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the kind that hands out blankets and
     feeds the destitute, keeps a cache of Bibles and books and old clothes on hand for them.
    Last night in ER—no, it was night before last now—Craig Parker had suggested that the patient's clothes, apparent castoffs
     but recently cleaned, might have come from one of the churches or missions.
    Around twelve the guy polishing the floor shut off his machine, got a thermos of coffee from his cart, and started telling
     me about the house he and his girlfriend were buying up on Valence. Needed some work, sure, but he could do that himself,
     take his time and do it right, meant they were getting a real bargain. Been looking a long time. Not many bargains left anymore.
     He just loved those old shotguns. Only problem was it was next door to a cemetery, and he wanted to know if that would bother
     me. I told him I loved cemeteries.
    Twenty-year-old sitcoms for an hour or so then. Fred Sanford had the big one. J. J. strutted around his family's project apartment
     explaining his latest scam.
    Starting about two-thirty, a security guard walked by three times within the hour, finally stopping to ask could he help me
     and who I was with.
    Not much choice after that. (1) Religious programming. (2) News repeating itself over and over like a stutter. (3) The last
     half of a movie from 1938. Pick one.
    Around five a nurse on break sat beside me and, smoking three cigarettes in fifteen minutes, told me the story of her life.
     Sadly it wasn't much of a story or a life, and she knew it.
    As I watched dawn take over the window, it came to me that I had utterly missed my Wednesday classes—not only missed them
     but not even given them a thought It was the first time in years anything like that had happened. Since I'd gone looking for
     Alouette.
    At seven a bleary-eyed, much-bespattered Bailey got off the elevator. He came up to me and stood staring out at the light.
    "Been here all night?"
    "Yeah."
    "Hope you got some sleep, at least."
    I shook my head.
    "Must be something in the air. Well, let's go see what the morning's brought, shall we?"
    I followed him into the unit. Nurses were changing shift, walking from bed to bed as they gave report. The ones going off
     looked used up. The ones coming on didn't look a hell of a lot better. Sunlight streamed in at the windows, glared on every
     surface. Workers pushed carts of linens and supplies through double doors. The phone buzzed and went on buzzing.
    Behind the half-curtain he sat almost upright in bed. A plastic washbasin and soap dish were on the tray table before him.
     He was nude. A towel covered his lap.
    "Cleanliness. Next to," he said. "Any moment now. I'm marshaling strength."
    His eyes went from Bailey to me and back. He smiled, and one hand lifted in a sketchy, exhausted wave.
    "Good morning. Early start on the day, huh? I didn't expect you this soon."
    He looked closely at Bailey.
    "You wanted to know my name."
    Bailey nodded.
    "Lewis Griffin," he said.
    He held up his ragged copy of The Old Man.
    "My book. One of them, anyway."

6

    SO THERE I was in an old yellow T-shirt and the white boxers with hearts on them that Richard Garces gave me as a joke. Squinting
     out at these huddled shapes. Streetlight on the corner working for the firsttime in months.
    "Norm?" Some others, too. My God, it must be serious. Raymond's forsaken his couch to come along.
    "Lewis. Apologize for disturbing you this time of night Woke you up, too, from the look of it. You know Janet Prue? Lives
     two houses up, on my side."
    I didn't, but nodded. Late sixties, early seventies. That classic tweed-and-khaki look. Silky gray hair.
    "Janet: Lewis. And this is Janet's husband, Gene. Lew Griffin."
    All shapes accounted for.
    "You think we might come in for a minute, Lew? Won't keep you long."
    I stepped back out of the doorway. Your perfect host. Meanwhile something German and very loud was playing on the radio I'd
     neglected to turn off when I went to bed. I turned