“What’s the doctor say?” Albert asked. “Can they get that mess off you?”

Brian shook his head. “What they’re worried about is, like, an infection.”

“What?” said his mother.

“They gotta do tests, in case, like, I’ve got hepatitis or something.”

“Dear Lord,” Constance said.

“Shit,” Monica said.

Albert slipped around to the other side of the curtain. His legs were briefly visible, and then he walked away.

“What’s with him?” Brian asked.

“He feels bad, and so he should,” Constance said.

Monica shook her head. “Jesus, Mom, don’t lay all this on Dad. He was right, wanting Brian to be on his own. It’s not like he forced him to move out. He put it out there, and Brian liked the idea.” She looked at her brother. “Am I right?”

“Pretty much,” he said.

Monica continued. “I want to be on my own, soon as I can. If something happens to me, will that be Dad’s fault too?”

“You always take your father’s side,” Constance said.

“Oh God, here we go.”

“You do.”

“There’s no sides here,” Monica said.

Brian’s eyes went back and forth between them. He said, “You think you guys could take it outside?”

Constance put her hand on his. “These tests are going to turn out just fine, I know they are.”

“I’m gonna find Dad,” Monica said, whisking back the curtain and disappearing.

Monica returned to the ER waiting room, but he wasn’t there. She wondered if he had gone back to the car. But then she spotted him down a hallway, sitting in a plastic chair, elbows propped on his knees, his head in his hands.

She strode up the hall and sat down next to him abruptly.

“Hey,” she said.

When he took his hands from his face and looked at her, she saw that he had been crying.

“Maybe your mother is right,” he said. “I pressured him to leave.”

“Isn’t that what parents are supposed to do? Make kids independent? And I just told her, you never forced him to go. You gave him the choice to go. He wanted to see if he could manage on his own.”

Albert smiled thinly at his daughter. “I guess. But your mother didn’t think he was ready.”

“He’d never have been more ready,” Monica said. “Yeah, maybe Brian’s a bit naïve. Sometimes people take advantage of him. But he’s a good soul, and it’s not like you guys are going to live forever. Sooner or later he’d have to fend for himself.”

“That’s what I kept saying.” He looked down at his hands again. “It’s like he’s been vandalized, you know?” The tears started to come again.

“Yeah,” Monica said.

“Some fucking bastard has disfigured him for life.” He paused. “I have to make this right.”

“How you going to do that?”

“I don’t know. I want to know who did this to him. Whoever it was, I want to look him in the eye and ask how he could do it.”