Deadly Expectations (56 page)

If I could figure out how a sister and brother were related then I could figure out the sisters from men I had met.

“Yes,” I said to myself more than to them.
 
“It might work.
 
Amuse yourselves … this could take some time.”

I stood and walked to one of the other tables and took one of the nice cloth napkins.
 
I was going to need it.
 
Then I took my shoes off and felt the joints in my feet straighten out on the carpet.
 
I walked to the wall opposite the railing and started.
 
First Ray and me.
 
I didn’t think it was rude to use Ray.
 
Whatever I learned I wouldn’t mention him.

After placing my memory of Ray under my nose I put myself there too then I started looking for similarities.
 
Nothing came right away so I wriggled my nose and kept going.
 
Then I shook my head.
 
Still nothing.
 
I worked on it for several minutes without success.
 
Maybe it was more difficult than a simple subtraction like finding who the mother was.
 
I opened my eyes briefly and looked back at the table.
 
They were all watching me so I closed them again.

I decided that looking for things that were the same wasn’t going to work so I looked for opposites.
 
Things that were completely different and started removing them one at a time.
 
I was slowly moving my right hand back and forth in front of my face as I worked, feeling my cheeks warm as I exhaled on my palm when it passed in front of my nose.
 
As I kept removing the opposites I matched I became aware of a quiet hum … first in one ear then the other as my hand moved.
 
Then a hand on my wrist
gently pulling
my hand from my face so I started slowly turning my head back and forth as I worked.
 
I seemed to need to fidget to focus.
 
The gentle movement helped.

I was surprised when I had nothing left to match.
 
Sisters were a mirror image of their brothers.
 
A soft reflection.
 
My nose started to tickle so I covered it with the napkin in my left hand and sneezed a few times, then I shook my head to get myself out of what ever deep state I had put myself in.

When I opened my eyes Paul was next to me holding my right hand still away from us, pointing it at the wall.

“Paul?”
 
There was concern on his face.

“I didn’t like that so close to you,” he said.
 
When I looked at my hand I could see the blue glow in my palm; arcs of blue light occasionally jumping around and entering me through the back of my hand.
 
The men at the table looked uneasy.

“I didn’t realize I did that,” I closed my eyes and pictured my left hand opening up, the hole widening until it covered my entire palm.
 
It felt like my forearm was hollow.
 
I put the napkin between my hip and the wall to hold it and put my hands together.
 
The blue light obediently flowed back into me.

“Sorry about the light show,” I whispered to him.
 
“I don’t think it will hurt me … it is mine after all.”

“Anything?” he asked.

“A piece of the puzzle … I’m having to figure out how to make the pieces I’m missing but once I know how it shouldn’t take this long if I’m asked to do this again.
 
I have everything I need … I think.
 
Now it’s just a matter of making comparisons.”

Paul softly put his lips to my ear.
 

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” I replied then I sighed and rested my head on him for a few seconds.
 
This was tiring and I wondered if I was spending energy to do it.
 
And how much.
 
Nothing I could to about it now.
 
I closed my eyes and got back to work.
 
I didn’t hear Paul return to the table.

Since Keith and Patrick were from the same line as me I would compare them both to Pilot and Ray … see if the woman who was left was the same.
 
It was possible that some of Ray’s other relations back at the compound could be the father but I would start with the two I knew best.
 
I didn’t know who Pilot’s mates were but I knew who Ray’s was.
 
It was the easiest route to go.
 
If I had to find Pilot’s mates I could be at it a while and have a lot to remember.
 
If I struck out there I would have to try hard to recall the other three men and compare them to the same mates I found with Pilot.

I decided to make sure I had Alina first and then make sure I could make Paul’s sister match her.
 
I hadn’t seen her in so long so the quickest way would be to find the opposite of Paul … then compare what I got to what I remembered of Alina.
 
Hopefully they would be the same.
 
If they weren’t I might have a problem.
 
It was harder than I thought to find his opposite.
 
My first attempt was close to Alina but in no way the same.
 
I had to go through the pieces of him that I had and reverse them … not losing any.
 
My second try was a match.
 
I tried a third time to be sure I could do it again and I could.
 
After each attempt the sneezing started and after the third I opened my eyes and sat down.
 
Paul had returned to the table but came back over.

“You’ve been standing there for almost an hour …”

“I’m learning,” I explained.
 
“I had to figure out how to match a brother and sister … then to create that match where I don’t know the sister.
 
