SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  The COUNTDOWN BEGINS 7-6-5-4-3-2-1

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Episode 74

COUNTDOWN … 7

They lay there on the bed; their heads resting on the bedhead. Luke-warm, half-consumed, coffees residing on the bedside tables either side of the bed, as Mary processed the final pages of the diary, while Joseph stared blankly at the notes that she had already read out to him, trying hard to make some sense out of it all.
“Mary!”
“Yes Joseph?” she half answered, her mind preoccupied with what she was reading.
“It looks like we may have to spend a couple of additional days here, in the village, so I was wondering …”
“Yes, Joseph” Her heart beginning to beat wildly, Mary immediately gave Joseph her full attention.
“I was wondering if you could do something special for me?”
Mary’s eyes lit up with anticipation at what was coming. “Certainly.’ She replied without a moment’s hesitation. “What would you like me to do, Joseph?”
“Could you please see your doctor friend in the morning and get a couple of medical statements to cover us for, say, four days. After all, he does seem a little bit keen on you, so I am sure that he would co-operate.”
“Yes.” Mary replied sullenly, “I expect that could be arranged.
Mary’s tone was one of disappointment for she had hoped his request would be more of an intimate nature, but she also realised that they both would need some proof of illness or injury should they have an extra day off following a public holiday. Mary had quickly accepted without question Joseph’s involvement in this adventure that she was so excitedly caught up in. She assumed that this type of operation must be normal to him, and she wondered how he usually arranged for the time off that he needed. She imagined that it may be a fairly regular occurrence in his life, but before she could continue with her thoughts, there was a knock on the door.
Joseph got up and opened it slightly – surprised to find Martin swaying slightly as the door was pulled away from his clenched fist.
“I was just wondering if you two had found anything new?” Martin asked; his current state of sobriety quite obvious as he brushed past Joseph and immediately settled himself into one of several large lounge chairs in the room
“Not yet,” Joseph sighed as he resumed his place on the bed beside Mary, “We are having some trouble understanding just what the professor is getting at,.
“So, bounce it off me. Maybe something will break open.
“I guess we have nothing to lose, except perhaps for some sleep,” Joseph sighed as he handed Mary the notes. “Go ahead, Mary, read out what we’ve got.”
“Well, I am afraid that I may have deciphered some of the words incorrectly due to the professor’s chicken scrawl, but here goes. It would appear that during their many on-line conversations with their associates in the field, the professor and his brother were warned of a possible threat to their lives, and this is one of the areas where I am not certain that I have translated his scribbling correctly.
The person that he was talking to, a Johansson or Johnson, I am unsure which is correct, however, at any rate, he warned the professor that there was a possibility that their conversations were being monitored: The person that could be spying on them was code named Jaws. The word out on the street was that he was about to strike very shortly.
He also goes on with a warning to watch out for the man who pretends to worship God, but uses the hospital as a cover to hide himself from the truth.”
“The doctor, I am willing to bet anything,” Joseph muttered, half to himself.
“Perhaps.” Mary replied as she rolled her eys at Joseph;s persistence in assuming Doctor James was a bad guy, “There is another reference about the rubies. It seems that there were seven rubies missing from the statue in total; four missing when the statue first arrived, and the three that he thought Vittorio had taken. And that is all that I could make out, and even then, my translation is not guaranteed to be accurate. A lot of it was just sketches, as if he was doodling when he wrote it. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics would have been easier to understand. I’m sorry, I did the best that I could, but it’s not a perfect interpretation.”
“Jaws, hey … sounds like that character from the James Bond movie. I wonder if he has a theme song like Bruce the shark did. Brum! brum!, brum! Do do do do do do do do” Martin chuckled as he broke into an interpretation of the suggested song. Martin’s eyes and current actions confirmed Joseph’s thoughts that Martin was the victim of several more drinks since they had left him in the foyer, and he began to wonder how long he would last before collapsing.
“Well a code name is no good to us, unfortunately,” Joseph commented in a more serious tone than Martin, “What does he mean by, ‘To watch for the man who praises God, but uses the hospital to hide the truth’?”
“To hide from the truth.” Mary corrected.
“I stand chastised.” Joseph confessed. “Perhaps I could learn to listen better.”
“It’s not important,” Mary jumped in quickly, fearing that she might have upset him with the quickness of her tongue.
“No, it may be important,” he smiled, “especially in view of the fact that you couldn’t finish the interpretation accurately. There could be something going on that we don’t know about yet.”
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t get it right.” Mary’s tone was slightly subdued as she spoke.
Joseph sensed her feelings were hurting – he put his arm around her and pulled her into his arms. “No, I wasn’t referring to your good work at all, to all the good work that you did. With Rosetta still comatose we would never have been able to understand any of it without it, especially about the rubies. You probably saved my life.”
Mary smiled and snuggled closer into his chest.
“What I actually meant was,” Joseph continued, “without knowing the full details of the diary we may still have more things to worry about than just getting the statue back for Raji. Well, I guess outside of a miracle, we will just have to await the morning rays and see what news Robert has. We had better turn in for the night, Martin.” Joseph turned to look at Martin and found him sound asleep on the small lounge.
Mary got up from the bed, shook her head, an ironic smile on her face, as without a word she leaned over and kissed Joseph gently on the lips. She took the keys he offered, and left to spend the night sleeping in Joseph’s room, while Joseph rolled his eyes in contemplation of spending the night defending his sleep – and his sanity – against Martin’s snoring.
Two restless hours later, Joseph took the risk of waking him, extracted Martin’s room key from his pocket, and made his way to find the door that it fitted in order to find the solitude and silence that his tired, pounding head required.