Surprise Lunch

A couple of days ago was Reagan's birthday, and I thought that I would surprise her for lunch. Since basically all of her friends from middle school went to a different high school, Reagan has been trying to find people to eat lunch with. It's not that she's not making friends at school. It's mostly that the girls she knows are on a different lunch schedule than her. Bottom line, I wanted to make sure she wasn't eating lunch alone on her birthday.

To be sure that this plan would be okay, I first called Leah. For all I know a teenage girl might be mortified beyond belief that her dad would show up at school for lunch on her birthday. I've only got four years left before she moves out (I hope), and I don't want them all to be spent with her mad at me because I showed up at school to surprise her. After Leah gave me the go ahead, I called the school to see if they would allow me to eat lunch with her. I'm glad I called.

The first lady that I spoke with said that she didn't know if I would be allowed to eat lunch with Reagan, so she transferred me to someone else. This second lady was very nice, but she informed me that visitors are not allowed in the lunchroom while the kids are eating for security reasons. Okay fine. I was ready to leave it at that. Reagan didn't know I was planning this, so it wouldn't make any difference. The lady on the phone wasn't done talking, though.

"…what you ought to do is just come up here, check her out, take her to lunch, and then bring her back before the bell rings."

Well, that hadn't even occurred to me, but it sounded like a great plan. There's plenty of fast food joints right around the school. We could easily pick up a quick (calorie laden, sure to induce a coma by the middle of the next period) lunch. I told her I was on the way.

Reagan's schedule is different every other day. On "A" days, she is coincidentally on "A" lunch and goes to eat at 10:45am. I know that McDonalds hasn't even stopped serving breakfast by that time. I don't make the schedules. Anyway, it just so happened that her birthday was on an "A" day, and I arrived at the school at 10:35am. That's when the big hand is on the seven for those of you educated in the Garland school system.

First, I spoke with the concierge lady at the front door, told her why I was there, and found out that she is the one who suggested I come get Reagan She then directed me to the office so that I could check Reagan out.

At the office, there were three ladies and a big clock on the wall. I told them that I wanted to get Reagan for lunch, and they looked at me like I was speaking ancient Sumerian. Finally, one of them managed to get her brain back in gear, processed what I was saying, and responded, "We don't do that."

We don't do what? Let parents check their kids out of school?

No, they don't let parents have lunch with their kids. But they were going to today. It was their idea!

I explained what had happened. I told them about my phone call, and I told them that it was their advice for me to come down and check Reagan out. By this time it was getting on toward 10:40am. The big hand was nearly on the eight.

The lady in the office asked which lunch Reagan was on, and I told her "A". She quickly responded, "Well then it doesn't matter anyway because she's already at lunch."

"Wait a second. I thought they went to lunch at 10:45."

"They go at 10:44, but it's already 10:45 anyway."

"Umm…I think it's only 10:40 right now. I'm pretty sure the big hand is on the nine at 10:45." I probably shouldn't have thrown in that last part, but c'mon, she works at a school and can't tell time. I guess you don't have to graduate from the magnet program to work at a magnet school. I hope the teachers are more skilled than this.

"Well, whatever. They go at 10:40 anyway. They just don't eat until 10:44."

About that time a principal (at least I assume it was a principal because everyone looked at him like he was in charge) came out and asked what was the problem.

I explained AGAIN how I ended up there. To which he replied, "Well, you see, we just don't give them very much time to eat. They've only got about thirty minutes. We have so many kids, we just have to get them in and out pretty quickly."

"Got it. Right now, you understand that you're wasting my thirty minutes. Are you going to help me or not?"

He decided that he could help me out this time. He tasked one of the workers with escorting me to the lunchroom to find Reagan. About that time another worker had a brilliant idea. "Does she have a cell phone?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, just call her and tell her to come to the office."

"You know she's at school, right? And her phone is supposed to be turned off during school. And if she answers it, you're going to take it away."

"Dad, really. All the kids do it." Is this lady a school employee or a teenager trapped in a 60 year old body?

"Okay. I'll call her, but I guarantee you her phone is off."

Of course it was, so we ended up walking to the lunchroom to find her, but before we could go I had to fill out the sign out sheet. Student's name, my name, date, time, reason for check out. I had written "lu" when the lady started freaking. "You're not going to write 'lunch' are you?"

"Well, I was going to since that's why I'm checking her out."

"Hmmm….maybe you could just put 'personal' instead?"

"Sure. If that makes you feel better. When someone comes along and audits these sign out sheets I'd hate for them to think you let a parent take their daughter to lunch."

