9
I arrived at their house in twenty minutes. The sun lay low on the horizon as a glowing orange ball, putting me in mind of videos showing sunset on the African savannah with the silhouettes of prey animals bounding to avoid predators. In our little world, we no longer knew who was the predator and who was the prey.
Lonna opened the door with Abby on her arm. The baby fussed and whimpered, no doubt picking up her mother’s distress.
“What happened?” I asked.
“He came back from the Institute today looking just awful, like he had a fever. I made him lie down, and when I went to check on him, he wasn’t breathing.” She took a deep shuddering breath. “But he was still alive and talking.”
I pushed by her into the house and darted to the stairs. “Why did you call me, not an ambulance?”
She
