On a Beam of Light Read Online Free PDF

me, or perhaps to the world. I gazed at him sadly for a moment before he sat up and stretched.
    “Thank you, prot. “
    “For what?”
    “For—never mind. All right, I’m going to wake you up now. I’m going to count back from five to one. You will awaken slowly, and when I get to—”
    “Five-four-three-two-one, ” he sang out. “Hiya, doc. Did Rob say anything to you yet?” Note: When awake, prot could not remember anything that transpired while he was under hypnosis.
    “Yes, he did. “
    “No kidding? Well, it was only a matter of time. “
    “The question is, how much time do we have?”
    “All the time in the WORLD. “
    “Prot, do you know anything about Rob that I don’t know?”
    “Such as?”
    “Why he feels so worthless?”
    “No idea, coach. Probably has something to do with his life on EARTH. “
    “But you talk to him, don’t you?”
    “Not about that. “
    “Why not?”
    “He doesn’t want to. “
    “Maybe he does now. “
    “Don’t hold your breath. “
    “Okay, I’ll let you off the hook for today. See if you can find out anything more from Robert, and I’ll see you again on Friday. “
    “Put plenty of fruit on that hook, ” he advised as he ambled out.
    I was on the “back forty” watching a badminton game played without shuttlecocks when Giselle came running toward me. I hadn’t seen her since her encounter with prot two days earlier. “It’s like you said, ” she panted. “He’s just the same!”
    I asked her whether he had told her when he was leaving.
    “Not yet, ” she confessed. “But he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry!” She looked absolutely moonstruck.
    I reminded her to try to find out when it would be and to let me know “ASAP. ” “But be subtle about it, ” I added inanely.
    It didn’t surprise me to learn that she had already gone through all the correspondence the hospital had received about prot and K-PAX. What did, however, was the information that more letters were beginning to come in.
    “But nobody knows he’s back. “
    “Somebody does! Or maybe they just anticipated his return. But the amazing thing is that a lot of them were addressed specifically to prot, care of MPI, or to prot, K-PAX. Or to the hospital with the notation to ‘please forward. ‘ In fact, some were just addressed to ‘prot, ‘ no address given. “
    “So I heard. “
    “But don’t you see what that means?”
    “What?”
    “It means that a lot of people wanted their letters or calls to go directly to prot, not to anyone else. “
    “Isn’t that what you would expect?”
    “Not really. Furthermore, a lot of it was marked PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL. “
    “So?”
    “So I think most people don’t trust us with the letters. I wouldn’t, would you?”
    Perhaps she was right. I had read some of those addressed to me, many of which began: “You idiot!”
    While I was mulling over this unwanted development, she added, “Besides, you may have a legal problem if you don’t turn them over to him. “
    “What legal problem?”
    “Tampering with the U. S. mails. “
    “Don’t be ridiculous. Prot is a patient here, and we have a right—”
    “Maybe you should ask your lawyer. “
    “Maybe I will. “
    “No need. I already spoke to him. There was a case in 1989 in which evidence obtained from the correspondence of a patient at one of the state institutions was thrown out of court as illegal search and seizure. On top of that the hospital was fined for tampering with the mails. Anyway, ” she argued further, “if he’s just a part of Robert’s personality as you seem to think, what harm can it possibly do?”
    “I don’t know, ” I answered truthfully, thinking more about Robert than about a stack of Santa Glaus mail or what prot might do with it. “All right. But just give him the ones specifically addressed to him. ” I suddenly felt like a Watergate criminal trying to minimize the damage, though I didn’t know what the fallout might be.
    “Next