Mrs. Winston nodded, pressing her lips together. "I should know," she said. "I had to take care of my paternal grandmother, didn't I? My husband found every excuse to avoid seeing her when she was in the hospital, too."
"Don't I remember? The burden you had," Mrs. McGruder said, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. "Any other Christian soul would have collapsed under the weight."
I could see I had begun to swim in the stream of their sympathy. I sighed and pressed my fingers against my eyes as if to stem the leaking tears.
"I was the one who took my mother to every doctor's visit," I continued. "My father was on one of his so-called business trips when I had to take her to the hospital that final time. He never said goodbye. I tried to do it for him, but my mother knew I was only trying. You can't hide the truth from someone on death's door. Lies and hypocrisy are turned away."
