A/N: A follow up to the 1950 movie "Harvey".

Come for Dinner

Dr. Lyman Sanderson, head psychiatrist at the Chumley Rest sanitarium, told the person knocking on his office door to come in. The sign on the door still read "Dr. Chumley' even though his predecessor had retired several months ago to move to Akron. "Oh, hi Lydia!" he greeted his wife. "I didn't expect you for another hour."

"I finished those errands more quickly than I thought. But I picked up something for us: a dinner invitation."

"Oh really? From whom?"

"One Mr. Elwood P. Dowd - I ran into him downtown."

"Dowd? How did that go?"

"Let me tell you..."

...

"Mr. Dowd, isn't it?" the woman asked after stopping to do a double-take of the man she walked past on the sidewalk.

The tall man stopped his travel away from the city park and turned. What had been a pleasant expression previously turned to a broad smile after he studied the woman for a moment. "Miss Kelly, it certainly is - Elwood P." he responded. "I almost didn't recognize you without your nurse's uniform. How are you?" he asked as he walked up to her and gently held her extended hand for a moment.

"I'm doing quite well, Mr. Dowd. I haven't seen you since that night you left Chumley's Rest. Why, that was two years ago now that I think of it! How have you been?"

"Oh, wonderful as always. Two years you say? My, how time flies. Say, are you still seeing that nice Doctor Sanderson?"

"I hope so - we got married last year. Now I'm Mrs. Sanderson - call me Lydia."

"A beautiful name; I like the sound of that. Mrs. Lydia Sanderson. I always thought you made a nice couple. You know, I'm surprised Mr. Wilson hasn't mentioned you got married. I guess that new job fixing washing machines has got his mind on other things." Marvin Wilson was an orderly who worked at Chumley's Rest mental health facility when Elwood was taken to the grounds one day by his sister and niece in an attempt to have him committed for excessive eccentricities. Through a mix-up, the sister was locked up instead while Elwood was released. The sister saw the error of her ways and the whole situation was eventually resolved, with Elwood's penchant for his imaginary six-foot rabbit friend Harvey and his habitual drinking tolerated.

"Maybe Lyman and I can meet you for a drink down at Charlie's Bar sometime."

"That would be terrific. I don't go down there as often as I used to, but Mr. Cracker is a swell guy and he'll take care of us for sure. Here, let me give you my card" he said as he reached into his pocket and produced one to hand to her. "I got some new ones made after I got my job, so I got the number fixed. That's my home number on the bottom" he pointed out, right beside the number where it said 'home'.

"Western Slope Water Board" Lydia read. "You have been busy!"

"Oh, I've always been the busy type. Just now instead of listening to people's problems down at Charlie's I listen to them sitting on the water board. Once I went down there and applied, they really seemed to want a Yale alumnus on their board."

That was quite a change. Although Lydia had thought Elwood to be one of the most pleasant and friendly people she had ever met, his dependence on his imaginary friend Harvey was troubling though she doubted that it was reason to lock him up and medicate him. The man's sister had given permission to Dr. Sanderson to use the formula 9-7-7 to treat him, but she withdrew her support when she found that he might lose his easy-going nature. "How is your sister?" she asked Elwood.

"Veta? She's fine, just fine. Now that Myrtle Mae is dating Wilson she's as happy as can be. She was even discussing a possible wedding the other day with her friends, now that they've started coming back to the house again."

"Oh?" Lydia asked, surprised. She had discussed the situation with Lyman extensively - which while not entirely professional, was understandable between two newlyweds who had been brought together by the Dowd incident, as they called it.. It wasn't surprising that visitors had been driven off by Elwood's behavior; as charming as he was, the prospect of being introduced and then being expected to have interaction with a six-foot imaginary rabbit was a bit much for ordinary people. "They've started to accept Harvey?"

"Oh no, that's not it. I'm afraid I've got some bad news" he said as he sat down on a bench. Lydia joined him and listened. "Harvey won't be coming around anymore. There was an accident."

"An accident? My heavens, was he hurt?"

"It was worse than that. You see, last year...the same year you got married I guess...there was a problem around Easter time, he told me. It seems the Easter bunny was his cousin by marriage, and had injured himself so that he couldn't deliver all the eggs that year. Well, you know how much Harvey likes to help - he volunteered to deliver those eggs to all the kids. You see, he didn't want to disappoint any of them. I offered to help, but he said it was his job now and that he'd be back before I knew it. Well, he never came back. Seems he was run over by a drunk driver; it was simply terrible. His last words before he died were: Tell Elwood that it's okay, and that he was the best friend a rabbit could have."

"That must have been difficult for you" Lydia said, studying Elwood's face.

"Oh, it was. I still miss him, but I try to honor his memory. I've given up drinking, and I often think of all the help and support he gave me and try to do the same for others; I think it's the way he would have wanted it, don't you?"

"I think we can spend no better effort than to be kind and help others" Lydia said truthfully.

"As do I." The two continued to talk for a few minutes.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked.

"What did you have in mind?"

"How about joining Lyman and I for dinner sometime?"

"Certainly - I would love to. But I insist that we have it at my house - Elvira is quite good in the kitchen. Now it's 348 Temple Drive - don't forget." Elwood told her when and the two cheerfully parted company as he continued on his way home.

...

"So that's how we got the dinner invitation" Lydia finished up. "He said to come by Thursday. I tried to tell him we already had plans but he insisted we were available and that you should wear your blue suit" she explained to Lyman.

"Well, I'm certainly pleased that he finally resolved his delusion about that Harvey character. His inner conscience told him that what he was doing was wrong, and that scare he got from coming here must have straightened him out. His mind then made up a story about the death of Harvey as a reason to stop drinking and start taking responsibility again after his mother's passing. But you know, it's the strangest thing - I got a call from Dr. Hammerstein this afternoon saying he wouldn't be taking the train out here due to a bad sprain he got; he postponed his trip two weeks so I won't be meeting him Thursday evening."

"That IS odd. But at least he was wrong about the suit; you don't own a blue suit."

Lyman coughed.

"Do you?"

"Um, it has to be coincidence. You remember Mr. Granger that stayed with us last month?"

"Sure. He seemed a nice fellow."

"He wanted to thank me for the care I gave him, so he sent me...one of his old suits and I just got it today. It's my size...and blue."

Lydia shook her head. "I wonder how...no...it couldn't be."

"What?"

"Mr. Dowd said that, well, Harold told him."

"Harold?"

"Apparently a black horse he claims to talk with in the park occasionally. 'Harold Pooka'. Isn't that a funny name? He said it was Harold who told him Harvey's last words."

"Pooka. Pooka?" Lyman got up and went to his library, finding a dictionary. He thumbed through the pages until he found a listing and read it silently:

Poo-kuh (noun)

1. A mischievous Irish spirit, either good or bad, often appearing as a dark animal or having animal attributes. May take the form of rabbits, foxes, dogs, goats or other animals but most often in the shape of a black horse.

2. Mythological character often seen by marginal society members.

3. Dr. Sanderson hasn't seen one...yet.

Lyman slammed the book shut.

"What did it say?" Lydia asked.

"It's, ah, just an old Irish noun. Hardly ever used now. Heh heh."

The End

A/N: Happy Easter! Just a little something since I finally got around to seeing the movie. In a way the movie had a few similarities with "Lars and the Real Girl" but besides being older it also was a bit different in several aspects including lack of a character arc. Well, he's got one now.