Pandemic

At the Tower of London he signed up for a tour. Climbing the winding staircase inside one of the Tower's turrets, he empathized with the medieval prisoners the tour guide mattered on about. Even though Fletch was a history buff, especially of the dungeons and dragons variety, he was too winded to concentrate on the guide's words. And with each step, Fletch felt as if his legs and arms were in the same shackles the prisoners once wore.

Exhausted and short of breath, Fletch had to drop out of the tour halfway through. He stumbled his way to the exit. Fulfilling a promise, he stopped at the gift shop to load up on keepsakes — toy swords and replica crown jewels — for his two little grandsons. Though made of plastic they felt like lead as Fletch dragged the bag toward the exit.

After staggering out of the taxi, he had to stop five or six times on the short walk to the elevator and then again on the way to his room. He felt so short of breath that he wondered if he was having a heart attack, but he knew that wouldn't explain his spiking fever.

Ten minutes passed and Fletch still sat huffing and puffing on the queen-sized bed. He reached for the bedside phone, thinking of calling 9-1-1, not even certain if that was the right number in England. But in spite of how horrible he felt, he opted to stick with his mother's tried-and-true remedy: brandy and sleep.

After swallowing a little bottle of Courvoisier from the minibar, he crawled under the covers, convinced that a good nap would set him right.

CHAPTER 14

GREAT WALL HOTEL, JIAYUGUAN CITY, CHINA

They had played phone tag for the last four days. Sitting back on the double bed and listening to the phone ring a fourth time, he resigned himself to another day without hearing his daughter's voice. Then he heard a click. "Hello?" Anna said.

"Hi," Haldane said. There was a pause, which Noah didn't know whether to attribute to phone delay or to Anna.

"How are you?" she asked stiffly.

"Fine," Haldane said. "How about Chloe and you?"

"Chloe's much better. The fever is gone. She's back to her old self." Anna paused. "She misses her daddy, though."

Haldane waited, but Anna didn't mention whether or not she missed him, too. "Looks like things are stabilizing here in China," he said. "I hope to be coming home in the next couple of days."

There was another brief silence. Long enough for Haldane to realize that it had nothing to do with the phone connection. "That's great, Noah," she said, but her words rang obligatory.

"Yeah," Haldane said distantly. "Can I speak to Chloe?"

"Sure."

He tapped the receiver against his ear while he waited for his daughter. Finally, he heard breathing on the line.

"Chloe?" He felt butterflies. "Is that you?"

"Hi, Daddy."

"Chlo, it's so good to hear your voice."

"Where are you, Daddy?"

"I'm in China, honey."

"At a tea party?" she asked excitedly.

It took Haldane a moment to make the connection. Then he laughed, remembering Chloe's miniature china tea set at home. "No, Chlo. Not that china. I'm in the country China. Remember? The place where we tried to dig to last summer."

"Daddy, did you dig a big hole?" she asked him sternly.

"No, I flew in a plane, honey."

"Daddy?"

Haldane pictured his daughter cradling the relatively oversized phone against her ear. His heart ached. "Yes, Chloe?"

"It's my birthday party tomorrow."

Her birthday was ten days away, but in Chloe's vocabulary "tomorrow" meant anytime in the future. "Very soon, sweetie," Haldane said.

"Will you bring balloons?"

The previous year, Haldane bought a huge bouquet of balloons for her party, and Chloe had forsaken all her other gifts to play with the balloons until the helium drained and they lay as deflated sacks on her bedroom floor. "I promise you'll have balloons," he said. "More balloons than clouds in the sky."

She giggled with glee. "And cake?"

"And cake," he said.

"Bye, Daddy." Then Haldane heard Chloe yell to her mom, "Daddy says I am going to get balloons and cake for my birthday!"

"I love you, Chlo," Haldane said, but from the sound of the phone hitting the table, he knew Chloe was already gone.

After a moment, Anna picked up the phone. "Noah?"

"Where did Chloe go?" Haldane asked.

"The playroom," she said. "Looks like she's gone to bake you another cake."

"Hope not." Haldane forced a laugh. "Those imaginary cakes are murder on my hips and thighs."

Anna cleared her throat. "Noah, listen, we should talk."

"Not now, Anna," Haldane cut her off. "I have to get to an evening meeting. Like I said earlier, I am going to be home soon. We can talk then."

"Okay… good," Anna said.

"Bye, Anna," he said, hanging up the phone without waiting for her reply.

After dropping the receiver into the cradle, he sat on the bed and massaged his temples. He had lied to Anna about the meeting — there were no more that evening — but he was not prepared to discuss separation or whatever else she had in mind over the phone.