“This guarantees her pre-op admission through tomorrow afternoon,” Paula said.

I walked back down the quiet corridor to room 314 and pushed the door open.

Grace was lying back against her white hospital pillows, looking out the tall window at a brown sparrow landing on the bird feeder outside.

I walked over to the side of her bed and slipped the warm yellow paper into my sweater pocket.

I stood beside Grace’s bed, holding her cash receipt tight in my palm.

At eleven o’clock I met Marcus Vance in the hospital chapel on the second floor.