Don’t Do Anything Else Stupid
DON’T DO ANYTHING ELSE STUPID
While most of Vivian’s mind was occupied with her class on advanced quantum mechanics and the eight confused students staring back at her as they grappled with the mysteries of the universe, a small part of it turned over and over the text message she had received from Richard Pollard early that morning.
Other than a quick call to let her know that he had arrived at the Lakeside Resort, Vivian hadn’t heard from Richard since he left Florida.
But this morning a cryptic message had arrived.
I’ll be at your house midmorning or sooner.
Don’t do anything else stupid. What did he mean “Don’t do anything else stupid”?
The implication was clear—she had already done something stupid.
But what? Did it have something to do with Tess?
Vivian had kept Tess in the house except for the one excursion to Marie’s.
Besides, no one knew who Tess was. Those few neighbors with whom Vivian had any contact had believed the story that she was Vivian’s orphaned niece.
None of them would have found it odd to see Tess arrive at the house.
And no one else knew she was there. Except for Marie.
Had Marie told someone? Not likely. What had Vivian done to make Richard scold her?
For what seemed like the millionth time in the past ten years, she missed Harry.
Vivian had frequently sat in the dark, her feet dangling off the dock into the water, listening as Harry explained some aspect of science to Tess.
Had he ever tried to explain quantum mechanics?
Not likely. A twelve-year-old simply couldn’t grasp the concepts.
He did try relativity on more than one occasion.
She remembered the second time Harry tried to elucidate the concept of time moving more slowly as an object approaches the speed of light.
“So, if you travel through space for a hundred years,” Tess said, “when you come back, we’ll be the same age?”
“Something like that,” Harry said.
“I’d miss you if you were gone for a hundred years.”
“I’d miss you, too.”
“Maybe you should stay here after all.”
“Maybe so,” Harry said.
Tess had fallen asleep on the dock that night and Harry had carried her up to the house and tucked her in. When Vivian came to bed two hours later, she was just drifting off to sleep when Tess said, “Aunt Vivian, do you think Harry will ever really travel in space?”
“I don’t know,” Vivian said. Space travel fascinated Harry, and unlike in his youth the astronaut club was no longer limited to test pilots. These days there was plenty of room in space for an ordinary astrophysicist.
“If he does, I hope he’s not gone for a hundred years.”
“I’m sure he’ll never be gone for a hundred years,” Vivian said.
But now it felt as if Harry had been gone for a hundred years.
Marie might have found someone to fill the void Harry had left behind, but neither Vivian nor Tess had managed that trick.
Now Vivian wanted Harry to tell her what she should do tomorrow on October 14, what she should tell Tess about the night of the fire, whether she should be worried about Pilgrim 3.
Perhaps Harry could even tell Vivian what the hell she had done that Richard considered “stupid.”
Richard’s GPS informed him he had an hour to go before arriving at Vivian’s.
He nudged his speed up another five miles an hour.
If Pilgrim 3 and her cohorts got their hands on the radio, the results could be unpleasant at the least. But if they found Harry’s daughter, that could be disastrous for everyone, especially Tess herself.
He wondered if Vivian had been in the middle of one of her stories, events that played out like an alternate reality for her, when she turned on the radio.
She might not even know she had done it.
The only thing in which he could take comfort at the moment was that he was a lot closer to Vivian’s house than the Paradox Club was.
Even if Pilgrim 3 had sent goons to Vivian’s the second the board lit up, they’d take the better part of the day getting there.
He figured he’d have time to get Tess and Vivian out of there and take them someplace safe.
He was wrong.