He visited his mom once a week, which was often as Mary permitted and had never, ever, given Irene the impression that she was a burden or was anything other than his beloved mother.
The burden fixation came from Mary. He found out for the first time in the doctor’s office that his mother was a borderline schizophrenic and had taken medication for years. It puzzled him, because the doctors referred to a series of hospitalizations that he could not recall after his dad died. His mind skittered away from that then as it did now, leaving nothing but a shiver and a quiver of fear.
He knew Aunt Mary’s game. The more cash Mary bled from Brian, the longer Irene would stay with Mary, enabling Mary to continue leeching money from the government as an at-home caregiver as well as from Brian. He wa
