me someone would come speak with me soon.
I nodded as though I understood what that meant.
Then I called Christopher again.
The first few calls had been practical.
Your mother is in the ER.
Please call me.
The doctors are worried.
By the tenth call, I had stopped pretending I was calm.
By the twentieth, I was leaving messages I could barely understand when I played them back.
“Christopher, pick up.”
“Please, this is serious.”
“She keeps asking for you.”
That last message was not entirely true.
Gertrude had
