"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."