The burn unit comprises 11 patient rooms. The rooms are lit yellow by day by the combined wattage of the sun and Lake Michigan, blue by night by wall-mounted televisions and fluorescent monitoring devices that click, hum, gasp and buzz. Flowers are not permitted. Flowers require water.
Water nurtures infectious bacteria.
And infection kills. Their wounded occupants are specimen-like in their display. Their vulnerability is apparent. For the two months he remained in a coma, George inhabited Room 647. He dreamed of floating islands near Sturgeon Bay, of going to the movies, of a nightclub owned by Chinese doctors.