In the lunchroom, the first person I saw was Reagan. Quickly, we grabbed her things and headed for the door. Reagan was a little worried because she had just found a friend to have lunch with and her friend had walked off. Now there's some kid at the school that thinks Reagan totally ditched her during lunch. Parent of the Year award right here.

On the way to lunch, I told Reagan that the lady in the office had wanted me to call her phone. Reagan said, "Seriously, Dad. Tons of kids have their phones out during lunch, and they even lay them down on the table where a teacher could see it if they walked by." She seemed mortified that kids would break the rules, and I think wanted to let me know what was going on in case she was ever caught sitting next to one of them.

We had some Whataburger. Reagan loved her lunch. I got her back in plenty of time for her next class. All was good.

Breathalyzer

As many of you know, my wife – Leah – has been experiencing some very disturbing abdominal pain for a little over a month now. It all started while she was at CPC (Children's Pastors Confernce) in San Diego at the beginning of February. Near the end of the conference week, she woke with discomfort in her abdomen, and at that point she dismissed it as the result of sleeping wrong. By the end of the weekend, however, she was doubled over in pain and basically unable to eat anything without making the situation even worse. As a result, we decided to seek medical attention.

First thing Monday morning, Leah went to the local Care Now to be seen. The doctors there ran several tests, took some X-rays, and finally determined that it was likely one of three things: a gall stone, a kidney stone, or appendicitis. Because the Care Now does not have the equipment to check for any of these conditions and because Leah was running a low fever at the time, they recommended that she go to the ER immediately.

I met Leah at the ER a little before lunch, took Sydney to get something to eat, transferred Sydney to Dad (who had agreed to watch her and the rest of the girls until Leah and I were done), and went back to the hospital. Of course, I got back just as they were taking her to a room. A troop of nurses came in relatively soon and took some more samples for testing (why can't they just get results from Care Now?) and set Leah up for an IV. Just after all of that, though, is when it really got fun.

Junior Doctor Sally Sue (not her real name and she was actually a PA) came in looking like she was skipping out on seventh period to be there with us, and told us she would handling the case. As an aside, why can't we see real doctors in America anymore? And do you really think that our current President will make the situation better? As I was saying, though, Junior Doc came in and started poking and prodding all over Leah's abdomen. After a round of high intensity pain reactions from Leah, she determined that it was probably one of three things: gall stone, kidney stone, or appendicitis. Duh. Already knew that.

She told us that someone would be in shortly to collect samples for testing, they would get her setup for an IV, and then she would need to drink a contrast dye for the scan so that they could see each of those items. Two of three were already done, so this shouldn't take much longer….

…

…

…

…

…

Four and a half hours later, a guy from imaging came in and told Leah it was time to go take a picture of her abdomen. Hang on a sec. She was supposed to have a contrast dye, I thought. He just looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said that the doctor must have made a mistake. And off they went.

The doctor made a mistake? Really? That's the best answer I can get? I had them send Junior Doctor back in to find out what was going on. A few minutes later (Wow! That was fast for a hospital) she and Leah were back in the room, and she informed me that the couldn't look for both a stone and appendicitis at the same time because one only shows with contrast dye and the other only shows without. They (I presume "they" means she and an actual doctor) had decided to look for the stone first since they could do that without dye.

Of course, by this time, I was getting concerned about the girls and homework and dinner, and I knew that it would be forever before we would have any results, so I asked what kind of window I had to work with. Junior Doc told me an hour. I was like, "In an hour you'll have the results and an hour after that you'll come tell us? Or like in ten minutes you'll have the results and in an hour you'll tell us?" She just gave me the evil eye and said she'd be back as soon as she could.

Unbelievably, she was back in about 10 minutes with the results. And by some miracle of modern technology they were able to see that her appendix, gall bladder, and kidneys were all fine. Okay, so if all three possibilities are eliminated, then what's going on? Junior Doc said it was bound to be a UTI gone awry and prescribed some antibiotics.

That didn't really make much sense to either Leah or I, and as Leah's pain continued even with treatment, we decided to try some different things. I called a friend of mine in family practice, and Leah spoke with an OB friend of hers. Both suggested that see someone else.

So, Leah went next to her OB. The OB should have the best handle of all on women's abdomens, so it seemed to make sense. Unfortunately, she came up empty, too. After every test they could think of, they confirmed that it was not stones and not appendicitis, but they had no idea what was going on. The OB suggested that it might have been some kind of infection in her intestines and that it could clear up on its own in a few days. If not, though, then she suggested that Leah go see a gastro doctor.

