The Iso-Stasis Experiment (The Experiments) (37 page)

Jake’s eyes popped open on the first bang of aluminum. It wasn’t the normal thunder or continuous pounding. He could hear voices shouting above him, muffled, and hard to make out. His body jolted with the gunshots, and he sat straight up in bed. “I have to get up there.” Swinging his feet over to the floor, Jake, forgetting he was still recovering, stood up. Blindly he stumbled his way to the other room to get his clothes.

Feeling the dresser he could barely focus on, Jake stopped in his search for clothes when he heard Cal yelling as she opened the other door.

“I don’t give a shit!” Cal yelled to John and Carlos. “Nothing happened.” With a loud slam, she closed the door. “Damn.” She turned to face the room and an empty bed. “Where’s Jake?” She asked herself out loud. “Jake?” She headed to the bathroom. “Not in here.” She walked through and saw Jake standing at his dresser, a look of total frustration upon his face. “Jake, what are you doing out of bed? You promised me.”

“I did no such thing. I told you I would rest for a little bit. It’s been hours.”

“Jake, get back to bed. You still aren’t well.”

“How am I supposed to get well if all I do is lie around?”

“Exactly.” Cal took hold of his arm. “Bed, now.”

“No.” He pulled his arm away. “What happened up there? I heard shouting. Was it the wolves?”

“Sort of.” Cal reached in his drawers. “What do you want to wear? Sweats or fatigues?”

“I can pick my own clothes out.” Jake rubbed his eyes to focus. “And what do you mean by sort of?”

“I mean, the wolves aren’t charging us anymore. They’re just watching.”

“But I heard banging.”

“That was me. I am going to have one hell of a bruise on my elbow. Look.” She twisted her arm to show him.

“It sounded like it was coming from the sides of the building.”

“That was me. I climbed down from the roof to bait them, but they didn’t charge. There was one wolf though, he was hanging out. He grabbed the rope when I was climbing back up.” She pulled Jake’s shirt down immediately as soon as he placed it over his head. “Made for one tough climb back . . .”

“Cal!” Jake removed her hands. “Don’t mother me, all right?”

“I’m sorry I was just trying to help you.”

“I don’t need the help. Please.” Jake stepped in his pants; it was obvious his balance was still off. “Please. I’ll be all right.”

“It’s just that . . .”

“I’m not Rickie.”

All expression dropped from Cal’s face. “You’re right. You aren’t Rickie.” She turned, leaving him alone in the room.

“Cal.” Jake walked slowly back into her room, holding onto the wall as a guide. “Do not think I don’t appreciate what you have done for me. I want to take care of myself. I don’t like to see you so catering. It bothers me. I hate the thought of you looking at me like I cannot take care of myself. That’s the last thing I want. And that’s exactly how you look at me.”

“How do you know?” Cal peered up at him. “You squint when you look at me.” She stood up. “You can’t possibly see my face, because I don’t look at you like that . . .” She poked him in the chest. “Asshole.” Calming herself, she moved further away from him. “I don’t know why this is bothering you so much, but it does. I refuse to fight with you, Jake. So, I won’t
mother
you
, as you put it, again.”

“Thank you. I would appreciate that.” Almost stumbling, Jake made his way back to the bed. He sat down on it, realizing as he did, how weak he still was. Yet, he was bound and determined he wasn’t going to let Cal know. They were a team in this project and, as far as Jake was concerned, he wasn’t pulling his weight. Sick or not sick, that was something he couldn’t have.

After standing with her back to him, tapping her fingers against her folded arms, Cal had to leave. “Excuse me.” She brushed by him, ignoring his hand that reached to her. She closed the door and paused in the hallway that felt so cold. “OK.” She walked slowly down the hall passing Fr. Dan’s boarded up room, noticing the light odorous smell that emanated from it. “I will not let this get to me. Why I even let myself get close like that I don’t . . .” Cal stopped. A noise had grabbed her attention away from her self-bitch session. It sounded like a wet, crackling noise, almost as if someone’s hands were working and squeezing wet clay. She tilted her head to let her ears listen more closely. She looked up at the door where she stood. It was
Griff’s
room. Leaning her head to the door, she heard the noise again. “Oh shit.” She reached for the knob, and then stopped. Darting off, a little frightened by the eerie noise, she ran back down the hall to her room. She slid stopping at her door. “No, I can’t run in here and tell Jake that. Besides, why am I getting weird about this?” Looking back, she knew she had to check one more time. Back to
Griff’s
room she walked. His door was getting closer and her heart was beating stronger with each step she took. Placing her shoulder close to the door, she listened. Nothing. Shrugging it off as her imagination and high blood pressure at the moment, Cal continued her calming walk.

^^^^

The words on the pages may not have been the most interesting ones, but they were clear. And ever since Jake had awakened that morning and could see, he decided he was going to read the book he had started. Of course Jake knew that had he not had lost his sight that book would have sat half read. Reading was just something for him to do since the continuously falling snow outside made it impossible to go out.

