Page 69 of Someone to Watch Over Me

He knocks softly on the door before he enters a bright, cheerful space with one bed, a TV mounted on the wall, family photos in frames on another wall and a view of a garden that must be lovely in the summer. His mother is seated in a comfortable recliner chair, looking at the TV, and doesn’t react to our arrival.

Tom releases my hand and moves into her line of vision. “Hi, Mom. It’s your son, Tommy, and I’ve brought my friend Lexi to meet you.”

His words sear me. Imagine having to introduce yourself to your own mother.

“My son passed away.”

“No, Mom, that was Dad. I’m still here.”

“No, Tommy died.”

I can’t bear this for him, so I step forward. “Hi, Mrs. Hammett, I’m Tommy’s friend Lexi. He brought me to meet you.”

She takes a careful look at me and then shifts her gaze back to him. “Tommy didn’t die?”

“No, Ma, I’m right here.”

She begins to cry.

When he gets down on his knees to comfort her, my heart is completely lost to him. If a man is judged by how he treats his mother, he gets an A-plus.

“Tommy, I want to go home.”

“They take such good care of you here.”

“I hate it here.”

“I know, Ma.”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m your son, Tommy.”

I ache for him. It’s unbearable, but he’s nothing but patient with her as he answers the same questions over and over.

A nurse pushing a wheelchair comes to collect her for dinner.

I check my watch. It’s only four thirty, but everything is earlier in here. I remember that, too, from when Jim was in a similar facility for a time.

After Tom and the nurse help his mother move to the wheelchair, Tom leans in to kiss her cheek.

“I’ll see you again soon, Ma, okay?”

She gives him a blank look. “Okay.”

The nurse smiles at me as she rolls Mrs. Hammett out of the room.

I go right to him and hold out my arms.

He steps into my embrace, drops his head to my shoulder and holds on to me.

“You’re such a good son.”

“No, I’m not. She’s living in a place she hates.”

“She’s safe and clean and well fed and has a beautiful private room that I’m sure you pay extra for. I have no doubt you and your sisters have done everything humanly possible to make her comfortable.”

“I wish it could be more.”

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