New ER chief Amanda Lee is working today.  Mark has stayed at Doug and Carol's again and they have a hard time waking him up.  Doug eventually has to get a air horn to wake him up after three attempts.  The nurses wake Maggie Doyle up, so that she can sedate a drunk who won't quit singing "100 bottles of beer on the wall".  He never drops down to "99 bottles of beer on the wall" and this aggravates them, especially Jerry.  Kerry has a hard time waking Carter up.  Doug and Carol ask Mark how his date went, and he replies that it was not a date.  It was more of an orientation to the ER for Amanda Lee.  Roxanne is upstairs speaking with Kerry when Carter gets up.  Kerry is asking her about good money investments.  Amanda compliments the nurses and Jerry for a job well done sedating the drunk.

Today happens to be the 100th anniversary of the hospital and Anspaugh wants the ER to look after Ruth Johnson and her family until the celebration is ready to begin.  Ruth Johnson was born in the hospital exactly 100 years ago to the day.  Amanda picks Carter to tend to her, and he is not too happy about it.  He tells her that they should have called Willard Scott.  Lucy is helping Doug out in the pediatric ER.  A young eight year old boy named Wilson Geary has been hit by a car while riding his bike and Paramedic Pickman has brought him in.  Carol looks after him.  He tells her that a man was chasing him and his friend Andy through the park.  Andy, his friend, was shot.  Elizabeth prepares for her M&M about the case where she gave too much magnesium to her patient when she was on for her 36 hour shift.  She tells Dr. Benton that after seeing his previous M&M, she wants to be prepared.  Shirley comes to get Peter and tells him that Dr. Kotlowitz is looking for him.  Paramedic Pamela Olbes has brought in Andy with a gun shot wound.  Dr. Weaver is tending to him.  Dr. Amanda Lee assists her with him.  Reggie, the cop, comes in asking questions about what happened to the two young boys.  Carol isn't able to give him any information yet and he tells her that he is trying to contact the parents.  Carter tries to get Nurse Shirley to let him speak with Dr. Anspaugh, but she tells him that he is in surgery and cannot be disturbed.  She tells Dr. Carter to be a good soldier and he goes ahead and meets the family and Ruth Johnson.  Carter takes Ruth Johnson and her family on a tour of the hospital.  Officer Reggie tells Carol that Andy's mom and her boyfriend are in the waiting room.  She asks if they have located Wilson's family and he tells her that his parents are away on a business trip and that he was staying at Andy's place.  Carol goes in and speaks with Wilson.

Elizabeth is waiting at the elevator and when the door opens she sees Carter standing in a full elevator with all of his guests.  She chuckles and tells him that it was the highlight of her day and that she will wait for another elevator.  Romano sees Elizabeth before her review and gives her a big hug.  He tells her that he is on her side.  She seems to have felt very awkward with the hug that he gave her.  A detective with the last name of Wilson comes to speak with Wilson about what happened to him and Andy.  Andy has died and he wants to know about the man who was chasing them.  Wilson is not much help with describing the man.  He keeps asking Carol when his parents are going to be there?  Dr. Anspaugh comes to see how Carter is doing with Ruth Johnson and her family.  He seems to find it humorous that Carter is having to deal with him.  He sees that Ruth Johnson is sleeping and Carter tells her that she sleeps a lot.  After Dr. Anspaugh walks away, Ruth tells Carter that she was "playing opossum".  She is tired of meeting so many people.  Mrs. Johnson wants Carter to get her away from her family for a while.  Peter and Dr. Kotlowitz speak to a family about the surgery that they are going to perform on their young son for his hearing.  The parents seem to be excited about the prospects of their son's hearing to improve.  Dr. Carter has taken Ruth outside to the river.  They discuss how long she has lived in Chicago and about her late husband Everett being a construction worker and building a lot of the buildings right there near the river.  She tells Carter that they had better go back now.  She jokingly tells Carter that her family is afraid that she will die before they can get the picture taken.    Andy's mom, Judy Styles and her boyfriend, Carl Dayton, introduce themselves to Doug and Carol.  She tells them that she didn't realize how long it takes to make arrangements after the death of her son.  They ask to see Wilson, since he was the last person to see her son.  Carol and Doug take her in to see him.  Wilson tells them that he doesn't remember what happened.  Carl asks Wilson if they skipped school again and this upsets Wilson.

