Valeria closed her eyes for a second and her head bumped against the wall on which that row of seats was supported. She had slept, eaten, and waited in that chair for almost a week.

Alice was very sick. The fever had taken five days to break, and Valeria could no longer remember when she had stopped crying. Her thoughts were dull and too painful. Although Alice's fever had finally gone down a little, she was still in danger, and Alan seemed as devastated as she was.

The hospital bill was getti