A Day In the Woods Chapt 6

Chapter 6
Taking care of Jessica wasn’t terribly hard. She slept the rest of the night and all through the next day. Susan stayed the night to give Paul a chance to get some sleep. She changed her bandages and in so doing saw something that she had become accustomed to. As deep as the wound was it was healing remarkably fast. The ointment that Doctor Crane provided helped with infection setting in but had nothing to do with the speed in which Jessica was healing. Susan knew that the ritual had taken its desired effect; Jessica was now officially one of them. When Paul woke the next morning Susan told him when her bandages needed to be changed next. She had also started Jessica on an IV to help keep her hydrated; she knew she would sleep most of, if not all of, the day. Susan told Paul when the next IV needed to be administrated and then gave him a hug and a kiss and congratulated him. “I need to go home and get some rest myself.” She said. “Call me or Tommy if you need some help with anything. Give us all a call when she finally comes around too … regardless of what time.” Paul agreed and Susan left for home.

Eliot had prepared for the worse the night before. He had brought a change of clothes with him. He stopped at a rest room near the parking area of the woods to get cleaned up. The blood had soaked through his shirt and he quickly washed up in the bathroom sink. He changed his pants and shirt and then put the blood soaked clothes into the bag he had the others in. He checked his watch and had enough time to get across town to meet Beth. As he walked out of the rest room he was confronted by a security guard doing his rounds. The guard asked him why he was there so late. Eliot quickly came up with the idea that he was doing a light jog and brought a change of clothes as he had a date and didn’t want to go all the way home and then back this direction again. Eliot’s face was flushed from hurriedly getting ready and the guard looked at the bag and bought the story. He had told Eliot that sometimes drunks sometimes use the rest rooms there. Eliot definitely didn’t have the look of someone on drugs or alcohol. He tossed the bag in the back seat and left, checking his rear view to make sure the guard wasn’t following him. The guard went into the bathroom to look around none the less. Everything looked fine. As he was starting to leave he noticed what looked like a drop of blood on the floor, a drop that Eliot had failed to clean up in his hurried rush.

Eliot pulled into the lot of the restaurant. It was a nice, quiet, out of the way place where you can sit and have a conversation, as well as dinner. As Eliot walked in Beth was sitting there waiting for him. He looked at her, she hadn’t changed much since the last time he saw her. Dressed professionally as she always was, shoulder length dark red hair, the same green eyes he fell for originally and was still in reasonably good shape for someone nearing fifty. Beth stared at Eliot as well. She had much the same thoughts. Eliot had aged well and hadn’t changed since she last saw him, maybe a little more grey at the sides; that just gave him that Sean Connery dashing good look thing she thought. She stood and Eliot went to shake her hand. Beth smirked at him, “What, no hug for an old friend?” Eliot smiled and hugged Beth. The young lady at the door smiled and walked them to their table. The waiter came over and asked them what they wanted for a drink then left.

As they looked over the menu they exchanged the normal chit chat of two people that knew each other but then again didn’t. How have things been going? Are you seeing anyone? What are you doing for work these days? Eliot knew Beth wouldn’t be seeing anyone as she had been consumed by her work for a number of years. Beth also knew that Eliot would be working some meaningless job as usual doing work that a student or someone just graduating should be doing that is trying to prove them self. The waiter brought their drinks back and asked what they would have for dinner. Beth ordered a rib eye, medium rare. Eliot smiled, an inside joke as he knew Jessica would soon be craving rare meat and he thought it interesting even though Beth had always eaten her steak that way; until now though it didn’t have the same meaning. After the waiter left Beth asked him what was so entertaining about her choice for dinner. Eliot shrugged it off, “It was just something that reminded me of something earlier.”

Beth didn’t waste much time and asked Eliot what Doctor Crane needed help with. Eliot took a deep breath and considered his words before speaking. He told her about the difficulty he was having with a couple conceiving and the recent discovery of the sperm lack of movement. Even that he said isn’t the whole problem. He had tried injecting sperm directly into the egg and it still wouldn’t become fertilized. Beth found it interesting and suggested several things, including using sperm from another donor. That was when Eliot told her he had tried that but the egg still remained unfertilized. Now he had Beth’s full attention and she was starting to become a little more intrigued. That was why he said he needed her help. Not only because of her experience in this field but also because she had access to better test equipment, equipment that he would never have access to considering his resume.