Jake had to admit to himself that he had been less-than-pleasant to live with his first day of being well. Maybe that was the reason for the cold treatment he was getting from Cal. He would assume it was
 
since Cal was far from being cold to Rickie. In fact, they sat on the floor at the foot of the bed he laid on talking away. Their chattering and laughing made it nearly impossible for him to get into a book he didn’t want to read in the first place. Then he heard it. The sentence, ‘I bet you were a great mother’ coming from Rickie. Placing the book down, Jake closed his eyes, dreading Cal’s response. He opened his eyes in surprise when Cal didn’t bite Rickie’s head off for talking about Jessie. Instead she answered him calmly.

“I guess I was.” Cal’s fingers rubbed against the carpet in nervousness. “At least I thought I was. I doted too much though.”

“You make that sound bad. I wish I had someone that doted over me.”

“It’s not that it’s bad. It just gets to be too much.” Her eyes lifted to Jake, who quickly pretended he was reading. “Jessie was my whole entire life. I had her when I was still a teenager. So anytime she got ill, or was hurt, I felt compelled to do things for her, which was fine, since she was my kid. I just tended to go overboard. And she always let me, lying in bed even when she knew she was better. I guess I liked to do that.”

“When I lived with my grandmother she was neurotic when I went out. She always made me wear my Saint medal. Were you like that? Were you neurotic, always thinking something was going to happen?”

Jake’s protective instincts for Cal kicked in before he thought. “Rickie.”

“Dude, I was just asking her about the way she was. I mean, I know how she is with me.”

Jake sat up, leaning forward. “But don’t you think that’s just a little insensitive?”

“No.” Rickie shrugged. “Not compared to some of the shit
you
say to her. But . . .” Rickie faced Cal. “Cal-babe, if I was being insensitive, I’m sorry. I was just trying to have a little idle going with you.”

“No. Rickie that’s fine.” Cal rested her hand on his. “I’ll answer you. Yes, I was neurotic. I was neurotic every time she walked out that door. But being neurotic can’t stop something from happening.”

“No. It can’t.” Rickie looked up at Jessie’s picture. “She would have been one
bitchin
’ babe when she got older. I would have dated her.”

“And you probably would have been the type of boy she liked.” Cal laughed. “She and I would talk about guys for hours.”

“You and I can talk for hours.”

Jake, without them seeing, nodded his head and scuffed his face.
‘Don’t I know it.
’

“Cal-babe.” Rickie took a serious tone. “I think that we should continue this thing after the project. I think you should let me live with you.”

Cal laughed. “I don’t think Joyce would appreciate that. I live with her in her attic.”

“Cool. You mean like the disfigured child. Hidden away, locked from humanity?”

“No.” Cal kept laughing. “I moved in with her after I sold my house.”

“But you have me now,” Rickie said. “We’ll get our own place. I can move in with you. Nothing romantic, you can save that for all the guys you’ll date . . .”

Jake cleared his throat. “Rickie, I’m uh, I’m getting tired. Do you mind?”

“Sarge, no, not at all.” He picked himself up off the floor. “Cal-babe, you want to come in my room and we can finish talking while the Sarge snoozes?”

“Sure Rickie.” Cal stood up. “Goodnight, Jake.”

“Cal.” Jake slid off the bed, stopping her before she left. “Don’t go.”

Cal looked at Rickie. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Rickie.”

Jake, sighing in relief, shut the bathroom door and pulled Cal away from it. “Thank you. You and I need to talk. I think that maybe you’ve taken something I said totally out of context. I think . . .”

“What! Right, Jake. Tell me how I can take ‘mothering you’ out of context?”

“Cal, I was sick. I was irritable. I may have sounded worse than I wanted to.” He saw she really was giving him an I-don’t-care-attitude. “I’m trying to apologize here. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“Now can we stop this?” Jake moved closer to her. “We were getting along so good before I got sick.”

“That’s right. And you pissed me off you big jerk. I was worried about you. Really worried about you and you made me feel like shit. I didn’t mean to make it seem like I didn’t think you could do it. I just wanted you to rest and not worry, so you could get better. No, you had to be an asshole about it.”

“I thought you accepted my apology.”

“I did.” Cal said and sat on the bed.

“Then why are you going off?”

“Because I’m a woman and it’s my right to go off about things even if you think we’re done with it. You better learn that one, Jake, if you want to be in a relationship.”

“There seems to be a lot I don’t know. So . . .” Jake walked over and sat down next her, very seriously. “Do you think you could take a few minutes one of these days and write down some of these hidden rules? I’d like to know them. I’d like to do things right.”

“You’re serious. You want me to make you a relationship tip sheet?” Cal tried not to laugh.

“If it’s not too much trouble, I would.”

“I’ll just work on that right away.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Cal let out a deep sigh and plopped backwards. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Understand why I get like I get.” He lay on his side next to her. “This whole sickness bothered me. I’ve never been sick like that in my life. And to have someone have to sponge bathe you, help you go to the bathroom, shower and dress you . . . you are the only person in the world I would let do that. But being like that is not how I want to be seen. Especially by someone I would like perceiving me as strong.” He so-lightly rested his hand on the side of her face. “And look, I can’t even kiss you. I have this mess on my lips.”

“I can kiss you.” Cal brought her lips up kissing softly around his mouth, then his neck. She watched his eyes close and rested her head back down. “And Jake . . . I never saw you as anything less than strong. To me that’s how I’ll always perceive you. I had this dream once. I dreamed I was telling my daughter about you. How you were so strong, I told her, that you could almost take it all away.”