Passage by Connie Willis Read Free Book Online Page A

said. “She might be in with Mrs. Davenport.”
    He went down to Mrs. Davenport’s room, but she wasn’t there. “I
wish
she’d get here,” Mrs. Davenport said. “I have
so
much to tell her and Mr. Mandrake. While I was floating above my body, I heard the doctor say—”
    “Mr. Mandrake?” Richard said.
    “Maurice Mandrake,” she said. “He wrote
The Light at the End of the Tunnel.
He’s going to be so excited that I’ve remembered—”
    “I thought Dr. Lander was interviewing you.”
    “They both are. They work together, you know.”
    “They
work
together?”
    “Yes, I think so. They’ve both come in and interviewed me.”
    That doesn’t mean they work together, Richard thought.
    “—although I have to say, she’s not nearly as nice as Mr. Mandrake. He’s so interested in what you have to say.”
    “Did she tell you they worked together?”
    “Not exactly,” she said, looking confused. “I assumed . . . Mr. Mandrake’s writing a new book about messages from the Other Side.”
    She didn’t know for certain that they worked together, but if that was even a possibility . . . Messages from the dead, for God’s sake.
    “Excuse me,” he said abruptly and walked out of the room, straight into a tall, gray-haired man in a pin-striped suit. “Sorry,” Richard said, and started past, but the man held his arm.
    “You’re Dr. Wright, aren’t you?” he said, gripping Richard’s hand in a confident handshake. “I was just on my way up to see you. I want to discuss your research.”
    Richard wondered who this was. A fellow researcher? No, the suit was too expensive, the hair too slick. A hospital board member.
    “I intended to come see you after I saw Mrs. Davenport, and here you are,” he said. “I assume you’ve been in listening to her account of her NDE, or, as I prefer to call them, her NAE, near-afterlife experience, because that’s what they are. A glimpse of the afterlife that awaits us, a message from beyond the grave.”
    Maurice Mandrake, Richard thought. Shit. He should have recognized him from his book jacket photos. And paid more attention to where he was going.
    “I’m delighted you’ve joined us here at Mercy General,” Mandrake said, “and that science is finally acknowledging the existence of the afterlife. The science and medical establishments so often have closed minds when it comes to immortality. I’m delighted that you don’t. Now, what exactly does your research entail?”
    “I really can’t talk now. I have an appointment,” Richard said, but Mandrake had no intention of letting him go.
    “The fact that people who have had near-death experiences consistently report seeing the same things proves that they are not mere hallucinations.”
    “Dr. Wright?” the charge nurse called from her desk. “Are you still looking for Dr. Lander? We’ve located her.”
    “Jo?” Mandrake said delightedly. “Is that who your appointment’s with? Lovely girl. She and I work together.”
    Richard’s heart sank. “You work together?”
    “Oh, yes. We’ve worked closely on a number of cases.”
    I should have known, Richard thought.
    “Of course, our
emphasis
is different,” Mandrake said. “I am currently interested in the message aspect of the NAEs. And we have different interview methods,” he added, frowning slightly. “Were you supposed to meet Dr. Lander here? She is often rather difficult to locate.”
    “Dr. Lander’s not the person I have the appointment with,” Richard said. He turned to the charge nurse. “No. I don’t need to see her.”
    Mandrake grabbed his hand again. “Delighted to have met you, Dr. Wright, and I’m looking forward to our working together.”
    Over my dead body, Richard thought. And I won’t be sending you any messages from beyond the grave.
    “I must go see Mrs. Davenport now,” Mandrake said, as if Richard were the one who had detained him, and left him standing there.
    He should have known better. NDE