Of course, it did not get any better on its own, and Leah ended up at the Gastro doctor a little over a week ago. At first, he thought it was likely an infected gall bladder and he started running tests down that road. Those tests turned up negative. Next step, endoscopy. Maybe there was something going on in her stomach that was causing the issues.

Last week, the did the endoscopy, took some biopsies, and basically told us to wait for results. They said that she had a rash on the inside of her stomach but the results of the biopsies would tell us more about why and how to treat it.

Just yesterday, we got those results. Apparently, Leah has a bacterial infection in her stomach and that has caused the rash. They say that this kind of infection is not uncommon, but that it is uncommon for it to present with the symptoms that Leah has. They said that more often it leads to complications like ulcers or even stomach cancer before it is identified. Thank goodness it didn't get that bad. Here's the best part, though, they told Leah that when she goes back in a few weeks, they will do a blood test to see if it is cleared up.

What?

I asked Leah, "If they can do a blood test to see if it's gone, then why couldn't they do a blood test to see if it was there?"

She agreed that was a good question, and called back to clarify. Apparently, what they actually said was that they will do a breath test to see if it is cleared up.

Again…what?

"So, if they can do a breath test to see if it's clear, then can't they do one to see if you have it?" I asked.

Leah had not clarified that as she was at the pharmacy and the pharmacist had just guessed her diagnosis based on the prescription and said, "Did they just do that simple breath test to identify this?"

Well, if you're meaning the, Let's See If You Can Breathe While We Shove a Garden Hose Down Your Throat Test, then yeah, that's what they did.

So, just to be clear, what we learned here is that if Leah had been pulled over for DWI, we might have had to pay a few hundred bucks to bail her out, but we would have had a diagnosis much faster than spending weeks and many thousands of dollars to get to the result.

In all seriousness, I'm glad that we finally have an answer. Leah is on the correct antibiotics now, and she is feeling much better. Thanks for all your calls and prayers. And I hope this never happens to you.

The Program

As a former elementary school student, father of four, and an active Children's Ministry volunteer (I use the term "volunteer" loosely), I have been to and participated in my fair share of school programs. I think it's fairly safe to say that when any of us hear that our child will be in a school program, we all envision the same thing:

Small, cramped seating in a room designed for midgets along with a hundred other parents that would rather be home watching re-runs of CSI while little Johnny and Sally Sue stand on some risers built circa 1957 and belt some song that feels like a familiar tune but now has completely unintelligible lyrics. If you're lucky enough to have a hi-tech elementary school, you might even get the benefit of seeing one of the kids speak into a microphone announcing the next song or welcoming you to the event by saying something like, "Mmmmrrrrsssf…..pppt….SCREEEECCCH….jajkllllmmmm….ppt…SCREEEECH…pppt…..mmmarmmmssh." Your youngest kids might even say, "That sounded just like the teacher from Charlie Brown, Mom."

So, when Emma came home a few weeks ago and asked if I was coming to her program, I was relatively sure what to expect. "Of course, I'm going," I told her, "I can't wait to hear you sing." She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Sing? Dad I don't think we're singing," she told me. She had no idea what kind of program it was going to be, but she was certain that there would be no singing. As much as I tried to understand, I just couldn't wrap my brain around the concept. I asked if it was a play, if it was a dance, if it was a hundred different things that might have made sense, but she kept telling me that it was just a program. Finally, I decided that Emma was confused. After all, I knew that Dr. Green, the music teacher, was involved, so obviously they would be singing.

Last night was finally the night. Emma was so excited. She told us all about just the right clothes she had to wear, where she needed to be, and every five minutes she reminded us what time she had to be there. Confident of what we were going to see, I was slightly confused by the fact that we were going to the high school gym rather than the elementary school, but I didn't let that bother me much. The gym is just across the street. Maybe the PTA finally decided we needed a little more space to spread out.

After a brief PTA meeting (they can only rope us into going by getting the kids hyped up about doing a program, apparently), the kids came out to the gym floor. They all lined up nice and neat and looked to their teacher for instruction. Wait a second. They weren't looking to Dr. Green. "Who's that lady?" I asked Leah, "The one that keeps blowing the whistle."

"That would be the gym teacher," she replied. Total confusion set in. What was the gym teacher doing at a music program? And why were the kids all grabbing hula hoops?

