"Do you think we'll be able to help him? Jenna asked. 

"I'd expect so," Buzz muttered as he and Harley looked over copies of the report that Jenna had given them. "Unless she's in a witness protection program." 

"This all we have to go on?" Harley frowned. "Just the name, 

'Thelma Schwarz', and the high school she graduated from in 1950?" 

"He hasn't seen her since," said Jenna. 

"What is this, like 'Rosebud' or something?" 

"Dad!" 

"I think Buzz may be close to the truth," Jenna explained to the sceptical Harley. "Alfie wasn't too... particular." 

"Alfie! You're calling a client 'Alfie'? I told ya you'd better watch out for this one," Harley winked at her father. 

"Listen, I have complete confidence in my wife's fidelity--with any octogenarian!" 

"But Alfie's a septuagenarian," Jenna corrected him with a mischievous glint in her eye. 

"In that case, I'll handle it!" cried Buzz. 

"Could you guys be serious for awhile?" admonished the humorless Harley. "Jenna, did you try to drag any details out of him?" 

"I didn't want to tax his strength," said Jenna. "The poor man isn't at all well." 

"Well, it could cost him a pretty penny if this is all we have to go on." 

"I know, I know," agreed Jenna. "I told him I'd meet him this afternoon to see if he could remember anything else about Thelma Schwarz. Buzz, you want to come along with me?" 

"Yeah," said Buzz. "I gotta get to the courthouse anyway to give Ross Marler my deposition on the Castillo case. Hold down the fort, willya, Harley?" 

"Sure, I gotta Spaulding meeting anyway." 

"Okay. Let's go."

Buzz knocked impatiently on the door towards which they'd been directed by the landlady of the bed and breakfast where Alfred Williams was staying. "Are you sure he's in?" he asked Jenna. 

"Yes," she said. "I just called him to say we were coming. The landlady said he was here--" Suddenly, they heard a thud from within. 

"Alfie!" Jenna called. 

"Is there a problem?" the landlady, who had come up behind them, now asked. 

"There might be," said Buzz. "Do you have the key?" 

"Who are you? What is she doing?" 

Not wasting any time, Jenna was expertly unlocking the door with a nail file. Inside, Alfie was lying on the floor, unconscious. "My God!" 

Buzz felt for a pulse. "He's alive," he said. "Call an ambulance."

"I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions." 

"Yes, Dr. Rick," Jenna addressed Rick Bauer. "Is it about Alfie?" 

"Alfred Williams, yes. You two brought him in here, right?" 

"Yeah, how is he?" asked Buzz. 

"Is he a relative of yours?" 

"No," said Jenna. "Just a friend. We found him collapsed in his rooms." 

"Right. Do you know of any relatives of his?" 

"It's serious, isn't it?" guessed Buzz. 

"I really can't discuss a patient's condition without his permission," said Dr. Bauer. 

"Then why did you call us up here?" 

"Well..." Rick bit his lower lip. "You see, we haven't been able to find any medical records for Alfred Williams." 

"I thought he was conscious, Rick," Jenna said. "Why don't you ask him these questions?" 

"He's feeling much better," Rick assured her. "He says he has no relatives, and he has no doctor." 

"Well," Buzz shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't seen a doctor in fifty years. Guy's kinda eccentric, y'know?" 

"Oh, he's seen a doctor," said Rick. "He understands his condition very well... and, not to go into details, but it is serious." 

"What's wrong with him, Rick? Please," Jenna pleaded with her eyes. Dr. Bauer's resolve melted under her woeful countenance. 

"Look, in a nutshell, he's losing his lung capacity rapidly. That's the cause of the cough, that's why he's constantly out of breath... He's probably had the condition for a long time, at a very slowly developing pace, but the tissue destruction has accelerated. My guess is, he's already undergone chemotherapy and it hasn't worked, but without his records--" 

"Chemotherapy?" Jenna cried out in alarm. 

"Yes." 

"So, you want to resume that?" Buzz asked. 

Rick shook his head. "Probably not," he said. "Look... All I can really do is see that he has pure oxygen to breathe when he needs to, and to get him someplace where he's comfortable, because he's not going to be able to take care of himself for very long." 

"He doesn't have long to live," mumbled Jenna. 

