Monk walked down the aisles of the supermarket, Karen following close behind with the shopping cart. He started with aisle one, grasping his shopping list in his hand and carefully grabbing items from the shelves. Karen just watched as he methodically lined each item up in the cart. They made their way, aisle after aisle until they came to aisle seven. Karen stopped when she looked at the sign proclaiming the contents of this aisle.

"Oh, we can skip this aisle," she said. Monk stopped abruptly and turned to look at her, a shocked look on his face.

"Skip the aisle?" he asked, a twinge of anxiety creeping into his voice.

"Yes, it only has feminine hygiene products," she said, the thought of skipping the aisle making perfect, logical sense to her. She chuckled lightly. "Surely you don't need anything in this aisle."

"I don't, but-"

"So we can skip it," she interrupted. Monk stared at her, then glanced down the aisle, and then went back to staring at her. "Adrian?"

"You want to skip the aisle?" he asked. She nodded her head. Then she was taken aback when he began making this low groaning noise. She looked embarrassed as other people started staring at them.

"Adrian?" she asked. He kept groaning. As more people stared, Karen finally pulled out her cell phone, not knowing what she had done or what she needed to do. She dialed the only person who she knew would know.

"Adrian, I told you two hours," Sharona said sharply, not even bothering to say hello.

"Sharona, I'm so sorry to bother you. It's Karen," she said quickly. "We're at the supermarket-"

Sharona could hear Adrian groaning over the phone and interrupted, knowing exactly what was wrong. "You just hit aisle seven, didn't you?"

"Yes, I told him we could skip it and he started groaning," Karen said frantically. She looked around at all the people staring. "What do I do?"

"You have to go in order. It doesn't matter if he doesn't need anything in the aisle," Sharona explained. "You can't skip an aisle. I made the same mistake the first time we went to the store. The manager kicked us out for making a scene."

"So, if we go down the aisle he'll stop making that noise?"

"Yeah, he will," Sharona assured her. Karen started walking down the aisle.

"Come on, Adrian," she said. "Let's go down aisle seven."

Monk immediately stopped groaning and followed her, breathing a sigh of relief as they went. Karen went back to her cell phone. "Thank you, Sharona."

"No. Thank you," Sharona said. "I owe you one."

Karen hung up the phone and she and Monk continued down the aisle. As they turned to go down aisle eight, Karen looked to him. "Have you ever considered meditation?"

"What?" Monk asked as he reached for some toothpaste.

"Meditation. It can help clear your mind and put you at ease."

"No, I've never tried it," he said. He didn't seem interested in her choice of conversation as he grabbed some deodorant.

"It might help," she offered. He glanced at her, put the deodorant in the cart and continued walking.

"I don't think it would work for me," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "How do you know if you don't try?"

"I don't like new things," he said simply. Karen had a feeling the conversation was over and dropped as they continued through the supermarket. She suddenly had a newfound admiration for Sharona. Any woman who could put up with Monk day in and day out was a saint.

* * *

Sharona woke from a restless sleep when she heard the front door close. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was mid-afternoon and Monk had never called her back. She definitely owed Karen something. She considered sending her some flowers. But she was pulled out of her thoughts when Ben poked his head in the door.

"Hey mom," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Lousy, kiddo," she said. Ben walked further into the room, but he didn't come in too close. He didn't want to catch the flu from her.

"How many times did Mr. Monk call?" he asked with a smile.

"None. It's a miracle," she said, laughing a little. "Captain Stottlemeyer's wife spent the day with him."

"Wow," Ben said, surprised than anybody else could handle a day with Monk. He knew just as well as his mother what a day with Adrian Monk was like.

"Double wow," Sharona added. "How was school?"

"Okay. Nothing special," he said. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No thanks," she replied. Then she went into mother mode because she knew she'd be spending most of the night in bed. "There's some spaghetti-o's in the cupboard that you can microwave for dinner. And remember, no TV till you finish your homework."

"Okay," he said. He started to leave the room. She added a couple more instructions.

"That includes video games," she said. He nodded his head and continued to leave. "And in bed by nine."

"Got it mom," he called. He was already in his own room, getting ready to start his homework.

Sharona sat up in bed long enough to take more flu medicine and then she laid back down, hoping that Ben would obey her instructions as she fell into a Nyquil-induced slumber.

* * *

"Now close your eyes and clear your mind," Karen said.

It had taken all of her persuasive powers to get Monk to agree to try meditation. They were sitting on chairs across from each other in his living room. That was an argument she had lost. She had said it was better if they sat on the floor, and he didn't understand why they had to sit on the floor. Couldn't he meditate just as well sitting in a chair? Karen explained it was more relaxing on the floor. And he explained that it wasn't for him.

So in the chairs they sat, Monk had his eyes closed and his hands resting on his knees. Karen was across from him, giving him instructions in a soothing voice.

"Forget everything around you. Just listen to the sound of my voice," she said. Adrian sat calmly, keeping his eyes closed. "Think of a place where you would like to be. It can be a place from your past or a place you've never been to. It can be a place where you think you would be happy." She paused and let him think for a moment. "Where are you?"

"I'm sitting on the couch," he answered. Karen nodded her head in approval.

"And what are you doing?"

"I'm reading a case file."

Karen wasn't quite as approving of that. Generally people didn't picture themselves working during a meditation. "A case file?"

"Yes."

"Is anyone there with you?" she asked.

"Yes. Trudy," he said. "She's reading a book. A novel by Hemingway."

"And you're both just reading?"

"Yes, until she sees that I'm frustrated with the case," he replied. "Then she lets me lay my head in her lap while she continues reading."

"Is this a memory, Adrian?" Karen asked, touched that he would remember the actual book that Trudy was reading. Karen knew that Trudy had written poetry and had surely read a lot of works by a lot of authors. She was probably reading every night.

"Yes, it is," he said. Then suddenly he opened his eyes. "What's that noise?"

"What noise?" she asked, not sure what he was talking about. She didn't hear anything.

"It's a buzzing noise. Three short buzzes, a pause and then three more short buzzes," he said. He stood to look for it.

"Just ignore it," Karen said. "You were doing well."

"No," he said, distracted. Finally he walked over to her purse, which was sitting on the counter. He touched it and then turned to her. "Your purse is vibrating."

She stood and reached into her purse, pulling out her cell phone. She knew she should have turned it off completely. She answered it to be greeted by her husband.

"Leland, hello," she said. She smiled at Monk as he returned to his chair. "Yes, everything was fine today. No, it wasn't bad at all."

Monk returned the two chairs back to the table and sat on the sofa.

"Okay, I love you, too. I'll tell him. Goodbye." She hung up the phone and returned it to her purse. "Leland says hello."

Adrian nodded his head, and they remained in silence for a moment. Then he broke the silence and stood. "Well, we've done everything on the schedule for today. So, I suppose you can go home."

"You're sure?" Karen asked, not wanting Monk to disturb Sharona if he needed anything after she left.

"Yes, I'm sure," he replied. He opened the door for her and she walked out of the apartment. She turned in the hallway and paused. "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome, Adrian," she said. "You have a good evening."

"You too," he replied. She turned and walked down the hallway. He waited till she was completely out of sight before he shut the door and went to clean the chair she had been sitting in.