Chapter Seventeen

For the first time in eleven years, Val did not feel like going to work when his alarm clock woke him up the next morning. He silenced the annoying ringing and rolled over in bed, closing his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. After all, he’d only slept for five hours, as it was well after one in the morning by the time he had gotten into bed the night before. Not to mention the jet lag.

He thought about Alex and wondered if she had gotten any sleep in her boyfriend’s hospital room. Even lying in a hospital bed with a bashed-in head and two shattered knees, her boyfriend was one lucky bastard. Billy had won. The guy hadn’t even known there was a competition, but he’d still won.

Val should have admitted defeat at the baggage carousel at Newark Airport. It had been readily apparent from the expression on Alex’s face when she’d heard the message from the hospital which man had her heart. And it wasn’t Val. She had told him to go, dismissed him in as kind a way as possible, but it was a dismissal just the same. She had chosen Billy, and there was simply no place for Val.

Val didn’t belong with Alex. He belonged in his clean, quiet, lonely condo in his clean, quiet, lonely bed. Why had he thought it could be any different?

Just as Val was drifting off to sleep once more, the ringing of his phone woke him again. At first, he thought he’d accidentally snoozed the alarm, but it took only a couple of seconds for Val to realize the phone was actually ringing. Someone was calling him.

The display on the phone was very bright against the darkness of the room, and he squinted to see who was calling. Val didn’t recognize the number, but in the back of his mind, he wondered if it could be the hospital or some other number Alex might use to call him.

He cleared his throat and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Val? Is that you?”

Val immediately sat up in bed at the sound of his sister Gabby’s voice.

“Gabby?”

“Yes, it’s me. Are you at work?” His sister’s tone carried a note of disgust, as though the fact that Val got up and went to work every day was offensive.

“No, not yet.”

Val couldn’t remember the last time Gabby had called him. He wondered what could have caused her to do so now. Then he thought of his niece Liza, and a chill ran up his spine.

“Is everything okay?” he finally asked, wishing she would just tell him what was going on.

Gabby laughed unpleasantly in response. “Of course. Everything is great. I lead a charmed life, as you know. I have a shitty job, and I have three kids to take care of with the shitty salary I get from my shitty job because I have a fucking bastard of an ex-husband who won’t pay shit for child support. So yeah, everything is just fucking fantastic. Thanks for asking.”

Val heard the tremor in her voice, and he knew there was more. His sister didn’t cry easily—she was anything but fragile. Something was very wrong.

“Gabby,” he said softly, “tell me what’s happened.”

He heard his sister take a short breath on the other end of the line before it came out.

“It’s Liza, Val. She’s sick, very sick. My baby, my baby girl…”

At this, his sister began to sob uncontrollably, and Val felt as though his heart had just been pierced through with a knife.

“What do you mean?” he asked frantically. “I just saw her last week and she was fine—what’s wrong with her? What is it?”

“It’s cancer, Val. Fucking cancer! She’s so young, she’s just a baby. How can this happen to her?”

Val’s head was spinning. Cancer? Liza?

“What kind of cancer? Has she seen a doctor?”

“Of course, she’s fucking seen a doctor! How do you think we know it’s cancer?”

“Well, tell me what you know then. There has to be more. People don’t just get diagnosed with ‘cancer.’ What kind of cancer is it? Where is it? How bad is it? What’s the treatment?”

“There is no treatment, Val. It’s terminal, and she doesn’t have long. It started with headaches when she first got back to school in August. At first, she thought it was just the stress of starting the new semester, with new classes and all that. But she went to see the doctor on campus, and she sent her to get some tests, and that’s when we found out. It was in her blood, spreading everywhere. My poor baby…”

Again, his sister’s voice trailed off as her words became sobs.

“Gabby, there has to be something we can do. People survive cancer all the time. She’s young, she’s strong. We can get her in to see a good doctor, and I’m sure there’s a clinical study or—”

“She doesn’t need a fucking clinical study! What she needs is a miracle!”

Val was quiet as he thought through all the options. He knew an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic. He could call him up and see if they could get Liza in to—

“Did you hear what I said, Val? She needs a miracle. You know where we can find a miracle, don’t you?”

Gabby’s voice had changed. She had regained control, and she knew exactly what she was doing.

“How do you know about Baba’s amulet?” Val asked after a long pause.

The sound of her condescending laughter was grating on his nerves. “Everybody knows about Grandma’s ‘amulet’! After Dad wrapped his car around a tree driving home from the bar that night, I went to see him at the hospital. He was on a lot of meds, slipping in and out of consciousness. Mom was there, and Eva and Dimitar. You were stuck at school because of that blizzard and never made it to see him before he died, do you remember?”

