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That afternoon I drove Naomi to the hospital to fetch her car. She took her mother home but promised to return and stay the night, to see how Jane and Mary fared and also to spend time with Scout, in whom she now took a deep interest. Jane and Mary retired to the bedroom, up to who knows what. I took Scout to the library and started reading her French until Naomi returned. When they did come downstairs, our first question was: “Well, how was it?”
“We feel great, everything you said is true. Let’s eat.” was their coy response.
Once again we ordered out and had another culinary feast. Jane picked out the wine and told us she was going to read up on it and make herself an expert on the subject. Naomi talked about going back to school, finishing up her graduate degree and write her thesis on plant morphology. She said excitedly that she had lots of new ideas for the greenhouse and would like to occupy the cottage in the garden once again, to be close to her work. We were all happy to hear that. After dinner all the girls went downstairs to chat. I went to my upper library and began pacing the floor. I was thinking about ‘Murphy’s law’. Whenever everything seems to be going great something terrible is just around the corner. I was trying to foresee what it might be. My head was full of a thousand images of disasters. They come out of the blue and catch us unprepared. I decided to read Machiavelli again. If anyone, he knew something.
The next morning Naomi stepped into the kitchen only to tell us she had to leave. She needed to see her advisor at the university and some professors to get on track again. She’d be back that afternoon with a carload of groceries. Scout and I went to the library, put our heads together, and I had her start reading the ‘Iliad’ in Greek. The strange alphabet threw her off for a few minutes but the definitions of the words ready from my knowledge and the beautiful ring of the sounds quickly captivated her. She did much better than Joseph Scaliger reading through Homer in twenty-one days. She finished off the first book in an hour.
Mary and Jane spent the day linked as it were, hand in hand whenever they could be, doing household chores for a while shoulder to shoulder, then disappearing in their bedroom much of the afternoon. They were like two love-struck teenagers in the first pangs of romance again, with long moments of deep staring into each other’s eyes, even as they ate breakfast, their feet playing touchy games under the table. The rest of us knew not to interfere, so we didn’t.
I’d decided that I would call Jaime this evening and tell him the news. To put it off any longer seemed criminal. I spent a large part of the afternoon framing speeches and answering possible questions in the back of my mind. When Naomi returned Scout and I helped her put the bags of food away and cook dinner. We were just about to sit down to it when there was a ring at the front gate. I sensed in my gut right away that ‘catastrophe’ was making a house call.
There was a middle-aged, rotund, curly-haired and bearded man in a suit standing there, his car parked behind him. Naomi had come out behind me and explained: “This is my doctor, George Abrams. I saw him this afternoon. He’s dying to meet you.”
I opened the gate, bowing to an imaginary Murphy as I did so. The doctor thought I was bowing to him and reciprocated the silly gesture. We shook hands and I invited him into the kitchen and to dinner, just as I would have done with the devil himself since dinner was being served up. We could all get acquainted and talk.
After the introductions he went straight to the point I was expecting.
“Naomi told me of this wafer you have that cures everything. Of course, I wouldn’t believe such a tale with my long medical practice, except that I visited her three days ago and wouldn’t have given her a week to live. But today the tests showed that she’s in perfect health, beaming vitality, not the slightest trace of cancer, not even a mole. I’ve never seen a recovery like this or anything even close to it. So you must have something. And I can’t help but ask what it is.”
I gave Naomi the glance I would have given Pandora upon her opening the box.
“Judas” I thought, almost biting my lip. “Then again” I reflected, “I never told her not to tell anybody. She probably went to this checkup just to set things straight with the hospital, feeling bad about how she snuck away. It’s my fault all this has happened and my own doing. But before I give any information away, I’ve got to determine exactly where I stand.”
“Mr. Abrams” I began, “I do indeed have something in the experimental stages of development. But I’m sure you can appreciate the need for confidentiality as to the names and proprietary stakes of the investors in this endeavor. I’ll tell you all I can, but first I need to know, have you told anyone else anything about Naomi’s status?”
“No, not at all. I only saw her a few hours ago and came here right after work to check out this unbelievable story she told me.”
“Good” I said with a sigh of relief, “and can I trust you to keep this a secret among us? Otherwise, I can go no further. If any news leaked out it could easily jeopardize the whole project. Imagine what the world would do if hints were dropped about a miracle drug being developed in some secluded laboratory. The place would be swamped by reporters and mobbed by the sick. Pandemonium would result. You can understand that as a doctor, can’t you? Only harm would ensue.”
