I need you. I miss you. I need you...”“Ray, RAY, wake up, come on Ray, wake up?” It was Susan. “Don’t worry, I’m here. I’m here to help ...ou find out about dad.”“What’s going on?” mom stumbled through my doorway covering herself with a robe, “What is it, Raymond? Did you have a dream? A dream about your father?”Why was everyone talking so loud?Still shaking, but comforted by Susan, I took a couple of deep breaths, then I looked at Susan, who said, “It was a dream about Dad, it sounded like. Go. She colored rather prettily, I thought. "Oh, you *are* mean." First law of teasing: don't dish it out if you can't take it in return." I'll keep that in mind." She looked at me thoughtfully for a second. "Natalie is a very lucky girl." I'm flattered, though I'd argue that I'm the lucky one in the relationship--after all, I'm with her. But, enough about me. Don't you have someone back home we can talk about?" Not really, though that was what I wanted to talk to you about."Now, *that* was a bit. They should visit her and preach at her instead,” I chuckled as I dug into the burger that they got me, nice and loaded with onions and barbeque sauce.“One milkshake coming up, too! Mine is nice, though I don’t know if it will bring all of the boys to the yard,” Curtis joked as he handed me my chocolate shake, while drinking his strawberry one.Stephanie nearly spat out her shake when she heard that comment, giggling at the idea, “Maybe we should stand out there with the shakes and see if they. Just hug your bear and think of me. You can do it.”“OK,” she said. “For you, I can do it.”“Good. Sleep well, Kara!”“You too,” she said.I hung up. Kara was in really, really bad shape. I hoped that Doctor Mercer could at least get her back to functioning again. I wondered how she managed work in the state she was in. I’d have to ask Nancy when I called on Wednesday to check and make sure she’d gone to the appointment.I decided to call Bethany because I hadn’t talked to her in a while. She was.