Page 19 of Ethan
“Aren’t you afraid she’ll get away?” She told her mom to behave herself. “I am. I don’t know what she’s like when we’re not here. They probably keep her drugged up or something to keep her this calm.”
“I’m right here, so stop talking about me as if I’m not. And I can hear you just fine, Gilda Jane.” Grandma rolled her eyes before speaking again. “Didn’t you know that they hook us up to all kinds of tubes when no one is around? Yes, sir. And they have probes everywhere on us. Every orifice has one, too. And we’re not to complain or they take one of our toes off. See that man over there with his foot all wrapped up. It’s because he questioned them one night. Messy thing—”
“Now, who should be behaving. Grandma, you can’t tell Mom that. She believes you.” And it looked as if she had, too. “They don’t put tubes in your orifices either. Behave, or I’ll make you have liver and onions for dinner.”
“It just so happens, and you well know it that I love liver and onions. Especially the onions part. With mashed potatoes and dark gravy. Now I’m hungry.” Standing up, reaching for her ever-present cane, she asked if her mom was coming with them. “I don’t mind the company, Gilda Jane, but you will be eating where I want. Not that you have terrible tastes in things, but I want comfort food, not something that costs the world, and I have to stop someplace on the way home to get something more substantial in my belly.”
“I was going to suggest the new place called Fling down the street from here.” Grandma was already shaking her head, no. “All right. We can go with you. But please, when you order, don’t ask for a coloring book for me. I never get enough colors to finish the pictures.”
This time, it was Taylor who rolled her eyes. Her mother, she didn’t believe, had ever grown up. She knew that it had to havebeen especially hard on her, losing her husband when they’d only just started out in life, but she didn’t know if her mom had always been this way. She didn’t know her father other than the stories that they’d tell her. He’d been gone before she’d been able to form any kind of lasting connection with him.
Taylor drove her and Grandma to the restaurant. Mom was taking her own car in the event that she didn’t care for anything on the menu. She didn’t care one way or the other, but she had a feeling that her grandma had called her this morning for a reason. And they’d not gotten to that as yet.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t eat here. They deep fry things, and that’s not good for your body. Harriette, you should consider not—” Grandma put up her hand to stop Mom from browbeating her about the food. “I’m just trying to tell you that it’s not all that healthy for you.”
“Gilda Jane, I’m nearly ninety-nine years old and I don’t give a good fig if they deep fry fingers and call them Frenchie fries. I want comfort food, not some kind of fad diet that I didn’t eat as a child. Now, I’m going to go have me a meal that I can be too full from but enjoyed it enough to suffer from the pangs of it. You can stay or not. I’m having a good meal.”
Her mom left them there with a huff. She actually stomped her foot on the way out, too. Shaking her head, Jeri followed. She wondered if they’d be together much longer.
“I wonder if the two of them are suited.” Taylor told her grandma that she was thinking the very same thing. “I don’t know what gets into her sometimes. I wonder now what my grandson saw in her. But I can forgive her almost anything because I have you at my side. Let’s have the buffet, darling. I really do want something that will stick to my ribs.”
Grandma really didn’t eat that much, certainly not enough that it cost them to get the buffet. But she was happy, and that’s all she cared about. When she ate the last of her slice of chocolatesilk pie, she looked at her. Bracing herself, she leaned back to listen to what she had to say.
“I’m old.” That, for some reason, made her laugh. “I don’t believe that’s the least bit funny young lady. Why would you laugh at me?”
“Grandma, you’ve been old since I was a child. But it never seemed to stop you before. What’s really going on? Did a doctor tell you something that will make me have to hunt him down and murder him?” Grandma pulled out her hankie and wiped at her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Grandma. Tell me what he said to you if that’s what is going on.”
For a few minutes, they didn’t say anything. Their teas were refilled, and Grandma asked for some hot tea as well. Taylor didn’t drink tea in any form, but she did have a refill on her water. After what seemed like to her a very long time, she turned to look at her.
“You remember that young man that you told me about when you were in high school? Did you know that he went on to get his law degree?” Taylor asked her if she meant Hudson Tucker. “Yes, that’s him. He married a lovely woman, and she’s an attorney too. I’ve contacted him for some changes in my will. Actually, it’s a big undertaking, and I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve not done a revision to it since my grandson passed. I need to update a few things.”
