The Collection

By Dexter Herron

Sabrina stepped from her limousine feeling the silk of her sequined dress caressing her long, million dollar legs. She gave a curtsey pose for the paparazzi, giving them an eyeful of her curvaceous body, auburn hair flowing in the warm night breeze, and adorable hometown girl-next door smile that she spent years to perfect. Bracketed against her stretch limousine she was a sight to behold. The popping flash bulbs dimmed as the paparazzi's were quickly bored and slinked off. Sabrina had quickly learned that posing for the photographers was the fastest way to get rid of them. They were seeking stars picking their noses, not million dollar super models looking like a million and a half.

Sabrina sighed and leaned against the car. She peered into the darkness of the driver's window. "All right, Tony, explain to me why I'm here?"

"An attempt to boost your career by hobnobbing with the movers and shakers?"

She smiled. "That was last week." She looked at the mansion before her, the rich and famous walking up the stairs to the flashing lights of the photographers. "No, this week I'm here to find what money, fame and tremendously good looks could never get for me."

"A chance at being Jeopardy Grand Champion?"

She ignored him completely. "True love."

"I thought that was last week." Tony looked at the grand front doors. "True love? Here? You'd do better back stage at a rock concert."

She leaned heavily against the door. "Ah, Tony, am I destined to be forever alone?"

"Have you tried the classifieds yet? SWF super model seeks true love. Send photo and American Express Gold."

"You are funny." She said dryly. "Are you still seeing that girl?"

He looked at her harshly. "That girl is my fiancée and we're getting married next month."

"Aren't you rushing things?"

"We've been engaged for a year." He said checking his watch.

"Timing it to the minute?" She nudged him. "What was I doing a year ago to let a wonderful guy like you slip through my fingers?"

"You were dating what's-his-face who dumped you for what's-her-face."

Her face became suddenly emotionless, like a sleepwalker waking up. "I had blocked that out. Its back now. Thank you."

"Is there going to be a code?" He asked.

"You bet!" She touched her sapphire and diamond earring. "Okay, if this makes its way back to you, it means I got lucky and I'll find my own way home."

"Listen. I have no plans for tonight." He checked his watch again. "I'll wait."

She looked at him pityingly. "Okay, now, if my watch makes its way back to you, it means page me, a neo-geek has attached himself to my arm like a lamprey and is driving off all the potential hunks and I need a polite distraction. I have my beeper in my clutch purse." She held up her clutch purse.

"Whoa! That's a new one." Tony dug out a pencil and a pad to write down his instructions. "How do you spell lamprey?"

"Just page me." She patted him on the shoulder. "See you later." She turned and headed towards the main doors, smiling to the rows of cameras. She waved to the fans lined up, blowing them kisses before ducking through the doors.

In the quiet of the hall, Sabrina was startled by a soldier standing there. She stepped back, amazed by his motionless position of attention. She saluted him, looking as cute as could be, but he wasn't even looking.

She realized he was a mannequin. She realized the foyer, expansive and grand, was lined with rows of statues, dressed in military finery from countries and wars world wide.

"Sabrina!"

She turned to watch a middle aged man in a tux waddling over to her. "Sid! What? They won't let you in without a date? Tell them your my agent."

"Ha, Ha, very funny. Glad you could make it." He patted the perspiration from his forehead with his handkerchief.

"Hey, anything to save the whales."

"Manatees. Listen, there is someone I want you to meet."

"Ugh, this isn't one of your cousins again?" Her cute nose wrinkled at the thought.

"You didn't like Sylvester?"

"I couldn't tear him away from the computer."

"Well this guy is a prince. He's single and owns this place." He waved his hand about the hall.

"What? The hall?" She said looking about if it was the first time seeing it.

"Wise ass."

She looked at him skeptically. "If this guy is a rich unmarried prince, then he probably looks like a toad."

Sid took her arm, leading her down the hall. "Give me some credit." He pointed to a small gathering of people. "He's the young one, with the mustache."

Sabrina gazed at him hypnotically. "He's that good looking and he's not gay?"

"Straight as an arrow." He lead her over. "David? This is Sabrina--Sabrina, this is David, playboy extraordinare."

David greeted her with a warm smile. "Charmed, although I'm not much of a playboy."

Sid playfully punched him in the arm. "Come on, a good looking guy like you?"

David's smile almost turned sheepish. "Most women find that I'm too impetuous for their tastes. I see something and I run after it. I have a very short attention span."

