Page 105 - www.composition1.com

when it is Lynne instead. Lynne tells me about how Kathleen told her she's been diagnosed with
diabetes. I ask her what type, but she says Kathleen never mentioned it over the phone.

Now Lynne is laughing while she looks at the ceiling. I ask her why she is laughing and she pauses.
It was a nervous laugh.

Lynne says that Kathleen didn't call me and tell me herself because she thinks I find her to be
annoying. Kathleen is more observant than I've given her credit for. Lynne looks at a small device
she is holding in her hand and realizes that it is beyond time for her to go, and she says goodbye.
After she walks away I am left with the visualization of what used to be Joe's door. A truly empty
home for a man who is truly undefined.

I get a feel of nostalgia and decide to go to the hospital to see how he is doing, or maybe I'm
actually hoping that Kathleen is there and I can pretend that she isn't annoying. I get on a bus that is
almost completely empty except for one young man who looks as if he is coming from school. As
I pass him by he looks up at me and gives me a light greeting.

As far as I travel, I still end up getting off before him and once again he is a lone traveler. The night
will do that to you sometimes.

When I get to the hospital, Joe is still in the same room and looks exactly as I last saw him when I
visited with Tao. Kathleen is not present, but considering she has just been diagnosed with
diabetes, type unknown, there's always a chance she's not too far from here. For a moment I want
to ask one of people who works there if they have a Kathleen White in the building, but I quickly
come back to my senses.

Clothes. I haven't seen Joe in clothes that he has chosen himself in a long time. Appearances may
be deceiving, but they might also play a role in discovering the type of person someone is. The way
a person styles their hair, or even the way they don't bother with it. The colors they prefer, the
colors that they don't. The kind of smell they want to give off, the size of their shirt or pants, the
shoes they wear in a certain situation. Some people try to appear pleasing one hundred percent of
the time because they never know who they might meet, others only try to appear pleasing when
they are trying to meet someone, otherwise it's not as big of a deal.

A nurse walks by and and asks me if I am family or a friend. I lie and tell her that I'm a friend.
Either answer would be a lie I guess.

She tells me how he's been here for a long time, then I ask if he is getting any better. She tells me
that he hasn't really changed at all, for better or for worse, then goes on to tell me that it's really up
to him if he wants to get out of it or not, then she gets a call and is needed elsewhere. Not to say she
was needed here.

What she says gets me thinking, thinking if a person's will to live plays a role in their identity, but
enough of that. I need to go back home. I make my way out of the room and then make my way to
the first floor of the hospital. I begin to walk down a hallway which leads to the building's exit, but
along the way there will be a woman named Julia sitting in one of the hospital's many waiting