The Link

"I don't know why she showed me that," I said, "she only showed me what I needed before." I secured Stinky with one hand and wiped my eyes with the other. I knew Rose had maybe a year left on this world.

"Maybe I needed it," Rose said as she sat back into the chair, "Maybe I needed to know that someone cared."

"You have Natalie...," I said. Rose's face shifted, and she looked away, "you haven't told her," I added knowing it was the truth. It was amazing that I could see it in her face so easily. I had never been able to read people before.

"I don't want her to come because I'm dying," Rose said with a small thread of anger. She stood to put the spoon in the sink and throw the empty jar away. I had to reset my hold on Stinky as she surged forward and tried to follow her, or maybe it was the jar.

"We're here," I said with determination. I couldn't believe it came out of my mouth. I didn't want to leave this woman alone. A day ago, I would have run in the other direction and not given it a second thought. I looked down at Stinky, wondering what kind of drug she was. When I looked up, Rose was staring at me with her own tears.

"I'm not leaving," I reworded.

"Yes, you are," Rose stuttered, "you need to get her to Portland." I thought about it and decided that going to Portland could wait. I didn't even know what waited for Stinky there. It could be a wasted trip, but staying here was not. Rose had a short time left on this planet, and she wasn't spending them alone.

"We are just more of your luck," I said, shaking my head, "we aren't going anywhere unless you kick us out."

"I might just have to kick then," Rose acknowledged, her eyes widening.

"We're staying. Someone needs to show me how to take care of Stinky," I said, adding an upbeat tone to my words, "I have no idea what's in Portland, but I know what's here. I need your help, Rose."

"I could use a pleasant diversion," Rose said. I stood with Stinky and did something I hadn't done in a long time. I hugged someone. Stinky helped. I should have washed her up first.

The doorbell rang and broke up the group hug. Rose wiped her eyes and straightened her robe. I handed her the towel by the sink, and she wiped off some of the green stuff that Stinky had spread around.

"Stay here," Rose said as she moved out of the kitchen with her confidence restored. I wished my mother was like her. Mine would trade me for a bottle of Jack at the drop of a hat. I wondered what kind of person Natalie was. How could she just ignore such a perfect mother? I looked at Stinky and wondered how Rose became wonderful in only an hour. I should fear the change. It could only cause me problems. Stinky smiled at me with green lips. I wasn't sure I was choosing the problems of my own free will. Maybe, Stinky chose them for me. I hoped it was me. I wanted it to be me.

"Good evening, Ma'am." I heard a male voice after Rose opened the door.

"Good evening, officer," Rose returned, "I hope everything is alright. I heard a loud bang a little awhile ago, and it's got me a little frightened." Her acting abilities, at least, her voice, was very convincing. It's always good to point out the obvious to preempt questions.

"It was just a dumpster fire, Ma'am. It's been taken care of."

"Thank goodness," Rose exclaimed with relief, "I thought it was something more serious."

"We are looking for two people," the officer said, "a man and a child. The child is less than a year old. Did you happen to see anything tonight."

"No, goodness me, a baby?" Rose asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"No, I haven't seen anyone." Rose chuckled a little before continuing. "I heard that explosion and locked all my doors and windows. Loud noises are frightening for someone who lives alone." I was shocked at her ability to deflect the questions so easily. "I have to say, it really puts me at ease to see you here."

"I'm glad I could ease your concern," the officer sounded a little uncomfortable, "here is my card. If you see the two I mentioned, I would appreciate a call. It's best if you don't approach them."

"Are they dangerous?" Rose asked. I could hear some fear in her voice. It made me smile.

"They may be. We don't have all the information yet, but we're told they may be infectious. It's best if you stay clear and call us immediately."

"Oh, that sounds terrible," Rose continued her performance, "I hope the baby is okay. I have a daughter you know..."

"Thank you, ma'am," the officer cut in, "I have to talk with the rest of the neighborhood so I must move on."

"Of course," Rose said, disappointment in her voice. I almost laughed and had to cover my mouth, "You have a nice night, and please be careful."

"I will, ma'am." I heard the door close and waited for Rose to return.

"Flat tires aren't your only deviousness," I said when she returned. Her smile matched mine. She enjoyed playing with the cop.

