Out of Touch (36 page)

             
“Samuel said it wasn’t that bad,” Reggie stammered, “that she was just sedated.”

             
“But they wanted to kill her,” Aliana sobbed.

             
“Who did?”

             
“I-- I’ll find Emma.” Aliana tromped out the door, almost bumping into it. Tears still shining on her face.

             
Reggie took her place in the seat beside Sarah. Part of him wanted to be sad, but a larger part shouted defiantly that she was okay.

             
Soon Emma came in and closed the door.

             
“You’re not freaking out?” the teenager asked.

             
“Should I be?”

             
Emma shrugged, “Some bunch of teeps decided to kill her because she was able to take Tom’s telepathy away. My parents are pissed, but might kick you out anyway. They had her sedated and brought back here just in case she did some weird teek thing when she woke up. They barely even act like she’s a person.”

             
“So she hasn’t been awake since being shot in the head?”

             
“Yeah, six hours now. The sedative should have worn off, but we hadn’t slept or eaten—“

             
“She’s over-sensitive to medications.”

             
“Seriously?” Emma squeaked and leaned over Sarah.

             
“It hasn’t been a problem before, but I don’t think she’s ever been sedated.”

             
“Should we bring in a doctor? The only teep ones are suspect—“

             
Aliana burst in the door and ran to the far side of the bed, staring down at Sarah’s face. Had she been listening? Reggie wasn’t sure how much Aliana knew.

             
“Sarah, can you hear me?” Aliana pleaded. She grabbed Sarah’s shoulders and for a moment Reggie feared she would shake her despite the head injury. But she didn’t, and Sarah opened her eyes. Aliana started sobbing out loud. Sarah’s eyes fixed on her, then Emma, then Reggie.

             
Reggie squeezed Sarah’s hand. “Are you all right?” She started to nod, and he said, “Don’t move your head.”

             
“Where are we?” Sarah asked. Her voice was rough, but she seemed as alert as when waking from sleep, which with Sarah was fairly alert.

             
“An empty room in my basement,” Emma answered, with a glance over her shoulder at bare white walls. “They took everything out in case you threw a teek fit or something. Can you still—“

             
Aliana’s tangled hair was smoothed back behind her shoulders by invisible hands. She didn’t flinch; so Reggie concluded she’d been brought in on most of the secrets.

             
“Have you told anyone?” Sarah whispered, eyes on Aliana.

“Not about me, not yet.”

              Reggie imagined himself the new kid in the clubhouse even before Sarah mumbled, “Could you tell Reggie for me? I’m so tired.”

             
“If you want. We’ll take care of you.” Aliana reached a hand to Sarah’s chin and cheek, leaning over her as her eyes closed.

             
Reggie felt Sarah squeeze his hand, then fall asleep like a light going out. There was silence in the room for minutes. Emma finally left without meeting anyone’s eyes.

             
Aliana gingerly pulled herself up on the foot of the bed. There was only one chair in the room. Quietly she said, “We were warned to leave Chiang Mai, but Sarah needed to do something to quiet my thoughts. I guess she tried doing what she did to the man called Tom, figuring I wasn’t telepathic, so it wouldn’t hurt anything. It did hide my thoughts, but now I can hear hers.”

             
“But no one else’s?” Reggie kept his voice even, like he was in the doorway of an all girls tree house being told it was more than just all girls.

             
“Not so far, and Emma can’t get through to me.”

             
“And Sarah still can’t . . .” Reggie shook his head not quite completing the question.

             
“Hear me? No. And she hates that I can hear her. I’m starting to hate it, too. It’s quiet now, but do you know what kind of fear came through in the few words her mind screamed while she was unconscious?”

             
“No, but I can imagine.” Reggie wondered if he could. Until yesterday, he was pretty sure he knew Sarah better than anyone else ever had. Now, Aliana had a direct line to her thoughts.

             
“I don’t want to believe, don’t even know what’s real,” Aliana said.

             
“I’m sorry.”

             
Aliana nodded, face calm, back straight, completely different from the demented figure he’d found watching Sarah when he entered. Reggie barely knew Aliana, and he didn’t know what to think of her now.

              Four days later, Sarah had only a scar, which she stared at in the mirror several times a day and arranged her hair to cover the rest of the time. It formed a shiny red stripe from above her left ear to three inches behind. She wouldn’t sleep on that side, but otherwise, she kept insisting it was fine. Reggie suspected she'd done more than just remove the stitches telekinetically, but she didn’t seem inclined to talk about that, or anything else.

             
To fill the silence, they listened to audio he downloaded onto the PAD. Trying to be chivalrous, Reggie played music more than he would normally choose. But now it was just past noon and despite the heat, Reggie was making crepes. In the seconds it took to fry each one he scooped diced fruit into bowls. Mango into the first bowl, flip the crepe, durian into the second, start a new crepe, banana into a third, flip the new crepe.

While cooking he strongly preferred to hear news, so the PAD was blurting, “The British Campaign Against Toxoplasmosis sparked new interest today with their proposal to euthanize all infected felines. It has been illegal to import animals carrying the disease into Britain or Scotland for over a decade, and there is still no treatment for infected cats or humans once the parasite reaches the brain. However, animal advocates argue that cats are worth the minor risks involved and the scientific community is still divided as to whether psychological effects on infected humans are primarily pro- or anti-social.”

