“Really! I am not just doing a center-of-attention thingy. Really, I think I used to be dead.”  Choady was standing at the Admissions window of the Emergency Room. 

Nurse Jindered hated full moons. She just blinked at the small blonde person standing on the other side of the polycarbonate partition. Halloween was still two months away, but she knew pranks didn’t follow a routine schedule. “You should have come here before you died. Maybe we could have done something. You’re ok now though?”

Choady nodded her head. “Yeah, but nodding makes me a little dizzy.”

Jindered shrugged. “Well, don’t nod then.”  

“Oh, yeah, but what if I die again? I am not from here.”  

Jindered looked at Choady’s thin pale body. “You eat? Have you eaten today? Extreme hunger can cause hallucinations.”  

Choady shook her head. “I haven’t eaten in a long time.” She pointed to green patches on her arms and back of the neck. “The chlorophyll tattoos give me most everything I need. Except water, of course, and salts. I could use some sea salt.”

Jindered realized, after working the Emergency Room for decades, she hated children. The little lying bastards were always making shit up. “Go home.”

“But I am not from L.A.” Choady whined.

“Go away from here then.” Jindered was only filling in at Admissions while Margaret took her break. 

“But what if I die again?”  

“Then we can do something for you.” Jindered’s nose itched. “Come back just before you die. It will work better that way.”

Choady made a face. “I don’t understand.”

Jindered made a face back. “I don’t either.” Jindered waved Choady to go away. 

#

Margaret called Jindered over to the Admissions window. “I have patients. I can’t watch the window for you.” Jindered said as she opened the back door to the Admissions booth. 

Margaret shook her head pointing at the two large pale men standing on the other side of the window. They had a picture of Choady against the polycarbonate. “You see this kid when you were covering for me?”  

“Who are these guys?” Jindered never gave out patient information to anyone. She didn’t even like being asked about it.  

Margaret handed Jindered two business cards. “From some biotech startup, Reanimations, Inc. They are down by the beach. Big opening last year. I went with a resident. The bastard! I forget what they do. Transplants or something. They are looking for this girl.”

Jindered frowned. “Why?”  

“Why what?” Margaret looked more confused than usual.

“Why would a biotech company be looking for a little girl?” Jindered looked over at the guys’ necks. One of them was turned just enough that she could see a green blotch on the back of his neck. 

“She’s lost? I don’t know.” Margaret looked back at the picture pushed against the polycarbonate. “That’s a girl?”

“Tell them I haven’t seen her.” Jindered shut the door as Margaret clicked on the comm link to the outside. 

#

Jindered was annoyed, very annoyed, close to anger but with herself. The girl had needed help. She had asked for help and Jindered had simply brushed her off. Jindered tended to keep self-criticism to a minimum. As a nurse, people die around you all the time; you can’t take responsibility for every little thing. You can’t take death personally.  All a nurse ever did was push death back for a while or make people more comfortable as death arrived. But “Jindered screwed up big this time.” She said aloud. She was getting angry with herself. “Jindered should have helped no matter how screwy the little girl had seemed. Sick people say all kinds of insane things.” This part of the hospital had few people in it. Jindered came here to be alone. She was wrong about it today.

“My hands are not the same.” Said Choady from a dark corner. 

Jindered wasn’t surprised. Surprise was another thing she had lost being a nurse. Surprise and compassion, apparently. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name up there.”

“Choady. They call me Choady. I don’t know why.” Choady stood up.

“Why?” Jindered walked over to the girl.

“It’s not my name.” Choady sounded sad.

“We’ll, what is your real name? I’ll call you that.” Jindered wanted to put her hand on Choady’s head but didn’t.

“I don’t remember it. I just know it’s not Choady.” Choady smiled. “But you can call me Choady. It’s ok.”

“Just like you having another life before you died?” Jindered was going to be understanding. 

“Yes, I remember dying.” Choady sighed. “And my hands are different.” Choady held up her hands and put their palms together. They were different sizes. 

