I could feel my hands steadying in her warm grip until they were still for the first time since my father had fallen. I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t said a word to Simon. Or why I was unable to cry.
I cleared my throat. “I know why they went through the house.” I could tell that Ellen was looking at me even though I was staring straight ahead at the net.
“Who?”
“The ambulance attendants.”
“The ambulance attendants?”
“There’s this policy from the Ministry of Health. It’s called ‘Hazardous Surface Avoidance’.”
Ellen let go of my hands and stood up. “It doesn’t matter.”
* * *
When Simon and my mother arrived home a couple hours later, I was sitting on the couch in the den, drinking a glass of water that Ellen had brought me. Vincent and Marcus were lying on the carpet in front of
