Child of Darkness (Gemini 3)

"He's gone over to the hospital," he said. He was thoughtful a moment. "I lost a young man once, almost the same way. Someone else was careless, and the pipe struck him in the right temple and killed him on the spot. Second year after I began the business, matter of fact.

"Wade takes it all too personally," he concluded. "Accidents happen everywhere. Anyway," he cried, "let's not permit this to spoil our

celebration."

Basil decided we all needed an after-dinner drink, so we went into the living room for what he called "our final toast of the night."

It was a rather sweet, but strong cognac. In fact, it made me a little dizzy.

As soon as we finished the drink, Basil decided he had to go over to the hospital.

"My name is still on everything that happens there," he explained. "It's a family business and will always be."

He kissed me, and I thanked him again for the gold key chain. Ami walked him out, and I returned to my room to finish my homework and begin another newspaper assignment, but as I felt a little giddy from all the wine and the after-dinner drink, I decided it would be better if I just woke up a little earlier and did the rest of the work before breakfast.

Just after I got undressed and ready for bed, Ami knocked on my door.

"Have you heard from Wade?" I asked immediately. "How is the employee?"

"No, he hasn't phoned yet. Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll do what they can. The Emersons always look after their own. That's why they're so successful," she added, finally giving Wade a decent compliment.

She hesitated a long moment, keeping her eyes down.

"Is there anything else wrong?" I asked.

She looked up at me with tears clouding her eyes. "I'm so happy for you, happy for us all. But--"

"But what?"

"I know," she continued, "that young love is often blind and relentless. It's the nature of young people that they have to make their own mistakes. My father used to say wisdom is wasted on the old. I know you're still involved with Trevor Foley, and I've already seen how deep that involvement is."

"Ami, I just took him home. Nothing else happened."

"I believe you. We didn't get you a prescription for

the pills the other day, but I'd like you to start with this," she said, holding out her palm, in which she had a small white pill. There was something written on one side of it, but my vision was too cloudy to read much of the small lettering beside an R at the beginning of whatever word was embossed. I did see an encircled 2 on the other side.

I realized Ami wasn't going to leave until I took the pill, so I got some water and did it in front of her. She looked relieved.

"I really don't think it was necessary, Ami," I said. She smiled at me.

"Oh, it was necessary," she said with a strange assurance.

I shrugged.

Whatever, I thought.

"It's so wonderful how Basil has taken to you, Celeste. He'll do wonderful things for you. Let him. It gives him so much pleasure. You know his own daughter won't let him do things for her."

"But you said that was because of what he did when her mother was alive."

"Yes, yes," she said, waving her hand, "but you'd think children would be more forgiving of their parents."

"You told me--" What had she told me? Everything was so mixed up.

"We've got to go with the flow, silly. We've got to do whatever makes life happier and easier for us. That's what I've been teaching you.

"Don't worry about all this," she said, closing my schoolbooks and my notebook. "You can do it later."