Chapter 31
I got home before 7 a.m., and I thought I had more than half an hour before Brad would give me a lift to get to FoodTech labs. Christine was on the east coast, 2 hours ahead of me, she was likely at work, or heading there. Mornings are never a good moment to phone people to chat about life during week-days, but I decided I would give Christine a ring, just to know how life was treating her. She was still at home when I phoned her.
“Hey Iris! What’s happening for you at this hour of the day?”, she exclaimed loudly, her voice shaking my eardrums.
Then I heard some stirring on the background, and a male’s voice.
“It’s in the other room, give me a moment”, Christine said to whoever her guest was, and then to me, “Sorry, he couldn’t find his stuff”.
“I would like to ask you who “he” is, but I suppose it wouldn’t be nice to discuss the guy when he is there and you two just passed the night together”, I laughed, “I shouldn’t have called you so early…it’s just that I dreamed about you”.
“You dreamed about me? They all do!”, she teased, “And what was I doing in your dreams?”.
“I was discussing with you why people are passing away at an unexpected rate at the Cross cancer institute”.
Christine was silent for a moment.
“But is this really happening? I mean, are you sure about the suspicious deaths at the Cross cancer institute?”, she asked, her voice suddenly tense.
“I cannot be sure, but there was a journalist at the hospital the other day and he wanted to see someone, a doctor, to discuss this matter. Why, do you want to make a scoop?”.
The fact that Christine was taking me so seriously scared me, and I was trying to defuse the effect of my previous statement.
“Well, this is a very odd coincidence, you see, because in one of the cancer institutes here in NY the same thing is happening. The relatives of a patient called us, they were mad with pain at the loss of someone who, according to them, should not have died. I began investigating, and found that other patients who were not in critical conditions had died. I tried to speak with their families, some agreed to meet us, others just wanted to be left alone. Of course we couldn’t get much information from the doctors, they want to protect themselves and the reputation of the hospital so they keep us away as much as they can. I wonder if there’s a connection…”.
I heard again the male voice on the background, and then Christine’s, “Give me a moment sugar, will you?”.
“Perhaps we can talk more at a later time?”, I suggested.
“We should. I must go now, but I’ll call you back”.
Christine was shuffling something around as she spoke, then there was a thump on the floor.
“Shoot, my make-ups are all over the floor now! Ok darling, I’ll call you back, we must talk about everything including this story. Love you plenty”, she told me in her usual flamboyant and rushed voice, then hang up.
I held the receiver over the free line signal for a moment, thinking about what Christine had just said. I had a strange feeling about this whole matter, first the journalist at the Cross cancer institute, then my incredibly realistic dream, vivid in my mind even after I had awoken, and finally what Christine had found in NY. Something was just not right, although I had so little information that I could be making up the whole plot. I decided to postpone all thoughts about the subject and went to take a shower. It was so hot those days that unless one had AC – which was the case for all but anachronistic curiosities like myself -it was impossible not to shower at least twice per day. I let the water soothe me till it went cold, then I got dressed just in time to make myself another coffee. I was rinsing off the cup when I heard Brad’s honk the horn to let me know he was there.