not been noted on the man's annual employment physical, and his co-workers denied he had any visual handicap. So that suggested the man had suffered sudden cataracts, which the doctors dismissed. They'd never heard of such a thing even when a powerful jolt of electricity was involved.
Confusion about the proximate cause of death lead to wild speculation and even some bets. The only thing that was certain was that no one knew for sure, and the body was sent to the medical examiner's office for the final word.
'I'm not going to tell you why you should see the room,' Cheryl said. 'Because if I did, you'd say I was pulling your leg. Suffice it to say that it's weird.'
'Gimme a hint,' Pitt said. He was so tired that the idea of walking all the way over to the hospital proper did not engender a lot of enthusiasm unless it was for something truly unique.
'You have to see for yourself,' Cheryl insisted before she headed off to a meeting.
Pitt tapped a pencil against his forehead while he debated. The idea of the circumstance being weird intrigued him. Calling after Cheryl, he asked her where the room was located.
'In the student overnight ward,' Cheryl called back over her shoulder. 'You can't miss it because there's a ton of people there trying to figure out what happened.'
Curiosity overcame Pitt's fatigue. If there were a lot of people involved maybe he should make the effort. He heaved himself to his feet and dragged his tired body down the corridor. At least the student overnight ward was close. While he walked he vaguely thought that if it were truly weird maybe Cassy and Beau would like to hear about it, since they'd just been there the previous afternoon.
As he rounded the final corner that lead to the student infirmary, Pitt could see a small crowd of people milling about. As he came up to the room his curiosity mounted because whatever the situation was, it involved the same room that Beau had occupied.
'What's going on?' Pitt whispered to one of his classmates who also worked in the hospital on a work-study program. Her name was Carol Grossman.
'You tell me,' Carol said. 'When I got a chance to see I suggested that perhaps Salvador Dali had stopped by, but nobody laughed.'
Pitt gave her a quizzical look, but she didn't elaborate. He pushed on, literally. There were so many people he had to worm his way through. Unfortunately in the process he was a bit too aggressive and managed to jostle one of the doctors enough to cause her coffee to slosh out of her cup. When the doctor angrily turned around to glare at Pitt, Pitt caught his breath. Of all the staff, it had to be Dr. Sheila Miller!
'Damn it,' Sheila snapped, shaking the hot coffee from the back of her hand. She was in her long white coat. Several fresh coffee stains graced the cuff of her right sleeve.
'I'm terribly sorry,' Pitt managed.
Sheila raised her green eyes to Pitt's. She appeared particularly severe with her blond hair pulled tightly back from her face in a compact bun. Her cheeks were flushed with irritation.
'Mr. Henderson!' she snapped. 'I hope to God you don't have your sights on a specialty requiring coordination, like eye surgery.'
'It was an accident,' Pitt pleaded.
'Yeah, that's what people said about World War I,' Sheila said. 'And think of the consequences! You're the ER clerk. What in God's name are you doing forcing your way in here.'
Pitt frantically searched his mind for some reasonable explanation beyond simple curiosity. Simultaneously, his eyes swept the room, hoping to see something that might offer a suggestion. Instead what he saw stunned him.
The first thing that caught his eye was that the shape of the head of the bed was distorted as if it had been heated to the melting point and pulled toward the window. The night table looked the same. In fact as his eyes completed their circuit of the room, he noticed that most of the furniture and fixtures had been twisted out of shape as if they had been made of taffy. The windowpanes, meanwhile, appeared to have melted, with the glass forming stalactite-like formations that hung down from the curtains.
'What on earth happened in here?' Pitt asked.
Sheila spoke through clenched teeth: 'Answering that question is why these professionals are standing here talking. Now get back to the ER desk!'
'I'm on my way,' Pitt said quickly.
After one more quick glance at the strange transformation of the room, he retreated back through the crowd. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of damage he'd done to his career by pissing off the Dragon Lady.
'I'm sorry for the interruption,' Sheila said. She was talking with Detective Lieutenant Jesse Kemper and his partner Vince Carbon.
'No problem,' Jesse said. 'I wasn't making a lot of sense anyway. I mean, this is a pretty strange situation, but I don't mink it's a crime scene. My gut reaction tells me this was not a homicide. Maybe you should get some science experts in here to tell us if a bolt of lightning could have come in through this window.'
'But there wasn't a thunderstorm,' Sheila complained.
'I know,' Jesse said philosophically. He spread his hands like a supplicant. 'But you said your engineers ruled out building power. It sure looks like the guy got electrocuted, and if he did, maybe it was lightning.'
'I can't buy it,' Sheila said. 'I'm not a forensic pathologist, but I seem to remember that when lightning strikes an individual, it doesn't make a hole. It grounds, usually coming out the feet, even occasionally blowing the shoes off. There's no evidence of a ground in here. This is more like some powerful laser beam.'
'Hey, there you go,' Jesse said. 'I never thought of that. Don't you have laser beams here in the hospital? Maybe somebody shot one in through the window.'
'We've certainly got lasers in the hospital,' Sheila admitted. 'But nothing that could make the kind of hole we saw in Mr. Arnold's hand. Plus I can't imagine a laser being responsible for these strange distortions that we see with the furniture.'
'Well, I'm plumb out of my league here,' Jesse said. 'If the autopsy suggests we got a corpus delecti and a homicide, we'll get involved. Otherwise I think you have to get the science guys over here.'
'We've put in a call to the physics department at the university,'' Sheila said.
'I think that's the best idea,' Jesse said. 'Meanwhile, here's my card.' He stepped over to Sheila and gave her the business card. He also gave one to Richard Halprin, president of the University Medical Center, and Wayne Maritinez, head of hospital security. 'Any of you can call me anytime. I'm interested, really. It's been a strange couple of nights. There's been more weird stuff happening than in all the previous thirty years I've been on the force. Is it a full moon or what?'
At the very end of the show, the music reached a crescendo, and with a final clap of cymbals, the dome of the planetarium went dark. Then the general lights came on. Instantly the auditorium erupted in a smattering of applause, a few whistles, and a babble of excited voices. Most of the seats were occupied by elementary school kids on a field trip. Except for teachers and chaperones, Cassy and Beau were the only adults.
'That was really fun,' Cassy said. 'I'd forgotten what a planetarium show was like. The last time I'd seen one was in Miss Korth's fourth-grade class.'
'I liked it too,' Beau said with enthusiasm. 'It's fascinating seeing what the galaxy looks like from the point of view of Earth.'
Cassy blinked and stared at Beau. All morning long he seemed to have a penchant to pop off with a curious non sequitur.
'Come on,' Beau said, oblivious to Cassy's mild perplexity. He stood up. 'Let's try to get out of here ahead of these screaming kids.'
Hand in hand they exited the auditorium and strolled out onto the expansive lawn that separated the planetarium and the natural history museum. From a pushcart vendor they purchased hot dogs smothered with chili and onions. On a seat in the shade of a large tree they sat down to enjoy their lunch.
'I'd also forgotten how much fun playing hooky can be,' Cassy said in between bites of hot dog. 'It's lucky that I wasn't scheduled for student teaching today. I mean, skipping class is one thing, but skipping student teaching is something else entirely. I wouldn't have been able to come.'
'I'm glad it worked out,' Beau said.
'I was surprised when you suggested it,' Cassy said. 'Isn't this the first time you've ever skipped class?'
