Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker Read Free Book Online Page B

transfusion.”
    “Oh,” I whispered.
    They pushed me away from Jimmy’s window then, but I maintained my smile until the last second. I even managed a little wave to my brother, before I broke down in sobs.
    While I still had enough air to gasp, I asked Mr. Spaulding to get me out of here. I knew it was going to be a bad attack, and I might lose consciousness. I was crying too hard.
    I was already running out of air when Dr. Phillips shouted, “Is she asthmatic?” Mr. Spaulding didn’t respond. He took me by the arm and we moved to the nearest exit sign. Somehow he managed to get me to the safety of the cab, even though he had to lug me most of the way. He did what I desperately wanted, even though hekept cursing and mumbling that it was against his better judgment to take a person who couldn’t breathe away from the hospital. He also told me it would be all right many, many times. Jimmy would be all right, he said, and so would I.
    From that point on, I was proud to call him by his given name. He was Stephen now, my first friend.

 
four
    S TEPHEN S PAULDING was lying on his couch at 2:47 a.m., wide awake. Nothing unusual about that. He’d had insomnia nine nights out of ten since the accident. What was unusual were his thoughts, or more precisely that he was letting himself think, rather than turning on the TV or drinking himself senseless or even staring at the ceiling until his mind was perfectly blank, something he’d become an expert at in the two years since he’d lost Ellen and Lizzie. Maybe the explanation was simple: he finally had something to think about. He could, for instance, wonder if he was losing his mind. He could wonder what the hell he’d gotten himself into, bringing that woman back to his apartment.
    He’d driven her all the way to the Radisson first, despite how frightened she’d looked when he suggested it. She admitted she’d never stayed in a hotel before—why wasn’t he surprised? She also admitted that she’d never spent a night away from home before, except on the Greyhound bus, which really didn’t count, she said,because it wasn’t like night when you were traveling on a bus. You didn’t have to sleep. You could hear talking at all hours. It was friendlier than she’d expected. Nothing like being alone in a room in a strange place.
    “I’ll help you check in,” he said. “But then I really have to go.”
    She didn’t protest, only said thank you. Yet before they were even through the Radisson front door, he heard her start with the goofy singing again. He checked her pulse and it was up to 165. Not as bad as outside the hospital, when she was at 202, but still a cause for concern.
    Her reaction when he suggested she stay with him instead was just another in a seemingly endless list of weird things about her. She said, “Do you have any extra socks?”
    He couldn’t help laughing, but this time rather than staring at him like she’d never seen a person laugh before, she laughed too. Who knows what she would have said if he’d asked her why. In any case, it wasn’t long before she was back to the vaguely sad expression she’d had all day.
    Was he trying to make her happier by offering to take her to the twenty-four-hour Wal-Mart? No, he told himself, he was just passing the time. It was only nine-thirty. Too early to go to his apartment, especially as she’d spent the afternoon asleep in his cab. Maybe some part of him was thinking it would be distracting for her. Wherever she was from—and he still hadn’t asked her, he hadn’t wanted to pry—she’d obviously never been to a Wal-Mart.
    Her first reaction was the overwhelmed shyness he’d seen every time they stopped at another dump looking for her brother. She’d actually stepped behind him when the Wal-Mart greeter came forward. “Who is that person?” she whispered. “Do you know her?” But after about ten minutes, she seemed to get comfortable, and then the rapid-fire questions began. She was