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was an angel.”
    “Did she like the music?”
    “What difference does that make?”
    “I’m hungry, Nana.” Eddie had come awake.
    “It is past lunchtime,” said Saphora. “We’ll grab a bite before we check into the hotel.” She had gotten a room at the Embassy Suites. “I’ll ask the hotel clerk to give us an extra bed.”
    “They’ve got two-bedroom suites. Get one of those,” said Bender.
    “They’re triple the price, Bender.”
    “Eddie needs his own room. You know how he is. I’ve got to have my sleep.”
    Saphora drove to a restaurant off the interstate. “No good restaurants around Duke,” she said. Bender lay in the car while she went inside, Eddie hopping through the door behind her. She requested a table. She waved Bender inside, and they sat down and ordered sweet teas. The wait staff was slow, irritating Bender. But she soon had Eddie fed and back in the car.
    Bender called his friend Jim Pennington, the oncologist at Duke. When Saphora pulled under the overhang at the patient check-in, Jim was waiting for Bender. He was tall, his deep eyes warmly looking out from his dark African American face.
    Bender got out of the car. Eddie started bouncing around the interiorof the car, claiming he was a pro wrestler. Saphora was sorry she had left the cold medicine back at the house. Once Bender closed the door, she snapped. “Eddie! You can’t lose it today, or else Nana will lose it.”
    He quieted down, surprising her. After she parked the car they both followed Bender and Jim into the hospital. Eddie was immediately interested in the gift shop. The window was full of stuffed green monkeys dangling from ropes, little green leaves glued on to make the display look like a jungle set. “No toys today,” she said. Turner and his ex-wife had indulged Eddie with so many toys that his bedroom floor was no longer visible. It was a competition to see who could give Eddie the most stuff.
    Eddie charged the gift shop.
    Saphora had never had trouble standing up to Turner. She should have left him to figure out what to do about Eddie. She had never believed that his marriage was really over when his wife, Karen, had said it was over. Karen was not a good judge of character, so how could she judge when her marriage was over? Turner would never learn how to father if Saphora kept allowing him to drop off the boy.
    Bender came around the corner looking for her. “Are you coming up?” he asked.
    “I sure hope Turner drives in this weekend to take care of Eddie,” she said. She followed Eddie into the gift store. “Eddie, stop touching everything. Let’s go.” She made sure Eddie was actually paying attention before turning to Bender. “I can’t do this, Bender, and take care of you.”
    “Then call Turner,” he said, the tone of his voice rising as if she were disappointing him. “He’s a shift nurse. He can take hours or not take them.”
    Bender knew that Turner needed all the hours he could get. He also knew how to get his way even while agreeing with her.
    By now Jim had come back and was standing in the corridor near the physicians’ elevator, staring at them. He took out a key and turned it in a special lock that allowed him to call for the elevator. The surgeons’ special getaway system only added to their sense of entitlement.
    Eddie bolted away from Saphora when the elevator doors opened. “I get dibs to push the button!”
    Saphora was sure her face was red as she passed by Jim, who held the elevator door open. Jim didn’t seem to notice. He gave Eddie the floor number, then talked shop with Bender. “The pathologist I wanted came in on her day off to run your tests. She’s the best at Duke. That makes her the best in the state,” he said.
    Eddie pulled a Blow Pop from deep in his pocket. He started to unwrap it, but Saphora took the sucker out of his hand. “Later,” she said, stuffing it into her purse. Eddie locked his arms around his waist and glared at her.
    “I’ll speed