“But who’s going to stay with Needle?” Olivia asked, suddenly worried.
“Needle?” I said. Had I heard her right?
I glanced over at Mark and he gave me athat kid says the darndest thingsshrug. He was right, of course. Olivia had quite an active imagination, and on top of that, sometimes her thoughts seemed to come so fast that she couldn’t get them out quickly enough and the words got mixed up.
“Grandma,” she corrected. “She can’t be alone, right?”
I nodded. “Right. I don’t know. I honestly hadn’t thought about it until just now, but we’ve got plenty of time to figure it out. Maybe we can get Teresa or one of the nurses from hospice. Or maybe Penny could come sit with her? I’m sure she’d be happy to help out and I think she and your grandmother would get along well.”
“I wish Grandma could come see the ballet,” Olivia said.
“I know, sweetie,” I said. “Me too. But she’s just too sick to sit up for that long.”
“Gina’s dad, Will, is shooting a video on opening night,” Mark said. Will worked for the local cable access station and was always in charge of making a professional-quality video ofThe Nutcracker. “I’ll talk to him, see if we can get a copy right away. Then we can have our own private showing with her at home.”
“In Grandma’s room?” Olivia asked eagerly.
“Sure,” Mark said. “We can wheel the TV in and all watch together.”
“With popcorn? Like on movie night?” she wanted to know.
“Popcorn, Twizzlers, Butterfingers. All the good stuff,” Mark said.
Olivia wriggled in her seat with excitement. “Will you watch it with us too, Izzy? In Grandma’s room?”
“Sure,” Izzy said. “Can someone pass the syrup?”
I’d invited my mother to join us at the table, but she was too tired, and asked to have dinner on a tray. I’d been tiptoeing around her all afternoon, both wanting and dreading to bring up the subject of the blue jay. How could she possibly have known about it? She hadn’t mentioned it again, though. No more terribleeee-eee-eees. She’d been downright pleasant when I went back in with her soup, which she claimed was the best she’d ever tasted. She was equally effusive about the pancakes—“I don’t believe I’veever had a gingerbread pancake before, and certainly never for dinner, but I can see why they’re Olivia’s favorite food—they’re delicious, Ali.” Despite her compliments, she didn’t eat much of anything. A few bites here and there.
Olivia had been chattering excitedly about rehearsal since she got home from school: how next weekend she’d be at the old opera house with her ballet company all day Saturday, blocking the scenes, trying on costumes, and doing a full dress rehearsal. The show was the following weekend.
Izzy seemed in good spirits and keyed up too. Bouncing her leg, talking more than usual, being uncharacteristically patient and friendly with her sister. She’d even gone in and had tea with my mother when she got home from school—her idea. Listening from the hall, I’d heard them laughing together, felt a little pang as I realized it had been a while since Izzy and I had laughed like that.
“So how was your day, Iz?” Mark asked her.
“Awesome,” she said. “Really awesome.” She grabbed another pancake and doused it in syrup, then looked up, eyes shining. “I have a new idea for a project. I think it’s gonna be great.”
“Oh?” I said. “Tell us.”
“I’m going to do a video diary. And eventually, when I’ve got enough footage, I’ll edit it into a documentary,” she said. She was talking fast, the way she did when she was really jazzed about something.
“Cool!” Olivia said. “You’re gonna make a movie?”
Izzy nodded.
“Can I be in it?” Olivia asked.
“Of course, dumbo.”
“Can I wear my ballet things?”
“You can wear whatever you want,” Izzy said. “Ballet things, your goofy fairy wings, your pink cowboy boots… all the stuff you normally wear.”
“A documentary about what?” I asked.
“About our family. About Grandma being here and how totally fu—”She looked at her sister and stopped herself. “Howinterestingit’s making everything. And things around here are only going to get more intense and interesting, right?”
I frowned at her, bit my lip. “I don’t know, Iz, we’ll have to ask your grandmother how she feels about being filmed.”
