Nurse Rush appeared in the doorway with a young intern in white. She halted abruptly.

"Where's the injured boy?" the intern asked.

"That one," Nurse Rush said, pointing to Kirk in the chair. "He's gotten himself off the floor."

The intern strode forward to Kirk's side. "How did you fall?" he asked.

"Fall? I didn't fall," Kirk said.

"Haven't you injured yourself?"

"No, sir," Kirk replied. "I've just been sitting here reading a magazine."

"That's right, Doctor. He hasn't left the chair. Is something the matter?" Amy added.

The intern looked confused.

Nurse Rush moved forward. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but it seems we've had a false alarm. Sorry to have bothered you."

"That's all right, Nurse," the intern said and left the room.

"With all the work I have to do around here, the last thing I need is two wise brats playing cruel jokes. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, you hear me? In fact, Kirk, I will be more than pleased the day you're released from this hospital. I don't need these pranks to interrupt my day."

"Okay, Nurse Rush," Kirk said. "We get it."

"Listen, Nurse Rush," Amy said. "I'm sorry we upset you. It's not easy for us to sit around for days at a time with nothing to do. I guess we get a little rammy. We'll try not to disturb you again."

"I should hope not, young lady. Because if you do, you can bet that your parents will get a full report. I'd make sure that you both were thrown out on your ear, ready to be or not. You're lucky that you have such a fine medical facility at your disposal."

Nurse Rush turned and stalked from the room.

"Speaking of disposal, I wouldn't mind disposing of that old bitch permanently," Kirk said. "You'd think she could take a little joke."

"She's right, Kirk. I feel lousy. We don't have any right to mess up her day just because we don't have anything better to do."