One afternoon, Jo was busily at work on her computer when the telephone rang. "This is Nurse Heather from Oklahoma High," a female voice said when she answered it. "I have Clay Norman here at the clinic with me. He's running a temperature of 102 degrees. Can you come pick him up?"

"Sure, no problem," Jo replied. Bethany was asleep in her crib. Jo gently lifted her and fastened her into her car seat. She yawned and squirmed but didn't awaken. Jo took the car seat out to the car and fastened it into its base, then got behind the wheel and drove to Clay's high school.

The final class of the day was still in session when she arrived, so the halls were very quiet as she walked to the clinic. She passed a couple of teenage girls along the way. "Cute baby," one of them remarked.

"Thank you," Jo replied.

Arriving at the clinic at last, she found her stepson slouching in a chair with his head resting against the wall. "Come on, Clay," she said to him. "Let's go home." He opened his eyes and looked at her, then silently stood and walked out of the school with her.

"Do you think you need to go to the doctor?" Jo asked him.

He shook his head vigorously. "I think it's just the flu."

"When did you start feeling sick?" asked Jo.

"I was on my way to seventh period when I suddenly got real dizzy, and then I started shivering real bad," Clay replied. "I was gonna try to stick it out till the end of the school day, but I just felt too bad. I'm sorry."

"Oh, that's all right!" said Jo. "Let's get you home and into bed, where you belong."

At home Jo tried to tuck Clay into bed, but he angrily shrugged her away. Her feelings were hurt just a little bit, but she didn't say anything. Several hours later, she took a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup in to him.

"Thanks!" he said with a grin, and she felt a little bit better.

Doug arrived home from work pale and shaken. "What's wrong?" Jo asked anxiously.

"I might have prostate cancer," he said shakily. "I have to go for a biopsy next week."

"Oh, no!" Jo exclaimed, going to him and giving him a hug.

"Thanks, I needed that," he said gratefully. "You're gonna have to drive me there and back 'cause they're gonna have to sedate me."

"Of course," said Jo. "Clay has the flu. I had to pick him up from school today."

"Oh, no!" Doug gave a wry smile. "It never rains but it pours, don't it?"

"Tell me about it," said Jo. "I sure hope Bethany doesn't catch it."

"How's he doing?"

"He seems to be all right for now," said Jo. "I just gave him some chicken noodle soup about thirty minutes ago, and he ate the whole bowlful."

"Thanks, hon. You're the best."

Later that evening, Clay's friend Benjamin Cooley brought his class assignments to him, and that night, Doug and Jo watched 'Forrest Gump' together. It was one of Doug's favorite movies and helped to take his mind off his upcoming biopsy.

Clay stayed home from school the next day, so Jo had to alternate her time between taking care of Bethany, working at her home business, and caring for Clay. About mid morning, she took some orange juice in to him and found him sitting up in bed, watching 'Star Wars.'

"You know, I was only eleven years old when this movie first came out in the theater," she told him. "At first my Mom didn't want me to see it because it was rated 'PG.' All the other kids got to go see it, but I had to beg and plead for ages before she finally gave in and let me go."

"Most 'PG' rated movies are for babies," said Clay. "All the really cool movies are rated either 'PG-13' or 'R.' Except for this one, of course."

Suddenly interested, Jo sat in the chair by his bed, and together they laughed at the strange creatures in the cantina scene and gasped when a man's arm was cut off. It was near the end of the movie when Bethany's crying jolted Jo back to reality. Not wanting to expose the baby to Clay's virus, she resisted the temptation to return to his bedroom to watch the movie's ending. She nursed Bethany and was about to go back to work when she heard Clay calling to her from his room.

"Hey, Jo, aren't you gonna come back and finish watching the movie?"

Surprised, Jo hurried to his bedroom. "You mean you paused it?"

Clay frowned. "Sure, why wouldn't I?"

Jo smiled and sat back down beside him. "I hadn't seen that movie in over thirty years, so for me it was almost like watching it for the first time," she told Clay when the movie was over.

"It's been awhile for me too," he replied.

"That was kind of neat, wasn't it, to watch a movie together," Jo remarked.

Clay shrugged. "I guess so."

Jo kept busy for the rest of the day and was setting the table when Doug got home from work. "Are you all right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, considering."

"Clay and I watched 'Star Wars' together this morning," she told him.

"Oh, yeah?" He grinned.

"He even paused it for me when I had to feed Bethany," she continued.

"See? I told you you had nothin' to worry about." His health concerns temporarily forgotten, Doug hugged and kissed his wife.