Part 8 (1/2)
”Knohat?”
”The tiht forty-five anymore”
When she stared at me blankly, I decided to try a different tack ”Moet about the doctor?” We were due at his office in half an hour
Abject terror now ”Did we miss the appointet dressed”
”I can't”
”Why not?”
”I haven't showered I didn't knohat tiet hoazed aimlessly around her new apartet dressed?” She followed me into the bedroo on the inside doorknob I pointed out her dresser, where the day before she and Barbara had arranged her undergarments in the top drawers
She sat down on the bed ”I need to think” She picked up her alarm clock and peered at it For soet dressed, Moain ”Did we et dressed, okay?”
In the living roo Barbara just as she was about to leave the house to run an errand ”I need you,” I told her ”Right away, actually”
”What's wrong?”
”I wish I knew Maybe another TIA” Soh Her ministrokes always left , her speech for a time impaired But she always knehat they were and what had just happened to her This was so any sense, her speech seemed fine ”She's disoriented Confused”
It would take Barbara twenty et here I called the doctor's office to say we'd be a fewthe receiver back in its cradle, I noticed that the clock on the lamp table said 11:22 The one on top of the TV said 7:03; the one on the stove, 1:54 All these clocks had been set correctly the day before ”How you co, Mom?” I called
No answer
The bedroo on the bed, still in her nightgown, her back to h the curtain, but the rooold-plated one I'd bought her for Christ it, and started to tell her that while time was of the essence, the clock, ironically, wasn't She wasn't winding it, though, just o around,in a few seconds
I sat down next to her ”Mo? Can you tell o this way?” she said
When it was clear I didn't understand, sheclockwise What she wanted o in the opposite direction Still anxious that I understand, she de with the effort
”You're going to break it,” I told her ”See, you've already bent the ste to fathoone off without a hitch The movers had arrived in Winslohen they were supposed to and ie on our agreement and demand to stay behind and raot in the car with Barbara and off they went to Ca me to inventory her possessions as they were carried out the door ”This lady moves a lot,” one of the men remarked He had her dinette upside down on the floor (which, had my mother been there, would have elicited cries of Oooh! Oooh! You're scratching it!) and was unscrewing its legs The table's underside sported several stickers in different colors applied from previous moves
At one point Dot stopped by, and I learned they hadn't gone out to dinner after all, that my mother had phoned to say she was too tired ”I've never seen anybody so worked up,” Dot said
”It's like this with every move,” I told her