Primal Threat by Earl Emerson Read Free Book Online Page B

as I wish we had been. I think about that sometimes and wish I could change it. But…”
    “Why would she do that? Why would she forgo treatment?”
    “She never admitted it was money, but I’m pretty sure it was.”
    “You must miss her.”
    “Yes, I do.”
    They thought about that for a moment or two as they stood in front of Zak’s open locker, his folded sheets on a shelf, spare uniforms pressed and hanging neatly. Nadine perused the rest of the photos on the inside of his locker door and then spotted a racket hanging on the wall. “Racquetball?”
    “Yes. Do you play?”
    “Mostly I play tennis, but I love racquetball.”
    “If you have time, we could play right now,” he joked. “I’ll spot you five points because of the crutches.”
    She laughed. “Where on earth would we play racquetball around here?”
    “There’s a court downstairs.”
    “You don’t have a court downstairs.”
             
    Holding the bunkroom door open for her, Zak escorted Nadine across the apparatus floor then led her down the single flight of stairs to the basement, where they stepped inside a small court with a basketball hoop at one end and a row of screened windows on the street-side wall.
    As she surveyed the small court, Nadine said, “I miss sports so much.”
    “A couple of years ago I crashed into a horse and broke my collarbone, so I know how you feel.”
    “You crashed into a horse?”
    “On my bike. It’s a long story.”
    They were silent for a few moments until Nadine said, “I overheard somebody upstairs talking about a patient you had today. They said her blood pressure was three hundred over a hundred thirty? Could that be right?”
    “Yes, it was right. She’d had a headache for two days.”
    “What did you do for her?”
    “Called the medics, got her on O-two and up to the hospital.”
    “Why would her blood pressure be so high? Isn’t normal something like one twenty over seventy?”
    “Exactly, but she’s traditionally had high blood pressure, which she’s controlled by medication. She ran out of the meds.”
    “That was kind of careless, wasn’t it?”
    “She ran out because she couldn’t afford to buy them any longer.”
    “So why didn’t she go to the hospital a long time ago?”
    “No money.”
    “Not even a credit card?”
    “This might be hard, but use your imagination. No credit cards. No checking account. No savings. No daddy. No big-screen TV in the other room she might hock. Nothing but a crummy apartment with broken-down furniture and maybe a bus pass to get her downtown to her job five days a week and then to her other job all day Saturday. Babysitting on Sunday.”
    “You don’t have to talk to me like that.”
    “Maybe not, but if you can’t pay, you go bankrupt, lose everything you and your family have, and then you’re in debt for the rest of your life. It’s part of why my mother chose to die rather than suffer the indignities of debt collectors and all the rest of it. She’d already gone through that once. I guess I’m a little bitter over it.”
    “I guess. But you’re making it sound as if I’m responsible somehow. I’m not.” She was right. He’d lashed out at her and he didn’t know why, not exactly. Zak did not reply; being fair-minded on this topic wasn’t something he was capable of. “Okay. I’d like to ask another question. Do you mind?”
    “Go ahead.”
    “Are you going to get sarcastic when you answer?”
    “Sarcasm is part of my basic nature, but I’ll fight it.” He grinned, unable to believe he’d gotten so antagonistic with someone he was drawn to as much as Nadine. It struck him that his belligerence may have been prompted by just that: how much he liked her.
    “What would have happened to this woman if you guys hadn’t shown up?”
    “She would have gotten worse. Maybe had a stroke. Maybe died.”
    “Excuse my ignorance here—and I don’t want you to get mad at me again—but I thought there were programs for