Dr. Bauer sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's a rather rare type of the disease. He's not in any real pain, and he's not going to be. Essentially, he's slowly drowning from a buildup of fluid in his lungs. He's quite well enough to see you, though. If I could check his medical records--it would be a help." With that, Dr. Bauer left them 
alone in his office. 

"Wow," whistled Buzz. "How you feelin'?" 

"How am I feeling?" Jenna wondered at his query. "It's poor Alf that's sick." 

"I know you like the guy." 

"Yes, I do," Jenna admitted sadly. 

Buzz struggled to find the words to cheer his wife up. "I--If you're going to be all right, I'll be on my way to Kansas City." 

"Kansas City?" Jenna wondered. 

"Finding Thelma Schwarz must be something very important to him," Buzz tenderly explained. "If we don't have much time--I think I should be on my way right now." 

With enormous, if somewhat inexplicable, gratitude, Jenna rushed to embrace her wonderful husband. "Buzz, if you could, I'll see to Alfie's needs here." 

"No sweat, Petula. I'll look up ol' Doc Karshish while I'm there. Tell the kids I'll be back soon." After a loving kiss, he was gone.

"Well, you don't look so bad," Jenna grinned when she entered the hospital room to find Alfie pouring over some technical journal. 

"I'm fine," he said sheepishly. 

"You didn't look so fine yesterday. You gave us a terrible fright." Jenna sat next to him on the edge of the bed. 

"I just had a little dizzy spell," Alfie lied, but with an exquisite tenderness for her in his eyes. 

"Well, the Doc tells us you haven't been very cooperative," said Jenna. 

"Oh," Alfie looked down. "It's just that--I've tried what he wants to do, and it hasn't worked out, so... All I want now is to have the chance...to get to know someone."

"Yes." Jenna took his trembling hand into her own. "Don't worry about that. We're going to find Thelma for you. Buzz is on his way to Kansas City at this very moment to look for her." 

"Right," muttered Alfie. "I'll pay you ahead of time--" 

"Alfie!" 

"No, I insist," declared Alfie decisively. "You should be paid for your work. I only wish I had a more interesting case to offer you." 

"Ha! If you only knew," laughed Jenna. 

"Knew what?" 

"Our typical cases," she explained. "Mostly we handle divorces, and repossessions--" 

"You don't enjoy your work?" Alfie asked. 

"Well," Jenna admitted. "It can be a bit sleazy at times... and tedious. Somehow, I thought it would be more exciting when we started. I'm a bit addicted to excitement," Jenna grinned sheepishly. "At least, so everyone says." 

"What do you say?" 

"I guess...We've had some wonderful cases, though. A lot of work for Spaulding Enterprises--we have an in with them through Buzz's daughters, though Harley's divorced now--and once, we proved a man innocent who'd been convicted of murder. That alone makes it all worthwhile." 

"How'd you do that?" Alfie wheezed. 

"We found a surveillance tape proving that he'd been on the other side of town at the time of the killing. There'd been three eyewitnesses pinning him to the scene, but eyewitnesses are actually the least reliable evidence there is." 

"I'm not surprised," nodded Alfie. "People see what they want to see. Hard evidence is what you can count on." 

Jenna picked up the journal he'd been reading when she came in. "Engineering," she muttered, leafing through its pages. "You see, Alfie, I told you you were smart." 

"Just a hobby," he said, and suddenly underwent a violent coughing spell. "I really have to sit up," Alfie sputtered, rising from the bed to sit in a chair. "Lying down is the only thing that bothers me. Really." 

Jenna helped him to his seat and propped a pillow behind his back. "Alfie," she tentatively suggested. "Do you have anyone to take care of you?" 

"Oh, I'll be fine," he replied, pretending to clear his throat when he was oviously striving mightily to suppress another hacking spell. 

"I'm making you talk too much...Look!" Jenna clapped her hands with a flash of inspiration. "Why don't you come stay at the firehouse?" 

"The firehouse?" Alfie repeated. 

"Where Buzz and I live." 

"Oh, I couldn't--" 

"No, you don't understand," said Jenna. "It's two stories--Buzz and I used to live on the ground floor, but he fixed up the upper level and now we live there. We only use the first story for storage now, but we could fix it up for you to live in with no trouble at all." 

"I--" 

"I'd feel better if I could keep an eye on you, Alfie." 

