CHAPTER 3   Visting Dano

Dano pushed past the pain of moving and reached for his app on the bedside table.  He wasn’t sure what he wanted.  He’d already napped in and out of the latest 007 holoFlick.  Maybe I should read?  Nah, too groggy.  Maybe vibe on some sounds?  What the hell... He hit PLAY and tried grooving on some zeroCore, but all it did was depress him, reminding him of his guitar that he couldn’t play.  Nurse Silvie came in.

“How are we doing?”

“Great!” Dano killed the music , “if you’re into pain.”

“I can increase the morphine if you want.”

“What, and sleep through your visits?  Where’s the joy in that?”

Nurse Silvie moved his app to the night table and set down a tray.  “I have some juice, some soup and a sandwich for your lunch.” 

“Thanks, but you can keep the juice.  It’ll just make me want to pee and it hurts to get out of bed.”

“You have to stay hydrated.  If you don’t want to get out of bed, just hit the call button and I’ll come to hold the urine bottle...”

 “Oh man, there’s gotta be somethin’ better we can do for fun around here.”

Nurse Silvie’s eyes widened in a look of disapproval.

“Okay, fine, you win.  I’ll drink the juice.”

Audrey slowly opened the door and poked her head in.  “Hey...”

“Hey babe.”  Dano muted the newscast.

“Wow!” Audrey gestured at a huge fragrant bouquet, “nice flowers!”

“Ahnka sent them.  I wish she hadn’t.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Dano swept his long dark hair behind his ear, “I just feel embarrassed, I guess.  You know what I mean?”

“No.  You saved her life.”

“I accidentally took a bullet that was meant for her.  Not exactly the same thing.”

“I don’t know, Dano, that’s a fine distinction.  Besides, on all the NETvid posts it doesn’t look so accidental.  You pretty much look like a hero…” Audrey looked around the room.  “No more forest holo?”

“Naw, that’s only in intensive care.  Just as well.  It gets old real fast, even when you’re flying on morphine.”

“I’m so sorry, Dano.  It must be awful to be in such pain.”

Just then Dano’s app dinged and he tried reaching for it.  Audrey noticed him wince and handed it to him.

“Thanks, babe.”  Dano checked his messages. “I’ll be damned.  It’s from Drax.”  Dano selected the icon and a holo of Drax appeared at the foot of his bed, speaking in his thick Indian accent.

“Hey there Dano Mr. gRazer man.  You didn’t have to go get yourself shot live on netNews just to attract the attention of beautiful ladies all over the world.  But since you went to all that trouble, I hope only the very prettiest doctors and nurses are treating you, and treating you right, if you get my drift.”  Drax smiled and his body morphed into a voluptuous drop-dead gorgeous sexBot babe in a racy skin-tight nurse’s outfit.  The head was still Drax, wearing a bad blond wig, five-o’clock shadow and a demented smile.  “So take care man, and Merry Christmas!”

“Oh, my god.  I can’t handle it!”  Audrey feigned shock as she shook off her coat and draped it over her chair.  “Turn it off!”  They laughed together and Audrey pulled up a chair next to Dano.  “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, but it fucking hurts to breathe.”

“I’m sorry, but please don’t stop breathing…” she smiled in sympathy.  “Maybe this will help.  Here…” Audrey reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small glass marble, a marble that over years had passed back and forth between him and Audrey, shared since they were in grade school, passed to whichever one of them needed the luck.

“Our lucky marble?  But I gave it back to you.”

“Yeah, and look what happened.  You got shot.”

“The universe works in strange ways.  Maybe the laws of karma intended that I take it.  That bullet had Ahnka’s address on it, so, who knows, if I hadn’t caught that pony express, she might be dead.  In the end, neither one of us died, so…I’d consider that pretty lucky, even without the marble.”

“Cut the bullshit and just take it.  It’s your turn to have it anyway.”

Dano reluctantly held his hand out.  Audrey dug into her coat again.  “Before I forget, here’s a piece of vanočka from the La Boheme I saved for you.”

“Thanks,” Dano unwrapped it and took a bite. “Man, this is really good!  You have no idea how much the food here sucks.  But how are you doing?  Did you have a nice Christmas?”

“I don’t know, yeah, but everything’s kinda weird.  I’m having trouble sleeping.”  Dano noticed the haunted look in Audrey’s eyes.

“I’m sorry to hear that, babe.  You haven’t had that problem since…well…you know...” 

“It’s just that it’s hard to wrap my mind around all this shit…stuff that I would have thought was crazy before I actually experienced it.  How can I go back?  You know, to my life...nothing’s the same, is it?  I mean, it actually is the same but I’ve changed...everything has changed.  I can’t pretend it hasn’t.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.  Just hang in there, babe, we need to digest it all, it’ll be okay.”

