Uncle Robert Insisted Grandma Was Confused, Until Four Sheets of Paper Changed Everything in Greenville

Her car headed up Birch Street and turned toward town.

On my way back through the hall, I spotted the folder.

Manila, tab sticking out, sitting squarely on the hall table beneath the brass hook where Grandma used to keep her house key.

That key had been in my pocket every day since the funeral.

My thumb found it through the fabric.

The tab was typed: HAYWARD, R.

DRAFT SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.

Below that, in pencil, someone had written 9/12, and the pencil wasn’t in Grandma’s handwriting.