Sabrina nodded. "Funny, most guys think I'm too impetuous." She pulled off her earring and handed it to Sid. "Be a doll would you, Sid, and take this to Tony, my driver? Thanks." Then she looked up at David. "I'll be here trying to keep David's attention." She slipped a quick arm around her host. "So David, tell me about this place." She said, leading him away. "Excuse us." She whispered to the gathering who were already busy gossiping.

He shrugged. "There's not much to tell. I inherited everything when my parents died."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She caressed his arm.

"Its all right. It was quite a while ago. Since then, I have simply been expanding my collection." He lead her to another room and Sabrina thought she had stepped into a balmy jungle. "This is the zoo." He announced.

Sabrina felt warm in the temperature controlled room. Her nose tickled from the distinct African fauna. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, Sabrina could only stare wild eyed at the animals and plants all frozen in time. "This is more like a museum. Except there are none of those velvet ropes keeping you off the exhibits." She bent down and patted a cheetah. "Nice kitty. He's beautiful." Her hand jerked back. "Hey, he's warm."

"It the process." David answered simply.

Sabrina stepped over to a massive rhino, tentatively touching it. "You must have a wicked taxidermy bill."

"Not taxidermy. Something better. You see, I have always been a collector. Stamps, coins, comics, baseball cards. I like preserving things. Saving them for some new history. Its one of the reasons why I sponsor so many save the planet causes. It sort of allows me to collect the whole world." David laid an affectionate hand on the rhino. "I was on a photo safari in the Serengeti when we found him. He had been attacked by poachers for his horn. At six hundred dollars an ounce, black rhino tusk is in high demand. They shot him down here." He pointed to the scar. "Ripped out his tusk and left him for dead. We found him on the edge of death." Sabrina gasped at the horror, but David went on. "His liver was destroyed by the bullet. He was going to die."

Sabrina gazed at him wide eyed. "What did you do?"

"What any rich spoiled brat could do. I paid a lot of money and put him on life support and flew him to Finland were this guy was developing a process that could put a living creature into stasis. A suspended animation. Since there were no Rhino livers available, I had him put in stasis until a cure could be found."

Sabrina stepped back nervously. "He's alive?"

"Everything in this room is alive."

Sabrina's eyes grew wide as plates. "And the statues in the hall?"

"My military uniform collection? They're statues. The process has never been used on people."

Sabrina breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the Rhino peering into his eyes. She could see her reflection in the pools of tar. "Can he see me?"

David came to her side, peering in. "Sort of. They go into a sort of dream state. They can still see, but things slow down for them."

"That's amazing." Sabrina scratched the Rhino behind the ears, then stopped. "Does this bother him?"

"He likes to be touched." David scratched the Rhino. "I think he likes you."

Sabrina cocked her head, peering up at him scandalously. "And you?"

"I like him too."

She put her hand on his. "That's not what I'm asking."

David moved his hand. "I'm sorry. I just don't do well with girls. Actually, I don't deal well with the world." He stepped over to a baby gorilla and idly brushed its fur with his hand. "I bury my self in my collections because...because they don't die on you. People, are too fragile."

She took his hand. "I think were tougher than you think."

David looked at her, his warm eyes smiling, taking about them a look of impulsiveness. "Would you like to see something?"

She smiled. "Love to."

He took her hand and lead her through the kitchen and up the back staircase to the third floor. Winding through a maze of halls, he took her to a Victorian styled sitting room. There he offered her a seat on the antique couch. She laid back on it seductively. "You are impetuous." She smiled.

He paused. "What?"

Sabrina's eyes gave a quick tilt that said: `Come here' and she patted the couch.

David looked at her curiously. "I wanted to show you my cat, Mr Mistopholies." David petted the cat sitting on the end of the couch.

Sabrina looked at the unmoving cat. "You froze your cat?"

Suddenly, David was a little boy in a man's body. "He was 10 years old, and dying painfully of feline leukemia. I couldn't let him go." He stroked it warmly. "I would like to see him moving again some day. But he's not in pain this way, and until we can find a cure, he can wait in his favorite room."

She touched the cat, feeling its warm, soft fur. The cat felt supple to her caress. "He is a pretty cat."

David sat down beside her and picked up Mr. Mistopholies. "He likes laps." He placed the cat in her lap.

She was apprehensive at first, but she could feel the cat's warmth. She stroked him, then stopped. "Something's happening. I don't think he likes me."

