The Jace Letters, Part Thirteen

Yow! I've never slacked off so long before on my "weekly" fiction blog. My current obsession with Wikipedia is part of the problem, but mostly it's because I've reached the part of the story where I get nervous about whether I can wrap it up properly. Let's take Jace and Sandy one step closer to resolution of their problem, shall we?


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Thirteen

Subject: Re: The Why, If Not the How
Date: 11/??/??? 0efh408fy30r1rffy08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace -

I think I must have passed out, or at any rate fallen asleep for a while. I was trying to read Physics for Dummies, which Gabby had brought at my request. But I couldn't concentrate on it. I don't know how long I was unconscious. There is no day or night here to judge by. But my uneaten apple has gone brown, and my Diet Pepsi is warm and flat.

I'm feeling weak again, and the pain is getting worse. It's not just the wounds, or the headache. There's abdominal pain, too, the worst I've had since my gall bladder came out. That's what woke me.

A few minutes ago, I managed to climb out of bed and go use the restroom. What I saw pretty much settled the question about internal bleeding. Gabby has gone to bring the doctor back in here.

Jace, I'm sorry, but I'm not at all sure I will live long enough for you to find your way to me. How would you even do it?

Sandy

Subject: My Promise
Date: 5/15/11
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy –

I'm terribly worried about you, but time is working in our favor, at least at my end. I'm a couple of weeks away from finishing eleventh grade. They let me take A.P. Physics a year early, doubling up with Chemistry. I've been acing them both, even though Chem is kind of rote and boring. I guess that impressed the people at LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory), because I just got accepted to their "HS Co-op" program for high school seniors. I start interning there next week. Isn't that great? My parents are both really proud of me, but I still see that worried look in Mom's eye whenever the subject of physics comes up.

I have my driver's license now, too. Ken and I still want to drive to Sedona or Deming, or both, but my parents would freak if I drove so far away, especially with a boy. They like Ken okay, but I don't think they trust him, even after knowing him for years. They're sure that Ken and I have secrets together, but I won't tell them what kind of secrets. I just say that it's nothing to do with sex. To be honest, we've thought about doing it together, but so far he's been pretty understanding when I say I'm not ready. I'm not even sure he's ready, but I'm not going to hurt his ego by saying so.

Anyway, I keep wondering whether Ken and I should make the trip to Sedona now, and face my parents after it's all over. What's more important, me obeying a curfew, or finding and helping you? But that's what stops me. Even if I find you, I'm not ready to help you. I've been working on something in Ken's basement, so that my parents won't know that my obsession with physics has turned me into a crackpot inventor. I've got a long way to go in building the thing, let alone getting it to work. I'm not even sure exactly what it will do when it's finished. Something useful, I hope. Really, I do more than hope. I know it will work eventually. I promise it.

And I promise you will live long enough for me to see you again. Don't give up! Every month that goes by, every book I read, every bit of research I do, every email I get from you, only makes me more sure I know what's happening to you, and what to do about it. I've pretty much figured out how to get to you when the time comes, and I know I will get there. But the time hasn't come yet, and getting there isn't enough. We have to save your life, too.

Meanwhile, I've been looking at colleges to go to. I'm probably going to apply to CalTech, U.C. Riverside, and University of Arizona. You didn't go to the University of Arizona, did you? But you probably know something about it, having lived in Tucson before the accident. I guess which one I go to will depend on where I get the best scholarship. Ken is applying to the same schools, so we've been looking for ones that have a good pre-med program, not just a good physics department.

Hang in there! We can do this!

Jace


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