I woke up in my too-familiar hospital gown in that same room - or it seemed the same.
"Oh, there you are. Welcome back." said a voice at my side.
Turning to that side, I saw the pretty brunette I had met in the Garden earlier.
"How are you feeling?" she asked with that dimpled smile of hers.
"Well, I could be doing worse, but right now I'm feeling OK."
"Good. Because we have some work to do if you're up to it."
"Work?"
"Well, that's probably not the right word. It should be a lot of fun. But let's get you out of here first."
It was then I noticed that she was dressed in a tailored blouse and slacks instead of any gown and robe.
She continued, "I brought you a change, and they are all there in the bathroom. So let's get going. Time flies, as it were, and I can explain as we go."
Not needing further encouragement, I slid out of bed and padded over to the bathroom. I could see through the open door a stack of clothes. Looking back to my comely savior, I winked, then entered and closed the door.
A few minutes later, I returned and found my mystery woman checking her hair in the mirror as she waited.
"Ah, that looks better, I'm sure it feels better as well." Again she flashed that darling Helen-of-Troy smile. "I know you have tons of questions. Yes, you can call me Helen if it suits you. Let's go." She took my hand and led me out into the hall, being careful to look both ways.
She stopped at that point and looked up at me directly into my eyes. "You are going to have to relax, as if you were just going to the rec-room. The people we meet are going to expect nothing out of the ordinary. To them, this is a natural occurrence. Treat them as normal, friendly as you usually are. Don't overdo it. We are going to have to take the long route so we don't set off alarms. OK? Here we go."
We walked hand-in-hand down the halls, nodding to everyone we met, giving them a quiet smile. Waving to the nurses at their station, they smiled back, noticing our entwined hands and giving each other a knowing look before turning back to their duties.
Once we reached the elevator banks, she cautioned, "OK, here it can get tricky. Just follow my cues."
We waited in front of an elevator for it to open.
When it did, it was filled with white-coated doctors and interns.
Helen grabbed my face with both hands, and stood on tip-toes to kiss me.
I wrapped my arms around her and made it mutual.
Some tittering erupted, and low wolf-whistles as the interns filed out. When they were nearly past, she released me and rested her head on my chest, hugging me and smiling embarrassingly to the rest. I was, of course, smiling myself.
"OK, now we move..." She whispered and started us forward just as the doors began to close. Once in, she pushed an upper floor. "No, I said we had to take the long route. We have to take the unexpected course."
Slowly, the elevator monitor lights went up and up.