We’re at a Big Boy restaurant near Grandma Ruth’s house. It’s night now.
There’s a lot of people eating at the other tables. We’ve been here a long time and people get up and new people sit
down.
Daddo was outside with the police for a while a while ago. He said they looked around Grandma’s house. They
went through the Loblolly Pines.
They didn’t find her. No “intruders” Daddo said.
Grandma stayed with me while Daddo was talking to them. She doesn’t pretend everything is okay.
Daddo checks his phone.
She’s almost here, Daddo says.
Here? Grandma asks.
Yes.
A new waiter comes by and asks if we’re okay. We’ve been here long enough to eat twice.
I’ve eaten twice.
Daddo tells him we’re okay.
But we’re not.
I’m going nuts, Ruth, Daddo says.
It’s a lot, Ruth says.
They both look at me. They ke ep doing that.
Do you have to use the bathroom again? Grandma asks me.
No.
She’s here, Daddo says.
He gets up and me and Grandma look out the window.
A green car parks.
Daddo goes to the front door.
Lois Anthony gets out of the car and meets him there.
They talk a little and then come to the table together.
Hello, Bela, Lois says.
She sits down.
Her eyes look extra big behind her glasses. Her green sweater looks fuzzy and warm.
You must be Ruth, Lois says. I’m Lois Anthony.
Can you help? Grandma asks.
Lois looks at me.
Her eyes are so big you can tell how she feels.
She’s nervous.
Well, I can’t say yet, Lois says.
Grandma doesn’t like this answer.
We have a group, Lois says.
A group? Grandma says. We?
A group of us get together. We... talk about... these things.
Grandma looks to Daddo.
At this point, you know a lot more than we do, he says to Lois.
Lois wants to smile, I think. But she doesn’t do it.
Can I ask you something, Bela? she says.
Yeah.
Does this thing ever try to make... deals with you?
I look to Daddo. He says, Bela said she asked to... well... get into her heart.
O? Lois says. Then to me: In exchange for anything?
I don’t wanna talk about this here right now.
She said she wants to reincarnation with me. Then I would go to where she comes from.
The closet? Lois asks.
No, I say. She said she doesn’t come from the closet.
All three of them are quiet a second with that.
So, Lois says. A deal, after all. You give her... your heart. You trade places with her.
I nod slowly because she’s right, even if I didn’t think of it that way before.
Possession, she says. It’s trying to get in.
O, come on, Daddo says.
He sounds really upset. Scared.
Lois, he says. Don’t say that.
Yes, Grandma says. Trying to angle its way in.
Exactly that, Lois says. I think it’s been sizing Bela up for some time.
I think this is why I didn’t sense any sensitivity in Bela. This is no ghost.
Guys, Daddo says.
I feel too hot. Like I might forget how to breathe.
Bela, Lois says. Don’t be scared. It’s just that, it’s important you never say yes. Never, never, never.
I start crying.
The waiter comes over and asks if everything’s okay.
Daddo starts to tell him we’re fine but then stops.
It’s obvious we’re not okay.
What’s the plan then, Grandma asks. Because there has to be a plan.
Lois sits up straighter when she says, We’re going to try to meet this Other Mommy. And we’re going to tell her to
stay the hell away.
O, man, Daddo says. I don’t know if— No, no, Grandma says to Daddo.
She’s smiling a real smile for the first time since she greeted us last night at her house.
I like this one, she says, pointing at Lois Anthony. I like this plan a lot.