Rosie woke up before the 6 A.M. and shut the alarm. She glanced at Pascue's visage and noticed the changes.

"Stresses have taken off the shine from his face." A thought crossed her mind.
"He looks peaceful though; I wonder how he handles so many problems at one time." She remarked. Putting aside the temptation to kiss him for the fear of waking him; she moved away from the bed, grabbed her house gown and went in the bathroom. When she reemerged after the morning routine, planning of the day had already pushed yesterday's worries far deep in her mind. Carolina the new part time maid and readjustment of daily schedules and events was the only agenda she had developed at that moment. Frank and his medical needs were not yet incorporated in that process of planning.

As she came out of their bedroom, she heard the typical sounds of an active kitchen coming from downstairs. Carolina was not due until 7 a.m. and yet the sounds were related to pots and pan clanking. On the way down, she had heard both Silvia and Mark moving in their rooms getting ready for the school. "Who could be in the kitchen?" She wondered and then it flashed in her mind. "Oh my God! He is out and about."

Hurriedly she came in the kitchen and was shocked to see grandpa standing near the stove, incarnated as a short order cook. Frank heard her footsteps and turned around to face her.

"Filha de bom dia."
("Good morning daughter.")

She rushed towards him; hugged and kissed him on his cheek and said:

"Papa; you addressed me, 'daughter' and let me tell you, I shall be your daughter count on me. I love you very much."

Then she remembered Frank was not supposed to take on any strenuous activities and here he was in her kitchen getting ready to start breakfast for his grand kids. She held his both hands and gently pulled him to the nearest chair and said:

"I want you to sit here and let me bring the breakfast for you and children in a jiffy."

"Oh no Rosie; I can do the cooking; I am tired of staying in the bed; I feel fine and strong. I can handle it." He protested and urged at the same time.

"I believe you papa but let me have the opportunity to serve you now that you will be returning to your home. I don't know when you will visit me to stay over again." She insisted and he shook his head in acceptance and sat down.

He was not accustom to such tender loving relationship. No one had given him so much attention; not even the Native Brazilian woman to whom he had given shelter and support, had treated him with so much fuss and loving care. That woman held him in an awe of a savior deity and served his needs as a devotee but not as a relative. This experience at Rosie's home was so new to Frank that for the first time his emotions took charge of his practical mind and tears rolled down his cheek. Quietly, he wiped them with his sleeves. Rosie missed that scene as she had turned towards the refrigerator to take milk out for the breakfast.

By the time both grand children came down, Carolina had arrived and the tender ambiance of the kitchen had turned into its regular daily rush hour scenario. Silvia the older of the two, came first and was surprised to see grandpa standing at the dinette. She circled her arms around him and gave him a really wet kiss on his cheek.

"Oh grand pa; you look great; all ready to walk with us to bus stop I hope." She rattled the words but stopped abruptly as she noticed the tears welled up in his eyes.

"Oh; my god; what's wrong? You are sad grandpa; what happened?" Fear of grandpa's health not as good as she thought, gave rise to an ominous thought in her mind.

"No my darling; I am not crying; I am very happy to come out and have breakfast with you and Mark but I am afraid, I won't be able to walk with you to the Bus Stop; the doctors won't allow me though I so much want to. May be next time I come to live with you; I will be strong enough for that." He spoke with a smile stretched on his wrinkled face.

That sentence opened the subject of his leaving the household in the open. Silvia's mind was about to go back to her previous suspicion; one based on the conclusion that her mother, under the influence of her wicked mother, had succeeded in sending the old man home. However, her father and Mark entered the room at the same time.

Mark ran to his Sindbad the Amir Grandpa with his usual exhilarated outlook towards life.
"Grandpa, grandpa, you are coming with me to school; oh boy; I am so lucky, today is the day for Show and Tell and I have Grandpa."

"You hush Mark; leave him alone, he is not yet ready for walking to the Bus stop and you want him to come to your class!" Silvia put the damper on her brother's plans.

"May be he will never come to your class or even walk to the Bus stop; he is leaving." She added in a resentful voice while throwing a meaningful glance to her mother to express the thoughts reemerging in her mind.

Bewildered Mark looked up at his father's face to find emotions negating Silvia's diatribes and Pascue, at once recognized the emotional disaster that was waiting to happen. Rosie had missed that conversation as she was busy with Carolina explaining the daily routines of her household.

"Wait a minute Silvia. Before you go into that mode of thinking that no one but you and Mark love Grandpa and want him to stay, get your facts straightened out." He intervened and sort of chided her.

