NUMB by Judy Colella (the best books to read .txt) đ
- Author: Judy Colella
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âNah, not unless I have someone to throw to.â Fitz tucked up his legs and began to sing. He did that, it seemed, whenever he wanted to be ignored. If anyone tried to talk to him while he was doing this, heâd stop long enough to say, âCanât you see Iâm trying to sing? Leave me alone!â and then return to it. His singing voice was horrible, but this behavior was somehow relaxing for the man, so no one made him stop.
The younger man, who went by âWindowpane,â and which everyone knew was a nickname, shuffled up to Jett. âHey, N, you gonna play Free Cell later?â
âNot tonight,â the orderly answered instead. âHe has to work on strengthening his foot and ankle after lunch, and then has a private session with Dr. Rufino.â
âToo bad. I like watching him never lose.â Windowpane burst into laughter that was just this side of manic, and left the room.
Shaking his head and smiling at the retreating back of the strangely-named patient, the orderly turned to Jett. âYouâve done really well, today, Mr. N. How do you feel?â
Jett flexed his shoulder, gave a slight wince, then made the sign for âlittleâ with his thumb and finger.
âHuh. Thatâs better than yesterday, though.â The orderly looked pleased. âIâll let the therapist know. He wants to make sure you donât overdo it.â
After one of the patients had come up with the âMr. Nobodyâ reference, Jett had been called that for several weeks, but eventually it got abbreviated to âMr. N,â and now many of the patients were calling him âN.â He never indicated that the name was a problem for him, so it stuck. Even his brother would call him that when he visited.
Jett seemed, finally, to be recovering in a meaningful way, and all were pleased with his progress. Except.
Except that the only person he ever actually spoke to with words by writing his thoughts, was his brother. Until he began communicating that way with the doctors, regardless of how physically fit he became, he wasnât going to be allowed to leave without a whole lot of legal interference from the outside. Dr. Rufino had gotten permission from the hospitalâs Board to detain Jett, despite his having checked himself in. There was, they all agreed, sufficient proof that the young man was still too unstable to be allowed out. Not that he was a danger to anyone but himself, but that was reason enough, they felt, to keep him there until deemed capable of handling life in a normal way once again.
Of course, Jett knew nothing of this, but what he did know and how he felt about it all was anybodyâs guess. The other thing of which Jett knew nothing was the contents and import of the devastating email his mother-in-law had sent.
How he handled that information would determine his entire future.
*******
A lot of thinking, of weighing the possible outcomes, of considering things like impact, practicality and how to even talk about it, had gone into Jaxâs decision to bring his parents in on what he knew. It had taken him a full month, during which heâd called Chara demanding details, and done a lot of research into international law and private-investigation organizations that got him nowhere. He had visited Jett twice, but couldnât see the profit in telling him what was going on. He had hoped to fix the problem himself, but finally had to admit it was beyond his ability. So now, having made that decision to tell his parents, he saw it would not be easy. But what had been since the day they were told about the crash?
âHoney, why are you pacing?â
Jax halted in the middle of the kitchen, his untouched cup of coffee growing cold in his hand. He put it on the counter. Faced his parents who were sitting at the breakfast bar dividing the room. This is going to be a bitch. âUm, I have something to tell you thatâs going to upset you a whole lot.â
Celia half-stood. âWhat happened, Ajax? Is Jett all right?â
âHeâs fine. For now. ThisâŠthis is something else, somethingâŠoh, hell!â He stared hard at the floor, dreading the next words crowding into the front of his mind, demanding to be shown the exit.
âSon, letâs hear it. Spit it out. Weâll deal with whatever it is together, okay?â
He nodded, looked back at them and said, âAtarah isnât dead.â
After a long, tight silence, Celia whispered, âWhat are you talking about?â
No going back⊠âChara sent an email to Jett. I saw it by accident â he was supposed to get it, uh, later, I guess. I mean, she knows he went off somewhere, but I got the impression she believed heâd be back soon and wanted him to know what really happened.â
âCharaâŠâ Celia practically choked on the name. âAre you saying she had something to do with this? That she lied to me? To us? To Jett?â
âYes, but she did it to protect âTarah. She was going to tell Jett about it immediately, but something went wrong.â
âAjax, Iâm a few seconds away from calling that woman and giving her hell, so before I do, I recommend you fill us in on the whys and wherefores.â Bryson, eyes like a storm, had gotten to his feet.
âOkay. Please sit down, Dad.â
He complied, but slowly.
