"Hi honey... no... I'm fine... really I am... Randy... Randy, don't cry... you know you can't come here... no, it doesn't make any difference that I'm the boss now... I know, I want you here too... I knew you were out of town and I didn't want you flying back when there was nothing you could do so I waited till you got home... yes you can kick my ass for it later... no baby; to be truthful I was never so scared before in my life. Then Margo showed up and they whisked me into the OR and I was out of it before I knew what was happening. Next thing I remember was waking up in here... yes, they're taking very good care of me... bored out of my gourd, yes... well, a little, I sent Izzy to buy me something to read... yeah, the new Roy & Sandra Wells thriller, "Date With A Dark Angel"- it's pretty good, I just don't feel like reading all that much, got too many things I need to be doing... I should be able to come home in a couple of days... yes, I promise I'll take it easy... what do you want her number for? Oh, you think you're going to call her and have her put me back in here if I don't take it easy? Have I told you how much I love you? Well, I love you more than the stars love the sky, more than the clouds love the wind; I need you more than the fish need the sea, more than the trees need the ground; I want you more than Madonna wants another hit, more than you and I want to kill Paris Hilton... God it's good to hear you laughing... sure, I don't mind, you know I've got no problem if you never want to work again... yeah, I know, you'll have the whole damn place rearranged by the time I get out of here... I'll see you in a few days... I love you... bye babe."
* * * * *
In his room Nick Philouma lay in his bed and tried not to worry. He was reasonably sure he had talked his father out of doing anything rash but a good size cemetery could be filled with people who had died as a result of assumptions like that concerning members of his family. Randy was finally back in town and had been told. To take his mind off his senseless anxiety, he studied the walls of his room.
As the 'hospital' had to remain secret for as long as possible, there were no windows for anyone to see in through or use laser microphones on. To fight the sense of claustrophobia this might produce, the walls were painted in soothing shades, all decorations chosen for their calming effects upon people.
It was the most boring place he'd ever been in his life.
As the door opened he almost looked forward to some form of painful poking and prodding to relieve his ennui.
He was most pleasantly surprised to see his sister Paula slip in.
"Hey bro, what the hell happened to ya?"
"You really don't know or are you just making conversation?"
"Well of course I know already, silly. I went to see the old man before comin' here or else I never woulda known where to find ya. Ya know, ya oughta stop takin' so many risks, the old man ain't gettin' any younger or any healthier and somethin' like this coulda been just the thing to croak him right off. Come to think of it, I'm kinda surprised it didn't, considerin' you're all he has left now, then again, he's always been stronger than any of us thought he was."
The changes the years, and other factors, had wrought in his sister were nothing short of miraculous. While she still had all the physical features she'd grown to maturity with, it was if the slight problems in their placement had been resolved to beautiful effect... as if all that was less than lovely in her appearance had stepped slightly to one side, allowing her inner beauty to take its place front and center. Gone was the clumsiness of her youth, replaced with movements at once graceful, powerful and sensual. The body which had once been chubby, to put it politely, had become magnificently full-figured, a body that demanded attention and delighted the eye, no matter what the viewer's opinions on personal beauty.
Her scent washed over him as she bent down to kiss him and even to him, the mixture of natural scents coming from her was intoxicating. He moaned appreciatively as her cool lips pressed his cheek.
But even after being born and raised in the South with its slow speech and melodic drawling, she spoke like the stereotypical Yankee... far too quickly and far too raucously.
"So anyway the old man tells me you did Philip. Never would've thought he'd'a lasted this long, dumb as he was. I mean, even the blind squirrel finds the occasional nut but muthafucka, that squirrel was blind, deaf, dumb, and crippled from goddamn birth. Wish I coulda made the funeral but you know... not happenin'. L sends her love, by the way, says you bein' gay is still a waste o' some o' the prettiest man she ever laid eye on, but that's just her yankin' Tommie's chain a little cause you ain't THAT pretty, not that I wouldn't do ya if I wasn't related an' all, but fuck, I know what your farts smell like. Besides, speakin' o' the funeral, not much good could come o' me seein' Rosie, remindin' her o' things she don't wanna be reminded of. So how is the 'normal one'? She and that shlub she married doin' okay? I swear to you, he ever lays a hand on her, 'normal' or not I'm gonna rip his head off, shit down his neck, pop out his eyeballs and use that fuckin' melon o' his for a fuckin' bowlin' ball, go pitch me a few frames, you know what I mean?"
The laughter she brought with her hurt his body, but Nick found his spirit lightening with every second as he and his sister caught up on each other's news.
* * * * *
"Sweetie, it's funny as hell to watch, but close your mouth already, I'm afraid you might catch a fly or something," Margo said, caressing her sister-in-law's face.
"But... how... I never... what..."
"Nicki, my wife Carol is so damned intuitive I'm probably going to start referring to her as our 'hoodoo woman'. She reads people frighteningly well and after the evening you and she and Kelly spent together, certain things slid together in her head. She came to me and we talked about it. She was certain enough of her 'read' on the situation to be willing to bet all her worldly fortune on it, which was more than convincing enough for me... I believed her quite easily right off the bat."
"Oh God... look Margo, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... I'm sorry. Can we just forget this whole conversation ever occurred?"
Margo took the frightened and embarrassed woman in her arms and hugged her tightly to her chest.
"No, Nicki, no we can't. That box has already been opened, Ms. Pandora, and we have to deal with it. Now, when we're through talking, if you decide you never want Harry to know of this conversation, that's how it will be. How you feel about him is your business and I don't think any of us would have a problem helping you keep that a secret. But we are going to have to talk about it."
"Oh God... I'm sorry, it all seemed so much easier and so much sexier when it was me and my imagination planning this conversation and the way things would play out. Now everything's just jumbled up and confused."
"Don't worry, sis," Margo replied, releasing Nicki to recline on the bed and stroking her hair, "some night, over a BIG OL' bowl of dope, I'll tell you about the night Carol seduced me and what an absolute basket case I was. If that story doesn't make you feel better about tonight you can feel free to have me do something terrible... like bathe you with my tongue."
"So that would be terrible would it?"
