A Fluffy Tale (7 page)

He checked his watch. Just gone seven
o’clock. Just over twenty four hours since… God, he hoped Zachary was all
right.

Leo paused in the middle of pouring from
the teapot as he spotted Julian was awake. “Oh, I'm sorry, Julian. I
desperately needed some tea.”

Julian yawned and waved away the apology,
wrapping the blanket around his shoulders. “Did you call the hospital?”

“Yes. No change. Which is good. The longer
he survives, the better his chances, so they told me.”

Julian found it hard to match the
optimistic smile, but he did his best. Nuji perched on Leo’s shoulder and Pyon
scrambled over to play. The two kems ended up on the floor, chasing each other.
Julian wondered about Linis and how he was doing.

“We’re going back this morning, right?”

“Of course. Now I'm here, you don’t…but
yes, of course you do. Forgive me. And your company would be welcome, but eat
breakfast first. It’s going to be a long day. I’ve done this kind of thing
before.”

If the old man hadn’t been there, Julian
would have skipped it and gone straight back. He was grateful to have someone
making him be sensible. Finding breakfast for Leo, forcing himself to shower
and shave carefully, thinking about what needed to be done for his guest’s
comfort, was a welcome distraction from his anxiety.

He was more than a little concerned about
the stress on Leo, especially when Leo let slip he was closer to eighty than
seventy. “You could wait here, you know. I could let you know what’s going on.”

“No, I must go. Beside…the doctors said that
someone may have to make…but let’s not talk of such
things. It won’t come to that.”

“You mean, decisions about turning stuff
off? You can’t!”

Leo winced. “I may have to. I'm his next of
kin, Julian. These things must be faced. But not now, and perhaps not at all.”

“He’d want Linis kept alive.”

“I'm well aware of that. I promise I won’t
make any decision on such matters without talking to you, and considering every
possibility. But you see, I do need to be there, though I should go to his
apartment first, and see if there’s anything that needs to be tended to.”

Once Leo had showered, and Julian had
cleared up, they set out. They walked because the apartment was so close,
though Julian had stiffened up just as Zachary had predicted. He thought
sorrowfully of the day in the country he’d hoped to have—it seemed so long ago
they’d talked about it, just the day before.

Leo, despite his age, was quite sprightly
on his long legs—another similarity with his great-nephew. Julian wondered how
close the connection was, and as they walked, he asked about the relationship.
“Did you raise him? He must have been a kid when his parents died.”

“Ah, sadly no. My sister and her
husband—his mother’s parents—brought him up, though I’d have dearly loved to have done. My niece, ah, didn’t exactly approve of me.” He
smiled sadly. “But my sister and brother-in-law passed away several years ago.
There’s just Zachary and me now. I’ve known him all his life. A fine, caring
young man.”

“How old was he?”

“When his parents died? Only seven. It was
an airline crash—he was staying with my sister while his parents attended a
medical congress. Both doctors, you see. The plane developed a critical fault,
came down, and everyone on board died. The only blessing was that Zachary
wasn’t one of them.”

“Yes.” Raised by
his grandparents—that couldn’t have been a lot of fun. “Are you two close
then?”

Leo sighed. They’d arrived at Zachary’s
apartment building now and slowly climbed the stairs. “Not really, though I’d
have liked to have been. I keep in touch as much as he allows. But he’s not
really close to anyone that I know of.”

They let themselves into the apartment.
Julian wasn’t surprised to find it spare and clean and elegant, much like its
owner. It was as large as his parents’ house—three bedrooms, a large open
sitting room, a kitchen and dining area with a long polished wood dining table
that might have been an heirloom. One wall was entirely taken up with books,
not just law texts but books on dozens of different topics. On a glass side
table, a chess game was set up. There were no messages on the answer phone or
Zachary’s mobile. No pictures of family or friends featured anywhere, no real
sign of the man himself—no degrees on display, or personal touches. The
abstract paintings on the wall were beautiful but told him nothing of Zachary
himself.

It felt lonely, and a little empty. Zachary
hadn’t been there long, though. Perhaps there were things in storage, waiting
to be unpacked. Julian hoped so. Pyon and Nuji nosed around but even Julian’s
curious kem couldn’t find much to amuse himself.
Sterile, that was the word.

