"Can we contact someone for you?"
"My baby my baby my baby!"
The doctor's face tightened with concern. "I'll be right back, OK Daniel?"
"No!" I bawled, but she'd already left. I needed to concentrate. I needed to speak to someone. I had to get to a phone. I searched my bedside for an emergency pull-cord, thinking that this couldn't possibly get any worse. Then it got worse.
A familiar figure loomed above me, leaning on a crutch. My heart swelled and fluttered. It was Elaine, wearing a hospital gown. I gawked at her helplessly. She looked crestfallen.
"Oh, Danny," she said. "I was just about to have my check-up and I got a call saying you were here. Oh, honey . . ."
I wanted to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. "I'm . . . sorry, Elaine – so sorry . . . The baby –" The word caught in my throat and came out as a kind of hiccough.
"You must have been terrified. Sukhvinder told me all about it."
