Authors: Steffen Jacobsen

When the Dead Awaken (40 page)

The assistant public prosecutor had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin, as the doctor put it. Renda ordered him to get both her feet back on firm ground againÂ â or find himself another profession in a different town.

Sabrina D'Avalos turned her head and looked at the young man on the chair.

She summoned all her breath.

âGo, Primo. Get out,' she said in loud and clear voice.

The nurse was shocked.

The young man looked at Sabrina and shook his head.

As a precaution, the nurse left the door ajar when she left the side ward.

There was silence for a long time. Then agitated voices could be heard and the nurse had put her hand on the door handle when something stopped her. It didn't sound to her as if the patient had lost the ability to string together a meaningful sentence; on the contrary she was remarkably articulate. The nurse made a mental note to cancel the neurologist.

When she returned half an hour later on a made-up visit, the young man was pale and smiling.