She looked confused. "What do you mean? What else could there be?"
"On those other times you got into the cab," I asked her, "had you ever been drinking on any of those times?"
"Drinking," she asked, "what does that have to do with anything?"
"Were you?" I repeated.
"I don't think so," she answered after a moment's thought. "Usually it was when I was heading for the airport to go home on the holidays or returning from the airport. You know, when I had luggage and shit with me? Why…" Her eyes widened as she realized what I was saying. "Holy shit."
I nodded. "In my previous life, when you were killed on graduation night, you had a blood alcohol level of point oh nine. The papers made a big deal about that in their article about teenaged drinking. David Mitchell's attorney made a big deal of it at his trial, as if the fact that you were drunk too excused the fact that he'd killed you and abandoned you in the water. When your boyfriend at college drove into the Bay in the car that you were supposed to be in, you had been drinking. And when you got into the cab in South Lake Tahoe you'd been drinking too."
"Oh my God," she exclaimed, sitting up a little in the bed. Her book tumbled off and fell to the floor. "Are you saying that I had to be drinking too in order for the accident to happen?"
"I don't know," I told her. "You tell me. Were you drunk or had been drinking on any of your other cab trips? Or on any other time you'd gotten into a car with someone since graduation?"
She thought long and hard about that, her face scrunched in concentration. "Only once," she finally answered. "The night that Darren had his accident, the accident I was supposed to be in, I took a cab home instead of riding with him. I was drunk then. But other than that, never."
"Hmm," I said thoughtfully. "That fits. On the night of Darren's accident, fate had already arranged something for you. All of the conditions were met but you didn't get in the car. You got in another car. The fact that you were drunk was probably cancelled out by the fact that you hadn't gotten in the car you were supposed to have gotten in. Interesting. Are you sure there are no other times you got into a cab or another car while you were drunk?"
"Well, another car yes," she told me. "Quite a few times. But never while the driver was drunk too. And I never got into a cab while I was drunk at all. After you told me about graduation night and especially after Lisa Sanchez died, I made sure that I never got in a car with someone who was drunk. If Cindy and I went out, one of us would always stay sober, I made sure of it. When I went to college but before Darren's accident, I did the same thing. I made damn sure that if I was drinking someone else who had not been was doing the driving. On all of the cab rides I took before except for that one, I was stone cold sober since they were usually to or from the airport. Jesus Bill, do you mean to say that I could have been riding in cars all of this time as long as I wasn't drunk?"
"It kinda seems that way, doesn't it?" I asked.
"Fuck me," she muttered, shaking her head.
"But again Tracy," I qualified, "we don't know the exact rules here. I could be wrong."
"Doesn't it feel right to you?" she demanded.
"Yes," I admitted.
"Fuck me," she said again.
Mike stopped by for a few minutes the next day. He asked about Tracy and was glad to hear she was doing okay. He told me he couldn't stay long because he and Maggie were going downtown to catch a movie.
"You and Maggie are getting along pretty good huh?" I asked casually.
"Yeah," he said, his eyes beaming. "She's great. We've been out every day since the boat trip, doing something. You were wrong. She doesn't have a boyfriend at all. Hasn't had one in a while in fact."
"Cool," I nodded. "Guess my information was wrong then."
"Guess what else happened while you were gone?" He asked.
"What?"
"I got a job at the fire department."
"A job? What do you mean?"
"I'm gonna be what they call the courier. The position was open and the battalion chief at the station where I was at called and asked if I wanted it. I'll start next Monday. I'll drive around in one of their little trucks delivering the inter-station mail and the supplies. It's five days a week, about four hours a day and it pays five-fifty an hour."
"That's cool Mike," I told him, pleased. I guess the battalion chief had liked him after all.
"Yeah," he nodded. "And the best thing is that it keeps my foot in the door at the department for the next time they test. Keeps my face known and all that, especially since I'll visit all the stations on all three shifts. And the guys at the station where I was at told me I could use their weight room whenever I wanted to help build up my arms for the combat challenge." He gave me a determined look. "I'm gonna ace that motherfucker next time I take it."
We talked a little bit more and he eventually climbed back in his car and drove off to go get ready for his date with Maggie. Talking with him had put me in a great mood.
Nina came over for dinner that night. After eating my Mom's ham we spent a little time talking to Tracy in her little cave. The two of them chatted on and on, mostly ignoring me as Nina asked question after question about college life and Tracy answered them. We were at the stage where we were waiting for either the acceptance or the rejection letters from UWS and Nina told her how she waited every day for the appearance of the mailman and was disappointed every day when the letter wasn't there. Tracy said she remembered well what that had felt like. Finally, with her pain medication kicking in, Tracy started to nod off a little.
"We'd better let you sleep," I told her, standing up. "You got your appointment tomorrow at the hospital."
"Yeah," she mumbled sleepily. "What a nightmare that's going to be. Another ambulance coming over to wrestle me onto a gurney."
We said good night to her and headed out towards the porch, passing Mom and Dad who were in the living room watching television. Mom was working on some of the paperwork from her job that she'd missed while she was gone. She didn't plan to go back to work until Tracy was better so she was completing some of her work at home. Dad was going over some bills. My parents rarely watched the television, they just liked to have it on while they did other things. They both grunted to us as we went out the front door, closing it behind us.
We sat on the old porch swing and Nina leaned into me. The sun had just set and the few clouds in the sky were tinged with red as the sky steadily darkened. The evening star was the only one out.
"How come an ambulance has to come and get Tracy?" Nina asked me.
"Because she's in that lower body cast and she can't bend. She won't fit in the car so they have to put her on a gurney, take her to the hospital for the appointment, and then bring her back again. That's how they're gonna have to do it for the next five weeks until the cast can come off. Then she'll start physical therapy until she's able to walk again normally."
"Poor Tracy," she said sadly, snuggling a little closer to me. "Are you going with her tomorrow?"
"No," I said. "Just Mom and Dad. I imagine it'll degenerate to just Mom after a few times."
"What time does she go?"
"The appointment's at nine," I answered. "But the ambulance will be here at eight-thirty. Why?"
"Oh, just curious." She said innocently. Maybe a little too innocently.
We talked and swung gently back and forth as the last of the light faded from the sky. The kids that had been outside playing all drifted back in as their mothers called them. Other stars appeared and the sound of the crickets began.
I pulled her a little tighter and she turned her face up to me to be kissed.
I put my lips to hers, feeling her tongue dart out to taste me. My tongue answered back for a moment as I relished the feel of her mouth against mine.
I broke the kiss and tried to pull away but her arms went around my neck, pulling me gently against her. Her tongue shot back into my mouth insistently, hungrily. I kissed back enthusiastically for a moment, aroused by her aggression. I allowed my hand to drop to the skin of her bare thigh.