1957

It was a beautiful year. That was the year Baby was born, the year we bought our first house. Remember when we bought that old house? Funny, we were so sure we'd fix it up right and live in it forever. Who knew how right we'd be?

I remember the day you told me. You walked in the door of our old apartment - remember old 203? You marched right in, front door slamming. Head held high and striding right into the kitchen. You didn't even stop to kiss Harold! You picked me up and twirled me around, stirring spoon and all. My dress knocked over the flour and still you didn't care.

"We've got the house! We're moving!", you kept shouting.

"What house? Who's moving?" I kept asking. I had no idea!

Finally you put me down, kissed the baby and dropped your briefcase. Pouring yourself a scotch, you whistled. "Jeesh, I got us a good deal too. Talked the fella down from three thousand to two-eighty."

You were so proud of yourself! I had no idea what you were talking about, but talking a fella down from three thousand to two-eighty seemed like a good thing, so I agreed. "Oh darling, that's wonderful! Tell me more!" And I hugged you as big as I could, and little Jeffery agreed that wasn't Daddy our big man. "Whoopie, Daddy, whoopie", he shouted.

Of course I eventually found out who the fella was and what the numbers mean. How ironic that I ended up in real estate, hey?

Anyway, Jeffery says hi and that he loves you. Serena says hi too and they can't wait to see you walking out of here! The boys are great and send kisses. They want Grandpa back to play street hockey with - they say you're the best goalie ever!

Sweetie? Sweetie? Can you hear me?

I know you can. I know you're in there. I love you, you know how much I love you and I need you. I need you to get better. We all love you. Come back to us.

Alicia, come on, back to work. You can't sit with that old man every day. Besides he smells! Let him go. Let him die in peace. Our conscious patients need attention too. And stop making up stories - you're messing with his psyche. You can't replace everybody's family. Face it - some people just have shitty family. Or maybe they're all dead. Anyway, there's shift records to finish and evening clean-up. Let's go.