Unsaid: A Novel by Neil Abramson Read Free Book Online Page B

Thorton’s presence and instead enters the OR suite.
    Sally, struggling to stop the blood coming out of the unconscious dog’s chest, doesn’t notice her son until he is almost upon her.
    “Clifford, you can’t be here,” Sally tells him sharply. “Go back to the waiting room.”
    Clifford ignores her. No, that’s wrong. He doesn’t even seem to be aware of his mother. He approaches the dog on the table with an affect that is so flat, it cannot be faked.
    “Clifford! Not here!” Sally quickly looks to the entranceway of the OR to make sure they’re not being observed. “Please,” Sally begs him. “You need to get out!”
    Clifford lowers his head onto the head of the dog and closes his eyes. Then, in a sweet, light, clear, and beautiful voice, Clifford sings out, “Grass grass grass. Grass for all to see. I love the green green green grass grass grass.” Clifford’s smile is so wide and his face is filled with such open joy that Sally is speechless. “I knew it,” Clifford says to no one in particular. “Grass and trees and… can you smell the air? It’s been so long since I’ve smelled air like that.”
    Thorton bangs back into the OR. “What the hell is going on in here?”
    Thorton’s outburst shocks Sally into action. “I’m getting him out, Dr. Thorton.”
    “He can’t be in here,” Thorton says.
    “Grass grass grass,” Clifford sings again with his eyes squeezed closed. “I knew there’d be grass.”
    “I understand, Doctor,” Sally says in near panic. “I’m sorry. But I just can’t pull him away or he’ll—”
    “Well, either you do it, or I will,” Thorton threatens as he takes a step toward the boy.
    “No! Please, don’t.” Sally steps between Thorton and Clifford. “You don’t understand. He—”
    “What’s that boy doing to my dog!” It’s the white-haired woman from the waiting room. She must’ve heard the yelling. “Dr. Thorton, what in God’s name is going on?”
    “It’s quite okay, Ms. Pendle,” Thorton says in his most assuring tone.
    “Mother of God. All that blood. Is that from Archie?” Ms. Pendle asks, her face sheet white.
    Before anyone can answer her, Clifford breaks out into a joyous yell: “BennieBennieBennieBennieBennieBennieBennieBennie-Bennie.” Tears stream out of Clifford’s closed eyes. “I knew you’d make it for me, Bennie. I knew it’d be you. No cane, too!”
    Ms. Pendle stumbles backward and steadies herself on a nearby countertop. “No cane?” she repeats.
    A small crowd of staff forms by the entrance of the OR. “Jennifer,” Thorton commands to a vet tech in surgical scrubs, “please show Ms. Pendle to my office.” Jennifer gently eases the confused woman out of the room.
    Once Thorton checks to be sure that the client is gone and the door to the OR is closed, he turns on Clifford. “That’s enough,” Thorton shouts at the boy and grabs him by the arm, trying to pull him away from the dog.
    Clifford screams as if Thorton’s hand is made of acid.“NoNoNoNoooooooo!” Clifford tries to pull his arm away in agony. “Bennie. They’re taking me.”
    Sally jumps to her son’s aid. “Get your hands off him,” she shouts as she rips Thorton’s hand away. “Can’t you see he’s not even here?”
    At the sound of his mother’s voice, Clifford’s eyes flash open and he bolts upright. He looks around the room and finally appears to recognize his surroundings. The anguish on Clifford’s face—on any face that young—is horrible to see. Fresh tears pour down his cheeks, this time as far removed from joy as possible.
    “I’m sorry MamaI’m sorry MamaI’m sorry MamaI’m sorry Mama.” Clifford repeats these three words over and over without inflection and as he does so, he begins to draw in the air with the pencil he no longer holds in his hand.
    “It’s okay, Cliffy. It’s okay.” Sally puts her arms around the boy’s shoulders and slowly moves him toward the entrance of the OR.
    Thorton listens to