The following morning I got up and had some coffee and toast. I sat in silence only wearing the nighty that I had slept in.The next several hours were...spent tidying the apartment and packing my meagre wardrobe into a small suit case. All that I owned was in that case. Cheap panties and bras, a couple of skirts including the imitation leather one that I wore for work. In my purse was a couple of pound coins, enough for the bus ride into town.I put on a short black dress, panties, bra, black. I plopped down on the padded bench to the right; my buds took the one across from me.“You guys interrupted what was working out to be a perfectly good evening of depression,” I said, not exactly smirking when I said it.“Yeah, well, what the hey, we’re here to make your evening even more of a downer,” said Sammy.“Yeah, well thank you for that,” I said.“Let me interrupt this truly wonderful moment of morbidity,” said Henry.I tilted my glass indicating he should feel free.“Jimmy, you’ve gotta stop. ’ Then she told him, ‘I have to go now. The other children are calling me.’ She closed her eyes. A minutes later she was gone.’ The two of us sat there, tear streaming down our cheeks. ‘Jeremy walked out of that hospital with a determination that was frightening. He decided he would become a doctor. Eventually he confided that he wanted to do everything he could to make certain no other big brothers had to go through what he had,’ Madeline said. ‘He has stayed true to that goal since he was. Marjorie said bluntly, “Your father and I were at the same party. We saw Matt and Joan there, too. We’ve been going to parties like that for about five years.”A very long silence ensued. I sure wasn’t going to say anything, and neither was Joan. Penny and Doug glanced at me and as expected they wisely kept their mouths shut, but looked to Misty for a response. Misty waited to see whether there was more. She caught my eye and I winked at her.Misty didn’t react to my wink and asked her mother in.