Three-Legged Race

scared and all, while Brent tried to forget the conversation he had overheard between Kirk and his parents earlier.

'Oh, Monty, pick me! Oh, Monty, pick me, pick me!' Kirk shouted in a falsetto voice. 'I want to win a refrigerator! Pick me, Monty, pick me!'

The three were watching Let's Make a Deal on television the next day.

'Can you believe those jackasses?' Kirk said in his normal voice. 'There they are, dressed as carrots or buffaloes, screaming their greedy heads off so they can pick some stupid curtain and win a gag prize like a horny llama or something. You know what I'd do if I were on that show? I'd scream and squeal like the best of them and Monty would have to choose me. Then I would ask for the curtain girl instead of the curtain. I think she's listed in the Spiegel catalogue, f.o.b. Detroit, retail value forty-seven fifty. These daytime game shows make me want to puke.'

Amy began to cry. She didn't make any noise at first, just her shoulders shook as she sat at the end of the bed facing the television. Brent and Kirk turned to her. She didn't say anything, she just continued to cry.

Kirk swung his legs over the side of his bed and grabbed for his crutches. He stumbled from the room without looking back. Amy buried her head in her hands. The deals and the boxes and the curtains continued flowing from the television.

Brent rolled onto his side so he could see down the bed to where Amy was sitting. He didn't know why she was crying, but he wanted to comfort her. He felt he wouldn't know the right thing to say, though.

'What's the matter?' he asked.

'I don't know. I feel sad. I'm scared, Brent.'

'Why?' Brent asked.

'I don't know. I'm just scared. I wish I knew what was going to happen to us, to me.'

'Yeah, I know. But you're fine. Your mother says you're fine.'

'I'm scared anyway. I'm worried, Brent. I wish I felt fine.'

'Look, Amy. Everything's going to be all right. There's nothing to worry about. You'll be out of here soon and so will I, and nothing's ever going to get to Kirk. It would take a bulldozer to knock him flat.'

'I know. I'm being stupid.'

The television blasted: 'And which curtain will you choose for the big deal of the day, Curtain One, Curtain Two or Curtain Three?'

Amy continued crying.

'Look, it's all right, Amy. I don't know what else to say.'

'There's nothing you can say, Brent. I'll be fine. I'm just scared is all. Like this show. Like if I had to pick one of those curtains, it would be the wrong one. They'd open my curtain and something awful would be there, something frightening. It's like a nightmare. The curtain would be open and everybody would scream, and I don't know what my prize would be, Brent, but I know I wouldn't be a winner.'

'You'll be a winner this time, Amy. You'll be fine. It's all right to be scared.'

'You never are though, Brent.'

'Yes, I am. I just never show it is all. I don't know why sometimes I'm so scared it hurts. Or I hurt so much I'm scared, but I never want to show it. I'd never mention anything like this to anyone except you and Kirk. You two are special. Otherwise I don't show it to anybody at all.'

'Thanks,' she said, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands and sniffling. 'I just wish I knew what was behind the curtain.'

Kirk barreled through the door, pushing the lunch cart ahead of him.

'I don't know what's going on in here, but it's against the rules. How many times have I told you two, no one is allowed in a room alone without a chaperone, or you have to have at least three feet on the floor. Let's shape up, you two. The nurses are beginning to talk.'

'Let them talk,' Amy said. 'You can't stop the course of true love.'

'I think I'll write a book,' Kirk said. 'A girl and her pig, a heartwarming story of true romance.'

'Hey, I resent that,' Brent said, laughing. 'I'm no pig.'

'No?' Kirk said. 'But it's what's for lunch. I bring you, hot from the kitchen, today's luncheon speciality, cooked to a turn by the seven nonfunctionals at the stove: breast of sow's ear stuffed with artichoke livers.'

'It's artichoke hearts,' Amy said, laughing again.

'Not this time, honey. And it's not the only thing that will be choking around here.'

'You can say that again,' Brent said as Kirk lifted the platter lid and they saw what lay steaming on the plate.

'Yummy,' Amy said. 'I could eat a horse.'

'Hang on,' Kirk said. 'That's what's for dinner.'

Chapter Six

The hospital was quiet. Dinner had long since passed. Amy was with Kirk and Brent in their room watching a rerun of The Longest Day on television. The troops were beginning to land. Sirens were wailing, guns were firing, artillery was booming through the small speaker.

Brent was idly sketching on a pad of drawing paper.

A tooth paste commercial came on the tube and the sirens continued to wail.

'What do you suppose that is?' asked Amy.

'Just a fire, I guess,' Brent replied, doodling on the paper with his drawing pencil.

'Shhh,' said Kirk. 'I love toothpaste commercials. I can hardly hear the line about whiter than white with you two gabbing away.'

'They sound awful close,' said Amy.

'They sure do,' Brent replied.

A commercial for soda came on.

'It sounds like action at the emergency ward,' Kirk said.

'Big action, from the sound of it,' Brent replied. 'There's more than one siren out there, that's for sure.'

'I hope it's nothing too serious,' Amy said. 'The sirens always make me kind of jittery.'

'Why don't we wander down and see,' Kirk suggested. 'No one would care at this hour.'

'I don't know, Kirk,' Amy said. 'It scares me. Besides, we'd be leaving Brent alone.'

'That's okay, Amy. I wouldn't mind. I'm curious too. Maybe you could find out what the excitement is,' Brent said.

'I still don't know.'

'Come on, Amy. No harm. We won't get into anybody's way. We'll just peek through the doors and psych out what's going on.'

'Go ahead. I've got the movie to watch,' Brent said. 'I don't mind being alone.'

'I don't like it, Kirk.'

The sounds of the sirens continued to pile up against the window and creep into the room like fog.

'Just for a minute. Just to check on what's going on.'

'Okay, Kirk,' Amy said. She stood up and wrapped her bathrobe close around her. She slid her bare feet into her slippers.

'We'll be right back, Brent,' she said. 'I can guarantee we won't be long.'

Kirk and Amy left the room. The commercials were over. Brent returned to watching the invasion of Normandy.

The halls were empty. Down to the right of the room the two night nurses were conversing quietly. Kirk and Amy sneaked away in the other direction toward the service elevator. They pushed the elevator button and Amy watched as the arrow worked itself up from the ground floor to number six. The door opened and flooded the dim