97.

I can't believe it was just two years ago that Lily OD'd.
Jim called.
Lily's in the hospital. She nearly died.
I sometimes think that if it was today, Jim would have sent me a TXT instead. Not progress.
Two years ago I still had a Sidekick and my T-Mobile minutes went from 1500 to about 300. Now I'm down to about 100 minutes with my Crackberry and most of them go to my parents.
When I got to the hospital I met Lily's mother and sister who already knew about me through all the pictures I had taken of her when she made her arrival to New York. Including the one where she's naked in the ice cooler. She loved those Betsy Johnson dresses, man. She'd spend her lunch money on them. Then we drifted apart. I started traveling and she started hanging out with the wrong crowd.
When I got to her hospital room she was all bravado. Hooked up to an I.V., she pleaded with me to do a photoshoot right there in the hospital. She wanted "the scene" to see her survival in full glory. She was sick and fucked up so I let that one slide.
Maybe when you're better.
That was two years ago in a different hospital. Now she lives in Montreal and she had her baby yesterday. A boy. If I told you his name you wouldn't believe me. She had a C-section, and they had to put the baby in the incubator because his lungs were filled with water. That's normal I guess when the baby doesn't go through the canal. I came to visit Lily in the incubator room when she was breast feeding. The nurse tried to kick me out. No exceptions, she said. I told her that if Daniel Brier (Philadelphia Flyers, #48) could be in here signing autographs last night, I was staying. Even if he had made a financial contribution to the MRI wing, I was staying. She let me stay.
What are those scratches on your face, I asked Lily?
When they gave me the epidural, I kind of went crazy. I started scratching all over. They had to hold me down.
Shit.
It's nothing. I'm okay. Except, I'm craving a Ceasar Salad.
Really? Laughter.
They don't make them "the right way" over here. The Canadian government doesn't let restaurants use recipes with raw eggs, so Canadians can't make a good Ceasar Salad.
Then she asked me to be the Godfather.