Four Blind Mice

and the air was damp and cool. The good doctor pulled a gray car sweater around herself.
    “I’ve already had this chat with your grandmother,” she said. “Nana asked that I talk to you, answer all your questions. I would never go behind her back, or condescend to her in any way.”
    “That’s a good idea,” I said. “I think you’d find that she’s awfully hard to condescend to.”
    Kayla suddenly laughed. “Oh,
I know
. I
had
Mrs. Regina Hope Cross in eighth grade. She’s still probably the most inspirational teacher I’ve had. That includes undergraduate at Brandeis and medical school at Tufts. Thought I would flash my résumé by you.”
    “Okay, I’m impressed. So what’s the matter with Nana?”
    Kayla sighed. “She’s getting
old,
Alex. She admits to eighty-two. The tests we took at St. Anthony’s won’t come back until sometime tomorrow or the next day. The lab boys will call me, then I’ll call Nana myself. My concern? She’s been having palpitations for several weeks. Dizziness, light-headedness, shortness of breath. She tell you?”
    I shook my head. Suddenly I felt more than a little embarrassed. “I had no idea. She told me she was feeling fine. There was a rough morning a couple of weeks back, but no complaints from her since.”
    “She doesn’t want you to worry about her. When she was at St. Anthony’s we did an EKG, an echocardiogram, routine lab work. As I mentioned, her heartbeat is irregular.
    “On the positive side of things, there’s no sign of edema. Her lungs are clear. No evidence that she’s suffered a stroke, even a slight one. Nana has very good general muscle strength for somebody her age, or even younger.”
    “So what happened to her? You have any idea?”
    “We’ll have the test results in a day. Dr. Redd in the lab was in Nana’s class too. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say atrial fibrillation. This involves the two small upper chambers of the heart, the atria. They seem to be quivering rather than beating effectively. There’s some risk of clotting.”
    “I take it she’s okay to be here tonight,” I said. “I don’t want her stubbornness to keep her out of the hospital if she needs to be there. Money isn’t a consideration.”
    Kayla Coles nodded. “Alex, my opinion is that it’s safe for her to be home right now. She said her sister will be coming from Maryland tomorrow. I think that’s a wise precaution. Someone to help with the kids and the house.”
    “I’ll help with the kids,” I said. “And the house.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “I believe we’ve already established that you work too hard.”
    I sighed and shut my eyes for a couple of seconds. The news was finally hitting me, sinking in. Now I had to force myself to deal with it. Nana was into her eighties, and she was sick.
    Kayla reached out and lightly patted my arm. “She’s getting up there, but she’s strong, and she wants to be around for a long time. That’s important. Alex, Nana believes that you and the children need her.”
    I finally managed a thin smile. “Well, she’s right about that.”
    “Don’t let her do too much right now.”
    “Hard to keep her down.”
    “Well,
tie
her if you have to,” Kayla Coles said, and then she laughed.
    I didn’t, couldn’t right then. I knew a fair amount about heart disease from my days at Johns Hopkins. I would definitely keep a closer watch on Nana. “What about you, Dr. Coles. What about your work schedule? Nearly ten o’clock and you still have more house calls.”
    She shrugged, and seemed a little embarrassed by the question. “I’m young, I’m strong, and I believe the people in these neighborhoods need decent, affordable health care. So that’s what I’m providing, trying to. Good night, Alex. Take good care of your grandmother.”
    “Oh, I will. I promise.”
    “The road to hell,” she said.
    “Paved with good intentions.”
    She nodded and walked off the porch. “Say good night to everybody for me.” Dr. Coles headed down Fifth Street to her final appointment of the day.

Chapter 88
    I DID SOME more background work on the Three Blind Mice the next day, taped notes to my wall in the attic, but I couldn’t get into it, couldn’t concentrate worth a damn. Nana’s lab tests came back in the afternoon, and as Kayla Coles had promised, she called the house. The two of us had a talk on the phone after she spoke to Nana.
    “I just wanted to thank you for your help,” I said as I got on the