Daddo stands at the bedroom window, looking out at Grandma Ruth.
Why didn’t you tell me you felt she was near? Daddo asks.
He’s really upset. He tried calling Mommy but Mommy didn’t answer.
What is Ruth doing out there? he says.
Through the window I can see Grandma facing the Loblolly Pines.
Where was she? Daddo asks. Like, where did you feel she was?
Behind a tree.
Bela, seriously?
I don’t know.
Jesus.
Daddo calls the police.
I see Grandma outside, looking up into the trees.
Milky is at my feet.
Yes, Daddo says into the phone. A possible intruder. In the woods behind the house. No. I can’t give a good
description.
He looks at me.
Bela?
Dark hair on the backs of her arms, I say.
Hang on, Daddo says into the phone.
He looks at me like he wants me to change what I said, but it’s the truth.
Okay, Daddo says into the phone. So... He walks out of Grandma’s bedroom and into the hall.
I watch Grandma facing the trees.
She looks small out there. Too small! I wonder if I’m that small, standing on the carpet in my bedroom, small as
Grandma among the Loblolly Pines.
Her closet opens behind me.
Go away! I yell.
But it’s just Milky. Sniffing something on the floor in there.
Daddo hurries into the bedroom.
What’s going on? he says.
He’s already taking me out of the bedroom. Hurrying me up the hall.
Grandma comes in through the side door.
She screamed, Daddo says.
Bela? Grandma says.
It was just Milky! I say.
Daddo stops. Looks back toward Grandma’s bedroom.
Milky barks in there.
Don’t go in there, Ruth, Daddo says.
Because he knows she will.
It was just Milky, I say.
Maybe, Daddo says.
Milky barks again.
Nobody’s taking over my house, Grandma says.
And she goes to her bedroom.
Jesus, Daddo says. Bela, wait here.
Then, Dammit. I can’t leave you alone right now. Ruth!
But Grandma doesn’t respond. And Milky doesn’t bark.
So we wait.
And Daddo paces. And he makes the sounds people make when they’re talking but they’re not really talking.
Grandma comes out of her bedroom. She’s holding Milky.
Nothing, she says.
Did it smell bad? Daddo asks.
Grandma looks at him like this, of all things, is the scariest thing he’s asked her yet.
No.
Okay, Daddo says. The police said—
But Grandma cuts him off.
Call someone who knows more about these matters than the police do, Russ. Even if it’s crazy to follow this path.
Even if it’s pointless.
Because I’m an old woman, and all my life I can’t think of a better case for better-safe-than-sorry.