TAXIS DERMA
He loved her more than God loved his creation.
So he thought his idea was good.
Every morning was the same;
Wake up, make breakfast for Jade, work at home, make lunch for Jade, spend time with Jade, make dinner for Jade, sleep.
Make sure Jade gets all of her medications at the right time. Stop working if you need to.
He loved Jade and Jade loved him; it’s been this way since they were nearly twenty.
So when the two of them walked into the starchy white doctor’s office together six months ago, it was only natural for this idea to present.
“How was work today?” Jade asks, her voice quiet and weak. He helps her sit up in bed and sits a small bowl of soup onto her lap. What’s left of Jade’s hair is wrapped with a floral cloth.
“It was okay.” He grabs an orange bottle of white medication from the bedside table along with a glass of water and has Jade take them before she can eat any of her food. “I’m almost done with my project for that guy from Atlanta, thank God. It doesn’t look right but he seems happy with it.”
Jade swallows down the handful of meds and smiles at her husband. “I’m sure it’ll look beautiful.”
He plants a light kiss on Jade’s forehead.
“How are you today, my love?” He picks up a spoonful of soup and brings it up to Jade’s lips. She drinks carefully before responding.
“I feel... okay.” Jade gives her husband another smile. “Not better, but not worse either.”
Another spoonful. “That’s good. I’m taking the day off Friday so I can go with you to your appointment.”
Jade’s hand falls limp onto her husband’s arm. “No, don’t do that. You’re almost done with that bust.”
“I’ll be done by then. It’ll just need to dry. I won’t have anything else to do until my commission meeting on Monday with a new client.” The thought of that call makes his heart flutter.
“New client? Who is it?” Jade asks before falling into a coughing fit after drinking her soup too quickly. He moves the bowl to the bedside table and gets Jade another drink of water.
“Some guy from Oregon. I’ve never heard from him before, but he does a lot of hunting and he’s friends with another one of my clients.” He rubs his palm against Jade’s back as he talks, letting her cough and spit up into his other hand. After a few minutes her coughing stops, eyes red from burst blood vessels and lines of tears running down her face. He runs to the restroom so he can wash his hands and wet a warm cloth for her. When he presses the cloth to her forehead, Jade breathes deeply and leans back deeper into the bed. He wipes the tears from her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, honey. I was listening to what you said.” Jade apologizes, moving to hold his hand. He shushes her and kisses her cheek before laying down on the empty side of the bed. He pulls Jade close so his chest presses into her back, and they lay like this until the two of them fall asleep.
He spends a half hour pitching his idea to the man on the screen. When he’s done, he sits back in his chair and takes in a shaky deep breath.
“I think I’ll need some time to digest what you’re suggesting.” The man says after a short pause. The man has dark hair, flaked with silvery pieces, and he wears a gray suit with small, round glasses.
“Take as much time as you need, sir.” He responds. Off screen he spins his thumbs around each other, a nervous tic he’s had since childhood. “Trust me, I know how ridiculous this sounds-”
He gets cut off from a laugh by the man. “Ridiculous? If you want my honest opinion, it sounds fucking insane.” His cheeks flush in embarrassment, as if he wasn’t expecting this reaction anyway. “I mean, you want to use one of my models... for that? It’s horrific.”
He tries to speak but the man holds up his hand, rendering him silent. “But I can understand why you want to do this, and you’ve offered me a pretty penny for it.”
“I am willing to pay more, sir.” He says suddenly. “I received some... news during this last weekend. My time to begin this project is very limited.”
The man nods. “I see.” He looks away from the camera for a moment and begins to type something into the computer. “I’m emailing you my final offer. If you take it, then we can continue our business, but if you don’t then this call will end.”
The email shows up as a notification on his phone first. There’s no title, only a number in the body that’s so large that his eyes almost pop out of his head. He gulps, staring between the man and the number.
“I’ll take it.”
He puts Jade into all of his work.
It happened naturally at first; strands of her hair would intertwine into his clothing and fall in the glue layer, he would use glass eyes that were the same pretty green as hers. After he finished every project, he would take a photo of it with his Polaroid camera and give it to her, where she’d put it in a little photo album she kept in the bedside table’s drawer.
He created everything for Jade.
So, Jade was unaware of the delivery.
She hadn’t been in his workspace for months; bedbound, only leaving for her doctor appointments. To her, the only odd thing that day was him being late to make her lunch.
But a kiss made her forget that immediately.
Standing in front of the mannequin, hands clasped together around an unknown object, he let tears fall from his eyes.
It was her height; the forehead reaching just to his shoulder. He held the mannequin's hand, cold and stiff in his, staring at where its eyes would be and already imagining the golden green ones that’ll be there soon. His body heat warmed the hand and, if he closed his eyes, he could imagine himself holding Jade’s hand.
He lets go of it and steps away, turning so he was no longer facing the mannequin. The tears have dried to his face. Looking down he sees the bottle that has been in his unmoving hand. It’s orange, the same color as the one on Jade’s table, the same color as any prescription both him and Jade have ever gotten. He can’t bring himself to read the label.
The walk to the kitchen is slow, his movements throughout it even slower. He opens the soup can, pouring it into the small pot on the stove top. He takes his time with cooking it, mixing it around so it doesn’t burn. He wants it to be perfect.
For her.
For Jade.
When it’s done he pours enough of it into a bowl, saving some in another for him, and as he lets it cool he pops the little orange bottle open, pouring it so capsules the size of pebbles fall into his palm.
He works quickly to open them.
He pours them into Jade’s soup.
He mixes it in.
It makes him a few minutes late to her bedroom, but he kisses her as an unspoken apology.
Jade’s beginning his project,
and he loves her so much for it.
Trinity Wilson, 20, Vermont - USA ✯ IG: @t.wilsn ✯ trinrw.substack.com
“Trinity Wilson is a writer who studies Literature & French at Bennington College. When she's not at school, she is hanging out in a clubhouse with gnomes and clowns in the Ozark mountains.”