Shaking Off the Dust Read Online Free PDF

Believe me, I have a fertile imagination, so it’s possible. My fantasy physician insisted I come to you. Despite the fact you are very attractive and have been kind to me, even

    I would not be so bold as to bring you into my psychosis. Tom tells me that he can answer questions only you and he might know the answers to. That way he can prove that he continues to exist.” I turned to look Tom. “Does that cover it all?”
    “Yes, I might have explained it better, but it covers the essentials.”
    “You can truly be obnoxious.”
    “I’m never obnoxious.” He sounded like he believed it.
    I shook my head and curled my lip at him. I faced Shimodo again and smiled. “Sorry, I’m not at my best today. And well, Tom’s kinda gotten on my nerves. So please ask some questions that I can’t possibly know the answers to so we can be done.”
    “Is Tom on the couch? You were speaking in that direction.”
    “Yes, Prizzi and Bette Lou are trying hard to sit in his lap.”
    Shimodo expression became wary. “Were you dating Tom?”
    “Heavens no!”
    “God no,” Tom said simultaneously.
    I glared at Tom. “No. We know each other as nurse and doctor, and as patient and doctor.”
    “And yet you know the names of his dogs. He always called them P and B,” Shimodo informed me.
    “Yeah, that’s why I was laughing when you opened the front door.” I couldn’t stop the grin that those names brought to my face. The dogs whined as if they knew we were talking about them. When my attention returned to Shimodo, he was still watching me like I would give him a clue I’d not shared yet. I didn’t flinch away from those eyes. “Have you thought of some questions yet?”
    “I’m sorry, I haven’t. Give me a moment.”
    “How about you?” I asked Tom.
    “Sure, I’ve been trying to think of some obscure bits of information that only Takeshi or I would know. I thought of a couple.” He looked at his friend.
    “Well, spit it out.” Bitchy me. I needed to go home, and now I had to go to the emergency room first.
    “We had a code phrase that we put on the dorm door when either of us had company and didn’t want to be disturbed. ‘Studying with a lab partner.’ I nicknamed his Uncle Myamoto. I called him Mo.” Tom shrugged.
    Shimodo stared back at me, curious.
    “Tom’s telling me about your dorm code, which was studying with a lab partner. His nickname for your uncle was Mo.”
     

    Shimodo’s gaze never left my face. He was disappointed with me.
    “What? Believe me when I tell you, those are things I didn’t know.”
    “Often in an intimate relationship lovers will share amusing stories out of our past. I am not convinced that you didn’t have a deeper relationship with Tom. I admit, you are not his usual type, but people in love will do strange things. I would have thought he would not hide such a relationship, but he might have.”
    I must have appeared stunned. Tom bordered on outrage.
    Shimodo held up his hand. “You yourself admit this may be a hallucination. I must be sure. I know from personal experience that there are things said in private that would otherwise not be shared.”
    “That soul-sucking bitch, Kim, has ruined him for life,” Tom muttered. “I can understand him not trusting you, but I’m his best friend.”
    “Then prove it,” I snapped back at Tom.
    “What?” Shimodo asked.
    “He’s ranting about a person named Kim and he called her—”
    “Quiet, woman, she was Takeshi’s fiancée,” Tom shouted.
    I shut my mouth.
    Shimodo’s eyes went cold. “Please continue, Miss Campbell.”
    “Hannah, call me Hannah. Sorry, he mentioned her and now he’s mad at me for repeating it. I can’t catch a break here.”
    “Your involvement must have been very intimate for him to have ever discussed my past with you. Was your relationship with Tom new?” His words implied something unspoken. “Tell me the truth, Miss Campbell. I am surprised I found no evidence of your association in