“Is there a problem?” the guard asked.

He walked over and planted himself between me and my mother.

“This woman isn’t on the approved visitor list,” I said.

“I’m her mother,” Barbara told the guard.

She didn’t stop picking at her thumbnail.

“I’m just trying to see my injured granddaughter.”

“Ma’am, if you’re not on the list, you need to go back down to the lobby,” the guard said.

“This is absurd,” Barbara said.