There wasn’t much to do—when Zachary woke
up, he’d need personal things, books and so on, but that could wait. Having
checked messages and that there wasn’t any food left out that could go off,
they headed to the hospital. The only news was that there was no news, but
Leo’s arrival meant that they could wait in the more comfortable and private
waiting room near the critical care ward, and he could authorise Julian as a
visitor. They were allowed to see Zachary—and ‘see’ meant through a window, not
in the same room—though Julian kind of wished he hadn’t, afterwards.

“He looks terrible,” he whispered, staring
at the monitors and the traction device and all the equipment. And at the
horribly battered and pale form on the bed, dwarfed by all the technology. He
could barely see Zachary’s face—he was on a breathing machine and the tubes and
masks and tapes obscured most of the skin that wasn’t covered in bandages. Did
the monitor readings mean he was doing okay or not?

“People look terrible in these situations,
Julian. It’s what’s going on inside that counts.” They heard a faint, desperate
cry. “Oh, Linis.”

Zachary’s kem came straight to Julian and
Pyon, wailing to be picked up. Julian gave him lots of cuddling and petting,
Leo and Nuji joining in. “He’s scared.”

Leo nodded. “Yes, and Zachary would be very
pleased you’re here to look after him. Come on, standing here and staring won’t
do anyone any good.”

For a while, they had the waiting room to
themselves. Julian didn’t feel like talking—the sight of Zachary and seeing
just how very ill he was, had shaken him up. Leo respected his need to silence,
entertaining himself by playing with the three kems, especially Linis. Julian
wondered if Zachary knew how much his uncle loved him and Linis both, and
really hoped he’d live long enough to discover it, if he didn’t.

A doctor came in close to midday to let Leo
know the latest. Zachary was holding his own, and the
ventilator was just to take the strain off him, not because he couldn’t breathe
without it. “Will he live?” Julian blurted out.

“He’s fighting hard,” the doctor said. “But
we’re cautiously optimistic.” Julian grinned at Leo who smiled in obvious
relief. “We’ll take him off the ventilator tomorrow if he continues to do well,
and we should see him waking up then. Mr Underwood, he’s going to be sedated
until then for his own comfort—there’s really little point in you sitting
around here. If there’s a crisis, we can call you. You’re not staying far from
here, are you?”

“I want to stay,” Julian said.

“Yes,” she said, “I understand. But Zachary
will be with us for a couple of weeks or more. He’ll need you when he wakes up.
I suggest you take Mr Underwood home, both of you take it easy, and stay where
we can contact you. Nothing will happen so fast that you won’t get back here in
time, I promise.”

Leo grimaced. “Perhaps…Julian, I think we
should.”

“What about Linis? He needs the company.”

The doctor held up her hands. “I’ll leave
it up to you. But this will be a long business, gentlemen. Zachary’s recovery
will take months. He’s in good hands here, and so is his kem.”

She left them then. Julian sat down and
called Linis up onto his lap. Pyon jumped up too, and he stroked them both.
“You can go if you like, but I owe Zachary. I can’t abandon Linis.”

“No. We can stay an hour or so. Linis
understands, and so long as he knows we’re coming back, he’ll be fine. Tomorrow
will be the day we’ll be needed.” Leo patted Julian’s shoulder. “She’s right—we
need to pace ourselves.”

“Who did you do
this with before?”

“Friends. A lover, once, who had cancer.”
Leo’s eyes shadowed briefly. “When you get to my age, you accumulate losses.”

“Did everyone die?”

“Some of them. But Zachary won’t, so let’s
not talk of it.”

They stayed until another family came to
use the waiting room, so distressed and in need of privacy that it seemed rude
to hang around. Julian carried Linis back out to the observation window. The
kem made a distressed sound as he saw Zachary lying there, and turned to Julian
for reassurance. Julian whispered words of comfort in one silky ear, and petted
him for as long as Linis wanted it. But then the kem made it clear he wanted to
be set down. He walked over to Leo and rubbed himself against the man’s leg,
then went to Pyon and Nuji in turn, giving them sad little face licks. The kems
all seemed to know what was going on, and it made Julian feel even worse about
depriving Linis of their company. But Linis took matters into his own paws, and
with a last quiet meep, he dematerialised. Seconds later, they saw him on
Zachary’s pillow, curled up next to his head.

