The jams. The pickles. The eggs. Twenty-nine jars, I counted them at the time and was irritated by them.

You do not bring twenty-nine jars to a visit. You bring them because there is no cellar to leave them in.

I did not give them money. I want to be clear about that too.

What I did was sit at their kitchen table for another two hours with Gavin on speaker while he explained what an elder financial exploitation claim is, and how the quitclaim and the fabricated statement fit into it, and that the Ohio attorney general has a unit for exactly this, and that they were both well within the limitation period.

Shirley said, “He’s our son.”

“He is,” I said. “And he sold your house.”