“All right. Is there a reason for this to be done now?” She told her what she’d told her mother, that she was ninety-nine. “Grandma, I don’t know if you believe this or not, but you have a lot to live for. Also, you don’t act like anyone near your age but as if you were fifty years younger.”
“You don’t need to butter me up, child. I’m leaving everything to you.” She told her grandma no. “What do you mean, no? I can do what I want, and you’ll do what I tell you to. I’m leaving it to you so that you can make sure that my wishes are finished. Thereare a great many places that I’d like to make sure they get what they deserve.”
“That sounds like you’re telling me one thing but it’s not exactly what you’re meaning. What do you mean, get what they deserve?” Grandma told her that she was much too smart for her own good. “You’ve said that to me before. I still don’t understand it any more than when I was a child.”
“You always were so stable. I do believe that the only reason that your mother is still around is because you switched places with her and became the mother to her. Even at the age of eight, you were able to keep a roof over your heads as well as food in the pantry.” Taylor asked her to get to the point. Please. “All right. I’m a very wealthy woman. I have invested well and I’ve done very well by saving my money for a rainy day. I want you to make sure that a couple of businesses that I have invested in, deadbeat places are going to get what they deserve by suing them. I can’t. I just don’t want the stress. But you’re smart and mean when it comes to standing up for justice.”
“I can do that for you. It would be my pleasure. But I don’t understand that it’s something that you think needs to be—Grandma, I can’t lose you. If you know something, please tell me.” She told her again her age. “And as I have pointed out to you several times, you aren’t that old in your mind and body. Tell me.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, so you’d better be girthing up your loins, child. I have cancer. I know that I’ve had a long life and a good one, too. But I don’t have it in me to fight this disease. I’m refusing chemo. I don’t want to linger around sucking the life out of you while you make me try and hang onto life a little longer. I want to go just the way that I lived my life. With my hair on my head and my body not so shot up full of chemicals, that will more than likely have my roses that you’re going to plant on my grave glow in the dark.”
It hurt Taylor to her very core that she was going to lose her grandma. She’d been her rock since she could remember. Losing her and not being able to talk to her every day, she thought that she might well curl up in a ball and die along with her. Then she put her hand over hers, and she looked at the frail hand that used to stroke her as a child when she needed comfort.
“All right. I can…I don’t want to lose you, but I understand. I don’t have to like it either, but I really do understand.” Grandma stood up, and she did as well. Trying to follow her to the cash register, Grandma paid and was out the door before she could gather her own things up. When she got out of the restaurant, she had to think where she’d parked her car and found her grandma there waiting for her. “Have I done something wrong?”
“Not at all. Please, let’s just go to that park we used to go to when you were younger.” Nodding, she got into the car after unlocking it. Grandma situated herself and buckled in. They were on their way to Glidden Park in just a short few minutes.
They didn’t get out of the car, it was too crowded with children running around at the park. Also, she thought it was just a little too chilly for them to be just sitting around talking. Turning to her grandma after turning the car off, she asked her to explain.
“I knew that you’d accept what I was saying. I also know that it hurt you to do that. I love you, Taylor. I couldn’t have loved you more for that. But it’s been difficult for me too…you understand, don’t you? Why I don’t want to have those nasty treatments.” She told her that she did, but it didn’t hurt her any less. “Good. I’d like to think that you’re going to miss me, even if it’s just a little bit.”
They both laughed, they both knowing that it was going to shatter her to lose her after all this time. As they sat there, admiring the beautiful fall afternoon, Grandma started telling her about her life with her late husband. Grandpa Charles.Another family member that she didn’t remember.
“My Charlie was full of adventure. He was such a good man and a sap as well.” She signed heavily. “There were times in our life that I despaired of us having a roof over our heads. But he always knew what to do when the time was right. Buying and selling things, even things that he’d pick up at garage sales and things like that. I so wish he could have known you. You’re so much like him that it’s scary at times.”
“Thank you.” She nodded, and Taylor waited for her to say more. When she didn’t, Taylor decided to talk to her about Hudson. “Why him? I mean, you have to know a great many other attorneys that would jump at the chance to help you out with your will?”