“ ‘And why should I go when it’s so nice here,’ Rebecca said. ‘Here, look, this is the blouse you found upstairs in the trunk. Big Ramona’s been washing and ironing all my clothes just like you told her to do. I wore this specially for you, and you see my cameo? How pretty it is. It’s Venus with the little cupid at her side. I took it from Aunt Queen’s display. Oh, I just love being with you. Have some more coffee. What are you going to do with all my old clothes?’

“(’Wake up, Quinn, come on, open your eyes.’)

“ ‘What am I going to do with you is more the question,’ I replied, ‘and I’m telling you, you’re going home to God. We all do. It’s just a matter of time.’ ”

CHAPTER 20

20

“IT TOOK three days for me to get the laptop computer. In fact, Nash Penfield, the out-of-town teacher, purchased it when he arrived, and though I wasn’t to meet him until more favorable circumstances prevailed—my decision, not Aunt Queen’s—I was grateful that he had had the wherewithal to get the appropriate machine and a long extension cord.

“During those three days they ran every conceivable medical test, and at the end of the ordeal it was plainly clear that I had no lesions on the temporal lobe, no indication of epilepsy and no brain tumors.

“I was not suffering an electrolyte imbalance and I wasn’t anemic. I had no circulatory problems and I was clean of all narcotics.

“I had no thyroid problems or problems with my pituitary gland.

“The very minor swelling of my brain, as the result of the stranger slamming me at the wall, was quickly stopped. And my headaches vanished.

“We had a huge debate as to whether a spinal tap should be done, and I finally persuaded them to do it and get it over with. I survived the risk. They found no malignant cells in the fluid.

“In between my long journeys down the beautifully painted passageways of the hospital labyrinth I told the full story of the violent night to everyone who wanted to hear it.

“Dr. Winn Mayfair listened quietly and thoughtfully to my descriptions of Goblin and how Goblin had come to my defense, and Aunt Queen, who was in the room, did not interrupt, either to calm me when I became agitated or to add to what I had to say, though she was fast becoming an expert on the whole story.

“There was something deeply reserved about Dr. Winn. I didn’t feel compelled to ask for his approval so much as his expertise, delicate though he was with all his remarks. And I wasn’t surprised when he asked me to speak to a small select panel of psychiatrists.