He still managed a weak smile as he shook our hands. Fred and I had just finished redistributing our ammo among Rick and his men, when the NVA launche... a furious platoon-sized assault. I guess the commies were making one last push to wipe out RT Washington before the air support drove them off. It was touch and go for a few minutes, but we managed to hold them off, and the A1s and Cobras finally pushed the bad guys back. When it was quiet in front of us, Fred and I started doing what we could. When it was someone else’s trouble, he was a lot more calm than his own it seemed. The paramedic spared Keven a glance and went back to work, looking into my eyes with a small light, unconcerned with the intrusion. I focused on the paramedic and didn’t try to speak until he started asking me the standard battery of questions. I know that a doctor that treats herself has a fool for a patient, so I tried not to be judgmental. Even with the oxygen, I still felt light-headed. If I were treating. "No, Sam's a junk pitcher now, just like he always was. Generally, fast balls don't get faster as you age." So. Sam's not -- what did you say? --overpowering, either, right?" Right. And stop trying to pretend you don't know about these things. You've been a bone-deep observer of baseball players ever since I met you, back in Bluefield." He certainly seems like an intelligent young man," Orlie said. "He started his speech today with 'Y'know, ' and I thought, 'Oh, God, he's going to be one of. .. Something Changed... After God only knows how long in limbo, my mind began to assimilate facts and information. Instead of being some kind of cosmic hitchhiker, drifting in eternity, my ... my ... well ... my essence, or my being ... my intelligence, if nothing else, was suddenly forming around a destination.The boundaries of time are only finite to the living. When you’re dead you go wherever your mind takes you, or the universe sends you. I’d been there and done that often enough to.