Fifty Degrees Below - Kim Stanley Robinson [131]
“Yes.”
The nurse left. The two men sat under the fluorescent lights, among the blinking machinery. Charlie watched Frank’s heartbeat on the monitor. It was fast.
“So you’ve been going into Rock Creek Park at night?”
“Sometimes.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
Frank shrugged. “I didn’t think so. A lot of the animals are nocturnal.”
“Yes.” Charlie didn’t know what to say. He realized he didn’t know Frank all that well; had met him only in party contexts really, except for the trip to Khembalung, but that had been a busy time. Anna collected odd people, somehow. She liked Frank, always with an undercurrent of exasperation, but he amused her. And Nick really enjoyed doing the zoo thing with him.
Now he fell asleep. Charlie watched him breathe through his mouth. Strange to see such a distant and even self-contained person in such a vulnerable state.
Diane arrived, then Anna called as she was getting Nick up for school, wanting to know how Frank was. Frank woke up and Charlie handed his phone to him; he now looked slightly embarrassed, and definitely more alert. “Conked in the nose,” he was saying to Anna as Diane pulled Charlie out into the hall. “I don’t remember very much.”
“Listen,” Diane said, “Frank only had a driver’s license and NSF card on him, and both had his address from last year. Do you know where he’s living now?”
Charlie shook his head.
Diane said, “He told me he had found a place over near you.”
“Yes—he’s been joining us for dinner sometimes, and I think he said he had a place over near Cleveland Park, I’m not sure.” Frank seldom talked about himself, now that Charlie thought of it. He looked at Diane, shrugged; she frowned and led him back to Frank’s bedside.
Frank handed Charlie his cell phone. Anna wanted Charlie to come home and watch Joe, so she could visit the hospital.
“Sure. Although I think they’re going to release him soon.”
“That’s good! Well, maybe I can drive him home.”
Charlie said, “Anna says she’ll come over and be able to give you a ride home when you’re released.”
Frank nodded. “I’ll have to get my van. She can drive me to it.” He frowned suddenly.
“That’s fine, we’ll take care of that. But I wonder if you should drive, actually.”
“Oh sure. It’s just a broken nose. I have to get my van.”
Charlie and Diane exchanged a glance.
Charlie said hesitantly, “You know, we live near here, maybe we could help you get your van to our place, and you could rest up there until you felt well enough to drive home.”
“It doesn’t actually hurt.” Frank thought it over. “Okay,” he said at last. “Thanks. That would be good.”
Frank was discharged that afternoon, by which time Anna had visited and gone on to work, and Charlie had returned with Joe. Before going out to get his car, Charlie checked at the desk. “I’m driving him home. Did he give you a home address?”
“4201 Wilson.” That was the NSF building.
Charlie thought about that as he drove Frank back to their house. He said, “I can take you home instead if you want.”
“No that’s okay. I need to be taken back to my van so I can pick it up.”
“There’s no rush with that. You need some food in you.”
“I guess,” Frank said. “But I need to get my van before it gets towed. Tonight is the night that street has to be cleared for the street cleaners.”
“I see.” How come you know that, Charlie didn’t say. “Okay, we’ll get it first thing after dinner. It shouldn’t be that late.”
The other Quiblers had welcomed Frank in with a great fanfare, marveling at his bulbous red nose and his colorful black eyes. Anna got take-out from the Iranian deli across the street, and after a while Drepung dropped by, having heard the news. He too marveled as he scooped clean the take-out boxes; Frank had had little appetite.
In the kitchen Charlie told Drepung about Frank’s mystery housing. “Even Diane Chang didn’t know where he lives. I’m wondering now if he isn’t living out of the back of his van. He bought