Val remembered. It was his first semester of college. He had gotten a scholarship to a school three hours away from home in the most rural part of the state, and that freak snowstorm the first week of October had felled trees everywhere because most of them still had their leaves. All the roads were blocked, and by the time they were finally passable, his father was already dead. Val had barely made it to the funeral.

“It was only a few months after Grandma died,” she continued. “You remember, don’t you? And all Dad could talk about every time he woke up was that damned necklace. He said it was magic. He said if only his mother had given it to him before she died, this wouldn’t have happened to him.”

Gabby laughed again, as though she found it amusing that she had Val’s full attention.

“Mom tore the house apart after Dad died, looking for that fucking thing. She said it had to be there somewhere, in Grandma’s room or maybe hidden somewhere else in the house, but she couldn’t find it. Then we wondered if maybe Grandma had given it to somebody before she died. If she hadn’t given it to Dad, then maybe one of her other kids. Uncle Jeko, or Aunt Sophie, maybe. But as the years passed, it became very clear who had all the ‘luck’ in our family. She gave it to you, didn’t she? You got it, you little shit. She always felt sorry for you because you were such a little pussy, and so she gave it to you. And you used it to get everything your little heart desired.”

She was quiet now, no longer rueful, but just sad.

“Mom said she asked Dad how the amulet worked, just before he died, and he told her what his grandmother had told him about it when he was a kid, about how his mother, our grandmother, was pregnant with him when she got sick, about how her mother gave her the amulet and how she wished for her health and the health of the baby. She got better and had Dad. I guess it makes sense—she gave you the amulet, then bit the dust, and so did Dad. That’s how it works, right? You get one wish, but when you give the amulet away, the wish goes away too. Grandma didn’t think about Dad dying when she gave that thing to you, did she? She didn’t realize that he was part of the same wish, that she was killing him to help you.”

“You don’t actually believe that, do you?” Val tried hard not to let his own guilt seep into his words. He had stayed awake many nights after his father’s accident, wondering if he was to blame for his father’s death. His father had driven drunk so many times before—why had his luck run out? How could it have been a coincidence?

“Of course I believe it, just the same as you do. But it doesn’t matter, Val. What matters is that you have something that can help Liza. You can make her better. All you have to do is give me the amulet and—”

“Wait a second,” Val interrupted her. “Why should I give you the amulet? You’re not the one who’s sick. She is.”

“I know, Val,” she replied, as though she were explaining something to a four-year-old, “but Liza doesn’t believe. I do. I will wish for her health. I’m her mother. No matter what you may think of me, you must know I love her more than anything. I’ll make the wish for her. It’s the only way to be sure the wish isn’t wasted.”

Val was silent. He knew that giving the amulet to his sister, to anyone, would mean the end of everything he had accomplished. His company would fold. His money would evaporate. His popularity would disappear. But none of that mattered to him when Liza’s life hung in the balance.

Mistaking his silence for reluctance, Gabby chimed in again: “You’ve had your good luck, Val. Isn’t it about time someone else had a turn?”

Val was annoyed that she would think he could put his own comfort and well-being above the life of his niece, but he told himself that she simply didn’t have the capacity to understand him. She never did.

“I will give it up for her, Gabby. I’ll come today and give it to you.”

He could hear his sister breathe a sigh of relief on the other end of the line. “Oh, thank God. Thank you, Val. Thank you.”

“I’ll be at your house around ten. Will you be there?”

“Yes, Val, I’ll be here. I’ll see you then.”

It took Val only a few minutes to throw on some clothes and prepare for the three-hour drive to his sister’s house. Glancing at his watch, he decided it was too early to call Judy to let her know he was back from Israel but wouldn’t be coming to the office. He would just have to call her from the car.

He grabbed a granola bar from the cupboard and a bottle of water from the fridge, then went over to the suitcase and laptop bag that still stood by the front door, exactly where he had deposited them the night before. Reaching into the side pocket of the laptop bag, Val fished around the bottom until he found the sock that held the black velvet bag with the amulet in it. He pulled the velvet bag out of the sock, then opened it and took out the amulet. Satisfied, he tucked everything back into place and slung the laptop bag over his shoulder. Then he stepped out of the condo, locking the door behind him.

It was New Year’s Eve, and it had been exactly one week since Liza’s visit on Christmas Eve. She had looked so healthy to him, so vibrant. She was bubbly and talkative. There had been no mention of headaches, and she didn’t seem to be in any pain. How could Liza be as sick as her mother said she was?

