Dinner arrived in overly serious courses. Between salad and salmon, Dean Wilson rose to introduce us. He read the notecard exactly as written. “Dr. Jessica Collins, incoming resident in psychiatry at Detroit Medical Center; Dr. Audrey Collins, Patterson Fellow in neurosurgical research at Johns Hopkins.” He smiled at both of us, then added, “It is rare to celebrate one physician in a family. It is extraordinary to celebrate two.”
That would have been a tidy ending. But families, like studies, rarely respect tidy endpoints.
Aunt Patty stood. “I’m sorry,” she said loudly enough to silence the harp. “Before dessert I need to clear a piece of history. Mae would haunt me otherwise.”
Mae. Our grandmother. The only person who ever made both Jessica and me feel equally seen without trying. Aunt Patty opened an old manila envelope and held up a photocopy of a trust letter, the kind drawn up at kitchen tables with sincere witnesses and bad pens.