Jindered frowned and then forced back a smile. “They weren’t like this before, ah, in your other life.”

Choady shook her head. “Neither of them are mine.”  

Jindered looked closer. On the larger hand there was an obvious scar circling the wrist. On the smaller right hand, the scar circled the elbow. “Oh. And your feet?”

Choady nodded. “They are different too.”  

“What’s the same as before?” Jindered felt like the first time she dissected a cadaver. Excited and nauseous. Choady was a composite of human parts. A jigsaw of transplants. “Your face? Your mouth? Your nose? Your ears?”

Choady made a sad expression. “I think so. I remember my hair was yellow.” She stroked her blonde hair with her larger hand. 

“Maybe I can find out who you were. The name you don’t remember.” Jindered had some sterile swabs in her jacket pocket.

“So, you will help me?” Choady’s sad expression lightened, slightly.

“I’ll get your DNA sequence first. Maybe your sequence is in the database. Or, at least, your mother’s.” Jindered tore open a swab packet. “I’ll just take some cheek cells. And a hair sample.”  

Choady nodded opening her mouth wide. 

#

Jindered’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. Choady had been right. She had been dead. She was still officially dead. Her DNA sequence had been in the database. She was an organ donor. She had donated her organs after dying of exposure one winter night up north. Her name was, had been, Alexandra Spill. Her immediate family had all died that same winter night. It was a car accident on a mountain road. The entire family were organ donors. 

“That company looking for her, Reanimations, Inc., They Frankensteined her! The monsters.” Jindered said aloud as she balled up her fists.

“What?” The young lab tech looked up at Jindered’s face. He had in ear buds listening to loud music. He reached up to take one out.

Jindered shook her head and waved her hand indicating it wasn’t important. Most things weren’t, so he shrugged looking down again.

#

Choady shook her head. “Forgot I like the taste of chocolate. It’s so good!” Her smiling lips were smeared with chocolate. She chewed slowly. There were only junk food vending machines in this part of the hospital. Jindered was being very cautious with Choady. She wasn’t going to take Choady to any place more public in the hospital.  

“Alexandra Spill? That was your name, ah,” Jindered sat down on the floor beside Choady. “The DNA sequence I got from you had that name associated with it. Alexandra Spill.”  

Choady chewed continuing to shake her head. The dimness of the hallway light made Choady appear to be a normal little girl. Nothing at all monstrous. 

“Alex? Lex?” Jindered rubbed her own nose. “Spilly? Nandera? Dandra?”

Choady shook her head.

“Ah? Dra? Sandy?”

Choady squealed and coughed. She nodded.

“Sandy? You remember Sandy?”  

Choady spit out the chocolate and caramel into her smaller hand. “Yes. Sandy. I remember Sandy. Dandy Sandy.”  

“Sandy Spill. That is progress.”  Jindered smiled but wondered what she was going to do now. 

#

“She just wants her stuff. Dolls and drawings.” She wore her nurse’s uniform to give herself a sense of authority. She had wanted to meet with the founder of Reanimation, Inc. But got the head of marketing instead. Everything was marketing now and Jindered hated it. Everyone should. 

“By she, you mean Choady.” The head of marketing’s name was Safa Ready. Short dark hair and a plain face didn’t reveal Safa’s gender, if there was one. Marketing meant living to the tastes of society. 

Society now seemed to be entertainment only. Sexual distinction and preference were dictated by the convenience of immediate gratification, COIG. Jindered saw too many people killed by COIG. Drugs, car crashes, interpersonal violence were all COIG and all unnecessary. “Her name is Sandy Spill, who you call Choady.”  

“She, ah.” Safa’s voice didn’t reveal gender either. It didn’t matter really, not in marketing. “Really, ah, Choady is a prototype. More an alpha than a beta. She, ah, Choady was the first successful prototype for the complete reanimation.”  

