“Sir, sir! Are you alright?”

John Rand slowly sat up, pulling one aching bone up after another until he was sitting. ” I’m all…right,” he wheezed. “You know…You look like… my… my… granddaughter… You know that?”

“Oh thank goodness you’re all right!” Miranda exhaled a breath she had been holding for quite some time. “Now hold still while I… while I call…the doctor…” Miranda’s smile slowly turned into a empty void when she realized that she wasn’t in a hospital anymore.

“No, it’s all right. I’m fine, really.” John smiled when he saw Miranda’s expression. “You don’t know what’s happening here either, do you?”

Miranda looked at him right in the eye, and whispered, “No.”

John just sighed, and laid back down with a small grunt of pain. “What’s your name?”

“Miranda Topas, sir,” she said quietly.

“Well then, Miranda, I guess I should tell you that my name is John Rand.” He looked at her and smiled again. “You really do remind me of my granddaughter.”

Miranda looked at him, and smiled back.