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  Anna was firm. “I want you to think about this before you answer. Adeline, did your children abuse you?”

  “Don’t be — ”

  Anna cut her off. “Think about it. I don’t know your kids, but I do know human nature, and for your children to be willing to allow you to rot in that house without so much as an attempt to confirm that you were irretrievably ill before they started down that path says something that we should listen to. I have to believe that this was not a new mindset for them. I have to believe that they had been less than loving and nurturing to you. That they had been a negative in your life, perhaps for their entire lives, but very definitely for the last few years. People just don’t get that bold without practice. They didn’t slip from being perfect children to what they are now in days or weeks or even in months. This acting out was the culmination of a whole lot of ugly.”

  “Yes, but it is a mother’s position to nurture her children.”

  Carolyn understood exactly what Anna was trying to get at. She explained to Adeline. “Yes, it is. But at some point in life, usually when a child has matured from child to adult, that all changes. When a person is young, they believe that it is the parents’ job to provide for them. As they grow up, they figure out that the parents’ job is no longer to provide everything they want, but to maintain and support a fully mature person. That is where the transition in my own family didn’t work out too well, but I understand the concept. Then you get full circle when the parent is older and it is the child’s turn to provide some of the nurturing and support that they were blessed to receive when they were younger. Adeline in there somewhere the kid should figure out that they are on a two-way street. You need to remember that. If there were mistakes made, and there always are, then mistakes were made on both sides.”

  “Of course I know you are right, in theory, but I didn’t provide them with the skill set to mature from greedy child to generous adult. Is that not my fault?”

  The girls had never seen Adeline so upset. She seemed as if she might break at any minute.

  Anna’s approach to problems had developed over the years, and what she was now quite comfortable with was not only a blunt approach, but a simple one. “So fix it.”

  “What?”

  “If you really think that it’s your fault that your kids turned out the way they have, then fix it.”

  Adeline took a long sad breath. “And how do I go about that?”

  “When is the last time you dealt with your kids without the assistance of a lawyer?”

  “It has been too long.”

  “Then maybe it’s time for you to try to rebuild a relationship with them.”

  “I cannot even imagine how I would begin that process.”

  Anna started to organize. “I’m no expert, but I would think the first thing you need to do is get your own head on straight. You need to sort out in your own mind what you’re willing to take responsibility for and what you didn’t have control over. You need to figure out what you did out of ignorance and what you did or didn’t do for other reasons. Define it. Own it. Then work to fix it.”

  Carolyn agreed. “That sounds reasonable.”

  Anna went on. “It sounds a lot easier than it is — I’m very sure of that. Introspection is always difficult. The people you are least objective about are often the people you are closest to, and you aren’t closer to anybody than you are your own body.” The girls smiled at her, which she took as a sign to continue. “I don’t have any children myself, but I have made my mistakes, just like anybody else, and I have to tell you, I believe that women of a certain age — that would be us — tend to take on more than they are responsible for when it comes to rearing their children or their personal relationships. I think young people have gone just a bit too far in the other direction. I don’t think the young ones are taking on the job of true parenting like they should, but they’ll figure it out.”

  “So what do you suggest I do?”

  Anna thought for just a moment. “I think you need to think about it. Maybe write it all down. It’s easier to see things clearly once you have them out of your head. That’s why I write down all our travel plans and all of the contingency things I come up with. It is why I write down all the different little facts when I’m trying to trace something on the computer. Then maybe you talk to somebody. A trusted advisor. A counselor. Someone you can figure this out with.”

  “Would you girls be willing to help me with this?”

  Their response was unanimous and instant. “Yes.”

  The only word needed. The only word that Adeline wanted to hear.

  TWO

  “I GOT A card in the mail today.” The girls had joined Anna at her home. They were going to think about the trip up north and do a little baking while they were at it.

  “And who sent you a card, Anna?” Carolyn was elbow-deep in flour.

  “Amy.”

  “Our Amy? Just how is she doing? Does she have her little daycare open at the casino yet? How is that adorable little one of hers? Any news on Mr. Colluride’s child? Did they ever determine what the child’s illness might be?”

  “She is doing well. The daycare is coming right along. They have expanded the program already. Her goal is to turn it into a profit center for the casino, and in that way the other casinos might take notice and provide the same services.”

  Adeline put some butter in the microwave to soften. “I think some of the bigger establishments have had those types of things in place for a few years, but it costs millions of dollars to create a good program. It is a hard pill to swallow until you are in the position of needing the service. Then you see the wisdom in it.”

  Carolyn asked, “So is our little Amy doing as well as it sounds?”

  “She is. Her mom is responding well to treatment. She is miraculously provided with transportation.” Both the girls looked over at Adeline. She had the grace not to look away.

  Anna wondered just how she had arranged it, then did a mental head slap. If you’re a gazillionaire who wants a group to give a lady a ride, someone will find a way to give a lady a ride.

