He was in a bathtub. The water was hot. He thought the water was hot, although he could not be certain. The water was up to his neck.
“Dumbest thing you can do with a fellow freezing to death is to put him in front of a fire. The second dumbest thing you can do is to wrap him in blankets-especially if he’s in cold wet clothes already. Blankets insulate him-keep the cold in. The third dumbest thing-and this is my private
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opinion-is to take the fellow’s blood out, warm it up and put it back. That’s what doctors do these days. Complicated, expensive. Dumb.” The voice was coming from above and behind his head.
“The smartest, quickest thing you can do is what sailors have done to men overboard for hundreds of years. You put the fellow in hot water. Not too hot. Just hot. Now, just so you know, you were basically dead when I found you on the ice back there. How are you feeling now, Houdini?”
“It hurts,” said Shadow. “Everything hurts. You saved my life.”
“I guess maybe I did, at that. Can you hold your head up on your own now?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m going to let you go. If you start sinking below the water I’ll pull you back up again.”
The hands released their grip on his head.
He felt himself sliding forward in the tub. He put out his hands, pressed them against the sides of the tub, and leaned back. The bathroom was small. The tub was metal, and the enamel was stained and scratched.
An old man moved into his field of vision. He looked concerned.
