I open a shoe box and try on a pair of hot-pink, mint-green, and lavender sandals. Mama and Charlotte both would have a stroke if they saw these babies! All three of us have shoe fetishes and even wear the same size. How’d that happen, I wonder?

I’m still starving. That much I do know. I’m just about to dial Room Service when the phone rings, scaring the hell out of me. Who in the world would be calling me here? It can only be one of three people, and it’s 3 A.M. back there. “Hello,” I say, cautiously, hoping it’s a wrong number or someone with a British accent.

“Is that you, Paris?”

Whoever it is, is not British. “Yes, who’s this?” I ask. It sounds like I’ve heard this voice before, but I can’t quite place it right now.

“It’s your mom’s friend Loretta, dear.”

My heart drops.

“Miss Loretta? What’s wrong, did something happen to Mama? Please don’t tell me something’s happened to her?”

“She’s at the hospital, dear. She’s all right. I was here with Shanice when the paramedics took her about a half-hour ago, but we couldn’t find a number anywhere for Cecil, and then Shanice told me where your number was, and the next thing I know I hear her starting up Viola’s car, and when I look out the window she’s following behind the ambulance. I didn’t know what to do, so I called you first, and I’m going to go on down to the hospital to get her and then call her mother.”

I think I’m hearing things, but I know I’m listening to Miss Loretta’s voice right here at the Dorchester Hotel in London, England, where it is raining outside. Just to be on the safe side, I ask: “What did you just say?”

“It’s all right, dear. I’m sorry to call you at this hour. What time is it there?”

“I don’t know. What hospital is Mama in, Miss Loretta?”

“Sunrise,” she says, and then gives me the number.

“I’ll call you back. Thanks, Miss Loretta.”

I don’t wait for her to say goodbye, because my heart is beating so fast I can hear it. I dial the hospital but it doesn’t go through. I try again. No good. Why is it taking so fucking long to get an outside line? I finally get one and as soon as someone answers, I just say: “Emergency Room, please.”

They transfer me, and then a nurse comes on. “I’m calling about my mother, Viola Price. Is she all right?”

“Hold on a minute, ma’am, and I’ll put the doctor on.”

I bite my bottom lip while I wait for what seems like an eternity, and then I hear a man’s voice. “This is Dr. Glover.”

“Yes, this is Paris Price. I’m Viola Price’s daughter. Is my mama there?”

“Yes she is.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“Yes, your mother’s going to be okay. But, unfortunately, she’s not going to be okay in this world.”