"Chiun, it got you, too, didn't it?"
"Why do you say that?" Chiun said aridly.
"Because if it didn't, you'd be telling me how you mounted Sam Beasley's head on a post somewhere."
"Do not speak that name to me."
"You talk to Smith?"
Chiun turned. "I have not had time."
A doctor entered. She carried a clipboard in one hand, and a stethoscope hung around her neck. She was fifty and wore her brown hair up in a bun. "Ah, I see you're awake."
Chiun blocked the way. "Lay not hands on my son."
"I'm his doctor."
"You are a woman. It is not proper."
"I examined you when they brought you in, too, you know," the doctor said.
Chiun blushed bright crimson, and if steam didn't exactly escape from his ears, he gave a good impression of an embarrassed boiler.
The doctor came over and inserted the earpieces of her stethoscope into her ears and laid the other end against Remo's chest. "I'm Dr. Jeffcoat. How are we feeling today?"
"What happened to us?" Remo inquired.
"You tell me. I couldn't get anything out of your friend."
Chiun snorted loudly. "I am not his friend. I am his father."
"Adopted," corrected Remo.
"Which one of you is the adopted one?"
"He is," Remo and Chiun said together.
Dr. Jeffcoat said, "Tell me the last thing you remember."
"Green."
"Green what?"
"Just green. It was a vicious green. I hated how green it was."
"It frightened you?" the doctor asked.
"Maybe," Remo admitted.
Chiun laid a palm over his purple-trimmed black velvet kimono. "He is fearless, but I am even more so."
"Didn't I see you run out of that truck like a bat out of hell?" Remo asked Chiun.
"You did not!"
Dr. Jeffcoat said, "You were found unconscious in your own vomit. Both of you."
Remo cracked a smile. "Good thing I was wearing clean underwear." Then, in a more serious tone, he asked, "Can you explain it?"
"Not from what you just told me. But something caused a massive convulsion of the vagus nerve."
"The what?"
"Vagus nerve. It's in the brain stem. You've heard of the fight-or-flight reaction?"
"Sure," said Remo. "People get scared. Some run, some fight. It depends on the person."
"Unless you train it out of him," Chiun grunted.
"Part of the fight-or-flight response involves an involuntary reaction of the part of the vagus nerve which terminates in the stomach," Dr. Jeffcoat explained. "It causes the stomach to contract with great violence. I guess that's so if you run from danger, you're carrying a lighter load and there's less chance of the stomach cramping if it's empty."
"I don't remember being scared."
"From what you described and the way they found you," the doctor said, unplugging her stethoscope, "you were scared green."
"Scared by green," Remo corrected.
"Have it your way." Dr. Jeffcoat started for the door. "By the way, I hope you're both covered by insurance."
"We have universal health care," said Chiun loftily.
"No one has that yet-if they ever will."
"Ask your President if you do not believe me."
"Cash okay?" Remo asked.
"Cash," Dr. Jeffcoat said, closing the door, "is king around these parts."
After she was gone, Remo said, "Time to call Smith."
Chiun rushed to Remo's bedside.
"Do not tell Emperor Smith of my embarrassment," he pleaded.
"What'll you give me?"