Lucy by Laurence Gonzales Read Free Book Online Page B

most piercing hazel-colored eyes. Sometimes he’d just train his eyes on Jenny and she could feel her knees begin to buckle. And for a rumpled intellectual he cut a very romantic figure. He owned a small airplane and on weekends in the fall, he’d perform operations all day, then hop in his plane, fly to New York, and attend the opera. He took Jenny with him once and she felt like the queen of Manhattan.
    Then she discovered the bonobos in the Milwaukee Zoo and changed course. She entered graduate school in biological anthropology. At the time, Harry was going to central Africa once a year to perform surgery on children for Doctors Without Borders. He’d sometimes be on his feet eighteen hours a day. Jenny thought he was a god and was relieved that he didn’t take himself too seriously. He referred to the odd multinational collection of physicians as “Doctors Without Licenses.” He took Jenny to Sudan as his assistant one summer. When they were finished, he introduced her to David Meece and she made her way down to Congo to see bonobos in the wild for the first time. By then Harry and Jenny had bonded permanently. They had tried but could never quite kindle a romance, especially with both of their busy schedules. But she could always count on him. It was Harry who had wired the money to get Jenny and Lucy out of England. As they stood in the kitchen now, Jenny told herself, You were a fool not to marry him. You could have had children. But that was long ago.
    “We couldn’t really talk when I was driving you home from the airport,” Harry said. “I mean, she was right there in the car. But what on earth were you thinking, bringing her here? Have you lost your mind?”
    “I couldn’t throw her in an orphanage, Harry. I rescued her. I brought her out of the jungle. And then it was like with those girls at the shelter. I had to help.”
    Harry let his shoulders drop. “Well, you’re right, of course. You have a good heart, Jenny. Maybe too good for your own good.” He took her in his arms and rubbed her shoulder. He found a spot and scratched. “You still itch there in the mornings?”
    “Yes.” She felt like a little girl in his arms.
    “I’m just glad you’re safe. I hope you’ll stick around a while. Not planning on going back there, I hope.”
    “Take a look at her, will you? Go make yourself useful and be a doctor.”
    “Yes, of course. I’ll run some tests. Make sure she doesn’t have Ebola or something lovely like that.”
    “Hey. You’re the one who took me to Africa.”
    “Not Congo. Congo is different. Dart of Harkness, it is.” And he vaulted up the stairs two at a time.
    Lucy seemed to be sleeping more peacefully. Harry rummaged in his pockets for a flashlight, then pulled back her eyelids and shined the LED into her pupils. He looked in her throat and ears, listened to her lungs and heart with his stethoscope. “Clear lungs,” he said. “Strong heart.” Then he drew two vials of blood. Lucy didn’t flinch.
    When they had returned to the kitchen Harry said, “There’s something very peculiar about that girl.”
    “Like what?”
    “I can’t say. Just a sense I get. Her eyes are strange. Her skin is different. Her hair. She smells funny, too. Has she bathed?”
    “Yes, of course.” Jenny had noticed it, too.
    “Well, I’m going to run these over to the lab.”
    “You’re a saint.”
    “I’m a doctor. Don’t fret. Her vital signs are good. She probably just has the flu.”
    Yes, Jenny thought, as she watched Harry go: It’s probably just the flu.

5
    JENNY SLEPT ON A PAD at the foot of Lucy’s bed. She took her temperature twice in the night, and the second time it was normal. Relieved, she slept soundly after that. Now she thought she was dreaming. She heard a beautiful voice singing in Italian. She luxuriated in the sound, the sleep, and then with a start, she was awake. The lilies were in bloom, and their aroma reached her on the breeze. She sat up and saw that