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You’re having that dreaain, the one where you and Tim are in Jaipur for Diwali Everywhere you look, every doorway and , there are lanterns and candles, firecrackers and fairy lights Courtyards have beco pools of flans of colored rice paste Dru to the din and confusion, you surge with the crowd through aplatters of sweets on you from every side On an impulse you stop at a stall where a woman decorates skin with beautiful Hindi patterns, the s with the acrid, savory cordite fro cashew nuts As she paints you, deft and quick, a cluster of young men dance past, their faces painted blue, theirjust for you, their expressions deadly serious And then, the final touch, she paints a bindi on your forehead, right between your eyes, telling you how the scarlet dot e of the world “But I’ to offend soh and see the box he produces froht here in the midst of all this noise andto do it, and your heart overflows

“Abbie Cullen,” he begins, “ever since you erupted into ether”

And then you’re waking up

Every part of you hurts Your eyes are the worst, the bright lights searing into your skull, the ache in your brain connecting with the stiffness in your neck, soreness all the way down your spine

Machines beep and whir A hospital? Were you in an accident? You try to move your arms They’re stiff—you can barely bend your elbows Painfully, you reach up and touch your face

Bandages encase your neck You must have been in an accident of some kind, but you can’t reily People co the i is, you’re alive

Was Ti? What about Danny?

At the thought that Danny or Tiasp, but you can’t Soh, has alerted a nurse A blue hospital unifor, but it hurts too much to look up at her

“She’s up and running,” she murmurs

“Thank God,” Tiht here, by your bedside Relief floods through you

Then his face appears, looking down at you He’s wearing what he alears: black jeans, a plain gray T-shirt, and a white baseball cap But his face is gaunt, the lines deeper than you’ve ever seen them before

“Abbie,” he says “Abbie” His eyes glisten with tears, which fills you with alarm Tim never cries

“Where am I?” Your voice is hoarse

“You’re safe”

“Was there an accident? Is Danny okay?”

“Danny’s fine Rest now I’ll explain later”

“Have I had surgery?”

“Later I proer”

“I’, the fog and grogginess clearing from your head

“It’s incredible,” he says, not to you but the nurse “A It’s her”

“I was drea,” you say “About when you proposed It was so vivid” That’ll be the anesthetic, you realize It s richer Like that line from that play What was it? For a moment the words elude you but then, with an almost painful effort, a clunk, you remember

I cried to dreaain

Again Tim’s eyes fill with tears

“Don’t be sad,” you tell him “I’m alive That’s all that matters, isn’t it? We’re all three of us alive”

“I’h his tears “I’m happy People cry when they’re happy, too”

You knew that, of course But even through the pain and the drugs you can tell those aren’t everything’s-going-to-be-all-right-now tears Have you lost your legs? You try tounder the blanket Thank God

Tim seems to come to a decision

“There’s so your hand in his “Soht away That wasn’t a dream It was an upload”

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