Five Days in Summer

fill the entire house.
    Moments later, she heard movement downstairs. Voices. The boys talking. The whining cry of Maxi as she roused from sleep.
    Sarah wiped her face on the hem of her shirt, the same one she’d worn all day yesterday. She didn’t want the children to see she hadn’t gone to bed and so rushed down the stairs to her bedroom. She pulled back her covers, took off her clothes and threw on her summer robe. Cold water on her face helped dissolve anguish into mere exhaustion. As she toweled dry her face, the bathroom door burst open.
    Sammie threw himself into her arms. “I’m hungry!”
    “Morning, sweetie.” She kissed the top of his sleep-rumpled hair. “Have you used the bathroom?”
    He pulled down his pajama bottoms and peed in Sarah’s toilet.
    David then appeared in her doorway, holding one of those glittering Pokemon cards Sam so dearly prized.
    “That’s mine .” Sam lunged at David’s hand.
    “I know it’s yours, dufus. I found it on the floor. You should take care of your stuff.”
    “Give it to me!”
    “Try asking nicely .”
    Sam wrestled David to the floor. Sarah was on her way over to pry apart their thrashing bodies when Maxi’s crying escalated.
    Grandmothers were not built to handle this much chaos.
    “Stop that fighting.”
    She had raised one girl, an only child. Boys, and brothers, were out of her league.
    “I said—”
    Sam was strong but David was bigger and more agile; he easily pinned his little brother down. Sammie thrashed valiantly, but David was unmovable. Unbendable . How many times had they demonstrated their “unbendable arms” to a grandmother who was capable of pride at even their hiccups?
    They would hold their arms straight, concentrate, and say, “Go on, Grandma. Try and bend it.”
    She never tried in earnest, certain she could easily buckle their elbows. “My goodness!” she would exclaim.
    “No, really try!” David insisted.
    Once, she really did try, and in fact could not budge that arm an iota.
    They had learned this skill in the children’s aikido classes at the dojo where Emily had met Will. They prided themselves on their plan to be a family of black belts. Will and Emily both had theirs, though since motherhood she’d fallen out of practice. He kept his skills up by teaching in the children’s program on Saturday mornings, which also allowed him hands-on mentoring of his own sons.
    “I thought aikido taught you to defend, not fight?” Sarah said. It was her last stand, and it worked.
    David pulled away first and threw up his arms. Sam lay pinned beneath him, panting, his bright eyesscheming. His hands flew up into David’s armpits and David collapsed in laughter. The shiny card lay next to them, ignored.
    Sarah hurried downstairs to the kids’ room. Maxi was standing in her crib, gripping the railing, face soaked by tears. Sarah kicked the foot lever that lowered the side and lifted her baby’s baby into her arms. Maxi was hot. Sarah stripped off her pajamas and opened a window. She decided to check the temperature and consider turning on the central air conditioning.
    Maxi’s eyes darted to the door.
    “Mama Bae?” Mommy Baby. Maxi’s special phrase for two essential halves of one existence.
    Sarah felt a rush of relief and turned around to look, but the bedroom doorway was empty. No Mama Bae. No Emily.
    “You’ll see Mommy soon, sweetie. Let’s go upstairs and see what we’ve got for your breakfast.”
    The tears started again in force, but at the same time the small body relaxed onto Sarah’s shoulder. She hugged her grandbaby against her chest and stroked the wispy blond hair at her neck as she walked heavily up the stairs.
    The boys were setting the table with bowls and spoons for cereal. Sam took out all the boxes and lined them up on the counter while David brought the carton of milk to the table. Sarah stopped herself from reminding them that they didn’t need to display all the choices at once and shouldn’t leave the milk out in this heat.
    “Bravo,” she said. “What excellent helpers you two are.”
    The boys settled in at their places while Sarah prepared a bottle for Maxi.
    Sam asked first. “Where’s Mommy?”
    “She didn’t go to the movies, did she?” David asked.
    Sarah wished she hadn’t lied to them, but what could she say? Mommy’s disappeared. You may never see her again.
    “She went out already. She had an errand in Hyannis.”
    Sammie shrugged, and David just looked at her,