Chapter 56

WHEN MICKEY ARRIVED a little after one the next day, Chris was sitting in an armchair reading.

“Ready to go?” Mickey said when he cleared the doorway.

“You bet, but we have to wait for an escort.”

Chris pressed the call button and told the person who answered that he was ready to be wheeled to the front door.

“I’ll send an orderly shortly,” was the response.

“Thanks.”

“What now?” Mickey said.

“Now we wait.”

“You seem resigned to it.”

“These past two days have been one long series of hurry up and wait. I’ll say one thing about the experience.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a good thing I don’t have any modesty. I’ve lost track of how many people have seen me in all my glory.”

“Really!”

“You bet. That’s especially true, given the area of my body in which they’re most interested. Oh, they start out draping your body oh so carefully, but that never lasts. The draping sheet slips away, or gets in the way, or you name it.”