been gangin'
up on me so. In the old days I used to think
everybody was a friend of mine, see. Now I know they're all
crooks ...
even Gladys, she turned out the worst crook of
the lot ..• "
The nurse was standing over him again. "I'm afraid we'll
have to give you a little of the sleepy stuff brother ....
Now just relax, relax. Think of somethin'
nice. That's a
good boy."
He felt her dabbing at his arm. -He felt the prick of the
needle. The hard bed where he lay awake crumbled gradual-
ly under him. He was sinking, without any sweetness .of
sleep coming on, he was sinking into dark again.
This time it was a stout starched woman standing over
him. It was day. The shadows were different.
She was
poking some papers under his nose. She had a hard cheerful
voice. "Goodmorning Mr. Anderson,
is there anything I
can do for you ?"
Charley was still down in a deep we~l. The room, the
nurses, the papers were far away above him somewhere. All
round his eyes was stinging hot.
"Say I don't feel as if I was all there, Nurse."
"I'm the superintendent.
There are a few formalities if
you don't mind ... if you feel well enough."
"Did you ever feel like it had all happened before ....
Say where? I mean what town ...
? Never mind don't tell
,ne, I remember it all now."
"I'm the superintendent.
If you don't mind the office
would like a check for your first week in advance, and then
there are some other fees."
"Don't worry. It's not a question of money."
"It's just the regulations."
"There must be a check book in my 'coat somewhere.
Or get hold of my secretary ....
He can make out a check
for you."
"Now don't you bother about anything, Mr. Anderson.
The office has made out a blank check. I'll fill in the name
of the bank. You sign it. That will be two hundred and
fifty dollars on account."
"Bankers'
Trust,
New York ....
Gosh I can just about
sign my name."
"The questionnaire we'll get the nurse to fill out later .•.
for our records ....
Well goodby, Mr. Anderson, I hope
you have a very pleasant stay with us and wishing you a
quick recovery." The stout starched woman had gone.
"Hey, Nurse," called Charley. "He suddenly felt scared.
"What
is this dump anyway? Where am I? Say Nurse,
Nurse." He shouted as loud as he could. The sweat broke
out all over his face and neck and ran into his ears and eyes.
A new pretty pink nurse was leaning over him. "What can
I do for you, mister?" She wiped his face and showed him
where the bell was hanging just by his hand. "Nurse I'm
terribly thirsty," he said in a weak voice. "I thought for a
minute I'd gotten in a clip joint."
"~ow you must just rinse out your mouth. The doctor
doesn't want you to eat or drink anything until he's taken
his X-ray."
"Wtlere is this doctor ....
Why isn't he here now? Why
hasn't he been here right along?
"Here's Dr. Snyder right now," said the nurse in an
awed whisper.
4
"Well Anderson, you surely had a narrow squeak. You
probably thought you were in a plane all the time. • • .
Funny I've never known an airplane pilot yet who could
drive a car. My name's Snyder. Dr. Ridgely Snyder of New
York. Dr. Booth the house physician here has called me in
as a consultant. It's possible we may have to patch up your
inside a little. You see when they picked you up, as I under-
stand it, a good deal of the car was lying across your mid-
d1e
A very lucky break that it didn't finish you right
there
You understand me don't you?"
Dr. Snyder was a big man with fiat, close-shaven cheeks
and square hands ending in square nails. A tag from a song
old man Vogel used to sing ran across Charley's faint mind
as he looked at the doctor standing there big and square and
paunchy in his white clothes.
"That was Kaiser William's brother came to town,
He looked like William Kaiser the butcher
But they don't know each other."
"I guess it's the dope but my mind don't work very good.
...
You do the best you can, Doc ..•.
and don't spare any
expense. I just fixed up a little deal that'll make their ears
ring. . . . Say Doctor what about that little girl. Wasn't
there a little girl in the car?"
"Oh don't worry about her. She's fine, she was thrown
absolutely clear. A slight concussion, a few contusions, she's
coming along splendidly."
"First we'll take some X-rays. Now I don't want you to
have anything on your mind, Mr. Anderson ....
It'll just
be a stitch here and a stitch there ...
we'll see what we can
do. This was supposed to be my vacation but of course I'm
glad to take such an interesting case . . . a man of such
prominence."
"Well thank you Doc, for whatever you can do. • . . I
guess I o'ught not to drink so much ....
It's funny when
I first came to in here I thought I was in another of them
clip joints. Now Doris she wouldn't a liked me to talk like
that, you know bad grammar, conduct unbecomin'
an officer
and a gentleman ....
She's a bitch, to hell wid her ...• But
you know Doc when you get so you can buy 'em and sell
'em like an old bag of peanuts, a bag of stale goobers, you
don't care what they think. You know Doc it may be a great
thing for me bein'
laid up, give me a chance to layoff
the liquor, think about things ....
Ever thought about things
Doc?"
"What
I'm thinking right now, Mr. Anderson,
is that
I'd like you to be absolutely quiet."
"All right you do your stuff Doc .•. you send that pretty
nurse in an' lemme talk to her. I want to talk about old Bill
Cermak ....
He was the only straight guy I ever knew, him
and Joe Askew ....
I wonder how he felt when he died .•.•
You see the last time I was-well,
call it constitutionally
damaged . . . him and me smashed up in a plane . . . the
new mosquito ...
there's millions in it now but the bastards
got the stock away from me ....
Say Doc I don't suppose
you ever died did you
?"
There was nothing but the white ceiling above him,
brighter where the light came from the window. Charley
remembered the bell by his hand. He rang and rang it. No-
body came. Then he yanked at it until he felt the cord pull
out somewhere. The pretty pink: nurse's face bloomed above
FEBRUARY,
1936
