Текст книги "Total Eclipse"

Автор книги: Rachel Caine

Соавторы: Rachel Caine
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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Just Joanne Baldwin, snappy dresser and fast-car fan, mother and daughter and sister. Just another human being spending my short time on the face of the Earth, unnoticed.

And Lewis nodded, face gone utterly still and controlled. Yeah, he agreed. It makes sense. Youve got the technical knowledge, we can help you get where you need to be, and if it doesnt workthen we havent lost a vital Warden.

David stood up. Are you insane? You cant encourage her. You know how she is.

I know exactly how she is, and who she is, and what she can do if I give her the chance. Dont underestimate her just because you love her and you want to protect her. Lewiss eyes were bleak and full of things that I didnt want to see, didnt want to know. Jo, were fourteen hours out from port. Get ready. Once we make landfall were going to be very busy.

You know me, I love a good crisis, I said. Ill be ready.

Lewis nodded, and the meeting broke up for the next four hours so most could get some much– needed downtime. Not that they wouldget it, considering the pace at which things were happening.

I felt oddly . . . disconnected. Again. I kept waiting for some sense of the world around me to return, but all I had to work with now were what my limited human senses chose to give me. Not much, and not enough.

Then again, Id made the case that being just plain human was an asset. Inconsistency, thy name is Joanne.

I saved the spreadsheet and left everything up and running for the next shift of Wardens, who were already shuffling into the room, yawning and gulping coffee and looking as shell-shocked as I felt. David waited silently for me. He took my hand as we exited the room, and waited for a whole three steps before he said, Are you insane?

Clinically, or in general? Im pretty sure theres a yes in there somewhere no matter what I do.

Jo. He pulled me to a halt and turned me to face him. Im not kidding. His hand was tight around my arm, and his face was drawn and very serious. You cant do this. I cant let you do this. Im not going to lose you, and theres no part of this planif you want to call it thatthat doesnt end up with you dead. Its bad enough you want to go to the Oracles. Going to the Mother is suicide.

Were all dying, I said, and saw him flinch as I threw his words back at him. There wasnt any satisfaction in it. I have to try. You know I have to try. Youd do the same, in my place.

He let go of my arm and put his hands on my face, and for a breathtaking minute we stared into each others eyes, all barriers swept away. Two people poised on the edge of something awful, afraid and alone even with each other for comfort.

He hugged me close, stroking his fingers through my hair. When hed been Djinn, hed straightened my curlsa private sort of joke between us, a memory of a time when I hadnt battled that problem. Now, he couldnt wield that power, but it didnt matter. It soothed me in deep, primal ways, and I relaxed against him, feeling the deep rush of his breath in his chest, his heartbeat, his strength and love and commitment.

Then we go together, he murmured in my ear. The two of us. Together.

Tears suddenly welled up in my eyes. Id been prepared to go it alone, resigned to it; and yet, knowing he was with me . . . it made all the difference. I didnt know how to feel; relief and horror struggled for dominance. The horror was because I was dragging him with me into the mouth of the lion.

But I wasnt alone. And that mattered, in this moment, more than I could say.

We have fourteen hours, I said, and pulled back to wipe my eyes with the heel of one hand. Lets spend them doing something productive.

That put him back on firmer emotional ground. Im trying to think what that is, in your world. Shopping?

Jerk. No. Although not a bad ideaI could use a couple of outfits.

Interesting. His arms tightened around me, and the heat between us changed from comfort to something else. Something with its roots in a wilder place. So what would you consider productive?

I need to do laundry.

And?

That means I should take my clothes off. You know, to be sure I have everything clean.

I loved the smile he gave me, slow and sweet and hot. It wasnt a Djinn smile, not with the kind of hidden power that it had just a few days ago, but it was more purely him. The core of David that I loved so very much.

I can help with that, he said.

You mean, with the laundry.

Absolutely.

We walked back to the cabin with our arms around each other, savoring the hours, minutes, seconds together. If other people spoke to us, Im not sure either of us really paid attention.

As he was locking the cabin door behind us, David said, Be gentle, its my first time. I laughed, and then I understood. It washis first time with meand my first with him, in a very deep-seated way. Wed been together as Djinn and Warden, both of us bringing power into the relationship even if that hadnt been a deliberate plan.

