He was very pale.He inhaled, still wary, and rubbed his beardless chin. "Ten pounds, I suppose; quid a month, the dress, those rings, stays and so for...h, oh and her shoes, yes, shoes and stockings; can't forget those." Give him back the rings," I said to the girl who unscrewed them reluctantly and put them on the table, all three of the gaudy things. "Want to give him your stays?"She laughed out loud and then covered her mouth, and I fetched my purse and clanked out five pounds, hard money,. Something is happening outside. The whole hospital is on a Code Black alert. It’s our highest alert level, highest state of readiness. Last time we had a Code Black was on 9/11, and that one was precautionary only, because we didn’t know what was happening, so we wanted to be ready for anything. This one’s the real deal.’ ‘Why?’ Brian frowned. ‘What’s happening out there?’ ‘What isn’t happening!’ she laughed humorlessly. ‘Nationwide, there’s earthquakes in places that shouldn’t have. ” How much detail had she described? “So this place is called Bush Terminal.”“I’ve seen it, from the expressway.”“So I’ll use the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. That should be quick.”She was quite sociable on the trip and we talked about our lives. When we emerged from the tunnel, I knew I’d be using Third Avenue under the elevated expressway. Cathy looked around and said, “This must be the location for Last Exit to Brooklyn.”Holly had made the exact same comment. I replied, “Yes, this is it. Red. Tiny, by comparison to Joan, Carole was maybe five foot tall and fully dressed might have weighed a hundred pounds. Her hair was maybe half an inch long. To quote her, ‘I’m as flat as an eleven year old boy.’ She didn’t straddle his lap but sat with both legs hanging off his right leg. She leaned to him and kissed him. Her lips pressed gently on his and his hands twitched. She slowly moved her head just a little and changed her pressure lip to lip. She opened her mouth a little and touched his.