I

The next day, which was Saturday, Ralph decided to visit Howard at the hospital. Ralph had gone through a hard time recently since he and his ex – wife, Karen McCarey, got a divorce. He hadn't been eating for the last few weeks because he had been depressed from the divorce. He had been happily married to Karen for over ten years. He didn't want the marriage to end now. Ralph had known Howard wasn't doing well because Richie had given him the updates on what was going on with Howard. Ralph felt sorry for his friend he had known since high school. He and Richie had lost Potsie a couple of years ago. Potsie Webber had become a famous country music singer after they graduated from high school and had made the number one charts and was one of the most famous popular country music singers. All of his songs and albums had hit number one.

Later that afternoon, Ralph ran into Fonzie in town. Fonzie had his toddler, Lester on his motorcycle.

"Hi, Fonz. Hi, Lester," Ralph said.

Ralph thought Lester Fonzarelli was a cute child for two years old. Lester had Fonzie's looks, with the hair and eyes. Lester gave Ralph his shyest look and had his thumb in his mouth.

"Real cute, Fonz. Real cute," Ralph said.

"You nerd, Malph. He's only a child. He don't know anything yet," Fonzie said.

"I know, Fonz. Wait until it's time for you to put him into school. Then he'll know stuff," Ralph said.

"I know that stuff already about puttin' kids in school. Mr. C told me yesterday about preschool," Fonzie said.

That's when Ralph began to crack up.

"I didn't know Howie knew about toddlers, Fonz. I thought he only knew about teenagers," Ralph said.

"I guess you were wrong, Malph. I guess Mr. C knows about everything," Fonz said.

"Where are you taking Lester, Fonz? The playground?" Ralph asked.

"We were gonna say hi to Tiff at her office and then we were gonna go to the park for a couple of hours. What are you doing in town?" Fonzie asked Ralph Malph.

"I was going to say hi to Mr. C in the hospital. It's too bad his ulcer's getting worse, you know," Ralph said.

"I know. It looks like he won't be around for the holidays, Malph. I feel bad for Red and Mrs. C," Fonzie said.

"I do too. You should feel bad for me since I'm now divorced. I didn't want that to happen. I thought Karen loved me," Ralph said.

"She does, Malph. Maybe she'll come back," Fonzie said.

"What do you know, Fonz? I know you know so much about women, but they never work out for me. Look how long Pots was married," Ralph reminded Fonzie.

"I know. The nerd was married for a long time. You were married over ten happy years and you adopted two boys. You'll still get to see them, won't you?" Fonzie asked.

"I will, Fonz. Just when I'm not teaching. You know, the summer and holidays," Ralph said.

"That ain't a long time, Malph. You should ask for a longer time than that," Fonzie said.

"I know, but that's how long the court decided, but besides Karen's the mother," Ralph pointed out.

Fonzie and Ralph said good – bye and Ralph got into his car while Fonzie put Lester on his back and jumped on his motorcycle and the two drove off. Fonzie went to Tiffany's office where she was a psychologist for children. When he and Lester arrived, he saw Tiffany's secretary and asked if he and Lester could see her. The secretary told Fonzie she was in with a patient or two.

"We'll wait," Fonzie said as the two sat down in the waiting room.

Lester started crying. Fonzie guessed he needed to use the restroom. Fonzie headed for the men's room and took his toddler child in. The secretary told Tiffany her husband was in. Tiffany said she'll see Fonzie in a few more minutes. The secretary noticed Fonzie had disappeared so she couldn't tell Fonzie what his doctor wife told her.

Ralph called Richie on the cell phone he had in his car and asked Richie what room Howard was staying in. Richie gave the room number.

"Thanks, Rich," Ralph said and hung up his cell.

Before they got off, Richie asked Ralph to tell Howard hi for him.

"I'll do that, Rich," Ralph said and parked in the visitor's parking lot at the hospital.

Ralph took the elevator to the third floor where Howard's hospital room was, since he got the room number from Richie. It took Ralph a while to find room 381. He knocked

before entering. He didn't hear Howard's voice telling him to come in, so he let himself in. When he walked in, he saw the bed full but found Howard sound asleep. Ralph found it the wrong time to visit since Howard was asleep. Ralph decided to write Howard a note telling him he came by. He figured he'll try again later that afternoon when Howard was awake.

Later that afternoon, Richie stopped by the hospital to visit Howard. Howard was awake, so he was able to chat with Richie.

"Hi, Dad," Richie said when he was in the room with Howard.

Both Richie and Howard saw Ralph Malph's note that Ralph left by Howard's bed.

"What's that, Richard?" Howard asked after saying hello to Richie.

"It's a note from Ralph, Dad. I guess he came by earlier," Richie said.

"What does the note say, Richard?" Howard asked.

Richie read the note to Howard.

When he finished, Howard said, "That Ralph doesn't stop the Howie, does he?"

"Guess not," Richie said.

The two chatted for a while. Richie had remembered he was going to take Richie Jr. to a doctor's appointment, so he couldn't stay long.

"I can't stay long, Dad. I've got to take Richie Jr. to a doctor's appointment," Richie said.

"Does it have something to do with his doing drugs?" Howard asked.

"I don't know what this appointment is all about, Dad. I'm sure we'll find out," Richie said.

"I know you're a good father, Rich. We know Fonzie's still learning," Howard said.

"I know Fonzie's learning, Dad. Danny's only an adopted child, but Lester is a birth child, so that's why he's learning to be a birth parent," Richie said.