This was different. Very different. This was just skin, and human emotion, and the kind of love shared by so many others. Which made it oddly precious and special, I realized.

We came together slowly, in a long and leisurely kiss. After the first few seconds I stopped thinking about what this wouldnt be, and began thinking of what it was.It felt sweet and intimate and passionate, and his mouth tasted different now. Human. Hard as it had been to see it, even his best imitation of mortality hadnt quite been completely honest. Hed unconsciously skewed it toward making it perfect.

And this was honest, and imperfect, and wonderful.

He broke the kiss and pulled in a deep breath, looking shaken. I had to laugh a little. What?

Its been a long time since I had reactions I couldnt fully control, he admitted.

Yeah? Scared?

A little.

I took pity on him, and kissed him lightly again on the lips. Me, too. Youre doing fine.

He was, indeed, doing fine already, gently undoing the buttons on my shirt and moving it aside, brushing his fingers over my bared skin, trailing them down to the waistband of my jeans in a suggestively delicious manner. I usually can tell if Im doing this right, he said in my ear. His warm breath made me shiver. Am I? Doing this right?

Oh yes. I caught my breath and arched against him as he slipped his fingers beneath the waistband. Hellyes.

He seemed completely fascinated from that moment on, forgetting his own odd awkwardness. Every action had a reaction, and for the first time, he was engaging every sense to understand me, read me, feelme. For two people whod been so closely, inextricably linked by our nerves, this was like making love blinddeliciously different, sweetly erotic, utterly human in ways that neither of us had anticipated. Mapping each others imperfect bodies, communicating in whispers and sighs and moans and thrusts that built to something brilliant and explosive for us both.

David collapsed against me, gasping for breath, shaking. Its the aetheric, he finally managed to say. Thats what it is. Thats what you feel. You touch the aetheric. I never knew. . . . He gulped in more air, eyes blind and bright, and then looked at me. Lets do that again.

Easy, tiger, I said, and cuddled up next to him. Take a breath. Itll still be there.

He put his arms around me, and I listened to the frenzied pounding of his heart slow down, his respiration subside. I felt warm and complete and deliciously relaxed. Youll still be here, he said, and kissed my forehead, my eyelids, my nose. Silly, sweet little kisses. He was just as giddy as I felt. Thats all that matters.

I was trying not to think about it, but the thought darkened my mind, just for a second: Tell that to the half a million people about to die.

But Id face that soon enough, and more.

And for now, I just wanted to be this, here, with him.

Sometime, hours later, I murmured sleepily, Oh crap, I forgot to do the laundry.

And he laughed.

And somehow, it was all okay, just for now.

Chapter Three

The Port of Miami looked weather-beaten but under repairs, and as far as I could tell, life was going on just fine. That seemed . . . odd. I stood at the rail and watched people strolling the boardwalks, coming in and out of shops with hands full of bright-colored bags, eating at outdoor cafes. It seemed so normal.

It didnt seem like the end of the world as we knew it. In the movies, everybodys looking up at the skies (conveniently, all at the same daylight hour, everywhere in the world, all at once) when the big disaster is coming. But in real life, people just carry on until the disasters in their face, and sometimes even after. Ive lost count of the number of people Ive personally fished out of flooded homes and businesses during hurricanes, for instanceand the ones that the Wardens couldnt save. All because they denied the ability of the world around them to destroy them.

There were potentially big losses of life brewing everywhere around the world, but so far they were just breaking news stories happening (for most people) somewhere else. Interesting and tragic, not personal and panic-bringing. Nothing to interrupt dinner at Pascals on Ponce over, for sure.

That would change, very soon. I knew it, even though I couldnt sense the aetheric disturbances anymore. Wardens were talking about it, and I could sense the suppressed anxiety in their voices.

This lovely day in Miami was the last we might ever see. I had a sudden, crazy impulse to start yelling like some wild-haired, sandwich-board-wearing street preacher, but I held my breath until it passed. Doomsaying wouldnt make anybodys day better. Or postpone the inevitable.

The ship was maneuvering up to the docks, and I could see, in the distance, a massive presence of cars, vans, and trucks. I nudged Lewis, who was standing next to me at the railing. What is that?

The transportation you arranged, he said. Cars and vans to shuttle people where they need to go.

Allof that?

Plus the press.

My palms immediately got damp, and I scrubbed them against my blue jeans. Whats our plan to handle them?

