Читать книгу The Sandman онлайн

57 страница из 143

‘Still no name?’

‘No.’

‘Give him oxygen.’

The young man lies with his eyelids closed and trembling as the nurse puts an oxygen mask on him.

He looks strangely malnourished, but there are no visible needle marks on his body. Irma has never seen anyone so white. The nurse checks his temperature from his ear again.

‘Thirty-nine point nine.’

Irma Goodwin ticks the tests she wants taken from the patient, then looks at him again. His chest rattles as he coughs weakly and opens his eyes briefly.

‘I don’t want to, I don’t want to,’ he whispers frantically. ‘I’ve got to go home, I’ve got to, I’ve got to …’

‘Where do you live? Can you tell me where you live?’

‘Which … which one of us?’ he asks, and gulps hard.

‘He’s delirious,’ the nurse says quietly.

‘Have you got any pain?’

‘Yes,’ he replies with a confused smile.

‘Can you tell me …’

‘No, no, no, no, she’s screaming inside me, I can’t bear it, I can’t, I …’

His eyes roll back, he coughs, and mutters something about porcelain fingers, then lies there gasping for breath.