Anthology Complex (28 page)

I get a feel of nostalgia and decide to go to the hospital to see how he
is doing, or maybe I'm actually hoping that Kathleen is there and I can pretend
that she isn't annoying. I get on a bus that is almost completely empty except
for one young man who looks as if he is coming from school. As I pass him by he
looks up at me and gives me a light greeting.

As far as I travel, I still end up getting off before him and once again
he is a lone traveler. The night will do that to you sometimes.

When I get to the hospital, Joe is still in the same room and looks exactly
as I last saw him when I visited with Tao. Kathleen is not present, but
considering she has just been diagnosed with diabetes, type unknown, there's
always a chance she's not too far from here. For a moment I want to ask one of
people who works there if they have a Kathleen White in the building, but I
quickly come back to my senses.

Clothes. I haven't seen Joe in clothes that he has chosen himself in a
long time. Appearances may be deceiving, but they might also play a role in
discovering the type of person someone is. The way a person styles their hair,
or even the way they don't bother with it. The colors they prefer, the colors
that they don't. The kind of smell they want to give off, the size of their
shirt or pants, the shoes they wear in a certain situation. Some people try to
appear pleasing one hundred percent of the time because they never know who
they might meet, others only try to appear pleasing when they are trying to
meet someone, otherwise it's not as big of a deal.

A nurse walks by and and asks me if I am family or a friend. I lie and
tell her that I'm a friend. Either answer would be a lie I guess.

She tells me how he's been here for a long time, then I ask if he is
getting any better. She tells me that he hasn't really changed at all, for
better or for worse, then goes on to tell me that it's really up to him if he
wants to get out of it or not, then she gets a call and is needed elsewhere.
Not to say she was needed here.

What she says gets me thinking, thinking if a person's will to live
plays a role in their identity, but enough of that. I need to go back home. I
make my way out of the room and then make my way to the first floor of the
hospital. I begin to walk down a hallway which leads to the building's exit,
but along the way there will be a woman named Julia sitting in one of the
hospital's many waiting rooms. She will be reading, waiting to hear about a
dear friend who was mildly injured.

I will have to walk pass her without her noticing me in an effort to
avoid any type of communication. If that fails, I will either have to run, or
pretend I am someone else. I get closer and closer to her and try to stay in a
position where I can see her but she can't fully see me. At the end of it all,
I manage to get pass her, but as I'm at the exit door, I begin to think about
shopping at the Chase Mart. How I haven't been there in so long and how if I
don't confront her eventually I will never be able to go there again. How I
hate going to that huge grocery store two miles away with the lousy employees.

"Hey Julia." She looks up at me surprised. After she
completely recognizes me, there is no anger or anything of the like in her
expression. Maybe the events that brought her here made her too tired to be
angry.

I realize that it's safe to converse and that any ill feelings or wills
she has towards me are temporarily suspended, so I ask her what she's reading.
She tells me it's a collection of all the works by her favorite author.
Interesting.

I sit down and she begins to tell me about how her boyfriend injured
himself at work, and how she is waiting to hear about his condition. She asks
me how I've been and I tell her that I'm the same as I've ever been.

I ask her about her job, and she tells me she hates it. She talks about
how she hates computers, how she hates her boss, how she hates all the
paperwork. I try to imagine what computers and paperwork would have to do with
being a clerk at a convenient store, but I can make no connection. I guess she
must have detected the confusion in my face because she then says that she
doesn't work at that store anymore, that she got a new job. This is some of the
best information I have received in a long time.

Just before visiting hours end, a doctor speaks with Julia, and then we
continue our conversation outside as the Moon watches us.

Her first words catch me off-guard as she begins to talk about how
losing me forced her to become stronger. How she had to stop herself from using
drugs and making bad friends. Ultimately, she says losing me played a large
part in her getting to where she is now; not exactly having her dream life but
having a life that she can accept and call her own.

I, on the other hand, am not full of words, so the conversation ends and
we part ways. That is until we realize we are going to be taking the same bus.
There are a few people on the bus we get on, but we manage to sit near each
other and end up talking about trivial matters the entire way. She gets off
before me and after she leaves the thought of definition comes back into my
mind. Most of the time, the audience of a book defines the book itself. If Joe
ever wrote a book, is it possible that the people who end up reading his book
are like him? I need to stop thinking about this.

I get off the bus and begin to walk home. As I'm crossing the parking
lot for my apartment building, I see that Lynne is in her car, exactly like how
she was some nights ago, and she is just sitting there looking down as if she
is doing something with her hands. After a second she notices me and waves, I
wave back and then go inside. On my way in I see one of the other tenants who
is on his way out.

Sarah's grandmother tells her that moving isn't so bad, that she will go
to a new school and make new friends. Emily's attempt to comfort Sarah seems to
work a little bit, but the same attempt has no affect on David at all. He
cannot be reached.

