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"Don't worry," Raven said to the woman. "He's

going to be all right now."

"Oh dear," she said. Her two daughters remained under her arms, the younger one still in a

daze, the older one wiping her bloodshot eyes. "Who can identify him?" the older of the two

nurses asked. She went behind the counter. "I can," the woman said. "He's my husband,

George, George Forbas, I'm Caroline Forbas." The nurse smiled as if she were a hotel agent

filling out a form for a hotel stay instead of a hospital

emergency room.

"I need you to fill as much of this out as you

can," she said.

Caroline looked frantically toward the room in

which her husband George had been taken. A young

doctor came running down the hallway and slipped in

quickly. He was followed by another nurse and

another orderly.

"I'll take care of Sophie," Raven said, referring

to the younger daughter. "Come on, Sophie, let's sit

over there and look at the magazines."

She took her hand and the little girl followed

Raven to the seats. Butterfly trailed along.

"Go sit with Sophie, Denise," Caroline said.

Reluctantly, Denise left her side. Crystal and I

remained with Caroline. "Thank you, girls," she said

gratefully. "Thank you, thank you."

"It's all right," Crystal said. "You don't have to

thank us."

Caroline looked at the nurse.

"I can't think."

bsp; "Does she have to do this now?" I asked. "She might as well let the doctor examine her