“Where is your grandfather?”
For a few seconds, I couldn’t answer the officer because the question was so absurd that my mind refused to accept it.
I pointed through the windshield toward the backyard.
“That’s what I thought I was here to find out.”
The officer watched me carefully.
“When did you last speak to him?”
My mouth went dry.
I tried to remember the last real conversation I’d had with Grandpa.
Not a birthday card signed in somebody else’s handwriting.
Not a message passed through Mom.
His actual voice.
It had been more than a year.
Every attempt since then had somehow gone through my mother.
He’s sleeping.
He doesn’t feel like talking.
His hearing is getting worse.
Don’t upset him.
I told the officer all of it.
Roger got out of the car and stood beside me while I spoke.
Across the driveway, the party had finally gone quiet.
Guests clustered in little groups beneath the paper lanterns.
Dad sat rigidly near the grill.
Natalie was arguing with the second officer.
Her husband had stopped laughing.
The man in the wheelchair stared at the ground.
The officer beside me closed his notebook.
“Stay here.”
He went back through the gate.
This time, I could hear part of the conversation.
“Sir, what’s your name?”
The man answered too quietly for me to hear.
“Are you related to this family?”
A pause.
Then the man shook his head.
Something inside me went cold.
Mom stepped forward.
“This is being completely misunderstood.”
The officer turned toward her.
“Then help me understand it.”
She glanced toward me before lowering her voice.
Natalie didn’t bother lowering hers.
“He’s an actor,” she snapped.
“All right? Is that illegal now?”
Several guests turned at once.
I felt Roger’s hand close around mine.
An actor.
My mother had invited me across an ocean to attend my grandfather’s 90th birthday, then seated a stranger in his wheelchair and expected me to toast him.
The officer asked the obvious question.
“Why?”
Mom answered before Natalie could.
“Dad couldn’t manage the party.
We didn’t want to disappoint everyone.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s being cared for.”
“Where?”
Mom hesitated.
