Chapter Four
Bruce opened the door and they entered the x-ray room, Jack first. Wendy was cleaning and straightening up the room like she always did before she left for the day. She looked up when they entered and her face brightened.
Bruce closed the door.
“Hi, Jack. I hope you brought that hundred in cash. I really don't have time to go cash a check.
“Wow, Wendy. You get right down to business don’t you?”
She giggled. “Well I did said ‘hi’ first.” and gave Jack an impish look.
“So when did you change your hair color to red? Last time I saw you, your hair was a honey blonde and was longer; shoulder length I think.”
“I know, I guess I can’t get the cosmetology out of me. I was a cosmetologist before I became an x-ray tech I still feel like I have to change my appearance occasionally or I just get bored with my looks.”
“Bored with your looks? Never. Your husband’s a lucky man. Oh yeah, and I’m real sorry I missed your birthday party at Bob’s Steak House last month. But thanks for inviting me.”
“Not a problem, Jack, you’ll just have to be there for my 34th." she said and gave him a big smile. "That’s double my lucky number. and all my friends will just have to be there.” she accented the word 'have' and leaned into Jack with her hands on her waist to accent even further.
“I promise.” Jack said as he put his right hand over his heart, mockingly.
“Ok, you two, cut it out. It’s getting late and I have hospital rounds to get to. Jack, you said you wanted Wendy to x-ray you. What part of your body do you think needs to be x-rayed?”
“My left arm, Bruce. I, uh, have a funny feeling in that arm.”
“Funny feeling? Does it hurt? Did you fall and injure it? Let me see first.”
Bruce took Jack’s extended left arm and gave it a thorough examination. He poked at it and felt it, and asking if this hurt, or that hurt. He asked Jack to extend his arm up back, down, and then contract it, to flex his fingers, and flex his muscles and twist his arm to and fro.
“Looks fine to me. I don’t understand Jack; I can’t find anything wrong with your arm. You say it doesn’t hurt and the motion is fine. I see no bruising, or discoloration. Circulation seems to be normal. Your arm looks to be fit as a fiddle.”
“I know, Bruce, I want you to x-ray it. If the x-ray comes out normal, I’ll just go home and chalk it up as a bad dream.”
“Does it have something to do with the quake this morning? With the stuff in your studio that would have made me have bad dreams too. Did one of your pieces bong you on the head or something?”
“No, I didn’t get bonged on the head. And yeah, the quake did have something to do with it. But first I want you to x-ray my arm.” demanded Jack.
“Ok, ok, Jack. Wendy, will you please x-ray my brothers left arm? I know you’re older than me, but I AM the doctor.” he jested.
“I’ll be in my office. Wendy, please develop the film and bring it to me immediately. I have rounds at the hospital in an hour.” he said with a broad smile and walked out the room.
“Yes doctor, right away,” she said, and instructed Jack to sit on the seat next to the x-ray and place his arm under the x-ray head on the negative table.
Jack took off his shirt, and Wendy placed a lead vest on him and positioned his arm on the x-ray table under some positioning graphics that were projected on the table and Jack's arm.
She went behind a shielded wall with the lead glass window, and told Jack to hold his breath. He could see her face in the glass window and heard the short buzz from the x-ray head. She came from behind the shield and repositioned his arm in a different position, and disappeared behind the shield again. She did this four times for four different x-rays of four different views of his arm.
“Ok, that’s all. Let me develop these x-rays. You can put your shirt back on and I’ll bring these to the office. Have that money ready too.” she kidded and flashed Jack a white, toothy, smile with a wink from her deep blue eyes.
He walked down the hall to Bruce’s office. Jack thought his Bruce's office fit his personality; it wasn’t necessarily fancy or opulent. It was just a nice sized office, modestly decorated, with a large wooden desk, a loveseat, and a couple of nice overstuffed armchairs.
His only luxuries were that he had a few signed and numbered Norman Rockwell reproductions on his wall mostly about country doctors of course.
He had an array of four large, north facing, windows high up on his ten foot wall, that really lit up the office and the lighting really did justice to the presentation of his Rockwell collection.
He entered his office and looked around. Bruce was buried in some paperwork at his desk.
“Those are new.” Jack said as he pointed to the two Rockwell’s on the wall to the left of Bruce’s desk.
Bruce looked up. “Yeah, I just got those. Victoria got them for me last week off E-Bay. Aren’t they cool?”
