flaw in the paperwork, so he forgot about it until I met him in secret and told him about the forged addendum to my former husband's will.'
'Worse and worse! Is she legally demented? Can't she be put away somewhere? What did she forge?'
'An addendum typed on an old typewriter I gave her — the print looked like handwriting script. It said if I remarried, the whole will was null and void. And she tried to fake his signature. Badly. Ted was already furious with her because she'd said in front of his children that they were `Chinks.'
Mel was so dumbfounded by this whole story that he couldn't even reply for a minute or two.
'There is that. But more important, Ted, Dixie, and the little girls wouldn't come to the real wedding if Thelma were coming. I want them there. I'll have to have another secret meeting with Ted so he won't tell her where and when it's taking place. And warn him to keep the fake wedding a secret as well. I can't help feeling that 'all those trips she took Todd on were for nothing. She really treated one of my children well. But I hope to never be in the same room with her again. I'll have to explain to Todd why she's not invited, though.'
'May I come over this evening to see how the new room is coming along?' Mel asked.
'I'd love it if you did. It's almost a real room. Mr. Beckman is really moving it along as fast as he can.'
Saturday morning Todd came down expecting his mother to have made him a good breakfast. But he found her sitting at the kitchen table reading a mystery novel.
'No breakfast?' Todd asked.
'Not here. I have a craving for one of those Sonic breakfast meals. Greasy, salty, with two orders of tater- tots for both of us and big cherry limeades.'
She knew this would appeal to him. And she also knew if he was at his computer he wouldn't really listen to her.
They took their orders and drove to a little park near the fast-food place. When they were both so full that they needed naps, Jane said, 'Todd, there's something I need to tell you about your grandmother Jeffry.'
'She died?' he asked.
'No, not yet. But she's become quite dotty and mean.'
'You're telling me!' he exclaimed. 'I was afraid to say it.'
'How did you know?' Jane was surprised that he was so perceptive about his grandmother.
'That last trip, remember? To Mexico?'
'Yes. Two years ago.'
'It was horrible,'Todd said, taking a noisy last slurp of his cherry limeade.
He went on, 'She always took me to places wherethere was kid stuff. Playgrounds, swimming pools, and other stuff. I liked that and she'd always take me to a zoo or a neat movie. But when we got to Mexico, she went wonky.'
'In what way?'
'Lotsa ways. She wouldn't let me swim in the hotel pool for one thing. She said the staff people got to use it sometimes and the water would be dirty and maybe carry diseases. She was rude to the waiters. She thought most of them didn't understand English and would say right in front of them how lazy they were. She'd always have bottled water in her big purse to wash off the silverware before we could eat.'
'Go on,' Jane said.
'Well, Mom, I finally got fed up and was so embarrassed at being with her that I told her not to be so rude and mean and loud.'
'How'd she take that?' Jane asked.
He took one more fruitless sip of the melting ice in his cup and said, 'She said she was so disappointed in me speaking to her that way, but since you raised me, she wasn't at all surprised that I'd learned to dislike old people. I'm sorry, but you asked me.'
'It explains a lot of things, Todd. First, why she never took you on another trip.'
'I wouldn't have gone if she'd invited me,' he said. 'Not after the way she was nasty about you. It's awful to talk ugly to strangers, but worse to talk ugly about a guy's
mom.'
She gave him an affectionate fist thump on his shoulder. 'Now it's my turn,'Jane said. 'She's been very nasty to me, too, recently. She hired a detective to follow me everywhere I went alone or with Mrs. Nowack. She wanted to know how we were dressed and how long we were gone, and if he could tell what we were eating or buying.'
'That's horrible, Mom!'
'She's done worse things. At dinner with Uncle Ted and Aunt Dixie she called their little girls `Chinks' and made Aunt Dixie cry all night.'
' `Chinks'? What's that mean?'
'It's a nasty word for anybody Chinese. Just like calling a black person the N word.'
'I know what the N word is. In sixth grade a new girl who was black started the year in my class and a boy called her that. The teacher took him to the principal and they called his parents to take him home for the rest of the week. He never came back. I think his folks thought it was okay to say the N word and put him in another school. I see what you mean. Poor Aunt Dixie and Uncle Ted. Did Mary and Sarah understand it?'
'No. They are too young to know a word like that. And Uncle Ted and Aunt Dixie aren't ever going to let your grandmother be around them again.'
'Good for them!'
'That's why Mel and I aren't inviting her to either of the wedding services. And be sure if she asks you when and where they are going to be, you must pretend you don't know or have forgotten.'
'I won't. I promise. It's sorta sad. When I was a little kid, she was a nice Grandma. She isn't even a nice person anymore.'
'Todd, my dear son, sometimes old ladies turn mean. If I do, promise you'll stash me away somewhere.'
He put down his cup on the floor of the Jeep and turned and gave her a big hug. 'You'll never turn mean. You're the nicest mom anybody could have. Could we go home now? I'm stuffed and need to figure out something about my computer.'
'What's that?'
'It's going weird and doing tabs wrong. Maybe it's also turning into an icky old woman.'
Both of them laughed.
