Rod, Rex and Rhoda

by Bob Brill

Outa Here

I get off the bed and try the door. I fully expect it to be locked, me a victim of the evil Rumex Empire. To my surprise the door opens. I go back in the room. I find my clothes in a closet, discard the institutional pajamas and put on my familiar clothes. I still feel stupid, but so much more comfortable. Then I walk the halls, poking my head into various rooms, disturbing the patients who are alone with their maladies, their medications, and their spacey dreams. In one room I find Rhoda dressed in a nightgown, sitting in bed, sipping tea and looking out the window.

“Rhoda, let’s get out of here. We’re not locked in.”

“Rodney, where are we?”

“I don’t know, somewhere in the bowels of the Rumex complex, I imagine, but now that we’ve achieved proximity, I feel almost sane again. All we need now is Rex to attain perfect clarity of mind.”

“You’re the one with pug cells, not me.”

“Don’t be so sure. You may have gotten a few of those from me in the grand mix-up we experienced. Believe me, the only way we’re going to survive this is for all three of us to stick together. Work as a team.”

“No way, Rod. We were together for the Rumex caper and look what it got us.”

“Hey, we almost made it. If that car hadn’t gotten in the way, we’d have been out of there.”

“Yeah, but without the evidence.”

“Rhoda, see if your clothes are in that closet. Then let’s get going.”

Rhoda opens the closet. Finds her clothes. Looks at me. “Do I really want to do this?” she says.

“Yes, you do. We’re too confused when we’re alone. We need each other to find our way out. No good staying here. We need to get on with our lives. And do important things like finding Rex.”

“Turn around.” She fetches her clothes from the closet.

I see her point. This is no time for dalliance. I turn around and get an unexpected bonus. I catch a glimpse of her magnificent body in the mirror over the sink. Will I never be free of my obsession with sex?

We leave the room and start to explore the maze of corridors and stairways, searching for the way out.

We are surprised to learn we are not in the Rumex complex. This is a public hospital, possibly the same one I was in after the first transporter disaster. Since we’re in street clothes nobody takes us for patients or questions us, and we walk out through the main doors.

To be continued...

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