by banks of flowers which he had ordered.
They smell wonderful, she thanked him. It's like being in a garden. She
wore a turban around her head and, with the serene golden eyes seeming
focused on a distant vision, it gave her an exotic and mysterious air.
They have shaved your head. David felt a slide of dismay, he had not
expected that she must also sacrifice that lustrous mane of black silk.
It was the ultimate indignity, and she seemed to feel it also, for she
did not answer him and instead told him brightly how well they were
treating her, and what pains they were taking for her comfort. You'd
think I was some sort of queen, she laughed.
The Brig was with David, gruff and reserved and patently out of place in
these surroundings. His presence cast restraint upon them and it was a
relief when Ruby Friedman arrived. Bustling and charmin& he
complimented Debra on the preparations she had undergone.
Sister says that you are just fine, all nicely shaved and ready. Sorry,
but you aren't allowed anything to eat or drink except the sleeping pill
I've prescribed. 'When do I go to theatre? We've got you down bright
and early. Eight o'clock tomorrow. I am tremendously pleased that
Billy Cooper is the surgeon, we were very lucky to get him, but he owes
me a favour or two. I will be assisting him, of course, and he'll have
one of the best surgical teams in the world backing him up. Ruby, you
know how some women have their husbands with them when they are
confined- lyes. 'Ruby looked uncertain, taken aback by the question.
, well, couldn't David be there with me tomorrow?
Couldn't we be together, for both our sakes, while it happens? With all
due respects, my dear, but you are not having a baby. Couldn't you
arrange for him to be there? Debra pleaded, with eloquent eyes and an
expression to break the hardest heart. I'm sorry, Ruby shook his head.
It's completely impossible, then he brightened. But I tell you what.
I could get him into the students room. It will be the next best thing
in fact he would have a better view of the proceedings than if he were
in theatre. We have closed-circuit television relayed to the students
room and David could watch from there. Oh, please! Debra accepted
immediately. I'd like to know be was close, and that we were in
contact. We don't like being parted from each other, do we, my darling?
She smiled at where she thought he was, but he had moved aside and the
smile missed him. It was a gesture that wrenched something within him.
You will be there, David, won't you? she asked, and though the idea of
watching the knife at work was repellent to him, he forced himself to
reply lightly.
I'll be there, and he almost added, always, but he cut off the word.
This early in the morning there were only two others in the small
lecture-room with its double semi-circular rows of padded chairs about
the small television screen, a plump woman student with a pretty face
and shaggydog hairstyle and a tall young man with a pale complexion and
bad teeth. They both wore their stethoscopes dangling with calculated
nonchalance from the pockets of their white linen jackets. After the
first startled glance they ignored David, and they spoke together in
knowing medical jargon. The Coops doing an exploratory through the
parietal. 'That's the one I want to watch - The girl affected blue
