CHAPTER 11 - THE WOMEN HARDIE

Thursday, November 29 - Thanksgiving

She spent the night in isolation, awaiting results of blood cultures taken by Center for Disease Control. Her parents had gone, forced from the floor, but trying to move me would have been a mistake and they knew it. I just sat there, in uniform, outside a Plexiglas room waiting for some sort of diagnosis or explanation.

I'd fallen asleep when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Keegs. His ICU nurse had let him onto the floor. He simply sat next to me, tapped my leg and didn't say a word.

For the next five hours, Keegs and I made very little small talk. He brought me up a few cups of Joe and a bagel, but then we would sit quietly, waiting.

Finally, at six a.m., the doctor