The doctor stepped through the swinging doors into the waiting room. He didn’t need to ask for the patient’s family – he could see it in their anxious faces.

“Why were we called down here, doctor?” asked a pensive young woman, clearly the patient’s wife. “Has there been any change, or…?”

A burlier, mustachioed version of the patient – probably the older brother – stood up, stone-still face masking worry and hope. “Yeah, what’s the situation?” The stoop-shouldered mother sat silently, eyes riveted to the doctor.

“Well, I’m pleased to tell you that he’s woken up, and he appears to be speaking normally,” the doctor said, setting off a round of hugs and sighs among the patient’s family. “Right now, we don’t think there’s been any long-term damage. You can go in and speak to him in a moment. But I should warn you: it is absolutely essential that he avoid any serious shocks. He’s been in this coma for over a year now. If anything has changed in that time – if his apartment has burned down or someone close to him has died, that sort of thing – do not mention it right now. The shock could set him back.”

A startled glance passed from one face to another. The doctor waited – and then the wife spoke.

“Doctor, there is one thing. Right before the accident, we bought a HP Compaq SR2020NX Presario Media Center Desktop PC. He loved the features, like the 160GB SATA hard drive, the AMD Athlon 64 2.2GHz Processor, the dual-layer DVD-R/RW/+R/RW drive. He couldn’t wait to try out Windows XP Media Center 2005. We had such plans for those PCI and expansion slots. We used to talk about adding more RAM to its 512MB – it would have been so easy. But of course, that was before…”

The doctor sighed. This part was never easy. “And may I ask, how much did you pay?”

Her face crumbled, tears lining her bottom eyelids. “I – I’d rather not say…Please, please don’t make me say!” She collapsed, sobbing, into the older brother’s arms. He scowled at the doctor, as if to say Leave the poor kid alone or you got a problem with me!

“It doesn’t matter,” the doctor gently consoled. “The important thing is, he must not know how cheap the Compaq SR2020NX Presario has become in the meantime. If you value his life, please, above all: do not mention the fantastic bargain Woot is currently offering on this very PC. A deal like this could kill a healthy person, much less someone in his condition. Do we understand?”

The reunion was discreet and joyous.

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