Page 149 of Sky Song
“Fifty-fifty.”
“Great.”
“All things considered, it was a solid bet.”
“I’m sure Gemma would be thrilled at your success if she knew.”
He rubbed his forehead, tired. “Please, don’t bother trying to hurt me. I hurt myself a long time ago when I made the decision to marry Miriam and leave Gemma behind.”
“Why did you?” Cricket asked, even though she wasn’t interested in Dr. Ragberg’s love life.
“When I came to Meeus, I was just as poor and half-way legal as you. None of my Earth certifications mattered. My first job was at the morgue.”
Cricket chuckled. “At least you stayed up-to-date on your skills cutting up bodies.”
“As if. I was hired to mop the floors.”
“Careful. Your snobbery’s showing.”
“It isn’t snobbery,” he cut her off sharply, and then screwed up his face. “But the job paid very little, and it didn’t help to advance my legal status. I quickly realized that my plan of earning money and bringing Gemma to Meeus was a beautiful mirage. What had seemed so doable from Earth proved impossible on Meeus. So I changed it.”
“Your job?”
“My plan. I started looking around, seeking other opportunities. I used to sing in a choir, so I signed up for a singing group here at the hospital, started going out, getting to know people. That’s how I met my wife, Miriam. Her father sits on the board that finances the hospital, did you know that?”
“What? You snake. No, I didn’t know that.”
He nodded slightly. “Yes, that’s how it was. Marrying Miriam opened a lot of doors.”
“I’d say. And she isn’t hard to look at, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” She didn’t try to hide the sarcasm.
“You don’t see what I mean,” he countered mildly. “I had to let Gemma go, fully intending to one day be able to bring her to Meeus and give her the better life she deserved, even though that life would be without me. But it took me too long. Gemma made another choice.”
Cricket heard a faint sniffle, and Dr. Ragberg’s eyes acquired a wet sheen. He was on the verge of crying, and she felt indifferent toward his suffering because of the choices he himself had made. “Life is full of twists and turns,” she mused. “Did you know that the serum you worked so hard on contains the genes of the captive Rix that is now Gemma’s husband?”
He jerked upright. “What husband?”
“You didn’t know? Gemma’s married now.”
“To… an alien?”
“Yep. To the Rix alien whose DNA went into the cocktail you were feeding me under the pretense of real medicine. Wait, does it mean we’re now related?” She laughed loudly and crazily. “Like, she’s my sister-in-law through Simon? Oh, God, that’s too funny!”
Dr. Ragberg couldn't fight the flummoxed state of mind that gripped him. “But… Gemma? She’s with an alien?”
Cricket sobered up. “You should be happy to know that Gemma has left Earth. She lives on Enzomora now, the Rix home planet. With her mate. Guess you can stop worrying.”
He slumped in his chair, and the light seemed to have gone out of his eyes that, despite everything, were kind and smart and too old for the youthful appearance he tried so hard to make more mature.
A faint sound reached Cricket’s ears from the direction of the back door, the kind of sound that Dr. Ragberg had made when he arrived. He was saying something but she no longer heard him, adrenaline flooding her body in a hot rush as she rose from her chair. Hand in pocket, she was half-way to the door when glass shattered. A hand was thrust through the opening and groped for the lock. She shot at it. Missed. Shot again - too late. The hand withdrew and the door was pushed in from the outside. Why was she such a lousy shot?
“Aha! She’s here. There is justice in this world.” The deranged voice could only have come from one person, and her name was Kim. The maniac stumbled in, followed by two burly individuals eerily similar to her in size and square shape, a man and a woman. One was holding a video camera. All three were armed with stun guns and deep scowls of committed revolutionaries. Behind them, silhouetted against the moonlight in the door opening, hovered none other than her neighbor Mr. Sulys.
“Emma, what’s hap…” Dr. Ragberg rushed up from behind and halted.
Upon seeing him, Kim’s jaw hit the floor and her eyes bulged. The surprise was quickly swept away by an expression of jubilation.
“The other witch doctor!” she hollered, and her sidekicks bleated in excitement. The trio was so ridiculously pathetic thatCricket would have laughed if not for their pointed guns that looked far from comical.
