'Yeah, I know,' Jonathan said. 'But not my mom.'
'Your dad?'
'He's fine too.'
'Good,' Cassy said. 'Now I'd like to take you up on your invitation to come in. I'm here to talk with your mom.'
Jonathan closed the door behind Cassy and then bellowed at the top of his lungs that there was company. The sound echoed around the inside of the house, and Cassy jumped. Despite trying to act calm, she was as taut as a banjo wire.
'Can I get you some water or something?' Jonathan asked.
Before Cassy could respond Nancy Sellers appeared at the balustrade on the second floor. She was dressed casually in acid-washed jeans and loose-fitting blouse.
'Who is it, Jonathan?' Nancy asked. She could see Cassy, but because of the way the sun was coming through the window into the stairwell, Cassy's face was lost in shadow.
Jonathan yelled up who it was and motioned for Cassy to follow him into the kitchen. No sooner had Cassy sat at a banquette than Nancy appeared.
'This is a surprise,' Nancy said. 'Can I offer you some coffee?'
'Sure,' Cassy said. Cassy eyed the woman as she motioned for Jonathan to get a cup while she went to the stove to pick up the coffeepot. As far as Cassy could tell Nancy looked and acted the same as she did when Cassy had first met her.
Cassy was beginning to relax a degree when Nancy reached out to pour the coffee. On her index finger was a fresh Band-Aid, and Cassy felt her own pulse quicken. A wound of any sort on the hands was not what she wanted to see.
'To what do we owe this visit?' Nancy asked as she poured herself a half cup of the coffee.
Cassy stumbled over her words. 'What happened to your finger?'
Nancy glanced at her Band-Aid as if it had just appeared. 'Just a small cut,' she said.
'From some kitchen implement?' Cassy asked.
Nancy studied Cassy's face. 'Does it matter?' she asked.
'Well ... ' Cassy stammered. 'Yes, it does. It matters a lot.'
'Mom, Miss Winthrope is concerned about the people who are changing,' Jonathan said, coming to Cassy's aid once again. 'You know, like Candee's mom. I've already told her you talked with her and thought that she was out in left field.'
'Jonathan!' Nancy snapped. 'Your father and I agreed we wouldn't discuss the Taylors outside the home. At least until ... '
'I don't think it can wait,' Cassy interrupted. Nancy's little outburst had encouraged her to trust that Nancy had not been infected. 'People are rapidly changing all over the city, not just the Taylors. It might even be happening in other cities. We don't know. It's happening with an illness that resembles the flu, and as far as we can tell it is spread by little black discs that have the capability of stinging people on their hands.'
Nancy stared at Cassy. 'Are you taking about a black disc with kind of a hump in the middle, about four centimeters in diameter?'
'Exactly,' Cassy said. 'Have you seen any? Lots of people have them.'
'Candee's mother tried to give me one,' Nancy said. 'Is that why you questioned my Band-Aid?'
Cassy nodded.
'It was a knife,' Nancy said. 'A recalcitrant bagel and a knife.'
'I'm sorry to be so suspicious,' Cassy said.
'I suppose it is understandable,' Nancy said. 'But why did you come here?'
'To enlist your help,' Cassy said. 'We have a group, a small group, who have been trying to figure out what's happening. But we need help. We have some fluid from one of the discs, and with you being a virologist, you'd know what to do with it. We're afraid to use the hospital lab because we think too many people in the hospital have been infected.'
'You suspect a virus?' Nancy questioned.
Cassy shrugged. 'I'm not a doctor, but the illness seems like the flu. We also don't know anything about the black discs. That's where we thought your husband might help. We don't know how the things work or even what they are made of.'
'I'll have to discuss this with my husband,' Nancy said. 'How can I get in touch with you?'
Cassy gave the telephone number of Pitt's cousin's apartment where she'd stayed the previous night. She also gave her Dr. Sheila Miller's direct dial number.
'Okay,' Nancy said. 'I'll be back to you sometime today.'
Cassy stood up. 'Thank you, and as I've said, we need you. This problem is spreading like a plague.'
The street was dark save for the widely dispersed street lights. From the distance two men approached, walking large German shepherds. Both the men and the dogs acted as if they were patrolling the street. Their heads were constantly turning from side to side as if they were searching and listening.
A dark sedan appeared and stopped. The window came down and the pale face a of woman appeared within. The two men stared at the woman but no one spoke. It was as if they were having a conversation without the need for words. After a few minutes the car window soundlessly went back up and the car moved off.
The two men resumed their walk, and as the eyes of one of the men passed by the line of Jonathan's sight, Jonathan thought he saw a glow as if the eyes were reflecting an unseen light source.
Jonathan reflexively pulled back from the window and let the drape fall into place. He didn't know if the man in the street had seen him or not.
After a moment Jonathan carefully parted the center of the drapes with his finger, exposing only the barest crack. Being in a dark room himself, Jonathan was not afraid of light giving him away.
Jonathan brought his eye to the crack. Down in the street he could see that the two men and dogs had continued walking just as they had earlier. Jonathan breathed a sigh of relief. They'd not spotted him.
Letting the curtain fall back into place, Jonathan left the bathroom and went out into the living room to join the others. He and his parents had come to the place where Cassy and her friend Pitt were staying. It was a large three-bedroom flat in a garden apartment complex. Jonathan thought it was cool. There were a number of impressive aquariums and tropical plants.
Jonathan considered telling everyone what he'd just seen, but they were too preoccupied. At least everybody but his father. His father was standing away from the group with his elbow on the mantel. Jonathan recognized his expression. It was one of those condescending ones he'd assume whenever Jonathan asked him for help with math.
Jonathan had been introduced to the others. He'd seen the black policeman before and had been impressed by him. He'd come to the school the previous autumn for career day. Jonathan had never met Dr. Sheila Miller but was wary of her. Except for her blond hair she reminded him of the witch in the Snow White video his parents had made him watch when he was a kid. There wasn't anything feminine about her like there was about Cassy. The long fingernails didn't quite hack it, especially since they were painted a rather dark color.
Cassy's friend Pitt was an okay guy except Jonathan felt a twinge of jealousy because of Cassy. Jonathan didn't know if they were exactly dating, but it seemed like they were living there in the same apartment. Jonathan wished he had a physique like Pitt and maybe even black hair if that was what Cassy liked.
Sheila cleared her throat. 'So let's summarize,' she said. 'What we're dealing with is an infectious agent that rapidly sickened guinea pigs, but the animals produced no detectable microorganisms, specifically no viruses. The illness is not airborne, otherwise we'd all be infected. At least I certainly would be, since I've been essentially living in the ER. It's been literally filled with infected people over the last couple of days who've been continuously coughing and sneezing.'
'Have you inoculated any tissue cultures?' Nancy asked.
'No,' Sheila said. 'I don't think of myself as experienced enough for that type of work.'
'So you believe the illness is only spread parenterally,' Nancy said.
'Exactly,' Sheila said. 'By one of these black discs.' Both the discs were sitting in a topless Tupperware container resting on the coffee table. Nancy picked up a fork and began pushing them around so she could examine them. Then she tried to turn one of them over, but being unwilling to touch it with her finger to stabilize it, it