"W-Why?" Alfie asked. 

"I-I don't know," Jenna admitted after a moment's reflection. "Because--because you stopped to help me--on the side of the road." 

Alfie wanted to say 'No', he knew he had to say 'No'. "All right," he said. "I'd be very happy to stay with you...Jenna." 

"I know the place isn't very luxurious," Jenna commented after showing 
Alfie around his new home. 

"It's fine," he wheezed. "You shouldn't have put yourself out--" 

"We just moved some old furniture around," said Jenna. "The children helped; well, Fatima was more trouble than help, but the boys were useful, and Buzz's granddaughter, Marina, pitched in, too. She's upstairs with the children now." 

"That was very nice of them." 

"They're good kids...Hey, I know what you're thinking! 'Where do I sleep?'" 

"I'll sleep on the couch." 

"Good guess, Mr. Williams!" laughed Jenna. "It's an old pullout bed. See?" She demonstrated how to convert the beaten-up sofa into it's sleeping configuration, then stopped to stare at the bed for a second. "'Fraid the springs are worn," Jenna giggled. "Seen a bit of action in its day." 

"Oh?" Alfie raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes. My eldest son was conceived in that bed...Why am I telling you something like that?" Jenna cried out in mortified amazement. "I apologize, Alfie." 

"You don't ever have to apologize to me," said Alfie tenderly. 

"No, somehow, I don't believe that I do," agreed Jenna. 

"But..." She looked at her watch. "There are some people that I'm very anxious for you to meet, if you're feeling up to it." 

"If it's who I think it is," replied Alfie, "I can't wait!"

'Hello, Mr. Williams," Coop shook Alfie's hand. 

"How are you?" Alfie greeted him. 

"And this is Rocky," Jenna introduced her younger son. 

"How do you do, Rocky?" Alfie offered this boy his hand. 

"Wow, you look sick," noted Rocky sagely. 

"Rocky!" cried Jenna. 

"What a jerk!" Coop rolled his eyes to the heavens. 

"Nonsense!" laughed Alfie. "I see that Rocky's the only honest member of the family. Yes, Rocky, I am ill. I hope you won't hold that against me." 

"I get sick sometimes," answered Rocky sympathetically. "Mom takes care of me." 

"I'll bet she does," said Alfie. "And I think I know you already," he reached out to Fatima. 

"Are you a ghost?" the little girl asked, having more or less gotten the gist of the previous conversation. 

"Not yet," replied Alfie, glancing towards Jenna, who had by this time buried her face in her hands. "But if I ever am, I promise you I'll be a friendly ghost." 

"Like Caspar?" Fatima cried, now running into his arms. 

"Like Caspar," Alfie assured her with a gentle kiss. 

"I'm Marina Cooper," the raven-haired teenager now introduced herself. 

"Their niece, believe it or not," explained Jenna. 

"Marina, I owe you an apology," said Alfie. 

"You do?" Marina frowned. 

"Yes, you see, I didn't know you would be here, so I neglected to bring you a present." 

"Presents?" the other children shouted. 

"Alfie, you didn't have to do that," Jenna told him. 

"If I'd had to, they wouldn't be presents, now would they?" smiled Alfie as he reached into one of the bags that was lying on the floor. "Now, you guys like baseball, don't you?" he asked the boys. 

"Yes," they answered. 

"Then maybe you'd be interested in this." He tossed a scruffy old ball to them. "It's got an autograph on it." 

The boys looked for it. "Babe Ruth!" they shouted simultaneously. 

"That's right," Alfie wheezed. "And it's real, too. My father got that autograph." 

"Wow...! Is this a ball the Babe hit for a home run?" 

"Uh, well," Alfie nodded, but then he reluctantly explained: "Actually, it was a foul ball off third." 

"Alfie--" Jenna started. 

"I want them to have it." 

"But that must be valuable--" 

"Thank you, Mr. Williams," said Coop reverently. 

"Thank you," echoed Rocky. 

"There," Alfie said with deep satisfaction. "That's more valuable to me than anything." 

"What about me?" Fatima cried out impatiently, stomping her right foot on the floor. 

"For you, Ti," said Alfie, "I have something not quite as old, but very much prettier. Just like you." He now pulled out from his bag an old rag doll with reddish-brown hair, braided, as it happened, exactly like Fatima's. 