Benign neglect. Were going to be neck-deep in Apocalypse tomorrow. I cant see how issuing a press release is going to make a damn bit of difference, so were not talking.

Worked for me. Davids going with me. To the Oracles.

Lewis didnt take his eyes off the docking process. Good. I didnt like sending you alone. He paused, and then said, very quietly, I dont like sending you at all. You know that. Yeah, and I knew why. So did David. Uncomfortably personal territory, so I skipped it.

Its a dirty job, but thats why you picked me to do it, I said cheerfully. Besides, if I can pick up some of my powers along the way, this might not be the rush to martyrdom you think.

Its a big if, Jo.

Its a gi– normous if. Not to mention an embarrassingly large how. So lets not dwell on it. Besides, youre the one going up against Djinn and insane planets with a grudge. Ive got the easy job.

He shrugged, because I wasnt wrong. Nobody was guaranteed to come out of this thing with a whole skinLewis, the most powerful Warden in several hundred years, least of all. The more powerful you were, the more the bad things tended to want you dead. At least, in my experience.

Which meant I was practically bulletproof right now, ironically. I literally wasnt worth noticing. Was that a comfort? I really wasnt sure.

Youve been taking the hits for a long time, Lewis said. He hadnt even glanced at me, but he could read me just fine. Let the rest of us get the battle scars for a change. Were big kids.

Did I ever say you werent?

No, but your hero complex scares the crap out of me, Lewis said, and straightened up. Here we go.

I thought he meant that we were ready to disembark, but he turned toward me, and before I even knew he was intending to do it, he kissed me. Not one of the desperate kind of kisses hed given me in the past, none of that longing or anguish or pure lust I knew was still locked up inside of him. This was surprisingly . . . pure. Chaste.

It was a good-bye kiss.

I didnt fight it.

He didnt say another word, and it wasnt necessary. I watched him stride away, already calling orders to the Wardens who flocked around him like birds, swooping in to get instructions and then breaking off on their own.

That left me alone at the rail, until I sensed a warm presence next to me, and looked over to see that David had joined me. He had no particular expression on his face. It was juststudiously neutral.

You saw, I said.

Yes. I know what it was, he said. And hes right. We might never see him again. Id kiss him myself, but he might kill me.

Which made me laugh, as he intended. Though, knowing how ancient David was, I wasnt entirely putting that kind of flexibility past him, either. Youre a good man, I said.

Am I? He frowned down at the docks, as if it was a difficult question. Maybe I was, once. Maybe I can be. But Ive done a lot of things that wouldnt qualify as good. I thinkI think this is a chance to remember what that means.

Bullshit, I said crisply. Were not in the navelgazing business, my love; were in the world-saving business. Dont you forget it.

That surprised a smile out of him, a spark that reminded me of the fire hed had before . . . before the island, and that black corner. I wont.

Cherise arrived, out of breath, rolling two suitcases. She had on a Miami– length sundress (as in, just too long to qualify as a shirt, and illegal in forty-nine other states), clunky platform shoes, an enormous sun hat, and designer sunglasses. Very Cher. Well? she snapped as she breezed on past us, leaving a smell of crisp lemony perfume in her wake. Hustle it up; what do you thinkthe world isnt ending or something? I am notholding a cab for you slackers! Kevin trailed her, looking as slouchy as ever but somehow a little less unkemptmaybe Cherise had been after him with a combdragging two moresuitcases. Considering wed come on this journey with almost nothing, that was quite an accomplishment. Only Cherise could pump up her wardrobe while evading death. I generally just ruined mine.

David offered me his arm. Shes right, he said. So are you. Fight first; introspection later.

Were going to make it, I said. You believe that, right?

He looked aroundat the seemingly normal sea-front, at the Wardens disembarking from the ship, at the world all around us. And he said, softly, Not all of us.

I shivered.

Four in a cab was a stretch, but we voted Kevin to sit up front, much to the displeasure of the driver, who groused about rules and such until I tossed money at him. The money had been issued to all of us out of the ships treasuryanother thing that was going on the Wardens already staggering tab for saving the world again. It wasnt going to be enough, but it was enough to get us moving, and that was all that mattered.

