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Show CHRYSALIS PAGE 22 -3- I have a new roommate, besides frail old Mrs. Fische and her bottles and tubes. Directly across from me, surrounded by three large vases of flowers and several smaller ones, is an elderly lady named Tillie, who has had an eye operation to restore her sight. She is supposed to lie still, but she doesn't. She has to have a cigarette. She puts on her high-heeled shoes. Why? Maybe she needs to dress up for Mr. Fische, who is her smoking buddy at least twice a day. Her blue and white hospital gown is open down the back and her fanny is bare. Her heels clatter on the tiles and her gown flaps open like a flag. She must be seventy. Maybe she's a retired hooker - I haven't seen so many flowers since Mark's Uncle Frank died at a hundred and one. Mr. Fische is late today so she stops by my bed to chat. She's really into English history. She says, "Ethelred was King |