Across the hall, in the kitchen, is Lynne who is making Sarah and David
lunch. Desirable sandwiches. After she finishes, she walks into the living room
and gives them both the food she has prepared, and just like her own mother,
she attempts to relieve the children of any discomfort they have about moving
to a new home.

Moments later the children are eating and watching television while the
two elder women speak about how a life without Silvio will be better for
everyone. After the night has fallen and after the children are sleeping, Lynne
sits down on her bed and takes off her prosthetic foot, and then lays down to
sleep, thinking about how the next coming days are a chance for her to start
over.

After days of packing, the moving truck arrives and is ready to be
filled with possessions. The truck driver is a long time friend of Lynne who
says yes to her when she asks if her and the kids can ride in the front for the
trip to the new home.

During the drive, the truck driver says that a pair of jeans and a
t-shirt are more comfortable for moving, especially when you have to walk a
lot. Lynne says that she will be fine, and then notices that they are driving
pass Chase street and tells the driver that they are nearly there. When they
get there they began to unload, and after a certain amount of time the moving
process is complete. Due to an emergency, the movers had to leave a bit early
which resulted in them bringing in the last few possessions less professionally
than usual, one of them being a television that was left in the middle of the
living room.

Lynne, with only one foot, does not attempt to move the television
alone, but instead eventually gets help from one of her new neighbors who she
hopes would become a long-time companion.

Chapter 47:

AN APPETITE FOR DARKNESS

I've had a dream where I'm walking through a forest, and along my
travel, in the distance, I see the Lord sitting on a large rock. I watch the
Lord, wondering what he's done and what he will do next. Where's he's been and
where he plans to go.

Moments later Satan appears, who looks to be tired from a long journey
of his own. The two had been working on a project and were still in the early
phases. Satan had decided to test the set of rules they had decided for the
project, rules we would later name "the laws of physics."

Satan approaches the Lord, and the Lord says to Satan, "Where have
you come from?" Satan answers the Lord, "From roaming through the
Earth and going back and forth in it."

As a child I remember someone telling me that Satan was at one time one
of God's angels, but I guess something happened between them and they went
their separate ways. Most people would say Satan went from being good to being
evil. Funny how quickly one thing can become the exact opposite.

Most people might also say that you must try your best to cleanse
yourself of evil, but the meaning of that advice is relative. Few people might
say you must cleanse yourself of good. The first piece of advice, because it is
more common, people will always associate cleansing one's self with the act of
ridding one's self from any kind of evil, but in a place with no influence, no
commonality, cleansing one's self will mean to either become all good or become
all evil, and there will be no judgment on which path you choose because either
or is one in the same and the words "most" and "few" are
simply made-up words from a book of fiction.

The Sun is rising, but not everyone rises along with it. There is one
woman who has risen before even the Sun because today is her first day working
with others who are considered to be the best in their fields.

She lives alone, but she is not lonely. She has not yet developed an
appetite for darkness, though she will after the life she chooses leaves her in
turmoil. Serving the police department, she will learn that the will to do good
sometimes needs to be fed by bad or rotten roots.

"You're early, detective Jackson." She looks at her commanding
officer and wonders what being early may imply. Her commanding officer
continues to speak, "You're early but there is one person you will never
beat to the station." The person he is referring to is detective Mainor.
While Lieutenant Merils means to imply that Mainor is always the first person
to show up, that's simply not true. What he actually means is that in his
heart, Mainor never really stops doing the job, and because of this he never
really leaves the station. Mainor is the type of detective who even when he's
at home he is working on catching his victim's killer. "If you can put as
much devotion to the job as Mainor, you won't need talent or luck."
Detective Mya Jackson thinks on those words.

Frank Mainor walks into the large room. "Are you talking about me
again?" Merils tells Mainor about the new addition to his squad, Mya
Jackson. Mainor looks at Jackson and then walks up to her to shake her hand and
welcomes her aboard. Jackson catches a glimpse of a whiteboard with a list of
names. These are a list of names of people who have been murdered in the
current year. She looks at Mainor's name, all of the names are in black except
two. Next to Mainor's name is Wilson who has more than thirteen names in red.
It doesn't take long for Jackson to realize that Wilson was the one who had to
solve the "abandoned apartment murders."

About thirty minutes later, Mainor and Merils are in Merils's office and
Mainor is giving him his opinion on the new officer. Mainor, as he has warned
Merils before, says that adding people to the team is unnecessary, especially
if the person doesn't have any experience. Merils says that more man-power
means the quicker they will bring down the drug kingpin and the quicker they
can all get back to their regular jobs and lives.

Mainor walks out of the office and tells a deskless Jackson that they
are going for a drive. The two get outside to see the Sun is out and the
darkness is gone. If you asked him, Mainor would tell you that the darkness is
the only place an evil person could hide. He would also tell you that you could
find good people hiding in the same darkness. He might make you wonder if he is
one of those good people who hides in said darkness, and if he might pass on
his appetite for darkness to a young Mya Jackson.