“Sandy is a person! Not a prototype!” Jindered remained seated. She told herself to be calm and relaxed. 

“Well, legally, the person you are speaking about, Alexandra Spill, is dead, medically, and legally. Our research division appropriately obtained the lifeless remains after the voluntary organ harvest had concluded. Her entire family were generous donors.” Safa pointed to a wall monitor displaying Sandy’s death certificate along with other legal forms. “Choady is a construct developed by Reanimation Inc., and its subsidiaries. Patents are in the review process.”

Jindered wanted to generate the need for a death certificate for Safa Ready. “Sandy is a person. A little girl. She is not your property!” Jindered snarled.

“Intellectual property which the Choady prototype is.” Safa stated pointing at the displayed patent applications. “More will follow.”  

Jindered balled her fists. “She! She just wants her dolls and drawings. I am here to get them for her.”  

“Criminal charges will be filed without her, Choady’s, prompt return.” Safa displayed a criminal complaint form filled out with Jindered’s full name and contact information. 

“Just give me her stuff!”

“Just give us back Choady,” Safa held up a right index finger, “or this complaint against you will be electronically filed.”  

Jindered then stood up. “You can electronically go fuck yourself.” Jindered knocked the chair over as she stood. The bang echoed in the large office. Safa jumped. Jindered smiled at getting the response she sought. “Bye for, now,” and ran out the door. 

In the hallway those two guys looking for Sandy attempted to block Jindered. She had a black belt in Judo and flipped one into the other without stopping her egress. She was out the front door of the small firm and in her car before the two could get off each other. “That went as well as to be expected.” Jindered said to her reflection in the rearview mirror. “Free market capitalism at its best. Bunch of greedy bastards!”  

#

Detective Randolph sat at the table. He tapped a beat lightly with the fingers of his left hand. “Don’t have to wear a tie to work, but I think it gives me an appearance of authority.” He said to Jindered.

She sighed pointing to herself. “Nurse. The uniform does the same.”

“Dress for success.” Detective Randolph raised his very blonde eyebrows.

“You’re not even writing anything down.” Jindered pointed to the empty table in front of him.

“You would have to file the complaint. Those forms are on the department web site. I am here because you know the Commander.” Detective Randolph rubbed his eye with his right hand while the left kept the beat. “This is the break room. Nobody likes it so it’s always empty. Do you like it?”  

“No.” Jindered said flatly. “You are not going to help me.”

“With what?”  

“The little girl’s situation. Sandy’s ah, problem.” Jindered knew this wouldn’t accomplish anything. The police just want things to be calm and peaceful. Nothing more. Justice was never on their agenda in her experience. 

“You said, she was dead and now she’s alive.” Detective Randolph stopped tapping. He shrugged. “Sounds like her problem was solved.”  

“You believe the story then?”

He shrugged again. “Brave new world and all that. Hand transplants, face transplants, gene splicing babies with AIDS, all kinds of things happening now a days. Frankenstein? Well, it had to happen. Star Trek is responsible for cell phones and etablets, ya know.”

“But Reanimation, Inc. acts like they own her. She is their prototype. A marketing tool.” Jindered stood up. 

Detective Randolph stood up too. “But I think, if what you said is correct, she is legally dead. I don’t know of any court ruling on the legal status of the resurrected. Ha! I do know it’s illegal in China to be reincarnated without a license. It’s true. I love that.”  Detective Randolph smiled his best professional smile. 

“I hate this room.” Jindered said to his smile.

He nodded. “I knew you would.”  

“It’s too bright.”  

#

Jindered had Sandy at a friend’s guest house. Sandy had already read most of the old paperback books stored in boxes in the smallest bedroom. “I just love turning the pages. They smell so, uh?”

“Musty?” Jindered replied.

Sandy made a face. “Maybe but I like the way they smell.”  

“Sorry, I couldn’t get your stuff.” Jindered sat down on the single bed in the small bedroom. 

