Between the Lanterns (21 page)

“Get in, Mr. Lurie,” he said without question.

August went to open the passenger side door, but hesitated and said, “Before I get in, tell me one thing. Did you steal my SameSoul prototype?”

Joshua looked aghast and said, “Why the hell would I do that? You sold us the blueprints. I can just make one now; I don’t need yours.”

“Damn,” August said to himself, deciding to worry about it later.
 

Right now he needed to get home to Sam.
 

He got into the car, slammed the door shut, and said to Mr. Stevens, “Drive. Fast.”

They pulled up to the Lurie family home soon after, and August exited the car without a word to Joshua Stevens.

“Goodbye, Mr. Lurie,” he called after August.

The AutoCar peeled off, going way too fast for this street. He should probably slow down. There were kids in this neighborhood.

August tore open the front door and started yelling out for his wife, “Sam! Are you here? Babe?” He ran to every door and threw them open, shouting all the while, “Sam! Babe! I’m home! Where are you?”

August hoped he hadn’t missed her. He hoped she wasn’t headed back to the clinic while he was on the way here. If she was, how would he get back? August couldn’t ride a bike in this condition. He sat down on the couch to catch his breath, starting to feel woozy from all the physical activity. He closed his eyes for just a moment, and the lanterns automatically dimmed their light.

He woke to the sound of the doorbell.
 

Shit! He had fallen asleep. It wasn’t his fault; August was still in immense amounts of pain as the meds were wearing off, and his body was trying to help.
 

The doorbell rang again.
 

August struggled to his feet and made his way to the front door. The lanterns followed him.

“Sam! Is that you?” he called out, as he pulled the door open as quickly as he could in this wounded state. Standing there was not his wife, but a man in a white coat.

“Dr. Granger?” August asked, his voice full of confusion. “What are you doin’ here? Look, I’m real sorry I left without fillin’ out the proper paperwork; it’s just that I needed to find my wife. You understand, right?”

Dr. Granger shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care and said, “We’ve got all of your information on file, Patient Lurie. Your leaving the clinic so soon won’t deprive me of my payment. I’ll get it, don’t you worry about that. I’m here to give you this.”

Dr. Granger handed over a large envelope with a bulge in the bottom, and August accepted it curiously.

“What is it, doc?” he asked.

“I know you and your wife don’t seem to think so,” Dr. Granger said, aggravated, “but I’m a very busy man. I don’t normally do stuff like this, but she paid me an exorbitant amount of money to deliver this package to you and to… perform other duties that I’m sure will be detailed inside that envelope.”

With that, Dr. Granger turned around and walked to the street where he had parked his AutoCar. August, standing on the front doorstep in between the lanterns, was at a loss for words momentarily.
 

When he found them, August called out, “Dr. Granger, you were with my wife today? Where is she? Is she back at the clinic?”

The “good” doctor didn’t even slow his stride or turn around.

“No,” Dr. Granger called back over his shoulder. “She’s dead.”

Chapter 24

I’M SORRY

She’s dead? What the hell was Dr. Granger talking about? The nurse had said she was just at the clinic this morning.

“Doc! Doc! What do you mean?” August screamed after him, hobbling as fast as he could to reach the AutoCar just before it pulled away.
 

The “good” doctor rolled down the window looking irritated, and said, “Just open the envelope and read the letter inside, Patient Lurie. Then get back to the clinic as soon as you can so we can clean you up. You don’t want to get an infection. Or maybe you do. I don’t care.”

He peeled off faster than he should on this street. He should probably slow down. There were children in this neighborhood.

August sat down on the front lawn and tore open the large envelope. Inside there were two items and a letter. He ignored everything else and pulled the handwritten note out, and as he read the first two lines, he began to wail mournfully, tears falling from his eyes like a heavy rain.

August. My love. I’m sorry. I ached to tell you before, but I didn’t want to spoil your plans. I didn’t want us to spend our last few days together in sadness. They have been wonderful days, haven’t they? You see, my Countdown started five days ago…

Suddenly, August stopped reading and stood up angrily. Still crying, and with a shattered heart, he could barely breathe with the agony inside of his chest. But he was also pissed beyond belief.

