Gina Cresse - Devonie Lace 05 - A Deadly Change of Luck by Gina Cresse Page B

released me from his embrace and clutched my shoulders.  “This is my dear sister, Nellie,” he said to the woman behind the counter.  “I knew she’d come back one day, and here she is.  Give her a visitor badge, Lucy.  I want to take her on a tour.”
    Lucy eyed me suspiciously.  By the looks of her, she could have been a prison guard assigned to keep Charles Manson in line.  She had the closest thing to a flattop haircut I’d ever seen on a woman.  I halfway expected her to step out from behind the desk and frisk me.  “Do you have any identification?” she asked. 
    I gave her a helpless look.
    “She’s a missionary from Africa, Lucy!  You think she runs around with a driver’s license and a charge card?  Come on.  She’s my sister.  I haven’t had a visitor all year.  Give her a badge and let me show her around,” Frank insisted.
    “Passport?” Lucy suggested.
    I shook my head.  “Back at the hotel.”
    “Lu- ceee ,” Frank whined, holding his hands in a pleading fashion.
    Lucy caved in and handed me a pen to sign in, and a badge to wear on my shirt pocket.  She also shot me a look that could kill if it were loaded.
    Frank grabbed me by the hand and led me toward a glass door that led outside.  Suddenly, we were in a large park-like setting surrounded on all sides by the hospital walls.  It was an atrium filled with plants and flowers and picnic tables.  There was one other patient sitting at a table, playing with a puzzle.  Frank bumped his chair and told him to scram.  He collected his toys and scurried for the door.  Then Frank took the man’s chair and sat down.  I took the seat opposite him.
    “So, who are you?” he asked.
    “I’m not Nellie?” I replied.
    He laughed.  “Nellie is six-foot-two and has hair on her arms like a gorilla.”
    A vision of Nellie flashed through my mind.  “Oh.  Well then, why did you say—?”
    “I’m not in here for my hearing.  I heard you tell Lucy about Dad’s stuff.  You bought his place?” he asked.
    I nodded.  “Yes.” 
    “They’d never let you see me unless you were on their precious list.  Nellie’s the only one on the list who Lucy hasn’t seen before.”
    I stared at this man wearing hospital garb and wondered what I should think about him.  Aside from speaking very slowly and moving somewhat sluggishly, he seemed quite aware.  It didn’t take long to deduce that Frankie was sharper than anyone gave him credit for.  He noticed my stare.
    “What?  You were expecting a moron?  I’m schizoid, not retarded,” he snapped.
    I smiled apologetically.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know w hat I expected.  You seem very— “
    “Shut up, Melvin!” Frank hissed at the empty chair next to him.  He shook his finger angrily at the vacant seat.  “Mind your manners, or I’ll make you leave.”
    I watched Frank reprimand some imaginary person sitting next to him and wondered if he really saw someone there, or if he was play-acting.  He kept shooting quick, sideways glances at me while he scolded Melvin.  I caught him suppressing a grin.   
    He finally relaxed and turned his attention back to me.  “You have to excuse Melvin for his crudeness.  He thinks you’re quite pretty, but he has no class.  He won’t say another word, I promise.”
    I smiled and nodded, as if I understood, but I couldn’t really relate to Frank’s disorder.  I never had imaginary friends as a child.  I never conversed with beings that weren’t really there.  I cleared my throat uneasily and glanced at the empty chair.  “Do you really see someone in that chair?” I asked.
    Frank’s smile faded.  “You don’t?”
    “No.”
    There was a long, uncomfortable silence, then he burst out into boisterous laughter.  “I guess that’s why I’m in here and you’re not.”
    I joined him in his laughter for a moment, then I stopped.  “I think you’re jerking my chain, Frank.  I think you get a kick out of getting