"Young men usually don't want to talk to old women," Rose said, "start telling them about my life and off they go." She lost her smile. "There's a lot of them out there, Sam. I saw three officers going door-to-door and a lot of spinning lights. They were all wearing gloves."

"Hopefully, they will think I moved on," I said, "they are certainly moving quickly. Someone knows about Stinky and has enough power to pull in the police without them questioning it."

"The disease story makes it easy," Rose surmised, "Maybe, someone connected to the CDC."

"Well, they can't quarantine a whole city," I added, "I suspect they will spend a few days looking around then the interest will fade away. I don't like the idea of Stinky getting into the hands of someone who can wield this kind of power. She needs good people."

"I thought you weren't good people," Rose said with a smile.

"I wasn't," I smiled back while looking at Stinky, "she has a way of changing that."

"I think she builds on what is already there," Rose said. I liked the sound of that. Maybe, I only needed a reason to be someone I didn't hate. I did hold the hand of a dying woman before I linked with Stinky. Stinky laughed at my smile. "Time to learn how to give her a bath," Rose added, taking Stinky from my arms.

Rose had two bedrooms, hers and a spare that doubled as an office. The spare held a pull out couch with a thin mattress. It would suit me fine. Using the pillows from the couch, we created a small corral atop a blanket on the floor. Stinky wasn't crawling yet, so it would do as a crib.

A clean Stinky and I slept soundly that night. The day had been life changing and frankly, exhausting. My eyes stayed open just long enough to watch Stinky close hers. She was quite beautiful as babies went.

I woke to the smell of coffee. It was a domestic odor, and I found it pleasing. I had no idea why it pleased me. Maybe, because I didn't have to brew it myself. I sat up and found Stinky gone and a brown robe laid at the end of the bed. Rose must have been up for a while. I donned the robe and followed the heavenly smell to the kitchen.

"Good morning," Rose said brightly as I entered. She was holding Stinky on her hip in a practiced manner and melting butter in a pan with the other.

"Morning," I returned. Stinky smiled at me but looked too comfortable to retrieve.

"I see you found the robe. It used to be Sam's," Rose chuckled, "I guess it is again." I wasn't sure how I felt wearing a dead man's clothes. It didn't seem to upset Rose, so I squashed the feelings and moved toward the coffee.

"Nope," Rose said and blocked my way, "clean first, and then you may join us for breakfast." I stuttered something as I looked at her determined eyes. "There are fresh towels in the hall bathroom, shampoo, and soap in the shower. I couldn't find a razor in your bag, so I put one of Sam's disposables on the sink." I was about to argue when I caught Stinky's eyes. Her eyes held the same determination. I looked at the two and smiled. Stinky gave me a breathless laugh, and Rose smiled back.

"Clean first," I repeated my instructions as I drifted backward, "shower, shave, and then breakfast." Rose nodded agreement before I turned and headed for the bathroom. I wasn't good with orders, but these were different. They came calmly with a smile, not the terse demands I was used too. It was Rose's house, and it was her rules. I wondered why I was playing by the rules as I stripped and climbed into the shower.

"You clean up nicely," Rose said when I reentered to the kitchen. She handed me a cup of coffee, "cream or sugar?"

"Black, thank you," I said, surprised at my politeness as I took the coffee. I sat down at the table, and Rose placed Stinky in my lap.

"I like your face without the hair," Rose said, "it's more intelligent and strengthens the jawline." I smiled at the compliment. In a mere second, she had made sure I would shave every morning from that day forward. Rose was not a woman you wanted to disappoint.

"How would you like your eggs?" Rose asked as she moved back to the stove.

"Scrambled, please," I responded. Stinky was watching Rose intently as she moved to the refrigerator, retrieved some eggs, and returned to a metal bowl to scramble them.

"It feels good to cook for someone," Rose commented, "I have missed the normalcy of it." I held Stinky in one hand and sipped my coffee with the other. It was a rich brew. The first sip was almost bitter, swamping my taste buds. The second mellowed nicely as the flavor came through. Rose began slaughtering the eggs with a metal whisk. Stinky found the sound very exciting and waved her arms. I set the coffee down and brought Stinky to the bowl to watch. Rose smiled at Stinky's concentration.

"I think she likes to sound," I said.

"She's all baby on the outside," Rose added, speeding up the whisking which widened Stinky's eyes.

"I've never heard her cry," I mentioned.