“Do you suppose Zachary knows?” Julian
asked.

“I can’t think it does him any harm, and I
think it helps Linis. Come on, we should get lunch and look after our little
kems too.”

Leo insisted on taking him out to lunch as
a thank you to Julian and to give them a break. He was,
he confessed, starving since his body clock was messed up,
and he was reluctant to put Julian to the strain of catering to his peculiar
dietary needs. Julian never ate in restaurants, so had no idea what to
recommend. They took a taxi to the city and ended up choosing one at random,
which Leo deemed suitable, and Julian thought was well out of his price range.
But Leo said it was his treat and he could easily afford it.

“My family are disgustingly rich, I'm
afraid. Zachary doesn’t need to work, but he despises idleness as much as I
used to. I’ve…grown accustomed to its charms,” he added with a wry smile.

Julian grinned back. He really liked this
old guy—even if he wasn’t much like his nephew at all.

The restaurant specialised in seafood,
never Julian’s favourite, but he was determined to try it, if only for
Zachary’s sake. He let Leo choose, and ended up with a very nice salmon and
shrimp pasta. Leo chose a grilled tuna steak, which looked even more tempting.
He declined to order any wine, just asking for their best mineral water. Julian
didn’t mind—he didn’t drink much anyway. Not since University, at least.

“Zachary would think this was pretty
funny,” Julian said, twirling some pasta on his fork. “You should have heard
him tear into me about my diet. He was right though—Pyon’s been so much
better.”

“Kems are his main obsession, but you
probably know that.”

“Do you know why?”

Leo ate a mouthful of fish and set his fork
down. “He was an only child raised by elderly grandparents, a shy, solemn boy
in a strange school. Linis was the only one he could trust not to hurt him. My
sister and her husband were good people, but not…warm. Or
should I say, kind but not very perceptive. Zachary retreated inwards, never spoke to anyone about his parents or how he
felt. Linis was his security, his friend, and his only comfort. Eventually, I
think he decided no one else could ever offer him a fraction of what Linis did,
and he stopped even caring if he was alone. But he cared when he was a child.
He broke my heart, but I could do so little. I travelled, you see, and was
rarely home. I visited when I could, but each time I returned, Zachary was a
little colder, more closed in. By the time my sister and her husband passed
away, he’d come to live entirely for himself and Linis.”

“But he must have had friends—he went to
University, like me, he’s got a job. He meets people all the time.”

Leo shrugged and cut more of his fish
steak. “I’ve never heard him mention anyone.”

“He told me he’d known kems who’d died
because of their hosts being selfish. It really upset him.”

“Yes, but I doubt he cared about the
people. The kems are different.” Leo shook his head. “You’d think he’d be
lonely.”

Julian thought back to the strange way the
man had dealt with his invitation to go to the country park. “I think he is.”

“You seem to have formed quite an
attachment to him despite your early difficulties.”

“No, I…I feel sorry for him. And I owe him.
But I don’t know a thing about him, except that he’s rich and he loves kems.”

“Would you like to know him?”

Julian suddenly realised Leo hadn’t
mentioned what sex his cancer-ridden lover had been, and flushed at the
implication in the man’s tone. “I’ve got plenty of friends.”

“Ah. And Zachary is just another one in a
long list. Nothing special.”

“I didn’t…I don’t
know
him. I feel…responsible. That car hit him because I bullied
him into breakfast. He wouldn't have even been there if I hadn’t done that.”

“Bullied?” Leo lifted an eyebrow. “
Zachary
? And how did you manage that,
Julian?”

“I…uh…well, I asked him. A couple of
times.”

“I see. Which of course left him with no
choice, forcing him to come to your utterly execrable and unpleasant apartment,
eat your horrible food and then you tossed him out onto the street under the
wheels of that car. Is that correct?”

“He wouldn’t have been there,” Julian
muttered, staring into his plate of pasta and feeling rather stupid. Leo wasn’t
that different from Zachary after all.