It's broken...

He said it like it was supposed to be profound:

"Our insurance agency system is broken."

I could sense the despair, and I could feel the urgency, but I didn't know what to say, after all I didn't even know we had "insurance agency systems" nevermind the implications of them breaking.  But before I could make up some sort of empathetic response he said,

"Without this the insurance policy management system can never function like we need it to."

I had known Thom since we were kids.  We lived next to each other for 17 years, but lately it was like I didn't know him.  His mutterings had become fragmented and often incoherent.  He had become obsessed with the "insurance agency system" and would come up with terms like that all the time.  It was like whenever he came over to the house he was saying something like "insurance ams is slipping" or "the insurance governor has frozen the system again".  It would have been silly and even funny if it wasn't for the tragedy of it all. 

When Thom graduated with his bachelor's degree he got a job at a national insurance agency, but a few weeks after finishing his training he had a seizure.  The doctors said it almost killed him, and that although his MRI looked normal, his "SPECK" scan showed something much different.  Much, much, different...