When Charlie was a resident at a military hospital in Houston his marriage to his first wife, a high school girlfriend, failed. Subsequently, she remarried and moved with their children back to Nebraska. Charlie completed his military commitments and took a teaching job at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on the Upper East Side.

Although he casually dated a number of women, he mostly concentrated on his research. He was convinced that through a serious interdisciplinary study, including physics, literature, and philosophy, he could define the alchemy of aging. He met Samantha Acton when a friend brought her to hear him lecture at the Princeton Club. The topic was “The Dialectic of Time.”

Charlie was wary of her at first. She was graceful, sexy, hard-edged, and nobody’s fool. Then he recognized that she was wittier than most of the polished people he envied at Princeton and made an eighth of their insouciant effort. Charlie believed that Samantha really didn’t need him, and therefore after one date decided that she would be his one true romantic act. What he didn’t realize was that Samantha had decided very early on that the healthiest thing she could do would be to will herself to fall in love with Charlie.

When Charlie began seeing Samantha, his work evolved very quickly from aging research to age elimination. Women he sat next to at Samantha’s dinner parties began sending their friends to him for consultations. Suddenly Charlie began appearing in women’s magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar as “the next must-see.” He endorsed an antiaging skin care line that became the Upper East Side’s best-kept secret, sold exclusively at Clyde’s Madison Avenue pharmacy.

“Mrs. Rodman said to tell you she has a dinner at Judy Tremont’s tonight.” The nurse poked her head into the room. “She also said the dinner’s in honor of Samantha, and you obviously can’t get there until you see her.”

Charlie took off his earphones. “Tell her I’ll be right there.”

Charlie looked at the picture of Samantha on his desk. He didn’t understand why in God’s name she would want Judy Flibbertigibbet to give a dinner for her. It just sounded like so much work. But despite his passing irritation, Charlie not only knew they would go, but he actually enjoyed the fact that he and Samantha had become the number one couple in town to throw a dinner party for. And most important, Charlie knew that without Samantha, he would see his life and his work for what it really was.

Charlie picked up the phone to ring his nurse. “Viola, get Mrs. Rodman’s butt the heck out of my refrigerator.”

·CHAPTER THIRTEEN·

Frankie

Frankie asked one of her junior associates to cover for her while she accompanied Abraham to his second visit with Dr. Trenton.

“Mr. Weissman, can you tell me the names of some vegetables?” the Mount Sinai specialist in senior dementia asked him.

“Uh, let’s see. Peppers, tomatoes, zucchinis, meatballs,” Abraham answered.

“Very good.” The doctor took a note and continued. “Now, can you repeat this story? The bad king told his wife he would not eat any porridge today.”