“My God, you weren’t that foolish, were you?!?!”

“Well, what the hell else am I supposed to do, sit around on my ass and wait for them to take our house away? My house!!!” Karl was angry as hell with Nadine and not for the first time! She harped on him every time he made a move to get them out of this financial nightmare that they’d been living for the past three months. The bank had been understanding when he lost his job, but they were behind on their mortgage payments and he was running out of time, options and patience. One more missed payment and he and his darling wife would be out on the street! Maybe he should just take off, leave her with the damn house.

“Karl, you can’t do anything as crazy as this, there must be another way!” Nadine knew that she had been nagging her husband and that he was under a lot of stress, but it somehow made her feel better. He wasn’t a model husband, he had cheated on her, he came home drunk and he lost his temper at the drop of a hat. Maybe nagging him now, when he was cornered would be a way to extract a bit of revenge, just a small pound of flesh for the ton of crap that he had dumped on her over the years of their marriage.

“Look Nadine, love of my life, these people promised me financial compensation, half up front, if I agree to be a human guinea pig for their new wonder drug. They said as long as I’m healthy, there’s minimum risk; minimum risk and the chance to get ahead, way ahead, on our mortgage payments. To me, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s a done deal.”

“You signed the papers already???” Nadine asked, truly in awe that her husband could have been reckless enough to do this and truly angry that he had done so without getting her opinion on it first. “How do you know that this drug is safe, really safe? What kind of drug is it? Karl, did you even ask them that or did you just sign on the dotted line when they dangled the cash in front of your face?”

“Yes! I signed the goddamn papers, it’s a done deal, I already told you that! The first half of the money will be deposited in our account Monday morning. Jesus H. Christ, Nadine, we’d never get caught up if I didn’t done this. Do you wanna be homeless? Maybe we can set up your couch and TV set under the overpass downtown, just you, me and a few dozen crackheads and winos. Think! Just for once in your stinkin’ life will you think?!?!”

“I wish I’d thought a lot harder fourteen years ago...before I said ‘I do’” muttered Nadine as he turned away from her. Karl pretended he didn’t hear her.

By the middle of the next week, the first half of the money Karl had been promised had been duly deposited in their joint bank account and Karl had been duly registered at the pharmaceutical company’s lab complex, The Spa, as one of the other test subjects had wryly called it. Karl and nine other subjects were required to stay at The Spa for two weeks in order to be monitored for any adverse reactions to the drug. “Just what is this drug again?” Karl had asked when he was in the lobby being greeted by a very attractive company nurse who took him by the arm and led him over to the registration desk. “Well, it’s a drug to help seniors overcome the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?” “No, of course not,” Karl was rolling the thought around in his head; it bounced like a pinball and the thought of the money for the mortgage set off the bells and lights. “You’ve passed all of the tests, Karl. You’re healthy, no history of dementia in your family and we can get some very valuable information on this new treatment from watching how it interacts with certain chemicals in your brain. Karl, this is research that will benefit millions of people around the world who suffer from Alzheimer’s. You should be proud to be a part of this project!” The nurse finished speaking just as they reached the registration desk, she smiled sweetly, patted Karl on the arm and introduced him to a young man in a white lab coat who smiled and asked for his name. What the hell, thought Karl, that money will take care of the mortgage until I can get a job or, God forbid, Nadine gets a job. These folks seem to know what they’re doing. He signed in and then the nurse showed him to his room and gave him a quick tour of the cafeteria, the TV room, hell, they even had a sauna here!

Karl had settled into his room, put a few things on the table beside the bed and tossed his clothes in the closet, when a doctor and a nurse came in and asked if he would mind sitting on the bed so that they could give him a shot in his arm. “Is this the drug?” Karl asked, feeling anxious about the whole thing for the first time. “Well, let’s just say that it’s something to get you ready for the drug tests”, replied the doctor, a young man in a white lab coat wearing square-shaped glasses, he had a squinty look to him. Karl shrugged, thought of the money, thought of his mortgage and rolled his sleeve up to his shoulder. The nurse gave him the needle and the doctor asked him how he was feeling. “Pretty good”, Karl tried to appear unconcerned, but getting the needle stuck in his arm drove home just what he had agreed to, just what he was doing. “That’s good, we’ll let you take it easy for the rest of today, feel free to use any of the facilities you like – TV, games, books, magazines, just remember, as per your agreement with us, there will be no outside communication during the trial; no phone calls, no email.” “I understand, doc.” “Good, well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Karl and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Both the doctor and the nurse left Karl to himself in his room. “Pleasure meeting you too, peckerhead”, Karl muttered to himself after the door had shut.

The next day brought more tests, more shots and now some pills to take. Karl did whatever they asked him to do and just kept thinking about the money he was getting and that all of these poindexters must know what they’re doing. Fucking Nadine and her goddamn whining, he’d show her how to get out of a corner without taking a bruising. Maybe he could catch a little nurse for a quickie in between shots and pills; he chuckled to himself at the thought. Teach the bitch a lesson or two about who’s really in charge he thought as he drifted off into another mid-afternoon slumber.

“What do you mean, an unexpected result?!?!” Nadine whispered into the phone, her hands shaking worse than her voice. It had been two weeks since Karl went to the company’s clinic and this was the first thing she gets to hear about what’s going on? “What happened??? Yes, yes, of course I’ll come down right away!” She grabbed her keys, hurried to the car and left for the lab as soon as she hung up the phone.
She was met at the main entrance by a young looking doctor and two nurses. The doctor started walking away from the building as one of the nurses smiled sweetly and took Nadine by the arm. “You know, Mrs. Russell, this is an entirely new approach to Alzheimer’s Disease that we’re taking and your husband was aware of this when he volunteered.” It seemed that the doctor put a bit of emphasis on the word “volunteer”. They were walking in a large circle around the parking lot, slowly heading back to the main entrance. “Is my husband all right???” asked Nadine, letting herself be led by the ever-smiling nurse holding her arm. “Oh my God, is he dead???” “No! Karl is in perfect health, I assure you”, replied the doctor soothingly. “You may, however, notice certain changes, changes which we had not anticipated.” “What sort of changes?” Nadine quietly asked. “Perhaps, it’s best if we all go in now and have a talk with Karl, how does that sound?” was the doctor’s reply and Nadine found herself at the front entrance of the lab building.

Three weeks later, Nadine was lying in bed, early morning sunlight streaming through the window beside the bed. Half awake, still groggy from sleep, this was the time of morning when she often thought of Karl and wondered if it had all been a dream. Maybe it had been just a dream and Karl was off on one of his all night benders with his drunken buddies, chasing eighteen year old girls all over town. Maybe it didn’t matter because they were going to lose this house to the bank anyway. But it hadn’t been a dream, it had all happened: the doctors, the nurses, the lawyers, the out of court settlement, everything had really happened!
“Morning, sunshine!” grinned Karl as he brought her breakfast in on a tray for the third time this week. “How’s the most beautiful woman in the world, how’s my little sweetie?” “I’m fine Karl, just fine. Thank you, dear.” Nadine smiled as she raised the coffee cup to her lips.