Carleen somebody who looks like them.” Over the next few hours, they went to the top of the Empire State Building and walked around the Rockefeller Center, then headed back on the bus for a stop at the 9/11 memorial. Carleen stood at the fountain built in the footprint of tower No. 1, watching the water flowing down all four sides into a void in the center, thinking how morbid that seemed. Janie and Euhlyn ran their fingers over the names of the victims engraved along the edge, reminiscing about where they were when the towers fell. Carleen felt her phone vibrating in her trousers pocket. She walked a few feet away and sat on a bench. There was a text from Lowell. Mother’s had a little accident. I found her this afternoon laying on the floor in her bedroom. She’s at the hospital now. “Oh, crap,” Carleen whispered, dialing his number. “What happened?” she asked when he picked up. “Was it her blood sugar?” “I don’t know for sure, Carleen. She wasn’t unconscious or anything, just mad as an old wet hen. She said she’d been hollering for me for hours. They’re running a bunch of tests on her now to see if anything’s broken.” “What do you mean, hollering for hours? Why didn’t you hear her?” “I don’t know. I guess I was sleeping.” “Sleeping or passed out?” “I wasn’t drinking, Carleen, okay? We’d been out to eat at the Waffle House. I never should of let her eat all those pancakes and syrup, but you know how she gets. She’d of pitched a fit right there if I’d tried to stop her.” “Oh, good Lord. She knows better.” There was a pause, and then Lowell said, “I think she might’ve done it on purpose.” “Really?” But Carleen had a feeling he could be right. “Yeah, she’s been ragging on me since you left. I mean it’s only been, what, a couple of days. I wanted to go out once
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