The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of survival) (44 page)

She picked the crutches off the floor.
“
I
’
m afraid I won
’
t be able to tour Washington with you, Cecil,
”
she said softly.
“
These are very cumbersome things.
”

He glanced first at the wooden staves, then down at her bandaged feet.

“
They haven
’
t healed, you see. Doctors keep saying that anytime now they
’
ll be back in fine shape. And for awhile, the sores do start to heal. But soon, they split open and become raw wounds,
”
she explained.
“
These crutches are to keep me off my feet as much as possible.
”

“
Well, you shouldn
’
t have been asked to testify,
”
he said gruffly.
“
You
’
re obviously in no condition to be moving around a strange city by yourself.
”

She laughed quietly.
“
Oh, you
’
re too concerned,
”
she said with fondness.
“
We grown girls often travel in foreign cities. But the sticks and the feet are a handicap, I
’
ll admit to that.
”

“
At least I get to see you again.
”
His face brightened.

She let her hand drop.
“
Yes. This trip was probably just the medicine I needed, Cecil. I had been so despondent, so distressed, that I didn
’
t want to leave the sanctity of the hospital. Then, resting at the spa was such an easy escape, that I didn
’
t want to leave it either. This request to appear before the investigating committee sort of coaxed me out of my lethargy.
”

Cecil dragged a nearby chair over and sat in it, close to her.
“
How do you feel generally, Althea?
”

“
Tired. Tired all the time. But I have an excellent appetite lately, so I should put on a few pounds and begin to feel better.
”

His thick bushy eyebrows suddenly lifted at a thought that entered his mind.
“
All right now, I
’
ve got it all worked out, down to the last detail. Here
’
s what we
’
ll do. I
’
ll rent us a car. When we
’
re finished here each day, we
’
ll take off on a driving tour of D.C. It
’
s not a bad way to see the city, in fact, it
’
s a lot easier than walking, I promise you.
”

“
Cecil, you are silly. Me, a virtual invalid...
”

“
We
’
ll see Alexandria, Althea. It
’
s a beautiful old colonial town, and Mt. Vernon, where Washington stayed. Hey!
”
He snapped his fingers.
“
I
’
ll rent a wheelchair. Then every place that we want to inspect more closely, I
’
ll just zip out the magic wheels and away we
’
ll go,
”
he said with a boyish enthusiasm.

“
Are you listening to me, Cecil?
”
she asked.

“
And the Smithsonian. You haven
’
t seen anything until you
’
ve seen the Spirit of St. Louis and those dinosaur bones, and the gem collections. It
’
s a wonderful city, Althea.
”

“
Cecil, stop it!
”
she commanded in a soft, but firm voice.
“
You haven
’
t heard a word I
’
ve tried to say, have you?
”

“
No, I haven
’
t Althea. And furthermore, I
’
m not going to hear any excuses from you about why you can
’
t do this or do that. After White Water you
’
re entitled to a vacation, lady, and this is as good a place for it as any. Not warm like home, maybe, but otherwise, it
’
s loaded!
”

A pleasant, perplexed smile illuminated her face as she listened to him.
“
What about the expense, then? I didn
’
t bring much money with me,
”
she protested.
“
My share of the....
”

He held up his hand, as though forbidding her to think in this vein.
“
Let
’
s say this is on Calmar Chemical Company.
”

“
Oh, are you going back to them?
”

“
Well, actually, they are opening a new site in San Diego, and they
’
ve offered me a slightly better job.
”
His mind flashed to the day when he had relieved them of the money in the safe. Evidently, the company had chalked that loss up to one of the numerous hazards of the day.

“
Will you move there, Cecil?
”
she asked.

“
I
’
m living there now, Althea. You know, you
’
d like it in San Diego, too. It has a nicer climate than Los Angeles.
”

For a brief moment she was remorseful.
“
I
’
ll never again live in Los Angeles, I know that as a certainty,
”
she said.

The receptionist interrupted to usher a lady with several pieces of hand luggage into the room. Cecil and Althea paused to observe the stranger, then quietly resumed their discussion in lower tones.

