"A young woman who smells bad," Dot said gravely. "A fate worse than death." She was joking, obviously, and showed this with a hearty laugh immediately after finishing her sentence. Despite trying to be funny, she was still vaguely uncomfortable lingering in a hospital; they had never made her feel at ease, since she was a child. The sooner she was out of this place, the better. "Well, thank you for everything, Ma'am."

---