Maunter never married and had few friends, and devoted all of hiswaking hours to his work. His greatest pleasure was spending long hours athis desk, r...viewing patients' files, analyzing the accumulated data, andplanning exactly what to do. His "aha moments" were as satisfying to him asthose of a research scientist who has made a great breakthrough, or anengineer who managed to find a solution to a seemingly intractable problem.He was as proud of his results as an artist is of his paintings or a. “Mimi gets some changes. Makes it hers. I’m glad she’s close to the same size.” Her eyes brightened. “She’s one of us, you know...”“One of you?” I asked.“Yeah. Did you ever read that Stephen King novel, ‘The Stand‘?”I shook my head.“Apocalyptic novel. Plague wipes out most of the human race. The rest are drawn ... The good are drawn together...”“And you think Mimi’s one?”“I’m certain of it. Her path was different getting here. Everybody’s path is different. But she’s here and she’s one of us. I am in a skilled nursing home now with almost one hundred other senior citizens.My husband and I had occupied a room as a single resident unit and that meant that my fifty percent share was now one hundred percent and I was considering a move to a less expensive location but for the fact that I was suffering from a need for proximity to medical attention with regard to my long term problem with an erratic heartbeat. I had learned to cope with that fact and was quite careful about taking my. With all the lace it is beautiful, but probably very delicate. If you want, I'll buy it for you, but you'll have to promise to hand wash it only. No putting your pretties into a washing machine!" No, I don't want a bra and panties. Please, let's get moving." I spoke almost in a whisper, afraid that my voice would cause unwanted attention. I noticed that people would briefly stare at me as they passed us in front of the lingerie display, but I couldn't tell if the gazes were just the usual, or.