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"If it was a trucker, why conceal his identity? It almost has to be somebody in the cowash Nobody respectable would be caught dead with that whore…"

"Somebody who didn’t want it known, then," I said

"Bullshit! I don’t believe a word of it-"

I cut hi Would you just back off and let rowing dark "What?"

"You hiredit I don’t want to have to justify and defend every hter fluid squirted on a fire His hand shot out and he pointed a shaking finger inany sass from you, sis!"

"Great And I won’t take any sass from you Either I do this my way or you can find so on the table "How dare you talk toand his arht

I sat where I atching hie of a comment so rude that I hesitated to voice it, when Royce started to cough There was a pause while he tried to suppress it He sucked in a breath The coughing doubled He pulled out a handkerchief and claave him our undivided attention, alerted by the fact that he couldn’t see spas hiht?"

He shook his head, unable to speak, his tongue protruding as the coughing shook hi at his shirt front as if for support Instinctively, I reached for hi for air It was suffocating to watch The coughing tore at him Sweat broke out on his face

Ann said, "My God" She rose to her feet, hands cupped across her mouth Ori was transfixed in the doorway, horrified by as happening Royce’s whole body racked I banged on his back, grabbing one ars room to inflate

"Get an ambulance!" I yelled

Ann turned a blank look on me and then mobilized herself sufficiently to reach for the phone, punching 911 She kept her eyes pinned on her father’s face while I loosened his collar and fuh a rush of adrenaline, I heard her describe the situation to the dispatcher on the other end, reciting the address and directions

By the ti control, but he was soaked in perspiration, his breathing labored Finally the coughing subsided altogether, leaving hi, his eyes sunken with exhaustion, hair plastered to his scalp I wrung a towel out in cold water and wiped his face He started to tre at his hands There was no way Ann and I could lift hi somehow to make him more comfortable Ann covered him with a blanket and tucked a pillow under his head Ori stood there in tears, rasp the severity of his illness for the first tirief He would go first She seemed to understand that now

In the distance we heard the sirens fro in the situation with a practiced eye, their demeanor so studiously neutral that the crisis was reduced to a series of en administered and an IV started Royce was hefted with effort onto a portable gur-ney, which was angled out of the room to the vehicle at the curb Ann ith hi I kneas alone with Ori I sat down abruptly The room looked as if it had been ransacked

I heard a tentative voice from the office "Hello? Ori?"

"That’s Bert," Ori er"

Bert peered into the living rooht, no ht in the boys’ wear departht?"

Ori told hi some of the balance in her universe Bert was properly sy-winded tales about si and he was forced to return to the front desk

I got Ori into bed I orried about her insulin, but she wouldn’t discuss it so I had to drop the subject The episode with Royce had thrown her into a state of clinging dependency She wanted physical contact, incessant reassurances I hts I stood by the bed while she clutched th while I supplied questions to keep the conversation afloat Anything to get her mind off Royce’s collapse