t on the next problem. Oliver pulled a yellow pad from his bag and
wrote names on the final page where they wouldn't be seen: Ruth, short
blonde; Edna, happy; Lillian, glasses, bored; Vi, body; Dan; Suzanne.
What a pro, he bragged to himself.

He looked through the manuals and tried to make sense of the system.
The terminals in the computer room were used for data entry--billing
information and payments. Terminals elsewhere in the hospital allowed
people to look up information. Medical records were kept by hand in a
different department.

The operating system was complicated but not too different from one he
had used a few years earlier. There was a job control language that
scheduled daily updates and a weekly billing run. A log kept automatic
track of all programs that were executed. This gave him the names of
the programs. He found Dan at the other end of the hospital and asked
him for a password. Once inside the system, he found the source code
for the billing programs. A lot of small programs were run in sequence
before the bills were actually produced. He took a guess and printed
out the last three to be run; the late messages were probably
hard-coded in there somewhere. The code was incomprehensible. He
couldn't get anywhere without a book. He said goodbye and drove to the
Maine Mall.

There was only one book on RPG II. It was a language from the dawn of
computer history, thirty years old. He took the book to the Food Court
and began trying to interpret the code listings. Two cups of coffee
later, he drove home. He had made some progress, but there was a lot
left to figure out.

There was a statement from Myron in the mail. Francesca was listed as
joint owner at the top. Her name, next to his, gave him a proud
feeling. Together. The feeling of connectedness with Francesca was deep
and comforting, as long as he didn't think of Jennifer and the baby at
the same time.

Myron had invested most of the money in some kind of fund. There were
small amounts of General Electric, Royal Dutch Shell, Pfizer,
Microsoft, and Citibank. A note suggested that he stop in. "Keeping
powder dry," Myron wrote. "These blue chips will grow with the economy.
We'll add to them on dips and as money comes in. Waiting for good entry
points on some growth companies." What was Pfizer? He'd ask Jennifer.
On the other hand, he thought, maybe it would be best to keep quiet
about this account--at least for now. He put the statement in his
po