Chương 9
“What help?”
“A housekeeper. Maybe somebody for bills.”
“It says I became disoriented in my own neighborhood.”
“You asked me which way to Riverside.”
“They changed the entrance.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you sign?”
Martin stepped aside. “Come in.”
“No.”
“Ellie, please. It’s cold.”
Eleanor entered because it was cold and because anger did not improve circulation.
His living room contained stacks of newspapers and a model train set taking up half the floor. A tiny locomotive ran in circles around a plastic village. Martin’s wife had built the village before she died. He still changed the storefront decorations by season.
“Donna came over,” he said. “She had papers. She said Brandon was worried you were being influenced by Ruth.”
“And you believed her.”
“I believed everybody was worried.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“I didn’t think they’d use it against you.”
“What did you think a signed statement was for?”
Martin looked at the train.
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that. Claire says it. You say it. People seem to become helpless only after their choices become visible.”
He turned off the train.
The sudden silence filled the room.
“I was afraid,” he said.
“Of what?”
“Being responsible.”
Eleanor waited.
“If I refused and something happened to you, then I’d be the one who ignored warning signs. Donna said you might lose the house to scammers. She said Ruth was charging you thousands. She said you were giving money away.”
“To whom?”
“She didn’t say.”
“And you didn’t ask.”
“No.”
“Because asking would make you responsible for the answer.”
Martin sat on the arm of his chair.
“Yes.”
Eleanor looked at the little train stopped beside a plastic bakery.
“Will you correct your statement?”
“If your lawyer sends something.”
“No. Will you tell the truth?”
He looked up.
“Yes.”
“Even if Donna is angry?”
“Yes.”
“Even if someone asks questions in court?”
He swallowed. “Yes.”
Eleanor left without forgiving him. Forgiveness offered too early could become another way of preventing discomfort.
A court-appointed evaluator visited Eleanor at Ruth’s office, then at the extended-stay apartment she had rented. The evaluator asked about her medications, finances, daily routines, memory, and plans.
Eleanor answered some questions easily and stumbled over others.
She gave the wrong year for the roof replacement.
She could not remember the name of the bank investigator.
When asked to recall five words after several minutes, she remembered four.
The missing word was river.
That irritated her for the rest of the day.
“What if they think I can’t manage?” she asked Ruth.
“They will consider the whole evaluation.”
“I forgot river.”
“You remembered velvet, apple, coin, and church.”
“River was the easiest.”
“Apparently not.”
“I knew it when she said it.”
“That is how forgetting works.”
Eleanor looked around the apartment. The furniture was designed not to offend anyone. Beige sofa. Beige carpet. A painting of reeds in beige water.
“I hate this place.”
“That is evidence of judgment.”
Eleanor smiled despite herself.
Ruth set a folder on the kitchen counter.
“The eviction case is proceeding separately. Brandon’s attorney is arguing that the guardianship question should be resolved first.”
“Can they stay in my house while telling a court I can’t own it properly?”
“For now.”
“What are they doing there?”
“Living.”
“That answer is offensive.”
“It is also likely.”
Eleanor had driven past twice.
The first time, she saw Brandon’s truck and Claire’s minivan in the driveway. The second time, she saw Owen dragging trash bins to the curb. She nearly stopped to help because one wheel stuck, then continued driving when Brandon came outside.
The children called less often.
When Lily called, Claire usually remained nearby. Eleanor could hear dishes, doors, and once Brandon’s voice saying, “Wrap it up.”
Owen sent a photograph of the gingerbread house after the gumdrop chimney fell off.
Eleanor replied, Structural failure. Consult your father.
Then she regretted it and sent, I’m joking. It still looks wonderful.
Owen answered with a single laughing face.
At night, Eleanor opened Harold’s notebook.
Most entries were ordinary.
Buy furnace filters.
Ask oncologist about swelling.
Claire likes the lemon cookies.
One page contained only a sentence Eleanor had never noticed.
B. acts certain when scared.
She did not know whether B meant Brandon or whether Harold had written the line about someone else. He had known three Bills, a Bruce, and a neighbor named Bev.
Eleanor wanted it to mean Brandon because that would make Harold seem perceptive and the danger seem shared. She resisted the comfort. Dead husbands should not be recruited into arguments they could no longer clarify.
Claire called eleven days after Christmas.
“Can we meet?”
“Yes.”
“Alone.”
“Yes.”
They met in the parking lot behind a public library. Claire sat in Eleanor’s Buick because she said Brandon checked the location history on the minivan.
“Why does he do that?” Eleanor asked.
“He says the insurance discount requires it.”
“Does it?”
“I haven’t checked.”
Eleanor waited.
Claire rubbed her palms over her coat.
“He knows I gave you the emails.”
“How?”
“He checked his print history.”
“Was he angry?”
“He didn’t hit me.”
“I did not ask whether he hit you.”
“No, but everybody thinks that’s the question.”
“What is the question?”
Claire looked through the windshield at a salt-stained snowbank.
“Whether I’m allowed to disagree without paying for it for three days.”
Eleanor kept her hands still in her lap.
“What happens for three days?”
“He explains. He doesn’t yell much. He talks until I’m too tired to know what I thought at the beginning. He sleeps in the basement and tells the kids I’m upset. He becomes very calm. Then I apologize because the whole house feels sick.”
“Has it always been like that?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Claire noticed.
“Not always,” she corrected. “Or I didn’t see it.”
“Why are you here?”
May you like
Claire removed an envelope from her purse.
Inside was a photocopy of a document titled Family Property Transition Plan. It proposed transferring Eleanor’s house into an irrevocable trust administered by Brandon, with Eleanor retaining the right to occupy the property during her lifetime.
