Читать книгу Do Not Resuscitate - Charley Brindley - Страница 4

March 23, 2019

“Caitlion, just listen to me. We’ve had a good eighteen years. Now, you’re going out there and live your life. Go to university, run the company, travel…but promise me you won’t squander your life. Live it to the fullest, for me.”

“Charley,” the man said. “It’s time.”

I nodded.

My little Caitlion held my wrinkled old hand to her cheek. “I can’t let you go.”

“You have to, baby. He said it’s time.”

I waved a hand toward him. She looked around, as if no one else was there.

“I want you to…” I stopped for a breath. “…go get me a Big Mac. Can you do that?”

She sniffed and smiled. “Will they let you have it?”

“The nurse said I could have anything I want today.” That wasn’t true, but it really didn’t matter.

She stood. “I’ll be back in ten minutes. You want fries?”

I nodded and gave her my last smile, then she left the room.

“When you arrive, look for this iPad in the loft of the barn,” the blue doctor said. “It’s loaded with everything; Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia…” He glanced at the glowing screen before him, which illuminated his face in a greenish light. He slid his finger up to the next page. “Every book in the Library of Congress, every invention in the U.S. Patent Office, formulas and descriptions of every medicine known to man, and a lot more you’ll find when you need it. There’ll be a solar charging panel, too. You have to keep everything hidden. They would never understand.”

“What loft? What barn?” I asked.

“The round barn. You know how to work the notebook, right?”

“Yeah, but I can’t even walk. Are they going to take me in an ambulance?”

“No, you’re going to fly.”

I almost laughed. “Oh, okay.”

“We only have a few minutes. All your instructions will be in a folder named ‘Instructions.’”

How clever to disguise the name like that. I never would have figured that out.

“Instructions for what?”

“You’ll see when you get there.”

“What kind of doctor…are you?” My heart did some kind of flip-flop I’d never felt before. Not painful, but disconcerting. My breath stopped for a few seconds.

“…before she gets back,” he said.

“Wha—” Tingling, my legs.

“…but you won’t be able to contact us.”

“Contact who?”

What a strange feeling. Something warm flowing through me.

I heard some erratic beeps, then a long one.

I felt a whoosh, like air pushed out of a tunnel ahead of a speeding train.

Then a jolt.