Halloween Candy Read Online Free PDF Page B

good.”

    “Well, then.” She lit another cigarette. “Tell me how it was boring.”

    “No attacks, no riots, no bizarre rituals involving stray cats, no eyes getting popped out.”

    “Something to celebrate.”

    “Along with your birthday.”

    “Now I feel like it,” she said, leaning into him, and he felt her ripen again, as if she wanted him to open her, to be part of her. The cigarette went into the mud, his hands found their way beneath her blouse, her hands encircled his back. Nature took over –-he found himself making love to her on the rock, in the torn fingernail of light along the banks of the flooded river. They dozed afterward for just a 51

    few minutes; then she said something; he opened his eyes but was still in a half-dream.

    “You see? You’re in it, too. You think you’re outside but you’re really in,” she said. When he asked her what she meant by that, she acted as if he had dreamed it. It was two a.m. when he walked her home, and kissed her on the forehead. She looked surprised.
    “You took all my passion,” he laughed.

    “Ah,” she nodded. “Well, I best get some sleep. I have a Physics exam on Monday, bright and early.”

    “Physics? Ouch,” Layton grinned. “My worst subject.”

    “I kind of like it. We have a bizarre professor who talks about string theory and molecular shake ups and why we can’t just go through chairs and things.”

    “Okay,” Layton nodded. “You lost me. I’m just a nurse.”

    “Don’t play dumb,” she swatted him playfully. “Hey, wait, before you go, you need to give me something.”

    “Oh I think I did already.”
    52

    “Not that, you cad,” she whisper-giggled. “Something to show you care.”

    He reached into his pockets, “Christ, I’ve got nothing. No mementos at all. Wait,” he brought up a half-roll of Lifesavers. “There you go. To save your life with.” He pressed it into her hand, and she giggled and told him that until they met again she would treasure each and every tropical fruit flavor.

    5

    “Where did you get those?” Layton asked. It was a few weeks later, and Angela had not been answering his calls and no one answered her door, and now he was at work feeling the worst heart-ache of his life
    – and Nix the Needle had a half-roll of tropical fruit Lifesavers in his hand.

    “You going to take those off me?” Nix asked, tugging at the restraints that held his hands to the bed. “Don’t I even have a right to candy?”
    53

    “Give it to me,” Layton said, plucking the roll from the man’s hands. “Where did you get –“

    Nix looked up into his eyes, deeply , soulfully, and whispered in a soft voice, “She’s dying, and I’m just getting started on life. She’s a nightmare at times. I’ve wished her dead with each surgery. For her own sake. I’ve wished her gone. Can’t imagine having a daughter like me. Change the subject, quick. I don’t want to think about it.”

    6

    “I’m afraid for you,” Dr. Glover said. It was mid-afternoon and Layton was going off-shift soon. “I’m afraid in a way that I was afraid for Molly Sternberg.”

    “Please. Molly had a history of –“

    “All of us have histories,” Glover said. “None of us is immune to this. You work with mentally unstable people – sociopaths as well – and you become enmeshed. You begin to experience a similar dissociation from reality that they also experience. It is not that unusual. It is somewhat expected.” Glover scratched at the side of his head. “Don’t 54

    worry, Conner, I’m not going to put you away. You haven’t identified yourself as insane. But it would not surprise me that you might just need a little distance. When was your last vacation?”

    “Three months ago.”

    “Perhaps this is just one of those things,” Glover added.

    “Those things? You’re a psychiatrist,” Layton nodded his head slightly hoping that the doctor would laugh it off.

    “Because I’m trained in a way of