Page 87 (1/2)

He goes on for a while, but with the ice chip gone Frangie has ti that drives away all other thoughts

I’m alive!

The voyage takes seven days Frangie has very little awareness of passing ti froh her intestines What she knows of the voyage is a drugged dreaht and dark Sohosts Sometimes she is not on the ship at all, but back home with her mother and father and Obal, and Harder’s there too Sometimes all she sees is red

There are the sounds of bells, the constant thru on painted steel, murmured conversation

And the pain And the burning

Eyes open

Frangie sits up The pain in her head is still there, but it no longer stabs at her The pain in her leg is deep and gnawing, but it no longer threatens to overwhelm her

She looks at herself, at her torso and legs Two legs! One on each side That’s good

Hands? Yes But one is bandaged and there’s a gap in that bandage where her right-hand ring finger should be

With stiff and aard fingers she pulls aside the blanket covering her She’s dressed in loose pajaes beneath

“Good , pet” It’s a different nurse, a woman this time, also a brown face, but perhaps fro British Empire The nurse whips out a therue, takes her wrist, and counts pulse beats against her watch The nurse pulls out the therie to see “Ninety-nine point four, and that is a very good thing The fever has broken, and we may hope it does not return”

“Can I have water?”

“Orderly? Water, please We’ll be sending you ashore soon”

Frangie gulps the water, the sweet, clean, beautiful, luscious water

If I live a thousand years, no water will ever be sweeter