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Original Airdate: 01/11/99
Mary is getting ready to take her driver's test for her license with Lucy, her mom watching nearby. Mary tells Lucy she doesn't know how to parallel park. Lucy tells Mary to just cry if the instructor asks her to do it. After a few minutes of driving, the instructor does indeed ask Mary to parallel park and Mary breaks down and sobs saying there's so much pressure with basketball and her grades and then simply cries uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Matt is out driving in a bad neighborhood and swears he sees his Aunt Julie walking down the street and into an apartment building.Eric meet sup with Deena, Simon's girlfriend, at the pool hall where Deena is having some trouble hitting the ball right. She tells Eric she was mean to Simon today because she has a secret she hasn't told him. Eric says Simon might want the chance to be there for her. Deena doesn't know when to tell the truth and who to tell it to.
Mary and the girls get home, and Mary shows Matt the slip of paper saying she's passed. Matt and Annie are suspicious how she passed the parallel parking test. Annie gets the feeling something is up with Matt, but he doesn't tell her anything. In the bedroom, Mary tells Lucy she cried and is a disgrace to women everywhere. Lucy says yes, but not because she cried, because she can't parallel park. Lucy taunts her and Mary chases her out of the room.
Simon and Ruthie are watching TV in the living room when a psychic commercial comes on. Simon tells Ruthie that Deena didn't even save him a seat at lunch. Ruthie says Deena is breaking up with her - and maybe they should call the "sidekick" and see what is going to happen in the future. Matt comes in and tells his mom he is going to have dinner with a friend and will be back in a little while. Upstairs, Ruthie calls the "sidekick" (even though it's the wrong number) and the lady answering the phone plays along with Ruthie. Mabel tells Ruthie that Simon and Deena will be together for the next 50 years. Ruthie goes and tells Simon the good news, and Simon says it costs money.
Eric comes home and calls the kids home and asks Mary to take everybody to go get pizza. Instead of being glad to take her maiden voyage, she says maybe she isn't ready. She gives in, leaving Eric and Annie alone. Matt drives over to where he saw Aunt Julie go in, and goes up and knocks on her door. She quickly hides a bottle of alcohol, and then opens the door. They give each other a big hug and she invites him in to talk. She tells Matt she wanted to get back on her feet her own. She asks Matt to give her some time and not to tell Eric, and also to let her call if she wants to have visitors. He agrees.
Night falls, and Simon is reading in bed when a suction-cup arrow hits his window. Going downstairs he finds Deena in his backyard. She apologizes for being a major freak lately. She tells Simon that seven years ago she went to the doctor for a physical and found out she had leukemia. Simon looks down then puts his hand on her shoulder and sites down on a nearby bench. Deena tells Simon that she has been talking to his dad for a couple of years now. Simon is hurt that his dad has known this for two years and he hasn't. Simon starts to cry but tries to laugh it off, saying he's sure she will be O.K. He takes off and goes back in the house. He finds Eric in the kitchen, and explodes on him about not telling him what he knew.
In the morning, Eric goes outside to talk to Simon who is still mad. Eric tells Simon that he couldn't tell Simon - it's part of his job. Eric says that once she decided to tell everybody, that Simon would be fine. He tells Simon that he will be O.K. Simon wonders what other things in his life are confidential as well. Matt finds Annie in the kitchen and says he had a dream Aunt Julie was in town. He says the dream was that Julie was teaching again someplace near Glen Oak. Upstairs, Ruthie has called Mabel again and asks if Deena will be O.K. Mabel says everything is going to be fine.
When Mary drives her and Lucy to school with Annie driving shotgun, Annie asks Mary to parallel park. Mary not only doesn't do it, but she drives halfway up the grass in front of the school. Mary confesses she cried on the driving test. Matt goes to find Eric at the church and comes out and tells his father about Julie. He asks Eric if he should betray her on every level, but Eric says he could save her life. Meanwhile, Annie goes and finds Julie at the school she is teaching at. Turns out Julie called Annie, but still doesn't want Eric to know. She tells Annie she wants to do this by herself, without favors. When Julie returns home, however, she finds Eric sitting on the couch. She is angry that her brother would invade her privacy and tell shim she is not drinking. Eric finds the bottle of alcohol and gets that look in his eye. She tells him to leave… now.
Annie finds out what Ruthie has been doing, and calls Mabel herself. Mabel tells Annie she isn't a psychic and says Ruthie needed some ideas for Simon's head. Mabel asks how Deena is. Matt takes Mary and Lucy out to try and teach Mary how to parallel park. Lucy says she can do it, and Matt lets her take a shot. To everybody's surprise, Lucy does it right on the first try! Mary is not amused.
When everybody gets home, Annie tells Eric and Matt she is NOT drinking. She has a job, going to meetings, and is doing just fine. Eric tells Annie about the bottle of whiskey he found. She says yes, and Julie will them both about it when she is ready for their apology. Another suction-cup arrow hits and Deena tells Simon she's still 100% in remission. That night Julie comes over at tells them about the bottle of whiskey. She says her sponsor back home died of natural causes. The bottle is what he left her to remember him with. It is the bottle he took his last drink from 30 years ago. She keeps the bottle around to let her know that it is possible to overcome her alcoholism. She tells them both she loves them and they give each other a big hug. She asks them to hang onto the whiskey bottle for her. She says she will see them soon and heads out the door.