“How could you do this to me, Sam?!” he screamed into the night. “You know what I went through with Granny! YOU KNEW IT! Now I gotta go through it all over again, and this time, it’s worse! WHY? Why did you do this?”

He fell back to his knees and sobbed on all fours. A sudden wave of nausea swept over him, and August threw up in the grass. He heard voices and saw that a few neighbors had heard his yells and were staring at him from their front doors. Not wanting to continue reading the letter here and now, he stood up and stumbled back inside, slamming the door behind him, and feeling lost. This house wasn’t his home anymore; not without Sam. It seemed like some strange, foreign land to him, when suddenly he felt very sick again and ran to the toilet.

After composing himself somewhat, August went into the bedroom and sat on the bed. The covers were still down from the last time they had woken together. He reached out and touched her pillow. Fresh tears fell from his eyes and he found the strength to read more of the letter.

I had been sick with stomach cancer, but Dr. Granger cured it and repaired all the damage the disease had caused inside of me. It was after that, when everything was back to normal, that he found the Countdown. I kept it all from you to spare your feelings. I didn’t want you to worry.

August stopped again and covered his face with his hands. She had kept it from him to spare his feelings… just like his granny had done… just like he had kept his worries and feelings from Sam the past few days. It was like God was punishing him for not being honest.
 

“Oh, so now I believe in God?” August asked himself sarcastically. “Now that I need someone to blame? I can’t believe this is happenin’. What am I going to do without you, Sam? I can’t… I just can’t…” He trailed off and read on.

I didn’t want you to worry. I know that sounds stupid, sweets. And I know that you’re probably cursing my name right about now. I hate that I’m doing to you what your granny did. It’s not my intention to make you go through that again. But it’s my death. My life. I didn’t want to spend the last few days of it laying around crying about our lost future. I wanted to spend those precious last few days making love to you, and reading on the couch with you, and having a picnic with you. Those memories will stay with me in Heaven forever.

August threw down the unfinished letter and paced the room. He was alone… utterly alone. Forever. She had left him. It wasn’t her fault, but that didn’t change anything. If August was being honest with himself, he could see why she did it this way. It was her choice; she was right about that. Her life, and her death. It didn’t make this hurt any less for him, though. He picked up the letter again.

Those memories will stay with me in Heaven forever. But Heaven might just have to wait. You don’t have to be alone, sweets. I’ve given you a choice. Inside the envelope are two boxes. One of them is my ashes. Take them and spread them wherever you travel, all over the world. Leave a part of me everywhere you go. Or you could choose the other box. It’s your SameSoul prototype. I’m in it.

August dropped the letter this time and dove for the envelope. He plunged his hand inside and pulled out a box containing his wife’s remains. He stared at it for a long minute, before kissing it and placing it on the dresser. “I love you, babe,” he whispered.

He reached back in and pulled out the other box; the SameSoul. The one he had thought lost or stolen for days. One of the reasons he had been in such a bad mood recently, and Samantha had it the whole time.

“Damn it, woman,” he muttered. August stared at the SameSoul and rolled it around in his hands. Then he picked up the letter to finish reading it.

I’m in it. If you want me to be with you for longer, just call Woodrow, and he’ll come. I’ve dressed him in a few of my old things. You know what to do from there. It’s your decision, sweets. I’ve given you a choice because you are my everything. I have loved you more than anyone has ever loved someone else. I’ve loved you more than scientifically or spiritually possible. I have loved you, August, my tinkerer, my life, my one and only. I still love you and will always love you. I’ll see you at some point soon; either through the eyes of an automaton or at the Pearly Gates waiting to embrace you. Goodbye, sweets.

And that was it. Nothing more. August had to decide whether to let her go to Heaven, which he knew she wanted, but he wasn’t even sure if it existed or not, or to put her into Woodrow, which would be selfish and was something he knew Samantha didn’t want.

