I nodded, spread my feet farther apart, and smiled at him. I don’t think he registered Sir at all.When we got to the penthouse level, the doors open...d, but there was no one there. We walked to his condo door, he unlocked it, and we went in. He turned around, hung up his coat, locked the door, then took me by the arm into the bedroom. He reached into the clutch purse, retrieved the remote, and shut off the vibrator. Putting down the purse, he turned me away from him, and pushed me, indicating. "BK or Micky D's?"Lunch. That's right. This was our routine. Ug. The thought of fast fooddidn't sit right with me. I hadn't eaten at either of those restaurantsin a long time. As an adult my palette changed to other cuisines. Ididn't want to eat at any of those places. I had an idea."You know what I haven't had in a while," I said. "A decent New Jerseypizza. I've been living off that Papa Johns poor imitation for the pastfew weeks." Whoops. I said that last sentence out loud."What do you mean?. Somewherean imagined cosmic music seemed to echo with the faint gypsy music Icould hear coming from the old Inn's common room, and it was a hypnoticrhythm. In this day of machines and science I could not tell if the thisold Shaman was scientist,witch doctor or demi God of Old. Was he likeMerlin, a Druid or something new. A man of science? The veil of sciencewas moving or was it the magic of the old times, present now and forever.A portal to a different side of the human soul.The woman. At least, that's our opinion."Ben said, "It's my opinion, too." Erin smiled and put her arm around his waist.They sat down to a light breakfast and then went upstairs to shower and dress for the hospital.By the time they returned, Carol was downstairs, dressed and ready to go. Erin's brothers were still in bed.Miz Jones said, "I'm going to take you to the hospital. If you're ready, let's go." They all left and went to the hospital. Ben and Carol found that their mother had been moved to ICU.