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didn’t know her own daughter anymore. The problem with that speech of hers was that she had never known me in the first place. But, I didn’t want to argue with her, then. I had too many real problems to solve.
    “Well, sometimes he does, sometimes he ignores me,” she paused for a while but continued her story when I didn’t say anything else. “Anyway, I called to tell you he will need to undergo surgery. The doctors have told us the cancer has reappeared. In his lungs, this time. They said chemotherapy isn’t the best option; not before the surgery, anyway.”
    “Have you gotten a second opinion?”
    “We’ve been to four doctors so far. They all said the exact same thing.”
    “Have they already set a date?”
    “As soon as we manage to convince you father to do it.”
    “What do you mean? He doesn’t want surgery? I know dad is stubborn but it’s his health we’re talking about here, for Christ’s sake. How will he survive without treatment?”
    “My words, exactly. But he told me he wants to look into other options before deciding.”
    “Mom, h e has never needed surgery before. I understand he must be scared but what other options are there? What’s he talking about?”
    “I think he’s losing his mind and that’s what I told him because he said his ancestors were Salem witches who knew everything about healing potions and stuff like that. Now, he’s talking about going there, to Salem, looking for this kind of treatment.”
    “ I didn’t know we had had witches in the family .” I thought to myself before realizing that wasn’t the important issue at all and that my mother was expecting some kind of reaction from me, other than silence.
    “Mom, I’m speechless. The whole idea is so outrageous I don’t know what to say to you.”
    There was a brief moment of silence on the other side of the line and I thought I heard my mother sniffing. I rolled my eyes again.
    “ I don’t know what else to do, honey,” she broke off and her voice sounded very weak when she managed to speak again. Her Louisiana accent was heavier probably because of her distress. “If anything happens to your father, I won’t be able to go on alone.”
    She was sobbing now and I froze on my side of the line, not knowing what to say or how to deal with her when she sounded so fragile and hurt. I had never understood my mother’s complete devotion to my father. The few times I had asked her about it, she told me it was love. It looked a lot like low self-esteem mixed with total dependence to me. I’ve always had very little tolerance for weak people. I forced myself to say something. Anything.
    “ Mom, nothing’s going to happen to him.”
    “How can you know that? You haven’t seen your father, or me, in over a year!”
    I sighed and braced myself for the recriminations I knew would follow. To my surprise, my mother paused and I heard her taking a deep breath.
    “I don’t want to fight with you, Carol Anne,” the hurt sounded real but I knew my mother better. “Not now that your father needs us to stick together. You’re the only family we have.”
    Bingo! She had changed her tactics but trying to guilt me was still her favorite weapon. And it worked like it had always worked before.
    “I don’t want to fight either, mom. Do you want me to come up and talk to him?” more eye-rolling. I was starting to feel dizzy.
    “Honey, I don’t want to take you off your work. You said you’ve been busy.”
    “ Gosh, don’t you read the newspaper? Don’t you know what’s going on outside your high walls ?” I wanted to shout into the phone. Instead, I said what she wanted to hear. “I’ll make the time, mom, don’t worry. Tomorrow is Friday and I have an important client coming to my office for a meeting at the end of the day. I’ll be too tired to drive. Is Saturday ok?”
    “Saturday is perfect, dear. Can you stay the night?”
    I thought that if I rolled my eyes one more time, they would get stuck. So,