Over the Darkened Landscape - By Derryl Murphy Page 0,26

of her had always been prepared for this.

She tried to speak but her voice choked inside her throat. She coughed, then said, “I’m all right now.”

“Good. I knew you could handle this. Wesley didn’t think this call was a good idea, but thankfully they called Morris. He cleared it right away. Man knows what’s important.”

A thought came to Jackie, of her husband floating through space forever, lifeless body wrapped inside his tomb of a suit. She bit her lip. “What’s the view right now?” she asked. She knew her husband could rave for hours about all that he saw when he was in orbit.

“Great.” Allen laughed. “A little unsettling, to tell you the truth. But still great. Just wish it was constant.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m spinning crazier than a top, love. It’s worse than the first time I jumped from a plane, when I forgot to arch my back. Earth-space-Earth-space-Earth-space, on and on. At least I had a chute to straighten me out back then.”

She smiled. “I remember that jump. I was so pissed off with you when you came home with that sprained ankle.”

A small laugh. “Only time in my life I’ve regretted being served my meals in bed.”

The doorbell rang. Denise got up to offer a hand, but Jackie shook her head vigorously, waving her towards the front door instead. “There’s someone at the door, Allen.” She pressed the heel of her free hand to her left eye, smeared at the tears that were starting to flow there, repeated the procedure on her other eye.

“Should be Morris and Sandra, Jack. He told me they were going to be heading right over. Just make sure you check before opening the door, confirm that it isn’t media. They shouldn’t know about this yet, but you can never be too sure.”

Denise headed downstairs, Jackie following slowly behind her. At the foot of the stairs she paused, watched as her mother let the former astronaut and his wife into the front entry. “It’s them, Allen,” she whispered. “But I’m not sure I want company right now.”

“Your mom will know what to do, love, don’t worry. Just go settle into your comfy chair.”

Sandra came over and gave Jackie a quick hard hug, looked her in the eyes with her own agonized expression, then turned and followed Denise into the kitchen. Already Jackie could smell the coffee brewing. She turned and went into the den, eased herself into the comfy chair.

“You know where the key for the safe deposit box is?” said Allen.

Jackie held her breath a moment, willing herself to be strong for him. “On the rack by the back door.”

“Yeah. There’s a video for Worm in the box, something I made a few days before launch. My will and a note for you as well.”

He waited for her to answer, breathing still sounding louder and more ragged than his voice. When she didn’t talk, he continued.

“Insurance and the pension should cover things nicely, and I suspect you can expect a decent payout from NASA. Spend something on yourself, put a bunch away in a fund for Worm for education. I’ll trust you to know what’s right to do with it.”

Jackie held the phone away for a second, blew her nose. “Damn right you’ll trust me, hon. I do the money stuff even when you’re home.”

“Ha. Right you are.”

They were both silent for a few seconds. Then, “Have I told you today that I love you?”

Before she could fight it off, a sob jumped from deep inside her. She pulled the phone away from her ear, biting hard on her quivering lower lip and squeezing her eyes against the new flow of tears. No matter how hard the day, no matter the time, Allen always found time to say that to her every day they were together. Even if it slipped his mind until the literal last minute, he would wake her up at a minute to midnight if he had to, just to tell her that.

But then she found a smile, small and sad, but still a smile. “Trust you to wake me up in the middle of the night to let me know. Couldn’t remember at a decent hour, could you?”

They both laughed, Jackie’s laughs quickly turning into a coughing fit to cover up the rising swell of sobs.

“Remember all our special walks in the woods, okay? And dinner at Packrat’s.”

She smiled. “Always.”

His breathing was more ragged now. “Seeing the Perseids together on our third date, and me lying in bed

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