Footsteps echo down the hallway outside, and everyone tenses. A white-coated doctor enters the room. Worried faces turn toward him, and everything suddenly becomes still. Then, all the grown-ups explode with questions. The jumbled noise produced from many voices increases, until the doctor holds up his hands.
Silence fills the room.
Mom takes my hand and squeezes it. The doctor looks at Grandpa, then shakes his head. Worried faces suddenly change to faces of horror and shock. I did not see anything change in the room. A dry, choking sound rends the air as Uncle Ted turns and sinks into one of the chairs by the window.