I found out that Barbara spent much of her time in a care facility in that city where I had seen her as part of a social program for terminally ill pa...ients. Although I was in a serious relationship and about to get engaged, she persuaded me to make plans to come and see her. I felt obligated. I felt sad. I felt like it was the right thing to do. I arranged to visit with her at the facility.Two Fridays later, I made the long trip to see her. I waited in a large visiting room until someone. They watched a little long as the colours changed and the being gave off that alive feeling to them that living organisms projected.“Hello?” a teenage-sounding girl’s voice said.“Hello, do you know who you are?” Penny asked excitedly.“Ooh! This is a nice place, so much information. Hum, there are messages. Oh dear! My parent had to go into preservation mode. Catastrophic failure. Ionic and magnetic storm disruption. Android malfunction. Main power lost. Shield spells lost. I have no name. And these pants are really tight... and it was uncomfortable, so I unzipped them. That's why I grabbed the blanket." I looked at them, hoping they believed it and had forgotten it was Emily who had grabbed the blanket.I don't know if they bought it, but neither Caleb nor Mary said anything further.As we said our goodbyes in the doorway, Mary leaned back into the house and gave Emily a quick kiss on the cheek. "I had a wonderful time tonight. It was so good meeting you, Emily, we'll have to get. " That's good. I still need to talk with Alan, though."I know my Dan. He cares about people. Alan was his friend, and he was thinking about what Alan might be thinking. Still, he's MY Dan, and I get to say things to him. "Just be supportive. Like you are with me!" No other way to be, sweetness," he told me.As soon as we got to our trailer, he got on the phone."Hey, Alan, how's things?" he said into the phone. Pause. "Yep! News travels fast. Cindy showed me pictures!" Pause. "Uh-huh." Pause. "So.