“Full-body traction… That can’t be fun.”

Grumble, grumble, grumble. “You ain’t kiddin’ pal. But you don’t hafta be so chipper about it.”

Charlie frowned. He lowered the pitch of his voice as low as he could go. “Sorry. I just can’t help it.” He grinned again.

The orderlies moved the hospital bed to the far part of the huge room. The new patient was grumbling as he went. Talking under his breath.

Charlie sat back down in the chair by his bed. This ward in the hospital was large. He was only going to be here a day or so (he thought), but he wondered about the different people here. The guy with the full-body cast who was in traction was obviously a sour puss. He was not going to be somebody Charlie would interact with much. But he figured he would give him a nickname. Grumpy. Yeah. That would be a good name for the guy.

“Hey, Doc.”

“Hello, Charlie.” Doctor Jones smiled and looked at Charlie over his spectacles. “Are you doing okay?”

Charlie smiled even broader (as if that was possible). “Oh yes, Doc. I’m doing fine. More than fine.”

“Well that’s great. You just keep that positive attitude and you’ll be out of here in no time at all.”

A loud sneeze came from across the room. Near to Grumpy. But it was not him. Doc turned to look.

“Excuse me, Charlie, but one of my patients needs to be moved from being too near that open window. Allergies.”

“Yeah. I agree. Sneezy is sure getting hit with those allergies. You better take care of him Doc.”

The doctor left and Charlie followed him with his eyes. He walked right by Happy. That guy smiled more than Charlie did. So much so that he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. Then, he walked past a man who Charlie had not seen move from the bed. He snored and snored and snored. Charlie overheard somebody talking about sleeping sickness. One of the nurses laughed at that and said the patient slept almost as much as his kids did. The doctor checked his pulse, looked at his chart, and moved on. Charlie could not figure out the last man on the ward. He would not let anybody but the doctor see him. And even Doc had a tough time getting him to lift his shirt or drop his drawers for a proper examination. Charlie called that guy Bashful. And was he ever.

Doc stopped at the bed across from Grumpy. He looked at the only woman on the ward. She had succumbed to some sort of poison. But no matter what Doc tried, he could not wake her. Charlie called her Snow because she seemed to him as pure as the driven snow. Beautiful and pure. He felt a kinship with her somehow. Like he had known her forever. He just hoped that she would snap out of it soon. Charlie saw Doc look at the young woman and sigh. Then, he looked around the whole ward and saw the rest of the men looking too. They were all there. Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, and Bashful. Men he did not know, but who all felt compassion and a kinship with the sleeping woman. Charlie sighed and he felt the whole ward sigh with him.

Charlie looked toward the doorway of the ward when he heard a sound that interrupted his train of thought. He thought it actually sounded like a galloping horse coming to a quick stop. But somebody had just knocked over a tray of empty jello containers.

“Hey, Dopey!”

Charlie wondered who the disembodied voice was addressing.

“Dopey, it’s me.”

Charlie turned his head toward the voice to see who the person was speaking to. It was actually two men. The one who spoke was looking right at Charlie. Charlie looked behind himself to see if there was somebody else the man might be talking to.

“There’s nobody behind you. I’m talking to you. Dopey.”

Doc came over and addressed the man dressed in white. “There’s no need to call people names.”

The man was still smiling. “Oh. You’re right. But isn’t that what Dopey’s been doing? He’s given nicknames to all the patients on the ward. Haven’t you, Dopey?”

Doc pressed the man. “Still, you do not get to do it while I’m here.”

The man stood straight and saluted. “Yes, sir. Doc.”

The man and his companion laughed. Doc turned to Charlie.

“They’re going to take you away Charlie. Don’t let them pick on you though. You are as important as anybody in this room. Maybe more so. For you are an innnocent soul.”

“That may be, Doc, but Dopey… Uh sorry. Charlie, here needs to come with us. He’s going back to his own hospital now that he’s had his cut all stitched up. We just need to get him into his jacket.”

Doc walked away. He looked sad to Charlie and Charlie watched him even as he put his arms straight out in front of him. He thought he saw Doc shed a tear as the men put the jacket with the long arms on. It always felt to Charlie as if the jacket was on backward. The first man smiled and went around to Charlie’s back to fasten all the clasps. Then, the other man in white pushed one arm and then the other across each other and toward Charlie’s back. Charlie felt the long ends of his sleeves being tightened. The man came from behind Charlie.

“Ready to go home?”

Charlie looked around the ward one more time. He would miss these six men and the one woman. He felt that he knew them more than their brief time together would have allowed. But that could not be true. Could it? Was it all a dream? Maybe even a fairy tale?

The two men escorted Charlie out of the ward. He heard the talkative man talk behind his back. “Let’s get Dopey home, shall we?”

The other one answered. “Yeah. Let’s.” Then he said something strange. “But you know… There’s something strange about this ward. Something very strange.”

“So now, you’re the one we should call Dopey.”

“Who you callin’ Dopey, Dopey?”