“I’m just tired. Watching so much TV will do that to ya.” Then I felt bad for having said that, because there was no TV in her room at all. Which made sense, since she was supposed to be resting and the doctors still didn’t know how her brain would react to strong stimuli. Still, it made me feel bad, and looking at her I knew TV would be fine. She must have been so bored, just lying there all the time.

I’d been looking off into the distance while I thought those things, but a small noise escaping her made me turn back. She was looking at me, and when I’d turned back to her she brought her hand up and raised her index and pinkie fingers, along with her thumb.

“I love you too, baby,” I replied, suddenly misting over as I took her hand and kissed her palm. She tried to smile at me and then took her hand back, and brought it to her ear in the shape of a phone handset.

“A phone? Is that what you were looking for?” I asked, having no idea why she’d be doing that since she couldn’t exactly call anyone. “Do you want me to call someone?”

She blinked yes, and brought her hand down a little and signed an S. Then an H. By the time she got to the A I was already talking. “I can call Shane from my room, Al.”

She stopped trying to sign and then gave what I interpreted as a little shrug. Somehow, although I still have no idea how I was able to, I understood what she meant. “I don’t remember the sign for her name either,” I said. I felt a little stupid for it, but we’d never really referred to her in sign, and although she’d had a special name sign when Bette was dating Jodi long ago, the rest of us had never really used it since Jodi was so good at lip-reading.

“I’ll ask Jenny the next time I see her,” I told Alice. She just heaved a sighed in response, then made the sign for “I love you” before she started spelling out Shane again.

“You…want me to tell her you love her?” I asked, puzzled. “She already knows that, Al.” Of course, I’d have made any call Alice wanted me to for any reason, but I didn’t understand why she wanted me to call Shane to tell her that. At her frustrated sound I guessed I’d been wrong, though.