I had the driver drop us at a car rental placenot Avis and Budget, which were already swarming with Weather Wardens attempting to secure their own preferred methods of transpo, not liking what Id booked for thembut a luxury place, where I plunked down the gold American Express Warden card to the clerk behind the counter. She was a professionally lovely girl, the way a lot of South Beach ladies are, and she had a practiced, customer-service-approved smile. What kind of vehicle are you

Whats the fastest car you have? I asked.

Um . . . She glanced down, and Im pretty sure she would have frowned except that the Botox no longer allowed that particular expression. Not that I wasnt in favor of Botox; I was starting to develop some disturbing furrows in my own brow. We have a Porsche Carrera. . . .

Something that seats four, I said.

Comfortably, added Cherise.

Okay, well, we have a classic Mustang that I understand is really fast. . . .

I couldnt believe my ears. What kind of classic Mustang? Because with my luck it would be a 1974, which was the start of the Mustang Dark Ages.

Its a Boss 429, she said, reading from a card with the air of someone who really didnt speak the language and was sounding it out phonetically. From 1970.

She hadnt even thoughtabout being born when Ford had rolled that racing car off the assembly line, but my heart was starting to pound. Seriously? Youre sureits a Boss 429?

We just got it in, she said. It has about sixty thousand miles on it.

I swallowed hard and tried not to get my hopes up. Can I see it?

She gave me another professional smilenot quite as polished as the last oneand then brightened the wattage considerably at David. Sure, she said, and nodded to another woman, identically lovely (only with dark hair), who came from the back to take her place at the counter. Out we wentalthough Cherise left the mountain of suitcases sitting in the lobby, thankfullyinto the parking lot behind the reception building.

It was like a candy store for car addicts. Seriously. There were a lot of very rich people in Florida, and a lot who visited, and this was their toy box. Classic red Lamborghini? Choose from dozens of identical clones. Want a high-end Porsche? A Jag XJ220? No problem. Even I slowed down and stared as we passed the sleek, rounded chassis of what surely couldnt be . . . Hey, I said, and pointed. Bugatti Veyron?

Reserved, our guide said. And youd need more than a gold Amex, I can tell you that.

No doubt, because the last time Id seen a price tag attached to one of those monsters, it was soaring up into the $1.5 million range. I felt I should genuflect or something, because that was definitely one of the Gods of Cars.

Then we cleared a giant, gleaming, black row of tricked-out Hummers, and found . . . my car.

There was just no doubt about it, really. This was mine.The thick, hot pleasure that spread through me at the sight of it couldnt have felt better if accompanied by a shot of heroin, administered by a male stripper.

Yes, cars are my drug of choice.

She wasnt wrong. It wasa Boss 429, absolutely cherry, painted in Intimidator Black. No stripes, no frills. It looked dangerous.Oh, and it was.

Rental Car Girl was holding a set of keys. She handed them to me and opened the drivers– side door. It smelled faintly of cigar smoke inside, but the interior was beautifully maintained. The seat was comfortably broken in, and even the leg length was almost right. One minor adjustment, and I fired it up.

A low, deep-throated throb of an engine, hot with power and hungry for speed. Yes.

I realized I was obsessively running my hands over the steering wheel, with a lust that was making David look at me funny. I cleared my throat, shut the engine off, and got out of the car. Fine, I said, trying to sound normal. Ill take it.

Day rate?

For the month, I said.

She didnt even blink; I supposed the rich did rent things on that scale on a regular basis. Probably for longer. Youll have to pay the deposit plus two weeks, she said. The car has LoJack, of course. We maintain our own insurance, which we will require you to carry if you cant provide valid coverage that would include

Fine, I said. Whatever. Charge it. Were in a hurry.

Surprisingly, that phrase did not inspire confidence. We waited through ID checks, credit checks, whispered conversations, and finally a massive set of paperwork, including a clause that I was fairly sure included forced organ harvesting in the event of nonpayment.

I just signed it, scribbling as fast as I could anywhere her well-manicured finger pointed. She wished us a pleasant stay in Miami. I didnt correct her, just stood tapping my foot impatiently until the uniformed valet had brought the Boss around to the front.

Cherise opened the trunk and looked inside. Youre kidding, right? My luggage will never

Downsize, I said. Youre not packing for a photo shoot, you know.

