Obsession (Year of Fire) Read Online Free PDF Page A

by women from the Wichi tribe in the north of Argentina.
    “Matilde, the money troubles didn’t help. There never seemed to be enough cash. You, with your pittance from the Garrahan”—he referred to one of the most important pediatric hospitals in Argentina—“and me, unemployed in spite of all my degrees. We’d get nervous and fight and you couldn’t relax enough to accept me. Now that’s all about to change. I’m about to close a big business deal and then we’ll have tons of cash.”
    “Didn’t you get enough money from selling my painting? The portrait my aunt painted of me when I was little girl, which I loved. Or did you get ripped off?”
    “I’ll get it back! I’d do anything you ask to save our love.”
    “I asked you to go to therapy but you wouldn’t. You chose to solve the problem by listening to your cousin Guillermo’s advice.”
    “I’m sorry! How many times do I have to say it?”
    “I’ve already forgiven you, Roy, really. But now I want to move on with my life. And our marriage doesn’t figure in my plans.”
    “Yeah, a few stinking black men in Africa are better than me. Anything but me, right? Sorry!” He apologized immediately. “I’m sorry,” he gasped again.
    Matilde sighed. The conversation was starting to get pathetic.
    “How long will you be in Paris?”
    “Four months. Healing Hands is funding an intensive course in French before sending us to the Congo.”
    Blahetter nodded, and thought about telling her that maybe, if he was lucky, he’d soon be able to follow her to the French capital. He kept his mouth shut. Matilde surprised him with her cold indifference, addressing him as though he were a recent acquaintance. “Good-bye, Roy. I wish you the best.”
    He watched her as she walked away. The sharp pain he felt in his heart was genuine. Is that why love is linked to the heart? His was hurting right at that moment. “I’ll get you back, Matilde. I swear on my life that I’ll get you back.”
    Aldo and Roy made their good-byes to the Folicurés after the girls left to board the plane. Once they were alone, they chose the most isolated, solitary table at the airport bar.
    “What news?”
    “I made a few calls,” Aldo informed him. “A country might be interested. But they asked me questions I couldn’t answer. For example, they want to see a prototype.”
    “I worked for months in my grandfather’s metallurgy laboratory. I made some parts, but I don’t have the money to continue the project.”
    “I don’t think they’ll buy it without seeing a prototype. They’re afraid it’s a fake. When I explained to them how your centrifuge would work, they seemed very skeptical. Interested and intrigued, but skeptical. They think it’s impossible.”
    Blahetter took some folded papers out of his jacket pocket and pushed them, his hands shaking, across the table toward Aldo.
    “Calm down, Roy.”
    “I can’t. This is the proof that my invention,” he said, pointing his index finger at his chest, “is one of the most revolutionary advances in nuclear physics since the atomic bomb. This article is from Science and Technology . It’s the most prestigious scientific magazine in the world. It’s a giant step toward the Nobel Prize. The son of a bitch who stole the invention from me has published it there. And do you know why, Aldo? Because he, a genius in nuclear physics, knows that it’ll work.”
    Aldo turned over the pages and looked for the name of the author of the article. Orville Wright. Then he looked at the date. It had been published fairly recently.
    “How did your invention end up in this guy’s hands?”
    “Because I’m an idiot!” Blahetter blurted out, pounding his fist on the table. “I was stupid enough to trust him. We met at MIT. I was young and naive. Eager to learn. And Orville Wright is a physics genius. And he noticed me. He asked me to be his assistant at the laboratory. I was walking on air. It’s not easy to be that man’s