“Oh my god. Why? No, that’s not what I meant. Hold on a minute.” She put the phone down and I heard some muffled conversation.

“Carla?” A man’s voice. “What the hell happened?”

“Who is this?”

“It’s Oscar. Tell me about Viridian.”

“Oscar? What . . .” I couldn’t put more than two words together.

“Get a grip, Carla. Where’s Viridian, how is she?”

“She . . . Jesus Christ, what are you doing? Let me talk to my mom.”

“She stepped away for a minute. Are you going to tell me about Viridian?”

It took me another couple of tries. I was knocked that flat. Oscar said, “Okay, Placerville? We’ll get there as soon as we can.”

We? “No, don’t, I don’t know how long she’ll be at that hospital, anyway, weren’t you just here, or I mean, there? Don’t drive all the way back, wait until I find out more. What are you doing with my mom?”

“We’re having a drink. And some nachos. Now don’t go crazy on us, we need you to focus. We’ll talk later. Call back when you know more about Viridian. I have to go now.”

And then I was run over by a truck. And then a bear ate me.

Viridian didn’t wake up after her surgery. I won’t say never woke up, because how long is never, as long as life endures. She had a second stroke the next day that did even more damage, tearing through the webs of nerve cells and tissue. Days and days went by with no change. Expectations were dialed down to the minimum. She could breathe on her own, at least, but they had to insert a stomach tube to feed her, and the nurses bathed and cleaned her and moved her this way and that. She gave no sign that she was aware of anything around her.

I wasn’t brave. I didn’t go to the hospital. I talked to Sacha and to Barb, and later to Ed.

Boone was involved, of course, but it turned out that Ed had both Viridian’s legal and medical powers of attorney. Decisions would have to be made. I was glad I had no part of them. I had enough of my own problems to sort through.

If she had been able, what kind of poem might she have written about the body’s failure, unable to either live as it wished, or to die with grace.