              Reggie glanced around to see Sarah, who was folding cats from squares of golden paper. It was good to see her take interest in anything, after the last few days of quiet withdrawal. He reminded himself that she’d been shot in the head, though the injury didn’t look so major now. Surely, as a good boyfriend, he could wait until she wanted to talk about it, even if it was hard to keep quiet when he was with her constantly. He couldn’t even stir himself to go outside for air, afraid someone would sneak into the house, someone he wouldn’t be able to stop anyway. 

Sarah sat on the bed, propped up with pillows. Her scar was only noticeable because he knew where to look. Otherwise, she was the picture of health, and seemed incongruous playing the invalid. Around her were scattered paper birds and animals, folded from an origami kit that Emma had given her yesterday. Any concerns about wasting teek power seemed to have evaporated, since she now folded two at a time, one with hands, one without.

The news continued, “An Indian physician, Dr. Manoj Agarwal, working for Doctors Without Borders, has raised concerns about the U.S. backed AIDS vaccination program. Dr. Agarwal claims he became suspicious upon seeing the bulky needle disposal units designed solely for the new international program. He claims that after each needle is used to inject vaccine, it is placed point down into a plastic box, which aligns the needles in a grid, possibly to deposit samples of the recipients’ DNA. These used materials are taken to a processing van where Agarwal claims the grids may be used for secret genetic testing.”

Reggie was just leaning around to spy Sarah’s reaction when he saw Aliana and Emma, in their workout clothes, approaching the glass front door.

“Can we come in?” Emma asked, head already through the door. She took an exaggerated sniff and said, “Or would we be interrupting lunch?”

Sarah continued her silent folding, so Reggie smiled and said, “Come in. You can stay for crepes if you’d like.”

“Oh, no,” said Aliana. “We’ll just visit for a moment. If we eat your wonderful food we’ll be too full to dance.”

Reggie knew he should offer again, but he didn’t actually want the extra company. So he let them scurry over to Sarah’s bedside as he finished up in the kitchen.

“Wow,” he heard Emma say. “Is that easier or harder using teek.”

“Same if I’m doing both, easier if I’m only using teek and work like there’s an extra opposable thumb on each side.”

“Isn’t that confusing?” Emma asked.

Reggie heard no reply. He looked over to see Sarah staring at Aliana and Emma staring at Sarah. They looked like three figures in a sculpture, frozen in mid-action.

“Would you like to stay for lunch?” he called out loudly.

“No, we should really go.” Aliana leaned over the paper menagerie to give Sarah a hug. Emma did the same and then they rushed out.

“What was that all about?” Reggie asked and knew at once that he shouldn’t have said it. There wasn’t going to be an answer. “Shall we eat?”

              The next day, Reggie and Sarah walked through the double doors of the Johnson family’s sitting room. It was Sarah’s first day out of bed. Ida greeted her with a pat on her hand and then steered her toward an oversized beanbag. Reggie perched on an ergonomic stool by the wall, feeling very mother hen-ish, but Sarah showed no sign of needing him. He watched Emma, with her knees pulled up in a chair swing, coasting back and forth in the light of a window, eyes fixed on an empty patch of air. Samuel sat quietly in a Danish-design armchair. Ida was the only Johnson who seemed fully present in the room. She brought out a tea tray, something dark with a hint of citrus, and offered everyone a cup. Then, when they were all seated with their tea, she began.

             
“I know it’s been a hard week for everyone,” Ida said, smoothing her dress.

             
“I appreciate all you’ve done to help me,” Sarah said.

             
“It was the least we could do given the circumstances. There’s always been an inner and outer circle of teeps in Bangkok, but there’s never been violence before.”

             
“It wasn’t her fault!” Emma shouted from the swing.

             
“No one’s saying it was,” her mother answered.

             
“But you’re sending her away!” Emma whined.

             
“Emma—” began her father.

             
“It’s all right,” said Ida. “Sarah, Reggie, we’ve been glad to have you here with us, and with Emma. It’s not that we blame you for what happened. But we walk a fine line living here in Thailand and trying to do what’s best for our community.”

             
Samuel took over. “Recent developments should make it safe for you to find your own place in Bangkok. But if you’re worried, the Thai government has offered to provide you lodgings and security if you participate in experiments involving what you did to Tom and other—“

             
“I’m sorry, but what recent developments?” Sarah asked.

             
“Well, we’ve sent out feelers since Tom began to regain his abilities, and there’s widespread regret in the community about the attempt on your life.”

             
“Tom’s telepathy works now?” Sarah was sitting up straight in her beanbag.

             
Samuel spread his hands in surprise and glanced at his daughter and his wife. “I thought you knew. When he heard you’d been shot, he came back into teep society and demonstrated that his mind is receptive and he can speak telepathically, weakly now, but he believes it’s getting stronger. He’s argued against blaming teeks.”

             
Sarah just sat with her mouth open.

             
There was a silence before Emma muttered, “If it’s all okay, then why are you making them leave?”

             
Ida answered, “I know you like being in the center of things, Emma. But you’re only thirteen, on the verge of entering the adult world. You don’t need—“

             
“Sarah and Reggie,” Samuel interrupted, “Why don’t you come with me to the office and we can discuss what the government is prepared to offer you.”

             
Like sheep, they followed Samuel out of the room, leaving Ida and Emma alone.

              The next day, Sarah and Reggie packed. They’d declined the government offer and talked about where they might move and how to distance themselves from the Thai teep community without creating more problems. Reggie felt like a hawk watching Sarah for any signs of dizziness or fatigue. But what he saw was the beautiful woman he loved, acting and talking more or less the way she had before being shot. Other than being asked to move, it was as if the last week hadn’t happened.