“Yes, fully, and I swear to you, to all of you, my utmost discretion in this matter, as a professional.”
As he said this you could see his face blush bright red and small beads of sweat form on his forehead. His narrow eyes were intensely peering at each one of us in turn for the slightest sign of sympathy or agreement. I decided to trust the fellow.
“I have a wafer of Nanochips that spread throughout the body and enhance the mind to the point that it can quickly regenerate cells and remove any detrimental bodies. All five of us sitting here have tried it without negative side effects. I took the first one six days ago. Though scientists would insist upon years of clinical trials, I, as a layman deem it perfectly safe and will continue to give it to any one of my friends suffering from serious ill health, with the full self-assurance that I’m doing the right thing.”
“Would you let me experience this with my own eyes?” the doctor asked, rather timidly.
“You don’t appear to be sick.” I replied.
“No, no not me. But we have a patient, a young Japanese woman on life support. They say she was quite beautiful and talented before her accident. She’s been in a coma for a week now with next to no hope of recovery. She was in a terrible car crash and suffered burns, broken bones and lung damage. You might have read about it in the papers. Her father is a billionaire industrialist. He’s here now and planning to have her airlifted back to Japan in his private jet as soon as her wounds allow her to travel, probably in the next few days. If what you say is true and your wafer could heal her, then it could repair anything and I’d be out of a job, forever.”
His challenge intrigued me. The university hospital was just a few miles away.
“All right” I said, to the jaw-dropping amazement of everyone at the table. “Let’s hurry up and eat and be off.”
“But Roland, what about the secrecy?” Jane said. “This will be like parading ourselves to the press.”
“No it won’t. I’ll have a word with the father beforehand. Rich people know how to keep secrets, believe me. Their wealth depends on it. Besides, at this stage in the game, a few more ‘Illuminati’ in our group isn’t going to change a thing. And if the tablet does work well, I’ll have the favor of a very powerful man in my pocket which I think we just might need in the coming days.”
I took a chip out of the safe and we traveled to the hospital in the red sunset, all of us, Naomi riding with her doctor. A portion of one of the wings to the building had been closed off to the public, behind glass doors.
“Look at this” said Naomi, “they crowd dying people into one wing and clear out half a hall and post guards for a single rich girl. This is the inequality of wealth at play.”
Our doctor went up to the guards, then past them to a room, and soon a weary looking Japanese businessman came out in a flawless suit. He glanced over at our motley crew somewhat bewildered. He spoke good English and I explained my proposal, the doctor taking Naomi by the hand and bringing her forward with his story as corroboration to the claim I was making, while the rest of my companions chimed, that his daughter would be much better very soon. I showed him the wafer in my hand. He agreed to my terms of secrecy and was most impressed, I think, by the fact that I asked for nothing in return, only the chance to test the merits of this chip on the hardest possible case, and his daughter was it. He agreed to the trial.
The chip was put into her mouth by a nurse. Chairs were brought in and we all sat down to await the results. His name was Mr. Tanaki, and his daughter, his only child, was named Akiko. I sat next to him and filled him in on all the pertinent information about the chip. He was very polite and listened with the utmost attention. But I could sense a hint of incredulity at so amazing a story. So I brought Scout over and asked her to recite ‘Lycidas’ which she did beautifully through several stanzas until he patted her on the head, telling her she was a very special child. He was still unconvinced.
Scout spent the next few hours in Naomi’s lap, conversing with her silently until she fell asleep. The kind nurse rolled in a small cot and we put her to bed. Around midnight, with still no change, Jane and Mary asked to go home, Naomi also. But I insisted that Scout stay with us, as she was no trouble at all. I didn’t want Mr. Tanaki to think we were all deserting him. The good doctor was snoring away in his chair in the corner and I felt comfortable playing the hostage with Scout, sure of my success by morning. The others didn’t notice, not knowing what to look for, but I could see a slow and steady receding of the red marks on Akiko’s face. I fell asleep at last and so did Mr. Tanaki.
The doctor woke us up in the morning. Many of the visible burn marks were entirely gone. Mr. Tanaki thanked me profusely for this partial success, shaking my hand repeatedly and beginning to believe me. The nurse was brought in to check the other burns under the dressings. She found them, much to her surprise, almost completely healed. The doctor carefully lifted the ventilator from Akiko’s mouth, put his head near her chest and told us she was breathing on her own. He asked us to step out of the room while the nurse removed the unnecessary dressings. Scout remained behind still asleep. We decided we all needed some coffee and breakfast from the cafeteria. I called home and told the girls that Akiko was making progress.
