Dr. Krauer-Poppe covered her face with her hands; there was no medication that could keep Dr. von Rohr away from the Kronenhalle, apparently. (Dr. Berger was shaking his head again.)
"Okay, that settles it," Professor Ritter said uncertainly.
"Anyone but Hugo, I guess," Dr. Krauer-Poppe, who had recovered herself, said philosophically. "Ruth and I will go with them, then."
"I can't tell you how I'm looking forward to it, Anna-Elisabeth," Dr. von Rohr said.
"I think I'd like to go home and get ready for dinner," Dr. Krauer-Poppe announced to Professor Ritter.
"Of course!" the professor said. They all watched Dr. Krauer-Poppe leave the room. She was so beautifully dressed; not even her lab coat looked out of place.
"I can't wait to see what Anna-Elisabeth will wear tonight," Dr. von Rohr said, after her colleague had gone. "She's going home to get dressed, and I don't mean to change her lab coat!"
"She had a date with her husband tonight," Dr. Berger told everyone. "She's probably going home to break her date, in a nice way."
Jack felt sorry that he'd caused Dr. Krauer-Poppe to change her plans. (Dr. von Rohr, on the other hand, seemed pleased to have changed hers.)
"Don't worry!" Dr. Horvath told Jack, pounding his shoulder. "Whatever else happens tonight, you're going to the Kronenhalle!"
"I just want to see my father. That's why I came," Jack reminded them.
"We just want to prepare you for seeing him," Dr. Berger stated.
Dr. Horvath had stopped pounding Jack's shoulder, but he was massaging the back of Jack's neck with his big, strong hand. "I have a favor to ask you, if you'll indulge me," the Austrian said.
"Of course. What is it?" Jack asked him.
"If you could say something--I mean the way Billy Rainbow says it. I know you can do it!" Dr. Horvath urged him.
"No doubt about it," Jack-as-Billy said. (After the episode in the Edinburgh airport, he was relieved he could still act.)
"Wunderschon!" Dr. Horvath cried. ("Beautiful!")
"How embarrassing, Klaus," Dr. von Rohr said. "I hope you'll forgive me," she said to Jack, "but Billy Rainbow gives me the creeps."
"He's supposed to," Jack told her.
"I must tell you, Jack," Professor Ritter said, "William says that line the exact same way you say it!"
"Your father has made quite a study of you," Dr. Berger told him.
"You should prepare yourself, Jack--William knows more about you than you may think," Dr. von Rohr said. (Dr. Horvath had stopped massaging Jack's neck, but Dr. von Rohr had put her arm around Jack's shoulders in a comradely way.)
"Yes, Heather told me--he's memorized all my lines," Jack said.
"I didn't mean only your movies, Jack," Dr. von Rohr cautioned him.
"I think that's enough preparation, Ruth," Dr. Berger stated.
"Ja, der Musiker!" Dr. Horvath shouted to Jack. ("Yes, the musician!") "It's time for you to meet the musician!"
39
The Musician
There was a serenity to the private section of the Sanatorium Kilchberg, which Jack may have underappreciated on his first visit. (He was not in a serene state of mind.) The building itself, which was white stucco with shutters the same gray-blue color as the lake, looked more like a small hotel than a hospital. His father's third-floor, corner rooms--overlooking the rooftops of Kilchberg--faced the eastern shore of Lake Zurich. The Alps rose in the hazy distance to the south of the lake.
The hospital bed where Jack's father lay reading was cranked to a semireclined position. The bed and the fact that there were no carpets on the noiseless, rubberized floors were the only indications that this private suite was part of an institution--and that the man reading on the bed was in need of care. While the windows were open, and a warm breeze blew off the lake, William was dressed as if it were a brisk fall day--a thick flannel shirt over a white T-shirt, corduroy trousers, and white athletic socks. (If Jack had been dressed that way, he would have been sweating--although it instantly made him feel cold to look at his father.)