Fifteen minutes later I was being wheeled down to X-ray. An hour later I was sharing a cubicle with Sister, my two cracked ribs were wrapped, the abrasions on my face were covered with antibiotic salve, and I was feeling no pain.

“What did they give you?” Sister asked. “You’re pie-eyed.”

“I don’t know, but this is a nice place.”

“Hell. They haven’t done a thing for me. Keep looking in my eyes and making me pee in a bottle.”

“Well, my goodness. I’ll bet that’s hard to do.” I studied the vertical blue-and-gray lines in the wallpaper. Interesting.

“That Mahall guy said to tell you he had to go but he would check on you later.”

“That’s nice.”

“And Virgil’s on his way down here. He says Virginia called Richard to come get her.”

“She and Luke should get married.”

“Dear God. What did they give you?”

I didn’t know and I didn’t care. The blue and gray lines in the wallpaper were beautiful.

“My baby,” Fred said. “My sweet baby.” He ran his hand over my hair.

“Sister hit a mailbox,” I said.

“I know she did.” He took my hand and held it.

“It was a damn Godzilla of a rattlesnake.” Sister started crying.

I opened my eyes. A nurse was taking my blood pressure and Sister was sobbing into the shoulder of Virgil Stuckey’s uniform.

“Where’s Fred?” I asked.

The nurse took the cup off of my arm and pushed my hair back to examine the abrasions on my forehead.

“He’ll be here in a little while,” Virgil said. “I called him.”

“You’re fine.” The nurse patted my arm. “Go back to sleep.”

And I did.

“Wake up, honey. It’s time to go home.”

This time I knew I wasn’t dreaming.

“Where’s Sister?” I asked.

“Virgil’s taking her home. They left when I got here. She’s fine. How about you?”

I sat up very carefully. Surprisingly, there was little pain.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re drunk as a coot. They’re going to wheel you out to the car.”

“Sister hit a mailbox, Fred.”

“That’s what I heard.” He grinned. “Mark that one off your list.”

“I can’t wait to tell Haley and Debbie.”

“You little snitch.”

“What goes around, comes around.”

It sounded like it made sense.

It was the next afternoon before I got around to E-mailing Haley, though. And then I wasn’t sure how much I should tell her. Her Aunt Sister hitting the mailbox, definitely. But how much did I want to tell her about the snakes and the murders?

Debbie had called around ten o’clock to check on me. Her mother had told her about the snake and the car wreck, and that the snake was as big as a boa constrictor, and was I all right?