"You haven't had her long enough," Rose said, "all babies cry." I couldn't disagree, but I thought Stinky might prove the exception.

"Maybe she doesn't need too," I surmised, "Maybe she sees what she needs as well." Rose stopped whisking and looked at Stinky. Then she shook her head and returned to scrambling the eggs.

"Babies don't know what they want," Rose stated. I nodded my head and decided not to argue. It seemed pointless, especially since I couldn't support my argument. This was the first baby I have tried to care for. Rose was the expert having had one of her own.

"I know she can see minds a long way off," I said, "four blocks away in Charlie's case." I wondered what happened to Charlie. I hope they just questioned him then let him go. Hopefully, they believed him and were looking for Stinky and me in Winslow as well. Confusion was always a good helper.

"Do you think she always sees minds or only when we touch her?" Rose asked as she poured the yellow eggs into the hot pan. She shooed me out of the way to get to the sink with the dirty bowl. I sat back down with my coffee.

"I'm not sure she sees them at all," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "she may only be a conduit. I don't think I have ever seen her mind."

"Good thing," Rose laughed, "she probably only thinks of breasts and strained peas." I sipped my coffee and refrained from the smart ass comment that came to my mind. I was gaining an inner voice, the one that tells me to shut up and not be rude.

"I wonder how they know about her gift?" I asked aimlessly.

"How do you know it's a gift?" Rose returned as she loaded the toaster with bread.

"You felt it," I said, "what would you call it?"

"Something beautiful, something wonderful and precious," Rose said. She turned to me, and I saw intelligence I hadn't noticed before. "they say some drugs are like that." I looked down at Stinky, and she smiled at me. She was a drug.

"I'm addicted," I admitted, smiling back at Stinky.

"Me too," Rose agreed, "it's amazing how quickly she bonds. I sense only goodness, but it could be an illusion." I thought about it and decided it didn't matter. My previous life was crap. Now I had a purpose and liked myself. I tried to think how far I would go for Stinky. To protect her, I saw no limits.

"I think I would die for her." I shuddered. Rose nodded. We would die for her.

"It's probably best we don't let her bond with too many people," Rose surmised. If we were wrong about her and she was something bad that we couldn't see, it was best to isolate the effect. It was a powerful drug.

"As few as possible," I agreed. Rose stirred the eggs, and they began to gather into their fluffy bundles. "I think she's good," I added, more to myself than to Rose.

"There's butter and jelly in the fridge," Rose said, pointing with her elbow. I rose with Stinky and retrieved the butter and jelly. "Silverware in the drawer," Rose continued, tilting her head toward the drawer next to the dishwasher. I moved without question and pulled forks and knives from the drawer and set the table. "Thank you," Rose added when I was done. I wasn't sure why that felt so good. It was only a simple thank-you.

Breakfast went down well. I was hungry, and the eggs were good. The grape jelly sweetened the toast, and I washed it all down with a second cup of coffee. Rose enjoyed watching me eat. I liked her cooking, so it worked out well.

Uncharacteristically, I handed Stinky to Rose and began clearing the table when we finished. Rose and Stinky smiled as I cleaned up. We talked about Rose's past life as a teacher while I rinsed off the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. She had taught history in high school and was an assistant principal as well. I didn't know why I hadn't sensed it earlier. No wonder why I acted quickly to fulfill her demands. She had that teacher voice that disallowed dissent.

"I wasn't a good student," I admitted, smiling at the trouble I used to cause. School and I had different goals.

"Everyone learns differently," Rose said.

"Learning and I never got along," I clarified, "facts never settle in my brain. I just don't have that type of smarts."

"Nonsense."

"No. It's true," I continued, "even if I tried to study, I would forget everything when it came to the test." A shiver ran through me as I remembered some of the tests. It was the black feeling I remembered. That horrible stupidity almost made me drop out. Stinky reached out to me from Rose's lap. I took her, and the feeling dissipated in her smile. She was a wonderful drug.

"What's one plus one?" Rose asked. I looked at her funny.

"Two, but what's that..."

"See," Rose interjected, "you have no trouble with facts. You just never learned how to study."

"Everyone knows one plus one," I said a little harsher than necessary.

"Stinky doesn't," Rose continued, "where was the Magna Carta originally enacted?"

