Bay of Souls Read Online Free PDF Page A

They supported many trees, and almost every bare tree on almost every lawn in front of almost every house had a dead deer or even two, slung over the low boughs. There were bucks and does and fawns. All fair game, legal. There were too many deer.
    A police car was blocking Michael's driveway. Norman parked the Jeep on the street, across the lawn from his front door. Everyone got out, and when they did the young town policeman, whom Michael knew, whose name was Vandervliet, climbed out of his cruiser.
    "Sir," Vandervliet said, "they're not here. They're at MacIvor."
    MacIvor was the tri-county hospital on the north edge of town.
    Norman put a hand on his shoulder. Michael climbed into Vandervliet's Plymouth cruiser.
    "What?" Michael asked the young cop. "Is my son alive?"
    "Yessir. But he's suffering from exposure."
    And it did not sound so good because as they both knew, the cold, at a certain point, was irreversible, and all the heat, the fire, the cocoa, hot-water bottles, sleeping bags, down jackets, quilts, whiskey, medicine, nothing could make a child stop trembling and his temperature rise.
    "Your wife is injured, Professor. I mean she ain't injured bad but she fell down trying to carry the boy I guess and so she's admitted also over there at MacIvor."
    "I see," Michael said.
    "See, the boy was looking for the dog 'cause the dog was out in the snow."
    On the way to the hospital, Michael said, "I think I'm going to shoot that dog."
    "I would," said Vandervliet.
    At MacIvor, they were waiting for him. There was a nurse whose husband ran the Seattle-inspired coffee shop in town and a young doctor from back east. They looked so agitated, he went numb with fear. The doctor introduced himself but Michael heard none of it.
    "Paul's vital signs are low," the doctor said. "We're hoping he'll respond. Unfortunately he's not conscious, and we're concerned. We don't know how long he was outside in the storm."
    Michael managed to speak. "His body temperature ...?"
    "That's a cause of concern," the doctor said. "That will have to show improvement."
    Michael did not look at him.
    "We can treat this," the doctor said. "We see it here. There's hope."
    "Thank you," Michael said. Above all, he did not want to see the boy. That fair vision and he kept repelling it. He was afraid to watch Paul die, though surely even in death he would be beautiful.
    "We'd like you to talk to ... toyour wife," the doctor said. "We're sure she has a fracture and she won't go to x-ray." He hesitated for a moment and went off down the corridor.
    At MacIvor the passageways had the form of an X. As the doctor walked off down one bar of the pattern, Michael saw what appeared to be his wife at the end of the other. She was in a wheelchair. The nurse followed him as he walked toward her.
    "She won't go to x-ray," the nurse complained. "Her leg's been splinted and she's had pain medication and we have a bed ready for her but she won't rest. She won't let the medication do its thing."
    Kristin, huge-eyed and white as chalk, wheeled herself in their direction. But when Michael came up, the nurse in tow, she looked through him. There was an open Bible on her lap.
    The nurse went to take the handles of Kristin's wheelchair. Michael stepped in and took them himself. Do its thing? He had trouble turning the wheelchair around. The rear wheels refused to straighten out. Do their thing. He pushed his wife toward the wall. Her splinted right leg extended straight out and when its foot touched the wall, she uttered a soft cry. Tears ran down her face.
    "There's a little trick to it," said the nurse. She made a sound that was not quite a laugh. "Let me."
    Michael ignored her. The wheelchair resisted his trembling pressure. Oh goddam shit.
    "Take me in to him," Kristin said.
    "Better not," the nurse said, to Michael's relief.
    If he could see himself, futilely trying to ambulate his wife on wheels, Michael thought, it would be funny. But hospitals never had mirrors. There was a