‘Welcome back to the land of the living, young man. I’m Doctor Bernstein and you are in Belleview hospital. We thought we were going to lose you there for a bit. That was a rather nasty fall you took.’
Paelen said nothing as the man leaned forward and shone a bright light in his eyes. When he finished, he straightened again and whistled. ‘I’ll be darned if I know how you’re doing it, but you are healing faster than anyone I’ve ever treated before. At this rate, those broken bones of yours will be knitted together in no time. As it is, that burn on your back is healing even as we watch.’
Switching off the light, he put it in his pocket. ‘Now, can you tell me your name?’
As Paelen opened his mouth to speak, the lights in the room flickered and dimmed.
‘I hope the generators keep working,’ said the woman as she looked up at the lights. ‘I’ve heard the blackout hit the whole city. They’re saying it’s as bad as the one in seventy-seven.’
Paelen understood the words, but not their meaning. What was a ‘blackout’? Seventy-seven what? What did it all mean?
‘The generators are fine, Mary,’ said Doctor Bernstein. He reached out to touch Paelen’s arm reassuringly. ‘The hospital has spent a fortune keeping the back-up generators serviced. So don’t you worry about a thing, we have plenty of electricity and you are perfectly safe.’
Paelen was about to ask where he was when a new person entered the room. Dressed in dark clothing, the man drew up to the side of the bed.
‘I’m Officer Jacobs from the Fourteenth Precinct,’ said the man, holding up his police badge. ‘I’ve been called in to take the details of your mystery patient. So, is this the young man who fell from the sky?’
The doctor and nurse nodded.
‘I’m Doctor Bernstein,’ the doctor said, offering his hand. ‘This is Nurse Johnston. As for my patient, well, I don’t as yet know his name. But I was just about to ask.’
Officer Jacobs opened his notebook. ‘Allow me.’ He turned his attention to Paelen. ‘So young man, can you give us your name?’
Inhaling deeply, Paelen raised his hand in a flourish and bowed as best he could in the bed. ‘I am Paelen the Magnificent, at your service.’
‘Paelen the Magnificent?’ Doctor Bernstein repeated as his eyebrows rose. ‘Paelen the Lucky, more like.’ He turned to the police officer. ‘This young man was found in the middle of 26th Street and Broadway. The paramedics think he was at a costume party, stood too close to a window and was struck by lightning. They think he might have fallen out. We’ve been treating lightning burns and electrocutions like his all night. Though I must admit, most of the others haven’t been so lucky.’
‘Were you hit by lightning?’ Officer Jacobs asked Paelen.
Paelen thought back to the last thing he remembered and frowned. ‘Perhaps, but I am uncertain.’
Officer Jacobs started to write. ‘All right then, Paelen, can you give me your last name? Where do you come from? Where do you live so we can notify your family and tell them you are here?’
Paelen looked at both men, then at the strange room again. Suddenly his thief’s instinct took over and told him not to say anything more about himself or where he came from. ‘I – I do not remember.’
‘Don’t remember?’ Dr. Bernstein repeated. ‘Well, you did have a rather nasty knock on your head. Though I’m sure the memory loss is only temporary. Maybe this will help …’ He crossed over to the small cupboard against the far wall. He pulled out a bag and poured out the contents on to the bed.
‘When you were found, this was all you were wearing: this small tunic and this pair of winged sandals. You were clutching this horse’s bridle. We had a nightmare of a time prying it out of your hands.’
‘Those are mine,’ Paelen protested as he tried to grab the items. ‘I want them back!’
‘Hey, that looks like real gold,’ the police officer said as he reached for the bridle. Feeling its heavy weight, he frowned. ‘Feels like real gold too.’
‘You cannot have that!’ Paelen cried as he snatched at the bridle. He winced when it pulled at his broken ribs. ‘I told you it is mine.’
‘Where did you get it?’ Officer Jacobs demanded.
‘Get it?’ Paelen repeated. ‘I, I,’ he paused as he tried to out-think these strange people. Finally a solution came to him. ‘It was a gift.’
‘A gift?’ the officer repeated curiously. ‘You’re telling me that you can’t remember your full name or where you came from, but you can remember that this was a gift?’
‘Yes,’ Paelen said confidently. ‘That is correct. It was a gift.’