Under the Dome

'Nope,' Twitch agreed. 'You grasshoppah, we lowly ants.'

'Don't make a big deal of it, either of you,' Rusty said. But it was a big deal, he knew that already. It was trouble. Gina wasn't the only kid in the picture; he and Linda had a pair, now fast asleep and with no knowledge that Mom and Dad might be sailing into a storm much too big for their little boat.

And still.

'I'll be back,' Rusty said, and hoped that wasn't just wishful thinking.

CHAPTER 17

2

Sammy Bushey drove the Evanses' Malibu down Catherine Russell Drive not long after Rusty headed for the Bowie Funeral Parlor; they passed each other going in opposite directions on Town Common Hill.

Twitch and Gina had gone back inside and the turnaround in front of the hospital's main doors was deserted, but she didn't stop there; having a gun on the seat beside you made you wary. (Phil would have said paranoid.) She drove around back instead, and parked in the employees' lot. She grabbed the.45, pushed it into the waistband of her jeans, and bloused her tee-shirt over it. She walked across the lot and stopped at the laundry room door, reading the sign that said SMOKING HERE WILL BE BANNED AS OF JANUARY 1st. She looked at the doorknob, and knew that if k didn't turn, she'd give this up. It would be a sign from God. If, on the other hand, the door was unlocked -

If was. She slipped in, a pale and limping ghost.

Thurston Marshall was tired - exhausted, more like it - but happier than he had been in years. It was undoubtedly perverse; he was a tenured professor, a published poet, the editor of a prestigious literary magazine. He had a gorgeous young woman to share his bed, one who was smart and thought he was wonderful. That giving pills, slapping on salve, and emptying bedpans (not to mention wiping up the Bushey kid's beshkted bottom an hour ago) would make him happier than those things almost had to be perverse, and yet there it was.The hospital corridors with their smells of disinfectant and floor-polish connected him with his youth. The memories had been very clear tonight, from the pervasive aroma of patchouli oil in David Perna's apartment to the paisley headband Thurse had worn to the candlelight memorial service for Bobby Kennedy. He went his rounds humming 'Big Leg Woman' very softly under his breath.

He peeped in the lounge and saw the nurse with the busted schnozz and the pretty little nurse's aide - Harriet, her name was - asleep on the cots that had been dragged in there. The couch was vacant, and soon he'd either catch a few hours' racktime on it or go back to the house on Highland Avenue that was now home. Probably back there.

Strange developments.

Strange world.

First, though, one more check of what he was already thinking of as his patients. It wouldn't take long in this postage stamp of a hospital. Most of the rooms were empty, anyway. Bill Allnut, who'd been forced to stay awake until nine because of the injury he'd suffered in the Food City melee, was now fast asleep and snoring, turned on his side to take the pressure off the long laceration at the back of his head.

Wanda Crumley was two doors down. The heart monitor was beeping and her BP was a little better, but she was on five liters of oxygen and Thurse feared she was a lost cause. Too much weight; too many cigarettes. Her husband and youngest daughter were sitting with her. Thurse gave Wendell Crumley a V-for-victory (which had been the peace sign in his salad days), and Wendell, smiling gamely, gave it back.

Tansy Freeman, the appendectomy, was reading a magazine. 'What's the fire whistle blowing for?' she asked him.

'Don't know, hon. How's your pain?'

'A three,' she said matter-of-factly. 'Maybe a two. Can I still go home tomorrow?'

'It's up to Dr Rusty, but my crystal ball says yes.' And the way her face lit up at that made him feel, for no reason he could understand, like crying.

'That baby's mom is back,' Tansy said. 'I saw her go by'

'Good,' Thurse said. Although the baby hadn't been much of a problem. He had cried once or twice, but mostly he slept, ate, or lay in his crib, staring apathetically up at the ceiling. His name was Walter (Thurse had no idea the Little preceding it on the door card was an actual name), but Thurston Marshall thought of him as The Thorazine Kid.

Now he opened the door of room 23, the one with the yellow BABY ON BOARD sign attached to it with a plastic sucker, and saw that the young woman - a rape victim, Gina had whispered to him - was sitting in the chair beside the bed. She had the baby in her lap and was feeding him a bottle.

'Are you all right  - ' Thurse glanced at the other name on the doorcaird.'- Ms Bushey?'

He pronounced it Bouchez, but Sammy didn't bother to correct him, or to tell him that in grade school the boys had called her Bushey the Tushie. 'Yes, Doctor,' she said.

Nor did Thurse bother to correct her misapprehension. That undefined joy - the kind that comes with tears hidden in it - swelled a little more. When he thought of how close he'd come to not volunteering... if Caro hadn't encouraged him... he would have missed this.

'Dr Rusty will be glad you're back. And so is Walter. Do you need any pain medication?'

'No.' This was true. Her privates still ached and throbbed, but that was far away. She felt as if she were floating above herself, tethered to earth by the thinnest of strings.

'Good. That means you're getting better.'

'Yes,' Sammy said. 'Soon I'll be well.'

'When you've finished feeding him, climb on into bed, why don't you? Dr Rusty will be in to check on you in the morning.'

'All right.'

'Good night, Ms Bouchez.'

'Good night, Doctor.'

Thurse closed the door softly and continued down the hall. At the end of the corridor was the Roux girl's room. One peek in there and then he'd call it a night.

She was glassy but awake. The young man who'd been visiting her was not. He sat in the corner, snoozing in the room's only chair with a sports magazine on his lap and his long legs sprawled out in front of him.