"I'm licked, all right. Can I be back in seven days?"
"Make it three days with no mention of work. In five days you can have official visitors for three hours. In seven you may be up and around the hospital. You'll not be back there for eleven days."
"I'll have to put it off."
"Put it off another day and you'll not be back at all," snapped Dr. Hansen. "Take it or leave it!"
"How do I pay?"
"We'll take it out of your hide," said Hansen. "You're under the same rules as the rest of us. You do your day's work, and you receive the same medical blessing. Do you want to hoe the garden, or will you wash my car?"
"I'll wash the car."
"That's what you say. Get over here in an hour—and bring Linna with you."
"What for?"
"Someone's got to drive—and it shouldn't be you!"