“Robin goes first,” ordered Valentina.
Robin deftly retrieved the spare rib from the torso, the easiest one. Valentina cheered when she pulled it clear.
“It’s my turn,” announced Pearl. “Or is it Harry’s?” She’d turned cloudy again, staring off into the corner of the room.
Sadie spoke slowly, loudly. “Harry is your brother, Mom. He’s not here, remember?”
Valentina looked up. “What happened to Harry, again?”
“He died a long time ago.”
As if on cue, Pearl began to cry.
The evening was beginning to crack wide-open. “Mom, it’s your turn,” said Sadie quickly.
“It’s my turn!” Pearl smiled through her tears.
Sadie could barely keep up with Pearl’s mood changes, the waves of confusion followed by moments of clarity. She and Lonnie sometimes joked that their mother was perfectly sane and just enjoyed keeping everyone off-center. That particular brand of dark humor saw them through the early days of her hospitalization, when they weren’t sure whether she’d recover. Once, when Sadie thought they’d taken their joking too far, Lonnie had pointed out they’d learned that particular coping mechanism from Pearl herself, a fact that Sadie couldn’t deny.
The buzzer always went off for their mother, whose hand shook with age, and every time she’d yip with surprise. Sadie braced herself for another round of tears.
This time, though, the buzzer didn’t sound, and Pearl held up the wishbone with a triumphant “Hah!”
“Something’s wrong,” said Sadie, pulling the game toward her.
“No, it’s not, I did it,” said Pearl, an indignant edge in her voice.
Robin patted Pearl’s leg over the blanket. “You were amazing.”
Sadie touched the tweezers to the metal border of the heart cavity. Not a peep. “The battery must be dead.”
“But I didn’t get a turn,” whimpered Valentina.
“I’ll put in new batteries,” said Sadie. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a turn.”
Pearl crossed her arms, sulking, as the tension in the room spiked. “No. I don’t want to play anymore.”
“Me, neither,” said Valentina.
From downstairs, Lonnie called out, “Is everything all right up there?”
By now, Pearl and Valentina were competing for who could complain the loudest.
Sadie lifted the game off her mother’s lap, fed up with the racket. “Game time’s over. I think maybe we’re all a little overtired.”
Valentina looked up at Sadie, indignant.
“Come on, Valentina,” said Robin, giving Sadie a quiet nod of agreement. “Let’s get you ready for bed.”
They disappeared into the hallway as Sadie replaced the cardboard lid, her mother watching her every move.
“Why are you wearing that, Sadie? You look silly.”
The same two sentences had been a common refrain of Pearl’s after Sadie launched into her vintage-dress kick. “Lucky that you don’t have to wear it, then,” snapped Sadie. “But thank you for sharing your opinion.”
Her mother closed her eyes for a moment. Sadie waited, preparing herself for the next volley. Somehow, she was always on her back foot with Pearl. Same as she’d been with Phillip. The day he’d loaded his belongings into her apartment, it had been only temporary, at first. His roommate was moving to Texas, and Phillip couldn’t afford the rent on his own, nor bother to find a new place while the semester was in session. But whenever Sadie got home before he did, she’d unpack a box of his books and integrate them into her shelves, or hang up his winter coats in the closet. He didn’t seem to notice the vanishing tower of cardboard boxes, but it wasn’t until the fall came around and he showed no sign of moving out that she breathed a sigh of relief. He was hers.
The move out, on the other hand, came fast. He took a suitcase with him that Christmas Eve, and by the second week of January, everything else was gone. She’d waited in the diner, reading the American Library Association’s newsletter but absorbing nothing, as Phillip and some movers combed through the apartment for his belongings, leaving behind gaps in the bookshelves and empty hangers in the closets.
“Don’t burn it. Whatever you do, don’t burn it.”
This was a new one. “What are you talking about, Mom?”
“The book!”
Sadie held up the cardboard box. “No, it’s a game. I’m just going to put it away.”
“Don’t do it!”
Sadie ignored her, placing the game on the bookshelf. She’d check for batteries later.
“Mom, you rest. I’ll get you a glass of water, okay?”
In the kitchen, Sadie leaned against the counter. She could have handled this evening better, she knew. She had no excuse for being so short with her family, not when Lonnie was the one who lived with this, day in and day out. Lonnie had always been the golden child, going to med school, having a family. Sadie was the loony librarian who wore weird clothes.
“You okay?”
Robin stood in the doorway.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just hard, seeing my mom like that. I didn’t mean to be short with everyone.”
“Are you kidding? If you hadn’t stopped the game, it would have dissolved into two generations of temper tantrums, I’m pretty sure.”
“Mom is still a force of nature,” said Sadie. “Even lying in bed, she’s busy directing traffic.”
“Valentina’s devoted to her. My own grandmother died before I was born, so I guess V’s lucky to have time with her, even if it’s hard right now.”
“I’m sorry about that. My grandmother died before I was born as well.”
“It’s hard to miss what you never knew, though, right? Like those high pitches that only dogs can hear, and humans can’t.” She bit back a smile. “Besides, apparently my grandma was a witch of a woman.”
Sadie laughed. “Hey, thanks for helping out. I’m glad you’re here.”
“You bet.”
Lonnie entered, chasing a giggling Valentina in her pink whale pajamas, crisis averted.
* * *
The next morning, Sadie’s phone rang the minute she sat down at her desk.
“Sadie, it’s Marlene.”
Sadie smiled at the sound of her former boss’s voice, relieved that Claude was in the main room with a patron and she could speak freely. They talked for a good ten minutes, Marlene apologizing for her sudden departure. “They insisted it be a clean break, and I knew it wouldn’t help if I lingered about. I will miss you terribly, though. And I’m thrilled that you’ll be heading up Evergreen. I put in a good word to Dr. Hooper about that, you know.”