Part 23 (1/2)

”I'm glad you're glad. We couldn't have done it without you, and it looks like we'll be open for business in a week.”

”Oh, I should think so. Are you coming to the party tonight?”

Party? Probably something the Liberty Square ad-hocs were putting on. I would almost certainly be persona non grata. ”I don't think so,” I said, carefully. ”I'll probably work late here.”

He chided me for working too hard, but once he saw that I had no intention of being dragged to the party, he left off.

And that's how I came to be in the Mansion at 2 a.m. the next morning, dozing in a backstage break room when I heard a commotion from the parlor. Festive voices, happy and loud, and I a.s.sumed it was Liberty Square ad-hocs coming back from their party.

I roused myself and entered the parlor.

Kim and her friends were there, pus.h.i.+ng hand-trucks of Debra's gear. I got ready to shout something horrible at them, and that's when Debra came in. I moderated the shout to a snap, opened my mouth to speak, stopped.

Behind Debra were Lil's parents, frozen these long years in their canopic jars in Kissimmee.

========= CHAPTER 9 =========

Lil's parents went into their jars with little ceremony. I saw them just before they went in, when they stopped in at Lil's and my place to kiss her goodbye and wish her well.

Tom and I stood awkwardly to the side while Lil and her mother held an achingly chipper and polite farewell.

”So,” I said to Tom. ”Deadheading.”

He c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. ”Yup. Took the backup this morning.”

Before coming to see their daughter, they'd taken their backups. When they woke, this event -- everything following the backup -- would never have happened for them.

G.o.d, they were b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

”When are you coming back?” I asked, keeping my castmember face on, carefully hiding away the disgust.

”We'll be sampling monthly, just getting a digest dumped to us. When things look interesting enough, we'll come on back.” He waggled a finger at me. ”I'll be keeping an eye on you and Lillian -- you treat her right, you hear?”

”We're sure going to miss you two around here,” I said.

He pishtoshed and said, ”You won't even notice we're gone. This is your world now -- we're just getting out of the way for a while, letting you-all take a run at it. We wouldn't be going down if we didn't have faith in you two.”

Lil and her mom kissed one last time. Her mother was more affectionate than I'd ever seen her, even to the point of tearing up a little. Here in this moment of vanis.h.i.+ng consciousness, she could be whomever she wanted, knowing that it wouldn't matter the next time she awoke.

”Julius,” she said, taking my hands, squeezing them. ”You've got some wonderful times ahead of you -- between Lil and the Park, you're going to have a tremendous experience, I just know it.” She was infinitely serene and compa.s.sionate, and I knew it didn't count.

Still smiling, they got into their runabout and drove away to get the lethal injections, to become disembodied consciousnesses, to lose their last moments with their darling daughter.

They were not happy to be returned from the dead. Their new bodies were impossibly young, p.u.b.escent and hormonal and doleful and kitted out in the latest trendy styles. In the company of Kim and her pals, they made a solid ma.s.s of irate adolescence.

”Just what the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing?” Rita asked, shoving me hard in the chest. I stumbled back into my carefully scattered dust, raising a cloud.

Rita came after me, but Tom held her back. ”Julius, go away. Your actions are totally indefensible. Keep your mouth shut and go away.”