A Visit to a Canadian Hospital (cont.)

Richard Experiences a Fire Alarm, Several Times

While debating the pros and cons of eating, Richard's ruminations were interupted by a whooping siren blaring loudly in the hallway, obviously a fire alarm. Richard picked himself off of the bed, pulled on a coat and walked slowly out the door, down the hall wading through the loud noise to the door with the big exit sign and then down the stairway a couple of flights of stairs to the hotel lobby. There he located an overstuffed lobby chair into which he collapsed. Feeling lethargically miserable, Richard watched the other guests as they talked excitedly with each other through the fire alarm noise. The alarm went silent and Richard's ears overbalanced, spraining themselves on the sudden lack of noise.

A hotel employee walked through the lobby saying all was fine. The guests dispersed from the lobby back to their rooms. Richard went back to his room and again lay down on his bed for about twenty minutes. The fire alarm began whooping again like a hoarse, bugling moose.

Once more, Richard along with the other guests walked back down to the hotel lobby. One woman announced loudly that she was becoming concerned and that she believed that the fire brigade should be brought in to perform a proper inspection of the premises. Refusing to listen to the assurances of the night clerk, she marched over to a pay telephone and started dialing. Richard sitting in a hotel lobby chair realized that his condition which had been somewhat improved was beginning to deteriorate. Getting up, he walked outside for some fresh air.

The cool night air felt good on his face as he stood in front of the hotel. The nausea began again. Richard realized that he was about to start throwing up in front of all of these nice people in front of this hotel in downtown Ottawa. Spying a nearby flowerbed, Richard managed to reach the low retaining wall which he was able to lean against during the spates of retching interspersed by brief moments of quiet.

Bent over the flowers, Richard turned his head to see the fire truck stopping at the curb and then nothing.