Chapter 35

I’d spent ten years working in a hospital. Some smells never change.
Robin¹ and Allison sat across from my bed.
Next to each other. Like friends.
Robin in black, Allison still in the baby-blue suit.
I remembered pokes² and probes and other indignities³ but not beingtransported here.
The CAT scan and X-rays had been boring, the MRI a bit of claustrophobicfun. The spinal⁴ tap was no kind of fun at all.
No more pain, though. What a tough guy I was.
Robin and Allison—or maybe it was Allison and Robin—smiled.
I said, “What is this, some kind of beauty contest?”
Milo stepped into view.
I said, “I redact and retract⁵ and refract any former statement vis-àvisaesthetic competition.”
Smiles all around. I was a hit.
“At the risk of utterly⁶ banalistical cliché, where the bleep am Ihospital-wise?”
“Cedars,” said Milo in a slow, patient waythat suggested it wasn’t the first time he’d answered the question.
“Didja get to see Rick? You really should, you guys don’t spend enough timetogether.”
Pained smiles. Timing⁷, it’s all about timing. I said, “Ladies and germs.”
Milo edged closer. “Rick says hi. He madesure they did all the necessary crap. No concussion⁸ or hematomas and yourbrain’s not swollen—at least not more than it usually is. You do have somebruised disks in your cervical spine⁹ and a couple of cracked ribs¹⁰. Ergo, KingTut.”
“Ergo. Pogo. Logo.” I touched my side, felt the stiff swaddle of bandages.“Rick didn’t get to operate? No unkindest cut?”
“Not this time, pal¹¹.”
He was blocking my view. I told him so and he retreated to a corner of theroom.
I looked at the girls. My girls.
So serious, both of them. Maybe I hadn’t said it loud enough.” Nounkindeness cutaroo?”
Two pretty attempts at sympathy chuckles¹². I was dying up here.
“Just got in from Lost Wages,” I said, “and boy, is my vertebral discographytired.”
Robin said something to Allison, or maybe it was the other way around,making sense of all this was a pretzel, a pretty girl pretzel, mustard andsalt, who the hell could untangle it…
“What?” someone who sounded like me shouted. “What’s the conversationalthread being woven into the warp¹³ of the contestants¹⁴?”
“You need to sleep,” said Allison. She looked ready to cry.
Robin, too.
Time for new material…“I slept just fine yesterday. Girls! ”
“They sedated¹⁵ you,” said Robin. “You’re under sedation right now.”
“Demerol,” said Allison. “Later, you can take Percocet.”
“Why’d they do that?” I said. “I’m no doper, I get low on life.”
Robin got up and moved bedside. Allison followed, hanging slightly behind.
All that perfume. Whoa!
“You wearing Chanel?” I demanded of Milo.“Come on over, dude, and join the olfactory¹⁶ celebration.”
Allison caught my eye. No purse to look for now, she was holding it. “Wherewere you?” I said. “When I came into the office you weren’t.”
“He had me in the closet.”
Robin said, “Poor thing.”
I said, “Her or me?”
“Both of you.” Robin took Allison’s hand and squeezed.
Allison looked grateful.
Everyone, so sad. Utter waste of energy, time to get dressed and have juiceand coffee, maybe an English muffin and be out of here in no time…where were myclothes…I’d get dressed in front of all of them, we were all chums.
I must’ve said something to that effect, maybe with a bit of vulgarity,because both of the girls—my pretty girls—looked shocked.
Robin inhaled¹⁷ and patted the hand without the I.V. Allison wanted to do thesame thing, I could tell she really wanted to, maybe she even still liked methat way, but the I.V. stopped her.
I said, “No sweat, you can pat me, too.”
She obeyed.
“Hold my hands!” I commanded. “Both of you! Everyone join hands.”
They complied. Good pretty girls.
I told Milo, “You, on the other hand, can’thold anything.”
He said, “Aw, shucks.”
I went back to sleep.

1 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

2 pokes   

v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句

3 indignities   

n.侮辱，轻蔑( indignity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The soldiers who were captured suffered many indignities at the hands of the enemy. 被俘的士兵在敌人手中受尽侮辱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• What sort of indignities would he be forced to endure? 他会被迫忍受什么样的侮辱呢？ 来自辞典例句

4 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

5 retract   

vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消

参考例句：

• The criminals should stop on the precipice, retract from the wrong path and not go any further.犯罪分子应当迷途知返，悬崖勒马，不要在错误的道路上继续走下去。
• I don't want to speak rashly now and later have to retract my statements.我不想现在说些轻率的话，然后又要收回自己说过的话。

6 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

7 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

8 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

9 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

10 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

11 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

12 chuckles   

轻声地笑( chuckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Father always chuckles when he reads the funny papers. 父亲在读幽默报纸时总是低声发笑。
• [Chuckles] You thought he was being poisoned by hemlock? 你觉得他中的会是芹叶钩吻毒吗？

13 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。

14 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 sedated   

v.使昏昏入睡，使镇静( sedate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's sedated,but she's probably scared out of her mind. 她很安静，但是她可能已经吓疯了。 来自电影对白
• Are you telling me the porn actually sedated you? 你是要告诉我，那毛片的确让你镇静下来吗？ 来自电影对白

16 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

17 inhaled   

v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 她合上双眼，深深吸了一口气。
• Janet inhaled sharply when she saw him. 珍妮特看到他时猛地吸了口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》