Kallie had gotten really close to Helena as a preteen and started to spend a lot of time at the youth center with her. When she was thirteen, we’d agreed to let her spend Christmas at Helena’s beach house since Helena’s kids weren’t able to come out that year. It was the only year they didn’t make at least a visit, and Helena was incredibly depressed. Dylan was away shooting footage somewhere in South America, and she was all by herself.

Things would have been fine if Kallie hadn’t gotten deathly ill while she was there. Alice and I had been having some problems getting her to comply with her diabetes treatments, and it had been pretty rough at home because of this for quite awhile. While at Helena’s, she’d stopped taking her insulin injections entirely, and it caught up to her a day after Christmas. Helena had found her unconscious in the guest bedroom at about one in the afternoon, and called the ambulance immediately.

It was a struggle, but Kallie pulled out of it. For a little while we’d all been concerned she was going to die, but somehow she pulled through with no real lasting damage. Helena was a different story; although we all told her she shouldn’t feel guilty for it since it wasn’t her fault, she still felt as though it was. Over the years she started to feel better, but it was obvious that she still always carried some residual guilt in the back of her mind.

We ate our sushi which was hairless and actually quite good, and Helena promised to come see Alice again the next day. As we left, she told me to call her at any time of the day or night. I agreed, and we went our separate ways.

By the time I got back to the hospital, Alice was done with her physical therapy for the day. She was sleeping when I arrived, and the nurse told me she’d had a really frustrating time working with the therapists. I sat with Al for awhile until she woke up a little and signed “go home and buy food,” at me, with a little smile. She didn’t look very good, and I sensed she wanted to be by herself, so I agreed. Before I left, though, she touched my shirt and smiled up at me. “Look nice,” she signed awkwardly. “Have fun.”

“I will. You rest up, sweetie. I’ll come back to see you soon. I love you,” I told her, leaving the hospital to go to the store and stock up for the cookout later.