A Different Kind of Future

The following afternoon, Ernest arrived at St. Margaret's Children's Hospital carrying no leather dossiers, no blueprinted transit profiles, and no pocket ledgers.

He had almost brought one—a preliminary survey report on the Roven River bridge abutments had sat tempting him on his hall table—but he had firmly pushed it aside before leaving Oriel Estate.

The hospital had expanded significantly over the past two years, bolstered by substantial grants from the Teucher Foundation. Yet Ernest had only ever walked these corridors during formal ribbon-cutting ceremonies surrounded by city aldermen and hospital trustees.

Walking through the front entrance as a private visitor felt completely different.