Chapters (46)
- Cover
- Other Titles
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Friday
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- Saturday
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- Sunday
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- Monday
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No one in the family ever talks about what’s wrong with Nana. They won’t even give it a name. Sometimes London wonders if they are scared of the word, or if they just don’t think she will understand it, which makes her want to grab them and scream, “Dementia! She has dementia!” London is not stupid, she knows how to Google a few symptoms. But still, people treat her like she is just a baby who can’t handle the truth.
But maybe it’s not her they’re keeping the truth from. Maybe they are so blinded by their own hubris, they can’t even see what is going on in their own family. But London sees everything. Like how her sisters and brother hide from Nana when they are home because they are scared of what weird thing she is going to say to them. How her mom thinks that no one notices when she has to take the TV remote out of the freezer every morning on the sly and put it back on the coffee table. The way she pretends she is going to pick up some hair-colouring supplies when Nana can’t find her own way home. The way she lies to Papa when he gets home and tells him everything is fine, and the way he lies and tells her he believes her.
And yes, maybe she did take advantage of the situation yesterday afternoon when she went to visit Nana at the hospital, expecting her to still be in that coma but instead finding her awake and wandering around her room, looking for her shoes.
“Nana,” London said, putting her hand on her grandmother’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, dear,” Nana said. “I’d just like to get out of here. If I could just find something to put on my feet.”
It was pretty clear to London that her grandmother had no idea what had happened to her. But London didn’t try to explain it. “I think your Birkenstocks are in your suitcase,” she said and pulled it out of the closet. Inside, she found a pair of what looked like aqua shoes that must have been the ones Nana wore while going over the falls.
While Nana pulled the aqua shoes on her feet, she eyed the suitcase. “Are we going on a trip?” she asked.
London took a deep breath. She thought about Adam Pelley, and his important mission to save the lake shark, and his beautiful eyes, the colour of the ocean on a calm, sunny day.
“Yes,” she said. “We are.”
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