"I know those bearers," Dr. Schwartz said. He yanked the window open. "Hey, Pete! What's wrong?"
The front man with the stretcher looked up. "I don't know. This guy's awful sick. I think his wife is nuts."
Mrs. Burnett had broken free. She dashed halfway down the sidewalk, gesticulating wildly to nobody in particular.
"It's murder!" she screamed. "Murder again! He's been poisoned! He's going to die! It means the electric chair!"
The orderly grabbed her again. This time he stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth to quiet her.
"Come back to this house as soon as you deliver him," Dr. Schwartz shouted to the men. "We've got a very sick child up here."
"I was afraid this would happen," Les said. "The poor woman already has lost three husbands. If this one is sick, it's no wonder she thinks that somebody is poisoning him."
Bob stuck his head around the bedroom door. His mother stared unbelievingly for a moment, then advanced on him threateningly. Something in his face restrained her, just as she was about to start shaking him.
"I got something important to tell you," Bob said rapidly, ready to duck. "I snuck out of the principal's office and came home. I got to tell you what I did."
"I heard all about what you did," Ann said, advancing again. "And you're not going to slip away from me."