On Saturdays, visitors come to see the lunatics. Some have families tending to them, some had lawyers.

Alex Summers had his mother, Katherine Anne. She was a small woman who had suffered much. The death of her husband, the sickness of her younger son, the isolation of the older one who was so busy all the time that she rarely saw him. But she is a strong woman, and she is a good one, When she comes to the hospital, she often stays past her visits with her son to play with some of the children, even though it is usually past visiting hours, and she doesn't shy away from even the difficult ones. She was well known by the patients and the staff and every Saturday like clockwork, she arrived at nine am and didn't leave until five pm.

She has never once missed a day.

On nice days, like today, she takes Alex for walks in the gardens, refusing to use a wheelchair. She believes that once he sits down he'll never walk again. The doctors and the nurses comply with her wishes, though the catatonic young man can be strangely stubborn at times, refusing to co-operate with them when they try and make him walk. That is another rarity. Usually, if he is told to go somewhere, he does not put up much of a fuss.

Kathy and her son sit in the grass today on a blanket not emblazoned with the hospital name. She brought a picnic lunch, and her son eats expressionlessly, not reacting to the sun, or even her hand when she puts sun screen on his fair cheeks to keep them from reddening.

"Its nice to have a change from hospital food." She says, cheerfully, "I made your favorites." She doesn't know what his favorites are. He hasn't spoken a word since the crash. When he was little it was grilled cheese with pickles and strawberry popsicles.

Its what she still brings him. She doesn't know what else to do.

"I spoke to your brother the other day," Kathy chatters, knowing that he is in there somewhere and can hear him. If she tries hard enough, she will be able to reach him someday. "He asked about you. Said he might visit soon."

This is, of course, a lie. Scott never asks about Alex, never wants to talk about him. Kathy used to insist her older son visit his little brother, but by the time Scott was in his early teens it was clear that his presence was disruptive.

Alex looks at her when she mentions Scott, and she almost believes that his chastising her for her lie. But there is really nothing in his eyes. He is looking at her simply because she is talking and he has learned, even in his catatonia, that it is expected.

Kathy's heart catches in her throat and to cover the sudden flood of tears, she turns to the ice chest and gets him another popsicle.