After Midnight

I must’ve blushed. I sure felt very hot all of a sudden.

“The thing is,” I said, “he’s diabetic. Did he tell you about that?”

Murphy lost his smile. “Oh, man,” he said. “No, he didn’t say anything about that. Diabetic? Maybe we’d better have a look. I’ll go get the keys.”

He vanished inside, but his screen door barely had time to swing shut before he pushed it open and came out. As I followed him across the courtyard, I scanned the rest of the apartments. I saw nobody.

He pulled open Tony’s screen door and knocked a couple of times on the wooden door. But he didn’t wait for a response. He stuck a key into the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open. Then he called out, “Tony?”

We both listened, but heard nothing.

“Tony? It’s Murphy, the manager. Are you here?”

Still no answer, so Murphy stepped inside. I crouched, picked up the Tribune by the rubber band around its middle, and entered behind him. We were in a small, tidy living room.

I saw Tony’s answering machine on a lamp table beside his couch. “Maybe I’d better wait here,” I whispered. “In case he’s…indecent or something.”

“No problem,” Murphy said, and hurried away to search the apartment.

The moment he stepped into the bedroom, I rushed forward, tossed the newspaper onto Tony’s couch, swung my purse behind my back to get it out of the way, and picked up the telephone.

At the sound of a dial tone, I started to tap numbers into the keyboard.

The three-digit local prefix.

Then four random numbers.

In the earpiece, I heard quiet, ringing sounds.

YES!!!

Murphy, coming out of the bedroom, looked at me and shook his head.

I gave him a smile, then spoke into the mouthpiece. “Barb? It’s me, Fran.”

Murphy hurried on, apparently to check the kitchen.

“I got the manager to let me into his apartment, but he doesn’t seem to be here.” Then I called out, “Murphy, any sign of him?”

“Nope.”

To the ringing phone, I said, “I guess it’s good news. I was really afraid he might’ve had another seizure.”

Murphy came back into the living room, his eyebrows raised, his head shaking.

“Any sign of him?” I asked.

“Nothing. He’s not here.”

I gave Murphy a grateful smile, then told the phone, “He’s definitely not here…No, I don’t know if his car’s here.”

“I’ll go look,” Murphy said.

A moment later, he was gone. The screen door clapped shut behind him.

I hung up.

Then I flipped up the plastic cover of the answering machine, took out Tony’s tape cassette, shut the cover and gave it a quick wipe with my skirt. I tucked the tiny cassette down the front of my panties.

After that, I picked up the phone and tapped in another set of random numbers.

This time, somebody picked up after the first ring. A man’s voice said, “Hello?”

I didn’t say a thing.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“This is Margaret,” I said, “from Westside Marketing Research…”

“Not interested,” he said and hung up.

I still had the apartment to myself. As I tried a new number, I noticed a calendar beside the answering machine. It was the kind that has a small, separate page for each day of the year. The number showing on the right was yesterday’s date.

The thick stack of pages on the left side of the center rings told me that Tony was in the habit of turning them over, not ripping them out.

From the other end of the line came a busy signal.

With the edge of a fingertip, I flipped the calendar page over so today’s date showed.

Then, hearing a quick approach of footsteps on the outside walkway, I said into the phone, “Maybe so. I sure hope so, anyway.”

As the screen door opened, I turned around and smiled at Murphy.

He came in, shaking his head. “Car’s gone,” he whispered.

“Thanks, Murphy.” Into the phone, I said, “Tony’s car is gone…I have no idea…Well, I’d much rather be stood up for a breakfast date than have Tony in a coma, or something. I’m glad we didn’t find him, you know?…Right, I’ll let you know if I find out anything. Bye-bye.”

I hung up, then said to Murphy, “That was Tony’s sister. She’s even more worried than I am. I made the mistake of calling her from the restaurant…They’re really close. I thought she might know where he was. But I only ended up scaring her half to death.”

“He’s probably fine,” Murphy said.

“I sure hope so.”

“Ready to go?”

No! My fingerprints were all over the phone.

“Yeah,” I murmured. “I guess.”

He frowned slightly, but turned around and started toward the door.

“I don’t…”

He looked back. “What?”

“…feel so good.”

30

MDS

I let out a moan and tried to look nauseated. Bending over, I put my hands on my knees.

“Are you sick?” Murphy asked.

“No, no. I’ll…be fine. Just…I’m a little dizzy, that’s all. I’d better just…I’ll be fine in a minute. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, no problem.”

“I’d better sit down,” I said, and sank to the floor.

Murphy squatted in front of me, looking appalled. “What’s the matter? Do you need an ambulance, or…?”

“No. No. I’m…I get this way. It’s my…condition kicking up.”

“Condition?”

“MDS.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

As far as I knew, neither did anyone else. I’d just then made it up. “Morning Dehydration Syndrome,” I explained.

“Huh?”

“It’s because I missed breakfast, and…” I trailed off and hung my head.

“Dehydration?” he asked.

“Water. I need…water.”

“Okay. Hang on.” Murphy sprang up, dodged past me, and went rushing for the kitchen.

The answering machine was next to my shoulder and slightly behind me. I stood up quickly and turned around. As I listened to cupboards squeak and water run, I picked up the telephone’s handset, wiped it all over with my skirt and returned it to its cradle. Then I gave the phone’s keypad a quick rub. When the kitchen faucet shut off,