Machine Man (serial)

But I digress. I was talking about the crying baby that woke me. I discovered the infant care ward while cruising the hallways in my new hospital-issue wheelchair; I glanced inside a room to see rows of glowing pink- and brown- skinned babies, tiny limbs flailing and clutching at the air inside yellow plastic incubators. Couples filled the chairs, wrapped around each other. I stopped going that way, though, when one man looked at me like: Well, that puts things into perspective.

The baby that woke me sounded frightened. I heard another join it, then a third. Each crying baby seemed louder than the last, until I realized they were just closer.

Cassandra Cautery, the tiny lawyer, appeared in the doorway. She wore a snug gray jacket over a pinstripe shirt with a big collar, and a little skirt. It was a schoolgirl-meets-Wall-Street look. Her eyes glistened, as if she was on the verge of tears. Her lips trembled like she couldn’t keep the sympathy in. “Oh, Charlie,” she said. “Look at you, you poor thing.” I could barely hear her over the wailing of the babies.

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