Part 14 (2/2)
”Yes! You heard that one? Shall we take a gander at the lab now?”
”Tomorrow?”
”Do you think we can make some stink bombs or laughing gas or cannon crackers?”
Noel laughed, remembering the days with his father when they made all three. ”Why not?”
”You know, now that I think of it, we should ask Sam for her help too.”
”Samira? She's an actress ... I mean she's an expert in literature, isn't she?”
”She's a woman. She'll know what to do. She'll know how to help your mom.”
”Well, fine, I'm sure she ... could be very helpful. But I doubt if she'd-”
”Is Sam fly or what? Is she slammin'?”
Noel paused, wondering whether he'd misheard. What language was that? ”I'm sorry?”
”Sam. Is she hot or what? Is she not swoonworthy?”
”Oh. Yes, I ... I suppose she is. Swoonworthy.”
”Don't tell her I said this, Noel, but I think she's got a crush on you. Just a hunch I got ...”
To Noel the word ”crush” was like a blast from a stun gun, or the tremor of an earthquake. He was stupended. Impossible, he thought, JJ's got things totally totally backwards. But what if. Yes, backwards. But what if. Yes, what if what if ... ...
”Can I ask you a question, Noel? Why does your mom have such a huge house?” JJ scrutinised his new best friend, his facial transformations. ”Noel? You with me? Noel?” He was headed for another upper thunder point, but Noel saw it coming.
”Sorry, I ...” Noel struggled to tear his thoughts from Samira. ”The house ... it's a long story.” Impossible, I couldn't have heard him right ... ”My dad ... he's the one who wanted it. He used to drive by it all the time. And then my mom inherited some money and they decided they wanted a big house. 'To fill it up with children,' Mom said. But it didn't work out that way. And then after my father died she wanted to 'fill it up with orphans.' But it was too late. The adoption agencies were looking for couples. Plus she was into her forties by then.”
”That's very kind, very generous of her. She must be a sweetheart- like my my mom. And like Samira-she told me she wants to adopt because she doesn't think she can have kids of her own.” mom. And like Samira-she told me she wants to adopt because she doesn't think she can have kids of her own.”
”Really? She said that? When, tonight?”
JJ put his hand over his mouth. ”I don't think I was supposed to tell anybody.”
”Don't worry, I-”
”But didn't I see a 'For Sale' sign outside? You guys moving?”
”Yeah, we ... we can't make the payments, the remortgage payments.”
”Oh b.u.mmage. But you guys must be rolling, you live in Outremont! These ceilings must be eighteen feet high!”
”Well, we were were ... rolling, kind of, after my grandmother died. But the money's long gone. Med school was expensive and then ... renovations, and now the memory potions I'm making, and the new lab equipment. Plus my mom lost some of it on ... well, bad investments, shall we say, and we had lots of debts before that. Because of me. I've been a lifelong drain-” ... rolling, kind of, after my grandmother died. But the money's long gone. Med school was expensive and then ... renovations, and now the memory potions I'm making, and the new lab equipment. Plus my mom lost some of it on ... well, bad investments, shall we say, and we had lots of debts before that. Because of me. I've been a lifelong drain-”
”Take the sign down.”
”I'm sorry?”
”You want to stay here?”
”Yes, but-”
”Take the sign down. We'll find a way. I'm great at finding money, plus I'll move in for a few days, if it's OK with you and your mom. And pay rent. And sell off some of my kits ...”
”No, really, JJ, that's absolutely absolutely not necessary ... I mean you can move in for a while, as long as you want, but I can't expect ... Where are you going?” not necessary ... I mean you can move in for a while, as long as you want, but I can't expect ... Where are you going?”
JJ was heading for the door. ”How do you open this thing?”
”A then Z. Twice.”
”Got it. First, the sign comes down. Then we go down and check out your lab.”
[image]
JJ stayed the next fifty-two days. Gradually, Noel began to spend less and less time with his mother-only an hour or two a day for meals-and more and more time in the lab. He also saw less of Norval; they took turns cancelling their weekly matinee. As for Samira, he saw her once leaving the Psych building, but she barely acknowledged him. So much for the ”crush,” thought Noel.
Most days Noel would work from late morning to 4 a.m., which included trips to McGill's Health Sciences Library, memorising JJ's natural therapy books (the sections relating to the brain), and working and consulting with Dr. Vorta. At least four hours a day he would have company downstairs: labouring on a rickety bridge table with his reconditioned computers, JJ now shared Noel's equipment, patiently preparing his homeopathic elixirs and admixtures, grey-matter elevators and memory escalators.
Like his mother, JJ related things more than once, not out of forgetfulness but out of a child's excitement at reliving, at sharing, cherished moments of the past. This never bothered Noel.
JJ also liked to whistle. At first Noel found his meandering strains- usually ”Yellow Bird” or improvisational and keyless variations- distracting, but after a while he found it oddly comforting. He also got used to his habit of playing tunes on his teeth with a pencil, and of slurping every every liquid, including herbal teas, through a straw. Nor did Noel mind when JJ urinated in the laundry-room sink, rising on his toes, glancing furtively this way and that. None of this bothered Noel because he was starting to make progress, real progress, and JJ seemed to be a part of that. liquid, including herbal teas, through a straw. Nor did Noel mind when JJ urinated in the laundry-room sink, rising on his toes, glancing furtively this way and that. None of this bothered Noel because he was starting to make progress, real progress, and JJ seemed to be a part of that.
What he did mind was JJ's grunts as he listened, on his headphones, to his mother's. .h.i.ts from the Sixties. .h.i.ts from the Sixties box set. Without Noel knowing it, JJ repeated three in particular, over and over, perhaps for luck: ”Do You Believe in Magic?”, ”Love Potion #9” and ”Magic Carpet Ride.” Also for luck, with Noel box set. Without Noel knowing it, JJ repeated three in particular, over and over, perhaps for luck: ”Do You Believe in Magic?”, ”Love Potion #9” and ”Magic Carpet Ride.” Also for luck, with Noel very very much knowing it, JJ wore his bubblegum-pink socks in the lab, day after day. much knowing it, JJ wore his bubblegum-pink socks in the lab, day after day.
After four and a half weeks of toil and quest, on the first Sunday in March, Noel got a flash of inspiration, a glimmer of supranormal insight. He was at Mount Royal Cemetery, watching cloud-shadows sweep across the fields, when a rustling sound distracted him, a squirrel or bird perhaps, foraging in graveyard gra.s.s. He turned and saw a shaft of sunlight illuminating, ever so briefly, the chiselled letters of his father's headstone. Back home, he scrambled up to the attic for books from his childhood, then flew down the stairs like a five-year-old at Christmas. For the rest of the day he worked in the bas.e.m.e.nt, alone.
Around nine, JJ came down with a tray of sandwiches. ”Your mom made these for you. You must be famished.”
With a magnifying gla.s.s Noel was examining prismatic beads and globules frothing inside an Erlenmeyer. He replied with a grunt.
”Hey Noel. Two travellers are crossing a desert. What would they live on if their food ran out?”
”Just a sec.”
”They'd live on the sandwiches there.”
Satisfied with the colour change in the emulsion, Noel lowered the flame beneath it with fingers blackened by chemicals. He replaced the magnifying gla.s.s in its sheath, copied some entries into a notebook.
”They'd live on the sand which is there sand which is there,” JJ repeated.
Noel looked up from his notebook. ”Is that tuna? Good, I could use some brain food. I'm trying to make a leap here ...” Of imagination, he nearly added. He felt it as though it were a new sense, arriving late, like wisdom teeth.
”What are you up to?”
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