The Shakespeare Incident Read online

“Of course, your honor,” Denise replied.

  “It has to be tomorrow,” the judge said, looking back at the computer instead of the courtroom.

  “So I’ll pick him up and take him there?” Denise asked.

  “That’s not what we’re proposing,” Jane Dark said. “The Sheriff’s office will be transporting Mr. Denny Song to the hospital room and be present at all times. We are asking that Ms. Denise Song be in the room and be responsible for his actions during the actual visit.”

  “So ordered,” said the judge.

  “You’re the greatest,” Denny said, as the guard took him away. The sheriff remained in the courtroom.

  Once he was gone, Jane Dark turned to the sheriff. “If he takes one second too long in the bathroom, that’s escape. If he trips over her cord, charge his ass with resisting arrest or whatever,” she said, loud enough for Denise to hear. “And it’s all going to be on her watch.”

  Denise now worried that Denny was being set up. That she herself was being set up. Denny would have to be on his best behavior. Seeing his long-lost mother might be a bridge too far for Denny. There was a whole litany of charges that Denny could pick up in the hospital. Even the slightest slip-up could make the issue of the medical records a moot point.

  And if anything happened on her watch, as the third-party custodian, she would be subject to contempt of court. She could actually go to jail if Denny acted up.

  “I’m going to see my mommy!” Denise heard Denny yell from out in the hallway.

  Maybe this furlough wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  Chapter 36

  Wednesday, July 29

  The judge still hadn’t ruled on the discovery issue regarding the military records, but Denny’s furlough to the hospital to visit his mother was scheduled for a brief window on Wednesday. Denny had to be at the hospital promptly at four in the afternoon and out the door by five at the latest. Denny was supposed to make up for an entire lost lifetime in only an hour.

  On the drive over to Cruces that afternoon, Denise stayed on the phone with Hikaru. He was an only child and had a tortured relationship with his overachieving father. “My dad would always say, why don’t you have any friends?”

  “My mom would say that to me too,” Denise replied.

  “By the way,” Hikaru said. “I have access to the corporate helicopter. And a pilot on Friday… if you just happen to be free…”

  “Are you asking me on a date?”

  “I’m asking you on an adventure.”

  “Of course.”

  “And bring ummm… athletic gear. We’ll be outside.”

  He texted her an image of two figures cycling in the desert at sunset. Because of the filtering of the image, she couldn’t tell if it was a picture or a painting. She didn’t care.

  As she passed the Akela Flats courthouse facade, she received a call from Rita, asking her about Denny’s case and Jen’s condition.

  “I don’t know about my mom,” Denise said. “I just hope she’s still alive when he gets there. Actually, I hope she’s still alive when he leaves.”

  “You must be a pretty good lawyer if you can get your brother out, even for an hour, Auntie Denise.”

  “Thanks, Rita.”

  “If there’s anything I can do to help,” Rita said.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Just don’t tell my mom I’m calling you. I think she wants to get off the case…”

  Rita hung up, before Denise could inquire further. Still looking at her phone, she noticed a text from the sheriff. Denny would be running late.

  If Denny missed visiting hours, he would freak. He might pick up a new charge if he tried to escape.

  * * *

  Denise arrived at the hospital by three and sat with “Piranha,” the wiry guard. “What are you doing here?” she asked Piranha.

  “Just keeping my eye on you,” he said.

  “Don’t you mean my brother?”

  He just smiled. “Both of you then.”

  She watched her mother lie there, only her eyes moving under their lids. What was she dreaming about?

  Would she ever get to talk to her mother again? She texted Hikaru a few more times and he offered his support. At least she had him.

  FRIDAY? he texted.

  FRIDAY! She texted back.

  Her phone rang. It was Rita again. “Auntie Denise, how’s it going?”

  “I’m sure everything will be fine.” Denise couldn’t help but be a little impatient with the young girl. “Don’t you have any friends to play with, Rita?”

  “No, I don’t.” Rita hung up. It was now after four.

