The doctor put on a face mask and latex gloves as he spoke, then he started shining a little flashlight into my eyes and poked a q-tip into one of my nostrils.

“That’s when I jumped and fell next to the meteor and all the stuff fell on top of me,” I told him.

“When was this?” the doctor asked me, and I started to wonder who had the memory problem.

“When I was demolishing the cabin. I was on the roof a while, but I had to jump off and the roof and part of a wall fell on top of me, and I got this.” I held up my hand.

“You injured yourself with the meteor?” the doctor asked. He removed the bandaging I had put on my right hand.

“I got this gigantic splinter stuck in my hand, but I didn’t notice for ten minutes because I was sneezing so hard. The dust from everything collapsing. It was like I was in a dust storm. I don’t know how much of this stuff I inhaled. I…” The doctor put a thermometer in my mouth and started examining the place where I had used my pliers to take out the splinter. It was a six-inch piece of wood from a plank sticking out from under the meteor – I think.

“You have a very serious fever, Mr. Keegan. One hundred and four point six. That is very high,” the doctor said, but I don’t remember him taking the thermometer from my mouth.

“You also have what looks like a very severe rash around your nose, mouth and eyes. Infected, I would say. Probably from you rubbing your face during this dust storm you talked about.  And you still have some bits of the splinter imbedded in your hand…” The doctor was looking at my hand with a magnifying glass that was on a mechanical arm attached to the wall.

“Yes. You definitely have an infection here. Pretty severe. And a rash.”

“And animals,” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“And animals. Don’t forget the animals.”

“You came into contact with an animal?”

“You did too.” It was clear he had no idea what I was talking about.

“On my hand. Little red animals. They’re from the meteor – I think. Take a closer look.

He looked again with the magnifying glass but looked up and shook his head.

“I don’t see any bugs or…”

“Look close and wait a second or two. You can’t see them individually. You can only see the fact that the red mark moves around a little.”

I didn’t know how else to explain this to him. After all, he’s the doctor. He looked again.

“You might be right,” the doctor said. Then he turned the magnifying glass on his own hand and studied the latex glove.

“You’re certainly correct about this infestation, Mr. Keegan.” He turned to the nurse. “Can you take this swab to the lab and… On second thought, let’s just step out for a minute.” The doctor snapped off his gloves and tossed them in a little wastebasket after putting the swab and the thermometer on an examination tray along with the stethoscope he had used. The two of them hurried out of the room like I had told them I had the cooties, or something. I guess I did.

I don’t remember how I got to the examining room. I remember calling the woman with the smile. I called her the next morning. I felt so bad – I couldn’t breathe, I had a ringing headache, every joint hurt – I would’ve wished I were dead, but I was too close to death to joke around like that. Still, I wanted to hear her voice. Her smile carries through on her voice. You can tell when she’s smiling even if she’s only talking to you on the phone. I called, but it wasn’t her that answered.

“Yes, Mr. Keegan, we know. It was her boyfriend, the one who’s a contractor. The one she will marry.”

I don’t know who this guy is. He’s not the guy I was talking to a minute ago. This one can read my mind.

“I’m not reading your mind, Mr. Keegan. You’re talking aloud. Mary Henderson and the contractor went to the woods to neck. They never went inside the cabin. They stayed in their car and went skinny dipping in the lake. The meteor was infested with some kind of microbe…”

“Are you my doctor?”

“I am now. Doctor Weeks was taken ill. So was Nurse Macmillan.”

“Where are they?”