“Don’t let Grandpa take me back.”

I promised he was coming with me.

I didn’t ask anything more.

Now, at the hospital, I can hear those words again while I wait for the nurse.

When she finally calls me into the treatment room, Toby is lying beneath a thin blanket.

His spaceship rests on his knee.

One wing has come loose.

I pull a chair close enough that my shoes touch the bed frame.