Chapter 1 - The Call at 2:18 A.M.
My grandmother nearly died while my parents were deciding whether she was worth getting out of bed for.
At 2:18 on a freezing December morning, I called them from the emergency department of St. Matthew’s Hospital in Ohio. I was still wearing the black dress I had worn to my company’s Christmas dinner, though one sleeve was stretched from where Grandma Ruth had gripped it when the pain tore through her abdomen.
“Grandma is in emergency surgery,” I said. “The doctor says it’s critical. Please come.”
My mother, Diane, sighed.
Not cried. Not gasped. Sighed.
“Emma, it’s the middle of the night.”
“I know what time it is.”
“Your father has an early meeting.”
Behind her, I heard my father ask what was happening. Diane handed him the phone as though I were a difficult customer she no longer wanted to manage.
John’s voice came on, heavy with sleep and irritation.
“You’re already there.”
“She’s your mother.”
“And you’re the one she trusts with medical things.”
“I’m her granddaughter. I can’t answer every question alone.”
“You’ll take better care of her than we would.”
Then he hung up.
For the next three hours, I sat beneath fluorescent lights that made everyone look already bereaved. I gave nurses Ruth’s medication list, called her pastor, searched her kitchen drawer through memory for the name of her cardiologist, and watched the automatic doors every time they opened.
My parents never came.
At dawn, Dad sent one message.
Keep us posted.
Grandma Ruth survived the operation, but barely. The surgeon said the next twenty-four hours would decide whether her body could recover from the infection and internal bleeding. When they finally allowed me into her room, she looked impossibly small beneath the white blanket.
Her eyes opened when I touched her hand.
“Emma?”
“I’m here.”
“John?”
I could not lie to her.
“He hasn’t come yet.”
Ruth closed her eyes. A single tear slipped toward her white hair.
May you like
Then she whispered something I did not understand until later.
“He always comes when there’s something left to take.”
