Page 572 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“Okay. Yeah. We’re comin’.

“We’re comin’ right now.”

I grab his shirt at his waist.

“Andrew?”

His throat bobs.

He shakes his head in disbelief.

Then he says,

“They got a liver.”

67 / KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

GUNS N’ ROSES

“Nah. Don’t call Ma. Call me. She won’t answer. Always call me.”

Andrew drives with one hand on the wheel of my Mercedes, the other gripping his phone, talking to the hospital as we leave the waking brownstones of the Upper East Side.

It’s a little after five in the morning, and night still has the city trapped in noir—one long black trench coat with frost on its shoulders.

“No, she’s home in Union City. Asleep.

“I gotta wake her up.”

“She hasn’t eaten since dinner.”

“Around seven-thirty.

“Soup and half a roll.”

“No food, no water.

“I know the drill. I’ll make sure.”

“No fever. Nah.

“No infection symptoms.”

“She’s been tired,

“but she’s always tired.”

“She took her meds. I got the list.”

“Tell me if this is a backup offer.”

A long pause.

“You sayin’ she’s primary?”

“Okay. Yeah. Blood type O positive⁠—

“you said deceased donor?”