Depositing the cases near the doorway, Paula Waring walked over and peeked through the drapes at the grounds outside. There was nothing of interest there, but the action gave her something to do until she could shed the discomfort of being in the presence of people she didn
’
t know, and who obviously were not anxious to introduce themselves.

She was tired and irritable from loss of sleep. She had not intended to take a late-night flight, but the bridge was jammed, and getting over San Francisco Bay had been inordinately time consuming. Consequently, she
’
d missed her scheduled flight and had to be re-scheduled on the only available space in the early hours of the morning. With luck, today
’
s meeting would be brief and she could hurry on to the hotel.

A recent edition of a popular ladies
’
magazine was on the table, thoughtfully placed there on an impulse, in this very masculine, business-like room. She carried it to a chair, and began flipping its pages. The entrance of a fourth person caught her attention and she looked up.

“
Hello, Paula. I was wondering whether or not you
’
d decide to attend.
”

He was standing just inside the door, with both hands sunk deep into the pockets of his overcoat.

“
Frank,
”
she said tersely,
“
hello.
’’

He walked slowly forward, moving a chair near to her, where he took a seat.
“
You
’
re not very glad to see me, I can tell by your expression.
”

She lifted one arched eyebrow and waited until he had settled down in the cushions.
“
I expected you.
”

“
How are the kids?
”

“
The children are fine.
”

“
Are they in school? Do they like it?
”

“
Yes and yes. Frank, I....
”

“
I hope to visit them before long, Paula, if that
’
s satisfactory to you,
”
he said.

“
Of course it is. Visiting them is your prerogative as their father. Besides, they ask about you.
”

Twenty-eight hundred miles away from the scene and they were still antagonists, subtly throwing verbal blocks at each other.

Frank casually glanced at her midsection.
“
You
’
ve gotten rid of it—the baby?
”

She ignored his question and stared coolly back at him.

“
Well, have you or not?
”
He raised his voice, causing the low murmurs at the far end of the room to suddenly cease.

“
Hell yes, of course I have,
”
she hissed.
“
You surely don
’
t think I would fail to go through with it because of your objections. Ha! You over-estimate your influence, Frank.
”

Visibly sagging, he laced trembling fingers and leaned closer.
“
Can
’
t we at least be friends? After all we meant to each other, can
’
t we remain on friendly terms and quit this snipping at each other, Paula?
”

She hesitated before answering and then said,
“
Sure, why not? I don
’
t have any bitterness toward you.
”

“
I
’
ve missed you,
”
he said.
“
We were together for so long that, well, I guess you became a habit to me.
”

She sadly shook her head from side to side.
“
A habit. What do you know about that. You have an absolute knack for saying the wrong things, Frank.
”

“
Now what the hell have I said to set you off?
”
he asked.

“
A habit,
”
she repeated.
“
But naturally. That
’
s the same as being taken for granted.
”

Searching for safer territory he finally inquired about her parents.

“
They
’
re doing fine. And how
’
s Billy Joe and Connie?
”

“
Great. Just great. Paula, I
’
ve got a realtor working on selling the house. He thinks he has a customer about ready to sign.
”

“
That
’
s good,
”
she answered with interest.
“
Is he willing to pay our price?
”

“
There
’
s a problem with that. See, we didn
’
t have much equity in the house, and well, property values in San Mirado have really taken a dive.
”

“
Because of the White Water mess?
”
asked Paula.

“
Sure. What else? Anyway, the buyer is offering eight thousand under our asking price,
”
he said with a grimace.

“
Eight thousand! Good Lord, we can
’
t take that! After paying the realtor
’
s fees we wouldn
’
t come out of it with a penny. Not only that, we
’
d actually owe some!
”

“
I
’
m afraid we won
’
t have much choice,
”
answered Frank.
“
Suddenly nobody wants to live around there, Paula. This buyer is a speculator, according to the realtor.
”

“
Frank, surely someone would be willing to assume our loan. Why, to take over our mortgage and move into a nice place without any outlay of cash—that would be a tremendous bargain.
”

“
Yeah? Well, it wouldn
’
t unless we found somebody who wanted to live in that area pretty badly. So far, that region is far from being a mecca to weary house hunters.
”