F. Paul Wilson - Gateways

He looked down at Jack’s muddy sneakers and still-wet jeans. “What happened to you?”

“Took a little boat trip.”

“You went boating? Why didn’t you tell me? I would have—”

“It wasn’t exactly a pleasure trip. Look, Dad, do you remember seeing a little black shell in your hospital room?”

He frowned. “No. When would this have been?”

“I found it the day before you woke up. It was black, oblong, had a little hole drilled in the hinge.”

Please remember.Please…

Dad was shaking his head. “Sorry. Never saw anything like that.”

Jack suppressed a groan. He’d have to try the hospital next.

Hospital…Jack remembered the plastic bag of sundries that Anya had thrown together as his father was signing himself out. He knew it wasn’t in his car. Had he brought it in?

“Did you see a bag of goodies from the hospital? You know, toothpaste, mouthwash—”

“Oh, that. I threw it out.”

“You didn’t see a shell in there?”

“I didn’t really look. I mean, I glanced inside but I don’t use any of those brands so I tossed it out.”

Maybe…maybe…Jack didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“Where? In the kitchen?”

“Well, yes, at first. But this morning I tossed the kitchen bag into the can out back. Look, what’s so important—?”

Jack didn’t wait for him to finish. He dashed outside and around to the back porch. The green plastic garbage can sat to the left on a small concrete slab. Just his luck, Friday would be garbage pickup day and the shell—if it was in there—was on its way to the county dump.

But no. The can was empty except for one white plastic bag. Jack untied the top and poked around until he found the bag from the hospital. He yanked it out and pawed through the sample-size toiletries. He sent out a silent prayer to the patron saint of garbage that he’d find the shell within, but it wasn’t looking good…

And then he reached the bottom and felt something hard and rough edged. He pulled it out—

“Yes!”

He had it. Now Carl could come home. But first Jack had to arrange an exchange. He shook his head. A shell for a human being…what kind of a deal was that?

What had Semelee told him to do? Stand outside his father’s house and announce that he’d found it. Riiiight. But she’d said she’d hear him, and she probably could. Jack’s Doubting Thomas days were over. Anything goes.

“Okay,” he said aloud, feeling foolish but forcing himself to go on. “I’ve found the shell. Did you catch that? I’ve found it. Tell me how we make the trade.”

Now what? He supposed he’d have to wait until Semelee got in touch with him.

Pocketing the shell, he turned and found Dad staring at him through the back porch jalousies. He wore the same perplexed expression as when Jack had unpacked those stuffed animals from Abe. Maybe more perplexed this time.

Probably thinks I’m doing drugs.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Are you okay, Jack?”

No, he thought. I’m not. Someday I’d like to be, but at the moment…

“I’m fine.”

His father pushed open the porch door. “Come back in this way. It’s shorter.”

Jack took a step toward the porch, then remembered again that it was Anya who’d packed up the bag. Had she known…?

He glanced toward her place and noticed a figure stretched out on a lounge in the front yard.

“Be with you in a minute,” he said. “I want to say hello to Anya.”

As Jack crossed onto the green grass, Oyv trotted up to meet him, wagging his tail in welcome. The dog escorted him toward Anya, but Jack slowed, letting Oyv pull ahead as he noticed that Anya was topless.

She lay face down on a towel on the lounge cushion, dressed only in lime-colored Bermuda shorts, baking her bare back in the afternoon sun. He was about to turn away when he noticed a pattern of red marks on her exposed skin. He took a step closer and…

Jack bit his upper lip. They looked like burn marks…and crisscrossing her skin between them were thin, angry red lines, as if someone had been stubbing out cigarettes on her back and then whipping her with a fine lash.

Jack wanted to turn away, but couldn’t. He had to stay and stare, horrified, yet fascinated.

Anya’s voice startled him.

“A map of my pain,” she said without looking up. “See what he does to me?”

“Who?”

“You know. The Adversary. The One.”

Oh, yeah. The One…whose True Name Jack wasn’t supposed to know.

“But how? Why?”

“I’ve told you the why: Because I hinder his path. As to the how…he has many ways, and they are all written here, on my back.”

“But how do those burns, those cuts get there?”

“They simply appear. They map his efforts to destroy me.”

Jack shook his head to clear it. “I’m not following.What is he doing to destroy you?”

“Help me with this towel,” she said. “Fold the ends over my back.”

Jack did as she asked, allowing her to wrap the towel around her upper torso as she rose to a sitting position.

“Talk to me,” Jack said.

Anya shook her gray head. “You have your own concerns. Those you should be worrying about. And besides, what can you do to help? Nothing. This I must face on my own.”

“Try me.”

He liked this old lady. He wanted to help her, do something to lighten her load.

“It’s all right, Jack. The sun makes it feel better. The rays don’t heal me, but they lessen the pain.” She rose to her feet. “I’m going in to lie down.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m better than I was this morning and I’ll be even better by tonight.”

“Will you be up for drinks later? We’ll do it at my father’s place this time.”

She shook her head. “Not tonight. But tomorrow definitely.”

Jack watched her and Oyv enter the leafy interior of her house, then, feeling sad and angry and helpless, he turned away.

9

Jack had lounged around with his father, dodging questions about the toys and the shell until his father nodded off in his recliner. An afternoon nap—one of the great pleasures in life. But Jack couldn’t indulge today. He had to wait for word from Semelee.

But that wasn’t the only matter on his afternoon schedule.

He stepped into his father’s bedroom and dialed Ramsey Weldon’s office. He learned from the receptionist that Mr. Weldon was on another line. Would he care to leave a message?

“No. When can I call back?”

“Well, he’ll probably be leaving in a half hour or so.”

Jack thanked her, hung up, then went out to his car.

The duct tape he’d bought earlier sat on the front seat in a flimsy white plastic bag emblazoned with the Novaton Hardware logo. He snatched it up, bag and all. As he was closing the door he spotted an envelope on the floor by the passenger seat. He picked it up and checked the contents.

Carl’s five hundred dollars.

He’d trusted Jack enough to leave it in the car for safekeeping. He’d also trusted Jack to bring him back.

“I’ve got your damn shell,” Jack said aloud. “I’m ready to trade.”

He glanced at his watch. Couldn’t wait around here any longer. He set off on a stroll toward the administration building.

This time he could walk in the open and say hello to passers-by instead of ducking into the bushes every time someone approached. When he reached the parking lot, his heart gave a kick when he didn’t see Weldon’s Crown Imperial, but eased back when he spotted a ’57 DeSoto in Weldon’s space. This guy had some neat cars.

Jack strolled over to it. A four-door Firedome with a glossy turquoise body, white roof and side panels, big chrome bumpers, whitewall tires, and those fins—humongous wedge-shaped projections, each fitted with a vertical row of three rocketlike red lights that made the car look like a spaceship. Jack peered inside. White-and-turquoise upholstery and a dash-mounted rearview mirror.