Dr. Kotlowitz is ready to put Reese on his schedule for surgery.  Peter watches as he does the surgery on another little boy.  Dr. Benton seems to be concerned about Reece's age and is not sure if he is ready for that type of surgery.  Carol sees Wilson walking down the hall and she takes him back to his room.  He gives Carol more information about the man that was chasing them hoping that the police will not have to ask him anything else.  Mark and Amanda crawl across the floor looking for an ear ring that she has lost.  She asks him if he would be interested in doing a study with her since Dr. Weaver is already doing the sternal saw study?  A friend of hers from Atlanta is leading conducting the study.  He tells her "sure".  During Elizabeth's M&M, she tells the doctor's about how this was bound to happen.  Doctor's should not be expected to work 36 hour shifts.  Air traffic controllers don't and doctor's should not either.  She tells them to think about the next time they are on an airplane if they would want the air traffic controller to be working on their thirty-sixth hour?  The photographer has arrived and is taking pictures of Mrs. Johnson's family.  Carter thinks that she is playing like she is a sleep again, but she is unconscious.  Andy's mom tells Carol that her son's and Wilson's clothes must have been mixed up.  Carol goes to look and she finds some bullets with Wilson's things and remembers that Wilson came in with Andy's boots on.  Wilson told Carol that Andy would never let anyone wear his boots, so she asks him why he has them.  He tells her that he won the bike race, so he gets to wear them.  Wilson shot Andy because he did not let him wear the boots.  He then dropped the gun down a drain pipe.  He asks Carol to not tell his dad about losing the gun, because his dad will get mad about it.

Carol learns that nothing can be done about it because Wilson is only eight.  Carol tells the detective that he still knew what he was doing.  He shot him for the boots.  The family of Ruth Johnson thinks that she is dead, but she has only choked on a piece of candy.  Carter tells the family that she will be okay.   They then storm into the room to be with her, all of them.  Randi apologizes to Amanda for not being able to find her lost ear ring.  She tells Randi thanks for looking, but that it is okay.  Kerry overhears the conversation and Amanda tells her that it holds a lot of sentimental value to her.  Her fiance had given it to her before he was killed.  He died from a freak horseback riding accident.  Kerry tells her that she is sorry to hear it and Amanda tells her that it was a long time ago.  After Peter watched the surgery on the little boy, he decided that he wants to wait for Reese to have the surgery.  He calls Dr. Kotlowitz and tells him to postpone Reece's surgery.  He feels that he is too young and that the technology is advancing everyday.  Wilson asks Carol if she is mad at him?  Carol asks him if he knows what it means to be sad, because she feels that he is not showing any remorse for what he has done.  Conni comes in and tells Carol that Wilson's parents have arrived.  She walks out to the hall to see the detectives speaking with them.  Elizabeth and Peter decide to quit their relationship.  They decide that it is best for the two of them to just be friends.  Peter tells her that his time needs to be focused on Reece right now.  Doug comes in to where Carol is stocking supplies.  They should have been gone twenty minutes ago he tells her.  He can see that she is still upset about Wilson.  She tells him that she spoke with his parents and they are very normal people.  She had expected them to be monsters.  This worries her.  She doesn't know hoe kids can become that way on their own.  Doug tells her that "you love them as much as you can and teach them as best as you can, and then you wish them good luck".  Mark and Amanda make plans for dinner and a drink.  She tells him that she will be ready as soon as she meets with Anspaugh.  Doug and Carol are on their way out of the ER, when a man stops them.  His wife is in labor.  They take her inside and she has the baby.  It is Ruth Johnson's grand daughter who has the baby and she wants to name her Ruth.  Carol cleans the baby up and tells her, "Good luck, Ruth Johnson". 

Reviewed by Tony Conner on 11-18-2000