Darkest Fear

ended in an ugly splat.

More cries of ecstasy.

Myron pressed his ear against the door. Cries, yes, and a soundtrack. Not live action, he decided. He used his key and pushed open the door. The cries were coming from the TV room. Win never used that room for, uh, filming. Myron sighed and stepped through the portal.

Win wore his casual WASP uniform: khakis, shirt with a color so loud you couldn't look at it straight on except through a pinhole, loafers, no socks. His blond locks had been parted with the precision of old ladies dividing up a lunch check; his skin was the color of white china with dabs of golf-ruddy red on both cheeks. He sat yoga-lotus- style, his legs pretzeled to a point man was never supposed to achieve. His index fingers and thumbs formed two circles, the hands resting against the knees. Yuppie Zen. Old World European clashing heads with Ancient Oriental. The sweet smell of Main Line mixed with the heavy Asian incense.

Win breathed in for a twenty count, held it, breathed out for a twenty count. He was meditating, of course, but with a Win-like twist. He did not, for example, listen to soothing nature sounds or chimes; no, he preferred meditating to the sound tracks of, uh, skin flicks from the seventies, which basically sounded like a bad Jimi Hendrix impersonator making wah-wah-wah noises on an electric kazoo. Just listening to it was enough to make you rush out for a shot of antibiotics.

Win did not close his eyes either. He did not visualize a deer sipping water by a lapping stream or a gentle waterfall against green foliage or any of that. His gaze remained fixed on the television screen; more specifically, on homemade videotapes of himself and a potpourri of females in the throes of passion.

Myron stepped fully into the room. Win turned one of his finger-Os into a flat-palm stop sign, then lifted the index finger up to indicate he wanted another moment. Myron risked a glance at the screen, saw the writhing flesh, turned away.

A few seconds later, Win said, 'Hello.'

'I'd like my disgust noted for the record,' Myron said.

'So noted.'

Win moved fluidly from the lotus position to a full stand. He popped out the tape and put it in a box. The box was labeled Anon 11. Anon, Myron knew, stood for Anonymous. It meant Win had either forgotten her name or never learned it.

'I can't believe you still do this,' Myron said.

'Are we moralizing again?' Win asked with a smile. 'How nice for us.'

'Let me ask you something.'

'Oh, please do.'

'Something I always wanted to know.'

'My ears are all atwitter.'

'Putting aside my repugnancy for a moment—'

'Not on my account,' Win said. 'I so enjoy when you're superior.'

'You claim this' — Myron motioned vaguely at the videotape and then the TV screen—'relaxes you.'

'Yes.'

'But doesn't it also… I mean, sick as it is… doesn't it also arouse you?'

'Not at all,' Win replied.

'That's the part I don't understand.'

'Viewing the act does not arouse me,' Win explained. 'Thinking about the act does not arouse me. Videos, dirty magazines, Penthouse Forum, cyber-porn — none of them arouse me. For me, there is no substitute for the real thing. A partner must be present. The rest has the same effect as tickling myself. It's why I never masturbate.'

Myron said nothing.

'Problem?' Win asked.

'I'm just wondering what possessed me to ask,' Myron said.

Win opened a Ming dynasty cabinet that had been converted into a small fridge and tossed Myron a Yoo-Hoo. He poured himself a snifter of cognac. The room was lush antiques and rich tapestries and Oriental carpets and busts of men with long, curly hair. If not for the state-of-the-art home entertainment system, the room could have been something you'd stumble across on a tour of a Medici palace.

They grabbed their usual seats.

Win said, 'You look troubled.'

'I have a case for us.'

'Ah.'

'I know I said we weren't going to do this anymore. But this is sort of a special circumstance.'

'I see,' Win said.

'Do you remember Emily?'

Win did that swirl thing with his snifter. 'College girlfriend. Used to make monkey noises during sex. Dumped you in the beginning of our senior year. Married your archenemy Greg Downing. Dumped him too. Probably still makes monkey noises.'

'She has a son,' Myron said. 'He's sick.' He quickly explained the situation, leaving out the part about possibly being the kid's father. If he couldn't talk about it with Esperanza, there was no way he could raise the subject with Win.

When he finished, Win said, 'It shouldn't be too difficult. You're going to talk to the doctor tomorrow?'

'Yes.'

'Find out what you can about who handles the records.'

Win picked up the remote and flicked on the television. He flipped the channels because there were a lot of commercials on and because he was male. He stopped at CNN. Terese Collins was anchoring the news.

'Is the lovely Ms. Collins visiting us tomorrow?' Win asked.

Myron nodded. 'Her flight comes in at ten.'

'She's been visiting quite a bit.'

'Yep.'

'Are you two' — Win crinkled his face as if someone had just flashed him a particularly nasty case of jock rot— 'getting serious?'

Myron looked at Terese on the screen. 'Still too new,' he said.

There was an All in the Family marathon on cable, so Win flipped to it. They ordered in some Chinese food and watched two episodes. Myron tried to get lost in the bliss of Archie and Edith, but it wasn't happening. His thoughts naturally kept returning to Jeremy. He managed to deflect the paternity issue, concentrating, as Emily had asked, on the disease and task at hand. Fanconi anemia. That was what she said the boy had. Myron wondered if they had anything about it on the Web.

'I'll be back in a little while,' Myron said.

Win looked at him. 'The Stretch Cunningham funeral episode is up next.'

'I want to check something on the Web.'

'The episode where Archie gives the eulogy.'

'I know.'

'Where he comments that he never thought Stretch Cunningham was Jewish because of the 'ham' in his last name.'

'I know the episode, Win.'

'And you're willing to miss it for the sake of the Web?'

'You have it on tape.'

'That's not the point.'

The two men looked at each other, comfortable in the silence. After some time passed, Win said, 'Tell me.'

He barely hesitated. 'Emily said I'm the boy's father.'

Win nodded and said, 'Ah.'

'You don't sound surprised.'

Win used the chopsticks to grab another shrimp. 'You believe her?'