Free Submerged by Alton Gansky Page A

and immovable as a marble statue. The dim light of
the MICU cubicle gave the space a depressing air. There seemed to
be too little oxygen and too little ventilation. He gazed down upon
the man who lay unmoving, skin pale, eyes open in slits that
revealed white, sightless orbs. His father’s skin seemed to have
grown whiter over the last few hours. It now hung limp on arms that
Perry always recalled as strong and dense.
    A sniff from behind him reminded Perry that
his mother was near. She had remained by his side, leaving only for
the blood draw that Dr. Nishizaki ordered.
    Now he was planning on leaving her. Guilt
moved in like the tide.
    Perry had spoken to the doctors. Tests had
been run, more tests were scheduled to be done, and no one knew
anything. “To be blunt, Mr. Sachs,” Dr. Nishizaki had said, “your
father should be dead.”
    Somehow Perry already knew that. Now he stood
by the bed, holding a hand that could not hold his back. Perry let
his eyes drift to the IV bags that hung on a stainless steel stand
attached to the bed, then his father’s vitals. No matter how well
Perry understood that oxygen tubes, catheters, monitors, and IVs
were needed, it seemed so undignified.
    “I did some research on those names, Dad.”
Perry had heard that people in comas were sometimes aware of others
around them. He had no idea if that was true, but he did know that
as long as his father drew breath, Perry would do everything to
make him comfortable, including carrying on a one-way conversation.
“We’re still running down some leads, but I’ve made some of the
connections.”
    He paused, as if his father would respond.
“Jack and Gleason have been helping me. They’re praying for you. A
great many people are praying for you.” He gave his father’s hand a
squeeze. There was no response. Perry felt as if all his internal
organs were shutting down.
    A presence came alongside him. He didn’t need
to turn his head to know that his mother stood there, her arm
around his waist.
    “I’m going to check a few things out for you,
Dad. That means I have to leave town.” Perry’s eyes began to burn,
and his stomach was ready to boil over. “Aunt Nora is going to be
here soon and will stay with Mom. I have everything taken care of,
so don’t worry about anything.” Aunt Nora was Anna’s sister.
    A tear ran down Perry’s cheek and fell to the
white linen of the bed. “I will be in constant contact. I’m going
because I think you want me to. I mean, you gave me the names . .
.”
    “He knows, Perry,” Anna said. “He knows.”
    “But do you understand, Mom?”
    “I’ve been married to your father long enough
and been your mother long enough to understand. He wouldn’t have
given you those names if he didn’t want you to do something with
them.”
    Perry put his free arm around his mother and
pulled her close. “I keep changing my mind. I keep thinking that my
place is by his bedside.”
    “Your place is doing what is right, whatever
that might be. If that means going to Nevada, then you must go.
Your father expended a lot of energy to say those few words.”
    “I know, Mom.” Perry watched his father’s
slow breathing. “Do you remember anything from that time, anything
that might help us?”
    “No. You were just a boy. You know how secret
some of the projects you work on are; it was the same back then. He
never talked about such things. Never. That used to frustrate me,
but he once told me it wasn’t a matter of him trusting me, but of
his clients trusting him. If he promised secrecy, he gave
secrecy.”
    “He drummed that in my head enough times.”
Perry chuckled. On several occasions, he had tried to pump his
father for information on secret projects he had worked on in the
past, but the man never budged. He did, however, give Perry the
same lecture about trustworthiness and honor. At times Perry found
it tiresome, but as he grew older it became the model for his life.
It was one of the great things