That Elusive Cure 37

I didn’t get to see Sally. No visits allowed, I was told. Can’t disclose information to a non-relative. We’ll see she gets the letter. I heard the nurse rip into the envelope as I left the reception area. Would my words pass and be handed on? I’d find out eventually, I hoped.

Jimmy called Bob on Sunday and said we needed nitrogen vapour, and could he get some for us. Of course this started a big debate. Bob wouldn’t just supply it, he had to bring it and only he could handle the canister. Bob didn’t get an immediate answer. I made Jimmy hang up and convince me this wasn’t a stupid thing to do. Jimmy and I discussed the issue of Bob seeing the machine for near on an hour. We decided to allow him into the church, but it was going to be a cloak and dagger affair. We’d blindfold him and take him there.

I heard Bob before I saw him. His old red car came grumbling up the street. Bessie, he named his car, I thought with a slight smile. Nerves were getting to me, and I sat by the window watching as Bob eased his car up onto the pavement in front of my house. The car belched blue smoke out the exhaust as he turned her off.

Bob got out, lanky and dishevelled in an ancient once white t-shirt and possibly the same pair of jeans as last time. He opened the boot, put on a pair of thick gloves and lifted out a reasonably sized grey metal canister. It must have been heavy, as he turned my way I watched his face scrunch up from the effort. The canister clanked as he placed it on the pavement and closed the boot to his car.

Jimmy must have seen him arriving and walked down the driveway to meet Bob. The two of them moved the canister into the boot of Jimmy’s car and then came in.

“Hi, how are you.” Bob’s face was flushed from the exertion. “So exactly what is the nitrogen vapour needed for?”

Jimmy came in and leaned against the door. He glanced at me and indicated I should do the talking. Bob would see the machine soon enough, but it was still hard to give up the secrets to this relative stranger.

“We’ve got a machine, it’s the one that has those nanoparticles inside it.” I checked with Jimmy, he gave me an encouraging look. “We’ll take you to it, but it’s all top secret. So you’ll have to be blindfolded.”

“Who invented the machine? Can’t be either of you or you wouldn’t have needed to come to me.”

How very astute. “Let us take you there. You can decide for yourself whatever you want once you get there.”

“So you said I had to go blindfolded? Real spy stuff going on. What are you afraid of?”

Did that really need to be said out loud? Did he really need me to explain my fears? Sometimes I wondered how smart people could be so stupid. I picked up a scarf from the sofa beside me. “Can you sit?”

Bob shifted from one foot to the other. “Seriously, blindfolded? I won’t look. I’ll keep my eyes closed. There’s no need for that.”

Jimmy stepped closer. “Look, without the blindfold you don’t get to see the machine. And believe me, this thing is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. You want to see it. Trust me.”

Bob hesitated then perched on the arm of the sofa. “Okay, I guess…”

“There is nothing like this in the world. You’re making the right choice,” I said and wrapped the scarf around his head.

Hoping none of the neighbours happened to be out on the street Jimmy and I led Bob to the car and got him safely onto the back seat. The last part of our security plan was to make him lie down. Hopefully this would be enough to keep the location of the church a secret.

Jimmy drove and the three of us remained silent for the journey. To be honest the whole situation was surreal. I felt like I was taking part in a movie and didn’t know it. For goodness sake, we had a man blindfolded and lying down on the back seat! How very strange my life had become.

The church seemed to loom at me as Jimmy pulled into the tiny car park.

“Stay there a minute. I’m going to unlock the door.” I told Bob. “Jimmy will stay with you.”

“Not planning on murdering me are you,” Bob said and laughed nervously.

“Not today, anyway,” I replied, probably not helping his nerves, but I couldn’t help myself.

Jimmy laughed as I got out. Before going to the church, I checked the street briefly. Who or what was I looking for? Not entirely sure I crossed the small car park to the entrance and wrestled with the lock once more, opening the door wide. My eyes rested on the pod for a moment before indicating at Jimmy to come.

We led Bob into the church and sat him on a pew while Jimmy donned the thick gloves and retrieved the canister from the boot of the car. He staggered in with it and I locked up the church.

“You can take the scarf off now,” I told Bob.

He couldn’t get it off faster. Bob blinked in the light, squinting and frowning as he tried to understand where he was and what he was looking at. I watched amazement dawn on him. Bob looked from the pod to the cross to the piles of pews to the pod to Jimmy and then me and back to the pod where they stayed.

“What on earth…” He got up and approached slowly.

I beamed, feeling stupidly like a proud mother. This wasn’t my machine, I needed to remember that. This was a machine I was invited to use and then pass on to another needy person. My smile grew wider as the scientist circled the room, his eyes not leaving the pod.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Jimmy asked before crouching down at the back.

Bob nodded, words evading him as he reached out and touched the smooth metal.

“Come have a look at this.”

Bob went around to where Jimmy was and I watched his eyes widen. “Wow,” he said finally. “Just wow.”

He sat on the floor next to Jimmy, hardly even blinking. His eyes darted around, making me think he was soaking up all the details he could. Maybe Bob had a photographic memory. If he remembered the way the innards of the machine were, what harm could it cause us and this machine? Feeling a little uneasy I got up and stood behind the men.

“Shouldn’t we be topping up the gas?”

“It’s a vapour,” Bob told me with a distracted wave of his hand.

“Same bloody difference,” I said, but neither of them was listening. “Just top up the vapour and let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be in here any longer than we need to.”

“Can you bring the canister; I want to study this a little longer.”

Jimmy got up and hefted the container over. Bob seemed done with his mind snapshots or whatever he was up to and the two of them hooked up the pipe to the valve my father had installed.

“You two might want to step back in case there’s a leak or something.”

“Not going to blow it up, are you.” Jimmy laughed, but stepped back nonetheless.

“No chance. But the cold burns. You wouldn’t want that.”

I sat on a pew, curling my legs up under me and waiting for Bob to do his bit. How would he know when it was full? What if he overfilled the system and broke it even more? Feeling a distinct lack of control over the pod and the journey I had unwittingly caused it, I hugged my arms around me and did the only thing I could. I hoped for the best.