“She was in a bit of pain when we first got here, but they gave her something, and she’s been doing okay since. They’re going to have to close her head wound with staples, but she doesn’t know that yet.”
“Oh, she’s going to love that,” Ariel said, causing Eugene and Presley to laugh.
“My mother is particular about her hair,” Presley explained. “She likes it done a certain way and uses a lot of products, which she won’t be able to use until the wound heals.”
“It’s on the back of her head, so maybe she can still style the front,” I said.
Eugene snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “I knew I liked you.”
Presley smiled and turned her attention to Ariel. “I was talking to Ink yesterday, and you’ll never guess who his mother is.”
“Mrs. Ink?” Ariel joked.
“Ms. Manning, your English teacher.”
“Are you serious?” Ariel asked and looked at me. “I love her. She actually makes grammar fun.”
“Yoo-hoo! Is there room for one more to join this party?” Presley’s mom asked as she was wheeled into the room on a stretcher.
“Nana!” Ariel gasped and hurried over to hug her.
“Hey, doodlebug. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Well, that’s yet to be determined, but I’m in one piece, so there’s that. Please tell me one of you brought my hearing aids.”
“Right here,” Presley said and helped her mother with her hearing aids.
“There, that’s better,” Alice said.
“What happened?” Eugene asked.
Alice huffed. “We’re going to have to come up with a better story to tell people when we get home because the real story is as boring as it gets. I was walking Frisco and slipped in some mud. I tried to catch my balance, but it didn’t work. I hit the ground and rolled right off the trail.”
“You could say a coyote, or some other wild animal, tried to attack your dog. Frisco was able to get away, but you fell in the process,” I suggested.
“I fell off the side of a mountain while fighting a coyote,” Alice said. “That sounds much better than I slipped in the mud.”
“There’s nothing wrong with slipping in the mud,” Presley said.
“There’s nothing wrong with it at your age. At my age, people make assumptions. Even the hospital assessments make assumptions. Oh, you’re over sixty-five, you must be frail and feeble. And while that might be true for some, it’s an insult to those of us who take care of ourselves. Hell, my dad was walking six to nine miles a day on his treadmill when he was in his early eighties.”
Presley chuckled. “He’d probably still be doing it if she hadn’t taken his treadmill away.”
“Don’t make me out to be the bad guy,” Alice said. “The doctor is the one who told him to cut back.”
“Can I ask why he needed to cut back?” I asked.
“Because he was sweating too much and not drinking enough water. He ended up in the hospital for dehydration.”
“Now, he drinks electrolyte water when he walks around his neighborhood when the weather’s nice,” Ariel added.
“This is your grandfather, right?” I asked Presley.
“Yes, he’s ninety-three and completely independent,” she said proudly.
“That’s impressive,” I said. Ranger still ran around like he was in his fifties, but he was in his seventies, not his nineties.
