She looked at him, and the license, and the insurance card.

She got up and walked away and then opened a door and went through it, closing it behind her.

Don looked at Mabel. She had wanted to lie down. He had put her on three chairs moved together in the second row of the rows of chairs. Her nose was pointed at the ceiling, one of her arms flopped down and away from her body so that the back of her hand rested flat and casually on the floor. Even like that, he thought, she looked like a beauty.

There was a boy who kept pushing his chair sideways in a rough circle against the wall. Don wondered if the boy would hit Mabel; he was getting more agitated each time his chair hit the wall. A woman holding a baby had started to cry.

A doctor came back with the nurse.

“Mr. Grady,” he said, “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding.”

Don looked at him and said, “Fix that boy and help that woman and her baby. And let me carry my wife to a bed, so she’ll be next.”

Vera drove across the Potomac with Baby wrapped in a blanket she kept in the trunk. There was also a box of Snickers back there; she gave Baby one. They took the George Washington Parkway north and found the parking lot, just like Baby said. Then there was a walking bridge across the Potomac, the island’s only access from land. They hurried over, past the sign that said Park Closed After Dark.

As they walked, deeper into Roosevelt Island, Baby was on her second Snickers. She thought it would be a good idea for Vera to have some, but Vera said no. She was in a state. It had never made sense that Baby saw anything from the Amoco.

Baby hadn’t been anywhere near the Amoco. She’d been back here, with a date who was paranoid, and Baby didn’t know and didn’t care who he was or why he was jacked up. All she knew was, he gave out like he was scary mean, but he wasn’t, and, besides, he paid bigger than she had asked. For a little while, he had been a regular.

“Here, here!” Baby was shouting to Vera all of a sudden. They were definitely alone. Funny how they felt this was their island. Vera had to go running, because Baby was way ahead of her. Now Baby had her own flashlight, Vera’s backup from the car, and Vera could see the beam dancing in the trees ahead. Then it stopped.