for a second,” Snell said, with a casual chuckle. But when Neal looked up at him, he could see that the big man looked genuinely concerned, and suspicious.
“I lost my balance, that’s all.” Neal shoved the stack of papers back into the pocket of his jacket, then managed a relaxed laugh and patted his stomach. “I guess I ate a little too much at lunch.”
“That’ll do it sometimes,” Snell said, but his pale blue eyes told Neal he didn’t believe the excuse.
Neal turned back to the van, but Snell remained behind him.
“You aren’t on any kind of...medication, are you son?”
“No sir,” Neal said quickly, turning to face him again.
“You know it would be very dangerous for you to operate a ve-hi-cle like this under the influence of any kind of drug.”
“I know. I’m not on drugs.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to say you were,” Snell said, though he seemed glad that Neal had been so direct. “I just thought you might be takin’ anti-histamines or somethin’ like that.” He paused. “See, I’m an ex-athlete, and I know somethin’ about this sort of thing...”
“I’m not taking
“Well, that’s good, son. Drugs don’t do a man a bit of good. Not one bit.”
“Yes, sir.”
Snell gave one of his fatherly nods. He eyed Neal for another short moment, then walked back into the shop.
Neal finished loading up the van as quickly as he could, avoiding eye contact with anyone. He became more and more angry. By the time he finished and drove the van away, it took all his self-control not to screech the tires at every turn. That goddamn Annie! Her stupid joke had almost cost him his job! Not to mention making him look like an idiot, having his little girl calling him at work, leaving gooey messages. Thank God they didn’t know much about his family—he had only told the old man that he was married and had a child, nothing more specific than that. If they knew Natasha was a five-month old infant, Annie’s little joke would have blown up in her face. He was sure that the Snell’s weren’t the type of people who would approve of telephone pranks, especially coming from an employee’s wife.
Boy, Neal would let Annie have it when he got home!
* * *
Annie sat up with a start. She was still sitting at the dinette table, a small puddle of drool where her head had been resting. She reached up and touched her forehead—it was slick with sweat.
The dream she had been having came rushing back at her. She was working in some huge, futuristic factory, and there had been some kind of emergency (a radiation leak?) and everyone was in a panic. An alarm was blaring throughout the massive complex, but she couldn’t escape—thousands of faceless male workers (was she the only female?) were jamming up all the exits, not pushing or shoving, but just pressing hard against each other, so hard that she couldn’t breathe.
Now that she was awake, she could still hear the alarm in her mind.
She turned her head towards the bedroom, realizing that the sound might not have just been in her head—she knew it well. It was the raucous
She rushed into the bedroom to check on Natasha.
To her relief, she found her daughter alive and well. The baby was staring up at mobile above her crib, her tiny fingers slowly wiggling back and forth, as if she was trying to grasp the plastic, multicolored fish that were slowly circling above her head.
“Is my baby o-tay?” Annie said, scooping Natasha up in her arms. She was wracked with guilt over falling asleep and neglecting her child. That was how crib death happened!
Natasha just grinned back at Annie,