How could he possibly make that choice? August took the box containing her ashes from the dresser and opened it. Inside was another sealed container, but this one was translucent. He could now see what remained of his wife.

“But those are only her physical remains,” he thought.

In his other hand was her essence. Her consciousness. He could talk to her right now. His wife was the only person who could make August feel better. August could tell her how much it hurt not to have her here. He wanted to tell Samantha how much he loved her right then.

“Woodrow! Woodrow,” he called out loudly. “Get in here! Woodrow!”

August immediately heard the sound of clacking wood coming down the hallway. It rattled like the unrolling of a wooden plank bridge.

Woodrow stepped into the room, and the sight initially made August laugh; until he remembered the significance of the wooden automaton’s appearance. Woodrow had on a baseball cap that August had given to Samantha a few years ago, which said, “Kiss the Cook” on it. The automaton was also wearing Samantha’s wedding and engagement rings on a chain around its neck. But most importantly, Woodrow wore a navy blue dress with white dots all over it.

The sight of that dress sent August into a fit of sobbing again, and he fell onto the bed; burying his face in Samantha’s pillow, breathing in the smell of her hair. It was faint, and August knew it would only grow weaker every single day. Soon, he would forget the distinct scent of his wife’s long black hair. His favorite fragrance in the world was now gone forever, and so he greedily inhaled the last remnants.

At that moment, August seemed to make up his mind. He grabbed the SameSoul and walked over to Woodrow. The automaton already knew what to do, and opened the port created for a BrainSave that would now house a much more advanced tech,; one that August had designed and built.
 

Woodrow reached out his wooden hand and took the little box from August. Without missing a beat, the automaton raised it’s hand and began to place the chip in the receiver port.

“I’m sorry,” August whimpered.

He then reached out lightning-fast, and slapped the SameSoul out of Woodrow’s hand, sending it flying across the room.

Chapter 25

LET GO

The SameSoul soared across the room, and August immediately chased after it, his face a mask of fear. Before it could collide with the ground and possibly damage the consciousness of the woman within, he cupped his hands around the small data module and delicately plucked it from the air.

A large sigh escaped his lips as he opened his hands and saw the undamaged box held there. Looking over at Woodrow, who was now walking towards August and the SameSoul, August realized the automaton wasn’t done trying to implant the device yet.

“Woodrow,” he said in warning, “back off now, buddy. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to install this just yet.”

“IN STALL,” the human-like wooden automaton wearing a navy blue dress, baseball cap, and necklace replied as it reached out for the SameSoul.
 

Woodrow tried to take the data box from August, but met resistance; August wouldn’t let go.
 

 
He couldn’t let go.

“Stop it now, Woodrow,” August ordered his creation. “I… I’m... I don’t think I can do it. She wouldn’t want this.”

This time, the automaton heeded the commands given to it by the sole remaining creator. Woodrow stopped trying to take the SameSoul. He turned around and trundled to the corner where he powered down, the port for the SameSoul still open and waiting.

August scooped up the box containing Samantha’s ashes from the dresser. He took only that and the vessel containing his wife’s consciousness with him as he left their home and locked it up, never planning on never returning, and took out his cell phone.

“Hello?” a voice weary with sleep said over the Montek.Communication line.
 

August glanced at the time and wondered why on Earth his old friend, and the Best Man at his wedding, was doing still asleep at this hour of the day.

“Bobby, hi. It’s August,” he replied into his cellphone.

Bobby Li cleared his throat and August heard the sound of a cigarette being lit. Some people still clung to bad habits, even in today’s medically advanced world.

“Dude. What’s up? I was sleeping real hard. Had a late gig last night, you know. Shitty tips, too. So, what’s happening, man? Haven’t talked to you in, like, four months.”

“Yeah, sorry about the lack of contact,” August said, trying his best to hold it together, but audibly struggling.
 

“I wanted…”
 

 
he choked on his words and held back a full-blown wail, leaving him unable to speak for a moment.