Part 19 (1/2)

”Too far,” he mumbled.

”What would your grandmother say? Dear-oh-dearie. Come on, let's get you up and into bed, and then I'm going to have a doctor and a ma.s.sage therapist sent in.

You need a nice, hot bath, too. It'll be good for you and hygienic besides.”

”No tub,” he said petulantly.

”I know, I know. Don't worry about it. I'll sort it out.”

And she did, easing him to his feet and helping him into bed. She took his house keys and disappeared for some unknowable time, then reappeared with fresh linen in store wrappers, which she lay on the bed carefully, making tight hospital corners and rolling him over, nurse-style, to do the other side. He heard her clattering in the kitchen, running the faucets, moving furniture. He reminded himself to ask her to drop his comm in its charger, then forgot.

”Come on, time to get up again,” she said, gently peeling the sheets back.

”It's OK,” he said, waving weakly at her.

”Yes, it is. Let's get up.” She took his ankles and gradually turned him on the bed so that his feet were on the floor, then grabbed him by his stinking armpits and helped him to his feet. He stumbled with her into his crowded living room, dimly aware of the furniture stacked on itself around him. She left him hanging on the door lintel and then began removing his clothes. She actually used a scissors to cut away his stained tee s.h.i.+rt and boxer shorts. ”All right,” she said, ”into the tub.”

”No tub,” he said.

”Look down, Art,” she said.

He did. An inflatable wading pool sat in the middle of his living room, flanked by an upended coffee table and his sofa, standing on its ear. The pool was full of steaming, cloudy water. ”There's a bunch of eucalyptus oil and Epsom salts in there. You're gonna love it.”

That night, Art actually tottered into the kitchen and got himself a gla.s.s of water, one hand pressed on his lower back. The cool air of the apartment fanned the mentholated liniment on his back and puckered goose pimples all over his body. After days of leaden limbs, he felt light and clean, his senses singing as though he was emerging from a fever. He drank the water, and retrieved his comm from its cradle.

He propped several pillows up on his headboard and fired up his comm.

Immediately, it began to buzz and hum and chatter and blink, throwing up alerts about urgent messages, pages and calls pending. The lightness he'd felt fled him, and he began the rotten business of triaging his in-box.

One strong impression emerged almost immediately: Fede wanted him in Boston.

The Jersey clients were interested in the teasers that Fede had forwarded to them. The Jersey clients were obsessed with the teasers that Fede had forwarded to them. The Jersey clients were howling for more after the teasers that Fede had forwarded to them. Fede had negotiated some big bucks on approval if only Art would go and talk to the Jersey clients. The Jersey clients had arranged a meeting with some of the Ma.s.sPike decision-makers for the following week, and now they were panicking because they didn't have anything *except* the teasers Fede had forwarded to them.

You should really try to go to Boston, Art. We need you in Boston, Art. You have to go to Boston, Art. Art, go to Boston. Boston, Art. Boston.

Linda rolled over in bed and peered up at him. ”You're *not* working again, are you?”

”Shhh,” Art said. ”It's less stressful if I get stuff done than if I let it pile up.”

”Then why is your forehead all wrinkled up?”

”I have to go to Boston,” he said. ”Day after tomorrow, I think.”

”Jesus, are you insane? Trying to cripple yourself?”

”I can recover in a hotel room just as well as I can recover here. It's just rest from here on in, anyway. And a hotel will probably have a tub.”

”I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're not going to *recover* in Boston.

You'll be at meetings and stuff. Christ!”

”I've got to do this,” Art said. ”I just need to figure out how. I'll go business cla.s.s, take along a lumbar pillow, and spend every moment that I'm not in a meeting in a tub or getting a ma.s.sage. I could use a change of scenery about now, anyway.”