  “He’s got to get here by five,” Piranha said.

  “I know,” Denise replied.

  It was 4:55 when Sheriff JC Diamond himself finally arrived in the room with Denny. Denny wore high-risk red prisoner garb with leg and ankle shackles. Denny was fidgety, even more so than usual. The shackles were rattling.

  The sheriff gave Denny a wide berth once they entered the hospital room.

  Denny nodded at Denise, who nodded back. One glance from the Piranha indicated that they should not get too close.

  In his excitement, Denny tripped, but managed to regain his balance. Piranha stepped between Denny and his mother, just in case. “Doctor!” he yelled.

  “That’s as far as you go!” Dr. Patel said to Denny, appearing from nowhere. “No physical contact!”

  Denny stood still. He closed his eyes, trying to contact his mother psychically. The lights in the room flickered on and off, the hospital machinery beeped, but nothing happened.

  Denny frowned, opened his eyes and wiped away a tear with a shackled hand.

  “I wish we could have known each other, mom,” Denny said. “I wouldn’t be wearing handcuffs if you could have been there for me growing up.”

  Over on the bed, their mother took a deep breath. Her eyes remained firmly closed.

  Mother, oh mother. Denise knew that if her mother had been there for her, things might be different for her as well. Maybe she wouldn’t be a clinical law student, but a real lawyer right now. If only the three of them could have been a family…

  Suddenly, the steady rhythm of the monitors suddenly began beeping at the rate of the fastest K-pop songs. Denise felt a pulse of electricity racing in a circle from her to her mother to Denny and back to her again. Lights blinked off and on, and then the fire alarm went off.

  Would this be too much for Jen Song?

  “Oh my god!” Dr. Patel ran over to the monitors, clearly alarmed. “Everybody out!”

  “But I just got here!” Denny shouted. “This is the first time I’ve seen my real mother! I’ve waited for this my whole life!”

  The sheriff grabbed Denny roughly.

  “Her too!” Dr. Patel ordered. Piranha grabbed Denise and dragged her outside.

  Denny lost his balance and fell to the floor. “I can take you out on the elevator or take you out the window,” the sheriff said.

  “I didn’t do anything!” Denny yelled.

  The fire alarm stopped. “He’s cooperating with you!” Denise yelled, still being held by Piranha.

  Denise worried that the sheriff would testify that Denny caused the disruption. If Denny couldn’t even handle being with his sick mother in a safe setting, he sure couldn’t handle being out in society. It was a trap after all.

  “Let go of me!” Denise yelled.

  Piranha released his hold and checked his watch. It was five after five. His shift was over and he was losing interest.

  Denise walked to just outside her mother’s doorway. Her mother’s vitals apparently were back to normal.

  Dr. Patel was at her mother’s bed, along with Dr. Schwartz.

  “Is she all right?” Denise asked, remaining in the corridor. />
  “Everything’s fine now,” Dr. Schwartz said. Dr. Patel double-checked and nodded. Her mother now looked positively serene. “I won’t let the son see her again,” Dr. Patel turned to face Denise. “Just to be on the safe side.”

  “What about me?” Denise asked. “She was fine with me for the last few hours. And she seems better now.”

  Dr. Patel waited a full minute, eying the monitors. Jen Song was back in a groove, all signs normal. Before the doctor could give an answer, she looked down at her beeping pager. “I’ve got to take this page.” Dr. Patel left at a fast clip.

  Dr. Schwartz was still in the room. He did an experiment—he gestured for Denise to come closer. If anything, Jen’s monitors improved with every inch. “You seem to check out just fine.”

  With another gesture by the doctor, Denise inched forward. He smiled. “You might even be good for her.”

  Denise took another step into the room. “Can I stay here with my mother?”

  All was serene in the room. “I guess so,” Dr. Schwartz said.

  Piranha was still in the room, and he looked disappointed that he would have to work overtime. “I’ve got my eye on you,” he said to Denise.

