“Near you.”

She opened one eye.

“You’re staying in Oakhaven?”

“You’re here.” I picked up my purse.

“Why would I go anywhere else?”

On the way out, I stopped at the nurses’ station and asked for a moment with the administrator.

She was a small woman with reading glasses on a beaded chain, and she took the certified check from my hand without a word.

“Paid in full for the year,” she said.