"Oh!" the enraptured girl exclaimed. "What's her name?" 

"Her name's whatever you want it to be. She's yours to name," Alfie grinned. 

"I'll name her...Alice," declared Fatima. "Alice through the looking glass." 

"Alice...is a lovely name," the old man faltered. It was clear to Jenna that he needed his rest. 

"All right," she clapped her hands. "Everyone upstairs for dinner...Alfie," she added once the children had gone. "I'll be back with something for you after I've fed them. Would that be all right?" 

"You don't have--" 

"I'll be back," declared Jenna firmly, and left without waiting 
for his answer.

"I hope you like Italian." 

"You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble," said Alfie. 

"Not so much trouble, I had it delivered," admitted Jenna ruefully. "I'm not much of a cook, you see." She began taking out some dishes from a cabinet. "Have you gotten a good look at the place?" Jenna asked while she was setting the table. "Bathroom's in there. Find any money, it's mine," she laughed. 

"I don't get it," said Alfie. 

"It's a long story. Wine with your meal?" Jenna asked, pulling out a bottle of chianti. 

"No, I..." Alfie held up a hand in refusal. 

"Oh," said Jenna. "I'm sorry. You probably can't drink alcohol in your condition." 

"It's not that...I--uh--I'm an alcoholic." 

"Ah...Perhaps you'd like a cuppa tea, then?" 

"That would be nice."

Sitting down to their dinner, Alfie said to Jenna: "Feel free to have the wine if you like. It doesn't bother me." 

"No," said Jenna. "I'll save it for Buzz and I. Wouldn't want the whole bottle, after all." 

"That's my problem. I would," Alfie blushed. 

"Don't worry about it," Jenna reassured him. "There was a time in my life when I was well on my way to a drinking problem...Really!" she exclaimed to Alfie's incredulous gaze. "There was a time when, if I was very sad or upset about something, well, I would just keep myself going nonstop about one thing or another all through the day, just to distract myself. But when the night came, and there were no distractions, I would take a bottle, and pull the covers over my head, 
and drink myself into oblivion." 

"That was a bad habit to get into," commented Alfie warily. 

"Worse than you know," said Jenna. "When I went through my worst spell of this--when I was sadder than I'd ever been in my entire life--I found out that I was pregnant with my firstborn." 

"Coop?" 

"Yes, little Coop. I was absolutely terrified. I'd lost a child before, you see, and now I was certain that I'd blindly harmed the baby inside me. Buzz's baby, and mine..." 

"But, Coop's fine..." 

"Yes," Jenna smiled. "By the grace of God, he was unharmed. But I stopped drinking on the spot, and I've never gone back to it since, except for the occasional glass of wine during a meal." 

"And when you get sad now?" 

"I never get sad like that now," said Jenna. "Or, I should say, no matter how blue I may become--happiness just keeps on breaking through.... And three kids and a husband are enough distraction for a lifetime, believe me," she concluded merrily before finally getting down to her meal..."Alfie," Jenna addressed her friend between bites. "You have any children?" 

Fork in mid-air, Alfie froze for an instant before replying: "No. No, it-it just wasn't in the cards for me." 

"Well, you're spared much embarrassment then. I really have to apologize for what Rocky said before--" 

"Out of the mouths of babes," Alfie interrupted her. 

This time, Jenna hesitated. "They're really good kids," she said at last. 

"I can see that," smiled Alfie with great satisfaction. "Why don't you tell me about them?" 

"Tell you about them? All right," Jenna agreed. "Where shall I begin?" 

"You might begin with their names," suggested Alfie. "I assume 'Coop' and 'Rocky' aren't their real names."

"No," Jenna laughed. "First off, Fatima was named by her birth mother. It's a popular Arab name--" 

"Yes, from one of Muhammed's daughters," Alfie informed her. 

"Really? I didn't know that. Is there anything you don't know, Alfie?" 

"I don't know your sons' real names." 

"Right. Coop is Henry Bradshaw Cooper, and Rocky is Ian Grady." 

"Henry and Ian," Alfie repeated. "Tell me more about Henry and Ian." 

"Well, for one thing, I don't think they'd recognize themselves by those names!" Jenna laughed again. "And they're the apples of my eye--all three of them." Then, sadly, Jenna stared down at the remnants of her meal. "They all had difficult beginnings to their lives..." 

