“She’s had her appendix out. They had to take her in the middle of the night. She almost died. They barely got her there in time.”

“It’s iodine. I should have told someone. I shouldn’t have let her do it. People are dying all around me. Where is she? Can I go see her?”

“Come in and eat lunch first. Sure you can. I’ll go with you if you want me to. We’re supposed to visit people if they’re sick. You can get blue points if you go.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I can go alone. I don’t need anyone to go with me.”

That evening I went to the hospital to visit May Garth. She was propped up on the pillows wearing a blue nightgown with little flowers embroidered on the yoke. “I guess it was the iodine,” I said. “Did you tell them you’d done it?”

“It wasn’t the iodine,” she said. “My appendix burst. It happens all the time. Where have you been? You never came back to play cards. I thought you were coming.”

“That was only yesterday when I saw you. Are you okay? Are you sure you are all right?” I pulled a chair up closer to the bed.

“I’ve got a crush on a football player,” she said. “This great big guy. He’s from Guntersville. He’s in my English literature class and the teacher asked me to tutor him. He came over to the house the other day.” She drifted off, her hands played with the tubes going into her arm. “Listen, this guy is so crazy about me. Look here.” She pulled the sheets down across her legs. “I bet I lost ten pounds having this operation. You should have seen the blood. You never saw so much blood in your life.”

“How’d you see the blood? You weren’t awake, were you?”

“I was wide awake. They doped me up, then they stuck a needle in my back, then they rolled me in and started cutting me open. There were people all over the place, they were screaming.”

“Where’s your mother and daddy? Aren’t they coming?”

“They can’t. They’re in Europe. My aunt’s driving down. She’ll be here tomorrow. Listen, I found out where the football players go in the afternoon. You know that Quonset hut that has a bookstore in it? Over by the married dorms. That’s where they hang out. I’m going to meet him there the next time I tutor him. You can go with me if you want to.”

“I don’t want to. I’m scared of them. They’re too big. They act like animals.”