Tiptoeing down the hall, I entered the washroom. I pumped some cool water into my cupped hand and drank it to soothe my dry throat. My tongue felt thick in my mouth, and I was feeling very weak as I stood there, shivering. After I got enough water, I tiptoed back to the bunkroom and lay down on my bunk, closing my eyes and falling into an uncomfortable sleep.

"Get up, will ya? Goils, get up! It's amazin' how dese goils sleep their lives away," Kloppman grumbled a few hours later.

I dragged myself out of the bed, coughing. My nose was running, and I sneezed several times. "Hannah, maybe ya ought ta stay in today," Monkey said. "Ya look awful."

Shaking my head, I replied, "I can't. Need to sell."

Joining us, Twiggy said, "Whoa, dere, Hannah. Get back in bed! You don't look so good."

I shook my head again. Ribbons came up to us, but I put my hand up to shush her before she could add to what Monkey and Twiggy had already told me. "I'm selling."

I didn't even bother to wash my hair, only got dressed and went downstairs to sit and wait for Skittery. He finally came down. Touching my forehead, he said, "Yer hot. Ya have a fever."

"No, I don't. I know what it feels like to have a fever," I said, shrugging it off. Even if I did have a fever, I needed to sell. There was no other way to get food in my stomach.

After I bought my papers, Skittery and I walked together to Central Park. There was a light drizzle falling and a cool breeze blowing. Holding up a paper, I attempted to call out a headline, but failed miserably. Yelling wasn't possible with the way my throat was hurting, so I resorted to walking right up to people. One such instance was an elderly couple.

"Buy a paper, sir?" I asked him hoarsly.

He smiled a kind smile. "Certainly, miss." He fished in his pocket for a penny. The breeze picked up, which caused me to cough. The woman gave me a disgusted look and grabbed her husband's arm. "Come on, Henry. That girl will make you sick, what with that cough. You must learn not to buy newspapers from the immigrants. They'll give you all class of disease." She pulled him down the street, but not before he turned to give me an apologetic look.

Tears came to my eyes put I blinked them back. Suddenly, I felt very light-headed. "Skit..." I groaned right before my knees buckled under me. Luckily, he was right there and able to catch me before I fell. Leading me to the nearest bench, he said, "Lie down here. I'll sell your papes for you."

Feeling too sick to thank him, I only nodded and propped my arm under my head, closing my eyes. For the next few hours I drifted in and out of sleep, the voices of the people passing me by scrambled. Once in a while I could pick out Skittery's voice, calling out a headline that I could hear, yet make no sense of. Several times I felt his cool hand on my forehead and heard his voice telling me something that I couldn't understand. When I opened my eyes, all I saw was a blur of light and motion, so bright and so busy that all I could do was close my eyes again.

Finally, I felt someone's arms around me, felt myself being lifted up off the hard bench. Opening my eyes, I saw Skittery's face, looking ahead as he carried me back to the lodging house. I closed my eyes again and fell asleep in his arms.

For a long time after that, I drifted in and out of consciousness, seeing faces, hearing faraway voices, feeling something cool on my forehead. At the time I had no idea how long I had been lying there on the bed with the white sheets and the white metal frame and all the white surrounding me. At the time I thought that I was in Heaven, what with everything white and the kind women who looked like angels to someone with blurred vision.

When I finally regained full consciousness, I realized that I wasn't in Heaven; I was in a hospital. The first thing that came to my mind was, How will I ever pay these bills? I attempted to sit up, but my arms didn't support my weight and so I fell back against my flattened pillow.

A kind face looked inside the door at me. "Ah, you're awake!" The woman bustled off and returned several minutes later with a glass of water. "Drink up," she instructed, holding the glass to my dry lips. The water was cool and sweet as I drank it quickly.

"Thank you," I whispered, searching the nun's face.

"I'm Sister Martha, Hannah," she said. "Do you know why you're here?"

I shook my head. "I know I'm sick."

"You've been very sick with pneumonia. Do you know how long you've been here?"

In shock, I shook my head.

"You've been here going on one week now. S�amas O'Reilly brought you here."

"Sanitorium?" I whispered, shocked. People who went into sanitoriums rarely came out. I was sure that Sister Martha was lying about me having pneumonia and I really had the consumption.

Smiling, she shook her head. "No, dear. This is the hospital. We are three blocks from the sanitorium."

"Really? It looks like the sanitorium," I said.

"Yes, but I assure you that this isn't the place," she said, smiling.

"Oh," I sighed with relief.

Sister Martha stood to leave. "Get rest, Hannah. You will be allowed to go home in two weeks."

Before I could say anything else, she bustled out and closed the door behind her. Two weeks?! I sighed rather loudly and propped my hands behind my head. What am I going to do? Will Kloppman give my bunk away? Is Skittery ever going to come see me?

Unable to sleep, I lay there for hours, thinking and trying my best to see outside the barred window. It was too high, and I found myself too weak to even sit up in bed. After examining the room and finding it to be the plainest room I had ever seen in my life, I decided that I was hungry. However, I didn't know how to go about summoning Sister Martha or any of the nuns, for that matter. I was interrupted from my thoughts when the door opened. Skittery stepped through the doorway with a smile on his face.

I smiled as much as was possible with the way I felt, which was terrible. "Skit."

He came straight to me, hugged me, and kissed my cheek. "I'm so glad you're awake."

"Me too," I whispered.

"Do ya need anything? Food? Water? Can I fluff yer pillows?"

I laughed. "Honestly, all this attention! Well, all right. I could stand all three."

"All right, let me help you sit up," he instructed. With one hand he held me up, and with the other he fluffed my pillows and propped them up behind me so that I could sit up. "I'll be back," he said, leaving the room.

I smiled to myself and unconsciously brought my hand to my cheek, where he had kissed me. Realizing this, I jerked my hand away. This is absurd, Hannah! Please!

Skittery re-entered with a tray and a glass of water. He sat the tray in my lap and put the water on the bedside table so that he could pull over the chair that sat in the far corner of the room.

Sitting beside me, he watched as I slowly spooned the thin soup into my mouth. It wasn't very good, but it was enough at that moment. When I had finished my dinner, Skittery said, "Ya need ta sleep, Hannah."

When I tried to protest, he put a finger to my lips. I pulled his hand down. "At least tell me what has been happening while I've been sick."

"Well, nothin' interesting at all. Dad's been askin' about ya..." he trailed off.

"Well, tell him that I send my love, and I will visit him as soon as I can," I said, putting my hand on Skittery's arm. I could sense that his father was now worse that he had been when I had seen him, and it pained me terribly.

"Sleep, Hannah," he instructed, helping me lie down again.

"I can't, Skit," I protested.

"Well, I can sing ya ta sleep...if ya want me to..." he said nervously. "Tha's what I do for Dad when 'e can't stop coughin'."

I nodded. "That sounds nice."

"Okay, um..." he took a deep breath and began singing.

I drifted off to sleep as Skittery continued singing the song with his sweet, soothing voice.