"Grandpa wants to leave because of his own needs. He has to be near the hospital in case he gets sick again and also to complete his business of restaurant handing over to others to take care of it. He will return when he is out of medical necessity and you will be able to go with him where ever you guys and he decide. Now stop thinking negatively about anyone wanting to make him go. Ask him if you like and Silvia; you owe your mother and I an apology for thinking us as cruel and unfair parents."

She felt bad and went over to her mother: "I am truly sorry mom; ever since I heard Grandma telling Maria on the phone that Grandpa must not live with us; I was thinking you too are thinking like them. I am sorry; I should have known you better; please forgive me."

Her sincere apology brought tears in Rosie's eyes and she hugged her 'growing up too quickly' baby in to a teen and said: "It's alright. No damage is done but a lesson has to be learned here for both of us. Now go and hug your dad and get ready for the day. By the way, don't say anything to Mark about Grandpa's leaving; let dad handle it."

Silvia hugged the Oldman with tears rolling down her cheeks. He held her in his arms and spoke gently:
"My precious Nina, why tears in the eyes? I am going to be just a phone call away; call me and I shall come to visit you on weekends and holidays. I have to take care of so many things and can't do that from here; can I? You need to focus on your studies; you want to be a Doctor like your dad is it not? Then let me go. I love all of you very much but I must go home now. I will return to stay with you if I cannot function on my own steam; I promise you that. Now go and get ready for your school."
Consoled by his words and mom's assurances, she moved to her chair to finish her breakfast when Mark came in the kitchen with Pascue. He had missed the episode and was as bubbly as a ten year would be in the morning with expectation that someday in the near future, his grandpa would tak him to the school bus stop. However, one glancing look at his sister's serious face, he sensed things were not as he had anticipated. There was stillness in the room and grandpa had turned his face away from them to wipe the tears from his eyes. Never the less, he went up to him and hugged him and said:

"It's OK grandpa; you can walk with me to bus stop when you are well; may be next week. Today, I will be back from school at 4 and maybe we can spend some time together."

Old man turned around and caressed his face , bent down and kissed him on the forehead and said:
"I love you Nino; but I have to go to see my doctor this afternoon and I will be going to my home for a while to take care of my business there. We will get together very soon and go for a walk on the beach. Now get ready for the school."

Mark shook his head in affirmative and went to his chair wondering what it all meant. Still a child; his mind quickly turned on to things he was going to do that day at school and in half an hour they left the house with Carolina accompanying them.

In the quickly advancing morning Pascue and Rosie had to wrap up the family affairs and return their focus to the professional tasks awaiting them in their respective commercial worlds. There was not enough time to bring on the subjects for discussion on the most important and urgent matters they had been grappling with for quite some time. A closure had to be accomplished immediately if Frank was to unshackle the bond that had naturally developed in that household. He spoke to them in a calm and firm voice:

"Pascue and Rosie; it is hard on all of us to do what I believe we must do to resolve the issues that are occupying our thoughts and preventing us from facing the reality. I am going to leave this afternoon before children arrive. I have made arrangements and Tirnath; one of my adopted son s, is going to come to fetch me. This evening when you come home, check in my room. I will have a letter for you that will reveal and may be explain the mystery of my life and the facts and figures related to decisions I have made. Treat it as if it is my last will and testament. Now, go about your routine and we shall reconvene at my place this weekend and settle the issues arising from my past most of which is unknown to most of you. Francis will be there with us. Is it convenient to you?"

Pascue and Rosie were stunned by Frank's unilateral decision making and assertive tone. There was no time for discussion and then; neither of them had a clue to go by even to speculate. They agreed and moved onto their businesses without much exchange of words except the civilities.
Frank returned to his room and Rosie gave detail instructions to Carolina about his medication routines and sundry duties. Both left together without discussing anything as if they were deliberately avoiding the subject. When he dropped her at the hospital he spoke to her in a subdued voice:

" I think we should open the letter together when we are alone before going to bed."
She agreed and disappeared in the group of employees entering the hospital. He waited until the group turned the corner and was out of sight. "What mystery it could be; mom has told me the secret of our births; I wonder if has any clue of this?"

He reached the office and patients were waiting for him. The matter of Frank and the letter he pushed aside and plunged into the work of treating patients with mental illnesses. Irony is that he and his wife were under such mental state that they could develop one of those anomalies themselves and he wouldn't be treating them. 'A physician must not treat himself or for that matter his loved ones,' is the requirement of standards of ethics followed by the practitioners of profession.