11. Clark #3
Shepard pulled the other chair over so he was close enough to reach out and put a hand on my knee.
He tapped it a few times. “Look, I’m not going to say I have all the answers, because I most definitely do not.
But you spend time with Olly, and you start to see things in this world that don’t make sense, and they are usually the kind of things that make you ask someone you barely know about ‘magic powers.’ I don’t know how I knew to draw you in that suit and cape, but I knew it had to be you, or the picture would have been all wrong.
That’s the most sense I can make out of it for you. ”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep me from blabbing weird Olly stories.
“I’m not even sure that the drawing is what set all of this off, except that’s when the yelling began, when she looked at it.
I didn’t tell the paramedics that, because I can barely understand it myself, and it felt too personal to Olly to pass on.
Does that make sense? Should we ring the nurse and tell them about the picture? ”
“No,” Shepard said instantly. “What did she do last night that has you so spooked?”
I pondered this for a long minute. Then I decided that if in twelve years she had not told Shepard about her abilities, it was up to me to keep her secrets, not spread them around.
“I can’t tell you. I want to. You have to understand, I really want to, but I feel like I might be betraying her trust if I talk too much. ”
Shepard just closed his eyes for a second and nodded his head.
“Good man,” he said. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate you guarding her secrets.
” Then he suddenly swerved the conversation, which I thought was brilliant, because what were we supposed to do, sit in silence and stew in resentment for what the other knew, and we didn’t?
“So what exactly are these costumes again? I mean, okay, I know Superman, but not why.”
“Well, she loves the show Wicked. The first night we crossed paths in our building was in the parking garage where she was singing ‘Defying Gravity’ so freaking loudly that she didn’t hear me approach, and then she kicked me in the balls.
” Shepard winced in sympathy, but also laughed, because he could probably picture her reacting in that exact way.
“So I had her in a pinkish-white poofy gown with Glinda accessories as an homage to the character, and I’m Superman, because in elementary school they called me ‘Supes.’ You know, the whole Clark thing, and they put up a display of me as Superman in my classroom when I couldn’t go to school while the leukemia and treatments were bad.
We were going to have a fitting this afternoon as a way of having fun but also me doing something special for her.
She’s...she’s special. To me. I just hope I’m special to her, too. ”
“So you’re really him, then. And you love her, just like she said you would.
Though I think she always meant in a familial way, considering she thought you’d be her father.
” My eyes widened, and my heart rate spiked again.
I got that over-the-lip sweatiness I always did when I was about to throw up, so I jumped up and scanned the room for a place to let loose, choosing to puke into the biohazard bin.
After two more rounds of voiding my stomach, I felt a hand between my shoulder blades.
“Are you okay, Clark? I mean, do you want me to ring the nurse for you? I’m a bit concerned here.
” I lifted my head, and yeah, Shepard did look upset, or at least like he gave a damn.
I shook my head and rose to my full height, without managing to barf again.
I quickly went to the sink in the room and washed my hands, splashed cold water on my face, and brushed my teeth as well as I could with those little pink foam circles on a stick that were supposed to be for moisturizing a patient’s lips.
“No, I don’t need the nurse, and no, I’m not in love with her. It’s too soon. It’s crazy. It’s—”
“Fate. Don’t deny it, Supes. Did you even hear yourself? I said ‘love’ and you immediately jumped to me somehow declaring being ‘in love’ with her. What was that, a Freudian slip?”
“I...I don’t know what that was.” My mouth still tasted gross, and I wondered if I could find a lozenge or mint in my backpack.
“You know,” Shepard said, “she keeps this secret on lockdown, and I only know because of a drunken night in undergrad when she drew something similar in a bar on the back of one of her English papers. It was from the back, though, so you could mostly just see the cape and hair colour on the other person.”
“How do you know it was the same couple if it was always drawn from the back before?”
“I think when you know Olly better, when you spend more time in her orbit, you’ll just know.
I mean, not only about the picture, but all kinds of things.
Just don’t be frustrated if you get frozen out for answers to long-standing questions.
” I chewed on that for a moment, looking over at Olly, who seemed so peaceful.
“She told me she’s been drawing this couple since she was a little kid.
And, in one way or another, she has spent her whole life waiting for them.
She thought they were her parents who died,” Shepard said.
“I think she thought that their ghosts or spirits or whatever you want to call them would come find her.”
I fought to hold back tears. Since I was seventeen and abandoned by my parents after we lost Rosie, I thought I’d had no one, and all this time, Olly had been in the world, dreaming of parents she knew were dead, not knowing that someone else would find her.
“Oh my god, and I just showed up at her workplace one day. When we shook hands? I am not just saying this to be romantic or mysterious or some shit, but it was like there was something electric between us. She looked sick, she looked tired, and she was the most radiant woman I had ever seen. She had to know, Shepard, based on the way she behaved toward me the first few days. It was as if I ruffled her feathers or something. Like she was processing it all. And then now, after only knowing me for like, five weeks, for me to show her the drawing...it would be enough to overload anyone’s circuits.
” Shepard slowly nodded, briefly closing his eyes.
I noticed he did that a lot, like he was buffering information or something.
I admittedly had way more questions, but one thing was clear at that moment.
Despite all of Olly’s prior protestations that it was not even in the realm of possibility, I said, “You’re in love with her.
” He cleared his throat and didn’t respond.
I took the hint and dropped it. Shepard’s problems were going to have to be his to deal with right now, because right now, I was looking down at a hospital bed which held the unconscious body of a remarkable woman who could manifest reality from nothing—and make it vanish again—who just seemed to know things about people, and who believed in fate.
And me. For some reason, I knew she believed in me, because she was going to entrust me with more information before I ruined it all with my excitement about showing her the Glinda costume mock-ups.
I wanted to puke again.
“Is the guy-talk finished, or can I get a word in? Christ, there’s a lot of testosterone floating around in here,” Olly croaked, turning her head in our direction and giving both of us a weak smile. “My boys. I’m so glad you’re both here. Stay with me while the doctor comes in?”
“We aren’t leaving you alone in here for a minute, you hear me?” I said, and Shepard nodded in agreement.
“So what am I in the joint for? Between the two of you, you should be able to spring me loose. And for fuck’s sake, who is sick? Are you okay? One of you produces worse puke smells than me.”