Nine-Tenths by Meira Pentermann Read Free Book Online Page A

advance. People don’t fear catching it the way they used to. There was mass hysteria in the beginning.”
    “I can only imagine.”
    “We’re doing a lot of retesting at the hospital, but most people go about their business and don’t worry about CARS…Except…” The word caught in her throat. She took a moment to calm herself. “…except many babies of uninfected parents develop the disease in utero.”
    “That’s odd. And scary.” He crinkled his nose. “Does the mother contract it then?”
    “No.”
    “So how can a fetus become infected? It doesn’t make sense.”
    Alina did not respond. She spoke almost as if she were reading a health bulletin. “Anyone who shows the slightest sign of unusual behavior is removed from the general population and retested.”
    Leonard frowned, mildly puzzled. Her response had nothing to do with his question.
    She continued, “But Collins exhibited no symptoms.”
    “Collins?”
    “The administrator. From the hospital.”
    “Right. Sorry.”
    “It was highly suspicious,” Alina whispered in spite of the overbearing narrator on the nature program. Leonard had to lean in to hear her over the noise. “Everyone had been tested already. Everyone.” She paused for a moment, searching for the words. “What drove someone to test him again?”
    “The virus is likely to crop up here and there. You can’t have entirely eradicated it.”
    “I know, but why spontaneously retest him specifically? At that time, there were very few retests. But not long after Collins, retest requests rose dramatically.”
    “I don’t understand the—”
    “It’s an excuse to relocate people who…” Alina stared at the ground in shame, as if she were somehow responsible for the conspiracy. “…who are not enamored with the administration.”
    “That’s an interesting way to dispose of political dissidents.”
    “Shh.”
    Leonard grasped her hands tightly. “But that doesn’t mean our house is bugged.”
    “I’m not finished. I wondered about Collins the third day he didn’t show up for work. ‘Is he sick?’ I asked a nurse named Brenda.”
    “Is that the Brenda you used to study with as an undergrad?”
    “Yes. Anyway, Brenda told me very loudly that he had CARS and isn’t it a shame and so on and so forth. Then she knocked over a tray of surgical instruments and gestured for me to help her pick them up. We returned the tools to the metal tray with more gusto than necessary. There on the floor, amidst the clattering surgical instruments, Brenda whispered into my ear, ‘Be careful what you say, Alina. Anywhere, anytime. In the hospital, at the grocery store, even in your home. Take a walk if you want to talk to someone you trust, but only if you trust them very, very much. I shouldn’t even assume that I can trust you.’
    “I tried to protest, reminding her how many late nights we spent at the library, but she rattled the instruments and concluded her warning. ‘By default, trust no one,’ she said. ‘Especially not your children.’”
    “Your children?” Leonard said, shocked.
    Alina slapped Leonard on the leg. “Lower your voice.”
    “What about your husband?”
    “I haven’t trusted you for years.”
    “Then why are you telling me now?”
    She stared at him intently for a moment. “Because, unless this is a remarkable performance, you suddenly seem like an innocent bystander in a world gone astray.”
    Leonard tilted his head and raised one eyebrow slightly. “I guess I am.” He frowned. “Unless I’m the one who caused this mess.”
    “You could not have caused anything, Leonard,” Alina said in desperation.
    “Then how do you explain it?”
    She tapped his forehead. “The time machine is in here. You’ve had some sort of memory wipe or…I don’t know.”
    Leonard sighed, tired of trying to reassert his position. “Maybe it’s an alternate reality, like a parallel universe.”
    “Sure, honey.” Alina stood up. “A parallel universe.” She