“You might want to stop at the billing counter on the ground floor and sort it out.”

“I’ll go down while Caleb’s asleep,” I said.

Caleb stirred against his white pillow, his thumb still rubbing the smooth corner of his green blanket.

“Are you leaving, Mom?” he asked, his voice hardly louder than a whisper.

“Just going downstairs for ten minutes, sweetheart,” I said, tucking the thin white blanket around his shoulders.

“Nurse Ruth will stay right next to your bed.”

“Can you bring back one of those blue papers to color on?” he asked.