She frowned, sniffing loudly. “What else would you call it?”
“It’s the beginning.”
Chapter 5: The Thaw
When Monday morning arrived, the sun was shining, but the temperature remained bitterly cold.
At exactly 9:00 AM, I sat at my kitchen table, poured a black coffee, and dialed the municipal gas company.
I executed exactly the sequence of actions I had promised my mother I would. I did not act out of malice. I did not demand the customer service representative terminate the flow of fuel to her residence. I did not leave an elderly woman to freeze in the dark.
Instead, I calmly and transferred the legal responsibility for the utility meter directly back into her name and social security number.
It took less than fifteen minutes. The administrative weight of three years of enabling vanished with a few keystrokes.
Ten minutes after the transaction was finalized, Mom called me.
“Hello,” I answered.
