“Richard! What the hell do we do?”

  Karen was screaming at him while Alethia and Robert convulsed on the living room floor.

  He could hear their hearts beating really quickly now. Alethia’s skin writhed as bones shifted in her body.

  Karen shouted again, staring at a similar transformation occurring in Rob.

  “Jesus! They need something for the pain! Where do we go?”

  Richard’s brain latched onto that and cycled through choices. He lacked the calm forced on him by the future man, so the thoughts took a little longer than they did back then. Later on? Whatever Richard thought as he picked a course of action.

  “I am driving, come with me. Do you have a white lab coat?”

  Karen ran back downstairs with a white coat in hand. As he insisted, it was not monogramed or signed in any way. Karen was tall and Richard could tell her coat would fit him. He would not make his best friend’s wife directly engage in grand theft. No, she would be an accessory as the getaway driver.

  This is not exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to be superheroes. Richard thought this as he put the white lab coat on over his sweat pants standing next to the car in the short term hospital parking — a street a block away in downtown Austin. He did not want to risk raised parking in the garage.

  This was Brackenridge. A teaching hospital and a terrible maze of a place on the best day. It would also have decent security so Richard knew he was taking a double risk. At least here other factors played in his favor. At one of the other well funded hospitals like one of the many Catholic places around town, security would be as good or maybe even better than Brack.

  He walked in passed a kindly older women as well as security guards who watched the front desk. Richard could not tell which of the four was the oldest and wondered why the guards were not younger, better able to run after a rapscallion like himself.

  Richard focused, this was for Alethia and Robert, it was not like he intended to sell the drugs once he had them. Karen prepped him with a list of drugs to find, starting with morphine and its derivatives and ending with stuff to help the two sleep. He could recall the list with perfect clarity, including the eraser marks where Karen had misspelled a few drugs and had to look them up to be sure. His memory had never been like this before.

  Richard could get used to this.

  He checked the board at the front near the elevators. His dad’s cowboy hat hid his face from overhead cameras while he studied the list of doctor’s names and picked a floor near the pharmacy.

  Richard’s luck held out. Two interns, who examined him and decided he was one of their fellow ilk, chatted amiably in the carriage. They did not include Richard, but he listened intently to their conversation while he was in the car. He picked up the name of their supervisor. That would also serve him later. He barely paid attention to their faces, hoping that by averting his eyes they would have trouble remembering him and describing him later.

  A casual stroll down the hallway carried Richard toward the pharmacy. This was just a pass, a look see before the main event. Richard had never been in more trouble than a traffic ticket and was only sent to the principal’s office once in high school. Detention had been out of the question with his parents. But he had played a rogue in some very demanding D&D games. Putting those skills into practice turned out to be way easier after he turned into a superhero.

  Access to the pharmacy was strictly controlled by a series of people who manned the front. Doctors and nurses appeared to have free run of the place. But the staffer in charge, a man with a big black Mario mustache, eyeballed Richard the whole way down the hall. He turned the corner forcing himself to keep his pace regular and even.

  “Are you lost, doctor…?”

  The hanging question turned Richard around in the small cubby in which he hid. A dark room lay beyond the doorway and a man wearing a white lab coat held the door open just enough to poke his head through. This man was balding on the top, but had one of those desperate old man pony tails that relied on the grey mass of hair at the back of his head for their thin strands.

  “I. Um.”

  A familiar, almost musty odor reached Richard’s nose. His brain identified it as sex and he choked down a laugh.

  He said,

  “I am good, thank you doctor.”

  Now Richard could see the doctor’s white undershirt under his lab coat. He could hear the doctor’s liaison breathing heavily near the door. Richard wondered if she was a doctor or a nurse. He also wondered if they played doctor as a kind of meta thing. Then he forcefully shut his brain up and listened to the clip clop sound of someone approaching down the hallway.

  Richard smiled, shook the doctor’s hand with a wink and said,

  “Smith, good to meet you doctor. Goodbye.”

  He closed the door on the doctor’s face, right after he moved and Richard steeled himself to face whatever was coming. He had no idea how he was going to bluff his way through any significant challenge. Why wouldn’t his super brain help now? Richard would be fine if he could convincingly disguise himself as someone who belonged here, but how was that supposed to happen?