A half hour later we were back in the room. The nurse was gone. An amazing sight greeted us. Akiko had turned her head. Her eyes were open and she was talking to Scout, standing beside the bed, her face just inches away from Akiko’s.
“She’s all better now” Scout said triumphantly, “and she’s going to teach me Japanese.”
Mr. Tanaki rushed to his daughter’s side and kissed her, then turned to us and said, bowing low, “you have done the impossible. I am forever in your debt.”
Akiko spoke, “Scout has told me so much about your beautiful gardens and your house. I would like to visit them today if you would allow us.”
She slowly sat up in the bed, swung her legs over the side of it while elegantly draping her body in the white bed sheet, much like a toga. Then she stood up and with one arm embraced her father.
“May I please have some clothes?”
Her look, her gestures and her voice were so regal that I played my part. I made a quick call on my cell to Jane telling her to bring a proper outfit. “Your wardrobe will be here in several minutes my lady, and both of you are most welcome to join us at my humble abode for lunch. It’s quite close to here. We have much to discuss.” Then turning quickly, “you too, doctor.”
Akiko had the typical black hair and bangs and brown eyes of the Japanese teenager. She had them to perfection, and her face was a perfect oval. Scout had similar bangs and the two had already bonded into a deep rapport, like two sisters. She was about eighteen years old, vivacious and yet half restrained by a sense of privilege and dignity. You could see the two sides in conflicting emotions, fighting. On the one side were etiquette and custom, on the other her heart, in an eternal battle, the one wanting to bend down and clasp Scout in a warm hug, the other condescending only to hold out her hand as if in some imaginary, royal introduction. This time the heart won out.
She slowly knelt, still holding her bed sheet across her chest in perfect decorum and kissed Scout warmly on the forehead, saying, “we are going to be the very best of friends, you and I.”
Jane arrived soon after, arms loaded. She sent us out, closed the door and Akiko emerged minutes later in a pink, pleated skirt and matching vest, a white ruffled shirt, pink shoes with bows and a wide-rimed silk hat with feathers as if she was going to a wedding reception sometime in the nineteen fifties. We stepped out the door and into the Bentley to my mansion, Jane driving. Mr. Tanaki was duly impressed as we drove under the green wrought iron gate.
We proceeded through the main entrance to the dining room, which had a table for twelve. All the while Mr. Tanaki was holding his daughter’s elbow as if she might fall. But the reverse was true. She was as calm and composed and steady as a gymnast before an event. We sat around the mahogany table; Jane brought out the wine and Mary served several platters of food Lucille had prepared two days before. After the meal, which Akiko kept telling us was one of the best she’d ever had, we strolled out into the garden, Scout holding her hand throughout the walk. Then we visited my library, where Scout was eagerly pointing out all its riches to Akiko.
Near the fireplace, Mr. Tanaki drew me aside.
“What amazes me so much in this miracle you have given us is that you ask me for nothing in return.”
“Well you can see that I have a fine house and I want for nothing.” I replied.
“Yet this is not the way of any other human being I’ve ever met. What you possess is of unfathomable value. I know people who would pay you ten million dollars for what you gave my daughter for free last night. I understand many things, but this is one thing I do not understand.”
“I suppose you were lucky in that matter. The good doctor here recommended your daughter as a test case, and I wanted to know the full potency of my pill. You have him to thank for that.”
“Do you have many of these wafers and the laboratory that makes them?”
I knew this question was coming as I hadn’t told him anything about how I acquired them.
“I have a few right now and will give you one if you want. They greatly enhance both your health and your powers of thinking.”
I had an intricate and multi-dimensional plot in mind, and he was now one of the pieces. I probably shouldn’t have been reading Machiavelli the night before.
“Let’s go to my study. I’ll give it to you now. In less than an hour you’ll feel it’s first effects and by tomorrow morning you’ll probably feel ten years younger, and your body will show it.”
He followed me like a lamb. My idea was to keep him here in town and I knew this would do the trick. Now that his daughter was in glowing health he might fly her off to Japan at any moment. Who knows what pressing matters awaited his return. But as he swallowed the wafer, I knew he would be intrigued and implicated beyond the possibility of a quick escape, like the spider and the fly, and the spider’s web.
