Izzy checks out Helen’s spanking new hospital bed, which can be raised or lowered electronically, great news for Warren’s legs.

Journal, cont from below:

  Izzy was in the room for several hours, and when things got frantic, he retreated into a corner. Otherwise, he patrolled, checking on Helen and Warren and the Hospice staff. He was almost entirely self-directed the entire time, and Joan, the Hospice caretaker, said he was amazing (so was she.) Izzy brightened a difficult time. Helen and he were flirting all morning. The odd thing is that visiting Helen and Warren is almost always fun. I’ve been reading Helen poems from Mary Oliver and Carl Sandburg, and we both agreed to do a line dance on the lawn as soon as it gets warm. “I’m scrappy for a sick old lady,” she said. Indeed.
  This morning, I’m taking Lenore to get her temperance certificate.

Helen, exhausted, took a rest around noon, and Izzy kept her company.