  Panic threatened to overtake him as a nurse wearing dark blue scrubs walked by the doorway without a second glance. Richard realized right as the intimidating pharmacy tech followed the nurse.

  “Hey, oh. Sorry Doctor Price. I should have guessed you would be here today. How are you?”

  Richard felt panicked himself now. This pharmacy technician, supervisor, whatever, spoke like they were familiar. He croaked out,

  “I’m not Price.”

  Richard wished his mouth and brain were cooperating right now. He needed their help. But his luck still held out.

  “Oh right,” the technician winked at him, “you’re not Price and I am not here. You have a good day, Doctor.”

  The tech walked back around the corner to his post. Richard started to cover his face in relief and discovered someone else’s hands and no hat on his head.

  “What the heck?”

  He looked around him, there were no surfaces reflective enough for him to look in. But this was important. Richard shot across the hall and his brain decided that now was a good time to help. He found a bathroom just a few turns away and he ran for it. Inside, his theory was confirmed, Richard looked like the philandering doctor from a minute ago. Even his clothing looked the same.

  His friends needed him, so he really did not have any time to dawdle staring at himself in the mirror. Richard left the restroom and walked back to the pharmacy. The overly familiar tech had a name tag on, Dwight, so Richard greeted him,

  “Hey Dwight. I do have a few things to grab.”

  “Oh yeah, lay em on me, Doc.”

  Richard read off just the underlined items from Karen’s list.

  “Whoa doc, you having a party?”

  Richard started to back pedal, but the tech winked at him again and disappeared into the pharmacy to search for the drugs he requested. Nerves made Richard edgy. Someone approached down the hallway and he was too nervous to look that he did not see the real Doctor Price walking toward the pharmacy, a top heavy fellow doctor in tow.

  “What in the flaming heck?”

  Doctor Price stole Richard’s thunder, leaving him without any good ideas for saving the situation.

  “We’re long lost twins! Bye!”

  Right on time, the technician appeared with an illegal arm load of syringes and small pill bottles. Richard did not wait to see what the technician had to say, he was already running down the hallway, trying to come up with a different disguise. In fact, trying to figure out how he triggered his powers in the first place.

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  Several turns through the hospital’s labyrinthine hallways and Richard was back at the elevators.

  “Doctor Price, code purple. Doctor Price, code purple.”

  “Crap crap crap!”

  Richard did not know for sure what that code meant, but he knew it was no medical emergency. The only people who occurred to Richard right then was the elderly security guard at the front desk. Richard concentrated on being him and opened his eyes with his own natural face staring back at him, hat and all. That would not work, he closed his eyes again and the only other person he could think of was the woman who’s perfume he could still smell lingering around Doctor Price.

  This time Richard’s body changed while his eyes were closed and he opened them to discover the same blonde doctor looking back at him. His chest was just as heavy and pendulous as the woman’s had been, so Richard had some minor difficulties with walking. But he managed enough to get out of the hospital on her high heels. He limped back to the meeting place with Karen and changed back into this normal form before he could see her.

  He knocked on the window and Karen let him back in. Her face was beaded with sweat. She looked nervous and uncomfortable.

  “Did you get it? I am not happy with leaving them both back at the house alone the way they are.’

  “I did not get it. Security is more effective than I would have thought. We have to go with plan B.”

  “What is plan B?”

  “Illegal drug dealer?”

  “Why wasn’t that plan A? Stealing from a hospital seems less dangerous than trying to work with a dealer.”

  Richard shook his head,

  “This isn’t just some random dealer. This is a serious bad dude. He carries at least one of the things we’re looking for, maybe more. He works with me because he knows my pot dealer. I usually only get X or LSD from him. He’s gonna ask questions if I suddenly change my order. Or if a stranger shows up with me.”

  “Wait, so you have to meet him alone?”

  “Like I said, this guy freaks me out. He’s not some minor street dealer, Ray is the real deal. Which means he’s strapped and willing to kill for his money. People like that do not like new faces and definitely do not want one of those new faces hanging out in the car two blocks away. That is what a sting looks like to these people.”

