can see us, and try to get him to a hospital."
"I was hoping his own magic could heal him."
Mack helped Ceese get him up onto his back again, the old man's arms dangling over Ceese's shoulders. "Get the door open, Mack, and then run out into the street and flag somebody down."
Mack obeyed. First car that came was a nice big one, driven by Professor Williams from up the hill. He pulled right over when Mack flagged him.
"We got a man needs to get to the hospital!"
"I'm not that kind of a doctor," said Professor Williams. "I'm a doctor of literature."
"You the driver of a big car," said Mack, "and you can get this man to the hospital."
By now, Ceese had staggered to the curb, so he was visible.
"That man looks hurt," said Professor Williams.
"That be my guess, too," said Mack.
"He'll bleed all over my upholstery."
"That going to stop you from helping a man in need?" asked Mack.
Professor Williams was embarrassed. "No, of course not." A moment later, he had the back door open and then helped Ceese get the man into the car without dropping him or banging his head against the door or the car roof. It wasn't easy.
And at the end, when Mr. Christmas was laid out on the seat, Professor Williams took a good long look at his face. "Bag Man," he whispered.
"You know this guy?" said Ceese.
Professor Williams handed his keys to Ceese. "You take my car to the hospital. I'll walk back home and get my son Word to drive me to work."
"You sure you trust me with a car this nice?" said Ceese.
Professor Williams looked from Mr. Christmas to Mack and then back to Ceese. "I'm never riding in a car with that man again," he said. "If you're determined to save his life, then go, I won't stop you."
"I just hope I can get to the hospital in time. Unless you got a siren in your car."
Professor Williams gave a bitter little laugh. "I have a feeling you'll have green lights all the way, son."
Mr. Christmas didn't wake up at all, not on the way to the hospital, and not when the orderlies came out and hauled him out of the car and laid him on a gurney and rolled him into the emergency room.
That caused some raised eyebrows, and when they signed Mr. Christmas in as a John Doe, Ceese turned to Mack and said, "You watch, they'll have a cop coming by here to ask us if we the ones who beat this man up."
"Why would they do that?"
"Take a look at the color of your skin."
Mack grinned. "This just a suntan, Ceese. You know I spend all day outdoors in the summer."
"What I'm saying, Mack, is, let's go home. Let's not be here when the cop shows up."
"I can't do that," said Mack.
Ceese shook his head. "What is this man to you?"
"He's the man in Skinny House," said Mack. "He's the man who led me into - "
"Don't say it."
"Don't say what?"
Ceese lowered his voice. "Fairyland. Makes you sound two years old."
"He's more than two years old, that's what he called it."
"So don't you wonder how he got so beat up?"
"It could have been anything, he was so small."
"How small was he?" asked Ceese.
"You know how small he was in your hands when you picked him up?"
"Yeah, but that's because I was..." Ceese looked around at the other people in the emergency waiting area. "Well, I was what I was right then."
"That's how big he was to me, and I was normal size."
Ceese turned himself on the couch and leaned close to Mack's ear. "That's something I want to know. I got big, and that old bum got small, but nothing happened to you at all."
"So, why?"
"I didn't read the instruction manual, I guess."
"I'm just trying to think it out and make some sense out of it."
"It don't make sense, Ceese."
"I mean, if humans turn into giants, and... whatever he is... gets small, what are you?"
"I wish I knew," said Mack. "I never met my mother. Maybe she was regular size, too."
Ceese looked away, then turned to face front. "I wasn't saying about your parentage. Don't get sensitive on me all of a sudden."
"I'm not," said Mack. "I just don't know. I could be anything. I mean, if a regular-looking homeless person with a rasta do can be a fairy."
A new voice came out of nowhere. "Is that why you boys beat him up? Cause you thought he was