Well, Emma was right about a lot of things. They didn't sing. Stevie Wonder and Lee Greenwood sang thanks to the CD player (the first time I ever understood the words to a song at an elementary school program), but the kids didn't sing at all. They also didn't dance. But they did do hula hoops, play with a giant parachute, wave around some paper plates (and bang their friends in the head sometimes), twirl streamers, and do jumping jacks. Well, only the second graders got to do jumping jacks; I think they might be too dangerous for first graders, but Emma is really looking forward to next year when she can do jumping jacks, too.

I was completely flabbergasted and far more entertained than ever at an elementary school program. I was riveted as I tried to figure out whether they were going to break into stretches or dodgeball on the next song. Personally, I think it was brilliant. It may have been the first P.E. program ever done, but this could really catch on.

Billy Goats

Having been related to many law enforcement officers, I have been entertained by the antics of criminals and spellbound by the first hand tales of their capture. Today, though, I have heard it all:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7846822.stm?ad=1

On a warm, humid night somewhere in Nigeria, two detectives were on stakeout. The recent rash of car robberies in this Kwara State community has been more than they can handle. After investigating the crime scenes and a few of the recovered vehicles, no one can explain how the criminal has been able to pull off the grabs without leaving footprints, fingerprints, or even a single hair. The last crime scene was the most puzzling of all. The nefarious agent of these unrelenting schemes seemed to have lost his edge as the crime scene unit recovered enough hair to make a coat and found odd pockmarks in the dirt all around the location of the stolen car.

Now, the detectives wait sipping their water bottles and hoping for a break in the case.

"Baaaa!"

"Hey, did you hear that?" asked the lead detective. "I thought I just heard a goat."

"Nah, you must be losing it. There are no goats around here. We're in a parking lot," replied his partner.

….

"Baaaa!"

"I'm telling you. I just heard a goat. Get out the binoculars and check on our bait car," ordered the lead detective.

Mumbling under his breath, the rookie pulled out his field glasses and took a look silently cursing the Americans for having night vision glasses. "I can't see anything through these things. It's night time."

"Listen, dummy, that's why we parked the bait car under a street light."

"I know, but this is Nigeria and we can't afford the electricity to keep the light on."

"You got me there. I'm going to investigate. You call for backup," and with that the lead detective stealthily glided across the parking lot to the bait car.

"Baaaa!"

Little did he know that he was about to meet the most unusual of all perpetrators. Thankfully, this detective had spent his youth herding sheep in the hills to the west, and was able to quickly react to the blur of hooves, horns, and hair that bolted from the shadows. Deftly, he wrestled the renegade, adolescent (what age would you think a joy riding, car stealing kid would be?) goat to the ground and hoof cuffed him.

"I got him!! I got him!! Get over here and help me," he called to his partner.

"What the….????"

"Listen, rookie, I know you've not been on the beat for very long, but this a highly skilled thief right here. Just think of all the times he got away. He must have some kind of shape shifting ability," the lead detective reasoned, and upon further thought, he added, "we better get him in the car before he shape shifts his way out of these cuffs."

"Umm…okay. The Americans didn't really cover this in their training session last month. How do you want me to write this in my report?"

"Well, obviously, he has horns that he intended to harm me with. This is assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery." And then the lead turned the suspect, "you, my little friend, are going away for a long time."

"Baaaa!" The goat just realized how much his new friends at the pen were going to enjoy having him around. He had hoped that part of his life was over when he escaped from Hillbilly Bob's barn.

Now, some people say that this is an example of the problems with the Nigerian police force, but I think we all now realize that this is really an example of how closed-minded the rest of the world can be. How many unsolved crimes are there in the world that could be cleared from the books if we thought outside the box like these detectives?

Unfortunately, there is one issue with this sort of justice. Here in the States, most suspects would jump at the chance to have a nice meal on the way to the holding cell, but if the suspect just happened to be Farmer Johnson's hog that might not work out so well. We call it BBQ, the pigs call it a lynch mob. Semantics.

In other news, apparently the rash of car thefts has been resumed by a copycat criminal.

You Stink

I haven't had a chance to comment on the news lately, but I just can't pass this up:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030203247.htm

Apparently, scientists have determined that we all smell. I don't mean that we can perform the action of detecting odors with our noses; that would be obvious and need no scientific investigation. I mean that each of us, possibly without our knowledge or consent, emits an odor that is all our own.

Seriously, could this get any better than being studied by a guy named "Kwak"? I really can't even make this stuff up.