I’m the only one I know and I wouldn’t be their mother.”

“You look exhausted,” Paul said.
 
“You don’t have to do this all right now.
 
We’ve been invited back tomorrow.”

“I think I’ll be asleep tomorrow.
 
It feels like I’m using a lot of energy to do this.
 
Maybe it’s just tiring out my brain.
 
Make hay …” I smiled.

“If you’re sure,” Paul said.
 
He seemed to be leaning a bit then he chuckled.
 
“I’m going to have some hangover tomorrow.”

Oh well, I would be holding him up on the way back to the hotel while I carried my shoes.

Finding the mother felt like it went much faster but that was only because I had done it before.
 
First I compared Pilot to both Keith and Patrick.
 
There was no match.
 
Then I compared Ray to both of them also found no match but there was something interesting.
 
The woman I found when I compared Pilot and Keith was the same woman I found when I compared Ray and Patrick.
 
They had the same mother … different fathers.
 
But their fathers were very close, probably father and son.
 
I worried I had done something wrong and had to check with Paul.

I didn’t open my eyes.
 
“Paul?”

I didn’t hear him so I lifted myself a bit out of trance I seemed to be in and heard their talk and laughter so I came out all the way and stood.

“Paul!” I said more loudly this time.
 
He slowly turned his head and looked over then made his way to me.

“You okay?”
 
It came out
yokay
.
 
I’d never seen him so loaded.

“I think by now he’s forgotten what he asked … I have a question.”

“Shoot,” Paul said.

“Can a woman be mated to both a son and his father?” I asked.

Paul shook his head.
 
“More like handed down.”

“When I’m in charge that’s the first thing I’m going to change,” I told him and he started laughing.
 
“I think I have my answer … just have to check something.
 
Go sit down before you fall on your face.”

“Yes Ma’am,” he said and swaggered off to the table.
 

I sat back down and first compared the woman who was Keith’s mother with Paul’s sister Alina, then the same for Patrick’s mother.
 
They were indeed the same.
 
Alina was the mother of both.

Finally I just made a quick comparison of Keith and Patrick like I would have before I got my idea.
 
The answer amused me.
 
They were close enough that I probably would have given a fairly confident yes as my first answer but after a lot of learning and work I found that the relations in the family were definitely worthy of a thoughtful examination.

I put my shoes back on and sat down next to Paul.
 
He was talking with the man I’d identified as being from his line and none of them seemed to be letting their reunion tradition down at all.
 
My daiquiri was just pink water now but I didn’t mind.
 
It was tasty but a little too sweet for me.
 
I put my hand on Paul’s leg under the table and he put his hand on top and curled his fingers around in between mine.
 
I wasn’t sure how much more reunion he could take before I had to push him back to the hotel in a shopping cart.
 
My eyes closed as I leaned against his shoulder.

“How long was I over there?” I asked Paul.

He checked his watch.
 
“Couple of hours?
 
Keith’s down sending up more food.”

“Sounds great … I need to refuel.”

“Got it figured?”

I nodded.
 
“I did the obvious comparison last … my answer would have been wrong.”
 
I put my head back down and waited.

“Okay.”

It was almost twenty minutes before Keith and the waitress I’d given the hundred to
came
up with trays filled with food and more drinks.
 
I could have fallen asleep on his shoulder if my head didn’t bounce every time he laughed.
 
Paul had gotten me another daiquiri but was sticking to water now himself.
 
Self preservation had set in.
 

“House special,” Keith said.

“Prepped too much salmon?”
 
Patrick asked.

“That’s why it’s the special,” Keith laughed.
 
Special or not, it was really good.
 
Once everyone was settled Keith turned his attention to me.

“That took a while … trying to get out of it?”
 
He winked.

“No,” I said between bites.
 
“It was a complicated question.
 
I spent most of the time learning to make inferences about people I haven’t met.”

“How do you mean?” Patrick asked.

“I’m the only woman like me I’ve met.
 
I had to figure out how to find the … fingerprint I guess of a woman from her brother.
 
After that it took some time to compare the men in your line with the women’s fingerprints I made.”
 
Not entirely true but I couldn’t explain who I targeted first without talking about Ray and I was sure that he would be very uncomfortable with that.

“And?”
Keith asked.

“The obvious solution was to just compare you and Patrick … I did that last.
 
You’re very close.
 
Close enough that I might have just said yes when you asked.”
 
I paused for another bite.
  
And for effect.
 
I felt pretty pleased with myself.