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the emergency room when she had been admitted. When parents or guardians weren’t the ones to bring in a child, the child was treated like any other indigent. She got whomever was on duty.
    â€œAmy, you’ve got to fight, do you hear me?” Cherisse whispered. “Fight to stay here with us.”
    She was still standing there holding Amy’s hand when Gerald returned. “Dr. Mahoney’s on the way. He says good call on the phenobarb.”
    Cherisse smiled. Some doctors became incensed when a nurse diagnosed and prescribed on the spot the way she had done.
    Dr. Phillip Mahoney was well-liked by the nurses because of his unerring belief that good nurses were essential to the well-being of his patients.
    â€œHe’s one of the good guys,” she said of Dr. Mahoney. Then she left Gerald alone with his patient.
    It was after one before Cherisse got a chance to grab some lunch. She sat at a table outside at the cafeteria annex on the first floor. All of the umbrella-topped tables were occupied with either hospital staff or visitors, even the occasional ambulatory patient on a normal diet who was tired of eating in his room.
    It was also the only place where you could use your cell phone. They were prohibited inside the building.
    She dialed the house. She and Danielle lived with her mother in a Victorian that had been in the Patterson family for over a hundred years. Her mother, Joann—called Jo by friends and family—often threatened to move to Arizona with her sister, Bettye, and leave the house to Cherisse. She never believed her because Jo was too wrapped up in the community. She thought her mother would die without her circle of friends. Besides, living in that big house without Jo around wouldn’t be half as much fun.
    Jo picked up on the fourth ring. Cherisse figured she’d interrupted her mom’s favorite soap, All My Children. “Mmm, huh, hold on just a second,” Jo said. “Adam Chandler’s about to profess his love for his ex-wife and beg her to come back to him, again!”
    â€œWill he ever learn?” Cherisse asked.
    â€œI doubt it,” Jo said. She laughed loudly. “Oh, my, she turned him down. That’ll just make him try harder.”
    â€œRich men,” Cherisse said, “don’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
    â€œYou’ve got that right,” Jo chortled. “That’s why I like him. Okay. He’s gone now. What’s up, baby?”
    â€œHow did your granddaughter get to school today?” Cherisse wanted to know.
    â€œDon’t worry, she didn’t take the car,” Jo said. Cherisse had forbade Danielle to drive her car to school for two weeks because Danielle had let someone else drive it, violating the terms of the insurance policy on the car. The only persons listed in the policy were Danielle and Cherisse.
    â€œI think I saw Echo’s car in the driveway this morning,” said Jo.
    Echo was Edward James Thornton, also a senior and Danielle’s best friend. Cherisse might have been leery of Danielle’s spending so much time with a guy if not for the fact that Echo was obviously gay. He hadn’t come out to friends or family yet, but Cherisse didn’t know any straight men who could cook, sew and knew all the songs from the Broadway musical Rent .
    Of course his being able to cook and sew could be attributed to the fact that he was the only child of a single working mother, and his mother had taught him the skills so he would be able to take care of himself in her absence. But loving musicals, in Cherisse’s experience, was not a male thing. Charlie used to complain loudly and vociferously whenever she rented one. When she was growing up her father used to leave the room whenever she and her mom watched one on television.
    Edward James Thornton had earned his nickname because he was always mimicking any song he heard, singing them word for word. His