“It’s ok. Thank you for trying.” Sandy looked into Jindered’s eyes. “They are mean there. They were mean to you.”  

Jindered nodded. “Yes, very mean.”

“Why I ran off.”  

“You can stay here.” Jindered looked at the open boxes of books. “I can get you my ePad. Plenty of books available.”

Sandy shook her head. “I like these real books.” Sandy rubbed her neck. The scar there was slightly red. 

“Well, I guess I can buy you more. Anything special you like?”  

Sandy shook her head. “Anything’s fine.”

“Such a nice little girl.” Jindered smiled a genuine smile. 

#

Jindered had taken Sandy’s blood. Sandy had a low grade but persistent fever. Jindered was going to have Sandy’s blood tested in the hospital lab. It wasn’t a problem.  Jindered knew everyone in the blood lab. They did each other favors all the time. Particularly, with the contagious diseases people would like you to keep quiet. Jindered had treated many of the staff there. 

She had stayed away from the hospital because of the tough guys from Reanimation, Inc., but Sandy’s fever meant risks must be taken. She wasn’t wearing her nurse’s uniform. She had stopped dying her hair black, so it was coming in its real color, white. She thought it might just be enough of a difference. When she saw in the corner hallway mirror the tough guy stepped up behind her as she waited for the elevator, she knew it wasn’t. As he reached to grab her shoulder, Jindered twisted and punched her thumb into the man’s solar plexus. Jindered had done it a hundred times in her nursing career to grabby patients. It worked every time. It still did. The tough guy collapsed forward gasping for breath. 

Jindered ran for the stairs, but another tough guy rounded the corner grabbing her arm. “We need the girl back!” He demanded.

“No!” Jindered yelled pulling and twisting her arm back. It broke the tough guy’s grip but also caused Jindered to lose her hold on the tubes of Sandy’s blood. They broke on the white tile. Jindered punched the tough guy in the throat and ran backwards to watch the tough guy struggle for breath. He seemed like he was going to recover, so Jindered ran down the stairway to a service tunnel. 

#

Sandy noticed the bruises on Jindered’s forearm. “I had an arm that bruised easily.” Sandy pointed at Jindered’s. “I didn’t have it long. They gave me another one.”  Sandy held up her left arm. “You bruise easily?”  Sandy smiled.

“Oh! How could I be so stupid? Transplants. Immunosuspressants. The fever. Just distracted with all this.” Jindered made her facial expression of disgust for her own mistake. It caused Sandy to giggle and make a silly face too. 

Jindered smiled back placing her hand on Sandy’s forehead, “warmer than before.” Jindered sighed. Sandy sighed the same way, mimicking Jindered. Then she laughed. Her laugh made Jindered laugh despite Jindered’s concern. 

There were so many immunosuspressant drugs now a days, used for arthritis, rosacea, psoriasis, along with the ones used in organ transplants, which one could be useful for Sandy? But why hasn’t she come down with a cold or the flu? She hasn’t been protected from normal infections. Jindered kicked herself for not taking more precautions against infection. She was so concerned about protecting Sandy from the company, she had forgotten bacteria and fungus, and now Sandy’s own immune system. What had they done to her to keep the transplant rejection down while keeping the opportunistic microorganisms at bay? 

“Did you take a lot of pills at the company?” Jindered asked gently, although she was very angry with herself.

Sandy smiled. She looked uncomfortable. “What’s a lot?”

Jindered chuckled. “Yes. A good question. Ten a day instead of one a day. Something like that.”

“Oh, not a lot then. One pill a day. Oh, and a needle shot once a week. I didn’t like it.” Sandy rubbed her behind. 

“They say what they were?”

Sandy frowned. “They said it was vitamins. The pill. The shot they never said. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t like the shot.”  

