Linda followed the sound toward the edge of the room, pushing the curtain aside. She saw a girl her own age sitting casually on the recliner, her legs folded Indian style beneath her. While her eyes were bright and flashing, her head was completely bald and her shoulders formed sharp angles under the striped knit top she wore. "Hi," she said. "You're not a nurse are you?"
"No, I'm a volunteer," Linda replied. "Do you need anything?"
She sighed, looking at the IV in her arm and some boxes on the floor. "No, I'm okay."
Linda saw writing on the boxes and realized that they were board games. She introduced herself.
"My name's Cindy," she said, lifting her chin. The name seemed to rise out of her and create a glow in the air. "Do you like checkers?"
"I do, but I'm not very good at it," she said.
"Me neither, but let's play," Cindy said. "We can be 'not very good' together."
The phrase stuck in Linda's mind. It seemed like such a proper thing for a kid her age to say. She bent down to pick up the checkerboard box and opened it, wondering where she was going to sit. They'd not place a folding chair beside the recliner the way they had done with the other recliners in the room and the ones up front.
Cindy seemed to read her mind. She patted the lower recliner cushion, which jutted out parallel to the floor, where patients normally rested their legs. "Sit here."
Linda sat sideways on the recliner and opened the checkerboard. "Do you want to be red or black?"
"Red," she said. "Like the hair I used to have."
"I'm sorry." Linda placed the plastic round pieces on the board.
"It's okay."
She leaned back. "Okay, Cindy. Fire before ashes. Whenever you're ready."
Cindy moved one of her pieces forward, smiling. Linda lifted herself to try to see the pole lights or look toward the hallway at the open area. "What's wrong?" Cindy asked.
"Well, in case one of the patient's lights goes off, I want to be able to go over and help."
Cindy nodded. She pointed high above the doorway, to a point on the wall just below the ceiling. When Linda gazed up there she saw a black panel with numbers at it.
"When one of those numbers lights up," she said, "it means someone needs help."