“You like Hemingway?”, Shane asked, her hands shoved deep into her pockets.

“Yeah, I’m starting to…”, Carmen considered, picking a book from a shelter and flipping through the pages. She wasn’t really interested, but she just couldn’t help but avoid Shane’s penetrating look.

Shane placed her palm on the pages.

“May I?”, she asked, softly, and Carmen looked up. She met her eyes and blushed, slightly, passing her the book.

Shane licked her lips and started reading, quietly and slowly.

“…’As I at the oysters with their strong taste of the sea… and their faint metallic taste… As I drank their cold liquid from each shell… and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine… I lost the empty feeling… and began to be happy’…”.

Shane looked up and blinked at Carmen, chuckling slightly.

“He never forgets to describe how things taste”, she considered, pensively, “I like that”.

Carmen frowned, a small, fascinated smile plastered on her face.

“Do you come here a lot?”, she asked.

“I live here”, Shane replied softly, sincerely.

Carmen shook her head in confusion.

“What do you do?”.

“Read”, Shane said, simply, making Carmen laugh silently.

“No, I mean, your work”, she elaborated.

Shane’s smile didn’t falter.

“I am a messenger”.

Carmen was now even more confused.

“What kind of messenger? A bike messenger?”.

“No”, Shane shook her head, “I’m a messenger of God”.

Carmen chuckled, thinking that Shane was fooling her around a little.

“Got a message for me?”, she asked.

“I already gave it to you”.

“Did you use my pager? I usually don’t get my messages unless you beep me”, she smirked.

Shane giggled back, shrugging.

“You’ve definitely been beeped”.

Carmen put the book back in the shelter and started walking again. Shane followed her slowly, their steps soundless on the carpeted floor.

“How is Mr. Bizzarri?”, Shane asked quite out of the blue.

Carmen smiled, lowering her head.

“He’s good. The operation went really well”.

“It was a good day”, Shane gave her a quick look.

“Yeah, it was”, Carmen agreed, “I didn’t kill anybody today”.

Shane stopped, turning fully to her.

“You’re an excellent doctor”, she murmured, honestly.

Carmen stared at her, defenseless.

“How do you know?”.

“I have a feeling”.