Chapter 23

They found a place about thirty miles north of the city, an apartment on the third floor of a nondescript building, accessible only by a narrow staircase, worn down by decades of use. It had seen better days, but it worked for the time being.

Lilith was on the phone, talking about symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy, hand-flapping and asterixis.

“Who was that?” Mark asked.

“The hospitalist assigned to Roxanne.”

“What’s Asterexis? It sounds like that old comic book.”

Lilith smiled. “It does. It’s medical symptom. Of liver damage. Toxins in the blood.”

“Doesn’t sound good.”

“She’ll be okay if they give her the right treatment.”

“And you’ll make sure of that!” Mark said.

Lilith nodded. “Anyway, I’m going to go see her,” she said, standing up.

She turned to Mark.

“Wanna go?”

“Right now?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Good,” Lilith said, striding to the closet. She produced a baseball cap.

“Here, wear this,” she said, handing it to him. “And these, at least till we get into the hospital.” She gave him a pair of mirrored sunglasses. She swept her hair back and donned her own cap.

As they drove to the hospital, after a brief phone conversation conducted in French, Lilith gave him further instructions.

“When we get out of the car and walk in, hunch forward a little bit and take small steps.”

“Why?”

“They may be watching the hospitals. It makes you look shorter and twenty years older.”

Roxanne was in a private room on the tenth floor. She was clad in a green hospital gown, with tubes attached to her arms, surrounded by glowing screens. Her hair was down. She’d been wearing a cap with her hair tied back the one time he’d seen her.

“What’s up?” Lilith said, her hands on her hips.

Roxanne smiled and then looked at him.

“Hello, Mark,” she said. Mark detected a slight French accent. He realized it was the first time he’d heard her speak.

“Hi, how are you feeling?” he said.

“Fine,” Roxanne said. Her eyes were those of a different person. Soft ... vulnerable.

Lilith knelt by the bed and kissed Roxanne’s cheek. She said something in rapid French. Roxanne glanced up at Mark, nodding.

“You’re not fine, yet” Lilith was saying. “We’re going to make you fine, though. I talked to your doctor. Has he talked to you recently?”

Roxanne nodded. “He came in and said they were giving me this and that – I don’t remember. An antibiotic and something else.”

“A laxative. Sorry!”

Roxanne shrugged. “Least of my worries.”

“Honey, you have some things that indicate your liver isn’t at 100 percent. We’re addressing that. But, in addition to the medicines, I want you to be careful what you eat.” She fished a piece of paper out of a pocket. “Here are the things you should encourage and the things you should avoid. They should be giving you the right things when they feed you, but I just want you to be aware, ok.”

Roxanne nodded.

Lilith looked at her.

“You look beautiful.”

She ran her fingers through Roxanne’s hair.

“You are beautiful. And we’re going to make sure this beautiful girl gets through this just fine.”

Then Lilith said something in French.

Roxanne thought for a moment and then responded in French. They continued to talk in French. At one point, Roxanne closed her eyes and shook her head.

Lilith spoke again and Roxanne giggled.

“Ooh, no. Sorry. No laughing,” Lilith said, putting her hands on Roxanne’s shoulders.

“But we’ll care of it, ok?”

Roxanne nodded. Mark saw her glance briefly at him again before turning back to Lilith.

“Need anything?”

“No. Thank you,” Roxanne said. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course! And we’ll be back. You’ll get sick of us!”

Lilith leaned over and kissed her again, this time on the lips.

“You’ll be fine, baby.”

Roxanne looked at Mark and then Lilith. She smiled and then looked back at Mark.

“Thank you for coming, Mark.”

“Get better soon, okay?” Mark said.

Roxanne nodded.

Lilith visited Roxanne every day, sometimes late at night. Mark occasionally accompanied her, but often felt like a third wheel. Lilith was very affectionate with Roxanne and sometimes slipped into the bed next to her. They often spoke quietly in lilting French and sometimes Roxanne’s eyes would dart to his for a brief second. She often smiled or laughed quietly at what Lilith was telling her. Mark suspected they were talking about him.

“Hey,” Lilith said one day, turning to him as they lay in bed. “I need you to do me a big favor.”

“Sure,” said Mark.

“You don’t know what it is yet.”

“Anything for you,” Mark said, kissing her cheek.

“Okay, good. I need you to have sex with Roxanne.”

“What?!” Mark said, his head jerking back. “Roxanne?”

Lilith nodded. “Roxanne.”

“Are you kidding? I can’t have sex with Roxanne!”

“Why not? She wants to have sex with you.”

Mark stared at her open-mouthed.

“It’s a practical necessity. Her jerk of a boyfriend is in Belgium.”

“But what about ... us?”

“I’m fine with it. In fact, I’m the one who suggested it. Look, Mark. This is just a fact of life. It’s something you’re going to have to get used to. Random woman are going to ask you to go to bed with them and I’m mostly going to be fine with it. It’s what we do. It’s what we have to do.”

Mark just stared at her.

“Mark. Amritan women have to have sex every month or they die, remember? That’s just reality. And it requires a degree of flexibility as well as sloughing off the illusion of monogamy. Most people aren’t monogamous – particularly men, but a lot of women too. They just pretend to be because that’s what’s expected. We don’t pretend. We’re polyamorous partly by choice, but also by necessity.”

“But aren’t most people paired up? Isn’t that how you solve that problem?”

“A lot of people are paired up, yes. But many aren’t. And with those who are, there are break-ups, there are quarrels, there are long business trips and illnesses, there’s this and there’s that. It’s the real world; it’s no different for us.”

“But why me with Roxanne?”

“Well, she likes you, for one thing. That’s important. And she needs it, and she doesn’t have a lot of other options right now.”

“Doesn’t she have any other ... friends?”

“Not really. At least not male ones. She’s shy, Mark. She’s not very social. And it’s hard to meet Dacians. There are very few around. The Elysians try to keep it that way. You really have to work at it and she doesn’t.”

“Well, hasn’t this happened before? I mean, if the guy goes to Belgium when she’s in the hospital...”

“He was already there. Things weren’t good.”

“Well, then what did she do before?”

Lilith paused before answering.

“John,” she said.

“Oh,” Mark said. “I’m sorry.”

“So,” Lilith said. “You’ll do it?”

There was a long silence.

“I guess,” he finally said.

“Don’t act like this is torture! Roxanne’s a very sexy woman when you get her into bed.”

“But, wow!” Mark said, shaking his head. “It’s just a hard thing to grasp. Just going to bed with someone like that.”

“It’ll be fine. And I want you to be the sweetest of your sweet self. And gentle. She’s very vulnerable right now, emotionally as well as physically. But you also have to go all the way, know what I mean?”

“Yes, I know,” he said. “That’s another thing I’m worried about,” he said. “Is she up to it physically?”

“She doesn’t have to have an orgasm, Mark. Just you. And she can make you. It can all be over in five seconds if that’s what you want.”

“Okay,” Mark said.

“I’ll give you a couple of days to grasp it. She’s running out of time.”

She gave him five days. She wanted to give Roxanne a little more recovery time.

They were on their way to the hospital. Lilith had somehow found a room on a different floor that could be locked from the inside. It had a bed, which was all that was needed. Lilith gave him the number -- Roxanne would be there waiting for him.