  Anna continued, “She didn’t say anything about the Colluride child, but I am writing back to her tonight, so I will ask. My guess is, if she didn’t think it important enough to mention, then everything is alright, but I will confirm that.”

  “Very well.”

  “Oh, and, Carolyn, she asked how your Suzi is doing and if she had the baby yet.”

  “Well, wasn’t that sweet of her to remember.”

  “I think it’s really nice that she is writing to us. One of these days we’re going to have to take a trip out west and try that adventure again.” Anna rolled her eyes dramatically. “Maybe next time we should start in Hawaii and make a stop in Las Vegas on the way back.”

  The girls laughed.

  Anna washed her hands while she spoke. “Before we head west, we need to head north. Have you given that any more thought, Adeline?”

  “I have thought of little else. I’ve spoken to several of the group I employ to make certain that I do nothing hazardous to myself.”

  “Fat lot they did when you were being killed by the mold in your house.” Anna couldn’t let go of the resentment she felt. She had come to know Adeline quite well, and the thought that a whole cadre of outrageously paid people didn’t take the time or make the effort to do something as easy as a welfare check on their employer, a woman who treated them very well, made her question her faith in humankind.

  Adeline knew of Anna’s resentment and felt the need to defend her group. Again. “At first they did try to inquire, but I was steadfast in turning them away. It truly is not their fault.”

  “When you see someone is in trouble, and they turn you away, that’s all the more reason to keep coming back.”

  “That might be true in a personal relationship, but, Anna, these people are not my friends, although I value the friendly relationship I have with them. These people are professionals to
whom I am simply another profit center.”

  “I hope that isn’t true. If it is, it means that our society has sunk so low we might not recover. No matter what the relationship is, basic human kindness and involvement should be the lowest standard of commitment.”

  “Perhaps. I will tell you that since all of it has come to light, they have been nothing but supportive and involved.”

  “Of course. You go away, what is that going to do to the corporate bottom line?”

  Carolyn had been listening but was unsure of what to say to make the conversation better, so she simply continued to work on her baking project. She was so lost in it she didn’t notice both the girls watching her pound the life out of her dough.

  “Carolyn, are you alright?”

  She looked up and blushed. “Oh, I’m fine.”

  “That dough doesn’t share your opinion.”

  Carolyn smiled. “I was just thinking of that girl next door. The one taking advantage of her grandparents.”

  “Are you quite certain that is what she is doing?”

  “I overheard an argument last night. She was yelling at them. Can you imagine? Yelling at your grandparents? My parents would have handed me my tongue.”

  “Mine too.” Anna shook her head.

  Carolyn continued. “She was so loud I’m sure half the building heard her. From what I could gather, she was angry because she wanted to take their television out of the living room and place it in her bedroom and take the smaller television she had in the bedroom and place it for them to watch in the living room. Her grandfather challenged her about it.”

  “And rightly so.”

  “She was screaming by that time. Something about not understanding why he wouldn’t just die. At that point the grandmother stepped in and told her that if her attitude didn’t improve, she would have to move out. She just yelled back that there wasn’t a thing they could do about it and that she had no plan of moving until they were dead. It was horrifying.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  “What can I do? If they aren’t willing to show her the door, there isn’t much any of us can do. If someone were to step in and talk to her, chances are good she would just treat them worse once that person left. It is the problem I have with parents who are unkind to their children in public. I always want to talk to them. Teach them a better way. But I am more concerned that when the child is with them in private, the retribution for public humiliation will make the child’s life worse. What if I speak to this young woman and the comeuppance creates a more dangerous situation for the grandparents?”

  “There has to be a number you can call for elder abuse.”

  “But if the grandparents aren’t willing to stand up to her, getting the authorities involved won’t help because they won’t do anything.”

  Adeline always looked to a business solution. “What about your management? Homeowners association? There has to be some oversight somewhere.”

  “I called a group I found online. They asked if I saw bruises when I brought them to the hospital. Truthfully, I did not. They asked if I’d ever heard furniture breaking or some indication of a physical fight. Again, I never have. I know that it is much easier to prove physical abuse than emotional or verbal abuse and that is what they were searching for before taking action, but these people are much more fragile than we are, and even in our healthy state a fall could be the beginning of the end. What is to say that this young woman — even unintentionally — wouldn’t be the cause of such a thing? If she moved too quickly or she stepped in their way to block them, which is a common thing for people to do, that could literally kill them.”

  Anna volunteered. “I’ll look and see what I can find online. There has to be a set of guidelines somewhere. There has to be a program. What about family?”

  “I talked to Berta, my neighbor down the hall. She’s two doors the other side of them. She’s the lady in our community who knows everything about everyone. Every community has one. Anyway, Berta said she thinks the girl is living with her grandparents because she was a troublemaker at home and her parents don’t want to have anything to do with her.”