"I'm not sure I know what the Magna Carta is," I said, my anger growing. I had felt this way before. I wasn't sure I wanted to feel stupid again.

"It was enacted in a place called Runnymede," Rose said, "say it out loud a few times." My anger surged. I didn't want to feel like her student. I didn't like being the dumbest person in the room. "Please, Sam," Rose added softly.

"Runnymede, Runnymede, Runnymede," I said, feeling more foolish than stupid. If she hadn't said please, I would have walked out of the room in a huff. Rose smiled and grabbed the notepad and pen that rested at the end of the table. She wrote out Runnymede and handed it to me. It was spelled differently than I would have guessed. I thought it was two words. She traded me the pen for Stinky.

"Write it out once," she said, her smile making me comply. I felt like an idiot as I copied the word letter for letter just below her handwriting. My handwriting wasn't as legible. She retrieved the paper after I finished, and threw it in the wastebasket under the sink.

"Where was the Magna Carta enacted?" She repeated her question.

"Runnymede," I replied, "but you just told me."

"And you won't forget anytime soon, will you?" Rose said confidently.

"How could I," I said as if she was dull, "you made me say it and write it."

"You're a physical learner, Sam," Rose continued, "you need to feel the fact, not just see it in a book. I bet you had no trouble in shop or art." Art and shop were fun. I ditched most of my other classes.

"Well, they don't take much brain work," I qualified.

"More than you know," Rose continued, "I've seen straight-A students struggle with tasks that don't have a manual. They have trouble with the 'doing' of things. You are the opposite." I tried not to smile. For some reason, I didn't want her to know I found the idea pleasant. I failed and my lips curled.

"Where is Runnymede and what is Magna Carta?" I asked with my silly grin. It seemed important to know. My brain would take years to forget Runnymede, so I might as well have some context with it. Stinky and I listened as Rose filled in the blanks. She was in teacher mode and seemed to enjoy the lesson. I enjoyed her enjoyment.

I was on the couch, holding a bottle for Stinky when the news came on. She didn't need help, but I liked holding it, and her. The formula smelled bad, not milk-like at all. A moldy wet cardboard smell. Rose assured me it was fine, and Stinky thought it was delicious. I would have preferred juice.

A fuzzy picture of me, holding Stinky flipped onto the upper right corner of the TV screen. Underneath it was 'Health Alert' in white block letters on a red background. Rose sucked in a breath as we listened to a reporter standing in front of the mini-mart.

"A warning has been issued by the Centers for Disease Control. This man and the child in his arms are suspected to be carriers of a deadly form of Ebola. Though they may be immune, all who come in contact with them are at risk. The Typhoid Mary of our times." The reporter, a woman, likely chosen more for looks than skill, pointed behind her to the mini-mart. "They were seen last night at this Vee Mart, on the corner of First and Wilkerson streets. The police have released the security photo we are showing you now. They are asking for the public's help in locating these two."

The picture faded then reformed on a news conference filmed earlier. A policeman in a crisp blue uniform addressed a series of microphones on a podium. 'Chief Lockerson' was titled across the bottom of the screen. "We would like the public's help in locating Mr. Samuel Donaldson and the child known only as 'Jane Doe.' Do not attempt to approach or detain them. Call the authorities immediately and let us do our jobs." Lockerson coughed into his hand briefly, then looked back at the cameras. "Mr. Donaldson, if you can hear this message. Please contact us immediately. We have medical personnel and facilities waiting. We can help the both of you."

The image faded and returned to a split screen between the anchor and the reporter. "Mary, is this the same Ebola that caused so many deaths in Africa recently?" the Anchor asked.

"Jim, the authorities have told me it may be more virulent." Mary replied, "the police have set up roadblocks and are inspecting all vehicles leaving the area. The first course of action is containment and quick isolation of infected." The conversation deteriorated into speculation of how Stinky and I were exposed to Ebola. Rose stood and began closing curtains on all the windows.

Chapter 6 - Sam

"They'll start a panic," I said, "everyone will want out of the city."

"And they will gain public support for a house to house search," Rose added, "Hitler tactics." I Iooked down at Stinky sucking on her bottle. Someone wanted her badly. So much so, they didn't care how. They just wanted her as quickly as possible.

"What would you do if Stinky left?" I asked. Maybe it was someone else who had bonded with her. The drug they must have back.