I’m in a hospital waiting room. I can hear each tick of the clock. Time advances and I am frozen in place. It feels as if we have sped through the events of the last few days, and I must now make up for it by staying very still. Only my fingers can move. The sound of my tapping joins the clock’s tick, urging it forward, or backward. I’m not sure which direction I’d prefer.

It’s Thanksgiving weekend. For a few days, things were normal. Grandfather hates turkey, so I stocked up on our usual hot pot ingredients—thinly sliced pork, napa cabbage, enoki mushrooms, every kind of tofu I could find. The perfect meal for the chilly season. My father video called to check on me.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Monica,” he said. He was in his office, windows bright, a hint at the busy world outside. He asked how grandmother and grandfather were doing, and I asked if he was still planning to come back before the end of the year.

“Ah, well, I have to take care of a few business opportunities, and it’d really be better for everyone—you included—if I stayed a bit longer.”

I let the silence hang between us. I wanted his guilt to fester while I stared at him from behind his screen.

“You should start your spring semester though,” he continued. “I will probably come back in the middle of it.”

“That’s months where grandmother and grandfather would be by themselves.”

“A few months. They’ll be fine. They have each other.”

“You think they’ll be fine because you haven’t seen them in years.”

“I can hire someone to check in on them,” he said, running his hand through his still-dark hair. “A nurse to make sure they take their medicine. Someone to buy their groceries.”

“If that is what you think is best.” And I meant it, too. Who was I to say he should sacrifice his goals to take care of his parents? They would not want that any more than he did.

“Alright. I will think about it. It’s late for you, isn’t it? Get some sleep. Good night, my love.”

I sat with the idea for a few minutes, returning to school, leaving grandmother and grandfather to strangers for a few months until my father could return. I hated it.