Jo's phone chirped as soon as she turned it on, and she saw that, to her surprise, it was Teddy rather than Fritz, who was calling.
"Hey, where you been?" he demanded. "I've been trying to reach you!"
"You know I have to turn my phone off when I'm in class," Jo reminded him.
"Oh yeah. Well, I wanted to let you know I'm in the hospital with my Granddad. He had some kind of breakdown this morning."
"Oh, no!" Swiftly, Jo made her way to a picnic bench under a shade tree. "How is he?"
"He's awake, but he's totally confused. He doesn't know what year it is or how old he is. He keeps calling me 'Father.' Oh Jo, I'm scared! Nothing like this has ever happened before. He was fine yesterday."
A memory flashed through Jo's mind - the little boy she'd seen in the Concord of the 1940's. his dimpled cheeks, his saucy grin.
"I'll be there just as soon as I can," she told her friend. She had one more class for the day, but she knew she'd never be able to concentrate for worrying about her friend and his grandfather. She'd borrow the class notes from a fellow student later.
She got into her car and drove to the university child care center. She arrived to find her younger sister reading a story to a circle of children. Beth looked up when she entered, alarm sweeping over her face.
"It's OK," Jo mouthed. Patiently, she waited for Beth to finish reading the story and put the book down.
"Mr. Laurence is in the hospital," Jo told her. "He had some kind of breakdown this morning. Teddy just called and told me."
"That's awful!" said Beth. "Are you going to the hospital now? Can I ride with you, if they let you leave early?"
"Of course!"
Beth's boss was very understanding, and the sisters were soon on their way to the hospital together. Jo parked, and they entered the emergency room and found the cubicle in which Mr. Laurence lay. Teddy stood beside the bed, and Sybil sat in a chair on the opposite side of the bed, her face streaked from weeping.
It amazed Jo to realize how close Teddy and Sybil had grown in the brief period of time in which they'd known each other.
"Thanks so much for coming," said Teddy.
"Of course we came," said Beth.
Mr. Laurence turned his head at the sound of her voice, and his eyes fell upon Jo.
"You!" he cried.
Jo gasped, taken aback.
"I was running away from Mother," the elderly man mumbled. "She wanted me to finish eating my greens. I was almost to the street when I saw you. You were wearing something different that day, a long dress instead of pants and a shirt. When did women start wearing pants and shirts, anyway?"
Jo felt her blood run cold.
"it's all right, Granddad," Teddy soothed, patting his grandfather's hand. "You don't have to eat your greens if you don't want to."
Jo realized that Teddy was humoring his father, playing along. At the same time, the seriousness of the situation hit her full force. Would Mr. Laurence ever be in his right mind again? Would he be able to return home with Teddy?"
Mr. Laurence looked at Beth and smiled.
"Thank you for the shoes," he told her. "They're the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned."
"The shoes?" Beth looked blank for just a minute, then smiled. "Oh yes, the shoes. I'm so glad you like them."
Jo remembered that Beth had given Mr. Laurence a pair of bedroom slippers for Christmas several years before.
"I'll bring them from home as soon as I can," Teddy promised.
Jo was still shaking as she and Beth left to return to her car half an hour or so later.
"What was he talking about?" Beth asked on the way home.
"What do you mean?" Jo had decided it would be best to feign ignorance.
Beth sighed.
"You know - when Mr. Laurence said he was running away from his mother and saw you. It sounded like he was remembering something that happened when he was a little kid."
"I'm sure he was mistaken. He's a confused old man having some kind of episode, Beth. He's liable to say just about anything."
Jo remembered Dieter's words on the scaffold. Wer sind Sie? He hadn't recognized her as Jo, so how could Mr. Laurence have, especially considering how young he'd been at the time?
The whole thing was giving her a throbbing headache.
"So your young friend's grandfather is in the hospital," Fritz said to Jo as they walked together toward the fine arts building. "I do not blame him for being concerned. I was close to both my grandfathers and grieved much for them when they passed."
Jo and Fritz were on their way to the university art museum to see some paintings of Sybil's that were on exhibit. Teddy and Sybil had arranged to meet them there.
"Yeah." Their feet crunched through the fallen leaves as they headed for the sidewalk. "They've run all kinds of tests on him, and they all came back normal. His doctor thinks it might be a side effect from some of the medication he's been on."
"Let us hope that is all it is." They'd reached the entrance to the building, and Fritz pulled the door open for Jo. "After you, my lady."
"Thanks." They entered the building and made their way down the hall. As Jo strolled along past the white-painted walls with pictures of forest scenes, she wondered what state of mind she'd find her friend in.
Teddy and Sybil were waiting in the vestibule, as planned.
"You look like you're in a good mood," Jo remarked when she saw her friend's smiling face. "How is he?"
"Better, but he still gets confused sometimes. It's like most of the time, his mind is clear, but it still tends to wander sometimes."
"He just had his afternoon meds and went down for a nap," Sybil added.
They began to wander down the first aisle, looking at paintings and sketches of people, buildings, vehicles, animals, and still life depictions of fruit and other common household items.
"Mine is over there," Sybil said, pointing.
The scene seemed eerily familiar, and then the impact his Jo full force: it was a painting of the house in London which Dieter and Martina had shared with Werner and Sybille.