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Jonas only wished his actions had always been so correct

He turned away from the bed and took two steps to theFive stories below, the nearly deserted parking lot lay under hooded pole la rain churned the puddles, so they appeared to be boiling, as if a subterranean fire consumed the blacktop from underneath

He could pick out the spot where Kari Dovell’s car had been parked, and he stared at it for a long time He admired Kari enormously He also found her attractive Soly co her at tiht also want hi but his work, the satisfaction of occasionally beating Death, and the--

"So’s … out … there …"

The first word interrupted Jonas’s thoughts, but the voice was so thin and soft that he didn’t im toward the open door, assu the voice had come from the corridor, and only by the third word did he realize that the speaker was Harrison

The patient’s head was turned toward Jonas, but his eyes were focused on the

Moving quickly to the side of the bed, Jonas glanced at the electrocardiograph and saw that Harrison’s heart was beating fast but, thank God, rhyth’s … out there," Harrison repeated

His eyes were not, after all, focused on theitself, on nothing so close as that, but on soht

"Just rain," Jonas assured hi bad," Harrison whispered

Hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor, and a young nurse burst through the open door, into the nearly dark room Her name was Ramona Perez, and Jonas knew her to be coood, you’re here The telemetry unit, his heartbeat--"

"Accelerated, yes, I know He just woke up"

Ramona ca the patientbeyond the rain-spotted , as if oblivious of Jonas and the nurse In a voice even softer than before, heavy eariness, he repeated: "So’s out there" Then his eyes fluttered sleepily, and fell shut

"Mr Harrison, can you hear me?" Jonas asked

The patient did not answer

The EKG showed a quickly de-accelerating heartbeat: from one-forty to one-twenty to one hundred beats a hty

"He’s asleep again," Rah," she said "No question of it being a co Did he make sense?"

"Sort of But hard to tell" Jonas said, leaning over the bed railing to study the man’s eyelids, which fluttered with the rapid move again

Outside, the rain suddenly began to fall harder than before The wind picked up, too, and keened at the

Ramona said, "The words I heard were clear, not slurred"

"No Not slurred And he spoke some complete sentences"

"Then he’s not aphasic," she said, "That’s terrific"

Aphasia, the couage, was one of thefrom disease or injury Thus affected, a patient was reduced to using gestures to communicate, and the inadequacy of pantomime soon cast him into deep depression, fro back

Harrison was evidently free of that curse If he was also free of paralysis, and if there were not too etting out of bed and leading a normal life

"Let’s not jump to conclusions," Jonas said "Let’s not build up any false hopes He still has a long way to go But you can enter on his record that he regained consciousness for the first time at eleven-thirty, two hours after resuscitation"

Harrison wasin his sleep

Jonas leaned over the bed and put his ear close to the patient’s lips, which were barelyThe words were faint, carried on his shallow exhalations It was like a spectral voice heard on an open radio channel, broadcast from a station halfway around the world, bounced off a freak inversion layer high in the ath so much space and bad weather that it soundedless than half-intelligible

"What’s he saying?" Ra outside, Jonas was unable to catch enough of Harrison’s words to be sure, but he thought the ’s … out there …"

Abruptly the wind shrieked, and rain druainst theso hard that it seeo liked the rain The storh which the too-bright low of streetla cars, eneral softened the Orange County night,it possible for him to drive with lasses alone

He had traveled west fro the coast, in search of a bar where the lights ht be low and a woman or two available for consideration A lot of places were closed Mondays, and others didn’t appear too active that late at night, between the half-hour and the witching hour