Read Online Nervous Water by William G. Tapply - Free Book Online Page A

family.”
    â€œGood,” I said.
    I called Julie, who’d already arrived at the office, and told her to go home, take the rest of the day off, because I wasn’t coming in. She asked what was up, and I told her that I was going to visit my uncle in the hospital in Maine and that I’d tell her all about it.
    She said she’d be happy to take the rest of the day off, though it would’ve been considerate if I’d mentioned it before she got dressed and drove into the city.
    I said I was sorry, and if it would make her feel better, she could stay in the office until five.
    She said thank you just the same. She hoped my uncle would be all right.
    Then I snapped my fingers at Henry, who was curled up under the kitchen table. He scrambled to his feet, his toenails clacking on the tile floor, and plopped his chin on my knee so I could scratch his forehead.
    â€œI’m off to Maine,” I said to him. “You’re going to have to stay here. Bark at that UPS guy. Lick Evie’s face when she comes home.”
    Henry gazed at me out of those intelligent brown eyes of his, and there was no doubt he understood every word I said.
    I called Evie’s office. Gina, her secretary, said she was still off at a meeting, wasn’t sure when she’d be out, but anyway, after that she had another meeting that it looked like she’d be late for, so could she take a message?
    â€œTell her my uncle’s in the hospital,” I said, “and I’m driving up to Portland to see him. Not sure when I’ll be home. Tell her I’ll have my cell with me. Tell her I love her.”
    â€œIs your uncle all right?”
    â€œHe’s in intensive care. That’s all I know. I don’t know what happened to him.”
    â€œI hope he’s gonna be okay,” said Gina.
    I found my cell phone in the bottom drawer of my desk. Evie had given it to me after I’d been very late getting home one night and had been unable to find a pay phone. She’d been worried, then angry, then frantic, and neither of us enjoyed that. I’d promised to carry it with me, but I was having trouble getting in the habit after resisting the idea of cell phones for all those years. If I didn’t watch out, the next thing I knew I’d find myself standing in a trout stream casting to a rising trout with one hand and talking to a client on the damn phone with the other hand.
    The image made me shudder.
    I turned on the phone and shoved it into my pants pocket. Then I gave Henry a Milk-Bone, told him to behave, and walked down Mount Vernon Street and up Charles to the parking garage.
    As I wended my way onto the expressway and headed north to Maine, I thought about Cassie. Wherever she was and whatever she was doing, I was certain she wouldn’t want Moze to die thinking she was too angry to talk to him.
    I just hoped both of them were okay.
    Â 
    A sign beside the closed door to the ICU at Maine Medical read, “ VISITORS . Please ring the buzzer. A staff person will let you in.”
    Under the sign was a button. I pushed it. After a minute, a middle-aged nurse opened the door from the inside and arched her eyebrows at me.
    â€œI’m here to see Moses Crandall,” I told her. “I’m his nephew.”
    â€œName?”
    â€œBrady Coyne.”
    â€œNephew?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    She looked me up and down as if she were trying to determine how I could possibly be Moses Crandall’s nephew. Then she shrugged and said, “This way.” She turned and headed inside.
    I followed her. The ICU was set up in a big square, with the patients’ little cubicles lined up around the perimeter and the medical staff’s desks and all the electronic monitoring devices clustered in the middle.
    The nurse led me to a corner room. “Make it short, please,” she said.
    I had to take a deep breath when I saw Uncle Moze. He looked small and insignificant