Dr. Kwak has determined that we each have our own odor and that, apparently, other people may be able to detect it. Notably, when we sweat our odor is more obvious, and when we eat certain foods our odor can be changed. In their tests, they determined that garlic can have an impact on how you smell. In my own personal testing, I determined that pretty much anything from Taco Bueno can change your odor.

The best news in this deal is that they have been running these tests on lab mice. On the one hand, poor mice. Last week they were test subjects for a new hair dye and before that someone used to them to try out a new maze, and this week they've got to run around sniffing each other's….umm…you know. On the other hand, thank goodness no people actually had to be on the receiving end of the garlic test.

I just can't wait until they figure out a practical application for this knowledge, though. They say that it can be as unique as a fingerprint, so I'm waiting for the first odor-based conviction.

"Your honor, we found no fingerprints or semen at the scene, but there was a lingering hint of a burrito supreme and Old Spice. Poor old Bob, the rookie, passed out cold and suffered a mild concussion after he entered the premises. There's no doubt this is our man. Just take a sniff."

I really don't know how useful this is to the majority of society, but the chance to write about a "Kwak" telling us that we all stink is blogging gold.

Haunted Houses

No Heroes last night, so I'll just have to tell you a story about my children and my childhood. As a child, I went to my first haunted house at the firefighter training house near our neighborhood. It was a little house with maybe two rooms, and I was probably about eight years old. All I remember is that my sister and I walked through and saw the traditional guy rising up from a coffin, a big scary guy walking towards us, and somebody jumping out at us. We were scared, but also delighted that we had made it through. From then on, haunted houses were a thing of pure excitement at Halloween and even throughout the year.

By the way, my younger brother did not go through the haunted house, he just met us around back to get some candy, and my younger cousin went in only because her dad was carrying her and told her it would be okay. As it turns out, when that first guy sat up out of his coffin, it wasn't all that okay for my uncle. He got punched right in the nose by his daughter and went straight back out the front door. It was actually pretty funny.

Anyway, as we grew, my siblings and my cousins and I would stage our own haunted houses. We would try to scare each other by falling out of closets, jumping from behind doors, whatever we could think of. And when we had the opportunity to go to a good haunted house, we never missed a chance. It was the best part of the Halloween season.

My oldest two are now twelve and ten, and I planted the seed of going to a haunted house this year for their first time. Reagan, the oldest, wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but she came around a bit when Abbie, the second oldest, started to get excited about it. They both spotted a sign for a free haunted house near our neighborhood, and they reminded me daily that it would be open on Halloween night.

Finally, Halloween night arrived, and they were both determined to go. After the little ones finished trick or treating, we loaded up in the car and headed over there. Surprisingly, there were tons of kids from our street also standing in line with us ready to get scared in the free haunted house, and I thought for sure that would help give Reagan and Abbie the confidence they needed to make it through.

To give you an idea of what we were heading into, this family had turned their backyard into a haunted house. Using two by fours, plastic sheeting, and some plywood, they had created a long winding hallway that you entered through the back gate, went through their backyard, and it dropped you out right back where you started. We couldn't really see inside it very well from the sidewalk, but the dad of this family was the one letting people in. He wasn't even dressed up. He was just standing there in a polo and shorts, but Abbie took one look at him, and said, "I'm out."

She was the one that had goaded her older sister into going in the first place, but she was having no part in actually going in. Reagan, of course, started to tease her about being a sissy, and declared that she was going "no matter what!" While Abbie waited by the mailbox, Reagan and I went in.

The first room was just past their back gate, it was very open and pretty well lit. Just one kid (all the "scary" people were this guy's kids, wife, and a few of their friends) dressed in a black robe and a fake skeleton in a coffin. Reagan was nervous, but she continued on.

The next part was the start of the hallway. It was still pretty well lit, but it wasn't very long. Pretty quickly we had to wind back and the hallway got much darker. Lit with a black light, we could see a skull on the wall that glowed (as most things do under black light), and Reagan was really uncomfortable. She looked at that skull, she looked at me, she looked at the entrance way. She wouldn't go any farther. I explained that it was just plastic on the wall, and that this was not going to be a big deal. She didn't care. She wasn't walking past that skull. So, we came back out the same way we went in, and we never even saw anything scary.

The haunted house was scheduled to run both Friday (Oct. 31) and Saturday (Nov. 1), and Logan, my youngest brother, was coming to stay the night Saturday. The girls got to talking big again and told Logan about the free haunted house. Turns out, they wanted to try again, but with Logan this time. They claimed that if they went with Logan they would be sure to make it all the way through.

