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Annja, Charlie pleaded, staring at her as if he d been betrayed.
I m sorry, Annja said. She felt the tears burning in her eyes again, but she
didn t let them fall. How had everything gotten so screwed up?
Annja, Charlie pleaded again. He struggled against Bart, but Bart sat behind
him and kept one hand on the short chain linking the cuffs.
It s for your own good, Annja said, hoping she could make the old man
understand.
No, Charlie said. No, it s not. You can t let him do this. You need me.
Annja, you need me! Without me, the world is going to end!
No, it s not, Annja said. Everything s going to be all right.
Bart talked on his cell phone, and Annja heard enough of the conversation to
know that he was calling in someone from psychiatric care.
Wally left the bottles in a stack and came over to stand with Annja.
I didn t know anything was wrong, Wally apologized. He just came by. Said
he wanted to see you. I told him you weren t here, but he said he d wait. I
figured I d wait with him. Then I figured we d wait better with a beer. He
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shrugged. I guess maybe the beers got outta hand a little.
Yeah, Annja said hoarsely. I guess they did. As she stood there listening
to Wally and watching the heaviness in Bart s face, she realized that none of
them were happy.
AFTER FIFTEEN MINUTES of protesting his innocence and telling Annja that she
needed him to stop the world from ending, Charlie fell quiet. He leaned
against the railing and stared at her.
It took almost an hour for the psychiatric team to get there. When the
ambulance pulled to a stop out in the street, the whirling lights flashed
across the neighborhood and drew a few more of the neighbors out of their
homes.
Bart used his badge to force most of them to stay back. He d also suggested
that Annja go inside and not hang around.
I can t, Annja said. She stayed outside and waited and watched, and finally
got cold enough to shiver.
Wally retreated to his apartment and returned with one of his baseball
jackets. It was too big and the sleeves hung past Annja s fingertips, but it
blocked the wind.
The psychiatric team wore heavy jackets over pale blue scrubs. They talked to
Charlie calmly and tried to get him onto the gurney by himself. When that
didn t work, they manhandled him. Charlie fought them with all his strength,
but in the end he couldn t prevail. Still, he d fought them fiercely enough
they d had to medicate him.
When the drugs filled his system and sapped his senses, Charlie became a loose
bag of bones. The attendants loaded him onto the gurney with ease, then belted
him on across his forehead, chest, hips and knees.
All through the humiliating event, Charlie stared at Annja.
Could I have a minute? she asked as they were about to load him into the
back of the ambulance.
We really gotta get going, a guy with dirty-blond hair and a heavy
five-o clock shadow said.
Hey, man, a big black attendant said. Cut the lady some slack. Her grandpa
ain t doing so good here. This wasn t any fun for anybody. Give her a minute.
Annja put her hand over one of Charlie s. I want you to get better, she
said.
I am better, he croaked in the drug-induced slur. I m not supposed to be
here. You and I are supposed to stop the sleeping king from destroying the
world.
The sleeping king, Annja said confidently, isn t here in this world to
destroy it. He s here to save it.
Not when he s lost, Charlie said. And he s lost.
With a supreme effort, Charlie focused on Annja. You ve got to save him.
Who? Annja asked.
The sleeping king.
Who s the sleeping king?
The two attendants hefted the gurney, collapsed the legs and shoved it into
the back of the waiting ambulance.
Save the sleeping king, Charlie said. He s been hurt too much for too long
to know what he s doing.
Who? Annja asked. She started to pull herself into the ambulance with the
gurney.
The black attendant blocked the way. Sorry, miss, he rumbled. Grandpa s
gotta go. The docs will get him better in no time. You ll see. We got great
docs at Peaceful Meadows.
Bart stepped behind Annja and wrapped his arms around her. Annja, come on.
Back off. Let them do their jobs.
Just give me a minute, Annja said.
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