"Even now, you can't stop thinking about other people first," he said and then he laughed. "It's all right. I'm just teasing. I can't imagine Grandma Olivia trapped by a stroke."
"She's human, Cary."
"Could have fooled me," he said.
Afterward, before I fell asleep I thought how terrible it was for a woman to have ruled her family so firmly and authoritatively that they felt no love, sympathy or sorrow for her in her time of greatest need. Surely, no matter how vigorously she claimed it, she couldn't be satisfied with herself and what she had accomplished, even in the name of family.
Grandma Olivia did make some improvement over the next thirty-six hours. The doctor returned and declared that she had regained some of her speech ability.
"It will still be difficult to understand her, but there's been more improvement than I expected," he said.
"She's even gotten more control of her hand. We'll see," he added, not as ready to make dire pronouncements now as he had been before. "The nurse will remain another few days and stop by every day," he promised.
Judge Childs was there most of the day as well. Loretta told me. She said it as if she were complaining he made more work for her. I imagined she thought she would have to do less with Grandma Olivia so incapacitated. When I returned from school the next afternoon, Mrs. Grafton told me my grandmother was asking to see me. I went in immediately. I approached the bed slowly. Mrs. Grafton had her sitting up and had her hair brushed. Her mouth was still twisted and her arm lay awkwardly against her body, but when I drew closer, she fixed her eyes on me and reached out with her left hand to take my hand and pull me closer.
"Naia," she uttered.
"Take it easy, Grandma Olivia," I said softly.
"Naaaa . . . thinssssss chaaaa," she continued. I shook my head. I didn't understand. She tried again and again, but the same confusing sounds emerged. Finally, Mrs. Grafton stepped over and took her hand from me.
"Please try to relax, Mrs. Logan."
Grandma shook her head vigorously.
"She has the spirit," Mrs. Grafton said. "Full of vim and vigor."
Grandma Olivia attempted her sounds again. Mrs. Grafton listened and then she smiled.
"What is she trying to say?" I asked.
"She's said, Nothing's changed.' Whatever that means," Mrs. Grafton added.
I nodded and looked at Grandma Olivia.
"I know what it means. It means that even now, she wants to run our lives," I muttered. "I'm sure she's going to get better."
I shook my head in amazement and left.
The next day, Cary found the time to take me to see Grandpa Samuel. Since Grandma Belinda's death, I hadn't been there to visit and neither had Cary. Now, with Grandma Olivia's illness, I felt even more guilty about neither of us going to see him. There was no one to be sure he was being well looked after, no one except us, I thought.
Returning to the rest home was sad for me. I had to remind myself Grandma Belinda was gone. When we entered the lobby, we saw Mr. Mandel sitting alone on a sofa just gazing down at the floor. He looked up and immediately smiled at the sight of us.
"How are you, Mr. Mandel?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm fine, dear. Fine. It's nice to see you again. Very nice." His eyes seemed to go in and out of focus as he tried to understand why we were there. Had Belinda died or not? I could almost hear him wonder.
"We're here to see my grandfather," I
explained.
"Oh. Oh yes, yes. What's his name?"
"Samuel Logan," I said.
"Oh yes. I don't think I know him," he said and nodded. Then he gazed down at the floor and grew silent. We said good-bye and went through the lobby to Grandpa Samuel's room, where we found him sitting by the window, staring out, a blanket over his lap.
"Hi, Grandpa," Cary said first. He didn't turn from the window until Cary took his hand. "How are you doing, Grandpa?"