"She's my mother-in-law. She's your mother."
"I've taken care of her for twenty-five years. Isn't it your turn?"
Bertram's brow knotted tight.
"I've got a wife and kids to feed. How am I supposed to take care of Mom?"
"Then bring her home. Let your wife and kids help."
"Are you out of your mind? Mom can't even take care of herself. Bringing her to my place would turn the whole house upside down!"
I laughed.
"Mom's been paralyzed for six years. I've waited on her for six years. Since your oldest sister passed, I've taken care of your mother for twenty-five years."
"I'm not her only family. She has four children, doesn't she?"
"But Florence died giving birth to your kid. Taking care of Mom is the least you should do!"
"Besides! Mom's already used to you taking care of her..."
Something seized in my chest. My breath caught.
"Bertram! I'm your older sister's husband, but I'm only two years older than you!"
"I felt guilty about what happened to your sister, so I held this family together for twenty-five years. I've done more than my share!"
"You're just mad Mom didn't give you any money, so you're picking a fight on purpose!"
"Mom's the one who split the money. You can't just throw a tantrum over it and dump her on us!"
I turned and glanced at Mrs. Abbott. Her face had gone ashen.
"Bertram, let me ask you one question."
"What?"
"Mom's been bedridden for seven years now. You'd already been married seven years before that. In all that time, did you ever give her a single dollar? Did you ever take care of her for even one day?"
He went quiet.
I said, "No. You never gave her a cent. And ever since she became bedridden, your wife and kids haven't visited once."
"In seven years, I can count on one hand the number of times you even came to see her. And every time, all you brought was a bunch of bananas."
"You just got four hundred thousand dollars. You could hire a proper home care nurse for her instead of treating it like a given that I'll handle everything."
Bertram's lips moved, but nothing came out.
Mrs. Abbott pounded the armrest of the couch, her voice thick with tears. "Let him go! Let him go!"
"I want to see if he's really heartless enough to let this old woman die alone in this house!"
I had two notebooks in my bag. I pulled one out and handed it to Bertram.
"Everything you need to know about taking care of Mom. I wrote it all down."
I turned to Mrs. Abbott. "Mom, it's not that I don't want to look after you. I'm just tired. I need a rest too."
I grabbed my suitcase and left.
I rented a small studio in the city. Five hundred a month.
On the third day, Lucius called. His tone was sharp.
"Tom, you upset Mom so bad she's in the hospital. She's in the ICU right now. Get back here!"
