Planetbound by DM Arnold (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

Nyk arose, went into the nursery and picked up the baby. He noticed dampness and changed his diaper. “Come on, little buddy,” he said and carried Nicky into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and looked in. After rummaging through its contents he closed the door.

He walked into the bedroom. “Suki, we don't have any milk for him. Didn't you express some this evening?” She lay still. “Suki?” He touched her shoulder. “You should be expressing milk for him -- it'll keep your supply fresh.”

She looked out from under the pillow. “Are you an expert on breastfeeding all of a sudden?”

“I don't need to be an expert to know he's hungry and we have no milk. Can't you feed him?”

“Go away.”

Nyk set Nicky into his crib, returned to the bedroom and pulled on a pair of trousers. He picked up the baby, carried him downstairs into Suki's parents' kitchen and began a survey of their refrigerator.

“Oh, it's you,” he heard Suki's father say. “Yasuko said she heard a noise.”

“Nicky's hungry and we have no milk upstairs.”

George turned and left the kitchen. “Well, buddy,” Nyk said, “I don't know what we're going to do.” He found a nursing bottle with about an inch of white fluid in its bottom. Nyk slipped it into the microwave oven and set it for a brief warming blast. He removed the bottle from the oven, touched the glass to his lips and presented it to the infant. Nicky began to nurse.

“That's hardly a meal's worth.” Nyk looked up and saw Yasuko standing in the doorway.

“We have none upstairs. I thought maybe you had some left over from today.”

Yasuko opened a cabinet and reached toward the back. She withdrew a can of formula concentrate, popped it open with a can opener and half-filled a nursing bottle. She topped it with water from a plastic jug and began warming it in the microwave oven.

Nicky finished the first bottle and Yasuko handed Nyk the second. “Don't tell her I have this.”

“Have you been sneaking him formula during the day?”

She nodded. “She's not making enough milk, and she's not expressing enough to stimulate production.” She sat beside Nyk, placed her hand on his bare back, stroked his shoulder blade and then withdrew her hand. “I'm worried, Nick. Her depression seems to be deepening.”

Nicky consumed about half the second bottle. Nyk felt his body relaxing -- his nursing becoming less vigorous as his stomach filled. The infant's eyes closed. His lips parted and Nyk withdrew the nipple. He held the baby and stroked his black hair. Nyk held him against his shoulder and rubbed his back. Nicky released a belch.

“You're a brave man doing that without a towel.”

“It washes off.” He sat, held Nicky and stroked him.

“I mean it, Nick. I'm very worried. She spends her days upstairs, moping. They have ... treatment these days that wasn't available years ago. Please, Nick, implore her to call her doctor and get a prescription. And, tell her if she's not having a good time nursing him, it's okay to use formula. Nicky's welfare is paramount, and no one's going to think her a poor mother if she can't nurse him.”

“I'll try. She needs love and encouragement. I'm standing by her and helping her through this.”

“Nick, if anyone's love were strong enough to cure her, yours is.” She shook her head. “Love alone won't fix this. It's a medical condition and she needs medicine.”

“She'll recover in time.”

“Perhaps, in time, it will resolve itself. What if it doesn't? What if some medication can help her recover faster?”

“It must be her decision. Dragging her there will make it worse.” Nyk stroked Nicky's abdomen. “His belly's good and full. Let's see if this holds him 'til morning. Good night, Yasuko.” He headed up the stairs.

Dawn's first light roused Nyk. Beside him Suki was sitting, holding Nicky to her left breast. “Good morning,” he said.

She eyed him. “I'm sticking to our bargain. You feed him at night, and I'll do it in daylight.” She picked up a washcloth, placed it on her shoulder and held Nicky to it. Then, she offered him her right breast.

Nyk slipped his arm around her and leaned to kiss her cheek. She pulled away. “I'm going to take my shower,” he said.

He returned from the bathroom. Suki was holding Nicky. “He has your dark, dark eyes.”

Suki glanced up at him. “I don't know what's wrong with me. I wonder what I'm doing with this ... thing.”

“I'll give him his bath and take him down to your mom,” Nyk said and took Nicky from her. She lay on her side and pulled the bedcovers up to her chin.

Nyk retrieved a plastic tub, set it in the bathtub and filled it. He propped Nicky in the tub, sponged him off, dried him, applied a fresh diaper and slipped him into clean clothes. “I'm on my way to see Seymor,” he said to Suki as she lay in bed. “I'll see you tonight.”

She wiped tears from her face. “You must hate me, now. I'm such a miserable parent.”

“I don't hate you. It tears me apart to see you suffering. Suki, there's no shame in asking for some help. If I make an appointment for you to see your doctor, will you come?” She looked away from him. “This isn't your fault, and I'm sure this isn't how you want to be. Think about it.” Nyk headed down the stairs and could hear her sobbing in the bedroom.

“How is she?” Yasuko asked as she took the infant from him.

“About the same. She fed him a while ago.”

“He'll probably need more mid-morning. Oh, Nick -- Jonathan called and asked if you'd stop by the shop.”

He hopped on a city bus and rode to the block holding Jonathan's shop. The place was closed and the security grates were shut. He paced back and forth on the sidewalk until he spotted Jonathan walking toward him.

“Good morning, Nick.” Suki's uncle unlocked the grates and folded them back. “I have something to show you.” He gestured Nyk inside the shop.

“I hope you're not upset with me,” Jonathan said and stepped into a back room. He returned with a small box. “I took the liberty of letting my supplier take one of your stones. He showed it to his cutter.” He opened the box and removed a finished gem. “Look at this! His cutter was so excited when he saw it he worked through the weekend to finish it.”

