1 3 7 – ZOË Read Free

wore on his left hand. My wedding ring was an exact replica of his, only thinner. 
    Glancing down at my b are left hand, I asked, “Where’s my ring?”
    “It’s at home.  They didn’t allow jewelry when-” he stopped abruptly.  “Let’s take one thing at a time, okay?”
    I could not stop staring at his lined face.  “You look so…so…”
    “Old?” 
    I nodded.
    “Well, it’s been a while,” he said softly.
    Looking down at my hand again, I noticed that it was not wrinkled.  Both of my hands and what I could see of my arms were as I remembered.  I had not aged.
    “I don’t understand, Michael.”
    He took both of my hands in his and said gently, “Zoë, you’ve been… frozen .” 
    “Frozen?” I repeated numbly. 
    What exactly did that mean?   As the image of me imbedded in a giant cherry Popsicle entered my confused brain, I laughed aloud.  I possessed this most annoying nervous tick: laughing when under extreme stress.
    Michael patiently stroked my fingers and continued his explanation after my outburst.  “Yes, cryogenically frozen.  That’s why you can’t move.  Many of your muscles have atrophied, but the physicians have assured me they’ll be healed in a relatively short period of time. This is the best rehabilitation facility in the nation.”  He paused.  “I know it may be hard for you to accept this at first, but many things have changed considerably since you were last… here .  Science and technology have made many breakthroughs that seemed impossible a few decades ago.”
    His words sobered me instantly.  “Who decided to do this to me?”
    “I did, of course.”
    “But why ?”
    His face took on a look of concern.  “D on’t you remember?”  When I shook my head, he continued, “You were sick…I’ll tell you all about it another time.” 
    “Tell me now.”
    He patted my hand.  “Later, when you’re feeling better.”
    My mind filled with hundreds of questions , but my mouth formed none.  I began to cry.
    “I had no choice, Zoë,” he explained.  “It was either that or let you die- and I couldn’t allow that to happen.”
    The wo rld had gone on without me.  The thought was both humbling and depressing.  “How long was I frozen?”
    My question caught him off guard and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  “Why d on’t you rest now?  I think I’ve already given you quite enough to think about.”
    “No, Michael, I want to know.”
    He took a deep breath.  “Nineteen years.”
    I was stunned.  “Nineteen years…?”
    I lowered my head and Michael licked his lips nervously.  “Today is the tenth of April,” he said.
    “April…that explains the daffodils.”  
    He looked out the window and admired the yellow flowers in the park.  “ We’ve been having beautiful weather this spring thanks to the CCT.”
    “The what?”
    “The Climate Control Team…just one of the many delights of today’s technology.  You’ll find out about that later.  Right now, all I care about is your health and well-being.”
    I glanced out the window at the sky.  It was an unusual shade of blue and cloudless.  Something was not right…I shook off the weird feeling and looked back to Michael.  I was grateful to be alive and with my loved ones again, even if the circumstances were bizarre.  I remember celebrating Maddy’s eighteenth birthday shortly before I was frozen.  I was thirty years old at the time.  Since I hadn’t aged in nineteen years, my baby sister was now older than me!
    “Oh, God,” I heard myself say before squeezing my eyes shut.  
    “Good afternoon, Mr. Adams, Mrs. Adams.”
    I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed the nurse who had wa lked into the room.  The portly blonde woman silently checked off some things on the electronic panel at the foot of the bed, pushed some buttons on a nearby machine and gave us a curt nod before briskly walking out of the room.
    “Are you all right?” Michael