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She's sitting on my couch telling me about her ex-husband, but not once does she mention how she
got the bruises. I assume it's just a part of her life that she will not talk about. Everyone has those.
Then she starts to talk about how she feels so alone at times.

I start to tell her about Maria, how even when I was with her I still felt alone at times. I think to
myself, sometimes we are alone and in pain for so long that after a while we can't feel the
loneliness or the pain anymore. I tell Lynne that even if you find someone, there is still a chance
you will feel alone.

As I'm talking, the phone begins to ring. That damn ringing sound. I tell her that I'll be back, and I
answer the phone. It's the hospital, some lady telling me that they are going to move Joe to another
room. A room where they put other coma patients who have been in a coma for a long period of
time. I go back to the living room, and I find that Lynne has fallen asleep on my couch. I was gone
no more than five minutes.

I start to say her name out loud, but she's not waking up. I rub her shoulder, but she still doesn't
wake up. Deep asleep. I think to myself, what should I do. Just let her rest here until she wakes up?
I say her name out loud one more time, this time even louder, but she still doesn't wake up. At this
point I'm thinking of getting a large bucket of cold water, but instead I go to her apartment door
and I see if her door is open, and it is.

I decide that I will just carry her to her bed. It would probably be very weird to her if she woke up
on my couch in the morning. So I open her apartment door wide open and then I go back to my
apartment, I go back to her. I say her name louder one last time. And then I rub her shoulder harder
one last time. She still will not wake up. I pick her up, this tiny woman, and I carry her to her
bedroom and I place her in her bed. I look down at her for a little while. I wonder what she is
dreaming about, hoping that she is in some kind of peaceful place. Her utopia.

I look down at her legs but I can't see her fake leg because she's wearing jeans again, but I can
however see her feet. She didn't wear shoes when she was coming over to apologize. I'm looking at
this plastic foot, and then I reach out and touch it. I slide my hand across it. That cold plastic. This
one part of her body that doesn't have to deal with pain anymore.

I pull the blanket over her and as I'm walking away I hear her say something, but I can't understand
it. I turn around, and I realize she's talking in her sleep. She talks in her sleep.

I laugh and then I go across the hall, to the kids room. I put my hand on the doorknob, and I think
for a little while, and then I open it and I see David and Sarah sleeping. In the corner I see the
television on that high cabinet. David and Sarah should be arguing about what cartoons to watch,
but instead they have watch their mother take a beating in the places that are still prone to pain.

Chapter 14:
“SLEEP WHEN YOU'RE DEAD”

I'm leaving my apartment building and I notice the flowers. They are growing but they look funny
now, as if they are missing something. I wonder if Lynne planted them right. Now I'm at the