As Val pulled out of the parking garage, he went over the dinnertime conversation with Liza from that night, trying to recall exactly how his niece’s face had looked as they had talked about school and boyfriends, and even Val’s love life. Val would never have guessed in a million years that there was something not right with her. Never.

He wished he had someone to talk to about this. No, not just “someone.” Val wanted to pick up the phone and call Alex. He wanted to tell her what was happening. He wanted her sympathy, her reassuring smile. He wanted to hear her say that everything would be all right. But he knew he couldn’t call her. Even if Val hadn’t kissed her and put their relationship in the most awkward place possible, Alex had her own stuff to deal with right now and didn’t need Val to pile on.

As Val approached a red light and slowed to a stop, he glanced over at the laptop bag he’d set on the seat next to him. Everything would be all right, he reminded himself. He had the amulet, and the amulet could make Liza better. She was going to be okay.

The light turned green, and Val moved into the right lane, taking the ramp onto the highway, going north. He accelerated to match the flow of traffic, which seemed heavy for the morning before a holiday.

Yes, everything was going to work out. He would give the amulet to his sister, and she would make a wish for Liza’s health. Then Liza would get better. Not only that, she would never again have any health problems. She would remain healthy for the rest of her life.

It was only then that the flaw in their plan occurred to him. The power of the amulet, the wish that it granted, lasted only as long as the person who made the wish held on to it. As soon as the amulet changed hands, as soon as there was another owner, the previous wish went away. It was gone. It had happened to his grandmother and her mother, and it would soon happen to him.

The same would also happen to Liza someday. Sure, she would be fine as long as his sister had the amulet, but once his sister died, the amulet would change hands, and that wish for Liza’s health would evaporate. Liza would get sick again. She would die.

Who knew how many years Val’s sister had left in her life? Gabby was almost forty, which was young by most standards, but she was still older than Liza. And she didn’t live an easy life. She smoked, she drank, she took risks. Gabby lived hard, and once that hard living caught up with her, Liza’s fate would be sealed. The amulet was unforgiving in its adherence to the rules.

There was only one way to ensure that Liza would be healthy for the rest of her life. Liza had to make the wish. Val had to give the amulet to her, not his sister.

His sister had been adamant that Liza could not make the wish because Liza didn’t believe, but Val could talk to her, tell her the stories his grandmother had told him. He could make her believe. Besides, when people were sick, when they knew they were dying, they would believe anything that promised them a second chance. They would turn to God after a lifetime of not praying; they would put their faith in an experimental drug; they would make a wish on an ugly old necklace.

Without another thought, Val took the next exit, then turned to cross over the highway and took the ramp to get back on, going in the opposite direction.

He reached into the side pocket of the laptop bag and grabbed his cell phone.

“Call Liza,” he said into the phone.

The phone rang a couple of times before Liza picked up.

“Hi, Uncle Val. What’s up?”

The sound of Liza’s voice was both reassuring and heartbreaking. Images of his niece as a baby, a curious toddler, a precocious pre-teen, and a sassy teenager flashed before Val’s eyes, all in the span of five seconds. How could she be taken away from them now, when her life was just beginning?

“Hi, Liza,” he said, hearing the trembling in his own voice.

“Uncle Val, you don’t sound good. What’s going on?”

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything about her illness.

“Nothing, Liza. Everything is fine. I think you said something last week about spending New Year’s on campus with some friends. Are you there, at school right now?”

“Yeah, I got back last night. Jen is having a party tonight. I’m helping her set up.”

“Would it be all right if I come see you today? I can’t stay long. I…I…”

He looked at the laptop bag and remembered that, by some stroke of luck, he had put the cross he had bought in Jerusalem for Liza in one of its zippered compartments when he had packed for the flight home.

“I wanted to drop off something I bought for you while I was in Israel. Can you see me for half an hour? I should be there around eleven.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure, Uncle Val. Just give me a call when you’re getting close and I’ll go back to my apartment. Do you even know my address?”

“No—that’s one of the reasons I thought I’d call first.”

Liza laughed, as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “I’ll text it to you. Maybe we can have lunch together while you’re here. I’m glad you’re coming. It’s been like, what, one whole week since I last saw my favorite uncle?” She laughed again, a bright, cheerful laugh, and Val couldn’t imagine what the world would be like without that sound.

“Great,” he finally managed to say. “I’ll see you soon. Bye, Liza.”

“Bye, Uncle Val.”

He put the phone in the cup holder beside him, and his foot pressed harder on the gas pedal.