Chapter 13 Thirteen

Afterwards, the consulting room was full of people, as if they were all actors, waiting to be played.This made Louis feel even more unreal and out of place.It was a feeling Louis had learned in psychology class but had never really experienced, and it terrified him this time.Maybe, he thought, that's how people feel after drinking a drink mixed with a strong narcotic.All this seemed to have been arranged for me, and at first the room was empty, so that the prophetic young man who was dying could speak prophetic words to me indirectly, to me alone, and as soon as he died, all people came back.

Two nurses lumbered in with stretchers for people with spinal and neck injuries, and Charlton followed them, saying that the campus police would be on the way.Said the young man was hit by a car while running.Louis thought of the two runners in front of his car on the morning commute, and his heart tightened. Behind Charlton are Steve and two campus police officers.Steve said, "Louis, the people who brought Pascoe are..." He paused suddenly, and then said, "Louis, are you okay?" "I'm fine," Louis said, standing up.He was a little dizzy again, but that soon subsided.He groped and said, "His name is Pasco?"

"His name was Victor Pascoe, according to the girl he was running with," said a campus police officer. Louis heard the shrill cry of a girl from the room where the men who had brought Pascoe had gathered.Welcome back to school, little lady, and happy new term, Louis thought.Then he glanced at his watch, subtracted two minutes, and said: "Mr. Pascoe died at 10:09 am." A campus police officer wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Steve said again, "Louis, are you really okay? You don't look very well." Just as Louis opened her mouth to answer, a nurse carrying a stretcher suddenly dropped the stretcher, ran out and vomited on the apron she was wearing.A phone rang.The girl who had been sobbing now began to call out the dead young man's name over and over again: "Vic! Vic! Vic!" The hospital was like a madhouse, chaos.A school policeman asks Charlton if he can get a blanket to cover the young man, and Charlton says she doesn't know if she has the right to ask for one, and Louis finds himself thinking about a line from Maurice's novel: "Let all the hustle and bustle come!"

There was another giggle in Louis's throat, but he suppressed it anyway.Did this Pascoe really say pet cemetery?Did this Pascoe really mention his name?These things overwhelmed him and left him at a loss as to what to do.However, a sense of protection has gradually begun to appear in his mind.Pascoe must have said something else, which Louis must have misunderstood in his shock and fear, and besides, Pascoe had probably just made noises, as he had thought. Lewis slowly tried to find himself, the self who had been hired as the school's hospital administrator, selected from among 53 applicants.There is no one to command, no one to issue instructions.Everyone in the room is waiting.So Louis said: "Steve, go and give that screaming girl a sedative." After saying that, Louis felt better, as if he was back on a normal spaceship and started to evacuate from an asteroid .The school hired Louis to make him responsible, and he has to take responsibility. "Charlton, get a blanket for the school police." "Doctor, we haven't—"

"Bring him that too. Then check on that nurse." Louis looked at the other nurse, who was still carrying the stretcher, staring hypnotized at Pascoe's body.Louis snapped, "Nurse!" The nurse looked away. "Wh-wh-wh-" "What's the name of that nurse?" "Who?" "That nurse who was throwing up," Louis said gruffly. "Her name is Ju-Ju-Judy." "And you?" "My name is Carla." The nurse's voice calmed down a bit. "Kara, you go check Judy and get a blanket. You'll find a bunch of blankets in the supply closet in the first exam room. Go everybody, let's act like we're in the hospital."

People start to act.Soon the screaming in the other room stopped, and the phone, which had just stopped, rang again.Instead of picking up the receiver, Louis pressed the hands-free button.The older campus policeman looked calmer, and Louis said to him, "Which department should we report to? Can you give me a list?" The campus policeman nodded and said, "We haven't had anything like this happen here in six years. It's not a good start to the new semester." "Of course," Louis said.He picked up the receiver and turned off the speakerphone. "Hi, you are—" came an excited voice, and Louis hung up.He started calling the relevant departments.