  “Jesus Richard.”

  “Also, we have to have money. I will call him and see what he is willing to do. Give me a moment.”

  Richard pulled out his phone while Karen drove.

  “Did anyone see you in the hospital?”

  “Sorta, but not my face. We should be fine in that regard.”

  Richard answered her absentmindedly because he was concentrating on what he intended to tell his dealer.

  The phone rang twice before he picked up,

  “Ricky man, how’s things. You need a little candy from me?”

  “I do Ray. I want to pick up something a little special. Think I can stop by right now?”

  “Yeah man, the game’s on, but these bitches are playing like shit. Stop by whenever, man.”

  Richard hung up the phone and spoke to Karen,

  “We’ll drop you off at your house and I will drive to Ray’s on my own. I’ll call you if anything goes right or wrong. Okay?”

  Karen looked like she wanted to scream at Richard and smack him. He did not quite think she would be in the wrong if she did that. But thankfully, she nodded instead.

  The rest of the short trip was silent as Karen pulled into her driveway.

  She stopped the car and said,

  “How much?”

  “How much what? Oh. Probably two grand. Maybe way less.”

  Karen did not react to the outrageous sum. She just nodded and walked into the house. The keys were still in the ignition so Richard stepped out of the car and climbed into the driver seat. Karen emerged a few minutes later, purse in hand. She leaned into the car and slipped Richard a white envelope fat with cash. Richard was surprised by how much two thousand dollars in twenties was when you held it.

  Karen still looked like she was furious with Richard. But she only said,

  “Be quick, Richard. They are still screaming in there.”

  Richard nodded and pulled the car out of the driveway.

  He knew the way to Ray’s house by memory, just like he knew the way to his weed dealer’s house and work. Ray lived in one of the “transitional” neighborhoods in Austin. This was on the northeast side in a place that used to be part of the segregated area of Austin. Not the most illustrious history for the town. Now the area was becoming gentrified as more young families moved in. Richard could not say if that meant improvement or shifting decline.

  Just a few blocks from Ray’s house, the quality of the homes and lawns deteriorated, like a blight that affected dead wood, paint and greenery had been stopped at the border of a zip code.

  He had never noticed it before, but two of the houses around Ray’s house held lookouts. Blinds shivered behind windows as people peering through them probably called or texted Ray. This would also be why the dealer always met Richard on his lawn. Sure enough, he was walking out before Richard had even finished getting out of the car.

  He hugged Richard and said,

  “Hello my friend. Come inside, please. Come inside so we can talk freely. You are well, I trust, yes?”

  Richard responded to the questions with non-answers. This was small talk anyway, Ray’s interest was in the type and quantity of Richard’s order, not in the quality of his day. Inside, a massive flat screen television showed a game which a trio of young men watched with avid interest.

  Ray walked into his kitchen so Richard followed him.

  “Now how can I help you my friend. You said something special over the phone. What do you need?’

  Richard decided to just hand over the list.

  “I need any one of these,” he indicated the top section of the page, “and any one of these.” The second section contained soporifics. In a way those would be just as useful as the pain meds, but Ray was less likely to have anything like that.

  Ray tapped the page with a finger while he looked at his fridge,

  “I got H and I got Fent on hand right now. From the looks of this, you should go with the Fent. Just be sure it doesn’t kill you. Hey Richard, I gotta ask. Are you doing surgery or something?”

  Richard laughed, hoping the gesture did not sound fake,

  “No, I got a friend going through the DTs. The sleeping stuff is what we want to give him first, but we’re prepared to hit him with pain meds if he started freaking out.”

  “That’s not how you detox, man.”

  “Don’t tell me about it. Tell my idiot friend.”

  “None of these are cheap. I have something that should knock your friend right out.”

  Ray opened his fridge and presented Richard with two syringes. One was fentanyl and the other was a drug Richard did not recognize.

  “That’s a grand. Can your friend swing that?”

  “He can, and I need you to double it. Can you swing that?”

  Ray laughed at Richard and said,

  “You bet your ass I can. He grabbed two more syringes from his fridge and handed both to Richard.”