Howard knew what Richie meant.

"I'm sure Fonzie will be a good father too, Richard. We'll wait and see how Lester turns out when he gets older," Howard said.

"Fonzie's been reading a lot of parenting books on how to be a good parent, Dad. He's finding retirement hard, but he'll get used to it sooner or later," Richie said.

"You need a job, Richard, but you can always take over Cunningham Hardware," Howard said.

"I know, Dad, but hardware isn't my thing. I don't know much about it like you do. I want to continue my column at a different newspaper, but no newspaper doesn't want my column," Richie said.

"Have you apologized to Potsie's son, Richard? If you haven't, you should apologize to the family and maybe they'll accept your apology," Howard said.

"I've tried doing that, Dad, but they didn't accept my apology. I've tried writing and calling, but they didn't write back or call, so forget apologizing," Richie said to Howard.

"Have it your way, Rich. If I were you, I'd keep trying and not give up so soon," Howard said.

Both father and son chatted for a while longer, then Richie left the hospital room to pick up his son at Jefferson High School. That's when Marion came in. She decided to have supper with Howard that evening at the hospital instead of being alone at home. She didn't want to be lonely again that night.

"Hello, Howard," Marion said when she walked into the hospital room.

"Hello, Marion," he said.

"I just saw Richard," Marion said.

"You did. He told me he had to pick up Richie Jr. from school so he could take him to his doctor's appointment," Howard told her.

"I hope Richie Jr. cooperates. He doesn't do well with his activities because he's involved with drugs," Marion reminded Howard.

"I know, Marion. We wanted another perfect Richard, but we didn't get it," Howard said, knowing how Marion felt about their grandson's involvement with drugs.

They knew Richie Jr. didn't sell drugs, so they were happy about it.

That's when Marion saw Ralph Malph's note.

"What's this?" Marion said, seeing the note.

"It's a note from Ralph Malph, Marion. I guess he came in when I was asleep earlier," Howard answered.

"That's sweet of Ralph. See how Richard has friends who care about you?" Marion asked her husband.

"Yes, Marion," Howard said.

Both Howard and Marion remembered that Ralph and his family ate with Fonzie and his family often with Richie's family, but would eat with Howard and Marion on the holidays, but not every holiday.

Howard's night nurse, George, came in when Howard and Marion were eating dinner. George came to give Howard his medicine. George told Marion he would like to take Howard's blood pressure once they finished eating.

"All right, Nurse," Marion told George.

When the nurse left, Howard asked about Joanie.

"Joanie's doing fine, Howard. She's having supper with Arthur and his family tonight. Chachi is over there with them too. She figured I wanted to be alone with you. She'll visit you tomorrow night around this time," Marion said, giving him their daughter's message.

"All right, Marion. I shall look forward to seeing Joanie tomorrow night," Howard said, taking a bite of ham Marion brought along with her.

He knew he how much he hated ham.

Howard didn't want to complain to Marion on how much he hated ham so he stayed quiet about it. Howard knew both Richie and Joanie were in their forties now. Richie was forty – five and Joanie forty – one going on forty – two. He and Marion had raised them well and now both Richie and Joanie were parents and doing their jobs raising children. Both Joanie and Richie have two children of their own. Richie had a son and a daughter while Joanie had two daughters.

Howard knew Potsie Webber's life was complicated: he raised triplets and had two grandchildren who were fraternal twins. He knew Potsie's life was complicated because when his grandchildren were teenagers, his grandson had almost died in a car accident and one of his sons is blind and paralyzed and is in a wheelchair while the other son is dyslexic and his daughter is serving life sentence. He knew Potsie had put his family on the prayer list on every single church when their family problems began.

Marion stayed with Howard for a couple of hours that evening since she wasn't anxious coming to a quiet and lonely house anymore the first day he was admitted to the hospital. At Fonzie's house, everyone was sitting down to dinner. Fonzie put Lester in the baby chair. Ralph came to the house alone that time because he and Karen had gotten separated. He didn't like the idea of divorce. He wanted to be like Potsie who had been married for several years. Tiffany and Lori Beth brought dinner to the table. Ralph sure was going to miss staying married for over ten years. He didn't bring Norman and Jay with him because Karen took the adopted boys with her. Richie, Chachi, and Ralph had liked how Fonzie furnished his niece's house since he had moved in after he and Tiffany had come back from their honeymoon. Chachi knew their niece Kylie would like the house herself.

"Fonz, Kylie's going to like the house," Chachi had told Fonzie.

"I know she's gonna like it, Chach. Do you know when she and Danny are coming back to visit from Los Angeles?" Fonzie asked.

"I don't know," Chachi said.

Chachi had moved back from Los Angeles from the partnership their niece Kylie Blake was involved in with Perry Mason. Chachi was a private investigator, but he reopened his agency here in Milwaukee when he moved back a couple of months back. Fonzie knew he hadn't seen their niece since she and Danny had moved to Los Angeles, California, which had been for almost a year now, but kept in touch with their daughters, Heather, Daphne, and Claudia. Claudia, the middle child, had taken over Danny's landlord business here in Milwaukee once they moved to Los Angeles. She is doing well in his spot as landlady. Daphne, the youngest, is a pastor in one of the Milwaukee Christian churches while Heather works at one of the hair places, cutting hair. Hair is Heather's knowledge, both Fonzie and Chachi knew. All three girls were in their twenties, but Daphne was the youngest twenty, but her age read twenty – two. Both Daphne and Heather were married and had children while Claudia wasn't.