Excerpt From The Perfect Solution

A Circle of Reasoning--Chapter II Conversations

Pressing the buttons that would activate the intercom system on the telephone and the programmed number that would dial her sister, Catrine pulled the blankets up to her neck and pressed her back into the pillows. Swiping at her nose and closing her eyes against the pain in her head, she waited for the answer.

"Yes?" asked the cheerful voice on the other end of the phone line.

"Hey," Catrine croaked. "Whatcha doin'?" She coughed to clear the phlegm from her throat. "I thought that you would have been here by now. You could have called."

"Me, call!" Phae bellowed angrily. "I have been waiting for you to call and apologize."

Brushing her nose with a fresh Kleenex and clearing her throat again, Catrine pushed herself into a semi-sitting position and adjusted the straps to her gown.

"What do you mean 'apologize'? What do I have to apologize for? Brhin didn't tell that silly little thing I told him about Roadkill this morning did he? I was only kidding it was a joke."

"Brhin didn't tell me anything. I want you to apologize for having me drive twenty minutes across town to get your kid from that stupid, death trap of a...."

"I hate it when you call The P. S. Center by that name." Catrine broke into the tirade. "Brhin loves it there. The center is very pretty and well equipped."

"That's all it is. You know how I feel about it, and you know how Frank feels. It is not a good place. You can't just go by the name, The Perfect Solution, ha!" Phae's words sped out of her mouth in a tirade of irritation. Once she started on listing the faults of the center she was hard to stop. "None of the teachers have a clue as to why they are there. The place is run in total chaos. You of all people, the owner of your own security firm should be worried about the way that center handles its business. They are so darn careless.What I want to know is how could you have me drive all the way across town to the center and then have Brhin not be there? I had to rush all the way back to this end of town so that I could get my girls from school. I was barely on time for the Girl Scout meeting and now dinner will be late. You know…"

"What!" Catrine screeched and sat ramrod straight in the bed. The roughness in her throat caused her voice to rasp. "What are you saying? What do you mean he wasn't there? Where is Brhin, then?"

"Isn't he there with you?"

"No! Oh, my God! What are you saying?" Fear knotted Catrine's stomach and made her nauseas. "I wouldn't have asked you to get him if he was not going to be there. Are you playing a joke on me? I am not well Phae. My head is killing me and I don't find this in the least bit funny. Put Brhin on the phone."
"Oh, my God, Are you serious, Cat?" The anxiety in Phalene's voice was clearly heard through the phone line. "I thought that you had gotten someone else to get Brhin. He's not here."

Catrine looked at the small double heart picture frame that held a picture of Brhin in one heart and a picture of herself and Brhin in the other and her own heart skipped a beat. Dragging nerveless fingers through her already mused hair, Catrine swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up slowly. Her head felt as if it was about to burst and the pain behind her eyes made her want to lie back down.
"Who the hell else would I get?"