David laid his hand on the cat. Then he took her hand and placed it on the cats back. "He likes you, he's purring. Its a slow motion purring."

Sabrina looked up at David, amazed at his sensitivity, his compassion. "I like you too." She suddenly kissed him, feeling his soft lips against hers.

David pulled back trying to catch his breath. "I'm sorry, would you like a drink?"

Sabrina smiled devishly at him. "A drink is not what I want."

David got up. "I, I'm sorry. I'm just..."

Sabrina looked down. "No, I'm sorry. I thought that you and I...and I was trying to be a little impetuous."

"No, its not you. I mean...I was...I wanted..." David stammered.

Sabrina looked up, flashing her eyes happily at him. "I understand. I'm a bit too animated for you." She patted the empty space on the couch. "What if I promise to go slow?" She looked at him seductively. "I have all night."

David caught his breath. "Its just that..." He suddenly became flustered. "I don't..." He looked about quickly. "Would like a drink?"

She nodded. "Sure. Rum and coke?"

David stepped over to the wet bar behind the couch while Sabrina petted the cat. She found the cat pliable, and she could gently move its joints. She pushed the cat to a sleeping position, with its head resting on its paws. She could feel the slow grumbling purr within it intensify ever so slightly.

"I knew you would like him." David sat down handing her the drink. She took a sip, then took his hand, enjoying how naturally they fit together.

They chatted. He talked about being a billionaire and she talked about being a supermodel, all the while sitting closer together on the couch. He tried to be warm, but he remained aloof. Sabrina was touched by his smiles, his little jokes, his compassion about saving the world. She felt herself feeling for him in a way that she never felt for anyone else. She could tell the feeling was reciprocated, but he was too shy, too nervous, too afraid.

He got her a second drink. Fear was rising in her as she realized that she was doing most of the talking. She so much wanted to take him in her arms and hold him and prove to him that she wasn't going to break. That she wasn't going to hurt him. That she would be with him always. She suddenly realized that she was thinking in terms of forever. She wondered if it was love.

The glass in her hand began to weigh heavily and she set it down on the coffee table as if it weighed fifty pounds. She blinked at it and sat back on the couch. She suddenly felt weak. "I think the rum's gone straight to my head." She said weakly. "I feel suddenly tired."

David got up and closed the door.

Sabrina's eyes perked up. "You're not one to take advantage of a girl?" She joked hoping he would. She realized that if he did, she could not lift her arms to stop him if she wanted too.

David opened the bookcase revealing a stair leading up. Sabrina wasn't worried about that, mansions were supposed to have secret spaces. "David?" She said looking at her arms. "David? I can't move." Panic tingled in her voice. "I can't move!"

"Its okay." He slipped beside her. "Don't be angry."

She looked at him wondering. "Angry? Angry at..." Her eyes flashed as the dawning came upon her. "David, you didn't. The process." Her voice was no more than a whisper.

David slipped his arms beneath her and lifted her easily. Her head flopped back like the bride of Frankenstein and he tried to flip it back, but it only lobbed. He headed for the stairs, closing the book case behind him with his foot.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Sabrina." He said, climbing the long narrow stairs. "But its only temporary." He opened the top hatch and stepped up into a room. He set her gently down in a overstuffed chair, propping her head up. He could feel her shaking and he held her. "I know there is a phase of panic when the paralysis first begins. It will pass." He could feel them subsiding. "I'm sorry but I think in short time we have been together, I have fallen in love. I have never felt this way about anyone else. Its my impulsiveness, I know, but my intuition is never wrong." He looked at her. "Do you trust me?"

Sabrina could feel the panic passing as her body gave into the paralysis. She could also feel her voice slipping away also. She had to choose her words carefully, they might be her last. She did not want to be a statue or mannequin, but she was without a doubt: "I'm in love with you." The words dragged against her stilling tongue.

He kissed her, gently, sweetly. She wanted to kiss him back, but she couldn't, so she willed all of her love to him hoping he could feel it some how. Her sense of passion was overwhelming. She couldn't tell if it were the drug or her desire that was making her head spin. She wanted it to last forever.

He broke the kiss and she felt the coldness without him. She wanted him to sit with her, she wanted to hear his voice, but he rose up, gathering a blanket from the corner and covering her with it, tucking it about her shoulders. "I have to start the rest of the procedure before your respiration and heart functions stop." He kissed her quickly, lingering on longer than he planned, then disappeared into the floor hatch.

