December 9, 2005
Week 32 - Impossible Dreams 13
Episode 5
Powell paces in a hallway in a hospital. After a few moments Lucy, extremely pale and carrying a small plastic bag, steps out of a room. She leans against Powell and he holds her in his arms. "How... how is he?" he asks. "Will he be all right?"
Lucy nods slowly. "The knife missed his vital organs," she whispers.
Powell takes a deep breath and squeezes her. "He... he saved that woman. If he hadn't run into that alley, she would have been..."
"He's completely insane! He's lucky he wasn't killed! But that's it! He'll give a speech at the board meeting and then he's going straight to the sanatorium."
"Um... The board meeting? That's next week. Do you think he'll be in any shape to..."
Lucy pulls away from him. "I have not come this far to let everything be ruined now! The doctor told me he should be able to go home in five days. That gives him three more days to rest before his speech endorsing me. He'll be fine. And the police promised to keep this out of the press."
"But... you know what's going to happen as soon as he gets released. Captain Camouflage launched all three parts of the satellite. You father's going to want to stop him before he can assemble them and trigger the Illusion Ray..."
"I don't want to hear any more about Captain F--king Camouflage or F--king Coyote Man! It's your job to control that nonsense!" She covers her eyes with her hands. Then she shakes her head. "Here, take this." She hands Powell the plastic bag she had been holding. "It's his belongings, a nurse gave it to me. I have to go upstairs to the desk, to figure out the insurance situation." She storms off down the hallway.
After a few moments a small man in a white hospital jacket steps up to Powell. "Is Ms. Lamont here?" he asks.
"Um, no... I think she'll be back in a little while. I'm... I'm a friend of the family."
"I'm Dr. Goldschmidt. I'm leaving for the night, but I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Please give her this message..." He pauses and Powell nods. "Mr. Lamont should be fine, eventually, but he's not a young man... He was very lucky, the knife glanced off his rib cage, but... It looks to me as if his heart wasn't too strong to begin with. This incident will just weaken it further. It's going to be very important that nothing happens to excite him till he's completely recovered. Do you understand?" Powell nods once more. "All right, please convey that to Ms. Lamont." They shake hands and the doctor leaves.
Powell stands very still for several minutes. Then he raises up the plastic bag in his hand and opens it. He sifts through the contents, ignoring the wallet, the keys, the wrench. Eventually he pulls out a necklace and holds it in front of his face. He stares at the white, plastic fang that dangles on the cheap chain.
After a few moments, he bunches the necklace into his palm and stuffs it deep into his pants pocket.