help but hold in a tense breath, expecting to hear the crack and pop of his bones crumbling apart. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me at all. It’s hard to believe a body can age so much and still function, still hold itself together.
“What’s a pretty girl like you doing with this underachiever?” Tom delivers me an endearing smile and a coy eyebrow lift. “You can do better than this cable guy.”
“I kinda like him,” I smile, and when Ran’s eyes flash my direction, I deepen the grin.
Tom shrugs. “Well, maybe you can teach him a thing or two about getting his work done, lazy boy. No one knows the meaning of work these days.”
Ran’s still looking at me, like my last statement requires several moments for him to process.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Tom gives me an approving nod. “Alright you two. You gotta get on outta here. Caroline is coming soon and I can’t have too many visitors before they start limiting it.”
“You’re just too popular, Tom,” Ran says, pushing off the sofa. He reaches a hand back to pull me up as well. “I’ll see you next week.”
I stand to my feet and take hold of Tom’s extended hand, shaking it so carefully, feeling as though it might break between my fingers, when I notice Ran walking over to a low table at the base of the window. He picks something up and shakes it three times and it sounds like a saltshaker. “You need to make sure you feed them every day, Tom.” When he steps back, I see a clear bowl with two golden fish swimming around in it. “I haven’t had to replace any yet, so keep up the good work.”
Tom rolls his eyes and looks at me, his cold, scaly grip still on my hand. “Strangest cable man around giving all the people here gold fish. I say he should focus on doing his job and less on fish, if you ask me.” Tom winks and his eye is entirely swallowed up in the creases and folds of his worn face.
I smile, pull my hand from his, and join Ran in the doorway.
“It was nice meeting you, Tom.” I wave.
“Nice to meet you, Maggie,” Tom says, then throws a cutting glare toward Ran. “Patrick, don’t go messing this one up.”
Ran looks at Tom, then down at me, and when he answers, he keeps his eyes held with mine. “Don’t worry, Tom. I don’t plan to.”
“One last stop before we can head back.” Ran pulls me through a hall that smells like a mixture of urine and ammonia, which makes my eyes burn and my throat feel raw. There are two wheelchairs parked at the far end of the hallway, angled outward toward the window, and the patients inhabiting them can barely be seen over the backs of their chairs, they’re slumped so low. I follow the direction of their gaze, and it’s just an empty parking lot with one, lone, beat up truck filling a single space on the other side of the glass. You’d think someone could place them near a window that at least had a tree or a bird outside of it. Some sign of life.
Ran pops his head into a room just to the left of us. “Miss Dorothy?” he asks, edging slightly into it. “It’s Patrick. Tom told me your cable was giving you some problems?”
A woman tucked tightly into her covers lifts her head up at the sound of Ran’s voice. “Oh,” her speech is just as shaky as Tom’s, but there’s a sweet quality to it. “Hello Patrick.” She glances back and forth between us and gives me an endearing smile. “Yes, channel three isn’t working and I like to watch my stories in the afternoon.”
Ran runs his hand over his chin and crinkles his forehead as if he’s contemplating what she’s saying. “Okay. Let me see what I can do about that.” He walks over to a TV that’s mounted in the right corner of the small room, hanging just under the ceiling. He pushes a few buttons, taps on the screen a couple of times, and then walks back over to reclaim my hand. “Should be all set for you, Dorothy.”
She offers another smile that stretches all the way across her face, crinkling her eyes. “Thank you, dear.” After looking at Ran, she looks at me with the same charming gaze. “I’ll see you next week.”
“See you next week, Miss Dorothy,” Ran confirms, slipping back