“Who does dear? Who does?” Jindered hugged Sandy’s warm little body. She had to do something about this rejection issue of Sandy’s. Jindered then remembered Carl Magnum, M.D. She used to give him hand jobs before he operated. It calmed him down and steadied his hands he told her. It was for the patients. A hand job for the patients. Jindered laughed at all she had done for the patients. Most of them didn’t do anything but complain about the pain. Sandy wasn’t like that. Sandy was very appreciative and polite. Carl had gone into organ transplants, kidney, and liver. She didn’t know if he was still in the field.  Or if he was still married. It had been twenty years since she last saw him. Neither of them had tried to keep in contact. Reanimation, Inc., would never connect her with him. He was her best chance to help Sandy. She’d Google him once Sandy was asleep.  

#

Dr. Magnum was in Arizona. The email she sent asking him to call her got a rapid response. His wife had died years ago, he was alone with just his practice. He had been thinking about Jindered and their time together, fondly. It made Jindered laugh that a routine hand job could be seen in such a light. Fondly and hand job just didn’t seem to go together in Jindered’s view of the world. It only mattered that he wanted to see her. His voice seemed controlled but pleading. Yes, he was still in the transplant business. Yes, he would love to see her tomorrow night. He had a big house; she could stay as long as she wanted. It was almost too good to be true. She would drive Sandy there tomorrow. Carl would do Jindered this favor, even if she had to have sex with him. Sandy’s survival was all that mattered now. Safa Ready would never look for them in Arizona. She would swap cars with her girlfriend. Her girlfriend always liked driving Jindered’s car. Jindered didn’t know why but it worked out well now.  

Sandy wasn’t any more feverish than before. She was sleeping nicely. They would start out early in the morning before traffic got bad. Jindered wasn’t worried.  She never worried about patients, not in decades. Procedures worked or they didn’t. She always did everything possible. Death was always out there somewhere. Of course, death had already caught up with Alexandra Spill. It hadn’t claimed Sandy or Choady yet.  Jindered liked defeating death as often as possible. Jindered won so many battles, but she never won the war. Death always was triumphant, eventually. Reamination, Inc. though had somehow won out in the death war. It annoyed Jindered very much.

#

She was getting worse. The drive to Arizona was uneventful and quiet. Sandy slept most of the way. She wasn’t her considerate but attentive self. She wasn’t feeling well. She had moaned in her sleep. Jindered had heard thousands of moans of pain and anguish. They had stopped affecting her decades ago. They had, until Sandy. Each sound of discomfort from Sandy was felt by Jindered. Jindered almost cried from these revived feelings. They made Jindered drive faster. Jindered was always careful about driving too fast normally, but not now. She had to get Sandy medical attention quickly. 

When she pulled into Magnum’s driveway, he had actually run out to meet Jindered. His eyes were almost joyous. He hugged too long. He wouldn’t stop touching her hands, arms and shoulders. His breathing was elevated. His tone of voice changed dramatically though when she told him about Sandy. That was when she knew sex was necessary. 

He had made Sandy comfortable for the night, letting her sleep in one of the house’s many bedrooms. Jindered also knew she couldn’t push him too hard yet. Even though she had driven all day, she sat on the sofa with him, listening to him catch her up. He needed to talk more than anything else. He spoke rapidly and actively, but when he had slowed in his description of his life after his wife died, Jindered moved her hand up his leg to help relieve his anxiety. He relaxed quickly, but it was only the beginning of Jindered’s persuasion. She had to make him feel desired and desirable. He eventually fell asleep. Jindered then felt she had succeeded. She lay beside him in the early morning light hoping it was enough. She should sleep a little, but she couldn’t. She wanted to shake Magnum awake and get him to work on Sandy, but she knew she couldn’t. He had to wake up on his own. He had to follow through on Sandy’s care. He had to lead events. Jindered hoped she had done enough, applied enough emotional momentum to carry him through to the end. A hand job or two could be properly applied during the day to smooth things out, but she had to be careful with those. The only sound she heard now was the air conditioners working to hold out the desert morning heat. 

#

“I never liked IVs,” Sandy smiled weakly. They had moved her to the clinic right after Magnum awoke. He always went to the clinic the very first thing every morning. 