Leah and I agreed to give them one more shot. On the way there, they changed their plan a few times, and ended up with the idea that Logan could wait with Emma and Sydney while Leah and I walked through the haunted house with Reagan and Abbie. Okay. This time, Abbie actually went in. They were again a little nervous in the first room and that gave way to frightened as we entered the hall, and then to sheer terror when they looked behind us and saw a man. He was actually just another dad walking through with his kids, but Reagan and Abbie were sure he was part of the deal.

I kid you not, if they had taken even a sip of a drink before they went in they would have wet themselves. They were absolutely terrified. We were stuck between the guy behind us and that glowing skull. They decided that they would rather take their chances with the guy behind us than the skull and they scampered back out of there. Leah and I continued on.

There wasn't much to it, but it was impressive that they put this on for free. I laughed at Leah because she kept pointing out the guys that were going to jump out at her, and then she still screamed when they actually did. And after I finished walking through with Leah, I got to go back through with Logan. On that trip, the highlight was when one of the "ghosts" accidentally ran into me and completely broke character trying to apologize for having touched me. It was really pretty funny.

All in all, I was proud of the kids for trying. Maybe next year they'll actually go all the way through.

Eris Quod Sum

This season really is almost a complete reboot of the series. The ones we were sure were villains are becoming heroes. The ones we trusted as heroes are becoming villains. And characters we thought were gone are still orchestrating events. Interesting. Highlight below to see my thoughts:

If you haven't already busted out a Google search on the title of the episode, it comes from Horace (the Roman poet) and it means "you will be what I am." It seems fitting considering the direction that Arthur is moving. He wants to be able to give people abilities meaning that they will become what he is. The logical conclusion of that argument, though, is that they will also become power hungry and evil. A point that Arthur seems unwilling or unable to see. Assuming that Arthur really is the problem…

This is probably going to get some of you going, but hang with me. I know what you're asking right now. You're asking why I would even suggest that Arthur isn't the problem. He's got both halves of the formula. He's already said that he wants to be able to give powers to the world. He's pulling together a team of "villains." What else is there to question? A lot, actually.

First, what was Angela really trying to accomplish when she sent the Haitian to Germany with her half of the formula? Second, why did Angela want to destroy NYC in season 1? Third, do you really think that she has lost her taste for power? Nothing in this show is ever what it seems. HRG turned out to be a passionate guy fighting to protect his adopted daughter from the company that he worked for. Gabriel has turned out to be a guy that's just trying to figure out the world around him and trying to learn how to control "the hunger". Arthur turned out to be alive and in seclusion rather than dead. Maury turned to love his son enough to sacrifice himself for his well being. Why wouldn't it make sense to think that Arthur really is trying to save the world and that at this present time he has to take Peter's powers away because it's the only way to avoid a fight and succeed in his mission?

He did kill Adam and put Maya in a position to be of negligible effect to the show. For both of those things, we should praise him. Instead, we assume that he's the bad guy based on the words of Angela Petrelli. The lady that we were all certain was a criminal mastermind right up until the point that Arthur turned out to be alive. All I'm saying is, think about it.

While you're pondering that, note these other observations. Maury is dead, so Daphne and Nathan should not see any more visions of Linderman.

Matt and Daphne are together and seem to be attracted to one another (at least in Matt's mind). Is Daphne really still working for Arthur, though? She seems to be, and I still wonder what they have on her. The bigger question is, does she really fall in love with him in the future, or was she still just working undercover in Matt's vision?

In the future, Daphne, Claire, and Knox all go after Peter with Matt's consent. How does Claire end up working for Pinehearst and turning on Peter? Does she go bad or does he?

And how the heck is Peter going to get his scar? I thought we might have seen it when he went out the window, but no such luck. It was cool, though, that Gabriel stopped his fall and allowed him to survive. It tells us that Gabriel is not completely riding the Arthur express to loony town, but Arthur's comment on Peter's survival lets us know that realizes what Gabriel did.

Also, how will Peter get his powers back? He has them in the future, so something is going to happen. Can Arthur give them back? Or will Mohinder's formula enable Peter?

Speaking of the Petrelli's, Arthur claims that Angela tried to kill Gabriel after she had a dream of what he would become. Do you think he's telling the truth or is he just trying to manipulate Gabriel into working for him?

It looks like next week we'll be going to back to the past. My guess is that we'll be seeing through Hiro's eyes as he is on his vision quest with Usutu. I wonder how many of these questions will be answered with a little more backstory?