Mom drove home. I almost didn't give her the keys. But even worried about my sister to the point of distraction, my mother was a better driver than me.

We were all quiet on the way, piling out of the car in silence. Gram followed Mom into the house, presumably to her room. It wasn't often my grandmother went willingly into her four-poster prison.

I carried Sassy inside and set him down on a kitchen chair. I needed something normal to do. The drive to be ordinary was ...