  Denise sat by her mother’s bed. Dr. Schwartz watched the beepers for a few more moments and then nodded.

  “Good luck,” the doctor said. “Mr. Perea, you could give her some space.”

  “That bitch is crazy,” Piranha said as he left the room, glad to be out of here after all. “That whole family is.”

  Chapter 37

  Denise sat alone with her mother for the next few hours. All the staff looking in would assume that they were a normal mother and daughter bonding, perhaps for the last time.

  “I know you know I’m here,” Denise said.

  Her mom blinked once. Denise assumed it was one blink for yes, two blinks for no.

  After checking in one more time, Dr. Patel left. Dr. Schwartz checked the monitors a few minutes later. “Your mother does seem to be doing well with you in the room, Ms. Song.”

  “I really need to spend time alone with my mom. I just want to spend the night in her room if that’s OK.”

  “I’ve got to check with my attending,” he said and hurried down the hall.

  When he returned, he gave her a form and a temporary pass just to be sure. The door to her mother’s room had to remain open.

  It was after midnight and the night nurse had finished her hourly rounds. The coast was clear. Jen Song’s eyes were still moving under her lids, she was in REM sleep. Perfect timing.

  Denise rose from her chair and arranged herself so she would be invisible to people passing by the room—unless they actually poked their heads in. She touched her mom’s hand. Thankfully the skin was still warm, the pulse strong.

  Holding her mother’s hand, Denise closed her eyes and concentrated. Nothing happened, it was like staring into a blank wall. Denise opened her eyes took a deep breath and this time made her mind go utterly blank… and she seemed to melt into the air.

  There was a flash, a burst of electricity through her brain and then darkness. She was now falling down a hole in the hospital floor. She hit solid ground, but it was totally dark.

  “Please let me in, mom,” Denise said.

  Denise felt an electronic pulse, hopefully that meant yes or that her mother was too weak to resist. After a moment, her eyes and lungs adjusted, she was there inside her mother’s dream. It wasn’t like a simulation; she could feel and even smell this corner of this universe. Still everything was a bit off, like watching a blurry TV whose cable connection needed to be tightened. Denise concentrated and when things finally came into focus, she realized that this was Jen’s memory—and not necessarily a perfect rendition of the past.

  Denise looked around. Behind her, she saw a large figure in a military uniform leaving the podium of an outdoor concrete amphitheater, beneath a modern skyline. The audience were Asian workers in hazmat suits, their helmets off. The camouflage of the uniformed speaker sure looked American, but the details were vague.

  No one noticed her as of yet. She was in the dream, but not of the dream. She had been in Nastia’s mind and that hadn’t ended well. She’d get out of her mother’s mind way before it got to that point, right?

  Denise now recognized a young, healthy, Susie Song come up to the podium to address the workers. Susie gave a speech in halting Korean, reading the words in English phonetically on a teleprompter. Apparently, she was trying to convince the workers about enrolling in a corporate health plan or against unionizing. Or both.

  Susie then thanked the American military for the big contract. The American military person had entered a tunnel leading out of the amphitheater and gave a wave from the darkness.

  A hazmat worker in the back looked in Denise’s direction. Denise knew from her experience of entering Nastia’s dream that Jen could sense that something was out of place in her mind. Denise didn’t have much time.

  Denise noticed a figure at the back of the stage, dressed in a pink blazer and khakis. It was indeed Jen Song—maybe in her thirties—looking as beautiful as Denise remembered. What did she once call her mom? A half-Korean Jackie Kennedy.

  Her mom wasn’t paying attention to Susie at all. With a wink of an eye, the POV shifted. Denise looked over her mom’s shoulder to see that she was texting in English about the next stop on the insurance plan tour on one phone, while simultaneously texting someone about something else on another phone. It was to a number in the 505, the Albuquerque area code.

  The texts were MISS YOU BABY, MISS YOU TOO. That sort of thing, back and forth. Jen and her correspondent really missed each other, that was for sure.

  And finally, I’M COMING BACK TO AMERICA. WE CAN LIVE TOGETHER.

  THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL was the reply.

  Did her mom have a boyfriend that Denise never knew about?

  Her mom texted the person in the 505 one more time. THE LAWYERS SAID WE CAN FINALLY BE TOGETHER!

  Why did those words sound familiar? Denise realized where she had heard those words before and why that number in the 505 was so familiar…

  Her mom finally got the Skype to work and the image of the other party came on the screen. Denise recognized the young girl on the screen as herself. She would have been in 8th grade, living with her grandmother. The video was frozen, so they had to keep on texting.

  Denise now remembered those texts clearly. Those texts were the last time she and her mom communicated like mother and daughter. Back then she had hopes that they would be reunited for real, be a family for real.

  GOT TO TAKE THIS. Dream Jen shifted to the work phone.

  Her mom wiped away a tear and then texted someone about Susie’s lodging in Hong Kong for the next corporate trip. Susie’s contract specifically mandated that she had separate rooms for her and her handler, each room with a double bed.

  I LOVE YOU DENISE! Dream Jen texted back on the personal phone.

  I LOVE YOU MOMMY! Young Denise texted back.

  Her mom then looked up from the phone. Jen looked right at Denise, but stared through her.

  “Denise?” Was Jen talking to young Denise or the current Denise? Jen was clearly confused and hung up. The colors of the dream faded a bit. That couldn’t be a good thing.

  Susie ended her speech with “Gam-sa-ham-ni-da,” which Denise knew meant “Thank you” in Korean. There was only polite applause. While the workers weren’t that impressed with Susie or the plan, the short heavy-set manager, was awed by the former celebrity. He brought Susie back over to Jen’s chair, all the while talking rapidly.

  The colors were getting vivid again in the dream. Jen’s memories were sharper now. Something important was imminent.

  “Jen,” Susie said in English, “Mr. Choi’s going to give us a tour of the nukes!”

  Denise felt a thumping, like a rapi
d heartbeat. She wasn’t sure if Jen’s heart was beating faster in the dream or in real life. Her own heartbeat sped up to sound like dueling drummers.

  In the dream, Jen looked around for a moment but didn’t notice anything. Jen rose and followed Susie and Mr. Choi through the tunnel and then through an airlock. Denise went along behind them.

  They went through another airlock and then another as Mr. Choi gave the two women a tour of the massive plant. Still, Denise could sense the tension in her mother’s dream. Denise jumped after every airlock door clanged shut.

  Many of the workers were in “bunny suits,” but Mr. Choi, Jen and Susie were unprotected. The workers displayed tangential awareness of Denise and avoided her.

  Both Jen and Susie feigned interest in Mr. Choi and his excited patter about the wonders of the atom. Susie pestered Jen in English about the double queen bed situation at their next destination in Hong Kong, as she preferred a second queen bed for her luggage and that Jen get a room with double beds of her own, one bed which would hold Susie’s golf clubs.

  Jen assured her that it would be taken care of, but was looking around, clearly perturbed by something. Mr. Choi then glanced in Denise’s direction, but still didn’t notice her.

  “Something’s wrong,” Jen said in the dream.

  Everyone else ignored her. Deep inside the plant, down a long hallway the plant’s warning lights came on illuminating the walls like a strobe light. Jen looked concerned, but Mr. Choi kept smiling, assuring them in faulty English that there was nothing to worry about.

  In the dream, Jen grabbed her stomach and Denise felt the pain in her own gut, as though she was a discount voodoo doll. While the hazmat workers in their suits were unaffected, her mother suddenly bent over and threw up, then threw up again. Susie also wobbled and fell over. Denise felt intense pain all over her own body. It felt like the radiation was probing every inch of skin with a needle, looking for entrance into her bloodstream.

  Mr. Choi helped pick Jen up, but nearly dropped her when a worker shouted at him in Korean. Choi shouted some orders and the workers rushed away. The only words Denise could understand were centrifuge and core. How do you say meltdown in Korean?