“Be my guest.”
She slipped the food into her mouth, then smiled. “This isn’t bad.” She sat on the edge of his bed.
“I thought you were leaving?” he said.
“In a few minutes.”
He shrugged.
She filled up the spoon again, but this time held it out to him.
“I’m not hungry,” he told her.
“Just try it.”
“No.”
She moved the spoon to his lips. “Come on.”
“I said I’m not hu—”
She slipped the spoon into his mouth.
Having no choice, he started chewing the food. “I wouldn’t even let my mother do that.”
She filled the spoon again and held it back up.
“I can feed myself,” he said.
“Yeah, but will you?”
He scowled at her for a moment, then picked up the fork and stabbed a piece of chicken.
Smiling, Orlando redirected the spoon into her own mouth. “Could use a little spice. But this is a hospital, so I guess bland makes sense.”
They both chewed in silence for a moment.
Finally Nate said, “Where’s Quinn?”
“Back at the hotel.”
Probably either sleeping or having a beer in the bar, Nate thought. Moving on, no doubt. Maybe even thinking about getting a new apprentice.
“He’s trying to arrange appointments for you back in California,” Orlando said, like she was reading his mind.
“Appointments?”
She helped herself to another spoonful. “Doctors. Physical therapy. Prosthesis fittings.”
“Oh. Great,” Nate said with no enthusiasm.
“Are you going to take another forkful, or am I going to have to feed you again?”
Reluctantly, he got some more food and put it in his mouth.
Orlando watched him eat for a moment. “Look. You can just take this, go home, and live out your life thinking what could have been, or—”
“Or?” Nate said. “Seems to me there’s no ‘or.’ ”
“You’re still in shock. Your system is full of drugs.” She paused. “You lost your leg, for God’s sake. Of course that’s all you can see.” She worked a piece of broccoli away from everything else, then picked it up and popped it between her teeth. “But it’s not the only choice.”
“What then? I’m done being a cleaner.”
“Why? Because you don’t want it anymore?”
“No! I want it. I want it more than anything.”
“So what’s the problem?” she asked.
“I lost part of my leg. Or hadn’t you noticed?” he said. “Being a cleaner is a physical job. How the hell am I going to be able to keep up?”
“You’re good, Nate. You have the skills. You know that. Quinn knows that, too.”
“Quinn thinks I’m done. I could see it in his face when you guys were here earlier. He could barely look at me. He was like one of those people in the movies standing around the bed of someone dying. Great knowing you, good luck on the other side.”
“You’re right,” she said. “He does think you’re done. But he’s not feeling sorry for you.”
“What then? He’s already written me off?”
“Guilt,” she said. “He’s the one who had to make the decision to amputate your leg. And don’t forget, he’s the reason we’re here in Singapore in the first place. This wasn’t a job. This was a personal mission for him. And now he feels responsible.”
Nate looked away. “Well, you can tell him I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t have been here if I hadn’t wanted to be. That should get rid of his guilt.”
Orlando scooped up some more food and held it in the air between them. “You or me?”
Nate picked up his fork again. As he shoved it under the vegetables, he knocked a piece of chicken off the plate and onto the tray.
Orlando smiled. “It’s good that you’re angry.”
“Go to hell.”
“I mean it. You can use that.”
He put the food in his mouth, chewed it, then said, “Use it for what?”
“For your rehab. So that when you come back to work, you’ll be even better than before.”
“As a cleaner? I already told you I physically couldn’t do it anymore.”
“There’s no way you can know that. Prosthetic devices are pretty amazing these days.”
“So the doctors have told me,” Nate said.
“I was reading on the Internet today about a guy from South Africa who’s missing parts of both of his legs. But because of the prostheses he has, a couple years ago he almost made the Olympic team.”
“As what? A mascot?”
“Track and field. He’s a runner.”
That made him pause. “A runner?”
She nodded. “How much do you want this?”
“It’s all I want.”
“Then make it happen,” she said. “Work your ass off. Use the time to study and learn everything you can. Throw yourself into your rehab and your training.”
He wanted to believe her, but then he thought about his mentor. “Quinn won’t go for it.”
“He might think you won’t be able to do it, but he’ll give you the chance to prove him wrong.” She smiled. “And I might have a little influence over him.”
She stood up. “Are you going to finish eating everything?”
He smiled a little.
“Oh, progress,” she said.
“Have I told you to go to hell yet?”
“So are you going to finish?”
“I’m going to finish.”
She took a step toward the door, then turned back. “I’m not just talking about the food.”
“I know.”
A whole year had passed since his injury, and he had used the time well. He had done exactly as Orlando had suggested. He’d studied the subjects he was going to need for the job: learning how to fly a plane, perfecting the French he’d taken in high school, expanding his knowledge of chemistry, memorizing the makes and particulars of over a hundred types of trucks and cars, getting a start on Spanish and dozens of other topics large and small. He’d also pushed himself hard in his rehab, surprising his physical therapist and even himself.
Quinn had paid for everything, even purchasing a whole set of prosthetics that could be used under various conditions. First Nate relearned to walk, then to run. By the time Orlando had talked Quinn into taking him out on a job again, Nate was running several miles a day and hiking a couple of times a week in the hills that ran through the middle of Los Angeles.
Quinn’s skepticism had soon disappeared. And Nate’s own belief that he would one day become a full-fledged cleaner had returned.
“I told you you could do it,” Orlando said to him a few months earlier.
“Did you?” he said. “I don’t remember that.”
She eyed him critically. “You know, you’re still Quinn’s apprentice. I could make sure you get some pretty lousy assignments.”
“You really think you have that much influence over him?”
She huffed. “Excuse me?”
Nate smiled.
“Excuse me. Sir, excuse me.” The voice was female, both distant and close at the same time.
Nate pushed the eyeshades up. The flight attendant was leaning down next to him, haloed by sunlight seeping in through the windows.
Morning, he thought. He’d fallen asleep after all.
He pulled the earplugs from his ears. “Yes?”
“Your friend thought you might like to have some breakfast before we land,” she said. “But you’ll have to eat fast. We’ll be on the ground in forty minutes.”
Nate glanced over to where Quinn had been sleeping. His mentor was now sitting upright, a plate of food on a table in front of him, a cup of coffee in his hand.
“I’ll have a cup of that. Black.” Nate paused. “Better make it two.”