Heart stop? That didn't sound good, but she trusted him completely. She could see herself, standing about his collection, poised beside the giant rhino. She would listen to his voice, feel his warm kisses, his gentle touches. She couldn't wait.

The trap flew open as he charged up the steps, panting to catch his breath, an array of boxes and medical supplies in his arms. He pulled a plastic I.V. bottle from a box and hung it on a nail overhead. He frantically ripped plastic from a hose and hooked it to the I.V. He took a syringe and with clumsy, untrained fingers, injected the I.V. bottle turning its clear liquid to gold.

He swabbed her arm with iodine and wrapped a rubber band around her biceps for a tourniquet. He pulled a plastic cap from the needle and with a trembling hand, poised over his target area. "Doctors make this look easy." He tried to smile but couldn't. He touched her cheek and turned her head away.

She felt the biting pinch of the needle as David inexpertly hit the vein he was looking for. He apologized profusely as he taped it into place.

"You just sit there my darling while I figure out a way to let people know you've left the party. That way, no one starts looking for you." He kissed her, lingering for awhile. She moaned faintly, soaking up his passion.

He blew her a kiss and disappeared into the floor trap. She knew what was going to happen. He would go downstairs, find her driver had already left and say that she slipped out with some handsome stranger. With her reputation, the gossip mongers wouldn't bat an eye other than to try and find out who the handsome stranger was. Sabrina felt sleep wash over her. She wanted to wait up for him, but the process was slowing her down so she gave in.

There was bright sunlight streaming through the attic windows when she awoke again. She realized that her eyes had been open the whole time. It felt rather peculiar.

David was with her, talking to her and she realized that she had been listening the whole time. He had talked about the process and how when he removed it, her hair would grow back. She remembered her hair falling out in clumps and David was there to sweep away her delicate auburn curls. He pain stakingly weaved her eyebrows and applied eyelashes. It took him several tries, but finally got them right. Her wig was glued to her head with spirit gum and David carefully brushed it out.

The I.V. was removed and David stood her up, undressed her and carried her over to a brass bathtub which he had filled with water. She watched as he gently bent her limbs to sit in the tub. He painstakingly arranged her arms to lie naturally, comfortably. She loved the attention, although it felt a little weird. It was a feeling she quickly got used to.

He bathed her, adjusting the water temperature with hot water from the tea kettle. He spoke to her he did. He told stories of cold mornings in Africa and hot nights in Budapest. He spoke of his adventures, of his life, of his dreams and Sabrina listened to them all.

She felt her skin hardening, gelling into plastic. She felt the sponge glide gently across her smooth body and dreamily her nipples perked in response. David looked at her, almost for permission, then leaned over to suckle them ever so gently. Sabrina felt the sparks charge in her bosom.

He stood her up, dried her, then still wrapped in a towel, carried her like a bride on her wedding night to the bed. He laid her out carefully, propping her up so she could see what was happening. Nerver missing on detail, he even adjusted her fingers and toes.

David was inept at first, but he quickly made up with earnest passion. Sabrina imagined him a virgin, well book read.

David bathed her plastic body with kisses, his lips and tongue steaming. He seemed to sense the subtle and faint changes in her. His timing was right as he gently touched her knees and moved them apart. She wanted to hold him. She wanted to rake her nails down his back. But she settled for his powerful embrace as he slowly, teasingly, entered her waiting, longing body. Unable to move, her bondage intensified every movement, every touch. She exploded with life and fire inside. Outside, the only evidence of her raging, chain reacting, fiery orgasm was her pupils slowly dilating.

She lived in the attic. David lugged more furniture, a computer and a phone up there and spent most of his day there with her. He set her on the couch where she could look out the window and gaze at the sun swept fields, or the diamond filled night sky. He placed Mr Mistopholies in her lap and she loved to feel his purring body, now at normal speed to her.

David brought her dresses. He would pose her before a three way mirror. Her plastic skin, bristled in the warm air as he would dress her. Sabrina loved the styles and the way she looked. She loved the feel of the fabric sliding over her hard skin. She loved admiring her self in the mirror, David standing at her side. She was a living photograph.

David slept each night with her. Loving her, holding her. She loved it when he slipped inside her, gently, slowly. It was then she felt she could return some of the magnificent passion he gave her all day.