âThank you. Okay. You know Seth was terribly sick and needed an operation, yes? It seems Chara couldnât find a doctor who would risk doing that operation, and it looked like he was going to die within a few weeks of the onset, or whatever it is you call that. And then this neurologist contacted her. Said heâd examine her husband at least, and then tell her whether or not heâd operate.â He scowled, remembering Charaâs next words. âAnyhow, he went to Greece, examined Seth, and then â then he told Chara that heâd do it, but that she would have to meet his price.â Not wanting to so much as give voice to what that manâs price was, Jax fell silent and began pacing again.
âFor the love of God, Ajax, get to the damn point!â
âSorry, Dad. The point. Right. The son-of-a-bitch said his price was Atarah. Seems he saw her photograph in an arts magazine several years ago and became obsessed with her. Of course, that isnât how he put it. He had the gall to tell Chara he was in love with her daughter, had actually been stalking her all this time. He had cut out every photo he could find in the gossip papers, magazines, art stuff â and heâd been following her wherever she went. Said he would save Sethâs life in exchange for Atarah becoming his. Not his wife, his. Period. He wanted to own her, to, I donât know, make her his toy or some such thing. And when Chara said she had just gotten married, he said he didnât care. That if necessary, heâd kill her husband! Heâd better never cross my path, the bastard!â
âAnd what did Chara do?â Celia had gone pale for several minutes, but was flushed with anger when she asked this.
âArranged to have the pilot jump out with âTarah and crash the plane when they were almost at Paros, but still out over the water. A friend was waiting there with a boat. But something went wrong, and the plane crashed closer than it was supposed to, I think she said. I donât really remember â Iâll show you the email later. The thing is, âTarah was hit by some of the debris and got a severe head injury. She hadnât even known about any of this!â He clenched his fists, but then made himself ease up enough to continue. âThey brought her to a friendâs home as planned, but couldnât get any doctors involved because Chara was afraid it would get out that she hadnât been on the stupid plane when it went down.â He stopped pacing and sat opposite his mother. âWhatever. Anyway, the long and short of it is that she has amnesia. Doesnât know who she is or what happened.â
Bryson shook his head, unconsciously covering one of his wifeâs hands with his own. âAs infuriating as this is to learn, I donât understand why itâs as bad as your behavior is telling us it is. What havenât you said?â
âThe proverbial plot thickened quite a bit after that, and what I havenât told you is the reason it took me a month to say anything to you at all. And donât give me that look, Mom. Listen. Youâll get why I waited, why I had to be sure it was something I should tell you.â He took a long, deep breath, blew it out slowly, and continued. âChara let the doctor know about the crash, indicating that her daughter was dead. By this time, heâd already performed the operation and Seth was going to be all right. She ended up paying the guy over a million dollars for the operation, but said she felt her daughterâs safety was worth it. After he left to go back to his clinic inâŠwherever, Chara arranged to have âTarah brought to the house to work as a servant. That way, sheâd have her back, be able to keep an eye on her, andâŠall that. She told me that since âTarahâs such a high-profile person, someone might have recognized her. So she cut her hair real short, dressed her in ugly maid-like clothes, and almost never spoke English in order to reinforce âTarahâs Greek. And since everyone thought she was dead, no one was expecting to see her, so in a way, she was hiding in plain sight whenever she went shopping and stuff.â
âAnd thereâs more. Stop rambling.â
âYes. Sorry, Mom. The doctor was supposed to come back for the last of his follow-up visits. The previous ones took place while âTarah was still recovering from her head injury and was at that other womanâs house. Who, by the way, they told âTarah was her mother.â
âThings this complicated never end well,â Bryson muttered. He took a sip of coffee and almost spat it out. âYuck. Cold.â
Celia jumped up. âIâll get you a fresh cup. If I donât do something, Iâm going to scream. Please keep talking, Ajax. I can hear you.â
I would hope so, Mom â youâre only a few feet away. âWell, yeah. So Mrs. J was going to arrange for âTarah to be at what she believed was her motherâs house when the doctor came, but he changed his plans at the last second, and showed up three days early. âTarah got sent to Athens several hours before he got there so he wouldnât see her, but it seems she was still suffering from headaches. They had told her she had a neurological condition, which was why she had so many gaps in her memory.â
On the other side of the room, Celia snorted. âHow clever.â
âSure was. Well, because of that, and because sheâs the one who took the phone call from the doc saying he was going to get there early, she was possibly reminded that he was a neurologist. She must have put two and two together, and concluded he might be able to help her with her, uh, condition.â Jax swallowed hard, reminded sharply of the other thing, the one he really, really didnât want to discuss. âSo, um, she came back early from her shopping trip in order to see him. Chara was upstairs when they met, so doesnât know what was said. All she knows is what one of her other maids told her â that âTarah spoke with the doctor, and they left together. That night, he called Chara, said
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