Part 24 (2/2)
”She gets better when she works with you,” she explained, ”but then it comes back.”
”Well, my energy levels have been low.” Mack became agitated. ”I know that. I've been pouring everything into logistics, insurance, permits, press. It's hard not being out there in California, doing this from our house. I'm talking with running blogs and magazines and the ABC folks, right? But Barry Strong's guys are meeting with the park people, local police, hospital reps in person. I should be out there. I mean, I'm needed.”
”We need you too,” June smiled, wanting to soothe him.
”And it's sapping me. I'm only running four hours a day. I'm fighting mental stress. When I work with Lily at night, I have less kinetic energy to give to her. I need to get my energy up.” He looked at her. ”Swing by my room with her this afternoon. Bring me some green tea, yeah?” He looked up, smiling, the rivers around his mouth and nose deepening into oceans. ”See you later, little Lily!”
She thought for a second that Mack would offer her a ride down to the house, but he drove off. So she stopped at Dushanbe and spent some of her cleaning cash on a pound of sencha and chamomile-lavender blend. While the barista measured the bags, June stared at the m.u.f.fins and scones behind the gla.s.s. It had been a year since she had eaten anything like them, and she felt hungry in a way she had not in months. Her desire for one of them was dizzying. But she swallowed it back. The kinetic energy her body produced on the trails this morning would be wasted trying to process the sugars and additives, and not be available to help Lily during the reiki treatment Mack seemed to have promised. It did not seem worth Lily's health to sample a scone.
She sang a little made-up tune as she walked with her daughter down Arapahoe into the darkening valley.
”I'm going to give you an amazing life,” she promised in song. ”We're getting you better. We're getting you better.”
At the house, June changed Lily's diaper, kissed her soft belly, and brought her to Mack's closed door. She knocked.
Mack's nasal voice called out, ”What?”
”It's June and Lily. And tea.”
”Come on in.”
Inside, a thick musk washed over her. The window in here should be thrown open, she thought. Mack sat on his futon mattress, on the floor.
”Hey, princess,” he waved to Lily.
June set her down, and immediately she began a fast crawl to him, eyes wide, clear drool hanging from her smiling mouth. By the time she reached him, of course, she was out of breath and coughing, her tiny chest heaving.
Mack's eyes drooped, and his voice was lower than usual. ”She'll be walking soon, you know.”
”Oh G.o.d, I hope.”
Mack stared intensely at her. ”I think she should start on the program when she does.”
”The program?”
”Multigrain in the morning, as much walking as she can do on those red feet, root stew at five.”
”What about her milk?”
”No dairy, of course. We're not meant to process cow lactose, that's barbaric bulls.h.i.+t leftover from the times of leeches. No naps, no stasis. That's what's wrong, that's why she hasn't been able to build her own kinetic energy yet. She needs movement. Her body needs to work like ours. When she's six, she'll be running marathons. Right, little Lily?”
Almost on cue, the short and sharp inhales of Lily's breathing became audible. ”When she gets excited, it gets louder,” June explained.
”She's excited because she understands what I'm saying to you.”
”Of course, Mack.”
Mack drank his tea and lifted Lily onto his mattress. She seemed to antic.i.p.ate the great healing heat that came from him and lay right on her back to meet it. Spreading his left hand out, his palm hovering an inch over the gentle skin of her chest, shutting his eyes, he began to fix her. When June held her daughter's hand, she could feel the hot energy shooting through her as she was entrained.
”Now you,” Mack instructed her.
So June rubbed her palms together and held each over Lily's abdomen, her fingertips grazing Mack's. She closed her eyes to focus on willing her energy into her baby. And yet June felt uneasy. Limiting Lily to just two meals a day and no naps? Of course she would try it, she would try anything for her daughter. But it felt wrong. She glanced at Mack awkwardly; the smell of him was so raw.
As usual, Lily had fallen asleep under his touch. Her wheezing was still p.r.o.nounced as she was unable to breathe deeply even in sleep. A cloud s.h.i.+fted and sent the room into shadow, and then Mack broke out of his meditation and looked directly into June.
”Come here.”
June moved beside him, keeping her hands above Lily's chest. Mack touched the back of her neck, and she felt a shocking heat burn through her skin. Then he lay on his back, keeping his hand on the back of her neck, pus.h.i.+ng her head downwards.
”Wait,” she whispered, ”what?”
”I told you, my energy is low.”
”Sure, but I don't understand?”
”See June, what we're doing here, what you're asking? It depletes me. She's taking all my energy. I need you to give me more. It's something,” Mack told her, ”all the women here help with.”
She recalled seeing Leigh, Rae, even Aviva, leaving or entering Mack's room at all hours of the day. No, she thought, this couldn't be why.
Mack pulled down his running shorts. His matted hair continued down his belly and below. June looked at the p.r.o.ne body of her infant daughter sleeping peacefully beside him.
Mack paused, staring straight into her. ”You can start slowly.”
June looked away. ”Let me just move Lily.”
June slid her hands underneath her daughter's warm, beautiful body, lifted her off the mattress, and carried her to a yoga mat by the window. As she laid her down, she stroked her sleeping, open hand, those small and perfect fingers.
She felt the exquisite smoothness of her skin slip away as she stood and went to him.
6.
Shane picked up the phone to call Caleb at his copy store.
A nervousness that he had not felt in years swept through him as the phone rang. He felt as if he were calling his high school crush. A young man's voice answered. ”O'Neil's Copies.”
”Hi, is, um, Caleb Oberest there?”
A pause. ”Caleb doesn't work here anymore.”
”He doesn't?”
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