Rhoda could hardly believe it had happened. She'd gone to Mary's apartment, expecting to meet her for their regular morning coffee date. Times had changed. They were living in New York now, and both found that they liked the convenience of having Starbucks nearby. Sure, they weren't as young as they once were, but neither was planning to call it quits yet.

At least, that had been true up to now. When Mary didn't answer her door, Rhoda became concerned. She let herself in using her emergency key. "Kid?" Still no answer. When she got to her friend's bedroom, she knew something was tragically wrong. She wouldn't wake up. And when Rhoda tried to feel for a pulse, there was none. She called 911 immediately.

Paramedics came, and they attempted to do CPR, but it was soon clear that it was too late. Mary had simply died in her sleep.

Though they'd never spoken of it, Rhoda knew exactly what Mary would want her to do next. She had called Rose, who had taken a road trip with some friends, and was coming home as soon as she could. But that wasn't the most important thing. Rhoda knew she had to call Mary's friends. She had never imagined having to make this call. But she gathered her courage. After all, Rhoda was never one to be shy about speaking her mind. She called Lou Grant and informed him of the situation. Of course, Lou tried to act like it didn't really matter. But even through the phone, Rhoda knew he was fighting his emotions. Lou graciously volunteered to contact Murray, thereby giving Rhoda one less unpleasant task to deal with.

That meant Rhoda still had to make two very difficult phone calls. One would be to Georgette, Ted Baxter's widow. It had been hard enough on her to lose him, but this might be more than she could handle. Rhoda knew without a doubt Mary would want Georgette to be taken care of. Well, I guess that's going to my job now, Rhoda thought. As predicted, Georgette burst into tears when Rhoda broke the news to her. "It's OK," Rhoda reassured her. "Wait, what am I saying? It's not OK, but we'll get through it. I promise. I already called Lou, and he's getting in touch with Murray. I thought, before the actual funeral, we could all sort of, you know, get together."

Slowly, Georgette's tears stopped. She couldn't pass up a chance to see her old friends again. True, they had been Ted's co-workers, and they hadn't always been nice to him, but they were, in some way, a family.

Once Georgette had promised to come, Rhoda knew she still had one last call to make. And it would be, by far, the hardest. If she could have avoided it, she would. But she knew, once again, that wouldn't be what Mary would want. So, even though everything in Rhoda said not to do this, she called her former landlady and friend (if one could use the word loosely), Phyllis. When Phyllis answered the phone, Rhoda took deep breath. "It's Rhoda. I know we haven't spoken in over twenty years. And we've never had a nice thing to say to each other when we did speak. But I hope we can be civil to each other just this one time."

"Why, Rhoda, dear, what's the matter? You sound as if something tragic has happened."

"Well, that's because something tragic has happened. Mary…..well, she passed away last night. It happened in her sleep. I just thought maybe…"

Phyllis cut her off. "You want me to help put together a memorial service for her? Well, I'd be glad to. I mean, I know I'm still in California, but I do have my connections."

"No, Phyllis, that's not what I was going to say!" Rhoda sighed in exasperation. Now she remembered why they hadn't spoken in so many years. "I can handle the funeral arrangements myself. I just thought you'd want to get together, just, you know, us…..Georgette, Murray and Lou. We're the ones who knew Mary the best. She'd want us to get together, don't you think?"

"Yes, I suppose that would be appropriate. But wait, that Happy Homemaker isn't going to be there, is she?"

"Sue Ann?" Rhoda laughed. Though it was true that Sue Ann was part of this group, she and Mary had never been especially close. Mary had spoken fondly of most of her WJM co-workers, but she and Sue Ann had gone their separate ways after being fired. "No...I really don't think I need to call her."

"Good," Phyllis said. "Then I'll come." She knew Rhoda had been right, Mary would've loved the idea of her closest friends reuniting to remember her. And, as long as the woman who once had an affair with Phyllis' late husband wasn't a part of it, there was no reason for her not to go. Even if that meant seeing Rhoda again after all these years.