Two days into Nancie's lock down treatment she began calling Grandma, asking her to call in as a contact person to get her out, and to verify she was being released to someone. So, if the worst came to pass, and she got out and hung herself, it wouldn't be the hospital's fault.
Again, when my mom prodded, she got nothing out of Grandma other than denials and contradictions. Did you talk to Nancie or not? What did she say? How long are they making her stay? Grandma knew nothing. Neither did Steffie.
We were there when Nancie called the next day, sitting around the dining room table. My mom, brothers and I were playing UNO with Grandma, and my Aunt Norcie and Uncle Ernie--who were visiting that week. My Uncle was leaving the next day to go back to his golf tournaments in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania, and, as usually, was planning to come back a week later to pick her up. The last few years they came, on the days we were all around, it was somewhat of a tradition to play UNO. Pop Pop never played, but occasionally chimed in from the couch when someone won or really started to complain about all the cards they had in their hand. Aunt Steffie never played either, but usually sat at the kitchen island watching, taking occasional sips from her coffee. As uneventful as UNO might sound to some, we had a blast playing. Especially when Nick, it always seemed to be Nick, had the small pleasure of dropping down the draw-four card for Uncle Ernie, and sighing triumphantly.
"What the"— Uncle Ernie would start, staring back at Nick with his stone serious expression, waiting for the situation to get a bit awkward before looking back at his cards. We usually weren't satisfied until the cards in his hand took on the appearance of a peacock's tail. Nick seemed to get the most pleasure out of it--it was no surprise he always ended up sitting next to him.
When the phone rang, Grandma got up, "Hello," she answered, and soon went quiet.
The card game halted, and we all, out of basic curiosity, turned our attention towards the phone call. I knew, and I'm sure my mom did too, that it was either Aunt Steffie or Nancie, and seeing as how Steffie had just left, and the way Grandma was hunched over and whispered into the phone, we were pretty sure it was Nancie. My mom got up and made her way to the phone.
"If that's Nancie you better hang up the phone," my mom said quietly. Her stern comments always sounded delicate when she spoke to Grandma, much different than when she was upset with me. "Mom?"
Grandma did nothing but turn away and utter some words to the person on the other line. "I have to go," she said, and hung up the phone. It was Nancie, my mom later told me. We all sat back down and played a few more games before leaving. Having my own car, I stayed for a bit longer before following my mom and brothers across town and back home.
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