  Anna didn’t try to hide her annoyance. “That makes perfect sense. If you are young and able and you can’t handle your child, send her off to be with your old and feeble parents. That took some huge brain power.”

  Adeline suggested, “Perhaps they were of the belief that if she were to live with older, more stable, perhaps less volatile adults, she would calm.”

  Anna tried to curb her annoyance. “Maybe, but that isn’t human nature at all. If you want to get a child under control, so to speak, what you need is structure, boundaries, and some logical consequences that you apply every single time for a long time. There is no other way. What people seem to have forgotten is that as much as life has changed in the last couple of decades, people in general, children in particular, they just don’t change. If we evolve at all as a species, it takes so long that we aren’t gonna notice it. When is the last time they noticed anything adapt to their surroundings? Maybe over in Chernobyl. I saw a special on that the other day. The bugs are so morphed it is scary, but I’m of the opinion that isn’t evolution. It is damage to the offspring. The truth is, things haven’t changed. People still are what they always were. They just have different mirrors to reflect off of.”

  “I hadn’t thought of it in that way, Anna, but perhaps you are correct. What do you propose we do?”

  “I’ll look online and see if I can find anything that might be helpful.”

  “I appreciate you doing that, but I have a question for you girls.”

  Adeline and Anna stopped what they were doing and gave Carolyn their full attention.

  “I have no problem getting involved with all the things we have been doing regarding Barry and all of that, because Suzi is my granddaughter. I have no problem getting involved in anything that Adeline requests because that is, after all, her family. But where do I draw the line? What is my business? When am I being helpful, and when am I being the busybody old woman who can’t keep her nose where it belongs? Is this problem with my neighbors really my concern?”

  Adeline quoted Martin Luther King Jr. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”

  Carolyn nodded. “So you’re saying if I am not part of the solution, by default I am the problem.”

  It was Adeline who responded first. “Perhaps not in such terse terms, but I believe it is imperative that we do what we can to make the world a better place. When I was young, I believed it wholeheartedly and acted on it with gusto. As I got married and had children and then lost my husband and got married again and so forth, I lost sight of that. It is with you girls that I have come to know that part of myself again, and I am very grateful to you for it.”

  Carolyn and Anna smiled as each of the women began her baking project again.

  Carolyn continued with her original question. “So you don’t think that my interference is unjustified or intrusive?”

  Anna shrugged. “It might be intrusive, but I don’t think it is unjustified. Think of it this way. If you were in their situation, would you want someone who might be able to give you a gentle helping hand to do that for you, or would you want your grandchild to continue to be abusive and disrespectful?”

  “I see your point.”

  Adeline was only half kidding when she made her suggestion. “Maybe what we need to do is introduce Cara to your little neighbor child. Cara seems to have a gift for getting to know the situation quickly, and she has very strong beliefs about family and the way members of a family should be treated. Maybe a little Cara will rub off on your neighbor.”

  “I’m not sure that I could arrange that or that it’s a good idea. Cara and A.J. have enough on their plate right now. Oh, I didn’t tell you girls — A.J.’s group of friends down in Old Town have gathered and are doing the right thing. They have helped him to reconstitute the studi
o — for lack of a better term — and his partner, the owner of the studio, has assured him she has no intention of closing the place down.”

  Adeline folded in some flour. “I cannot for the life of me understand how this could have happened. A young man, minding his own business, comes to the aid of an older gentleman when three thugs determine that accosting him is the night’s entertainment. For that he receives a beating. Poor A.J. But then to have them return and all but demolish his place of business is outrageous. Not to mention injuring those two young men who thought they were coming to A.J.’s aid. I thank the good Lord that your grandson was not in the building at the time. I’m glad that those thugs are in jail where they belong.”

  Carolyn separated her dough. “I’m not sure, but I believe A.J. said they were actually doing this as a money-making venture.”

  “How could that be?”

  Anna took a deep breath. “It is common now for young people to do something terribly violent, to capture the moments with their phone cameras, and to post it online for the world to see. Some of these things go viral. If the potential is there, monetizing it is the next logical step. They are also doing outrageous pranks. It is just a matter of time before people start to kill each other. Out of fear, mostly.”

  Adeline pulled out a baking sheet. “I worry for this world.”

  Carolyn agreed. “It is as if we are in Rome all over again, but this time we are building the coliseums virtually with digital images. I am quite pleased that I am old enough I will not be around for the endgames.”

  Anna added a generous portion of sugar to her mix. “Don’t be so sure. Look at how fast things are escalating. My goodness. Wasn’t it the mid-seventies when the cell phone first came into existence? Before that could you even imagine a time when you would have the convenience of a telephone in your pocket? And look at the things that the smartphone can do. Look at how life has changed. My daddy used to read the newspaper every day. My husband used to watch the news. We thought that what we were being told was God’s honest truth. I think that most of what people call news these days is either propaganda or entertainment. Who was it that said believe nothing that you read and only half of what you see?”