Conduit by Maria Rachel Hooley Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t want to
leave, he held out his hand for keys and said, “I’ll get the truck.”
    “Thanks.”  Jimmie handed them over,
his gaze still focused on his beloved, so attentive he didn’t see Lev leave. 
No, all he saw was Elizabeth being helped into the wheelchair.  No doubt Evan
was still behind the scenes, doing his own helping.
    “You look so much better, Lizzie,”
the nurse commented cheerfully, which forced Lizzie to nod, or at least appear
to nod.  While it was harmless enough, all the small talk was setting Jimmie’s
teeth on edge because he knew Lizzie really couldn’t respond to any of it, and
he’d never been great at doing anything for show.  No, he’d take things the way
they really were any day.  There was something to be said for understanding
just how things were supposed to be rather than how they appeared to be. 
Still, the whole way to the parking lot, Jimmie managed to keep from saying
exactly what he felt when he felt it because he knew it wasn’t going to do any
good.
    The nurse wheeled Lizzie out to the
curb, where Lev already stood, waiting beside the truck.  As he caught sight of
Lizzie, he opened the passenger door, obviously anxious to get her away from
this place.
    “You ready to go home, Lizzie?” the
nurse asked, again in that sickeningly cheerful voice.
    Again, Lizzie nodded, just as the
wheelchair stopped in front of the truck.  The nurse applied the brakes and
hovered close as Lizzie stepped toward the truck and slid onto the bench seat,
scooting toward the middle to make sure both Jimmie and Lev would fit.
    Once the nurse was satisfied Lizzie
had belted in properly and that her job was done, she gave a final wave and
headed back inside. 
    “Thank God,” Jimmie said, his
shoulders sagging under the weight of relief as he ambled to the driver’s side
and got in to find the key still in the ignition, waiting.  “I thought we weren’t
going to get out of there.”
    “That makes two of us,” Lev grumbled,
easing in on his own side.
    Both of them shifted at the same time
to see Lizzie as she really appeared, slumped as she was against the seat, her
head lolling backward.  Somehow, Evan sat on the small bench seat in back, his
hands lingering on Lizzie’s shoulders, presumably to keep her upright.  As Evan
wasn’t small, it amazed Lev he even fit.
    “Nice tricks back there,” Lev quipped
dryly.  “I was wondering what you do if Nurse Nice asked you a question that
required a verbal answer.”
    “I would have managed,” Evan said in
Lizzie’s voice.  Her lips moved as well to complete the effect.
    Jimmie held up his hands in
surrender.  “Okay, stop that.  It’s downright frightening to hear my own
daughter’s voice come out of you.  I don’t care if you are an angel.”
    “I don’t like it any better than you
do,” Evan mused, this time in his own voice as Jimmie started the truck and
eased away from the curb.
    Once they’d left the parking lot,
Lizzie gave out a soft moan, the first sound she’d made since Evan had pushed
her into a deep sleep.  Immediately, Lev reached over and stroked her forehead,
distressed that she might be in pain.
    “It’s okay, baby.  I’m here.”  He
leaned close.
    “Is she waking up?” Jimmie asked,
glancing back and forth between the road and her.  He couldn’t stare directly
at his daughter because just up ahead, there was a semi with a load of long
metal poles.
    “Probably not,” Evan replied.  “I’ve
just eased up my hold on her slightly so that if there are any dybbuks near, I will have a better chance to sense them.  It’s taking a lot out of me
to keep her under so deeply for so long.”  Still, he leaned forward, hands
resting on her shoulders as though he prepared to put her back under more
deeply should the need arise.
    Evan cocked his head to the side, and
his expression turned strange, almost as though lost in another time and
place.  Lev shook his head.
    “What is