Link to beginning of story:
@justephen/justin-time-chapter-1-an-original-novel
Link to Chapter 4:
/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-4-an-original-novel-test-only
Chapter 4 Review:
Katherine and William agree that she should experiment on one more chimpanzee before proceeding with Justin. Katherine chooses Buzz as her next chimpanzee experiment. Buzz awakens and blows Katherine a raspberry.
Chapter 5: Partners in crime
The next morning when Katherine arrived at work, she immediately went to visit Buzz who was strapped down, but sleeping peacefully in a gurney.
"Buzz", she said as she poked him. Buzz opened his eyes and smiled. "How are you feeling?"Buzz continued to smile. "You look great! You should be up by tomorrow. You will just have to wear these bandages on your head for a while. You and Katie will look like twins.”
About an hour later, Kyle walked in and noticed Buzz."Wow! Have you been a busy little girl. First Katie and now Buzz? Are 'congratulations' in order?"
"Well...."
"I knew it! What are you going to do next?", Kyle said with anticipation.
"What do you mean?", said Katherine innocently.
"You know. You can't expect me me to believe that since Justi... I can't believe that it is just a coincidence that you have been working twice as many hours as usual.", he said not being sure how straight forward he should be. He certainly didn't want to appear insensitive. What are you going to do next?", he said in more of a whisper.
Katherine hesitated as she was debating how much she should say. She always trusted Kyle and they were close as co-workers go, but what she was going to do was against the law and Kyle may have a problem with it. But there was something in his voice that made her believe that he was rooting for her and that he already was aware of what she was doing. Katherine took a deep breath and said, "I was thinking about ummm..maybe testing it on..."
"Justin", he interrupted. "I knew it all along. I have been praying for you every night that you would find the answer and you did it!"
"Not so quick. I am excited too, but it hasn't been done on humans yet." Katherine said cautiously.
"I know. But we both know that the odds are in your favor now. Is there any way I can help you?"
Although Katherine heard what he said, she knew that he meant that as a kind gesture and not to be a co-conspirator. Still, she now felt comfortable enough that it couldn't hurt to ask.
"Well, hmmm. I am sure you wouldn't want to do this, but I do need a second person to assist me and..."
"Assist you with Justin? How do you plan on wheeling him out with everyone around?"
After she explained her thoughts and also how she thought nurse Latresky would cooperate, Kyle not only agreed, but was quite excited about the prospects.
"I have always gone the 'safe' route all my life and ever since I lost my wife, I realized that I have have missed opportunities for fun and adventure. What you are about to do is huge and being part of a historical break through is a once in a life time opportunity. If...I mean when this works...that means you have found the cure for the coma!"
"Awesome!"m exclaimed Katherine. She gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
Later that evening at Saint Anders, Katherine found an opportunity to speak to nurse Latresky alone.
"Connie", she said awkwardly, "I am not sure how to say this, but I have a huge favor to ask."
"Sure Katherine, anything.", said Nurse Latresky.
"I need you to first promise that what I say is only between you and I."
"Of course, what is it?"
"Well, the less you know the better for you, but I was wondering if on Thursday from about 11:00 pm to 2:00 am., if you could avoid coming into Justin's room and kinda not see or hear anything...if you know what I mean."
"What?", she said as she was first very confused. "Why?"
"The less you know the better, but I can tell you it could be one of the most important favors I've asked in my lifetime".
"What are you going to do? There is no way you found the cure for..."
"Please trust me Connie and don't ask any mo..."
"I don't want to know any more, as long as he will be safe with you then..."
"He will be.", insisted Katherine.
"You said this Thursday? As in two days from now?"
"Yes. I figured that was the best day for many reasons."
"Yeah. Like it is the slowest time and I am the only one here. I better not regret this.", said Connie with a worried look on her face.
"Thank you very much. I knew I could count on you."
It was 7:00 pm and William was in the kitchen preparing Chicken Marsala when Katherine entered the door.
"Hi honey.", she said merrily.
"What are you so cheery about?" asked William.
"I was two for two today!" she said as she entered the kitchen. She walked behind William, who was sauteing mushrooms, and put her arms around him from behind and kissed him on the back of the neck.
"Are you saying nurse Latresky agreed? And who else?", marveled William.
"Kyle. In fact, he was very excited about the idea. I would of never guessed." said Katherine as she kissed the back of his neck again.
"That is great!.", William laughed as a few mushrooms jumped out of the pan. "Oh shoot." He quickly put the fallen mushrooms back into the frying pan.
"Ummm smells good. What are you making today?", Katherine salivated.
"It's top secret. If I tell you, I will have to shoot you.", he teased.
"Then shoot me. As long as I can eat your awesome meal first."
"If you squeeze my tummy any tighter, then you may ruin my awesome meal with my special sauce", he laughed.
"You are gross!", she said as she let go of him and punched him in the arm.
"Ouch! You made me spill more mushrooms.", he yelled
"You deserve it and you are lucky that I don't take those mushrooms and pour them over your head.", she joked.
Later that night after dinner they cuddled in front of the television feeling very close and relaxed. For the past nine months they had very few times that they could spend together without worries. Although there was still plenty to worry about, at least they finally knew the exact direction they were heading towards; for better or worse. They knew in a couple of days, there should be closure and hopefully they will get there son back. Soon they both retired to their bedroom where they fell asleep in each others arms.
Katherine spent the next day preparing for her upcoming procedure. She packed her instrumentation in brown paper grocery bags and the bigger instruments that she needed were already at the hospital. From her months at the hospital, she already knew where they kept the larger medical equipment.
The procedure she was performing on Justin was a relatively simple one. She was fortunate that he was already hooked up to many monitoring devices. She hoped the procedure would go as smoothly as it did for Katie and Buzz.
She spent about an hour going over everything with Kyle who was listening intently with excitement. They agreed to meet at the hospital at 10:30 pm the next day. She thought 30 minutes early was enough time to review the procedure and make sure everything was in order.
That evening William and Katherine were sitting in Justin's hospital room when Blair and his parents walked in.
"Guess what?", Blair said excitedly.
"What did you do this time?", asked Katherine with a big smile on her face.
"Nothing. Guess again."
"What then?", asked Katherine.
"Justin is going to wake up on Friday.", he said smiling.