Call if there is any problem, Phillip!” his mom yelled from the car. “Make sure it’s okay with everyone!”
Phillip rushed away from the car, and sighed. One lie down. Now he had to think about how he’d get by the orange-lipsticked nurse, past 7:00 P.M., past the clearly marked visiting hours, and stay all night. Before when he thought of the idea, it seemed possible; but now as he approached the double doors of the hospital, he wasn’t so sure. The cool wind nipped at the beads of sweat on his brow. He pushed the doors open and held his breath. He strode across the gray hospital carpet, taking giant steps and covering ground. Phillip saw the reception desk and looked wildly around. No one was there. He heard a group of nurses laughing down the hallway, but it was mostly quiet. Phillip pushed by the desk and sailed right to the elevator.
Please don’t come back to the desk now, please, Phillip thought, waiting for the elevator door to open. Bing! The door opened up and he started walking in.
“Oh, excuse me!” said a doctor in a white coat, pushing by him.
Phillip’s heart leapt almost into his mouth. He managed to mumble something as the door closed behind him. He let out a monstrous sigh once on the elevator and had to get ready to make a beeline straight to Cedar’s room. Would someone stop him? Question him? Could he make up a story on the spot? He’d never been a good liar, never needed to be. Now he wished he could be more like the Evil Miranda in his class, cool under pressure, lying like it was no big deal.
Bing! The third floor. The door pushed open and he strode down the hall, head down. He passed a few people, nurses or doctors, custodians’ maybe, but he didn’t look up, and they didn’t stop him.
Phillip got to room 316 and looked in. Cedar was lying there with her eyes closed. She was peaceful, but as pale as the sheets on which she lay. Her skin had a translucent quality, almost shimmering and clear. Her eyes popped open as he slipped in the door.
“Hi Phillip.”
“Hi Cedar, you just keep resting for our big mission tonight. I’ve got a lot of work to do. All you need to do is signal when you see someone coming and I’ll …”
He looked around.
“Roll under the curtain? Or you could hide behind the bathroom door.”
“Okay,” Phillip said, looking around and trying to appear confident. He sat on the floor beside the bed, out of sight from the window to the corridor.
After a moment of silence, Phillip asked, “How was today?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, her voice quivering.
“I’m sorry.”
They sat in silence for a while, except for the hum of the machines in the room.
Phillip clicked away on his laptop, lying on the linoleum floor. What if no one showed, what would they do? Catch a ride back to the hospital? Beg forgiveness? Watch Cedar waste away to nothing? Phillip shivered at the thought just as Cedar reached down and whacked him on the head.
“What?”
“Oh hi, Dr. Jones! How are you tonight?”