Audrey’s demeanor changed abruptly.  “By the way, did you hear what happened this morning?”

“The Christ Apparitions?  Yeah...hard to avoid.  I saw it on the news, again and again and again…and I could have sworn that I saw you in a couple of those vids.”  Dano looked at Audrey.  “That was you, wasn’t it?  In the Old Town Square!  You’re just in the middle of everything these days.”

Audrey smiled sheepishly.  “There’s someone waiting outside who wants to meet you.”

“Your new boyfriend?” Dano asked glumly.

“Yes,” Audrey nodded.  “Marc.  You’ll like him.”

“I have to, right?  I mean, he fucking saved my life.”

“And that bothers you?”

“Well, it’s just that, well, you can’t do anything in a small way, can you?  You hook up with this dude, which is bad enough, but I don’t blame you, I mean I screwed up big time, but then he has go and save my life?  That really sucks.  Why couldn’t it have been some Good Samaritan stranger that saved my ass?”

“Daaanooo!”  Audrey chided.

Dano painfully pulled himself up into a more alert sitting position.  “...okay...” he groaned, “let’s get it over with.”

“Non, non, don’t move!  It is a pleasure to finally meet you.  I am Marc.  I’m a huge fan of yours.”  Marc shook Dano’s hand.  “You are looking très bien.”

“Thanks to you, I hear...”

“Well, you should thank Audrey, en fait.  If she hadn’t had that pen in her hair...”

Dano couldn’t help noticing the tender way Marc looked at Audrey and the mesmerized look she returned.   “But if you hadn’t been a medic in Médecins Sans Frontières,” Audrey said, “the pen wouldn’t have made any difference.”

“You’re one lucky bastard...” Dano smiled ruefully.  Marc wasn’t actually sure what Dano was driving at until he followed his glance towards Audrey.

“Ah!  I am!  Indeed!”

“Are they going to let you out by New Years?” Audrey asked.

“Depends how I’m doing.  Doc says they might release me into my dad’s care, but he says on condition of no parties.”

“I guess he knows his patient.  Well, you’re just going to have to join us in SIM!”

Dano looked unconvinced.

“Get over yourself, gRazer.  It’s the only way you’re gonna do anything for New Years... besides, you have no choice because I’ve already told everyone you’d be there.  It’s going to be at Anton’s, in SIM-overlay...”

“Huh?”

“SIM-overlay,” Audrey rolled her eyes.  gRazers!  “It’s like SIMactive,” she explained, “but we’re all actually there.  Well, except you of course, you’ll just be joining us in SIM.”

“I know what SIM-overlay is,” Dano grimaced.

“Hey, like you said, look where you are,” Audrey gestured at the hospital room, “it can’t be helped.  It’s better than nothing.  Anyway, we’ll all be at Anton’s, and it’s going to be one hell of a dance party—I mean, check this out, ever hear of Andrea Cervelli?”

“That hot Italian SIM artist?”

“Hot is right!  His stuff is really expensive, but Anton splurged for it...”

“You mean Paul splurged for it,” Marc interjected.

“Yes, okay,” Audrey agreed, “Paul splurged for it.  But I don’t think he knows it yet.  Anyway, you’ll see, it should be kickyFab to the max!”

“Andrea Cervelli,” Marc pointed out, “how can you refuse?”

Dano threw up his hands in a gesture of acceptance and flinched in pain.  Audrey never took “no” for an answer, and this time she had backup.  Besides, Andrea Cervelli was tuned-in sharp.  “Maybe I can dance like this.”  Dano did a couple of kick steps with his fingers.  “But someone’s going to have to get my eyeVid, I mean, your eyeVid.”

“Where is it? Your place in Potters Bar?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll get it for you.”

Dano noticed Marc shoot Audrey a sharp look.  Potters Bar was a crime infested rathole.  There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

“Can I give you some advice?”  Dano asked.  Marc wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what was coming.  “Let Audrey be Audrey.  You can’t protect her from herself.  You just gotta let her be and love her for it.”

“You are probably correct,” Marc smiled tenderly.  “I look forward to seeing you out of your hospital bed, finger-dancing at the New Years party.”   

Dano nodded.  “Thanks for coming by.”  He watched Marc and Audrey put on their coats and head for the door.  He swiped his app the news came on.

“NetPolice claim they are making progress in tracking down the Christ hacker.  Anonymous sources say that foremost among the suspects are the notorious art hacker group BLANK...”

Audrey stopped in the doorway and turned around.  “You’ve gotta be kidding me!  That’s totally lame.  That was so not a BLANKprank.”

“How do you know?”  Asked Marc.

“Well...” Audrey faltered but recovered in a split second, “BLANK signs everything they do, don’t they?”

Dano watched the door shut behind them. Hmm, I guess she hasn’t told him.  I wonder if she ever will?