"Oh," the teen said, coming, to a quick halt. "I didn't know you had company, Mom. I was just going to remind you it's almost time to go to the hospital."

"Yes, dear," Betty Sue said, "I'm keeping my eye on the time. But tell me, Erik, don't you recognize your Aunt Barbara?"

"Aunt Barbara?" the teen said, "is it really you? I haven't seen you in years. You're much prettier than I remember you being."

"And you, my pet," Barbara Jean said, "are too. Come, give me a big tight hug."

Betty Sue watched her sister pull her son in for a close embrace, making very sure it was chaste all the way. Surely she wouldn't, Betty thought, not with her own nephew!

Breaking the hug, rushing off to get something to eat, Erik told Barbara that he'd talk to her later.

"See," Betty Sue said, "didn't I tell you? And he's right, too, I do have to get ready to go to the hospital. Do you think you can handle fixing dinner alone? The things are all ready in the kitchen, all you have to do is throw them together."

"Betts," Barbara Jean said, "just get ready and leave. I can take care of cooking. Perhaps Erik can help, if he stays around long enough, that is."

Laughing, Betty Sue went to her room to change into her best dress. After all, she wanted to look real good for Johan when she saw him in the hospital.

Betty Sue arrived on time, parking in the hospital lot and going up the stairs to the second floor. Johan's room was just down the corridor in the special observation wing, a room he shared with one other person. Betty Sue was anxious to see him, so she hurried past the nurses and interns, almost ignoring them. Then, just two doors away from her destination, some peculiar groaning sounds brought her to an abrupt halt.

Perhaps someone's dying, or needs a doctor, she thought, freezing in her tracks and turning toward the partly opened door leading to someone's room.