Leo started to nod but then stopped himself. “Thanks for the ride, Frank.”

“See what you can do.”

“Sure thing.”

At the Care Canteen Leo bought two large Cokes and three Hershey bars. The woman at the switchboard directed him to the second floor, a long hallway called the Secondary Unit. Chick’s room was at the end, to the right of a small window with a view over the hill down to the river. Leo knocked once and walked in. There were two beds side by side. The one farther from the door was empty and stipped of its sheets. Chick Donovan lay in the nearer one sleeping. He wore a white johnny and his left hand was resting on the cast of his right arm across his stomach. His entire left leg was in a cast too, propped on four pillows at the foot of the bed. There were crumbs on his chest, and a yellow stain that looked like egg yolk. So did his face, Leo thought, yellow as eggs. Purple and blue around his closed eyes, even some green in there. Leo thought of Floyd’s face, how he had the same colors in his.

Leo set the Cokes and candy bars on the bedside table, then sat in one of two folding metal chairs. He wondered which one Allie had been on.

“Hey.” Chick’s voice was low and whispery, his eyes still closed.

“Hi, you look good.”

Chick opened his eyes. He got up on his elbows and pressed a button on the bed frame. An electric moan raised the head of the bed until he was sitting up. There were two bits of toilet paper stuck to blood spots on his lower chin, and Leo asked if he’d forgotten how to shave. Chick squinted at Leo like he was a bright light in his face. With his good arm, he took his glasses from the table and put them on. There was still a speck of tar in the upper corner of his right lens. “Tess gets overexcited.”

Leo smiled. He wondered if Chick knew about his wife telling Leo to stay away for the week. He put a straw in the iced Coke and handed it to him.

“You saved my ass, buddy.”

“I wish I’d done more, but I just couldn’t get past Floyd. He was crazy.”

“They all were, especially me.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“That’s right”

“No, I mean you could’ve if you’d had your other arm to use.”

“I’m not referring to that.” Chick sipped through his straw. “You want to get a good handle on things, get yourself put in a hospital. It’s the Big Brake, this place. Leo, I’ve been a fucking idiot.” Chick’s voice broke on that last word. He shook his head.

“You’ve been doing what you think is right. That’s good, isn’t it?”

“What’s good is being more than just the Invisible Man.”

“But everybody in town knows who you are.”

“To laugh at, or swing a bat at maybe.”