What do you do with yourself when you're not falling through trapdoors?'
'It sounds like I've got an easier time of things than you do, I guess. My parents are nice. I like them. I like to read and I paint a lot.'
'Sounds exciting. As long as you don't watch soap operas, we'll get along just fine.'
Jewel appeared at the doorway. 'You want a Coke, Kirk?' she asked.
'Yeah. Unless you want to make it a gin and tonic.'
'No deal, Kirk. You know the rules. No gin and tonics in the youth ward before noon. Brent, when that I.V. comes out, you can have something, too.'
'Thanks.'
'Right. One Coke coming up.'
She turned and left.
'I'll tell you something, Brent. The hospital's no worse that Gable Prep and it's a hell of a lot better than home.'
I like him, Brent thought. I feel sorry for him, in a way. It would be a shame to have parents you didn't like. But I like him, and I envy him. He's so honest and casual. He must make friends easily. I envy that. I hope we get along all right.
Brent closed his eyes and tried to shut out the growing pain again. They waited in silence for Jewel to return with the Coke.
Chapter Three
Amy had left the sun-room too. She watched Kirk's back as he walked into his room down the hallway. She turned left outside the sun-room door and wandered down the hallway. The pediatrics ward was in that direction.
Amy felt strange as she walked through Pediatrics. She had always liked little kids. They were honest and open. She had enjoyed the baby-sitting jobs she had had. But she hated to see children in the hospital. They missed their parents and cried a lot; and some of them were really sick, and that always depressed her too. She liked to see them anyway, and sometimes she would stop in and talk to any little kid who was lying in bed looking lonely.
Amy went into room 284. She often stopped there to say hello to a little guy, about six she guessed, who seemed really sick and didn't have many people visiting him. She had met him the week before on a stroll through the pediatrics ward.
The room was empty and the bed stripped. All the cards and books and crayons had been removed from the room. All the things which made the room his were gone.
He had left without saying good-bye to her.
Amy continued down the hall toward the pediatrics playroom. It was filled with blocks and dolls and trucks and had bright animal posters on all the walls. There were never too many children there, though, since most of them couldn't leave their beds for roughhouse or play. Usually by the time they were well enough to go to the playroom, they were well enough to go home.
The walk down the hallway had made Amy tired, and when she reached the playroom, she sat down in an easy chair. The room was empty. The sun streamed through the windows and the bright posters made the room look cheerful. It was better than the other sun-room. It shouldn't be so quiet, though. It looked like a place that needed noise.
Amy looked up when she heard the soft slow sound of rubber wheels and saw a small child sitting in a wheelchair in the doorway. The boy looked to be about seven. Amy smiled at him but he didn't smile back.
'Why don't you come on over here by me and talk,' Amy offered.
He didn't move from the doorway.
'Come on. I won't bite. I'll play a game with you.'
The boy rotated the wheels of the chair and maneuvered the chair until he stopped next to where Amy was sitting.
'That's better,' she said. 'I'm Amy. What do folks call you?'
'Zero.'
'That's an interesting name. Why does everybody call you Zero?'
'I don't know. It's my name.'
'Do you like it here?'
'No.'
'Why are you here?'
'I'm sick.'
'Are you going to be in the hospital for a very long time?'
'No. I'm going home soon, my mother says.'
'That's nice. I bet you miss your home.'
'Yeah. I do.'
'Would you like to play a game?'
'No. I don't know any games.'
'I can teach you one.'
'No. I don't want to learn any games.'
'Would you like me to tell you a story?'
'If you want.'
'Good. I like to tell little boys stories. What kind of a story would you like to hear?'
'I don't know. A scary one.'
'Okay. I'll just make one up for you. Let's see. It should begin like this, since all stories begin like this: Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She lived in a pretty house with her mother and her father. She was very happy there.'
So Amy told Zero a story that she made up as she went along. She told how the little girl found a door to a strange white room hidden behind the attic stairs and how she went into the room, but couldn't get out no matter how hard she tried.
When Amy had finished, Zero said, 'That's a sad story. Will you tell me another story sometime? I like stories about animals too.'
'Sure, when I see you again, I'll tell you another story.'
Zero turned his wheelchair around and moved toward the door.
'Thanks for the story,' he said and left the playroom.
Amy sat for a while longer and let her eyes roam along the walls of the room, looking at the animal posters again, the streaks of sunlight coming through the flowered curtains against the stark white walls.
Soon she gathered her strength and began to walk back to her room in the youth wing. She felt aches and small pains inside her and was weaker than she had been for days. She planned on lying down, maybe taking a nap before lunch. Maybe it would help.
Outside her room she ran into the blood lady wheeling her cart. The blood samples were lined up in labeled test tubes.
'Well, there you are, Amy. Just the person I was looking for. I'm afraid I've got to steal a little more blood from you today.'
'Okay, Lady Vampire,' Amy said with a smile. 'You're welcome to any you can find, but there couldn't be more than a couple of tablespoons left, with you at me every day.'
'Let's go into your room so you can lie down while I take my sample. We wouldn't want you crashing down in the hallway.'
'What's it for this time?' Amy asked.
'Just to keep tabs on various levels of things. Your doctors can explain it to you if you want. I'm just the
