“She said she hadn’t heard from you and didn’t know what you did with yourself half the time. Then she asked me if you and Dale had spent a lot of time together when we were up in New Hampshire, and then I saw Uncle Brian come in and realized he was looking for me.”

She pulled into their driveway. It was bad enough that Sarah was continually trying to drive a wedge between her and Thomas, but trying to turn her own son against her was purely sadistic. Sarah had answered that one call from Dale, months ago now, and desperate to have something to use against Jane, had come to all kinds of conclusions. At least she could have the decency to keep them to herself.

As she got out of the car, Helen, poor, fading beast, came up from the backyard, making a noble effort at wagging her tail. She’d lost weight in the time she’d been with them, despite Jane’s attempts at fattening her up, bringing home special packages of hamburger and ground chicken. Helen went over to Gerald, but he ignored her completely and made straight for the front steps. From this angle, he looked tall, erect, and adult, and she didn’t want to let him go.

“I want you to come back here right this minute,” she said. “I want you to come back here and pet Helen, right on the head.” He spun around and made a great show of marching back and running his hand across Helen’s head as if he were wiping crumbs off a counter. “No, I don’t mean like that, I mean with a little bit of genuine feeling. She’s going to be gone very soon, and I want you to look back at the time that she was with us and remember that you did something nice and kind and decent for her. Do you understand?”

He touched her head, a little more gently this time, and immediately withdrew his hand. “She smells funny,” he said.

“She smells like a dog, which shouldn’t surprise anyone because that’s what she is.”

“May I go now, Jane?”

“Yes, you may.” But when his key was in the lock, she said, “And from now on, I’d like you to call me mom or, if you can’t manage that, mother would be acceptable.”