when a clingy patient finally fell asleep at about 4 a.m., i sneaked out of the ward for a cigarette break at the parking lot. a brass rodent bearing lightning shaped scars on his spine gnawed at something slimy by the lip of the arid water vent right by the shed where the parking valet snored. just then, a new york police chopper roared above, knifing the dark with its search light. the rat, like i did, reared its head, listened, and went back to what it did as soon as the chopper thundered westward away.
