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In a split second, I decided to change my plans for the evening.
"What time does Grandfather expect you home?"
"I told him I might stay out for a bit. A friend is visiting him, someone from the office who’s also retired. They’ll talk for hours."
"Would you accompany me to a play?"
Grandmother beamed widely. “Can we go to my old theater?”
“Of course. That was the plan.”
"Are you sure? Don't you have anything lined up this evening?"
"No, I don't, and besides, I would cancel anything for a chance to spend some time with my grandmother." She’d been an actress for nearly sixty years before deciding she couldn't keep up with the pace of the stage anymore. In her honor, the theater kept two tickets reserved in the Whitley name for every show they booked.
"That would be lovely."
"I'll make all the arrangements," I said.
After lunch, I instructed my assistant to get me the tickets. My grandmother spent the rest of the day shopping, and we arrived at the theater at six o’clock. The John Druitt Nash Theater was a small venue downtown, but it had a very loyal clientele. I especially liked that they treated my grandmother like a queen.
"I haven't been here in two years," she said, looking around the lobby, probably trying to see what’s new.
Fuck me, we're bad grandsons.I was going to have a chat with my brothers so one of us could take her out once a week, or at least offer to.
"Come on, let's go in. This musical is one of my favorites," she added.
Musicals were the bane of my existence, but there wasn't much I wouldn't do for my grandmother. Being here gave me a flashback to my teenage years. Had I truly been down a dark hole when I was a teen the way she'd described? I remembered the rage but nothing else.
Well, that wasn't true. I remembered Meredith as well. I spent the entire show thinking about her, trying to figure out a way to see her outside of the competition’s events and meetings.
Before I even realized it, the show was over, and Grandmother and I were heading out of the theater to my BMW. It was ten o’clock in the evening when I dropped her off at home, and Grandfather was waiting up to make sure everything was okay.
Afterward, I started to drive back home but changed my mind and headed to my old high school. I couldn't say why. Maybe my grandmother had stirred something in my brain. When I arrived, I parked next to the main entrance. There were two lampposts at each side of the gate. Only one was working. The whole street was dark, and on instinct, I decided to call the one person who was my rock at the time—Meredith.
"Hey," she answered.
"Hey. Guess where I am."
"If you say you're outside my bedroom window, ready to throw stones, I'm going to be creeped out because you shouldn't know my address." She made me laugh, and it felt good. Those teen years were tough, and I’d missed out on a lot by being so angry at everything. I knew that now. But everyone went through something, right? We learned and moved on. That’s what life was all about.
"I'm at the high school."
"Oh? What are you doing there?"
"I don't know."
"I haven't been there in a long time, even though I live just a few blocks away. How does it look?"
"Dark," I said. "But it's still the same layout. I can even see the backyard where we used to sneak a smoke."
"Yousmoked, not me. I just lectured you," she reminded me.
"True. I never could tempt you with that."
"Tempt me? I was sure you were going to give yourself lung cancer. Remember, I was the nerd."
I remembered it like yesterday. She was so concerned that I’d get sick. She was always like that. Meredith always cared.
