“Just watch for cops,” I said, looking in the rearview. I was relieved Deena was helping me turn over the baby and get a reward. Hopefully five grand, or more if we could. Right now I just needed the thing to stay alive. “Is she breathing?” I asked.

“She must be, just barely.”

I made a left and swerved wide. Deena grabbed the overhead strap and leaned over on the seat.

“Jesus, you could be an ambulance driver,” she said.

“No, thanks,” I said. “But it would be nice to have the road cleared out.”

“We’re almost there,” she said, like a fucking kid on a car trip.

The only car trips our parents took us on were across the state border to buy fireworks every July. We used to beg them to take us to Wisconsin Dells. They said it was too far. So the summer after I got my license, I took a road trip out there with a couple of guys. The drive was only three hours. My parents were lazy.

I pulled up to the emergency room. Deena hopped out with the kid. I parked in the small lot on the side. The place was quiet. One guy holding an ice pack on his arm. Two other people holding a sleeping little kid.

“Can I help you?” The triage nurse stood up. When she saw the baby, she called to another person. That person had a stethoscope around her neck. Serious look on her face.

“How long has she been like this?” she asked.

“Fifteen or twenty minutes?” said Deena.

“Come with me.” The nurse led us through the security door and into the examination rooms. She put us in a room with sliding-glass doors. The first nurse came in and handed me a clipboard with a form on it. Pen on a chain.

“The hell?” I took the clipboard.

“Just fill out as much as you can,” she said, scrunching up her face. Like we were cheating.