Jonathan held it under a magnifying glass. “It's just over three and three-quarters carats, perfect white. Not a flaw -- no cracks, voids or inclusions. And, what a fine cut. Do you know how much a stone like this is worth?”

Nyk shook his head. “I haven't a clue.”

“When you appraise a diamond, you look at the four C's -- Carat, Color, Clarity and Cut. This stone has them all. Nick -- the appraised value could easily top fifty thousand.”

“Fifty ... thousand ... dollars?”

Jonathan smirked. “Not fifty thousand clamshells. Stones normally trade below their appraised value, but still -- this is by far the finest diamond I've had in my shop. It's truly world class. I could never sell it here.”

“Jonathan, the stone you made into Suki's engagement ring -- what's it worth?”

He looked toward the ceiling. “I didn't look at it too closely. It was between one and a half and two carats, if I recall -- a very pretty stone. I sell two-carat diamonds for five thousand that aren't as nice as that one.” Jonathan looked into Nyk's eyes. “You tell me you have more raw crystals like these?”

“Yes -- some larger in fact.”

“Larger! How many more?”

“How many can you use?”

“You're cagey for a young man. All right, let's try it this way -- What I'd like to do is to work with my supplier to have these cut. We'd pay him in kind for his efforts. If we give him ten raw stones, we'd let him keep three. I'd take the remaining seven and rotate the smaller ones into my stock. You and I could split the profits from any I sell --according to some formula we agree upon.”

“And the larger ones?”

“Those I'd try to move into some more upscale shops.”

“What sort of formula?”

“I was thinking along the lines of ... fifty-fifty.”

“Do you think that's fair?”

“I do, or I wouldn't have suggested it. Do you want time to think it over?”

“No, Jonathan. Your proposal sounds acceptable to me.”

“Good. I'll start with the rest of the stones you brought in last week. We'll see how it goes from here.” Jonathan extended his hand. “My supplier said he showed this stone to the buyers at Tiffany's and Cartier's. They've expressed some serious interest.”

Seymor inserted the key into the door of an office building and escorted Nyk inside. “Here, lad. What do you think?”

“It's within walking distance to the house. I'll need a couple of benches. We have running water. A high-speed data circuit would be nice, but not essential. It'll serve, Seymor.”

“It's quite some distance from the nearest farm.”

“When I did my initial exobotany tour, I could obtain everything the plant breeders asked for from seed catalogues and online sources. I never had to set foot in the field.”

“What about wild plants?”

“There's the botanical gardens and Central Park. This'll do fine -- besides, it's winter.”

“The lab furniture can be here this afternoon. I have stasis equipment in the trunk of my car. We can hook up the phone in a couple of days. A data circuit will take a bit longer.”

“I can order material from the apartment in the meantime.” He looked at the windows. “Southern light for the sprouting beds -- we won't need grow lights.”

“That's just as well,” Seymor replied. “I wouldn't want the local constabulary imagining we're growing dope in here.”

“What's the top priority?”

“What has been the top priority -- the potato crisis.” He handed Nyk a diskette. “Here's a list of what the plant breeders are looking for. I'll call and arrange for the furniture delivery.” Seymor headed out the door to use his car phone.

Nyk pocketed the diskette. He poked his head into Seymor's car. “Would you care to take me to the hardware store?”

His laptop computer connected to the data line, Nyk scanned online seed catalogues for material to satisfy the plant breeders. He placed orders using his Agency debit card. Suki emerged from the bedroom in a long robe. Her hair was stringy and unkempt. “What are you doing?”

“I'm ordering some seeds.”

“You're not doing work for ... them, are you?”

“Yes -- as a contractor and I'm being paid a pretty for doing so.”

Suki stepped from the nursery holding Nicky. She sat on the sofa and opened her robe. “I am getting so tired of this.”

“Suki, if you're not having a good time nursing him -- stop. No one's going to think you a poorer mother.”

“Of course they won't -- how much poorer can I be?” She looked up at him. “I can't do this, Nick,” she said shaking her head. “I can't...”

“Let's see if we can get you some help.”

“What would help would be getting rid of this smelly, disgusting ... thing.”

Nyk looked at her with tears in his eyes. “How can you say that about your own child?”

“I wish one of us were dead.”

“Don't say such things.”

“I mean it. He'd be better off without me and so would I.” She began to cry. “I don't know what's wrong with me. Oh, Nick! I'm so unhappy!”

Nyk sat beside her. “Suki, no matter what happens -- I'm here, and I'll be here. Doesn't that help?”

“Help ... yes it helps.”

“Your mom said she'd keep him downstairs any night we wanted a break. Do you want a break tonight?”

“I suppose.”

“I'll change him and give him his bath -- then, I'll take him to your mom.” Nyk took Nicky from her and carried him into the bathroom. Holding him in one arm, Nyk filled the plastic basin. He stripped off Nicky's clothes and sat him in the water, supporting his head and shoulders, and sponged him off.

“Here he is, Grandma,” Nyk said as he handed the infant to Yasuko. “All fresh, clean and sweet-smelling.”

“How's she doing?”

Nyk shook his head. “I don't think she's showered all week. She'll break into tears and sleep.”

“I think her milk's drying up. Don't tell her I'm giving him formula. Nick -- I can take care of Nicky while you try to deal with his mom.”

Nyk nodded and headed up the stairs. He looked around the apartment and found Suki lying on her stomach on the bed, sobbing. He touched her back. “Don't do that. It doesn't feel good.”

“Suki -- Do you remember after the Lexal incident? I was suffering from a post-trauma depression. I know how you feel. It tears me apart to