How do youknow? Theres always time to book a good gig before the end of the world. . . . Okay, fine. She crammed two of the suitcases in, and rolled two more back inside. She came out empty-handed, and I raised my eyes. She scooted her big round sunglasses down to roll hers. Theyre shipping them to Warden HQ, she said. What, you really thought Id just leave them? Girlfriend. There is Elie Saabin there. Ready-to-wear, but still. Respect.

Hey, youve got your drug. Ive got mine. I made sure the trunk was closed, and opened up the door for her as I flipped the drivers seat forward. She got in with care. I was glad, because I really didnt want to see any tabloid flashing. Kevin piled in next to her, and I smirked a little as I slammed the passenger seat back into place. With those long legs, he was not going to be overly comfortable . . . but then again, he wouldnt have been comfortable in much except a stretch limo.

David and I slid into the front seats, and I turned the key. The vibration of the engine came straight up my spine, doing interesting things in all kinds of key pleasure points, and I hit the clutch and shifted into first gear.

The Boss scratched right out of the box, leaving a thin mist of smoke behind us as it roared off. Zero to thirty, way too fast, and I had to back off dramatically on the fuel mix. He was temperamental, this beast. I liked that. It took a few experimental shifts to find the sweet spot in the clutch and get the feel of the pedals, but not more than a minute. The rental company had added a plug-in GPS, which showed me the route to the nearest freeway, and by the time I hit the on-ramp me and the Boss were good friends.

Oh God, it felt good to be behind the wheel again, in control, heading somewhere with a purpose. No more Bad Bob. No more old ghosts haunting me. Just me, the car, my lover, and . . . okay, Cherise and Kevin. And a trunkload of couture. But still. I felt . . . light.

And oh Lord, the Boss had power. I had to watch to keep it hovering at reasonable speed, and it was still blowing the doors off Italian sports cars in the other lanes. I was glad it wasnt a convertible. We might have died of the wind buffeting.

Storm coming in, Cherise said, after wed put about twenty miles under the fast-turning wheels. I glanced in the rearview. She was facing west, out the window, with an odd expression on her face. I looked, and saw a smear of clouds on the horizon. I automatically tried to reach out and grab information from the aetheric, but I had that phantom limb syndrome that amputees sometimes have. Nothing there. Just a sensation that there had once been.

Doesnt look like much, I said.

Its bad, she said. I think its bad.

I gave her a sharper look. What?

She shook her head and slipped her sunglasses on, leaning her head back. Im going to take a nap. Wake me if we pass a hot male strip bar.

Kevin growled, and she smiled and tucked her small hand in his. Could we at least have some tunes? he said. Or is this car too sacred for a radio?

No car is too sacred for a radio, I said. Sure enough, there was onenot factory original, apparently an upgrade from the rental agency. Satellite radio. I fiddled until I found a classic rock station. Billy Preston, Will It Go Round in Circles. Sweet. I cranked it up, opened the throttle a little more, headed for trouble.

Feeling better than I had in months.

I drove like the devil was after me.

As it was, because Cherise had been right about the storm. Even I could tell now that it was going to be a bad one; the clouds were massing up, boiling in black towers as warm and cool air collided. A huge anvil formation, spreading out over the entire western horizon. It hadnt been moving fast, but it had been moving, the last I could see of it before it blocked out the sunset and sent us into premature darkness. I shifted stations from rock to weather, and caught reports of massive winds, fleets of tornados, flooding. The Weather Wardens were having one hell of a bad time, though so far theyd kept the tornados from touching down in any heavily populated areas. That was the best maintenance strategylet the storm vent its energy where it wouldnt do as much damage and injury. But just from the news reports I could tell how much power was stored in that storm. Massive. And even the best Weather Wardens werent going to be able to get to everything.

The rain hit us viciously about two hours later, right about the time that my body began urgently waving the yellow caution flag. I checked the clock; it was after midnight, and Id been driving for far too long. I found a halfway decent roadside motela bland chain thing, but I wasnt concerned about originality right now so much as availability of pillows and mattresses. Cherise and Kevin had both fallen asleep some time back, and I had to wake them to check in. I hated leaving the Boss unescorted somebodywas going to recognize its valuebut the best I could do was park it outside the two rooms I rented, under a strong light, and hope for the best. I couldnt keep my eyes open any longer.

