use of his companions as they began arriving at the spot at the agreed-upon time.
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