He ripped away the sheet that covered him, careless of his nakedness, and it was true.
These limbs were firmly rounded, the smooth skin pink with the warm blood coursing beneath. His wildest hopes were realized. He snatched the mirror smilingly proffered him and there it was, that face of youth once lost to faded photographs! Then a great wave swept in with a rush, a roar, a dazzling sparkle of spray.
He emerged from his faint to find the head of his bed elevated, the woman in white holding his wrist to count his pulse. Well, this is it, H.D. thought jubilantly, it actually panned out. I did it, I did it!
Now to plunge into the great adventure—millions of questions to ask, millions of things to do—a new world to conquer. H.D. rubbed his hands briskly together in his habitual getting-down-to-business gesture.
Loosing his hand, the brownette looked up from her watch. Her eyes were dark blue, and....
Bells rang in the back of H.D.'s head, his skin tingled and he forgot what he wanted to say. Her faint, sweet perfume was in his nostrils; a long-forgotten stimulus performed its ancient function. Being a direct man by nature and training, H.D. decided that the shortest distance between two points was to seize this delicious creature. Without more ado he lunged.
But she had stepped back, shaking her head and smiling reprovingly, and H.D. almost fell out of bed. He recovered and collected himself, and laughed to show that he was a good sport.
"Oh, well, more important things to think of now, anyway—or are there more important things? Well, get me some clothes and call the head man around here, and I'll look you up later, Miss...."
"Lorraine, Dr. Lorraine. I'll get you some pajamas—here they are—and you won't see the Supervisor unless you show some pretty unusual symptoms. He's a busy man and I'm a married woman."
H.D. sputtered.