Jindered was holding her smaller hand. She was rubbing it gently. “Yes, I agree. Sorry they wouldn’t let me do it. I am not licensed for Arizona.”  

“That’s ok.” Sandy’s face was less pale, but it still showed her to be weak. “I hope.” Her voice drifted off.

“What dear?” Jindered leaned into Sandy’s face. Sandy’s breath smelled like ammonia, liver not functioning properly. Things weren’t right. Jindered squeezed her warm smaller hand. “What do you hope?”

“Just, I don’t want to die again.” There were tears in Sandy’s eyes. 

Jindered’s eye responded in kind. “I will do everything I can to make certain you don’t.” Jindered put her face on Sandy’s small chest. 

“I know. I knew you would.”  

Jindered waited until Sandy was asleep before going to see Magnum. 

#

Magnum shook his head. “I don’t know. I gave her the standard immunosuppressants, but there are so many different donor grafts. I would never do this. I don’t know how they did this and prevent rejection.” His large office desk looked weighed down by all the papers and books. “I searched for Reamination research papers. Even any patents they might have.” He pointed at his laptop and shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing in the public domain. Nothing.”

“Aren’t there new immunosuppressants coming out?” Jindered sat in the overstuffed sofa. It seemed to embrace her. She liked it. 

“Of course, I will try everything I can find, but,” Magnum put his hand on a stack of papers. “I might have to contact Reamination doctors.”

“No!” Jindered snapped but then stopped before she said anything else.

“You know there might come a time when I, we, have too.”

Jindered sighed and nodded. 

#

“It isn’t working.” Said the primary nurse. She was all covered to maintain sterile conditions in Sandy’s isolation unit. 

Jindered stood outside the isolation area, looking in helplessly at Sandy in the bed. She seemed to be shrinking before Jindered’s eyes. “Try something else you dumb slut!” Jindered yelled in frustration. The primary nurse didn’t respond to Jindered’s outburst. Maybe she hadn’t heard it? Jindered hadn’t pushed the send button on the intercom. Jindered wanted to bang on the window of the isolation unit, but she might disturb, frighten Sandy. Sandy’s heartbeat was low as was her blood pressure. It was only her temperature that was high. “I can see it’s not working.” Jindered muttered again without pushing the button. 

Magnum walked up behind her and pressed himself against her backside. “You shouldn’t get so upset dear. We are all trying our best.” He rubbed against Jindered. She wanted to punch him in the face but did nothing at all. “I want to start cooling her body. Get the temperature down anyway we can.”

Jindered nodded. “Should have done it earlier.”  

After the primary nurse left Sandy’s bedside, he put his arms around Jindered’s waist. “I wanted to see if she responded to this treatment.”

“She didn’t.” Jindered snapped. 

“Yes, I know dear.” He now had an obvious erection. “Good thing the isolation ward is isolated.” He breathed into her right ear. 

She wanted to grab his erection and punch it in the face too, but she didn’t. “Yes, dear.”  She pushed a button now. This one closed the curtains in Sandy’s isolation unit.

He loosened his pants. They fell to his ankles with a thud. He pushed down her pants and entered her with a sigh. “Is it good? I want it good for you.”

“Good enough.” She replied. She didn’t turn to face him.

#

“Her immune system is a chimera too.” Magnum stood at the electronic wall display in his office. There were twelve separate sections all showing differently colored immunocytes. “She has cells are from, at least, twelve different individuals.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen such a thing. Fascinating! Astonishing!” He was smiling as he examined the cells on display.

“So, they are doing weird science. Maybe it’s alien technology. I don’t care.”  Jindered stood at the door of his office. “She isn’t making any progress.”  

“Uh?”  He remembered to stop smiling before he turned to answer her. “Yes, ah, no. No progress. They must have been giving her some cocktail of compounds?”

“Can’t you do that?” She snapped out. “Why won’t you do that?”  

