It took John several long moments to identify the woman standing before him. It had been nearly a decade since he'd seen his estranged sister.
"Kathy?" he gasped. "When -- where -- what -- why are you here?"
"JOHN!" she cried, flinging her arms around her older brother. "I was going to call you! I mean, I've been trying all week to work up the nerve. And now you're here! And so am I!" Karen's enthusiasm was punctured by occasional squawks from her remaining rubber ducks, which were being squished between her and the sibling she had entrapped in a vise-like hug.
John was still struggling to make sense of the scene before him. Joe, meanwhile, was trying to decide on his best course of action: Dash inside to check on his sister's condition, or wait to find out the identity of the stranger flinging herself at his lover?
"Kathy. We need to go inside," John finally managed to force out. "Sue -- my wife, Sue -- there's been a car accident. Sue is hurt."
"Oh no! How terrible!" Kathy seemed to deflate, but the setback was momentary. "That's so awful, but maybe I can help. Here, I'll help you find her room. Is she in the ER? I've been working here for a week. Well, not working, of course I can't actually work, but volunteering. Ever since I got back to town. Oh, here, watch the swinging doors -- great. I'll just hop over to the main desk and find out where they've put her. I can't believe it, an accident! What horrible circumstances and timing, and -- oh! Hello? Who are you?"
Kathy, turning to walk over to the admissions desk, finally noticed Joe tailing along.
"Kathy, this is my -- brother-in-law. Sue's brother. Joe, this is Kathy. My sister."
Joe shot John a quizzical look, clearly commenting, You never told me about any siblings.
"Kathy moved away several years ago. Without quite telling any of us where she was moving to," John added.
"Oh, right, I need to fill you in on all that, don't I? I'm much better now, by the way," Kathy chirped. "But, first things first. Let me go find out about Sue."
As Kathy set off for the desk, Joe stepped closer to question John about this very odd rendezvous. Before he had time to even frame an opening question, though, Kathy was back, with a doctor in tow.
"Mr. Hasselbeck?"
John nodded as he heard his name.
"We've got your wife's condition stabilized, and we're working to assess the extent of her injuries. She's comatose at the moment. We're also checking on the baby, but she didn't lose it in the crash. We have some paperwork we'll need you to sign, but you can go see her first." The doctor looked at Kathy and Joe. "Immediate family only, I'm afraid."
"I'm family! I'm her brother," Joe interjected.
"Well, she can only have one visitor at a time, for now. If you two would like to wait here, we can take Mr. Hasselbeck up and fill him in further on her condition."
Joe grudgingly sat in one of the waiting room's bizarrely contoured plastic chairs. Kathy sank into a chair next to his and reached out to pat his hand.
"Thank you, doctor. We'll wait here," she said.
After John and the doctor disappeared, Kathy turned to Joe, her blue eyes visibly filling with tears.
"I feel so bad about these terrible circumstances," she said. "John laughs at me, but I've always thought our family must be cursed. It's why I left Hillglen seven years ago. I'd left town before, for -- well, for other reasons, when I was a young girl. But Daddy sent for me, and I came back, only to have our parents perish later that year in the terrible molasses flood at the factory. So I left, and went to work on an alpaca farm in Montana. But then something started beckoning me back. I just had this feeling that I was needed here. But John -- poor John. I abandoned him after our parents' death, and left him to deal with settling the estate. And now I don't know if he'll ever speak to me again!"
A sudden flood of tears interrupted Kathy's monologue, but before Joe could offer words of consolation, or a tissue, Kathy abruptly regained control of her emotions.
"But he did speak to me! Just now, outside the hospital when we met! So maybe he'll find it in his heart to forgive me. And things seemed to be going so well. I'd found a purpose. When I arrived in town, I went out to the old factory. I read in the newspapers that it was shut down after the molasses tragedy, and I stopped following news about Hillglen after that, so I never read that it reopened. Until I got there! And saw the bustling new plant! Consolidated Duck of Hillglen. At first I was worried it was some sort of horrible animal farming operation, but I steeled myself and went into the lobby, and I was so relieved and delighted when I saw the display. Rubber ducks! What a wonderfully cheering industry for the town to rally around! And so much safer than molasses. So I had a long talk with the secretary at the plant, and she mentioned that the plant was helping the hospital recruit volunteers to distribute ducks and help cheer sick patients. And since I know just how those patients feel, I thought it was some sort of sign. So here I am! But oh, that my work should lead me to reunite with my brother and meet his relatives in such circumstances --"
Once again, the tears threatened. Several clouds of emotion vied for dominance in the azure expanse of Kathy's eyes. Belated confusion won out.
"Baby? What baby?"
"Sue is pregnant," Joe said. After a moment, when Kathy was still, surprisingly, silent, he added, "It's their first."
"Wow," Kathy breathed. "Perhaps it was the baby that beckoned me here."
--
"The baby?" TR524 made a noise most closely translated into English as sarcastic snort. "Even in their maturity this species demonstrates paltry communication skills. The woman must be feebleminded to think a larval human could summon her."
"Ssssh!" hissed his companion, GK2219. The sound wasn't actually much like 'sssh,' or like a hiss, but the curt wave of GK2219's tentacle made his meaning clear. "I'm trying to pay attention. Cease chattering about your unimportant pawns."
GK2219 peered more closely at his scrying screen. Events were unfolding in an unexpected fashion at the human temple of adolescent indoctrination.
--
His classroom empty at last, Jay sank in exhaustion into a chair at his desk. The brats were finally cleared out for their last period of the day. Gym, for most. If he was lucky one or two would maim themselves playing badminton the class and thin his class ranks a bit.
First, he returned to Tim Jenkins' math test. Championship be damned, his honor was at stake. Jay scrawled "F" in vivid red at the top of the paper.
Then he reached for the pile of clipped up newspaper pages. A few larger headlines yielded a simple note. A short, sharp warning. PAY UP.
Online auctions had become an addiction. Now, someone would have to pay for the HP 15C. And the vintage bronze slide rule. And the 1783 edition of Newton's Principia. Oh yes, they would be paying, alright.
--
Will GK2219 ever be rid of the pesky TR524?
Can Sue recover in time to introduce her baby to her hitherto unknown sister in law and her brother who used to be a sister and her gay husband who is not the child's father??
Will Jay be able to avoid negative feedback on eBay???
The answers to these questions, and a free demo CD, will be inserted in the package with your purchase of the next section of… CLIFFHANGER.