Chapter 2

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CHAPTER TWO

I slam my apartment door behind me without locking it. I never do, which isn't good but my apartment building has pretty good security. I have one thing in mind: sleep. But first, I must bathe. After a glorious hot shower and a plate of take-out Chinese food, I am ready to hit the hay. I dump my plate into the stainless steel basin and walk through the living room into the bedroom. I barely get to see this apartment because I’m either at St Georges or on campus. In a few days I will officially be Alyx Lynch, Ph.D. My mother and I have been waiting for this my entire existence and now that it’s finally arrived, I can barely contain my excitement. My loyalty has been to St Georges for as long as I have been here and I proudly hold the position of the Head of Department in the ER.

My dream job however is to me an anthropologist at The Science and Technological Development Institute here in San Francisco. 

RING!! RING!!

Darn it, so close! But wait, that isn't my beeper, that's my phone. I shuffle around in my satchel to retrieve it.

The caller ID says it’s a private caller.

"Hello?" I almost yell into the cell phone.

"Dr Lynch?" I don't recognise the voice.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"This is Henry. Henry Dalgliesh. We 'met' in Argentina a couple weeks ago"

"Oh! Hello, Mr Dalgliesh. I am sorry, I didn't recognise your voice" I am dumbfounded and extremely happy. He called me! I feel like a teenage girl who has just been asked to prom by a football jock.

"Oh! It’s Henry. And I just called to ask you if my darling mother had phoned you to ask if you could attend our family dinner this weekend?" He sounded a little nervous. And this is the first time I'm hearing him speak in full syllables and no continuous grunts.

"Y-yes she did." That's all I could get out before my face broke out into a full-on all-32-teeth-baring smile.

"Well"- I swear I could hear a slight sigh of relief-"I am certainly looking forward to meeting you. That is, without bandages and you having to press a red-hot spoon against my leg"

"Yeah........I'm sorry about that. On the bright side, you did not bleed out because I shoved a red hot spoon to your leg" Ugh, why did I just say that?

His laughter is soft but I hear it loud and clear.

"Thank you for that, Dr Alyx. I pledge you my loyalty from this moment on"

"It’s Alyx. Call me Alyx. No loyalty needed, it’s my job to stop internal haemorrhaging and what-not" I giggle a little at how stupid I sound.

His laugh is like silk running down my back; chilly but I crave more. Then a thought occurs to me, can I go to Malibu alone? Is it safe?

“Would you mind if I brought someone along with me?” I ask.

“A date?” he sounds disappointed and upset. Did I offend him?

“No, a friend. She has never been to Malibu and she would thrilled to come with me” Now that I think of it, I have never been to Malibu either.

“Oh good, yes of course, feel free to bring her along.”

Good? Why is it good? I decide not to ask because I am still exhausted.

“Thank you, Henry” – I say as sweetly as I can manage – “I’m sorry but I have to go. It’s been an extremely gruesome day”

“Oh”- he sounds a bit caught off guard – “Yes I am sorry about that. Good night, Alyx”

“Goodnight, Henry”

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