“Which ones?” He shrugged. “What dosage? How often? I have no idea.” He wanted to hold Jindered. He knew how much Sandy meant to her. He didn’t.

“She is dying.” Jindered stated.

“She is.” He replied. “I could call the company.”

Jindered shook her head. “No! No.”

“She will die.” He stepped forward.

Jindered stepped back. “Maybe that’s best?”

“You promised.” He muttered.

“I know. I know.” She turned and walked down the empty hallway.

#

Sandy’s thin neck was as cold and quiet as the isolation unit. Jindered stood beside the bed with her fingertips trying to find the carotid pulse. She had tried and tried, there was none. Jindered wore an extra-large, bright red, Arizona State University sweatshirt. It was Magnum’s. Jindered felt cold despite it. The only thing warm in the room was her tears. She hadn’t cried in so long; she wasn’t sure what was on her cheeks for a moment. Jindered didn’t know what to do either, which was another surprise to her. All she could think of doing was take off the sweatshirt, kiss Sandy goodbye, and leave. She did all of those. 

#

“What are you here for?” Jindered sat in the corner of her virtually abandoned hospital hallway. “Not to relax I hope.” She put her hands behind her back to make the point clear.

“I had to come here and find you.” Magnum stood a few feet away. “I thought we connected. I was happy. I thought… but you won’t call me back. Even text me.”

“You were always very observant.” Jindered looked up at him and then back down to the floor. The drive back to California had been like driving to Hades; long, lonely, and hot. Maybe it was meant to be that way, death? The drive forced her to rethink the process of dying, or rather being dead, the after death. Should it be? Then she would have never known Sandy. No comfort though, no comfort at all, just sadness and loss.

“You just left.”  

“Again, very observant.” She stated. “And again, what are you here for?”

“I, we, oh, I just wanted to tell you what happened to Sandy.”

“She died again. What else is there to know?” Her voice was flat and even. “We failed her. Failed her in her after death.”

“Well, she, well. You just left so abruptly. I contacted the company immediately. I bought stock. I’m on the Board.” He stepped closer to her.

Jindered looked up at him. He held his ePad down to her eye level. There was a video of Sandy playing. “She was such a nice little girl. I had to do something, for her, for you. She is again, I, well, I brought her back to her, ah, third life?”

“What?”

“Well, the company procedures brought her back. This video was taken today. She’s alive.”  

“You work for Reanimation, Inc?”

“I, well, I collaborate with them now. I own part of the company.” He turned off his ePad. “I still have the clinic practice in Arizona. You could come back and work there. We could be together!”  

“How could you do this?” Jindered muttered. 

“What? I had a lot of free cash. It was a good investment. I could request Sandy to get the procedures again. I made them call her by her real name, not Choady. What a name, Choady. Ha! That Safa Ready really hates you. She didn’t want it done, the name change, but I was an owner. They had to.” Magnum smiled broadly. “They did too.”

“No one has to do a thing like that.” Jindered stated.

“I don’t understand.” He stepped closer. “It’s just a name, Sandy wanted it.”

“You wouldn’t understand. Of course, you wouldn’t.” Jindered then punched him in the groin. “Why can’t you people leave her alone?” Jindered cried out. 

“I thought you would want this.” Magnum gasped. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand. Sandy is happy. She thanked me, thanked you. She sent you her love. I have video.”  He held out his ePad again.

Jindered pushed it away violently and the put her head on her knees. “Monsters. Monsters. Just all monsters!” Now, there was no mistaking her tears.

---

Michael W. Clark has a Ph.D. in molecular biology from U.C.L.A. He has been a research scientist as well as an entrepreneur. Along with these professional endeavors, he has been writing fiction and poetry since he was a teenager. He has nine poems and fifty-six short stories published in various print and electronic journals and anthologies. He is the creator, editor and contributor for the fiction and non-fiction website. He presently lives in Santa Monica, CA.