fiddolin
"You know, Kim, sometimes you've just got to ignore what's possible, and just think about what's got to be done. Impossible or not."
I don't answer him, and he continues walking along the bank. He tosses a rock out, and it skips across the lake's smooth water. Four skips.
"It's not that easy," I finally say, and the words feel like air escaping a deflated balloon.
He turns around and gives me a lopsided smile. "I know. But I have faith in you."
"I just don't know what to do for this next scene," Amber says. She moves a few index cards around, placing them in different spots on the table. I look up at her from where I'm sprawled on the floor on my stomach, ankles crossed in the air.
"I liked the plot you had before," I tell her. "The one with the combustible lemons. You should do that."
She throws an index card at me. "Of course you liked that one."
"And then, you know, there are various other causes that could be behind this, but we don't know for sure."
We all just stared at the doctor, as if he were talking Greek. Which, earlier in the conversation, he had been. But that was beside the point.
"Ahem... well, yes. I do believe it is my lunch break," he said, as he sidled toward the door. "If you have any questions, please feel free to call my lawyer..."
Yep, I know that I've already done this before, but I'll just go with it.
The thoughts aren't exactly helpful, but hey, I've gotten used to that lately. Instead of hesitating, I just sit in place, trying to figure out something creative, and wonder why exactly my cat thinks that she must constantly sit on my hands as I try to type. Well, we can't all be creative all of the time.
"I think... if we combine these two reagents, we should get... Shelby, are you even listening to me?"
She jerks awake, and spins in my direction. "Oh! I'm sorry. Yeah, Totally. We should do that."
I pull off my goggles with a sigh. "Shells, doing that would burn the laboratory down. Just how much sleep did you get last night?"
She looks away. "Not enough."
"I think we should bring this up to vote."
I glance around the room, at the table. Heads are bobbing in time to the one who suggested it, and I find myself nodding, too. After all this is my freaking life we're deciding on.
"You've heard the charges," the councilman continues. "And you know exactly how I feel about the issue. So now..."
"Aw," Elspeth cooed. I nearly wanted to strangle her.
Sure, the fawn was cute. It had those big, doe eyes, staring up at us like a baby's. But that didn't mean we didn't need to eat.
A quick shot, and those big doe eyes weren't staring at us anymore.
Elspeth's eyes, instead. "You... you killed it."
"Yes," I said, selecting another arrow. "And if you had any sense of self preservation, you would have, too."
"One hundred seconds," I tell him "That's all we've got to deal with this."
Daniel's face is impassive. I know, that's how he copes. But at a time like this, when I need as much help as I can get, that stoicism is infuriating.
"Are you even listening to me?" I shout. "If we can't last this long, then we might as well give up. It's only going to get worse from here."
For once, I see a tiny flicker of life in his eyes.
"Just breath," he says to me. "It'll all be ok."
I take in a few more ragged breaths. The pain is so hard to deal with. "What happened?" I asked.
"Gunshot," Daniel mutters, ripping off another shred of the bandaging. "But it's all right. We can fix this."
I wonder if anyone ever told him that not all things are that easily repaired.