sharp breath, as if he just remembered something. “Sorry, with everything going on the past couple of days, I almost forgot.” He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it on the table—an envelope with almost illegible printing.
To Uncle Chaz
“What’s this?” I asked as I picked it up.
“An invitation to Isabelle’s birthday party. She wanted to have it early this year, didn’t want to share it with all the monsters on Halloween.”
I hesitated. I loved my niece like she was my own kid, but after last night I wasn’t sure if my Newbie was ready for social gatherings.
“Go ahead and bring the Newbie—I mean, Angelique,” Russ said with a flippant wave of his hand. “She may as well learn that families aren’t as wonderful as everybody thinks. Maybe it’ll even make her glad she doesn’t have one.”
“Maybe she does have one.”
“Yeah, and maybe I have an island off the coast of India. Look, just be there tonight at six and let’s not fight, okay?”
I could tell that there was more he wanted to say, saw a flash of emotion, heard his voice catch in his throat. I pretty much had it figured out, but I gave him some space. Let him say it.
“Mom’s gonna be there,” he said finally, “and I think she’s bringing Dad with her.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Chaz:
I hadn’t seen Mom for about a week. I guess I’m about as guilty as the next guy when it comes to staying in touch. Especially when I’m on a job, although that’s really no excuse.
The last time I saw her was on Tuesday. Or maybe it was Monday.
It was about 6 P.M. I usually go right after dinner. Watching one of the attendants feed her is a little more than I can handle. As liberated and open-minded as I try to be, I have to confess that sickness and death still bother me, probably more than they should, considering I’m a One-Timer.
She was in bed, resting. I came in and sat beside her and waited. I knew she would open her eyes soon. As quiet as I was, I knew the smell would give me away. VR suits always give off an odor; some people say they smell like maple syrup, others say it’s more like vanilla cake. Since I’m usually the one inside the suit I don’t really have an opinion. Virtual reality caught on big-time a few years before my father passed away, and I’m sure that’s why he did what he did. He got caught up in the craze and wanted to give Mom an anniversary present she wouldn’t forget.
Well, none of us ever forgot that one.
Like I said, Mom was in bed, silver hair smoothed on the pillow, her skin pink and paper-soft with age. Her hands lay at her side, elegant long fingers wearing rings of wrinkles at each joint. She had lost some weight. The monitor over her headboard registered 101 LBS. in glowing red numbers. Her pulse, temperature, blood pressure, electrolytes and cholesterol were all readily visible, along with a few other numbers that I never could figure out. I glanced at the cheat sheet I had brought with me, compared the current numbers with what they had been last time.
She was fading away. Pretty soon she would just vanish. All her numbers would read zero and her spirit would sail away.
When I finally got the courage to lift my gaze from my mother’s frail body, I saw him. Damn holo has uncanny timing. Right when I looked across the room to the corner, where I knew it was—this supernatural, super-spooky, three-dimensional rendition of my father when he was thirty-eight years old—it looked up and stared right back at me. And smiled.
A tear formed and slid down my cheek.
I hate that holo.
He looked just like he did right before he died. Dad never grew old. Never got gray hair or wrinkles. So this creature that occasionally flickers and skips with a hiss and a crackle actually looks a lot like me.
It’s disconcerting to outlive your own father. To realize that every year after this one will be one more than he had.
Mom woke up right about then, when I was analyzing the miserable lack of accomplishment in my life, when I was silently cursing a technology that could keep a virtual ghost of my father alive forever but couldn’t find a cure for what was slowly killing my mother.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
She reached out and touched my VR arm with her hand, a caress as soft