FIFTY-FIVE

Hatsuko, who has been begging the attendant with his stethoscope on her heart to stop, is delighted when the driver finally slams on his brakes. She has succeeded. She’s made them understand that they can’t leave without finding her little sister.

Staticky orders from the ambulance dispatcher are broadcast into the back of the ambulance. The attendant barks that they can’t transport the person they hit. They have to wait for the police. Dispatch will have to send another unit for the patient they’ve already got. The dispatcher says all the rules are off. The city is in complete gridlock. No other vehicles can get in; they’re the only ones available.

A blast of hot air puffs into the chilly ambulance when the back door is opened. The ambulance rocks beneath Hatsuko as the attendant hops out, then bounces again when another victim of the bombing is loaded aboard. Hatsuko forces her eyes open, but the world is a blur. Still, she is certain that the new patient is Tamiko. She has found her little sister. Finally.

When the doors are slammed shut, she tries to roll over to face Tamiko, but her limbs won’t respond. Though Hatsuko lies on the stretcher as still as a stone, her heart flutters wildly; she is desperate for Tamiko to come to her. There is so much she must tell Little Guppy, and so little time left.