Dr Jew

Mexicans to carry the long box upstairs into his office. He led them and when he turned the handle and saw the scattered files on his desk, a chill ran up his spine. He put on his poker face for the men carrying the box. He would suppress his reactions until time was more leisurely. As important as this invasion was, he had far more urgent business to attend to. Things were unraveling all around him and sending him down unexpected paths, formerly invisible.
    "One moment," he told the men carrying the box.
    Quickly but not so as to reveal his inner alarm, he piqued his senses and yawned his nostrils to detect the smallest wound or aberration in his holy environs. The answer came back. These were no ordinary thieves.
    He went down the hall and hit the light in the lab. His heart sank. He gasped for air and grasped the wall. His legs wanted to fall away beneath him. The smell that met him was a nightmare scent of cannibalized animals and rot. Death everywhere. Undeniably dead.
    "No! No!" said Dr. Jew. "Not my children! Not mine!"
    In th e center of the floor sat Arnie, which Dr. Jew had repaired after Adam and Eve's escape. The robot appeared to be on.
    "Hello, Doctor," said Arnie.
    "I'll deal with you later," said Dr. Jew.
    Dr. Jew sighed (a rare thing for him to do) and returned to the men in his office. "Just leave the box here."
    He tipped them slightly and they departed. He looked at the wooden box and held his forehead in his hand, then began to massage his temples. "When troubles come…"
    Arnie rolled in.
    "You," said Dr. Jew.
    "Welcome back! " said Arnie. "A good trip had by all, I hope?"
    "You," said Dr. Jew. "How could you let this happen to my pets, my little ones? What was the problem, Arnie?"
    "Problem? No problem here, sir!"
    Infernal machine. My machine. My error. Once again comes back to hit me. Did I really do my best? I don't know.
    Dr. Jew lifted the small robot onto his desk and switched the power off. He opened Arnie's rear casing and was beginning to tinker, and then stopped. He pushed the robot away from him, went to the wooden box and lay on it, holding back the wave of grief that promised to overwhelm him if he didn't steer it well.
    Breathing. Focus on the breath. Deeper, slower. The breath is life. The breath.
    The phone hummed. His foray into calm was taken aback. Let it ring said his mind, and he might have done so if he didn't hope that someone on the other side of the phone might break him out of his funk, if only a little.
    "Hello?" he said.
    "Dr. Jew? You're back?"
    "Yes, this is Dr. Jew. Who's calling, please?"
    "Jew, don 't play stupid. It doesn't fit you. Where's Lise?"
    "Lise?"
    "My wife."
    Dr. Jew cleared his throat, wiped palm sweat on the phone, stroked the box he sat upon.
    "She followed me. May have been on a different flight. Yes, I think so. Perhaps a layover. Can't recall exactly where."
    "Is she well?"
    "Well? Well. Well well. Well well well. Yes, well, I'll let you be the judge of that."
    "When can – "
    "What?" said Dr. Jew. "What, Serge? You're breaking up." Dr. Jew made a KERRRRR sound to simulate some form of breakage or debilitating sadness on the part of the phone. "Can't – make – out –"
    "Is she there?" said Sergio. "Tell me where she is!"
    Dr. Jew hung up the phone. It immediately began to ring again. This time… he left it. He pushed Arnie off the desk and across the room and it sputtered against the wall and gave a last sparked message of incompetence.
    So tired, tired, tired. Doctor, you need a pick-me-up. Do you suffer from insomnia, narcolepsy, irritable bowels, eczema, Lou Gehrig's disease, chicken pox or –
    Opened a pill bottle, swallowed a pill. Whatever it would do, he hoped it did it with zest.
    So tired. If only this would bring him up, he could investigate Arnie, properly dispose of his pets, and so on. It sounded like a plan if he could get it down his throat. No, correct that, it's already in. When you are tired you lag. But consider the alternative.
    The corner of his eye returned with him to his desk where it found the file, the Adam and Eve file. Opened and obviously read. Them perhaps? Or someone else doing their filthy work? Well, all would be known later when he checked the films. And from there he would take it. For now, this drowsiness pulled him, slapped him, and told him to heed it lest he pull more boners at the expense of lives. More lives. Why was it so hard to be a doctor? All he wanted to do was bring light to the world.
    Ah,