I went back to Madisonville on the fourth of October, which was a Sunday, and I got there at nine and I sat in the car.

I’ve been asked since what my plan was, and the honest answer is that I did not have one and I knew I did not have one and I drove three hours anyway.

Meg Doyle would have told me not to.

The order still had six weeks on it, and it ran in both directions in the sense that showing up somewhere my mother was going to be is not the behavior of a woman claiming continued need.

I sat in that lot and thought about that and stayed.

Her SUV came in at 9:38.