Having refused the blindfold they had offered her, she took one last look around as she knelt in the straw. She cringed in horror as she watched two servants arrive with a black oblong box, which they sat in the straw nearby. She knew exactly what its intended purpose was. Her eyes met those of the man holding the sword. He became angry and shouted something in French. Someone called her name, and she looked toward them. As the sword's blade met her neck, her final thoughts were of her young daughter.

She opened her eyes to find that she was lying on her back, staring up at a white ceiling. Peculiar rectangular fixtures which seemed to emit light were affixed to the ceiling. If this was heaven, it was drastically different from the way she had always imagined it to be.

"You're awake!" a male voice exclaimed excitedly. She turned to look into a pair of blue-green eyes. The man had auburn hair and a moustache and goatee. He looked vaguely familiar, but his clothing and hairstyle were very strange.

"Where am I? Is this heaven?"

The man seemed to think that her question was very amusing. "Hardly. You're in the hospital, hon. You fell and hurt your head very badly. You've been asleep for awhile. I've been so worried about you." The man spoke English, but his accent was so strange that she could barely understand his words.

"My head?" She raised both hands to feel the smooth skin of her neck. As she did so, she saw that a needle was inserted into one arm. The needle was attached to what she could only think of as some type of cord made of unfamiliar material. The other end of the cord emerged from a transparent bag of fluid suspended from a pole made of a queer shiny substance. Alarmed, she grasped for the cord to pull it from her arm.

"No, no, hon," the man said gently, moving to prevent her from doing so.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"You don't remember?" the man asked softly. His face bore an expression of grave concern. "My name is Henry, and I'm your husband. We have a little girl."

"Elizabeth?" she asked hopefully.

"You remember her!" Henry sounded greatly relieved.

"She has red hair..."

"That's right. She misses her mommy very much. She'll be so happy to find out that you finally woke up."