One hot shower later, I crawled into bed next to David, who was flipping channels on the television. Looking for a twenty-four-hour news channel, apparently, because that was where he stopped. I sat there rubbing my wet hair to get it as dry as possible while I read the screen crawl at the bottom. The news airing at the moment was about the very storm we were innot just us, but most of the eastern seaboard. Nasty. Easily as nasty as anything I had ever handled as a Weather Warden. There was a lot of damage. The death toll was already well into the hundreds and still rising.

What caught me, though, was the screen crawl, because it was allabout disasters. Not just the storm, or its attendant deadly little brother, flooding . . . earthquakes along the New Madrid fault line, a whopping 7.5 on the Richter scalemore than twice as powerful as the biggest thermonuclear weapon ever exploded. It could have been worse; the scale went all the way up to 10, though the worst humans had ever lived through had measured a 9.5. Past that, it wasnt really going to be our problem anymore.

The quake had shaken pictures off of walls in South Carolina, and rung church bells as far away as Boston. At the epicenter of the shift, in Portageville, it was going to be much, much worse. Thered be nothing much left standing.

The Portageville quake was far from the only thing going on, aside from the storm. The screen crawl tallied up unexplained increases in animal attacks, particularly by bears and mountain lions, and an unexpected increase in poisonous snakebites in the Western states. Wildfires had started up in the deep forests, in total defiance of wet conditions, and seemed to be getting the better of fire teams andpresumablyFire Wardens.

And that was just the U.S. The devastation wasnt confined to our shores. Virtually every continent was under attack. End-of-the-world prophets were out in force already, and theyd only get loonier and louder as things got worse.

The thing was, the end-of-the-world prophets probably werent wrong on this one.

I found myself holding David for comfort. He shut off the TV, and we sat in silence, watching the afterimage burn for a few seconds before we collapsed together back to the mattress and pillows I had, just a little while ago, so greatly lusted after. Now I wasnt sure I couldor shouldsleep. My body was still exhausted, aching, and needing to find some oblivion, but my mind was playing the Blame Game. We did this. We started this. And we have to do something to stop it. People are dying.

Shhh, David whispered, and kissed my temple. His arms were warm and strong around me, even though I knew instinctively he was right now despairing of how much power hed had, and lost. How frustrated and grief-stricken he was, too. How helpless in the face of the inevitable. Let it go, Jo. You have to let it go, just for now. Rest. Please.

I didnt want to, but he seduced me into it, with the comforting heat of his body curled around mine, the steady calm rhythm of his heartbeat, his love obvious even to all my blinded senses in every touch and caress. He was being strong for me. Maybe he needed to be.

Maybe I needed him to be, too.

I fell asleep finally, wrapped in his arms, and we woke up hours later to a clap of thunder so loud it rattled pictures bolted to the wall, and set off car alarms in the parking lot. I felt blinded, instinctively terrified, and cringed against David. Clinging for comfort. How long since Id been afraid of a storm?

I got hold of myself and crawled out of bed to look out the motel room window. It was like looking into a strobe flasher; the lightning was bright, constant, and close. Thunder followed, so loud that I could see the glass vibrate under the pressure of the sound waves. The lights were out in the parking lot, and, I realized, in the room as well; even the low-level night-light glow from the bathroom had gone dark. Wed been busted back to the primitive days, hiding in a cave, cowering from the storm.

It kind of pissed me off. So instead of retreating back into the dark and hugging David, I stood there in front of the glass window, practically daring the storm to do its worst. If Id still been a Warden, it probably would have taken me up on it, toobut a normal human? It didnt even know I was there. That wouldnt keep it from killing me, just as it would ants, birds, cats, or anything else that got in its way, but it wasnt personal.

I would officially be collateral damage. Which reallypissed me off.

Another eye-searing flash of lightning, and this time I saw the blue pop of a transformer blowing on a pole not far away. The pole caught fire, blazing like a creosote-smeared torch even through the driving rain. It gave the whole thing a hellish glow that was really, really unsettling.

I think we need to get out of here, I said. David was already out of bed and dressing in the darkcursing softly in a language I didnt recognize, mainly because he probably hadnt had to dress himself in the dark for, oh, about five thousand years, and in those days, there werent quite as many challenges to the process anyway. Is the phone working?

His cursing got louder as he knocked the receiver off, but paused when he checked the line. Yes, he said, and handed it to me to continue his fight with pants. I dialed Cherises room number by touch. She picked up on the first ring.