“Really. Very nice, very nice . The lightening in this office is excellent for displaying paintings. So how’s Victoria and Maddie?”
“Great. She and Maddie are so busy. Maddie's sixteen now.”
“I know that Bruce. The last time I saw y’all was at Maddie’s birthday party last month.”
“Sorry, Jack, it’s like an automatic reply. My patients always ask the same thing. ‘So how old is your daughter now Doctor?’”
“Victoria is now into training our two border collies. Whoda thought she'd be dog training? Time just goes so fast, ya know?"
“Yes, it certainly does, and I’m sure with ki…”
Jack stopped as the door opened and Wendy walked in with the x-rays. She was pale as paste with a shocked look on her face.
“Uh, doc, you really have to see these x-rays. I have never seen anything like it in my nine years as an x-ray tech. These can’t be real. I mean Jack MUST be pulling some kind of practical joke on us or something.”
Wendy handed Bruce a large manila envelope containing the x-rays.
He walked over to the rear wall of his office behind his desk where six viewing boxes were mounted five foot up on the wall in a row. He pulled the x-rays out of the envelope one by one and popped them under the clips on the viewing boxes; one box for each x-ray. Then he flipped on the viewing lights and studied the x-rays for a few moments.
“Uh, huh. Hmmm. This is quite a joke, Jack. How the hell did you do this? Is that some plastic concoction on your arm with something under it to fool our x-ray equipment, or what?” laughed Bruce.
“No, that is real. That is my arm.” Jack said scowling.
“Yeah right.”
“Bruce, you…”
Bruce held up his hand for Jack to stop talking and gave him a look that meant be quite for now.
Jack closed his mouth and just waited.
Wendy visibly appeared relieved.
“I don’t know how you did that, but I really have to go. Ah hum.” said Wendy clearing her throat as she held out her hand for payment of the hundred dollars as promised to her.
“You two can play all the practical jokes you want on each other but I have to go. I have to go to the store, start dinner…”
“OK, OK Wendy. Here you go as promised.” said Jack as he pulled a hundred dollar bill from the money clip in his pocket and place it in her outstretched hand.
“And thanks, I really appreciate you staying late.”
“Are you kidding? A hundred bucks for half and hours work. Any time, Jack, any time. If you and Bruce want to play games and pay me to help, hell, I’m all for it,” she replied as she put the money in her front jeans pocket.
“Bye, you guys. Have fun with your jokes.” she said, and gave Jack a peck on the cheek, turned around walked out and closed the door behind her. They could hear her giggling as she went down the hall.
Bruce walked over to Jack. He sat next to him and
took his arm and examined it again very carefully. His facial expressing turned from amused to extreme concern. He felt every inch, and turned his arm over several times and closely looked at the elbow, fingers and skin tone.
“Jack, I don’t know what to say. Your arm is robotic. There is no way in hell that you could have faked that. Wendy is a little gullible, and I made it seem like this was all a practical joke, and she will never again see these x-rays. What gives?”
“I, I don’t know Bruce. When the second earthquake hit this morning, I went to try to save my latest sculpture from hitting the floor. Before I could reach it, it toppled off the work bench and the sword caught and me on the way down and cut my forearm arm from wrist to elbow as it crashed to the floor. I grabbed a towel from the back of a chair and wrapped it around my arm. I expected a lot of pain and blood, but neither came.”
“You said you were cut from wrist to elbow on your forearm?” said Bruce incredulously as he examined Jack’s forearm again, more intensely.
“Yeah, from here, to here.” Jack traced with his fore finger on his arm where the slice was.
Bruce squinted as though that would help him see better and ran his fingers over the line Jack traced.
“I see no evidence of that at all.”
“Yeah I know let me finish.”
“Sorry. Please do.”
“Well, when I slowly unwrapped my forearm, the skin or whatever, was cut from wrist to elbow, and while there was some blood, it was hardly enough for the injury; at least the injury I thought I sustained. Then I looked into my arm and saw all those mechanics,” Jack said pointing to the x-rays, “and these little tiny robots or machines or something some no bigger than a grain of rice repairing everything before my eyes. They fixed everything and then welded, sealed, or whatever, the skin or whatever it is from the inside in a matter of minutes. I then felt woozy and laid down on my couch. I must have passed out from the shock because I was out for almost ten hours.” explained Jack.
“Jack that is the most incredible story I have ever heard. I absolutely know you are my brother, but I also know that you seem to be a robot, or more correctly, an android. Did you talk to mom about this yet?”