Doc nodded slowly. “He’s technically your grandmother’s uncle.”
“But is he with the different world thing?”
“Yes, you are genetically family.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted. Not really being related was an easy excuse to leave or at least separate myself mentally from the man I had thought was my uncle.
I stepped to the side and checked out the next painting. Someone had written a number under that painting. As I craned my neck to other queens, I noticed every portrait had a number under it. I stepped back to some of the earlier pictures, surprised I hadn’t noticed. Each had a penciled in number. Some were low like 126 and 52 and 856, but others were high: 145,857 and 5,685,498. The higher numbers tended to be held by princesses or duchesses. None of the men had the numbers, although every single one had animals. “Yeah, someone wrote numbers under all the paintings.”
“Did they really?” He looked over at the next painting. “So they have. I wonder who… very interesting.”
“So do you like art?” I asked.
Doc nodded. “Ah, well, yes, I suppose, but I came here to see the painting of Laurel and Robert. They are considered two of the greatest leaders this world has ever known. They brought on the period known as The Heyday of Plenty.”
“They look happy,” I said.
“They were; both lived to be very old. Come.” Doc stepped two paintings over. An older Laurel sat next to her husband, each with a baby in their arms and an Old English Sheep Dog sprawled at their feet. Women and girls of varying ages surrounded them. “See all those girls? They had twelve daughters total.”
“Not one son? Robert must have been lonely.”
“I believe he was perfectly happy and in love until the day he died. Even then, I think he died happy.”
“My grandparents were that much in love. I don’t think they spent more than a few hours apart before he passed away. I remember Grandpa taking me to the park and to the movies. He could go maybe three hours total without her before he’d get all anxious, pulling at his collar, pacing; you know, those sorts of things. They weren’t wealthy but very happy. Good thing she had money from being a touring singer, so she could stay home and help with the farm,” As soon as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. “Her money was from here, wasn’t it?”
Doc nodded, and I continued, “Well anyway, the doctors think that’s what triggered her illness. Dad said it was better for her, you know, that she didn’t know what was going on. Her remembering Grandpa would only cause her more pain.”
Doc nodded sadly. “I lost my Betsy a little over a decade ago. If I didn’t have my youngest son, I don’t know how I would have stayed so grounded. He was young, thirteen at the time. Love gives us purpose.”
I got it, I really did.
“Doc, you know the Merric family. My grandma isn’t well. The doctors in my world think she has Alzheimer’s, but I know it isn’t. There are too many inconsistencies, like her high temperature.”
“She has the Tennabris.” Doc stepped into the center of the room, and I followed him. “Almost every Merric in this room suffered from the Tennabris. Many died from the disorder.”
“Oh God. It is genetic, and this is my family.” My knees felt weak. For years, I’d guessed Grandma’s illness probably had a genetic component, but this confirmed it.
“Yes, and no.”
“There’s a cure though, right? I mean you said many, not all. With the technology and medicine, they have here…”
From the look on Doc’s face, I knew even with their technological advancements they still didn’t have a cure.
I swallowed down the budding lump in my throat. “So, what happens with the Tennabris?”
“The early stages include shadows no one else can see,” he said, and I thought of the shadow I saw in the garden. “Extreme hot fits, memory loss, loss of identity. The latter stages include debilitating phantasms that cause the victim to become bedridden.”
I thought of Grandma and her symptoms. She had the hot fits, loss of identity, memory loss and delusions of—no, I thought—not delusions of grandeur, but she mentioned seeing things on occasion. She’d spoken about making shadows a few times, like how she couldn’t always make shadows for me and for me not to make shadows.
I asked, “What can we do?”
“There isn’t much. You told me her body is still strong, so it could take years.” My eyes prickled with tears. I wiped them away as Doc added, “Take heart. She had her first signs of Tennabris when she was a young lady here. She realized for some time that this would happen. I’m sure she settled things long before she got sick.”
“Is that why she went home? Was it because she was getting sick?”
“No, I don’t believe so. She wasn’t suffering from the symptoms, really. They were there, but she continued her duties to the crown right until she went home. In your world, she met your grandfather, she had your mother, and your mother had you. She lived with it and had a good life from what I can tell. After your grandfather died, they became a problem. That is part of it too.”
Grandpa’s dying, the trauma of grief. “My parents and the doctor believed Grandpa was covering for Grandma, but I wasn’t so sure.”
“Yes, the Merrics fall deeply in love. I’m sure you noticed.” I nodded in agreement. He continued. “Love has a great impact on mental and psychological health. Most Merrics find their spouse to be an anchor that keeps them centered here on Earth. When your grandfather died, his presence and the power it brought went with him. The phantoms only
