Colors.

Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Orange.

Lots of colors.

Beautiful colors.

And shapes.

Round. Angular. Flat.

Lots of shapes.

And then …

Light. Dark.

Moving. Still.

Loud. Silent.

Lots of different things.

Interesting world.


Uncle Nigel once told me about the first time mom took me to visit the morgue. It was my first Halloween. So I was six weeks old.

Emmy, the reception woman, was the first to notice us. Emmy's not there anymore. But I remember her. She was nice. She had black hair and glasses and she always had paper and a pen for me to draw on. But now there's Cindy. Cindy's quite nice too. But she doesn't let me take her pens.

Back then, Emmy was still there.

"Dr. Cavanaugh! Ohhh, is that her?"

"Yeah, this is Angel."

"She's sweet."

"Thanks, Emmy. Where are the others?"

They had a staff meeting. Nigel said they were all surprised when mom came into the conference room with me on her arm.

"I thought we'd cheer you up a little before hell brakes loose." She said.

She had brought them Halloween cookies. Mom makes great Halloween cookies. They have chocolate chips inside and drawings of Halloween stuff in colored icing. Like skulls and pumpkins and bats and spiders. Dad says mom got really good at making them now. But that was the first time she made them and the drawing were scary. They are not scary now. But everyone loved the cookies anyway.

So everyone at the morgue got to see me. Some of them for the first time. And mom showed me around.

And later while I was sleeping in mom's office mom helped Bug and Nigel in autopsy. It was one of dad's cases. So he came to ask what they had found out.

"Bug, what you got for … " And then he saw mom. "Jor, what you doin' here? Where's Angie?"

They called me 'Angie' back then. When I first started to say my name, it sounded like 'Andy'. And that kind of got stuck. Now everyone calls me 'Andy'.

"Helping. And she's sleeping in my office. Don't worry. I got this." She had a baby phone to hear if I woke up.

"'Jor'? You hate being called that!"

Dad's the only one calling mom 'Jor' sometimes.

"I thought I do. But I kind of like it now."

All others call her 'Jordan'. Or 'Doc' or 'Dr. Cavanaugh'.

"Good to know, 'Jor'"

"Ok. I still hate it."

Mom gets mad if they don't.

"You never told me you don't like your nickname, Jordan."

"But I do. Guess I only like you calling me 'Jor', no one else."