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As I pulled the covers over ave her htest smile I made sure she had her remote controls, her crossword book and pen, her cordless phone, and her "I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up" button

"Good night, Nana I’ll see you in thethat like it’s the last ti to say it," she said peevishly "Somebody besides me has to pretend I’ll live forever"

"You’ll live forever," I said "Until I’m as old as you are, and then you’ll finally teach me how to make your faood"

I’d be back at her house at eight in theto help her out of bed and into her re else for herself and didn’t want to give up her independence and move into a home I was happy to help After I had left Jeff, she was the first one I called, standing at a pay phone, crying in the freezing cold I’d left ive him a way to find me

"Just coh anything Just come home"

And I had I’d lived with her for a feeeks before she offered to give me money for the deposit on my apartment I was touched that she understood how much I needed space of my own, space to find myself I was broke, and she’d called it an early inheritance Since then, we’d anchored each other and developed a friendly, loving relationship with only one rule: we never talked about her illness or h my CD case Sure, I had an iPod full of s we had listened to together I wanted s thatThe sort of music Jeff had called immature and part of the "old Tish" I rolled downat the top ofthe wind in ainst my heart in time with the drums He wouldn’t have liked that, either Would have asked me, with that plaintive voice, if I didn’t prefer the diaiven e disposal on my way out and flicked the switch

Back at hthearted for the first ti the locket had soothed me, become another choice that further defined who I was I liked loud ood book and a rescued cat na cheese toast and tomato soup for dinner And I had stolen an antique locket from my dead patient’s attic

As I undressed and put on my pajamas, my eyes didn’t leave the locket’s reflection in the dresserexciting about it, about having so I wasn’t supposed to have

It was tie but couldn’t find a clasp Then I tried to work it open with e I went to the bathroom and tried to use a nail file to pry it open like an oyster, but it was very unwilling to produce its pearl Mr Surly watchedHe seeers at it and said, "Locket, reveal thy secrets!"

Of course, that didn’t work That sort of thing never does

I ran ers over it There had to be a way Then I pressed the jewel on the front, and the locket popped open

I gasped as red liquid burst fro my hand with scarlet drops

Whatever it was, it burned, and I dropped the locket onto the counter, where it spun for a second, scattering a constellation of red on the bathroom counter

I ranbut didn’t wash away I lathered up with antibacterial soap, but they didn’t budge, so I got out the nail brush Looking up at the ed tank top and baggy paja my hand until it was raw and pink The stains seeave up

I couldn’t help but wonder, what sort of ancient prankster filled a locket with staining red acid and then hid it in a book? It was its own antitheft device

The locket lay innocently on the bathroo those right now

Then I looked closer and noticed that the red drops had ranite Little red holes, eaten into solid rock I ran er over them, puzzled It didn’t make sense--I should have been full of holes, too But I wasn’t

I didn’t think too hard about it I was more curious about the locket itself, which was finally open The red stuff had drained out, so I picked it up and held it under the light

Inside, trapped under glass, was a delicate portrait in watercolor Theeyes, which challengeddark hair looked as if it had been yanked from a tidy queue just moments before and left rebelliously loose to annoy the painter Hissh white collar that was carelessly open, an indigo cravat hanging untied

I loved Jane Austen, so this rogue in a cravat was right up hty Mr Darcy He was the complete opposite of stocky, clean-cut, all-American Jeff--another point in the ht bubble rising above his head I dare you

"Dare me to what?" I said

He didn’t have an answer for that