Minutes stretched.
Then vanished.
Forms.
Questions.
Waiting.
A cardiologist appeared.
The homeowner stood too quickly.
“How is she?”
“Stable.”
One word.
Best word he had heard all day.
The doctor continued.
“She experienced a serious arrhythmia.”
“We restored normal rhythm.”
“She'll be monitored overnight.”
“Any damage?”
“Too early to say.”
The homeowner nodded.
Then asked the question he was afraid to ask.
“The ambulance delay?”
The doctor considered.
“How long?”
“Maybe ninety seconds.”
“Probably not decisive here.”
“Probably?”
“In cardiac events, faster is always better.”
He understood.
There would never be a satisfying answer to what ninety seconds meant.
That uncertainty became its own anger.
His mother woke shortly after six.
She looked around.
Then at him.
“Why are you crying?”
He laughed.
That made it worse.
“You scared me.”
“I’m old.”
“You're sixty-four.”
“Old enough.”
He held her hand.
She noticed the tension in his face.
“What happened?”
He hesitated.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
She narrowed her eyes.
Even half sedated, she recognized lies.
“What happened?”
He told her.
Not everything.
Mailbox.
Wrong number.
Ambulance turn.
Police.
The HOA President.
His mother stared.
Then:
“The yellow woman?”
He laughed despite himself.
“You call her that?”
“She always wears colors like she's directing airport traffic.”
He covered his face.
His mother smiled weakly.
Then became serious.
“She changed the number while I was sick?”
“Yes.”
“On purpose?”
“I don't know.”
That was technically true.
Police needed to prove intent.
His mother closed her eyes.
“That woman came here last Tuesday.”
The homeowner stopped.
“What?”
“She knocked.”
“Why?”
“Asked whether you had corrected the address display.”
His pulse changed.
“What did you say?”
“That you weren't home.”
“What else?”
“She asked whether I lived here full-time.”
The homeowner sat straighter.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“She asked whether I stayed alone during the day.”
Cold moved through him.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I thought she was being nosy.”
“She is always nosy.”
True.
But now everything looked different.
“Did she ask anything medical?”
His mother frowned.
“Medical?”
“Anything about doctors.”
“Emergency contacts.”
“Health.”
She thought.