I did pretty well with the walking once they had taped up my ankle, and depending on how my bloodwork went, they said I could probably go home the next morning. Pony's prognosis was a little less certain. He was still hallucinating and to be honest, he was scaring me a little. He was talking as though Mom and Dad (and Johnny and Dallas) were still alive and I was hoping that he wasn't going to have to go through losing them all over again when he woke up.

Even though Pony had a different doctor, as soon as his doctor was gone, I asked to see Dr. Bryant and asked him lots of questions about Pony. From what he told me, it was really hard to know what he would be like when he woke up because part of what was happening was physical and part was emotional. I was surprised how blunt I was when I asked him whether he thought Pony really believed that our parents were still alive. I never before trusted a doctor so much as when he looked me straight in the eyes and said, simply:

"I hope not, Scout."

"Me too," I told him. "Do you think he can hear me?"

"Well, most medical studies on that say that yeah, he probably can."

"So… Dr. Bryant?"

"What could it be now, Miss Scout?" For some reason everyone in the hospital called me that.

"Any chance you would be willing to move this monster bed over there so I can talk to my brother?"

He was agreeable. "I don't think that conflicts with my medical judgment in any way," he said and smiled. Best doctor ever, I decided. He loosened up all my tethers and rolled my bed and monitors over so I could not only talk to him but hold his hand as well. I reached out and took it and was surprised when he responded.

"Scout?" he asked.

"It's me, Pony," I said. "I'm right here with you."

"You let me get the wood, OK? It's my job."

Dr. Bryant looked at me, puzzled.

"I can't explain it," I said, "you had to be there… but he's not crazy. He's talking about something that really happened."

Dr. Bryant just shook his head at me and turned to leave. "See you in the morning, Miss Scout," he said. "It's a good thing I have a little sister, or I might think you were crazy." That explained a lot. He really could understand the relationship between my brothers and me.

Darry and Soda came back and smiled when they saw my bed pushed over to Pony's. Soda took the opportunity to hop right in, taking care this time to avoid compressing any tubes or wires and setting off any alarms.

"C'mon Darry. Hop in!" Soda loved to tease him.

"I'll pass," he said, though he sort of looked like he wanted to.

Pony started mumbling on about something none of us could understand. The orderly came in with our dinners and I ate while they tried to feed Pony. It was grilled cheese and tomato soup, and wasn't that bad as far as hospital food goes, but Pony refused adamantly.

"NO BALONEY." He said.

"What is with him?" Soda asked. "Why is everything baloney to him? And he always ate it before, anyway."

I pretty much lost my appetite as soon as he mentioned baloney.

"Ugh." I cringed.

"What?" Darry asked, turning to my bed.

"Baloney. That's pretty much all we ate at the church. That's why he hates it now. I had to eat gross smooshed baloney out of my pocket when I was lost in the woods too. I don't even want to hear the word."

"Well, that explains that," Darry said. " What else happened at that church? Anything we should know about?"

"Uh… poker, trying to catch rabbits, fighting, reading Gone With the Wind, looking at stars, cutting hair, smoking… well, not me smoking, and too much baloney."

"That's it?"

I thought about it. "Pretty much," I said. "You guys didn't miss much."

"We missed the two of you," Soda said, tugging on my ponytail. "And that was enough."

A/N: Sorry about the short chapter. I'm trying to figure out if I should end "Reality," and start a new fic (a continuation, don't worry… the story continues…), because this many chapters is a little outrageous! Perhaps a few more chapters here then I'll start over with a new one.