“He brings them in a folder.”
“How do you know?”
Tyler hesitated.
Then he whispered,
“Because I saw him.”
Part 4 — What Tyler Had Been Trying to Tell Me
The first time it happened, Tyler said, he had been sitting in Grandma’s room reading.
Jason came upstairs carrying a folder.
When he saw Tyler, he told him to go downstairs.
“So I went,” Tyler said.
I nodded.
“But then I came back.”
“Why?”
His face crumpled with guilt.
“I didn’t like the way he told me to leave.”
That sentence made my chest tighten.
My eight-year-old had noticed something I had completely missed.
Tyler hadn’t gone back into Grandma’s room.
Instead, he hid near the landing where he could hear them without being seen.
Jason had placed papers on Mom’s blanket.
Tyler even imitated his uncle’s voice.
“It’s just so I can help with everything while you recover.”
I felt cold.
“What did Grandma say?”
“She kept asking him where she was supposed to sign.”
“Was she awake?”
Tyler hesitated.
“Kind of.”
Those two words frightened me more than anything else he had said.
Mom was taking medication that sometimes left her groggy and confused.
“Did she read the papers?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What happened?”
