Book of Days_ A Novel - James L. Rubart [5]
Cameron shook his head, as if it would cause his dad's words to make sense. Was this real? Did Dad have any idea what he was saying? "Why do you think it will happen to me?"
"Not a question. It will happen; it will. I've seen it." His father patted Cameron's hand. "I'm so sorry."
Cameron blinked and a trickle of fear wound through his mind. He wasn't ready for a conversation out of Alice in Wonderland.
"What is this book? Where would I find it?"
His dad grasped Cameron by both hands and nodded once. "You know what I love about us? We both have beautiful blue eyes."
Cameron leaned in. "Why do I need to find this book?"
"You know what I love about us?" A smile lit up his dad's face as he squeezed Cameron's hands. "Both of us have beautiful blue eyes."
"Stay with me, Dad. You just told me I'm going to start losing my memories like you and about a book I have to find. Where is the book?"
"Well, I'm very proud of you, you know."
Cameron let his head fall back and he closed his eyes. It was over. No matter how hard he tried to massage the conversation back to whatever this book was, and why his dad thought Cameron would get the disease, it wouldn't happen.
He wanted to have one last conversation with his dad about the important things in life, so why did he end up with his dad rambling about nonsensical things instead?
A few minutes later Cameron let it go and told the story about the two of them skiing from nine in the morning till ten at night up at Stevens Pass without a break.
"Do you remember the next day? We couldn't move!"
For the next half hour Cameron didn't stop the tears when they pushed out and didn't stop the laughter when his dad talked about some random comical event from decades back.
After the light outside his dad's room had grown black, Cameron slid his arms around his father and whispered in his ear, "I love you, Dad. Always have. Always."
His dad held him for a moment, then patted Cameron on the back and took him by the shoulders, a wide grin on Dad's face, moisture in his eyes.
A week later his dad was gone.
CHAPTER 2
Eight Years Later
Come on, remember!"
Cameron stared at the phone number on the yellow sticky note, willing himself to recall who it belonged to. He pressed the Post-it note onto the middle of his MacBook's screen.
What was wrong with him? It was his handwriting. No one else had scrawled those numbers half an hour ago. He remembered jotting it down. It was someone he needed to call back. But the memory of whose number it was had disappeared.
His face grew hot.
"Remember what?"
Cameron looked over at Brandon slumped in front of his computer, a pen whirling around his fingers like a minibaton on steroids.
"Where'd you learn to do that?"
"YouTube." Brandon glanced up at the clock on the wall of their production studio. "If we're going to get this vid finished, we gotta jam. You're almost done with edits, right? Tell me yes."
"Another hour at the most."
"Cool." Brandon sat up and whacked away on his keyboard. "So have you decided, Cam? Are you headed to the fifteen-year this weekend?"
"We just had a ten-year reunion. Besides, July is too early to have a reunion. It should be in August."
"Did I ask you if you'll do a couple of tunes again? Just you and a piano up there onstage, nothing fancy."
"No chance. I haven't played for eons." Cameron rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe high school is already fifteen years in the rearview mirror."
"Thirty years is coming in a flash." Brandon grinned. "Old man time will be here before you know it. Hey, remember, I need you to get that voice-over on the Crystal Mountain video laid down by the end of the day."
"Right."
Cameron turned back to his screen and stared at the number. What if old man time had already shown up? He tried to laugh at the idea. So he'd been forgetting a few things lately. Big deal. It was probably the stress of working sixty-plus hours every week and still finding