The afternoon was filled with three-way chatter and jokes. Most of the furniture wasn’t moving to Mormor’s because Mormor had everything we’d need already. Mom had given it all away to friends and charity. The only big item to move was our TV, because Mom was pretty squarely over Mormor’s ancient box TV with its rabbit-ears antenna.

“I’ll bring my flat-screen TV,” Mom had said during that liver-pâté brunch from hell. “It should fit in the TV cabinet no problem.”

“Oh? Why do we need it?”

“Because it’s two years old, and yours is older than Sara?”

Mormor had snorted. “Old things aren’t good now? Why not, Astrid? I’m old, but I work perfectly fine, just like that TV. Should we throw me away, too?”

“Ma! Jesus Christ. It’s just a TV.”

Taking the lord’s name in vain resulted in a Keds sneaker being launched from the pantry that hit my mom squarely in the shoulder—not hard enough to really hurt, but it was certainly startling. Mom jumped right out of her skin.

“I am a good Lutheran,” Mormor said. “Leave Christ out of this discussion.”

Mom picked up the shoe from the kitchen floor and whipped it back at the pantry. “Don’t go chucking your shoes around, old woman! And don’t think I didn’t hear you just call the garbage man an effing idiot twenty minutes ago, except you didn’t use effing.”

“He always leaves my garbage lids on the curb. How hard is it to put them back where they belong! And I didn’t say...effing idiot. Not exactly.” Mormor stomped out of the pantry, carrying her freshly thrown shoe in her hand. “I don’t like the garbage man.”

“‘Din jävla idiot’ means—”

“I know what it means! But he is an asshole and I hate him. But that doesn’t mean I want to hear it from my daughter’s mouth, no matter how old she is. Do you want the shoe again?” Mormor waved the sneaker under Mom’s nose before slipping it back onto her foot.

Mom wasn’t impressed. “No, but you’re taking the TV, whether you like it or not.”

And there we were, packing the TV. Or there Devi and Mom were, packing the TV. I held doors open while they maneuvered their way outside with it and then somehow managed to fit it onto the passenger’s seat. I’d be riding to Mormor’s for the official move-in with Devi.