"How was that?" 

"Well..." Suddenly, Jenna looked to her watch. "Alfie," she said, "I hate to eat and run, but Marina's still watching the kids, and she has a date with her boyfriend tonight. She has to be getting along." 

"Go," Alfie commanded her. 

"I'll do the dishes--" 

"I'm not an invalid--yet," said Alfie firmly. "I will unpack by myself, and do the dishes, and see you whenever it's convenient... Jenna," he called out to her as she was leaving. 

"Yes?" 

"I haven't given you your present yet. And please don't say, 'You don't have to', because a lady gracious in all other things certainly ought to be able to accept a simple gift graciously as well." With this, Alfie reached down into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a gold ring tastefully studded with modest sapphires. "This is something of a family heirloom. It... It was my mother's. I'd like 
you to have it. I have no other use for it now." 

Automatically appraising the ring, Jenna saw that it was worth right around $1000. She knew she should refuse such an expensive gift from what was, after all, a near stranger to her, but the anxiety in Alfie's eyes argued otherwise. "Are you sure Thelma--?" 

"I want you to have it," insisted Alfie. 

Jenna quietly walked up to him. "All right," she said, laying a gentle kiss on Alfie's left cheek. "This is very kind of you. If you need anything, I'm right upstairs. You know the number..." 

After Jenna had left, Alfie painstakingly reassembled the pullout bed back into a couch. It was impossible for him to sleep lying down anymore. But despite the discomfort, he dreamt the sweetest dreams 
he had dreamt in over 40 years.

"Hi ya, sweetie." 

"So glad you called!" said Jenna over the phone. "My husband's 
out of town." 

"I am your husband!" cried Buzz. 

"Oh, my! Joke's on me, ain't it, matey?" 

"Oh, that's real funny!" 

"I thought so!" laughed Jenna. 

"Right," pouted Buzz. "So, how ya doin'? Lonely, I hope?" 

"Not a bit of it," his wife disappointed him. "Alfie's keeping me company. Speaking of which, have you got any leads on Thelma Schwarz?" 

"Too many," said Buzz. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Alfie said he's the same age as Thelma, right?" 

"Well, he said they went to high school together." 

"They're the same age," declared Buzz decisively. 

"Why do you say that?" asked Jenna. 

"Because I found TWO Thelma Schwarz's, three years apart, in Ben Franklin High School's 1950 yearbook." 

"Alfie's graduating class," noted Jenna. 

"Right. The younger one's still living in K.C., but she never heard of Alfred Williams." 

"What about the older one?" 

"Gettin' nowhere in finding her so far. Can you believe there's two Thelma Schwarz's? I'm gonna run some computer checks on the elder 
before going to bed." 

"Buzzy," purred Jenna. 

"What, Petula?" 

"I hate going to sleep without you." 

"Me, too," said Buzz. 

"You hate going to sleep without you?" 

"You know, Petula, you've gotten sillier and sillier ever since you met me." 

"I wonder why," purled Jenna. 

"Anyhow, I just wanted to hear your voice. Everything okay with the kids? Everybody?" 

"The kids are great, Marina was over today. Alfie's not so great, though." 

"He take a turn for the worse?" 

"Buzz..." Jenna started gnawing at an expertly manicured fingernail. "I was wondering--if you wouldn't mind--if Alfie might stay with us in the firehouse?" 

"With us?" 

"I mean downstairs. There's no one else there, and he does need a bit of looking after." 

"But--" 

"You wouldn't have to do anything, I would take care of him, to the extent that he needed taking care of, that is." 

"You really like the old coot, don't you?" said Buzz. 

"I suppose I do," admitted Jenna. "I don't know, there's something about him..." 

"Sure, why not?" replied her amiable husband. "I could move the old furniture--" 

"Don't bother, we already did it!" 

"You alrea--? Petula, is he already sleeping down there?" 

"Well, I don't know that he's asleep yet," answered Jenna. 

"Aarghhh! We'll talk about this when I get back!" 

"Make that soon, my love." 

"Soon as I can, Babe. Bye..."

Buzz was rather tired and accidentally chose the wrong option on his computer screen. Despite being alone, I guess it was just his lucky night.