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what the future holds for him?”
    Zac stared at the baby, bundled tightly
and laying in the plastic crib, sleeping soundly. “What’s today’s date?” he
asked without taking his eyes off the newborn.
    “September 22,” the man answered. “A date
I’ll never forget. Today’s the day when my whole life changed for the better.”
    As Zac looked on, watching the tiny little
person in front of him start to squirm, trying to get his arm out of the
swaddling, a sudden realization came to him. He didn’t know why, but if what he
thought was correct, then this man standing next to him was his father.
    And the baby in front of him opening its
eyes, blinking in the light... that baby was him .

Four
    Zac stood entranced, staring at the baby
that was supposedly him. It didn’t make sense. It had to be a dream.
    He watched as the nurse came to the window
and grabbed the cart, rolling the baby away and putting it back with the
others. The baby cried, and she smiled at it, gently touching its feet and saying
something Zac couldn’t hear.
    “Sir?” came a
voice from behind him. Zac turned to see a man, another nurse in the maternity
ward. He was pushing another wooden cart with a baby in a plastic crib on top,
taking it back to the nursery. “Sorry. I just need to squeeze by.”
    “Sure,” Zac said, backing up. He turned to
watch the nurse and realized the man that he was talking to, the one who said
his name was Daniel Ryger, was gone. “Hey,” he called to the nurse, “did you
see where that man went?”
    “I’m sorry?”
    “There was a man standing right next to
me,” he said, pointing down the hallway, “and I needed to ask him a question.
Can you tell me where he went?”
    “Are you family?” the man asked. He paused
and nodded to another nurse through the glass. She opened the large door and
took the baby in with her.
    “No,” Zac said. “Well, sort of. I mean…”
    “Well, if you’re not family, I’m afraid
you can’t go back to patient rooms during these hours,” he said. “Visiting
hours are between ten and ten. You can come back in a
few hours if you want.”
    Zac shook his head. “I need to talk to him now ,” he said. “It will just take a minute.” He started to move, but the
nurse held out his hands to block the way.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, “but we need to
respect our patients’ privacy, and believe me, these new moms need all the
sleep they can get right now. You’ll have to come back later.”
    Zac sighed. “Okay,” he said. “Thanks
anyway.” He turned and walked back to the elevator. Stepping inside, he pressed
the button and waited to arrive at the ground floor.
    He had a thought. He could just wait down
in the lobby, sit in a chair and pretend to read a magazine or something. If
the man he talked to was his dad, he had to come back down sometime, and then
Zac could confront him and try to figure out what was happening.
    He found a comfortable chair near the
lobby windows, close to the entrance. Now he could watch the door, too. From
this place, he could see anyone who left the hospital. His eyes started to
blur, and a heaviness fell over him. His eyes began to
close, but he tried to shake off the sleepiness.
    No, he told himself. He had to stay awake.
Then again, if he shut his eyes for just a few minutes, it wouldn’t hurt. Maybe
he’d wake up and find this was all some ridiculous dream. His eyes slowly closed,
and he drifted off.
     
    A loud crash jolted Zac awake, and he nearly fell out of his chair. He looked around, confused at his
surroundings, and then remembered that he was at the hospital. People were
rushing past him to see something outside, and he turned to see.
    The sun was fully up now, its light
pouring into the lobby. He walked over to the entrance and saw what everyone
was looking at.
    Across the street, two cars had collided.
A small silver one was smashed against the side of a brick building. It looked
like the white pickup truck had hit the