"Blinded" - читать интересную книгу автора (White Stephen)

THREE

Not wanting to alarm Sam unnecessarily with my amateur diagnostic assessment, I excused myself, walked then ran to the bedroom phone, and called 911. When I got back to the kitchen, Sam said, “I’m a little better, I think.”

I handed him a small handful of baby aspirin. “Chew these, and come lie down on the couch in the living room.”

“What are they?”

“For once don’t argue with me.”

He chewed the aspirin and followed me the short distance from the kitchen table to the sofa in the living room. The hand that had been poking below his rib cage was now pressing firmly at his sternum.

“You called for an ambulance, didn’t you?”

I considered lying. But I didn’t. I simply nodded.

Anvil-Midgeto-jumped up on the couch and snaked under Sam’s arm to spread his lithe body across Sam’s lower abdomen. It appeared as though he was determined to be a little canine heating pad.

Emily rested her big head on Sam’s thigh.

Sam absently stroked the dogs’ fur and said, “You have good dogs.”

Sam and I rarely agreed on anything. But we agreed on that.

“Am I having a heart attack?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid you are.”

“I don’t want to die, Alan.”

We agreed on that, too. I didn’t want him to die, either.