C Reiss - Sing

MONICA

Dr. Thorensen had put up his Christmas lights on December first, two weeks ago, decorating his wood detailing and redwood fence with tiny multicolored dots. No fat inflatable snowmen. No Santas. No elves, just classy little spots hanging around the edges of his property like a joyful little fucking aura.

I rang the bell again. The house was the biggest on my incline of a block. The door itself was four feet wide, deep mahogany, set in with a lead glass window.

It was too early in the morning to ring Dr. Thorensens bell. He was a single guy in his mid-thirties, and it was Tuesday morning. He should be at his office, or the hospital. Maybe nuzzling one of the women I saw come around periodically. But I was losing my shit. I couldnt wait another minute, and Id noticed he kept odd hours.

I saw him through the glass in a polo and jeans, carrying a coffee cup. When the door opened, he looked grave.

Monica, he said. Am I blocking your driveway? Then he looked at me. I must have been a sight. Are you okay?

Not really?

What happened?

Suddenly, I felt silly, as if Id become a story hed tell his friends. Id become the annoying girl next door. Hed told me once that he didnt put an MD license plate on his car or hang out a shingle because he wanted to avoid random advice-seekers and neighbors with a sniffle. Id laughed with him at the story of the Montessori mother two doors down who wanted him to look at her sons scraped knee. This was why Id avoided ringing his bell for five long, lonely, friendless days.

But he was a cardiologist, and when Santa brought me a gift, I figured I shouldnt try to cram it back up the chimney.

One long sentence poured out. I didnt want to bother you, I mean its not like he cant afford the best doctors in the world, but Im afraid to tell them what I think or Ill look crazy so I was wondering if you had privileges at Sequoia?

I do.

He paused for a second, and I feared hed say something like, sorry, Im not working right now. I deserve to be at home in peace as much as the next person, and the fact that I spent a quarter million dollars on school doesnt make me public property. But he stepped aside and said, Come in.

Id never been inside his house, and though Id always been curious, when I finally did see it, my curiosity was dulled. Id been blind to details for a week, my brain had somehow narrowed out what it thought important to three things. Breathing. Worrying about Jonathan. Desire to kill Jessica. But when I passed the living room, the flashing lights caught my eye. Three huge flatscreen TVs were up, with a leather chair set to see all of them. I recognized the steampunk settings and the particular burnished brass and wood finishes from a party Id attended before Jonathan. In another life.

You play City of Dis? I asked. The online multiplayer game was highly competitive, complex to a fault, and if you had the brain power to keep up with it, more addicting than crack.

Yeah. He seemed a little embarrassed. Need to wind down sometimes, you know.

I know this guy who wears Depends when he plays so he doesnt have to get up to go to the bathroom.

Im potty trained, even in character. Coffee? he asked as I followed him to the marble and glass kitchen.

No, thanks. Im more of a tea person.

So, he refreshed his cup. If its not the driveway, and youre asking about Sequoia, must be a medical call?

Im so sorry to bother you.

Youre fine. Sit. He pulled out a tall chair by the marble kitchen bar.

I sat, feet wrapped around the legs, a coiled tension in my hips.

You did the place nice, I said. Its probably the best house on the block.

Its an investment. He put a pot of water on the stove. Coulda got something in Beverly Hills or Palisades for twice the price and half the aggravation, but wheres the fun in that?

Its quieter and cleaner?

No potential, though. Nowhere to go but down. This neighborhoods going to be Beverly Hills in ten years. And I get to live next to people like you. Interesting people. Its all lawyers over there. He glanced at me quickly, as if checking on me. So, what brings you?

Youre a cardiologist. Im sorry but

Stop apologizing.

My...I guess youd call him a boyfriend? Hes at Sequoia.

A patient, I assume.

They say he has a heart problem. That he damaged his valves when he was younger and he...

Was I betraying a confidence? There had been so much talk of his suicide attempt that it seemed like old news already, but the talk had been within the confines of his family and doctors.

Dr. Thorensen waited, leaning on the counter, cup warming his hands.

He took too much Adderall once when he was a teenager.

This is Jonathan Drazen?

I felt a tingle of shock, like an adrenaline rush, that he knew, and that he mentioned his name right there in the kitchen, as if Jonathans condition and how he came to be so sick, was public knowledge.

He must have seen it on my face. He put his cup down and opened a chrome canister on the counter. It was full of teabags.

That explains the car.

Was I just being sensitive? Because it sounded like he thought I couldnt possibly have bought a Jaguar without fucking someone. I didnt have time to decide if I was mad, because Dr. Thorensen continued as if he knew hed implied something that could twist my knickers in a knot and wanted me to forget it.

We have a weekly meeting on the high risk cardiology patients, he said. Just to check diagnoses and make sure were on the same page about treatment. Ive seen him. He held up a hand as if the reassure me. Im not his doctor or anything. Dr. Emerson is with him. Hes highly qualified.

And you agreed a sixteen year-old overdose gave him a heart attack? That makes no sense.

Adderall is basically legalized speed, he continued. Taking a fistful will damage your valves, and the slightest blockage will give you a heart attack. No question. Its a miracle he made it this far.

He handed me my cup. I didnt want it, but found my hands clasping it anyway.

Are you sure? I asked.

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing in his own defense.

I dont mean to question you, I said. Im sorry. I didnt go to medical school. But before it happened, we were at a party, and he was gone a long time. I think... I felt so stupid even saying it. Id only told Margie my theory, and shed dismissed it. I think he was poisoned.

I stared into my teacup.

Thats a pretty broad accusation. He said it softly and kindly, but under it all was a hint of condescension, as if what he really wanted to say was that I was crazy.

He has enemies, I said.

Yes.

His ex-wife was mad at him.

Okay.

He was fine just before.

No, he wasnt.

I was there, you werent. Im sorry, but he was fine.

He put his cup down, and I felt the weight of my intrusion. He was playing a video game at eight in the morning, getting a moments peace from a high pressure job, and here I was dragging his work into his kitchen. And he didnt believe me. I wanted him to believe me, even as I was feeling crazier and crazier.

There was nothing on his tox screen. I sat with his attending for two hours looking at EKGs. He had a massive coronary event. Theres a pretty good chance hed been having small heart attacks in the days previous. His valves are shot.

He stopped his sentence as if catching himself. Hed been talking about a mans heart like it was a carburetor.