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“I only speak the truth, Billie. I used up the last of my resources getting you the reservation. I’ll be dying this afternoon, but you won’t be back until after I’m gone.”
“Gram, I’m going to go to the interview and I’ll be back before dinner. Then maybe we’ll go to the park, okay?”
She smiled serenely. “Sure.”
She was really losing it. The doctors had told us the dementia would slowly get worse. But why was it that she always toldmethe craziest things? Did I bring out the cuckoo in her somehow? Did she build it up inside her and then I was the trigger?
“Gram, why don’t you talk like this to Mom or my cousins?”
“Because they aren’t like us. They’reboring.” She sighed loudly, shrugging petite shoulders. “What can I say? Special skips a generation sometimes. I never liked to say anything bad about them, but I find them to be annoying.”
She waved her left hand, her wedding ring still shining on her finger. She smirked and added softly, “Look, they aren’t important. Never really were, to be totally frank.” She shook her head, as if trying to shake off the rest of the family. “You go have your meeting and just remember to tell them you have a reservation and it’ll be okay. Just make sure you tell them fast so you don’t end up in the river and they box you up for an eternity.” She finished that off with another smile and her arms out. “Now give me a hug and know I’ll see you again at some point.”
“Okay. I love you,” I said, trying to get my wits about me. Gram was crazy, but this was a new low.
I gave her a kiss on the cheek, grabbed my purse, and headed to the door.
“You’re going to do great. I’ll be dead before you get home, so I just want you to know that.” She waved from her seat.
“Bye, Gram.”
My heart was racing and a feeling of dread filled every part of me, and why? Nobody knew when they were dying. She hadn’t said anything about knowing Grandpa was going to die untilafterhe was gone. A lot of people made great predictions in the past tense.
My mother was sitting on the front stoop, leaning against the corner of the house, the rage seeming to have worked its way out a bit. “Good luck on your interview. You’ll do well. You always do well. You try too hard not to,” she said.
“Thanks.” I patted my pocket, making sure I had my phone, and dug through my purse for my car keys, which I dropped with shaky fingers.
“Is your grandmother telling you crazy stories again? You know she’s got dementia, right?” My mother took a long drag from her cigarette as she watched me trying to orient myself.
“I know.” Somehow admitting that Gram was nuts, even to my mother, felt like a betrayal.
“But she still gets to you anyway. I understand. She gets to me too, just in a different way,” she said, and then sipped from her mug. “She is what she is.”
“Okay, well, she’s telling me she’s dying today, so can you go sit with her?” I never asked my mother to do anything. I’d given up relying on her a long time ago, but even the farce of her possibly doing this might help me get through today.
She shrugged, which I was going to take as a tentative agreement.
“Did she mention what time she would be departing?” Mom asked.
“Sometime this afternoon.”
“I guess she didn’t want to go before she had her midmorning snack?” My mother raised her eyebrows, as if to say,You can’t possibly believe this. She shook her head. “I’ll go sit with her. Get going. You don’t want to be late. And don’t forget to call the landlord, since I’m not allowed to.”
I nodded and took off, knowing I’d need the ride to the firm to calm my nerves, and talking to my mother any longer wouldn’t help matters.
The accounting firm was one mile away when my car decided it didn’t feel like moving anymore. The light changed, I hit the gas, but the thing wouldn’t budge. I floored it, and it moved all of two inches. My transmission, which had been slipping on occasion, seemed to have decided that this was the moment it wanted to make its final stand. I tried again and again. It wouldn’t move.
Cars were honking behind me, and I put my flashers on, rolled down the window, and waved my hand, signaling for them to go around.
I slammed the wheel and grabbed my purse. It was one mile. Just on the other side of the bridge. With ten minutes left until the interview, if I ran and their interviews before me went over a little bit, I might be okay.
I abandoned my car, waving at the people cursing. If I got the job, it would be more than worth the towing bill.
I sprinted toward the bridge; I sprinted into nowhere. I sprinted into what would be the end of my current life and a new one that was unimaginable.
Chapter Two
Ijumped across the small gap that had opened. The ground had been right there, but somehow I was stumbling into nothingness, surrounded by the kind of darkness that was so utterly complete, your eyes had nothing to adjust to, and then suddenly there was light again. The ground underneath my feet was a worn wood as I found myself in a room.
