I’m ready for something more than that.
Lisa’s face hardened. “I’m going to fight for my nephew.”
“Lisa…”
“I’ll see you in court.”
She grabbed her purse and walked out.
Eventually, the guardianship went to me.
You didn’t care enough to show up.
***
The memory faded, and I looked back at Walter.
“Why did she want me back then?” Walter asked.
“I thought she was grieving.”
“And now?”
I looked toward the door. “Now I’m not so sure.”
The guardianship went to me.
Maybe because the alternative was admitting there were things about my own daughter I didn’t want to see.
Now, lying in that hospital bed, I wondered if I’d misunderstood that argument completely.
“Walter,” I whispered, “did Aunt Lisa say anything else?”
He hesitated.
“What?”
There were things I didn’t want to see.
“There was something weird.”
My stomach tightened. “Tell me.”
“She asked me about your glasses.”
“My glasses?”
“Before the accident.”
There was something weird.
“When?”
“The morning when it happened.”
And just like that, another memory came rushing back.
***
I remembered Lisa standing in my kitchen. “Mom, what are you doing?”
“I’m late, and I can’t find my driving glasses.”
She asked me about your glasses.
“Use the old pair.”
“They’re too weak.”
She’d rolled her eyes. “Just wear your old pair. You can see fine in those.”
I remembered hesitating.
Then I remembered taking them.
I can’t find my driving glasses.
After that, I remembered only a blurry road sign, a horn, and metal.
For the first time, I wondered whether the worst mistake I’d made that morning had actually been mine.
***
The crash dissolved, and I was back in the hospital room.
“Walter, what did she ask you?”
I remembered only a blurry road sign, a horn, and metal.
He frowned, concentrating. “She said, ‘Does your grandma always drive in those old glasses?'”
“When?”
“A few days before the accident.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know it mattered.”
Neither did I. Until now.
Does your grandma always drive in those old glasses?
***
The next day, I asked the hospital social worker, “Has Lisa tried to get custody of Walter?”
“She’s asked about temporary guardianship.”
“Already?”
“Yes.”
“She has consulted about it,” the woman explained carefully. “Your medical condition raised questions about Walter’s immediate care.”
I didn’t know it mattered.
“What questions?”
“Whether you would be physically capable of resuming full responsibility.”
