Chapter 16
Posted: February 18, 2009 - 12:31:12 pm
Dr. Robert Rankin waved tiredly as Nurse Tolliver sashayed out through the ER doors. They’d both pulled a double, but only he seemed to look like it; the normally sad and wistful-looking nurse had bounced her way through sixteen hours of continuous work all smiles, adding an uncharacteristic layer of pleasure to her usual efficiency. She even managed somehow to look saucy in her scrubs … Robert wasn’t into chunky girls, but something in the way she was making that ass of hers dance suddenly had his attention…
Louise Carter, the floor nurse, followed his gaze. "She’s got a man, finally, it looks like…"
Robert quelled a flash of disappointment. "How can you tell?"
"She’s got that freshly fucked look…" Louise’s eyes lingered on the doctor’s, waiting to see if he would take offense. Louise was black, generally narrow but a little thick in places — and generally no-nonsense. "It seems like you never know about some of them until they turn up with that look; I imagine you guys spend a lot of time kicking yourselves when you realize you had your shot and you blew it…" She eyed him for another moment, and when it became apparent that he wasn’t prepared to say anything, turned and swayed off, leaving Robert open-mouthed for the second time in thirty seconds.
Christ! Robert thought. 'Are all of the nurses suddenly in season or something? I’m going to have to pay more attention… ' Louise was undoubtedly correct about Tolliver — and if he watched things closely, he might be able to catch her on the rebound. Nurses were a whole lot better catch than the kind of gold-digger he found in bars who started sniffing and howling when they heard the word 'doctor, ' but who generally didn’t understand that a resident worked like a dog and was on call virtually constantly. They’d fall into bed with you the first couple of times, no problem, their eyes reflecting dollar signs — but over time, having to put up with your odd hours and constant fatigue drove them off. Nurses understood and didn’t complain when you wanted war-zone life-affirming sex and then six hours of sleep; they wanted that, too … As for Louise — was she teasing him, or was she also available for a roll in the hay? He thought she was married, but that hadn’t stopped a few nurses he’d met — and he’d never had a black woman…
Having done a double, Beth returned home at seven-thirty, and was in bed before eight; while she would have the day off, she would be on from three to eleven on Sunday. That being the case, it was easy for Toby to get the family car for a trip to the Flanders'.
Jean’s Friday night had been less than pleasant; nothing makes you want sex like having had it recently, and her decision to avoid the situation had already cost her, given the rate at which the others were having their thirsts slaked. She was angry with Candace, both for her refusal to do what was right and for her machinations — and although she couldn’t admit it, the fact that Candace had apparently seduced Toby ran as an unacknowledged undercurrent to her resentment. Jean had tossed and turned, dreaming weird dreams in which Toby came to see her in prison for incredible conjugal visits — a fine combination of lust and horror. She awoke on the ragged edge, not refreshed by sleep; she threw a heavy robe over her short nightie, brushed her hair and teeth, and staggered out to the kitchen for coffee. When it was done, she sat at the table, hugging her oversized mug, and tried to get her head together.
Rick had been up since eight-thirty, but he didn’t want to be around when Toby got there. He snatched a cup and headed outdoors.
Lon arrived while Toby was still outside in the driveway. "Hey, Man!' he called out to his friend.
"Hey," Toby replied.
"Here to see Rick? He’s grounded, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I’ll probably come out and join you guys after, but first I have to talk to Jean," Toby sighed.
"You need to do more than that, Man," Lon pointed out. "You need to get her back on track!"
"What’s THAT supposed to mean?" Toby demanded.
"Hey, easy!" Lon placated. "I mean you need to get her off the We’re all gonna be jailbirds! kick and get her to relax. Rick says she’s bouncing off the walls; I figure she’s missing that salami of yours…" He grinned.
"Maybe," Toby grunted. "Trouble is, she’s right! This shit IS dangerous!"
"Okay — but it isn’t going to end, and we DON’T need her triggering the crash for our own good. if you know what I mean…" Lon arched an eyebrow. "The martyrdom thing is worse than what WE’RE doing!"
Toby nodded. "I’ll try to avoid that."
"Cool." Lon turned back to the car for his gym bag; it looked like he was gonna need it…
He’d caught up again by the time Jean answered the door. "Hi, Jean — is Rick here?"
"Yes, Lon." Jean studied him a moment, then added, "He’s out back."
"Cool." Lon stepped around her and broke for the back of the house without any further attempts at conversation; Toby was here — HE could handle the third degree…
"Wow! Are you okay?" Toby asked Jean. She looked rough…
"I couldn’t sleep a wink!" Jean replied. "And what little I DID sleep was full of such dreams…" She turned and headed back toward the kitchen, murmuring over her shoulder, "This whole pictures thing…"
" … Will be all right," Toby finished.
"Really?" Jean was skeptical as she drew Toby a cup of coffee and put it down before him at the table before re-seating herself. "I don’t see how…"
"They’re secure," Toby assured her.
"But why take them in the first place?" Jean asked.
"It was necessary. Let me explain…"
Outside, Lon dropped his gym bag on the lounger next to the one where Rick was adding to his tan and started digging in it. "Hi, yourself!" Rick prodded.
"Sorry, Man," Lon apologized, then stopped what he was doing, looking up at his friend. "I want to make sure everything is in place to fix your problem."
"Yeah? Like what?" Rick demanded.
"Look, Man — we need to bust your mama loose. Right now, she’s busy freaking about pictures — and she isn’t even in any! Our best shot to cool her down is in there working on her — but even if he gets her to cool out, it’ll probably wear off. We’re gonna need something more long-term…"
"Like?" Rick suspected that he wasn’t going to like this…
Lon fished a camera out of the bag. "Like pics, Man."
"Shit," Rick grunted, disgusted. "That won’t fix things!"
"Look, Man — NOTHING will FIX things, as far as your mama’s concerned — but we can keep her from fighting everything and make her play ball if we’ve got some leverage on her. Eventually, she’ll settle down — and in the meantime, we’ll be getting you out from under her thumb!"
"I don’t like it," Rick argued — but he wasn’t pushing. "Is Toby in on this?"
"Nope," Lon replied. "I didn’t want to mess with his head. We’ll just let nature take its course and let Superdick roll over your mama — and get a couple of quick pics of the result. Then when she starts giving everybody crap…"
Rick eyed Lon, thinking; he could see the upside of Lon’s plan — and the downside. The upside was that Mom would get off his back — and maybe settle down a bit, once she got used to things. The downside? Lon. Toby knew technology and he knew enough to keep things safe and secure — or at least hidden. Lon didn’t; he wouldn’t give any thought to it and even if he did, he didn’t have the tools. That increased the dangers significantly — and if Lon’s mother got HER hands on them … He addressed the downside directly, "What are you going to do with the pictures?"