As soon as he was alone in his room he went to the window and peeked
out. Below was the street, and to the left he could see the sidewalk
that led to the main entrance of the hospital.
Across the street were office buildings, and after a moment he found
what he had half expected to find. Hugo Fairchild was standing on the
sidewalk watching the entrance of the hospital.
"You should stay in bed."
Lin whirled at the sound of the voice, then relaxed with a relieved
sigh. It was the doctor.
"Okay, doc," he growled. He went and sat on the edge of the bed.
A twisted smile curved the doctor's lips. "You know," he said, "you
aren't the only miracle that happened in this hospital today."
Lin blinked. "Don't tell me Dorothy Lake, the girl in that other car,
is the other one!"
"How did you know?" the doctor said. "Yes, it was she. Five fractured
ribs and a broken right arm. And a severe laceration on the cheek. And
not a sign of them now."
"Where is she?" Lin demanded. "I've got to see her."
"I wish I knew what was going on," the doctor said. He studied Lin
silently. "I'll ask Miss Lake if she will see you."
Lin lay down and tried to relax while the doctor was gone, but his eyes
didn't leave the door. It was over an hour before the nurse came in
with a robe and the information that "Miss Lake wants to see you."
He followed her the full length of the hallway. She opened the door
for him. He went past her into the room, and saw the face he had seen
through the windshield.
"I'll leave you alone for ten minutes," the nurse said.
"Hello," Dorothy Lake said nervously.
Lin saw that she was afraid. "Hello," he said. "You don't need to be
afraid of me. I won't eat you. As a matter of fact, I'm awfully sorry
I ran into you. If there's anything I can do.... I'll pay the hospital
bill of course...."
"I'm not afraid of you," she said. "It's the way I woke up this morning
with nothing wrong with me. It scares me. I don't know what to make of
it."
Lin started to say something and thought better of it.
"And there's something else," Dorothy went on. "It's the man that
insisted on seeing me yesterday. He demanded that I give him a paper I
was supposed to have. He wouldn't believe me when I told him I didn't
know anything about it."
"Was his name Hugo Fairchild?" Lin asked.
"Yes!"
"I see it all now," Lin said grimly. "Your fate was written on that
slip of paper too."
"My fate?" Dorothy said, bewildered.
"And he made us get well so we would have to leave the hospital," Lin
went on. "When we leave he'll get us and take it away from me."
* * * * *
Dorothy laughed nervously. "Don't leave it there. I think I'm really
insane. The things that are happening can't happen. That's a good test
of insanity isn't it?"
"Don't be silly," Lin said. "When a thing happens it _can_ happen, no
matter how impossible it may seem. Let me tell you what happened to
cause all this."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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