“Okay. I’m going invisible,” Clay said, annoyed. “Bring her down when she’s done her bath, and make sure she sits in the rocking chair.”
“Thank you, Clay.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
I ran upstairs and saw Nan had already gotten out of the tub and put on her pajamas and housecoat.
“Hey, Tanya,” I said. “We’ve got a bit of time before bed…do you wanna watch some more TV?”
“That’s not even a question, hon. Let’s head down.”
Nan and I went back into the living room. I made sure she was comfortable in her rocking chair, and I turned on the TV. By this time, it was mostly nighttime talk shows so I left it on for her and went into the hall outside of the living room to pick up the journal. I couldn’t see him, but I felt Clay grab my hand.
“Right behind you,” he whispered, still invisible.
This whole situation stressed Clay out. I knew because of how hard he was breathing on the back of my neck. I entered the living room and opened up the journal to the later pages—the ones Grampy had written. There were a few memories I knew we could choose from, but I opened up to the night they first met.
“You there?” I whispered.
I felt Clay’s hand wrap around mine, and I moved forward towards Nan. I stood in front of her and held out my hand.
“What are you doing, Anna?” Nan asked.
Clay put his hand in front of mine. A blue energy formed between them.
“What in the…? How are you doing that?” Nan’s eyes widened as she stood up and moved around behind the chair. I knew she was a little scared, and so was I.
“Clay,” I said. “Take her back to the night she met Rudy.”
“Rudy? Who’s Clay? What’s happening?”
“Tanya,” I said to Nan, “I just need you to close your eyes, all right?”
“Close my eyes? What’s going on?”
“Please, Tanya. Trust me. This is going to help you, I promise.”
Nan looked confused, but she could see the eagerness in my eyes. She sat back down, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. The blue energy extended to Nan’s face, and her jaw dropped open.
“Wait, what is this?” she said. “This is…I think I know this bar.”
“Just relax,” I spoke calmly.
Nan’s shoulders relaxed. I hoped that reliving this memory would be somewhat relaxing for her. Besides the whole having to take care of a passed-out Grampy aspect.
“You still there?” I asked Nan. There was no reply, but she had a grin across her face, and was breathing rhythmically—almost as if she was asleep.
“You think she’s okay?” I asked Clay. I stepped aside to see him fade into the living room.
“I think so. I think she’s just hyper focused.”
“We are well beyond dance floors right now. You are not going back into that bar,” Nan said aloud. She laughed.
“That’s exactly what she said to Grampy,” I said, remembering the scene. The memories must be coming back to her. It seemed to be working!
“All right, what do you wanna do now?” Clay asked.
“We’ve got to do another memory,” I said.
I flipped the pages until I got to the one where Grampy had written about Mom running away.
“This one,” I said.
“Okay.”
Clay closed his fist to open it again. Nan leaned back and sunk into the rocking chair a little more. I hoped she was okay. She was quiet for a few moments—then I heard her yell.
“Where is that Stupid! Stubborn! Girl! Rudy, what if she doesn’t come back?” I noticed a few tears rolling down her cheeks. “What if something happened? She hasn’t been herself lately. I shouldn’t have got into it with her that night. I shouldn’t have…I shouldn’t have….”
Oh shit, I thought, this was setting the wrong tone.
“Clay,” I cut in, as I flipped through entries. I found the one where Grampy had written about me being born. “This one.”
“Okay.” Clay opened and closed his hand again. Nan’s tears turned into a smile as she said out loud: “Rudy! Rudy, pick up the damn phone and come meet your granddaughter. And dress nicely. She’s healthy, she’s fine, and her name is Annaka, Rudy.”
“All right, Clay,” I said after a few minutes. “Go to the entry when she braided my hair.”
“Sure thing,” he replied. The glow on his hand grew wider than it was before, and her eyes changed colour with them.
“You have a healthy head of hair, and we’re gonna keep it that way.” Nan’s voice in the living room was playing out what I remembered. I let her speak it, the whole thing. I smiled through the stress, and crossed my fingers. As the memory went on, she drifted off—she wasn’t talking anymore.
“Wait, what happened?” I demanded, suddenly nervous.
Clay closed his fist. “I don’t know. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep.” I could hear worry in his voice. “I don’t know why she did that.”
I grabbed her wrist and felt a pulse, thank God. My heart didn’t feel like it was in the pit of my stomach anymore.
“She’s…she still has a pulse.”
“Of course I have a pulse,” Nan replied. She gently pulled her wrist out of my grip. “Who are you talking to?”
I looked back and Clay was gone. I let out a sigh of relief.
“No one. No one at all.” My eyes welled up. I was so glad we didn’t lose her. “How are you feeling?”
“Watching reruns of Harry’s House with my granddaughter? I’m feeling pretty great.”
Everything was silent. Did that…did that really work? She knew who I was. She wasn’t showing any symptoms, which must be a good thing.
“Nan, you’re here.” I let out a gasp and gave her a hug. She squeezed back, real tight.
“I didn’t go anywhere, sweetie. You did, remember?”
“I remember.” I laughed.
My brain worked a mile a minute. Could she really
