The stranger arrived, out of breath, at the deserted clinic entrance. Sweating and extremely tired from the journey, and from his illness. He mopped his face with a handkerchief, shading his eyes from the glare, he looked at the locked doors, waiting for them to open. Discouraged and pensive, he checked his watch – it was well past the time for the clinic to open.
Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and saw a short elderly man, with a broom in his other hand. On his shirt, he wore a patch with the red cross clinic logo. Smiling, he looked at the stranger, who anxiously asked,
“Excuse me, is the hospital closed?”
“You’ve been only a short time in this country?”
“I have a disease, C–, I must be cured immediately.”
“It’s clear you don’t know what’s going on. What you should do right now is look for lodging in that inn,” the janitor pointed to a strange windowless ash colored building with the look of a prison.
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