Chapter 10: Code

The elevator doors opened on a hallway full of people running.

I don't remember who pushed the bed.

I remember Timmy's face in a clear plastic mask, small and gray against the pillow.

A nurse counted aloud.

Then came a pair of double doors with a white line painted on the floor.

"Family stays here," someone said.

I stopped at the line.

Bev put her arm around my shoulders and I let her hold me up.

The doors swung closed.

Through the small square window I watched them turn him on his side and push a needle into the back of his hand.

Behind me the elevator doors finally slid shut.

When I turned, Dane was standing in the corridor ten feet away.

He hadn't followed the bed.

He had walked out after it and stopped.

The surgeon came out in blue scrubs ten minutes later.

"He's stable," he said. "But that was too close. I'm not waiting four days. We operate tonight at six, and I need your signature."

"Yes," I said. "Anything."

"It'll take about six hours."

"Do whatever you need to."

He handed me a clipboard.

I signed in four places with a pen that skipped.

When I looked up, Dane had come closer.

"Hannah," he said. "Let me stay with you."

"No."

He blinked.

"I'm his..."

"You pulled his guarantee in front of a nurse station an hour ago," I said. "A piece of paper told you to."

"I didn't mean..."

"You meant every word. You said it to the whole floor."

The few people in the hall had slowed down to listen. A pair of nurses at the desk stopped typing.

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