Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla (free reads TXT) 📕

I don’t know.” She runs her hand through her still-damp hair. “Probably would’ve helped more if we’d started five years sooner…”

“You’ll know when you know, right?”

“Our counselor likes to tell us that it takes longer to undo the damage in a relationship than it does to cause it in the first place.” Feeling her face heating, she forces a laugh. “Then again, she bills by the hour.”

“Makes sense, though.”

“How did you know, Nathan?”

“To be honest, it wasn’t my decision. Annie moved out.”

“Ah.”

“Said she couldn’t compete anymore with my true love.”

“Oh.”

He grins. “She meant my job. In hindsight, she was right.”

“But if you still love her…”

“She’s got a new partner now.” He shrugs. “It’s fine. We’re all friends. He’s good to her and the boys. Sometimes, though…”

“What?”

“I worry I’m doing the same thing to Ethan and Marcus. Putting my career way ahead of them.”

“I’m the one who dragged you out here and away from your Quebec trip.”

“And I’m the one who came.”

“You mention your kids a lot. You sound like a very involved dad to me. When I was their age, I would’ve killed to have a father who treated me with that kind of concern.”

He tilts his head expectantly. “Care to elaborate?”

“No. Not going there.” She laughs, waving a hand in front of her. “We’ve dug up enough of my skeletons for one coffee.”

“Fair.” His phone dings three times, and he reaches inside his jacket to extract it. “Sorry. Just got to check.”

“Please.”

The color drains from his cheeks as he reads the texts. When he looks back up at her, his jaw is clenched and his eyes distressed. He slowly rotates the phone until she can see the headline of the online article. It reads: “Teen Fights for Life After Vaccination.”

CHAPTER 35

Jack sits in the middle of the hardwood floor and rocks rhythmically on the spot without uttering a sound. Max finds it painful to watch. He knows his son is this silent only when he’s most distraught. “Jack, it’s just a new class,” he said reassuringly. “You’ll still be in the same school.”

But Jack’s stare remains blank, and he continues to sway like a human seesaw.

Earlier in the afternoon, Jack punched a second classmate. The poor girl required two stitches to close the inside of her lip where her own tooth had cut her. Fearing expulsion, Max and Sarah were incredibly relieved when the principal informed them that he was only reassigning their son to a different classroom with fewer students and more aides. What the principal didn’t say, but they both understood, was that this class was designated for the most aggressive children at the Institute. On hearing the news, Jack was inconsolable. Not only does he abhor change, but he’s also incredibly attached to his current teacher. She’s one of the few people who can reach him.

Max sits down beside his son. “It’s not so bad, Jack. You’ll still have all your old friends at school. And you’ll still get to see Ms. Appleby.”

Jack stares past him without acknowledging the comment.

Max gently lowers his arm over his son’s shoulders. At first Jack doesn’t respond, but then he begins to rock faster. Max jerks his arm away, recognizing the warning sign, shamefully aware that he’s afraid of his own son’s unpredictable response.

For a minute or two, Max just sits in silence beside his son. Then his phone buzzes, and he pulls it out of his pocket.

“Have you seen it yet?!?” the text from Cole reads. Below it, his friend has attached a hyperlink to the Seattle Times website.

The headline launches his pulse racing. His excitement only grows as he reads the specifics in the article about a fifteen-year-old girl who suffered a life-threatening reaction to the meningitis vaccine. Max responds viscerally to the accompanying photos. He wonders why the paper even bothered to add the anonymizing black bar across the girl’s eyes, since her face is barely recognizable through all the blistering and puffiness.

None of the details described surprise Max. A small part of him even feels guilty, especially for the satisfaction he takes in the graphic photos. He understands that the girl is suffering and that her parents must be beyond worry. But he also sees them as incredibly fortunate. The doctor quoted in the article predicted the girl would make a full recovery, which is more than most vaccine victims can expect.

The news is better than what Max could have hoped for. It’s exactly what the cause needs. Not another cautionary tale told from the fringes. Not another voice in an echo chamber. No. This is irrefutable, visual proof of the dangers of vaccines, coming from the kind of mainstream media that usually marginalizes anti-vaxxers.

It is the smoking gun he has dreamed of.

Maybe now people will listen.

CHAPTER 36

Lisa is running on sheer adrenaline, having hardly slept overnight. The tension she came home to the previous evening was even worse than anticipated. Despite her preoccupation with the crisis at work, she tried to engage Dominic. But he wanted no part of her explanation or her apology for canceling their counseling session. He spoke few words, and he physically shrugged off her attempt to lay a hand on his arm. The rare times he did meet her gaze, his eyes burned with wounded contempt. He ended all further discussion by grabbing a bottle of red, stomping off to the guest room, and slamming the door behind him. She hasn’t seen him since.

Ingrid is waiting for Lisa at the door to her office when she arrives at seven fifteen. Her eyes are puffy and red, and her lip trembles.

“What’s wrong, Ingrid?”

“They won’t stop.”

“Who won’t?”

“Reporters. Worried parents. Everyone. The phone won’t stop ringing. I have over forty voice mails and twice as many emails. They all want an explanation… About that girl the vaccine made so sick.”

Lisa shudders inwardly at the phrasing but smiles reassuringly. “It’s OK, Ingrid. Just tell them that we’ll be releasing a statement later this morning.”

Ingrid nods, still