Two men, both
seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up
in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
His bed was next to the room's only window.
The other man had to
spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They
spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement
in the military service, where they had been on vacation..Every afternoon, when
the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by
describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.