She remembered one day David was apologizing profusely. She couldn't understand why until she remembered him talking on the phone earlier. Her memory was like that. Since she was awake at all times, just slow, she would have to recall events. She remembered David on the phone talking to someone half in English and half in a foreign language, german perhaps. He was very angry. "What do you mean it can't be reversed when used on people?" He shouted. "You told me it could be done! I know it was experimental, but you said in was temporary!"

She remembered that it was only supposed to be temporary, but for the life of her, she could not remember why. She wanted to tell David it was okay, and after awhile, he seemed to come around.

She remembered snow falling, then flowers blooming, then leaves falling and snow again. All the while, David was beside her and she could think of nothing happier.

She had lost track of seasons, but remembered it was winter and something was wrong. David was trying to be loving, trying to be caring, but there was something bothering him. He spent more time with her, days on end without leaving the attic at all. She wondered if the staff was worried that he was spending his time cooped up in an old attic.

She noticed one day he had lost weight. Then she remembered he hadn't left to even eat. She worried for him and tried to pay more attention to him while he worked. He seemed more determined than ever to get environmental candidates elected, green laws passed, charities funded. He was setting up funds with interest reciprocating accounts that would fund school programs and playgrounds. He was spending all of his money.

Then she remembered one day he was on the phone. "No doctor. I'm not surprised. This is my third opinion, I can take a hint."

David didn't mention it to her, but she knew something was wrong. They were not making love anymore. He drove her wild with passion, bringing her orgasm after orgasm with his hands, his tongue, but not his body. She wanted to please him, but he wasn't willing.

But his kisses where the same, wild, impetuous, lingering, and lasting exchanges of love they had always been. She felt she could curl within them forever. She felt their love mingling together when he kissed her. In her slow state they felt like hours.

One day, she noticed Mr Mistopholies was gone. She was standing, her hands at her sides in the corner of the room. She remembered David taking the cat, then struggling with the couch, then a lamp. When he returned, he was smiling for the first time in months. He dressed her in her flowered sun dress, her favorite dress, then picked her up and took her down stairs.

She didn't remember seeing any of the staff and she wondered why all the furniture was covered up and the windows boarded.

He carried her down to the basement, past the storage, and past the wine barrels to a little hole that he was barely able to squeeze through and carry her at the same time.

It was a cozy room filled with bookshelves and radio equipment and disaster supplies. The couch was there along with Mr. Mistopholies. He sat her down beside the cat, arranging her comfortably. Then he stepped over to the wall and knelt beside a pile of bricks and mortar.

He took up a trowel and began bricking up the only entrance. "This was a bomb shelter built back in the fifties. Everyone forgot about it." He said as he slapped cement down and fitted a brick after it. "I planned this when I found that the process can not be reversed on humans because it screws up the advanced brains we have. Some brain." He smoothed off the first tier, admiring his work. "I decided that I would wait for you, no matter how long it took." He grunted as tapped a brick in place. "Because I love you."

"And I love you." She wanted to say.

"I thought I had a few years left, but the doctors tell me no." He finished another tier. His work got faster with repetition. Although his hands were not used to grunt work, they learned quickly. "First mother, then father, now me." He concentrated on his work and got a pattern down. "Cancer. I funded research, the whole nine yards but its the family curse. Our deadly curse."

He was standing now, filling in the hole quickly with brick.

"I retired the staff with good pensions. A caretaker to make sure the place does not burn down. My living collection has gone to the Smithsonian on permanent loan with special care instructions." He held the last brick in his hand, eyeing the space it was to go. "All gone." He looked back at her. She looked wonderful in the lamp light. Warm, beautiful, loving. "All save you." He fitted the last brick in place and pasted it up.

He sat on the couch beside her, tilting her head so she could watch. He removed a cloth covering a tray exposing a glass of water. He sipped it. Then drank it all quickly.

"It tastes better with rum and coke." She wanted to say.

"I figured this would be the safest place for us. Our own little private tomb. There are instructions in Finland that when the doctor can safely remove humans from stasis to inform my lawyer." He prepared the i.v. "My lawyer is then instructed to open an envelope with instructions to break down the wall and unfreeze you." He wrapped a tourniquet about his arm, and with a loud ouch injected himself with the i.v., taping it in place. He removed the tourniquet and dropped it to the floor. "I have signed everything over to your name. The mansion, the Rolls Royce collection, and some long term bonds, and a few million free and clear. All yours."

"All ours." She wanted to say. "We will be together, always."