  He did not let go of them and said,

  “Hey Ricky. We do good business, right man? If the name of the person who sold you these very illegal drugs gets back to the wrong person, we would have a problem, right? Even if your friend dies from it. Do you understand me?”

  This was why Richard did not want to visit Ray. He dealt in a bunch of things Richard preferred to avoid and because of that he was more hardcore than the pot dealers Richard was used to working with. He nodded, mouth dry and said,

  “Of course man. If something goes wrong, I don’t even know you.”

  Ray laughed and clapped Richard on the back. He shoved the plastic-wrapped needled into Richard’s hands and said,

  “That is the right damn answer. You got my cash?”

  Richard handed the dealer the two thousand dollars, happy that the money he had brought had been enough for what he wanted.

  “Awesome, pleasure doing business with you, Ricky. You have a great day man.”

  Richard was being dismissed. That was another odd thing that weed dealers never did. They were practically immune to inviting people to leave their homes. Ray did not want his customers lingering so he sent them away as soon as the transaction was complete.

  The drive home was the most nerve wracking part of the day so far. Richard convinced himself that he was about to fall into a DEA sting every time a car passed by or he heard something out of the ordinary. But he survived the ride home without a federal indictment.

  Better than some senators.

  Richard ran into the house, Karen had left the front door open. He locked it before running upstairs. Karen shouted,

  “Richard? Is that you?”

  “Yeah, I have fentanyl and something I never heard of for sleeping. I am coming up!”

  Karen had improvised restraints for Robert and Alethia Both wore sheets wrapped around their back and front like togas. Four come along hitches bound them to a twin mattress each. Karen’s hair looked totally disheveled and she had changed into new clothes.

  He handed her the syringes Ray sold him. She checked the labels and sighed.

  “Good. Assuming the Fentanyl doesn’t kill them, we should be able to get them to sleep. Stay here and help me with your super hearing.”

  Richard did not particularly want to watch this part. In fact, he would have preferred to be anywhere else. Especially some other place that did not involve needles. Karen left the room and returned with four small medicine vials. She injected part of all four syringes into the vials, forcing Richard to help hold them for her.

  That done, she injected what looked to Richard to be an incredibly tiny amount of Fentanyl into her patients. After only a few minutes, they both calmed down in turns. Alethia looked lucid for the first time since she received the first serum injection. She still had that IV in her arm.

  She did not manage to speak to Richard, but just flutter her eyes for a minute and then she passed out. Robert did not try to exert himself at all, he just went unconscious.

  Karen cleaned up the mess in her craft room and set an alarm. She put the unused syringes into her fridge in the kitchen and fell onto her living room couch.

  “I should kick your fucking ass, Kain. You dumb goddamned idiot.”

  Richard froze mid motion as he started to sit. Karen’s anger was palpable from here. Every part of her, nostrils, thin slitted eyelids, clenched fists and jaws, even the splay of her flip flop clad toes shouted fury at Richard. He just hung his head. That was his only play here anyway. Another apology would just set Karen off.

  She sighed and said,

  “I should kick all three of your asses. And my own for not bringing this damned objection up the first time.” She clapped her hand, “You are going to call Alethia’s advisor and boss. Make sure they know she is on her deathbed or she would have called herself.”

  Richard nodded, taking mental notes that he did not seem to need anymore. Karen continued,

  “You need to call in for yourself too. That’ll be five days in a row, can you handle that?”

  “Joey owes me big time for August. I will call that marker in. He’ll cover for me.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing Robert doesn’t have any obligations right now.”

  Karen started crying,

  “I can’t take the next four days off, Richard. I can’t. There is a conference coming to town and I have to deliver a paper. A paper I am not even finished with yet. This was not a good time for me.”

  Crap. Richard kicked himself. This would have been a good time to consider Karen’s feelings and life. But once again, he barged in on her plans and disrupted everything. Richard would have preferred avoiding that, if he could.

  The next two days were essentially repeats of the previous one. Feeding Alethia and Robert was impossible. When they were conscious, they writhed in pain. Karen provided some sucrose for them as well as saline to keep them hydrated. Richard bought rubber sheets for the beds since both of them were incontinent. Cleaning the sheets the first two times had reinforced for Richard why he never planned to have children.