Strange people inhabit the hospital at all times. That was the natural state of things in rural mid-state New York. Where else could anyone go, besides the Walmart? Non-linear was the new normal. If you couldn't adjust, then you belonged back in the City where it was safe. Sabine, the hospital's switchboard operator, had been shaped early on by Dr. Kildare, and more recently by Dr. Who. Juliet, a Vietnam Vet, entered through the emergency room, dehydrated after having missed Happy Hour. Her DNA had been altered as a child when she heard Bach's Mass in B Minor - a piece of consummate optimism - when she was too young to defend herself.