Waiting by Erin Dennington ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 38 Davis' hands were clammy when he finally hung up the phone. Dropping it beside him on the couch, he put his arms behind his head and contemplated life. He'd met his wife when they were both grad students at MIT. She went on to become a theoretical scientist with NASA while Davis had floundered along until he started his own business. It wasn't that Davis wasn't a smart man -- his studies at MIT proved that -- but he was more gifted with electronics than with theoretical probabilities, which is what most of his classmates had been good at. He had never been much of a get-up and go sort of figure before, but he was finding that success was a rather heady feeling. He had only wanted to be a worthy enough man for his wife and had, just recently, felt like he would never measure up. Not only was she smart and beautiful, she didn't have cancer. And Davis took his cancer as a sign of personal failure. Davis felt much more pure and at peace now that he had told his wife his fears and problems, and had opened his heart to her about how much longer the doctors gave him to live. Another point in Bethany's favor was that she did not begrudge him for shutting her out, but had asked him to let her help him deal with the cancer. She told him that her love was strong enough for both of them to handle anything and Davis found that he could believe it. Davis no longer felt like a failure compared to her. He only wished he had more than 5 weeks in which to enjoy that feeling with her. He kept a small, portable radio in his office to keep track of the world's current events, and he found himself lazily moving the dial around until he found a local news station. Sitting up, he put his hands on his knees and pushed himself to his feet, twisting his torso around to crack it. He was only half listening to the news when he heard the lead story about the morning's accident. When he heard his name, he quietly cursed and turned the volume up. He'd be dammed if Bill had already broken the story and momentarily regretted agreeing to do an interview. If Bill had broken the story this soon, he could just forget about his exclusive interview. He felt relief when he realized that his name was only briefly mentioned in passing; rather, the focus on the story seemed to be the loss of some valuable data and research by the scientist that was driving the van. Davis remembered the buzzing sound he'd heard and the blanket he had touched. He again felt the disgust and fear that had felt when he'd been looking for a blanket in the van. Davis' relief that the story was not about him was broken when he guessed what had been underneath the blanket and he felt a growing sense of horror as he contemplated the implications of it all. Suddenly he knew that his 5 weeks to live were nothing compared to the lives of the area residents. Unsure what to do, he did the first thing that came to mind. Reaching out with shaking fingers and sweaty palms, he dialed the number Bill had given him. When he reached Bill, he asked him to relay all that he had seen inside of the car and van at the accident scene. "Leave nothing out," he instructed. "Hey, I'm the journalist here," Bill protested, half-jokingly. "Yeah, but I may just help you break one of the most important stories to ever hit this area," Davis responded. "But I need to know some things first." 21:44 - 11.11.02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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