8
He moves a little and a nurse comes over. "Chris," she says and he wonders if he'll remember. She explains a few of the centre's rules at length, the main ones that all should follow, but the buzzing of the painkillers is still humming in his head, duller than before and palpable.

From his window, from his wheelchair, he can name the leaves on the strawberry tree in the yard, connect the dots of some children playing in the street into the shape of a fire-breathing dragon or count the centre employees who are walking outside freely, taking advantage of their lunch-break.

He'll scare them off by telling them he can't remember motion.

He'll amaze them by how quickly he'll learn to walk again. He'll do so to run away from this place.

He'll go back to his bed and won't keep looking at things he may never experience again.

9
Andrew, the night attendant, brings all sorts of gossip.

There's a girl in room 22c, she's been beaten pretty badly. Such a shame, she's only 14 years old. There's an old lady in room 3d who fell in the street. She broke her collarbone and hip. A dog scared her, so even on the floor she kept trying to get away and that's how she got the multiple fractures, and in room 18e...

In room 7a, Orlando is tired by listening to Andrew's self-aimed babble.

10
He read something once about empires, but he can't recall what it was or if it had any bearing on human beings.

Empires were obviously shorter. At least, they wore their hair shorter than men did, because they wanted the buzzzzzzzzing to go uninterrupted. They delighted in it even when it turned their rise into a fall, when their doctors just nodded at their pain and spoke of pills that spilled into the leaps of faith.

"You were mumbling again in your sleep," Chris tells him the next morning.

11
Eliza Doolittle was wonderful when she played Audrey Hepburn in that movie about Hungarians who speak English well. One day, Orlando will learn to speak it too and then he'll be introduced to the Queen, who will bow to him and sing ABBA songs at his party.

Then he'll dance all night and nothing will hurt anymore.

12
"Your caretaker will arrive tomorrow. That's the guy who's going to be in charge of you and help you with your rehabilitation exercises. He's good, but he's also new here so don't scare him off right away. Agreed?" Chris passes the news to him along with his breakfast.

"He's new here, so they're only letting him be in charge of you and one more patient, I think it's the girl in room 22c. But you're going to be alright, don't worry." Andrew ends his day with another news report. "Isn't it the stupidest title, though? Caretaker, it's this centre's invention, mind you. They claim it's because the physiotherapists need a different name, one that's still friendly for the patients, but I reckon they're just trying to find ways to make male nurses feel better about their jobs."

Orlando knows he should be excited, but the corners of the room are moving and he doesn't know if he believes in caretakers anyway.

13
They wake him up. Chris, that is. She brings him a smaller dosage of pills today and her wink reminds him it's the caretaker meeting day, which is supposed to be special, and he needs to be as fresh as he can be.

He wants to go back to sleep, he doesn't feel rested at all, but when the medications wear off, he can't.

14
"Viggo," the blue eyes tell him it's a special day too. "Mortensen, but you can simply call me Viggo. And you are...?"

"Mortensen," Orlando repeats, a bit dazed, and then he corrects himself, "Orlando."

To be continued...