He adjusted his suit, smoothing out the wrinkles. He reached over and petted Mr. Mistopholies one last time. He seemed surprised at how weak he felt. The process was faster than he thought. He quickly arranged her arms to hang about his neck snugly holding him. He waited, timing the paralysis carefully. He embraced her tightly, his lips finding hers and melding together. She felt him struggle as the panic swept him but it passed quickly and soon she felt him harden. She reveled in his warmth, the love of his kiss. She delighted in the idea of being forever entombed in his loving embrace, kissing forever.

Her dreams were filled with happiness as she and David played in the snow, ran through the spring flowers, tanned on the beaches and walked through autumn leaf covered trails. Her dreams were filled with his kisses, his warm, plastic body against hers as they made love around the world.

Her arms felt like lead in the cold, heavy air. Her lips were abandoned as his were taken away. The embrace of his body was gone and it startled her senses.

"She's coming around." Some one said. "Give me the eye wash."

Darkness swelled into light as brightness assailed her. She felt tears streaming from her eyes and slowly they blinked to clear. The muscles moaned and shuddered and flexed like wires.

"Increase the O2 liter." The voice went on. "That valve there, turn it clockwise."

Through her blurred vision, she reached out for David. Her hands trembled slightly, but didn't move. Her head bobbed as like a new born kitten looking to nurse. Her voice hissed against her still mouth. "David." The sound assailed her, her own voice, alien and faint surprised her.

"Excellent." The voice said. "Muscle atrophy is minimal. A few weeks of therapy and the world will have their mysterious Sabrina back."

Sabrina's head jerked at the sound of her name and she looked around the dimmed room. Two blobs of light where peering at her. One of the blobs spoke: "A little before my time. She is a hot looking babe, that's for sure."

"She can hear you." The other blob spoke.

"Oh." The first blob leaned closer. "Sabrina? My name is Dov Goldman, my firm represents David. We are following our..."

"How long." Her voice was a mere whisper.

"Uh," The lawyer checked his watch and Sabrina remembered her driver, Tony. "Seventy Five years. Give or take a few years. You are a very wealthy woman and I would like..."

"Have they..." She cut him off, looking to the other blob. "Have they cured cancer, yet?"

The blob was slowly coming into focus and Sabrina had guessed right that he was wearing a lab coat. The doctor searched in his bag pulling out a metal board. "My grandfather kept very close tabs on David's particular ailment and we have not found a cure yet." The doctor touched something on the board and it lit up with an array of pretty lights. He showed her the lights, by they meant nothing to her. She looked at David, sitting across from her. She realized that he had moved since he went in to stasis. Like the hour hand of a clock, just slower, their passionate embrace tightened, pulsated and breathed as a singular organism. As her vision cleared, she realized how much younger he looked without his mustache. "Could you bush that hair off him?"

The lawyer took a hanky and swatted away all the hair that David lost, then brushed away what fell on her. "To make the contract complete, I just need your last name. David never knew it."

Sabrina leaned forward and gently kissed David's upper lip. It was hard plastic, yet somehow soft and enduring. She wanted to hold him, but her arms wouldn't move.

"Sabrina?" The lawyer pressed.

"Cartwright." Sabrina remembered it for the first time in a long time. "Sabrina Cartwright."

"Well, Mrs. Cartwright." The lawyer checked his metal board to be sure the micro computer picked it up. "Not only are you a wealthy woman, but famous. It will be like finding out Elvis is alive."

"They won't know." She spoke, never taking her eyes off David. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What are you talking about?"

She looked at the doctor. "Have they found a cure for feline leukemia?"

The doctor touched his board. "I don't know." Sabrina could see the lights from the doctor's board light up his face.

"It doesn't matter. Pick up the cat would you? And put him in my lap."

As the doctor did so, the lawyer held his board out, insuring it copied everything. "Ms. Cartwright, I implore you to take a few days and think about...

"A few days without David?" She smiled weakly, but warmly, her deep beauty showing through. "No, I don't think so. I have had seventy five years to think about it. When you find a way to cure David, you come back and free us both."

"That could be never!" The lawyer almost pleaded.

Sabrina ignored him as she coached the doctor. "Place my arm over his shoulder. Yes like that." She looked at the lawyer. "Oh, and brick up the hole on your way out." She closed her eyes and leaned into David, her lips finding his easily.

She never felt the doctor's injection. She only felt happiness in her dreams and memories that she shared with her lover, embraced forever.

The sound assailed her, her own voice, alien and faint surprised her.

"Excellent." The voice said.

Any comments, e-mail frodo@connix.com Flames will be happily ignored.