The glass of water, brought when no one is keeping score — except that someone, it turns out, is always keeping score, even if it is only the person you bring it to, remembering, at the very end, who came.

Chapter 9 — Patricia

Later that day, Raymond’s estate attorney came to the house — a sharp, kind, unhurried woman named Patricia, who had handled his affairs for many years.

She brought a notary with her, and Raymond’s own attending physician came as well, and the doctor examined him and stated formally, for the record, that Raymond was fully conscious, lucid, and legally competent to make decisions about his estate.

Only then did they begin.

They worked for hours, the four of them, going carefully through the paperwork.