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you, too, Jean. I'll be back as soon as I can."
    When she was gone, Jean gestured for Carol to help her sit up. Carol picked a remote control off the nightstand. "This will make the top half of the bed move up," Carol said. "That way you won't have to bend so much. Ready?"
    "Yes," Jean said. Carol pushed the button and the top of the bed moved her into a sitting position.
    The shift in the blood supply in her body brought a wave of new aches and pains. It felt as if her right knee was pretty screwed up as well; there was, in fact, a thick bandage wrapped around her right leg from the top of her calf to halfway up her thigh. An IV ran into the back of her left hand. But she didn't feel any bandages on her ribs beneath her wrinkled green hospital gown. She wondered what had become of her clothes. Carol carefully sat on the bed beside her. Jean offered her her right hand and Carol took it.
    "You really had us scared," Carol said.
    "Have you been here a lot?" Jean asked.
    "Most of the time. To tell you the truth, the doctor didn't know if you were going to wake up or not. Not until early this morning."
    "He could tell then?"
    "Si. Don't ask me how. It was only this morning they moved you out of intensive care. You should have seen yourself yesterday and the day before.
    You had a ton of tubes and wires hooked up to your body."
    "Sounds kinky." Jean considered. "What's the deal with Lenny?"
    "What are you talking about?"
    "What you and my mother are afraid to talk about I saw the looks you gave each other when I asked about him. What's going on?
    Why isn't he here?"
    Carol sighed; she was trapped. "Jean, what do you remember about last Friday night?"
    Jean frowned. "Everything, I think, up until I fell. I remember we had that stupid fight about whether to waste Juan or not. Then I ran out onto the balcony. I remember staring out over the city." She paused.
    "And the fireworks."
    "What fireworks?"
    "There weren't any fireworks?"
    Carol laughed. "You must have seen those after you fell."
    "No. I remember—just before I fell—the whole city was lit up with colored lights. And I felt so happy." She stopped and shook her head. "But you're right, they couldn't have been fireworks. Who would be setting them off in the middle of the night?" She studied Carol. Her friend had yet to answer her question.
    "You tell me what happened last Friday. Where were you when I fell?"
    "I was in my car, on my way home."
    "What? You left Lenny's house without me?"
    Carol shrugged. "Lenny told me to go. Jean, don't look at me that way. You were out on that balcony for so long. It didn't look like you were ever coming back in."
    "How long is so long?"
    "More than half an hour."
    "I wasn't out there that long. No way."
    "Yes, you were. I came up behind you and called your name and you ignored me. You were out there at least thirty minutes when I left the house."
    "Was Darlene still there when you left?"
    "Yes." Carol thought for a moment. "It might have been Darlene who said I should go, instead of Lenny. Yeah, I think it was her."
    "And you just did what she said without talking to me first?"
    "I told you, I tried to get your attention but you weren't answering. I figured you wanted to be alone. Or at least alone with Lenny."
    "This is too weird. What does Lenny say happened?"
    Carol hesitated. "I don't know. I haven't talked to him."
    "Why not?"
    Carol averted her eyes. "I don't know how to tell you this. Lenny was on the balcony when you fell. He fell with you. He's in this hospital right now, but he's in worse shape than you."
    Jean could feel her heart pound. "How worse?"
    Carol's eyes filled. "He broke his back in the fall. It looks like he's paralyzed from the waist down."
    "Oh, God," Jean whispered. She thought of Lenny's beautiful body, his powerful legs—now as good as dead. How could this have happened? Why did the balcony suddenly collapse? Carol was shaking her head.
    "I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't trying to keep the truth from you. It's