The Devil in Silver

“But here’s my question,” Steve continued. “Who’s paying to send Mr. Acholi back? You know the answer. The same people who paid for Mr. Acholi’s stay in the hospital. Where he enjoyed the finest health care services in the world. For free. Well, it was free for him. But for you and me? We picked up the bill for this man to spend a year getting medical care in one of our nation’s hospitals. So what should we call this plane ride back home? The tip? This system carries some of us, but it’s on the backs of the rest of us. That’s the ugly truth. Well, we’ve been used for too long, my friends. We can’t afford it. Every man for himself. Make sure your butt is covered.”

Doris Roberts and Sandra Day O’Connor frowned at each other as the show went to commercial. Doris Roberts said, “Well, I don’t like that.”

Mr. Mack sniffed at her. “I suppose you’d like it if we all go bankrupt taking care of deadbeats? Well, I’m about through with kicking back while our enemies prey on us.” Mr. Mack waved a finger at the ceiling. “Steve Sands is on my wavelength.”

Sandra Day O’Conner forced down a few bites of her tuna-fish sandwich, then she unwrapped her cookie. She bit into it and almost immediately spat it out. “That man makes more money in one year than you’ve made in your whole lifetime,” she said.

Mr. Mack nodded. “Yes. He’s very successful.”

Sandra Day O’Connor looked at Mr. Mack, bewildered, and he smiled back. Pepper couldn’t take the glee on Mr. Mack’s face. He shouted at the old man. “You know Steve Sands would deport you, too.”

Mr. Mack, three tables away, narrowed his eyes at Pepper. “I’m an American citizen.”

Pepper pointed at the television. “Not his America.”

Mr. Mack glowered. Next to him, Frank Waverly grinned.

Pepper stomped out of the lounge and to the nurses’ station, where Nurse Washburn sat alone, logging, now that Miss Chris had finished Glenn’s incident report. There were four stacks of paperwork on the desk. All of it had to do with Coffee or Glenn. Nurse Washburn had been told to hurry and get all this information into the computer. The faster they updated the records, the faster they could move on to the next step, the whole point of Equator Zero.

But none of that mattered to Pepper.

“I’m looking for Sue,” Pepper said. “I thought she’d be at lunch since we didn’t get breakfast.”

Nurse Washburn looked up from the computer and stood up. “Repeat yourself,” she commanded.

“Xiu.” He tried her Chinese name but did no better with the pronunciation than before. “The Chinese Lady.”

Nurse Washburn looked toward Northwest 1.

“Oh, her. Yes. They took her this morning. She’s gone.”

Did Nurse Washburn take a certain pleasure in telling Pepper the news? Best to stop thinking about it before she had to admit the truth. Get back to the paperwork, converting paperwork into electronic files. Ignore the big man, who was leaning against the nurses’ station and moaning like an abandoned child

She’s gone.

Pepper stumbled into the phone alcove and found it empty. He took out his wallet, tried to use his credit card to make a call, but when he punched in his card number, an automated voice told him the card had been declined. He’d forgotten it was maxed out.

Then the phone rang.

Pepper picked it up so enthusiastically it nearly fell. He bobbled it like a football, but the pass remained complete. He held the receiver to his ear. Who would be on the other side? Sue? Her sister? (Somehow?) Maybe his brother, Ralph? The moment felt primed for magic.

“Hello,” Pepper said hopefully.

“Hey, there.” A woman’s voice. Cheerful. Bouncy.

“This is Pepper.”

“This is Sammy,” the woman said. “You remember me?”

“Sammy?”

“I was in there, too. Been gone about a month, though it feels like a lifetime!” She laughed into the line.

Pepper’s hand felt cold. He felt like he was hearing from a ghost.

“Listen,” she said. “I’m trying to reach Sam, but every time I call, people just get quiet and—”

He hung up on her.

Sammy was alive.

As soon as Pepper set the phone down in the cradle, he wanted to pick it back up again. He wanted to explain to Sammy. That everyone knew Sam had killed herself because she thought the Devil had taken her friend. And now, to hear Sammy’s happy laughter on the line, to think Sam took her own life simply because her best friend had been a little preoccupied? It was too much. It was absurd. Pepper almost couldn’t register the enormity of such a cosmic joke.

But he couldn’t explain any of that to Sammy because Sammy wasn’t on the line. Only a dial tone. How many times would Sammy have to call before someone had the presence of mind to explain? Pepper set the receiver back into the cradle. Remember Sue. It was too late to explain anything to Sammy. (And much too late for poor Sam.) But for Sue there was still time.