Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Miranda wakes up and sees Adam beside her bed. Miranda has informed her office that she’s sick, so he visits her at home. Miranda explains that a doctor visited her and suggested she may need to go to the hospital but that the doctor has not returned. Adam leaves to buy medicine that the doctor prescribed for Miranda. Earlier in the day, her landlord, Miss Hobbe, insisted that Miranda was too sick to be anywhere but in bed. Miranda is certain that she’ll die soon and thinks about places she could be other than her small apartment. As Miranda slips into a delirious fever, Adam explains to Miss Hobbe that the hospital is extremely busy and can’t send an ambulance until the next day. He promises to look after her in the meantime. He sits with Miranda and tells her that “all the shops and restaurants are closed, and the streets have been full of funerals all day and ambulances all night” (92).

Adam ensures that Miranda takes her medicine, even though she can barely swallow the pills. Miranda reflects on the sudden onset of her illness; the same time the previous evening, she and Adam were

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