Beginning 6:30 a.m.

“Good morning,” I said to Mrs. R.

“Well, good morning,” she said in a surprised voice. She was in the hospital bed near the wide, curtained windows that faced west and southwest. She said, “I didn’t expect you all to be back so soon.”

“Back where?” I asked.

“At my house,” she said.

I explained she and Priscilla and I were at our house, near Little Rock.

“Near Little Rock?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Oh,” she said. “OK.”

Mrs. R. and Priscilla had been up since before 6:15. Priscilla had done the changing of diaper and dressing her mother in day clothes and now was loading the washer. She joined me in the kitchen. I said I would cook oatmeal. Priscilla said she would chop apples to go with the oatmeal.

Mrs. R. said, “I hear water running somewhere.” Priscilla explained she was doing laundry, and the sound was the washer filling. Mrs. R. said, “I need to do laundry, too.”

“We’ll take care of that,” Priscilla said.

“Oh. OK.”

Priscilla and I worked on breakfast. After around five minutes, Mrs. R. said, “I hear water running somewhere.” Priscilla again explained she was doing laundry. Mrs. R. said, “Well, my washing machine is in the kitchen and the dryer is in the storage room.” That is true, at her house in Texarkana. Priscilla said we had everything taken care of. Mrs. R. said, “I need to do laundry, too.”